New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-05-31

The following graphic letter is from the co


NJ. Fo1,or-i,,. ,,,,1;, 1atto- :. 49,, .,a ,.,,,,
ANe i0'oMtus siaPnle iet.el ~ rom tne CUTIE
spondent OF the Boston Daily Advertiser:
LONDON, Nav I2-The mail to-day carries
out news which is BIC with evil to En-.
rome Five DAYS ago an execution wouI6
have been made of England but now our
country is first in our fears We have not to eS-
pect war it is true but some of the worst results
of war are crowding upon u.s. In a word we are
in the midst of one Of those decepnial hurricanes
Of disastrous excitement which characterize the
modern history of our finance Lord Oyerstone
many years ago said that our trade was subject
to various conditions which are periodically re.
turning; that it revolyes apparently in an estab.
lished cycle First we have d state of auiescence;
next Improvement and growing confidence. pros.
perity, excitement over trading conyulsion bres.
sure, stagnation Distress ending again in ou
escence. We are now in state Of convuIsion
| The panic began on Thursday with'the fall oil
the great house Of Overend, Quincy 4 Co. hay.
ing liabilities exceeding fl2 900 O6O Business
| led me into the city in the afternoon and the
| sight / witnessed unnerved me. In one large
| brokers' Office men whom | had known to be
| rich hurried in declaring thew were lost. Strong
men, who had given advice to emperors, and
/ advanced thousands Of pounds to foreign coun.
/ tries burst into tears and tremhled with fear
| for they believed there weald be a run upon every
bank, and that Que institution after another would
| be closed Brokers could sell nothing. Securi-
! ties which, even the day before, would have made
| man affluent on Thursday we're for the time
/ heinz. of Yat1h at ALL One nile falling bTiUGs
| another to the ground and every man met with
was confident that crash would follow crash, Men
could no longer get advances from the banks, and
to the banks themselves the securities they sold
had so deprecated in worth that their danger was
imminent if rush set in. The Transferable bank
credit being the main instrument by which all the
larger mercantile contracts are fulfilled, the
destruction OF that instrument, when carried to a
certain point, must render a performance of those
contracts total impossibility, and the apprehen
slohs were natural. The faIl OF Overend's house
alone, standing by itself, had such consequences
as to torture many with doubt as to their power
OF meeting great engagements The Bank Of
England advanced on Friday not less than four
million sterling to bankers and bill brokers. The
calamity was ditiusve.
Numbers who hardly knew what speculation
IS found the ground on which they stood suddenly
drawn from beneath them As on similar occa-
sons cry arose for government assistance, and
men with white lips called upon the chancellor of
the eXchequer to allow the Bank of England to
issue notes beyond what they are allowed to do
ny act Of Parliament and to this he has consented.
iu $50 a similar demand was so strong That
heard great banker tell the House OF Commons
that II me pank charter act had not been sus.
pehded, tne physical force OF the country would
nave nuliea tle government from power IN f0ur
ana twenty hours. we mad reached TINS acme OF
excitement yesterday, when the government ac
Ion was announced. Inc large hnancal com
p .!B WHEN ndye oeen paying sucH enormous
ulYlae I seem sun ~ gotteflng state. I4ef
9aplL i loched ", tleiI snares are AZ 4 qre&d[ul
a4 w q oi L49se WHO hoia
alG nap ~ W iaeet Gle culs 70 winch bhey aLe
i 5ale' 1nere Is sun, moreover, want OF conn
dellce aiouB gne tfauhg classes, ana When thls IL
tne case' any ulsasteF Is possible.
Inc suspension OF Peto, Belts Il Co. was not I'M
expected When Sir Morton was starring it in the
United States as millionaire, many Of us knew
the dangers he was running, and how near he had
been to bankruptcy. He and his firm, more than
any others had raised mp an edifce of credit
which frightened the ordinary spectator. Ever
on those dizzy heights, where their work of doing
and undong was incessant, they have trod the edge
of the precipices like Alpine goats with only d
hair between them and destruction, and now the
hair seems to have gone. l think, however, the
firm will rally. They have rich friends in the dis
counting interest to whom few millions ofmoney
is not much and these will enable him. al all
events, to prosecute his home and foreign con.
tracts.
We can tell the truth about some of these com
panes now. Often have longed to publish some
words of caution here as | noted men of indiffer-
emit character Suddenly leaving situations where
they realized perhaps 9200 or $500 year dsap-
pear for time, and then suddenly meet the eve in
the commercial advertisements of the day as man.
ayers or secretaries or even directors of comDanes
which were promising harvest Of gold to every
one who would invest. But what can you do? The
law of libel is SO stringent-T do NOT cnmnIain Of
it-that Won cannot mention their names and vour
very warning may precipitate the ruin you predict
Men pass me daily driving in carriages to houses
which they rent at f40O a year, who were clerks
on small incomes few years ago, who are morally
rotten but who have the savings of eredulous famI
lies in their hands. know them to be scoupdrels
but cannot point them out. | denounce them, 1t
is only my advice so indirect as to have little prac
teal issue that one can even hope to putpeople ON
their guard
The great money lending houses, such as Roths.
child and Barring, profit BY the rum of companies
like Oyerend's. It is the immense profits of those
capitalists which have been made the excuse for
the establishment of the finance companies, and if
all the latter are broken the better for the Roths
childs and Earrings. While manufacturers and
farmers and tradesmen are paralyzed the men
whose dominion is supreme are men like those
have named, who own neither plantations, nor
factories, nor farms, nor ships, nor merchandise
but who, in their dingy counting houses. have
whose names are familiar words in the transfer
office, and who can deliver the proudest from ruin
by leaf from their check book These are the