The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1859-04-09

Some o.. e most astounding developments
are being mat 7 the present time in relation
to the connterlen If bills aud money in New
York and Ohio, fr0h. III it would seem that
u some sections Of tb ~it is becoming
a regular branch Of business. Hserly pursued,
and, within certain limits, alnios. e+tpenl,y as
any other branch Of speculation iu>.n ssorth,
or as the foreign slave trade in the Sour -iu
Cuba, Books are published giving 70
scriptions of cheap methods If initial.
precious metals, All the ticks of the coan.
t~erieiters for swearing, boring. splitting, aud
filling coin are here detailed with great exact
ness, AID OH itayment OF five dollars any one
has been admitted into their circles. In some
sections quite large bodies Of men have gone
into this business as The easiest and most literal
way Of making money. Only the other day a
Cleveland paper tells US that a Methodist min
lister Of high standing was preaching a funeral
sermon to- a crowded congregation. when ttz
officers Of Justice arrived, and at The close of
the service arrested him as a counterfpitor. All
The implements for carrying on a very extern
sire business Of this kind were found in his
hunse. Finally he made 4 clean breast Of it
before HE whole multitude, and told them that
having been brought up all engrayer, he had
during the last two years become connected
with a gang OF this sort, and had been hard at
work manufacturing bogus bunk bills on a
large scale,
lhe question naturally presents Itself, What
is gong to become of Honest men? What can
those do who live by buying and selling The
losses Of the retail storekccpefs are becoming
every year larger and larger, Notwithstanding
counterfeit dctectors and every other precaa.
ton. In the East Indies the kings and Princes
have cheated so in the coinage that in Brrmah
eneTy man who sells carries his scale and
weights, and usighs al hts s,lcer as he receives
and they have become excellent Judges Of
the faaftty Of silver, and can tell how much it
Is adnlteFa'ed. But we seem to have no sec,-
rity that our coins are what they seem.
Ages before the birth Of Chemistry. the
alehemists were occupied in seeking some means
by which all metals might be Transmitted into
gold, II never seemed to enter into their minds
that The innate effect Of all this would. if
successful, to traasaute gad darn in noint If
value aud Importance to the average of other
metals. 1t is so in all these modern a,,ep,nts
Ut a baser kind to counterfeit instead of trans.
iha'lh3. IL IS ten times as injurious to the
community as so much mooney abstracted or
a. stoien' or SO much lead openly mixed With
all our coins. The uncertainty, the time, the
RISK OF buying and selling. makes men avoid
exchanges except at much larger profits. TO
pay Tor all this. Unless it can be broken mr.
our whole currency viii become deprecialed
inca ulabiy.
but tlerels a worse depreciation than all
ms indicated in the extension of coupterGeitino
operations; it is the depreciation Of moroi
afafaeter among men of sufficient mechanical
Ingenuity and intellectual attachments 10 yen-
DER them most dangerous to the cDmmunitr
ihs social position Of many Of these operators
makes them doubly dangerous and aonhIy do.
'eteIio'IS' Sometimes We build great homes far
Tue iifufe of our country from the increased
OF the masses, BIT let us moi he
bind to the fact that mere Intellectual PROGRESS
without proper training IN habits Of moral and
social virtue aud conformity to law. will nuly
tehd more rapidly to demoral:ze and destroy
those who possess these adrartag e.
more ingenious, and tllereforea more danga,f'ns
race OF plekpockets and counterte;ters Wbo
"ouid Wish to see Il razor in the hand If eva,,
madihant Yet, such is Knowledge and sIitI
to the nnprincipled.
mere are times when virtue and religion
seem to carry their triumphs into The hiahast
quarters OF public as well as private life, 50
openly and powerfully, that all baoin to hnne
a new era has dawned upon mankind. BIZ.
on the Other hand, such glimpses Of life, public
and private, as are sometimes seen. are moi
tat'eflng 10 our progress in %virtnrc. 1he ra.
ViVal ot'the slave trade in the South and the
progress of frauds and connterfpjtinp n, ,he
North and West, oil in defiance of The law.
equally OF God and man, shows that lar, ay
.sF' has not hot holt On tie pu6im conscience
signt 70 possess TO ensure tie perpetuity Of
a fFee Government. Unless children are IL
'tftlciei' u the school-house and at home. ,ba,
and right are to be respected. that not IN.
1enlohS merely, but honest and true WAYS Of
making money are alone to be soapht-nnIoss
'peclie Instructions on these points enter ina
9n'l'it teachings, The lesson will have TO he an,
creed IN other and sterner methods. Tho
leg!ect Of education is not alone to be- tbonah,
IT. but The additional Instructions of which VIC
are loudly called for. [Philadelpbio
hENoRALIzlSa INFLUENCE OF Potrv,cs
me ht The great objections Ia hecon,;am