New-York daily tribune., 1857-10-19

i
Philips, deacon of the Old South Church, and for
many years Lieutenant Governor Of Massachusetts,
told the Directors day, after the Southern banks
had stopped, and the talk wa Of those here follow
ing suit that be was going to set out tor Saratoga
Springs the next morning; but that he had LETT or.
dsrs to have all his shares 10 the bank-which
amounted to more than half the stock-sold, If
necessary, and the proceeds applied TO maintaining
It's character for honesty by paying its debts accord
ing to promise. HE pluckiress trrned the dubious
scale, and the banks Of Boston aad New-Eosand
generally paid specie throughout the war, IN spite OF
| the stOppage everywhere else.
| well remember the fine old man-his well
| powdered head, his queue, bis knee-oreeches bis
stern aspect, his grimly courteous manners. HIS
| munfcence might be called spendid, ana the
| amount be annually gave away IN charities was
| something amazing. doubt whether any man in
the country ever gave away during his lifetime 50
much money Us be old. He inherited from bis
father about the beginning Of this century, for
tune Of near million and 4 half and he Left
twenty five years later just about the same amOutt
to bis children, having prevented its accumulation
by lending the greater part of his large income to
the Lord, whose security, unlike most rich men, he
considered good. In those days, let me tell you,
Lieutenant Governor a man of mark and likeli-
hood, and everybody knew and hOnOred him. In
these perhaps should be ashamed to say it. but give
you my honor, don't know 30 much as the name of
our present one. He lived in fine old house, built
away back in the last century by one Of the
Faneuils on French model l should judge, and
with courtyard and garden to match. 1t was a
pleasant sight to see from what is now fremont
street through the iron ratings, its terraces planted
with evergreens and mountain ashes and ornamental
trees and Shrubs and its grOtesque masks over the
windows grinning back ~ you. 1t IS swallowed up
by shops now, and the Row called OF men fremont
remember that regarded him with mysterious
irfa hny oddly enough from my
early liking mot yet entirely outgrown) for profsne
PLAYS; for he had Travelled in hs youth. aud
seen Garrck act He even said-it was at the
time of the Kean fever here in ls20-that # Car
rick could come to life and act again. he woud 90 10
the theater 10 see him. To be sure, there was no
great danger of Garrcks doing anything OF the kind;
be wasn't likely to do 30 mprldent thing, even 70
tempt the virtue of histrlomastgal deacon oil the
most orthodox of Puritan Churches. AT any rate
he didn't
Lieut. Gov Phillips succeeded his father ~ Presi-
dent of the Massachusetts, Bank, who was the hrsI
of the long line of Bank Presidents which have ever
since best the country. And it was the golden age
of banks. to be sure, when the Massachusetts was
first set up. On all occasions ofjubllee PROFESSIONS
sucb IA the Fourth Of July and the like, place Oi
honor was reserved for the President and Drectors
of the Massachusetts Bank. Imagine procession
thus illustrated at this day, and particularly JUST
now And in those days depOsOrs had 10 pay tne
out interest But those times were too good 60 last
If the depositors paid the bank then at 6sst, the
bank paid the depOsltOrs The idea OF stopping
suecie payment probably never inserted itself under
the horsebair of the Directorial wigs. Not that
would have you understand that our banks, any
more than yours, have stopped payment. by no
means Nothing of the kind. They merely, rs the
newspapers tell US, have " discontinued paying
spec;f across the counter - That's all They still
gravey pass it about among themselves behind It,
This is a great comfort to us outsiders when we
have handed over to us, for value received, quan-
tty of their stinking shnplasters | should think
they might give a fellow clean paper, at least, con
found em
By the way, your types made capital slip in my
last letter which really was an Improvement on
what wrote. | said that the meeting at the Mer-
chants ExchsDge advised the "mon,ed men" to
do all they could to help the crisis over AMI your
compostors made it " pOrried men, who were
called ON to do this benefcent, but somewhat diff
| cult work No adjective could have described that
unfortunate class of our telow-cfzens better.
| Sadly worried they are, many of them, especially
such 40 have been driving brisk business IN what
| the cods call " discOuntiDe' and men " shaving
| notes and acceptances. They mourn for their dol
lars, like Rachel weeping for her children because
| they are not. imagine the experience OF the
| last month will make many scorched money ''ender
keen away from the fire for good while to come.
The beautiful simplicity" of bonds and mortgages
| at SIX or seven per cent will be more admired and
courted than il has been for good while past. That
was a sensible leader in THE TRIBUNE OF thus
morpnp AZ TO the cause of the crisis, and dare say
touched one Of the roots OF the matter But thnA
the percentage of failures here on the whole aggre-
| qate of mercantile business is put down at rather
| too high figure. An old merchant, who had Tor
thirty or forty years kept watch of the times and
made note Of these things, put down the absolute
| failures at 90 per cent, the number OF those that
iust kept their heads above water at w per cehl,
and tbe fairly successful at the odd ten. But there
| is an element of the sum very important 70 Or
known before Judging from these results as 10 the
safety of mercantile business as an inVestmeni VI
| canital. and that is how many of these bankrups
had auy real capital to begin with. business that
begins with less than nothing, may not unnaturaly
come TO nothing and worse thaa nothing. Perhaps,
| among the many sayings Of old Andrew Jackson,
which used to be 80 cried out upon, but which have
come to be accepted truths, that famous one may
vet come to be admitted, that every man who
'trades on borrowed capital ought 10 iall. Al any
rate, they generally do.
Still YOU will be glad to hear that people su1se
themselves as we'll AS they may under the clrcum-
| stances, Madame La Grange, with Messleurs
| Thalberg and Veuxtemps, give concert tonight,
every ticket 10 which is sold. Indeed you owe this
letter to my inability to get one. Last night did
thing am not at an in the habit of doing. believe
have expressed in some part oi NY correspondence
INV feelings on the subject Of lectures. approve
and recommend, but scrupulously avoid them.
.sTideo meiiora, prologue, d,teriora sequor."
recognize the excellency of lectures, but / tnd
plays and operas much moro entertaining. But last
night went to one, and perhaps you will not won
der at it when tell you it was one by the many
| mated Lola Monies, Countess of Landsfedt 1t
was far discourse the evils of Catholicism,
and was good enough to eXtort loud exclamation
of She's a liar She's liar ~ from some exas.
| Il Ill ho I'M al