Litchfield enquirer., 1842-11-10
GENERAL HAMTLToN'S LETTER.
 LONDON, September 0th, le42

ID THE How. JOHH c. CALHoUN:-
 Mv Dear Sir :-Tf have addressed this letter to you, it is not alone from the justifi- cation which find in the recollections of an old and cherished friendship. but from the fact. that desire to attract the public atten- Iion to its object, through the iDstrumeniali- ty of a name far more influential than my own. Be not surprised, if you see it first in the newspapers. | wish not only ito think aloud,' but to speak aloud.
 My purpose in writing to you, IS to put you in possession of Q knowledge of the con- dition of the American credit in Europe with suggestion of the indispensable neces- sity of our doing something at home to meet '1he truly alarming crisis, which this state ot things presents.
 | am far from defending the profuse con- f1dence, with which European capitalists lent their money during a period ot SIX years from 1884 to 164O, to our countrymen' even on the faith of variety of schemes exceed. ingly visionary and unsound. They did 4his however, out of the excess of virtue which may have been pushed to the extent of rather an amiable than criminal weak ness for they generally made these loans at a less rate of interest than they could be ef- fected, if at all at home, and apparently for objects of great public utility. But the
 
 ing. At least in reference to the public sanctions with which they are invested.- They were made according to your reading and mine, of the Constitution, to sovereigns under the obligation of a high public faith j; many of them were contracted on terms greatly advantageous under the agency of houses of the first responsibility, whose llbe- rality and confidence, knew no bounds.
 This confidence was given to our young country because our resources Gin no degree exaggerated) were considered immense. and because it was thought, as we are of the Saxon family, we were essentially debt paying people. Indeed, from an observa- tion, which a larger residence for the last five years in Europe than in America enables me to make, it is quite obvious, if we had paid the interest on our foreign debt that the rate of that interest would have fallen grad. ually to the level of that paid by some of the oldest and best established States in Europe, and that for objects of well founded public utility, and even of private enterprise, our in- dustry at home might have been almost in- definitely invigorated out of the large sur plus capital of this country. You will say,I am sure, that this facility of borrowing has been great curse to our own. This, ad- init, is true to a certain extent but it was converted into curse by the action of our government on the currency of the United States. Under judicious regulations and prudential guards, state of things more propitious to the development of the resour- ces of n young country like ours, borrowing of an old one like this, it's capital to invigo. rate it's labor, at low rate of interest, can. not we'll be conceived. If the profits of the labor transcended the rate of interest, it was to create capital at home. From what other source have sprung those miracles Of enter prise and wealth that are to be found in our country in the midst of a population of eight. cen millions, but this conjolnt action of our labor on the capital of others. The Pill grims found no Bank of England on inc Rock of Plymouth, or the IIuegenots of South Ca rplna, tho gems of Samareand on it's thirsty plains. ''-
 But if you consider this faculty of borrow ing abroad, my dear sir, as an evil. you may certainly console yourself with the convic- tion that it no longer exists, although am equally convinced that you will regret the cause which has produced this want of all confidence in the good faith of the people of the United States, and the consequences which have followed in fixing SO severe a stigma on the character of our country.
 It is absurd for US to talk in America that we do not want the capital of Europe; at the very moment when the General Government ot the states has an agent abroad to borrow for it's daily bread. We do want their mo- ney, and they want the result of our labor. And greatly then is it to be dcplored that this beneficial interchange has been suspen- ded under circumstances SO disastrous to both countries
 Let me now give you brief statement of the present condition of American credit in Europe, and without presuming to suggest to enquire of you whether the force of public opinion. (if Congress has not the constitutional competency to do any thingD acting through the legislatures of the defaul. ting states, cannot be made sufficiently DO. tent 10 convince them of the truth and force of the old adage, that, after all, in the long run, !" honesty is the best policy"
 The first branch of my subject can dis 1 cuss in very few words. As our old friend used to say, American credit is killed "stone dead" John Jacob Astor might obtain an uncovered credit for a rea- sonable amount, (where he was known) and Mir. Bates of the house of Earrings, by wear. ing out pair of shoes in walking from the House to the Minories, might sell fifteen hundred pounds worth of Massachu. sets stock, with large concessions to the buyer. Tho fact is not the less to be con- cealed that we begin to be regarded as na- tion of sharpers aud swindlers. with whom, if the day of judgment should happen to be on Monday .our pay day will not be till the Tues day following. This rcvulsion of confidence does not arise SO much from a discredit which attached to our resources, or, in other words, our ability to pay. as our seeming in. disposition to pay. The former is still con- sidered in most cases as undoubted. whilst a sickening distrust has fallen upon the lat ter. Hence it is, that whilst the rate of inte-