The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1854-05-27
ERIE AND KALAMAZOO MoNEY-We find the

suspicion gaining ground almost everywhere,
not very safe paper to handle. There is very
little in circulation here at present, and we
hope our people will take measures to get rid
of it entirely. We find the following in late
number of the Detroit Free Press -
The announcement by one of the journals of
the interior that the stock of the Erie and Kala-
mazoo Railroad Bank was changing hands to a
considerable extent has led us to make some
inquiries in reference thereto, and into some
other matters concerning the bank.
The public naturally feel solicitudc as to the
ownership of a bank of circulation where the re-
sponsible character and good reputation of that
ownership is the only security offered for the
safety of the bill-holders. We have not been
able to ascertain to what extent transfers of
stock have been or are about to be made but
that negotiations in this behalf have been going
on we have no doubt. Whether the new stock
holders, in fact or in prospect, are men of capt.
tai and character, or merely men of straw, we
do not know, and the people are in the same
state of ignorance.
One fact, however, we hare clicitcd--that the
circulation Of the bank IS enormous. Its notes
are everywhere, in this State and the other
Northwestern States. 1t has agents to push
its circulation, in numbers so large that the let
tcrs stamped on the bills to represent them
have exhausted the alphabet, and recourse has
been had to double letters and even to nume-
rails. These agents, it is understood are ey-
pectcd to protect the bills bearing the mark
of each-that is. furnish Eastern drafts for what
ever of them are returned to the bank. This
plan of extending and keeping up the crcula-
ton of a bank is of modern invention. and is
not to our knowledge, rcsorted to by sound
institutions There iS difficulty in n lap MI
attaining q sufficiently large expansion of its
discounts and its issues by legitimate and ordi-
nary means and when an institution resorts to
such extraordinary means as we find the Eric
and Kalamazoo engaged in. the circumstance
is Of itself spicous-suficicntly suspicious to
awaken public attention.
We have never had faith in this bank and
we see in its present situation ground of alarm
The men who have the management Of it are
either unsafe operators or something wOrse-so
far as the public are concerned it matters not
which. The agents it employs to extend its
circulation have to-day the power to break it :;
and it is their interest to break 1t. because they
could then buy up its deprecated notes to pay
their Indebtedness. In the event of panic
and a sudden run upon its vaults. we do not be-
lieve the bank could stand forty-eisht hours
1t has larger circulation in the aggregate
within a circle of country that could imme-
specie in all the banks in the State.
We have been for some months content to re-
ly upon the assurance of the managers of the
bank that they would coniinc themselves to a
safe and legitimate business. They have not
done so. They have swollen their issues to an
inordinate extent, for the redemption Of which
the people have not the slightest security. 1t
is time to take warning. There are rumors
ahoat that another old charter in the State is
lp tn1- hot In Dc, ,1-
is to be revived. There is danger in all this
The time is near at hand when the solvcncy
and stability of every bank in the Union will
be severely tried. Two failures have just &C.
CURED in New England. The West cannot es-
cape the shock, and such concerns as the Erie
and Kalamazoo cannot survive it,
MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT
The message of Gov. Dutton, of Connecticut,
delivered to the Legislature on the 9TH inst. is
a clear and able exposition of the affairs of
the State. He reviews at length the question
involving the repeal of the Missouri Comprom-
Use, and concludes as follows in regard to the
Nebraska bill
l am thus lead irrcsistably to the conclusion
that the passage of the Nebraska Bill would be
a great outrage to the people the free States
is the opinion of u majority of my constituents
want no stronger confirmation of the correct
ness of my views. The people of this State en-
joy superior advantages ofcducation and i'm
provcments; they are enlightened and intclli
gent, the only interest which they feel is based
on the principles of humanity and Justice
Even the ministers of the gospel, of every de-
nomination, though chiefly devoted to the
study of the Bible. arc better qualified in my
al, 30 10 " of no IF
Congress. than those statesmen, whose mental
vision is blinded by interest or ambition.
The question involved in the passage of this
bill, is of great practical Importance. Slavery
is dilusive, and little OF this lcavcn leavencth
the whole lump. The territories of Nebraska
and Kansas, lie in the same latitude as exist
ing slaves states. and enjoy warmer climate
The great rivers which intcrscct these bound
less praries, flow from them through slave
States, and will carry the produce of these rich
fields to merchants in slaveholding cities
Commercial intercourse will thus be established
family connections formed, and a common in
tcrcst will bind the population of those who re-
joicc in the peculiar institution.
Such too, were the views Of the authors and
advocates of this bill They knew that the
people of the United States never would uphold
dangerous agitation, for the sake of mere alb
straction. They could not expect to tempt the
cElFalrlc sOutn, 10 part WIFI tnclf nltnertO
priceless jewel, their honor, with a vaueless
bride. The great question in the case. is ease
of supremacy, and statesmen are found willing
/ to sacrifice every princi pie of honor and hu-
manity to obtain the control of the dcstinics of
/ this nation.
There is, however, another principle which
has ever governed, and trust will ever gov
crn the actions of the citizens of the States
that of moral right. They do not deny to the
South. the privilege if they regard it as such,
of holding saves-that is guaranteed to them
Ivy the Constitution, and the less it is ntcrfcrcd
with, the better probably for the slaves them
selves. Whether masters have right under
existing circumstances to perpetuatc human
bondage, must be left, and ought to be left to
their own conscicnccs. But the voluntary pro
motion of slavery is pronounced by the whole
civilized world, unperverted by this curse, to
he a crime against the law of nature, of the
deepest dye, differing in degree only, but not
in mind, from the inquitv of the slave trade
In this sin, the citizens of the North will not
consent to participate. The contemplated re-
moval of the restriction on slavery would con-