Litchfield enquirer., 1861-07-11

circulation is secured by state bonds only, and when commercial panic arises or political troubles threaten, they are the very first things to depreciate in value. His depositi in the Comp troler's office does not cover the amount of his circulation; the Comptroller calls on him to make up the amount and he must either do it or lose his charter If state stocks rally his trouble is transient but if they continue to depreciate he has in this continual draw on his resources.- Again, as at the best, the security is Auctuating his circulation has an uncertain value and ex- change is almost always heavily against him. Specie too is hard to get and commands pre- mium, and thus he has another leak all the while wasting his meagre actual capital. Again each banker, in the regular course of business holds large sums of the issue of other banks similarly depreciated, and the lower they go the more he loses on every dollar he holds, and thus under an accumulation of difficulties Mir. As ten thousand, becomes minus quantity,a and, in natural sequence, Mir. As bank is l. squelched," his bills are thrown out, he shuts up shop, while the bill holders swear at his impotence and pocketa heavy loss. !
 Such is wild cat bank in its origin, it's hal cyon days, its decline and final fall. Now take the case in hand. Many of these institutions placed their security in the bonds of the South ern States our political troubles have come on, those bonds have depreciated for 20 to 35 per cent, the currency goes down with them, ex
 change is enormous, and specie absolutely un- attanable their vital current is sucked out through these various incisions and the banks die out In the crisis of 1857, the banks agreed to take the depreciated currency at par, until a given date, and as the panic was then temporary they succeeded in wading through it, but not without exposing somewhat the mature of the beast" and shaking confidence in its reliability. Now the depreciation in the stocks of those states is likely to be permanent, even if the war is speedily carried through, and similar expe- dient fails. f.-. H Sometime since the bankers of this State is sued circular designating certain banks, whose currency they would take ct par until the first of December next, since then some of those banks have become so rotten that it was impos- sible to live up to that agreement and on Satur- day ten of them were thrown out and six more have been served in the same way to-day. The more ignorant class of depositors, who can see in this move nothing but dtlibe,ats and pre- nsezitated swindle, were exasperated, and this 4cs, fo fo1y hu na- Il Gathering some three or four hundred strong they marched to the very centre of the city, swelling their numbers constantly. They first fell upon the bank of Mir. Mitchell, man, who has always paid specie and who stood out as long as he could against issuing the above-nam- ed circular. They commenced by breaking his windows and ended in pretty thoroughly gutting his whole establishment. His books and most valuable papers were in his safe however, so that the damage was comparatively small. Next they went to the State Bank and here they speed- fly made bonfire of all the blanks, checks, &c, &c that they could lay hands on, and came very near firing one of the finest blocks in the city Some apparently paid more promiscious atten- ton to various other banks for broken windows gape unpleasantly out of several buildings there- abouts.
 By this time resistance was organized and by means of special police and the few military companies still here the riot was quelled and some thirty of the rioters arrested. Telegrams for troops were immediately sent to the Camps
 TD ul,.lI from Madison this afternoon, the whole city was in a perfect ferment of excitement. I rode across one of the bridges toward my hotel direct ly in face of loaded cannon and between files of soldiers, and could easily imagine myself at the seat of war; Early in the evening exag gerated rumors were prevalent of an attempt to rescue those confined in the City prison, but there are, counting citizens and soldiers, nearly thousand men under orders tonight, and it is not at all probable that there will be any more trouble. have just been down to look about and everything is profoundly quiet, except the constant tramp of the soldiers, who are patroling in small squads, through the streets, in every direction. During the day every kind of busi- ness has stood still, masters and clerks alike be- ing all agog to hear of the latest indications The streets have been full, the display of military quite imposing, seeing that they were in earnest, and the whole scene very lively and animated Had it been from other causes it would have been quite entertaining, but as it is, it must be source of deep modification to all law-abiding citizens.
 The great lesson for the American citizen to learn, whether North or South, native or foreign born, is that our liberty is bounded by justice, not by license, that it is obedient to law, not to caprice, that it fourishes best under government, not under mob-law, and that we are to seek re- dress for our grsviances through legirnate chan nels, not through taking the law into our own hands. Fortunately no one was seriously iniur- ed to-day. One or two were wounded with pay ing stones, but the military succeeded in iisper- sing the mob without firing upon them, and thus the calamity of blood shed and loss of life was happily avoided. All hope this is the only de. monstration of the kind that will be made. and we hope also, that when these troubles have cul- minated, currency will be put on new. and sound basis and the danger of such depreciation in value be efectually removed. I am inclined
 to believe moreover, that if our political troubles | continue for sometime aran tha strain will not