The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-03-01

next is dated June Z, 1861, and is draft
for $50, 600 on the Louisiana State Bank,
payable to the order Of A. ]. Carrot, As
sistant Treasurer. BY this time the fnan-
cial system has been fully brought into
operation. These drafts extend over pc
| riod from the date above mentioned to Au-
gust, 1864; the last regular draft having
been drawn on the Sd of that month.
There is memorandum of draft drawn
as late as October 8, 1864. This draf. is
drawn payable to the order Of NJ. ]. Hall,
Den., at Marshall, Texas. 1t is addressed
to E. G. Elmore, Jr., Richmond, Vs., and
is supposed 20 have been drawn for post
Office purposes. A note in the same hand
writing reads as follows Authority en-
dorsed on the draft TO pay R. A. Matthews
to effect the transfer under contract Of
Matthews and Ewell with the Treasury De-
partment, but at the risk and expense Of
the Post-Office Department.
Without footing up all the marginal
sums, We should judge that two hundred
millions were represented in this book.
Many of the drafts are ss large as one rail
lion, and some even reach the amount Of
ten millions. There are many small drafts
for coin, but these rarely exceed $4,000,
and most Of them were under 81 900. AS
specimen of Confederate bookkeeping, We
should not rank this account book very high.
The original entries are frequently defaced
and written over with o new endorsement,
so that it is not easy to make out the exact
character of the original transaction. In
some places there are memoranda showing
either that the draft had been sold for gold,
or that it had been drawn payable in that
way. Such drafts are usually drawn on
depositaries in localities where there was q
rebel custom-house, and where blockade
runners had paid duties in gold. Nearly
all the specie mentioned in these drafts ap-
pears to have been derived from these
sources. The right arm cf the Confederacy
was the blockade-runners. ...
In the later days of the Confederacy,
Frazer, Trenholm & Co. figure as bankers
and depositaries at Liverpool. Most of the
late drafts on this house are for small
amounts payable in gold, and appear to
have been used to pay diplomatic salaries.
The latest of these were drawn in August,
1864, when it was all up with the Confede-
racy. 1t is not little significant that when
it was evident that the cause was lost there
was desperate raid upon this draft-bank.
AS late as July %, 1864, we find draft No.
803, drawn for $6,000,000 on W. Y. Leach,
Assistant Treasurer of Columbia, S. c.,
payable to the order Of e. C. Elmore, Con-
federate Treasurer, although there is no.
thing to indicate where that official might
be found at that particular time.
On draft No. 234, drawn by the Confede-
rate Treasurer, for 500, 500, on John Bos-
ton, deputy at Savannah, Ga, is the en-
dorsement: Payable in bonds secured on
sequestration account" This sort of paper
no doubt commanded a premium. The Sc
curity was the contiscated property Of north
ern men who, refusing to be rebels, were
forced to leave the country.
Frazer, Trenholm s. Co., Liverpool, figure
in the draft-bo0k as early as December 20,
1861. In one place they are designated as
"Hon. Dep" If those fnanciers didn't
make any money out Of the rebel concern,
let them not forget the honor Of having
figured SO largely in this connection. They
aid their best, 10 doubt; and ii they are
stuck with pile of Confederate notes and
bonds, the paper mills Of England can
readily convert them into tolerable paper
stock again.
Some Of the sums expressed in these
drafts we're no doubt used to pay for the
Confederate cruiser Alabama. Laird does
not figure by name in this book-all the
financial transactions abroad being covered
by the name OF Frazer, Trenholm 6 Co.,
who, first and last, paid out several mil
lions. One draft payable TO the order of
this firm, dated September II, 1862, is for
$50, 900 francs; another, December lG, Of
the same year, and payable to the same
order, was to nay q French account against
the Confedcracy, probably for supplies, or
FOR on outfit Of one or more rebel cruisers.
The book from which We have drayn the
foregoing data is o curiosity in its way, aud
lets in CLEAN of light here and there
upon the history Of those eyentful times.