New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-10-14


more reft of the Same sort. It is decided that
none will attempt 10 Pay specie to-day, 30 that wo
have entered upon a second cru Of general suspen'
sion of Specie Payments for we have no ides that
any section will hold out many days after receiving
the news Of Suspension here. We are, then, after
nearly twenty years Of Specie Payment, reduced
once more 10 au5Yredeemsble and consequently
unequal ard unregusted currency. Prsctcaly'
we had reached it some time since, except In tnis
City, Boston AMI New Orleans, since redemption
in coin has for weeks been elsewhere for the most
part but nominal.
We have realized for months that great Com
mercisl Revision was imminent and inevitable,
vet the attitude and violence Of that actually eX
perenced far transcends our expectations. We
saw last White. that the spacious and fruitful West
could not pay at maturity for the goods it had
bought and was still buying from the great sea-
ports, and that our merchants were thus doomed
TO core disappointments and trials; yet We did
believe that the Harvest Of 1857 would not only
prove bounteous, but that it would be readily and
rapidly hurried forward 10 meet pressing eblga-
tons In this faith, We were mistaken. The
Farmers do not yet fully comprehend that, with
our workshops in good part in Europe. they
must sell Grain and Meat at such prices
- will Justify their expectation TO and sale
in Europe, aud that these are usually far below
the rates which, under the impulse of Irish
faInnef, Russian wars and enormous loans negO-
tiaied by our people abroad, they have for ten
years been receiving. borrowing nation always
~&..... oxrA - panff bat
brings everything down to the basis Of hard reality.
Had Europe loaned our Railroad men One Hun
bred Millions this year to prosecute their new en-
terprises, the revulson might have been postponed
TO another year; but it would only have been more
furious when il did come 1t is National indebted.
ness that is at the bottom of our financial dis
orders. We are, as people, heavily in debt to
Europe for the rails on which we ride, the clothing
We have worn, and the wares which fill eur houses.
This indebtedness is general-all sections and all
cla,ses share in it, This City and the whole sea-
board could pay in full if the Interior and the West
would pay what they owe here; but that is not
done, and We are where we are.
What shall now be done, is question for grave
consideration. Our ultimate and permanent reme-
Tariff but Others justas earnest and well-meaning
say, "No; let US have Free Trade and Hard
Money" We trust there will be no attempt to
patch up q compromise between these radically
hostile theories but that time will be taken for the
fullest and most candid discussion and consideration
There will be present suffering and loss at best;
for the next Congress is already chosen, and is
Il - kba Of
we believe it will be obliged, on purely Revenue
grounds, to modify the existing Tariff in the right
direction. This, however, is matter over which
we can exert little or no influence, and We do not
care to speculate upon it, We leave it to those in
whom the People have vested the responsibility.
As to the Currency we have no idea that the
American People cat OF will now resort to one com
posed exclusively Of Specie. To do this, we
believe ould not merely break what are left solvent
of the merchants, but involve general collapse of
Labor aud Business. We look for the present
adoption of make-shift currency, composed Of the
obligations Of our sOundest Banks in some form,
with perhaps the addition Of an issue Of postnotes
Necessity hath no law" and necessity is now
clearly upon us. few days will doubtless develop
her suggestions.
We are Of course 10 favor of the utmost forbear.
snce toward the Banks because that is forbearance
toward all men who live by business or labor, our
selves included. We do not see how any man who
ever honestly acquired ten-dollar bill could think
of sueipg Bank for net redeeming it in specie
when such redemption shall have become moral
impossiblty not through any fault of that Bank or
of the Banks in general but from causes over which
they have no power. Every dollar of the issues of
our Banks will buy more Of the accessories Of life
to-day, when they are said to be broken, than it
would have done three months ago, when they were
regarded as perfectly solvent. 1t is an abuse Of
language, therefore, to regard the Banks as failed
because specie redemption has become impossible
If all the gold and silver on earth had yesterday
their notes would nevertheless be good. So long as
there il twice as much as they owe due them from
able to pay in anything but specie, and so
long as their notes viii buy whatever il desired
they have not failed.
But we are utterly adverse to any attempt to
lesaize suspension, or to any extra assemblage of
the Legislature for any purpose whatever. We
see not how any good can result from such meeting
The Federal and State Constitutions alike stand in
the way Of any Legislative act impairing the obliga
ton of the contract not implied but expressed
on the face Of every bapk-note. Leave this whole
matter to the People, who will deal with it more
wisely and beneScently than q Legislature have
power to do. There are three courses practically
open to US: l. Tse continued use Of Bank credits
as currency; 9. A deluge of shinplasters; or, B.
general stoppsse of Trade and Labor. II any