New-York daily tribune., 1861-01-19

n
r' PHILADELPHIA, Jan. Is, 1861.
o.os The curious facts of the times, is that
- ,osot;oa of bank suspension has been made
a,,ber by the Governor of Pennsylvania or the
c0..r,or Of New-Jersey, in their late messages
10 the I,egisiature. In both States the banks III
cur severe penalties by thus suspending' ye. py
.ommoa consent they seem to be permitted 10
run without accountability anywhere WIN u'
the peuelties are especially severe out no one
s,scts them. The Legislature proposes TO remit
on ,.as,t;es il they will resume payment In feo-
r,,sr, Three years ago every Democratic news
80 uas rampant TO have them wiped out IN
.ons,nsut,r-now, they are mute as MICE their
nt,oss urgency being family expressed hope that
they will resume % soon as possible, not sooner
What con be the cause Of this general acqaies-
.snce II must Do found IN the absence oil that
terrific pressure for money among the ineIca"'Ho
ana ru,anuf eoturipg classes, which In 1907 drove
.,o,. almost crazy to meet their engagements De-
eoro tbe. finally suspended. All this was the result
of sIortnous over.rading, from whose consequences
,bsv then saw no hope of relief but from the
h.nls Not finding il there for the banks had been
,hsrsfo,e unable to afford relief the clamor rose up
Con, al ouaiters ogainst them. Their inability was
mistaken for indispositiOn. In the end, both
,,,erf down together. Then came compulsory logis-
,ot;on stringent even to viDdictiveness. The con-
trost between the feeling then and now Ia most
remarkable Not single measure hostile TO the
banks has been suggested. There is no clamor
among the business community, because the old
ystem OF oyerrading has entailed upon the present
crisis no such fatal stringency as attended the last
The banks have consequently been able TO sustain
hundreds BY q moderate expansion. As to any
Wholesale insolvency. it is qZite unknown here, aud
is Likely to be- unless the Southern debt, maturing
in the Spring, should occasion it, Moreover, specie
is abundant in every mans pocket, Ihe panks
have mover faied TO pay out all their customers
hsve called for, for necessary wants ihen tne
cansa for suspension was seen to be outside oil all
re0uIar e0urses--a political, not monetary crisis.
This touched bottom some time ago, else money
would not have grown easier nor stocks continued
To 90 up Il is true that this reaction has been
favore6 by a general hauling in Of business Oper-
atous None have been expanding, while oil have
hpep contracting. As the volume OF business has
heen iesseaeA, so the pressure has diminished, and
tbe banks have gone on in their suspension with on
impunity frOm press and people such as they have
met With on no former occasion.
talked with Caronian the other day who had
;ust arrived here. Though an old acquaintance,
vet could draw but few particulars of the condition
Of things At home. He seemed unwilling to reveal
the position Of business there. But he nevertheless
confessed his astOnishment at seeing the moving con-
course of people in our streets all bent on business
or pleasure, and none on war. He could not under.
stand it, lie had been told at home by his own lying
newspapers that we were in comparative anarchy,
starving mObs trayersng our streets and holding the
city in terror, while most of us went armed. Poor
man he had believed il oil. Nothing but the actual
view of our condition would have satisfied him Of
the great deusiOn which prevailed among his fellow
citizens | suggested 10 him that the South was
under still greater delusion on other points more
vital than this but could draw out only halfway
admission The fact is that the destituhon in this
city is less than in former years. An examination
of the books of the Union Benevolent Association
proves thia oOnclusively. Your New-forb Associa-
ton wrote to ours 10 know how this Winter CON-
psrpd with others and the records show that in
1853 IN October and November, the applications for
relief were l. l76; in 1859 tho same months showed
e74, While in 1860 they were only 653. Now, this
Association operates al over the city, and It's re-
turns are reliable index to the true condition Of
the destitute masses. There is always more or less
distress at this season, but there is no more now
than the average As to bread mobs occurring in the
North the idea is absurd. All the surplus food OF the
country is in the North and all the deficiency is in the
South. If things 90 on there a few weeks longer as
they arc now going on starvation must set in, and
the North will have to send gratuitous cargoes Of
food to keep the South alive, just as We did IN the
Irish famine.
PassmOre Williamson whom the late Judge Kane
sent TO prison as an actor In running on Wheeiers
slayes in 1855, and te whom Judge Lewis refused 10
grant o writ OF habeas corpus, has ever since bsen
pursuing the latter for damages for that refusal.
There Is an old law which makes the penalty 600
Tor refusing 10 grant the writ Under this law VIII
ismsOu sued the Judge and was nOnsuted, where
upon no took out writ Of error to the Supreme
Court, where the case was argued on FRIDAY. VIII
hanson cOntended that under the act of I7c5, Lewis
was bound 90 issue the habeas corpus be applied
for nud that he had no discretion in the case at
east none until the same came up for hearing be.
fore him His case was deliberately argued, by
William nj. Meredith and others, and replied to by
objections, being now held under advise
ment IL MIR. Williamson shall fail in getting some
show Of satisfaction for the arbitrary usage he has
suffered it viii not be- for want Of pluck II we
had him in command Of some Southern fort just
nOW, no would make the FireEaters stand about; or
f he had commanded the Star Of the West last
week, be would have worked his way up 10 Fort
Sumter in spite of all the Intervening batteries.
Hr. SewnYds last speech was read with great
avidity on Saturday, but il was only throwing pearls
before the sHine Of the Senate. We think he might
have said something of Northern rs well as South.
ern grievances. But we are satisfied that all he
noy say or do viii amount to nothing with the
South. We have come to the settled conclusion
ihbt this thing must be fought out, if the laws
con be enforced in no other way. The organization
aud drilling Of men 20 on here with undated spirit.
The German Republicans are volunteering in large
numbers. IL the call for such should ever come
as way, the outpouring from this city wOuldbe tre-
nendOus.
The Rev. Mr. Beech.r gave US his third disap-
pOintment last thursday evening. Some two thou