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"CHARACTER IS AS IMPORTANT TO STATES AS IT IS TO INDIVIDUALS; AND THE GLORY OF THE STATE IS THE COMMON PROPERTY OF ITS CITIZENS.'
II. II OIjMES, Editor ana Proprietor.
FAYETTEVILLE, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1840.
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VOL,. 2.-NO. 7.-Whole Number 60.
Political.
From the .American Statesman.
We make the following extracts from a let
ter of the Hon. D. Hubbard, of Alabama, to
his constituents. The report, from which he
quotes largely, is suited to auy latitude will
apply to this country as well as England, in
which it was made. It deserves attention for
the respectable source from which it comes.
There was no partisan object to be carried
by this report. It is made by intelligent mer
chants on a subject in which they are deeply
interested, and with which they doubtless are
well acquainted.
I have just obtained the report of the Cham
ber of Commerce of Manchester, England,
made in December, 1839, (after giving the
subject a most thorough investigation,) "on
the effects of the administration of the Bank
of England upon the commercial and manu
facturing iuterests of the country."
This report, made long after I addressed
ycu on the subject, and made by the best in
formed merchants in the world in relation to
the subject, not only establishes the truth of
every position I took before you last summer,
but goes a long way further than any thing I
then advanced in shedding light upon the
enormities of .the banking system, particularly
a National Bank, conducted by selfish irre
sponsible men, having more power over hu
man beings, their iuterests, comforts, and
means of subsistence, than ever monarch had
or could have without the aid of such contri
vance as the paper system a system under
which the world is mads to groan, that the
rich may be made richer, and to give more
power to the powerful a system which it is
here shown robs children of their bread, and
mothers of a sufficiency of food to sustain
finished and helpless infancy; whilst the very
cormorants who are fed by it are endeavoring
to divert the sympathies of a nation froniven
looking up-n the suffering misery, ruin, and
degradation inflic ted upon their own people,
and to direct it to some supposed injustice
done to the African race by the toleration of
slavery iii some of our States; when, in fact
and in truth, if the sum of the suffering, mise
rv, and degradation of everv slave in the Uni
on was collected together and e.hibi:ed, the
whole amount which could by possibility be
attributed to the sluve system, would be Wit
as a mole-hill compared to the condition of
the white man in a single town in England,
as is proved by this body of intelligent mer
chants to have been produced in a few mouths
by the banking system, or rather by a single
pressure to regain six millions of specie by
the Bank of England, THE GREAT RE
GULATOR of the system.
After setting forth the manner of conduct
ing the Bank of Eugland, (which was similar
to that of the late Bank of the United States,)
by making paper money plenty, and lending
it freely, aud then suddenly calling upon its
debtors to enable it to take up its own paper,
and thus deranging all business, the report
states, that,
"Having thus taken a review of the princi
pal events illustrating the course pursued by
the Bank of England from 1S35; down to the
present time, the board are desirous of direct
ing the attention of the members to the losses
which these forced contractions and expan
sions of the currency inflict upon the manu
facturing and mercantile community; an evil
the magnitude of which has not been sufficient
ly appreciated by those who have investigated
the questions of banking and currency.
"Without attempting any thing like an ac
curate estimate of the amount of the sacrifices
incurred, sufficient proof may be adduced to
show the extent of the pecuniary loss, and the
still more serious nature of the moral mischief
inflicted upon the manufacturing and trading
world.
"It may be estimated that in the manufac
ture of cottons, woollens, silks, linens, and
hardwares, capital, fixed and floating, is em
ployed, amounting to an hundred millions
sterling.
"The rates of depreciation, caused by the
late panic upon all of those great articles of
production, may be gathered without difficul
ty, from the prices current of the spring and
summer of 1839. They fell in price vari
ously from 20 to 50 per cent.
"To estimate the amount ofloss upon these
manufactures, they must also be followed into
the hands of the wholesale and retail dealers,
whose losses upon stock consequent upon the
operations of the BANK OF ENGLAND
n the currency, are incurred simultaneously
with those of the first producers. (J Scarce
ly one of these escaped in 1S37, icithout the
sacrifice of the whole of the ordinary profits
of the year's trade, and many lost in the va
lue of their stock the whole of their capital al--
In proof of the latter fact, it may be sta
ted that 1,939 fiats in bankruptcy were issued
ln 1837, the average of the four previous years
amounting to 1,266 only; whilst a proportion
ate increase occurred in the number of pri
vate corporations."
I here beg my constituents who are mer-
cnants, and particularly W hig merchants, to
look at the foregoing item, and no longer
charge your Government with giving this "fa
tal blow to your prosperity, when you here
have proof which cannot be disnuted. that it
was the banks of England and the banks of
the United States combined, that produced
these mischiefs, and from the disasters of
which we have as yet but begun to recov
er. The report continues:
"At a moderate computation, from twenty
to thirty millions of canital mav be estimated
To be employed by the wholesale and retail
irauers, engaged in the distribution ot the
five great manufactures enumerated above.
"It has been shown how the policy of the
Bank of Enirland affects the foreign trader.
CT '
by compelling him to import, at heavy sacri
fices, the bullion required to replenish its ex
hausted coffers.
"Of all our produce and manufactures con
sumed in foreign countries, the greatest por
tion is sent abroad by British capitalists.
Nearly the whole of our exports to India and
China, at least seven-eighths of-the amount
shipped to South America, and a third of the
exports to the continent of Europe, with the
whole of our colonial trade, are forwarded by
British merchants. From thirty to forty mil
lions of British capital is probably employed
in the foreign commerce of the country."
The amounts of British capitafthus enume
rated, are as follows:
"Employed in the production of the
five great articles of cotton, wool
len, silk, linen and hardware 100,000,000
"In the wholesale and retail distri
bution of ditto 25,000,000
"In the whole of the foreign com
merce of the country 35,000,0f;0
1GO,000,OOCZ
Lowest estimate of loss thereon 25
per cent. . 40,000,COO
(Equal to near two hundred millions of dol
lars.") The report goes on:
"Without embracing the prominent branch
es of cur domestic manufactures, including
the trade in a thousand articles of daily con
sumption, and omiting the traffic in agricul
tural productions, all of which were mote or
less affected by the revulsion of prices; refer
?!:co has here Lceu made to a cspit.i! r-f -c:is
hundred and sixty millions upon which w;e
may trace a tangible loss, varying from 20 to
50 per cent, by the forced depreciation of va
lue in 1837.
"This sacrifice of forty millions, at the
least, and which constitutes a fraction only
of the losses simultaneously sustained by the
entire commercial world, WAS INCUR
RED in order that the Bank of England
might regain possession of si.c or seven mil
lions t f specie, uhich it had previously forced
out of the country by the undue expansion of
the currency.
"It has been shown that the Bank no soon
er found itself in a safe position than it re
commenced, in 1838, a system of expansion,
and exported part of its stock of gold.
"Prices of the great staples before enume
rated consequently advanced during the year
1838, and part of the year 1S39, until, as we
have seen, the restrictive policy was resumed,
the. motiou of the screw was reversed, and,
down to the present moment, prices, have
again fallen from 20 to 30 per cent, thus in
flicting upon the already prostrate trading and
manufacturing interest a repetition of the
sacrifices of 1S37.
"By these forced expansions and contrac
tions of the currency, during the last three
years, some of the most prudent and wealthy
of our merchants and manufacturers, have in-J
curred that ruin which, in a more wholesome
and natural state of the circulating medium,
could befall only the reckless adventurer or
gambler.
"Under such a state of things as has been
described, calculations based upon the mos-t
enlarged experience afford no security against
loss and failure. The trader learns the fate
of his undertakings not in the markets of the
world, as influenced by the law cf supply and
demand, but in the ACTS cf twenty-six
irrexjionsib e individuals conducting a ;joint
stock bakkijsg association iu the city of
London.
"But the heavy pecuniary losses incurred
by our capitalist., constitute a minor, evil
when compared with the moral and social in
juries inflicted upon the laboring classes by
the fluctuations in the currency. The board
have directed their best attention to this part
of the subject; the effects produced upon the
condition of the great mass of the people, by
the operations of the Bank of England, hav
ing hitherto been almost entirely overlook
ed. "The late panic, by causing a diminution
of our exports in 1837, as compared with the
previous year, to the extent often millions;
and by curtailing, proportionately, the amount
of our home trade, was accompanied by a
corresponding cessation of the demand for
labor. In the spring and summer of that year,
vast numbers of the working classes, iu all
the large towns, were suddenly deprived ot
employment, aud thrown upon their own lee
ble resources for the maintenance of their
families. Their first resort would naturally
be to their own reserved funds; and in ex
amining the reports of the various savings
banks in the manufacturing districts, it has
been found, in Manchester, Leeds, Birming
ham, Sheffield, Stockport, Huddersfield,
Blockburn, Bolton, and every other place to
which the beard have directed their inquiries,
that although the laboring classes form but a
small proportion of the depositors, the amount
ot money drawn from these institutions in
1S37 exceeded, considerably, the sums lodged
with them during that year.
"The next and only resource of the work
ing classes, when deprived of employment, is
the parochial poor fund. But in directing
inquiries into the amount of parish relief af
forded in 1S37, as compared with previous
years, the board found that the adoption of the
new poor law act, about that time, and the
consequent organization of parishes into uni
ons, prevented them from instituting such
comparisons. In the report of the poor 'mv
commissioners, dated the 17th July, 1S37,
are, however, recorded some statements of
facts, which exhibit m . a strong light the na
ture of the evil.
"The Commissioners begin by stating that
they were deferred from making an earlier
report, because of the sudden change which
took place in the manufacturing districts, by
the cessation of the usual emploj-ment, which
made them desirous of possessing such infor
mation as they might be able to collect as to
the working of the system under the adverse
circumstances to which it became so suddenly
exposed.
" The report states, that in the rrcater part of
the manufacturing counties of Stafford, Notting
ham, and Leicester, a cessation in the demand
for labor took place in 1S37, more sudden in
its approach, ami more extensive in its opera
tions, than has been known on ativ previous oc
casion. In many places, owing to the insuffi
ciency of t lie workhouse accommodations, they
were obliged to suspend the order prohibiting
out-door relief to the able-bodied. In Notting
ham, alter providing (or nearly 700 persons by
the workhouse, a subscripiioii of 4,OO0J was en
tered into by the principal inhabitants of the
town, and the unemployed operatives were set
o work in constructing a road through some
property belonging to the corporation.
" 1 he report contains similar accounts of the
state of the working cbses in Coventry, Foles-
hiii, Nmtealiou, Mansfield, ami oilier places;
there is aio a report from Dr. Knv, upon the
condition id' the Spita!a..'kls weavers, in which
be states that, nut of -1,000 hvirns, na:: third are
altogether disused, and that ceitain of the re
nnining looms are only partially employed. And
Mr. Muggende, the initiation agent, m a
similar report from Manchester, dated July,
1 3 1, says, the entire trade ! tne d. strict was
ill at. once paralvzed. and distrust suspended
fur a season almost all commercial operations.
44 1 be board have inspected the va: tons re
ports of the charitable bodies of the lime, !.:
further f..s-.:, ::':xi:z ciiUia t thv pa
nic upon the working clauses.
4'ln Birmingham large subscriptions were
raised to relieve the distics.' of the almost un
precedented numbers if unemployed work peo
ple. Sheffield was divided into districts, and
upwnrdsof 15.000 p":s :tis were at one time sup
ported ly charity. The committee of the dis
tress fund stated, in a public a; peal, that .in
-hundreds of fiiini'ies, children were crvmg
!)! food to parents unable to give it; and in
others, sickness, arising Iroui the wntl of the.
necessaries of life, threatens, without a spee
dy relief, to bring the sullerin r of I be wretch
ed individuals to a close. The eighth an
nual report of the Liverpool Visiting So
ciety for the year 1S39, slates that during
the lour preceding years, the average number
of cases relieved by the board was 2,892, at a
cost in provisions of boll 4s 2d; whereas, during
the last year, the number was 9,902, at the cost
of 1,3384 Is Id; and by a table ol the number
of inmates of lb Liverpool Assylum for the
llous.eless poor, it has been found lhat 15.731
were admitted in 1(537. whilst the highest num
ber admitted in any one of the three proceeding
years, amounted only io 10 559.
"The Leeds Church id" England Visiting
Society, in their annual report to ihe first of
October, lSG, begin with l.iiiieiiting the com
mercial embarrassments, and the consequent
privations of the poorer classes."
Such, fellow-citizens, is but a small portion of
the fruits gathered bom a National Bank in
Kngland, where the tree has beea growing Ibr
nearly a century and a ball". Do you yet desire
to re-engraft a branch thereof into the Tree of
Liberty, which was planted by our fathers, and
'waiered with their blood," lhat your children
may gather l.ke fruit?"
II voii yet desire this, then read this report
through, ami you will not only refuse again to
plant ibis accmsed tree in our Republican soil,
but Von will cut up by the roots, as fast as you
can,"(wilhout injury to other growth.) evcy
scion ami sprout, lhat shall spring up in the laud,
that yor children be not even tempted to cat
of t he fruit.
The rep rt ro s on to sta'' i list
"Scot a i ' s w s h fir t, ;.s u iu.l, to fed lh : cf
f c s of a p hi -laiy c:.si-.
"A p ublii: n. ttmi wish Id ii GIa w on the
10th nt" M.iv, lb 7, to raie u -i b-i lit.tio i for t c
je icf t f the i-t ss f the oiki a ch-ss-s. Up
w a ili cf ijn thousand pouii !s js p a' l :it the
I'i po-al i.i the (o mninee. Ai i ne tim'? about
I8,50J rsois wire fed fointh; soup k iic'icn, ot
wliom upwau's id' 3,, 0 wee ;r wi p -rsuns.
La ge b di cf I di r -rs were at t h i s. m timn
t irowii out of einpl.iMiiCi.t, iiml r ndc cd d s itu!.
in I jundey a id .t r l irr? towns i i -'codand. In
Tais y, l -ubLc meet. 1,4; vas liJ i on tin: 1 It f
Aprd, I81J7, to raise a subsc ipt on, and in Jun; it
wus ciilcu!; ted t' at Sooi; pi sons w"ro nnt nipl y
ed; and at St.nthven, and o h r towns ard v:ilagrs
in the w gt of Scotland, destitution and disease pre
vailed to Jin alarming d -gr e."
The report goes 011 to sla'e:
"Nor did Ireland escape hor sare in tho common
calamity." And the examinations ma le by the
hoard established the fail, ''that d srase and crime
Followed in Ihf train of such sufFrillg:,' and in tine"
towns alone it is sb wn that tht; sick recciv. d in
ho-pita!s r.nd other places for the retcpt'&ri of dis
eased poor persons, duii g 1837, c-xccedi d the num
lier in any tonncr year By nioro tlmn 5,9-rO; and
that criir.i-rals wore conitn tted to the jails during
this same time in like proportion, which coul l be
atfribu'id to no cai se bur the comintrcial cri.i-s
"brought on by th B ink of Engh.nd."
Tire repoit thea fu tSer slat s that "the Roard
have thiio, it is presmn'.tl, brought (brwH suffici-. nt
dite from wh'cii tofurm a judjmeot. of the magni
tude of the injuries infl cti d upon tho liboring cl is
S", by the operations of the Back of Euglai.d upo:i
the currency. It has been seen lht tho effects of
the panic in the money niarkrtwere to deprive of
employment a lare portion of the industrious com
munity, to subject them to the most intense priva
tions, to degrade them to the level of pauperism,
and, ultimately, to produce a great increase of dis
ease, crime and mortality."
S.jiiilar,consequf nces must always Sow from a
forcrd contraction of the currency.
"Even at this moment, the same process on the
part of the Bank of England is again going on, and
producing a repetition of all thosa evils which have
been enumerated. In Leeds, Nottingham, Paisley,
Glasgow, and othrr large manufactming towns,
multitudes of industrious work people are thrown
out of employment, whose privations are again
causing a lamentable increase of pauperism, crime
and disease.
'It becomes, then, of the utmost importance to the
-!- f.i -,
' '- !::!' . 1IU"U" . ..!!-! -
il - . '
t.iC CPt-i;l 1 eot: :.!.. r
r ii. '!;!!
the 2d of August, 1833, to the 3d of March, 1834
this "regulator of the currency" had contracted its
discounts on personal security in the "Western and
Southwestern States alone, to the amount of 33,41 5,
357 96 this enormous amount was calf d for at a
time when the entire produce of flour, corn, pork,
tobacco and cotton from the Western country was
to be brought into market.
Now it is unimportant, whether this was done to
enable capitalists to buy this produce at low prices,
for political elFecf, or to enable the Bar.k to meet its
own debts, the injuries inflicted upon the Western
people were the same. The loss in the sale of their
year's productions, by the sadden call for nearly
.thrflo mil h-'Cyai: " . - . ! .
CtiPt'iM '
r'.v in :
c ear. sue.
'. -..! . '.r-jij 1.., I,
01 10": 1
"Although it scarcely comes within the
scope of th' ir present ol ject, the board will add a
reflection upo;i the subject ot the undue privileges
of tlfe Bank of England. That such a power over
the propel ty, and, as has been seen, the health, mo
rals, and very lives, of the community, should be
vested in the hands of twenty-six irresponsible in
dividuals, fur the exclusive bcnifit cf a body of bank
proprietors, mut te regarded as one ct the inott
singular anomalies of the present day. That the
secret acts of thete individuals, veiled, as they are,
even from the eyes of their own constituent?, should
decide the fortunes of our capitalists, and the fa'e of
our artisans: mat noon trie error or wisdom ot tncir
judgment should depend the happiness or misery of
iiinuons; anu mat against tne mosT caprn ious exer
cise of this power there should be neither appeal
nor remedy that such a state of things should be
aMmvrd to exist, must be regarded as a rrnroach to
the intelligence of the age, and as totally irrecon
cilable with every principle of public justice.
'If, instead cf being Landed down to us from
o'.ir ancestors, it had been proposed in ihe present
day, to create a bank, endowed with the powers
rtnd privileges of the Bank of England, the common
srnie of the country would have revolted against
the ntt-T.ipt to csiaMish such a monoroly."
1 has, tei!ow-cil:zeiis, these eminent men have
ren.o::e i upon the hicts lli.-y liave collected and
furnished. I regard the report as one of immense
value to ihr? American people. It comes from tli
highest authority on the subject upon whic'a it
treats.
Thre is no city in the world in which the com
bined iiitor.."ft cf commerce and manufactures is
more peifet'y understood thnn in JMr-nchestfr; and
it is a fair presumption that the org.m thiough
which the inf irir.ation contained in the extract
( OTO! j, is a hiirand full representation of the knowl
edge ami ep. rience of that great ci'y on the suh-
jeet of which it treats, and t!io clients of banking
ppra'iotison ihe two great Urancn-js ot industry
therein concentrate!.
The i x'ract irlves the result of the banking sys-
i n ti o tin: Lusi icfS and interests of Cl inch' ster
r lh last fiw y. ars, and is calculated to reflect
i: h li '! t bac'.t ;o -:-, uo to tlie noliiT which we
oi'g'il t puisne rn the great question cf currency
wire. 1 row dividis the coentry.
?.'v o' j rt i 1 n akian this pub'ieation is to com-
murm-ato as l.ir as p.-ss:iK' tin" nyit 10 me country,
so that we may havr the ben-jft in passing through
the pri sent important crisis.
Ii we are net mistaken, the imormnfon winch
it c-'-ntair.s is conclusive rga ml ir.e rstabl shment
of a Nat'ortal Bunk us a regulator of the currency.
We In re find that the Lunk of Lng'am!, accord
ing to the opinion ot tins crave and experienced
ho.lv of men, has utt r y faded as a regulator: fo
inneh so, that they trace all of their distress, embar-
rasimn'and lessi s, 10 ine pern cieus niiiuciicc 01
that insti:u"ion over the cern ncy.
If. th n, so pow irfui an institution, located among
capitalists, OH injr m t.ions where vn have tliou
sanils, b ickei! bv the weight of th;; Government, has
fa led ( 11 so sni-di a coun'ry, not much laer in
extent than one of our States) to regulate the ci:r-ren'-v,
liow absurd would it be to expect it could
seccci d with ns under circuuistaucc-s so much less
favfrabl.??
But this is not the only po nt wh eh it cstab. ish.es.
The information is cquady decisive agamst th."
opinion ol mo' who rxpi ei 10 "ierornr- our cur
rency by prohibit n small bank netos, say under
ten or twenty d I ars.
The Hak of En-, bind can issue no note under
five pounds, or al'out 25; and yet we see, even
with an issue thus limit -u, its oll.-cts nave bee'i
ruirons to th tra!e a'id business transactors of
hat citv. which is the first manufacturing city in
the world, and consequently, where its infuei'Cc
on the cnmb'ni d interests of labor and capital is
"re-'t'-r t an m any other p ace in world.
If we had the hi-try o' its e ff-cts in other fratl
! towns, its influence would no doubt be found
pronortionablv disnst 011s.
. . . , , - , . 1
It s- ttlcs am-tiur p 1111 not r-ss coicmsiveiv me
f 11 v of those who : ttr bote low p-'ecs with ns to the
Pnh-Tiei-surv, (which, by the-bv, has never yet
been in i-xi-terc-,) and the tampering of the Gov
ernment with the currency.
Neither of these cans s has, or could operate in
England, and y t we find prices in that, country re
do) ed from twenty to fi tv p r cent, by ihe c-mr-ac-t
on i f b :nk p -p:r a reduction fully eqiiid to what
has ta'ien p'ai-1- w th ua.
The e is another r su't est ib isrrd beyond con
troversy bv the reert. It is hi-; l h it w icn a on
ir ic'ion of 'he pap r circulation b cni' s n C'-ssa v,
tV B ink, in its -dm ; 1 ' meet its n :.-g.-eei is,
ac'nalv e u-ed a Greater loss to th omnm vf, by
ri'nin pi ices of p-opf r'y, than the who!.- a uount
f i s c pi'a'; and ten lim -s as n.u.h as eer coul-l
hav fall n np-i the c -mntry bv r aso 1 of thr; 11 ost
clii'i sv m-thod of exr-lmnge, even h.nl it t een thi.t
of t anspoiting sptcia throu.h the country in wa-
g-S.
Ve find o'bor points, if poss'-' If, still more im
pr.'tanf, o-tahlished bv this ab'e and interesting
rrpnrt: that the untahl ? ch traeter of bank paper,
it creat and rapid cuifnictions and expansions,
is not onTy destructive of the besinnss oft'ic coun
try, but is the fruiful sou-ce of pa:pe ism and
crim", and I invito particular attention to the facts
contained under that interesting head.
With such results, it is not astonishing that the
woikin people of the United States are so zealous
ly opposed to bank paper.
Lt men of all parties read it; and let none, not
one of von, ever think of arcing back into this worse
than Egyptian bond.i?e; but, like our Revo'utionary
fathers, let us bear with patience and firmness this
conflict with despotic power, and if we leave our
children nothing else, let us leave them free.
I have new given you my views, and only reETet
my inability to p'aeelhe subject before you in such
manner as io exhibit the pap-r system in all of its
ruinous tendencies and consenw nces. I know that
we cannot at onee iet clear of the evil; nor can we
recover from it without pain. Like men who ha.ve
been Ion sick, we can only expect trecovet health
and strength bv degrees; but I do hope that every
one of vou will look forward to a day when we are
to get rid of the system, and to be freed from the
evils it has brought upon us.
I am, respectfully, your fellow citizen,
' 1 n i -i7rr TJTTT?n a
. .-.. : 1
uii.o;i.t
run
DAVID HUBBARD.
. P. S. A friend and colleague has furnished me
with a statement of the course pursued by the late
United States Bank, by which it appears that from
country. Prices are low articles are dull.
W ho causes this, but "the mad experiments
of the Administration" therefore, turn them
out, and put in old Harrison. Such is the
fine argument of the Whigs. But will he
mend the matter? Will he make the people
more able to pay their debts, and the Banks
more competent to meet their engagements?
Who believes it? But it was not the Admin
istration, that is in fault. We have over
banked, and we have overdealt. - We have
had too many banks, and too much paper
money, which the Democrats have been more
anxious to keep down, than the Whigs.
For, what institution has done more harm,
than all the rest? What has brought the oth
ers into the difficulty and, being compelled
by its own mismanagement, to suspend pay
ments, compelled the others to stop? The
Pennsylvania Bank of the United States.
And who put that Bank up? The Whigs.
The Whig Legislature of Pennsylvania, who
happened to slip into power amid the quarrels
of the friends of Wolf and Muhlenberg.
They lastened this 35 million Bank on the
country for a long series of years. The
Whigs, then, are the most to blame for the
hard times.
In connexion with this subject, we lay be
fore our readers the following article, from
the Ts". Y. Herald, which the Albany Argus
says is "from a source by no means friendly
to the Administration, and gives a practical
view of the causes of the present pecuniary
embarrassments and the depressed condition
of the country. It affords a perfect answer
to the empty charge of the Federal papers and
r-ritcra thai the IC'L'cilt pCClialliry iMClCUHICS
are to be ascribed to the measuies of the na
tional administration, and that relief can be
looked for only from that quarter; Its facts
and positions are undeniable; and, as a prac
tical financial article, it is worth all the state
ments (false statements) which the Federal
writers will put forth from this day until the
close of the political campaign, all of which
are designed to mislead the people as to the
real causes of the pecuniary depression, and
to shield their political idol and pecuniary
aid, the U. S. Bank of Pennsylvania:''
( From the V. I". JlrraUl of Satnr'lcv.)
CAUSES OF THE PRESENT 'PECU
NIARY DEPRESSION.
"The irredeemable system, at the head of
which are the United States and Guard Banks,
is fast approaching its dissolution, and the
event will carry out of existence the banks
of the Southwestern section of the Union,
seme of those in the Southern States and
Girard banks. The last two institutions, are
by their course awakening the indignation of
the Philadelphia pjblic to a degree that must
soon produce an explosion. This arises
from the system of marking checks, an opera
tion which has been severely commented on,
in certain quarters, aad as servilely defended
by the venal press of Philadelphia. The
eyes of the community are, however, at last
opened to the merits of the case, and many
ate pursuing a course which will bring the
rotten concerns to reason. An old merchant,
whose name we have, of Philadelphia, pre
sented his check at the Girard bank recently,
which was as usual, marked, "good," aud pay
ment refused. With this check he endea
vored to pay his note at one of the other banks,
but it was refused, and his note consequently
iaid over. In consequence of this, he has
brought an action against the Girard bank,
damages $200,0.0, for loss of credit sustained
by the dishonor of his note. JVIany other
suits of a .similar nature have been instituted,
and the institutions will soon find that they
are not above either the law or public opinion.
"The whole commercial affairs of the Uui
ted States are at a stand, because the United
States and the Girard banks will neither re
sume themselves nor allow others to do so.
The country was never in a better situation
in regard to its external commercial relations
than now. Foreign exchanges indicate iu
all the ports, with the exception of Baltimore
and Philadelphia, that the balance is in our
favor. The importations thus far have been
scarcely' larger than the re-exportation; and
our immense cotton crop, and other produce,
remain to settle for those goods which will be
imported for consumption during the coming
year. The low state of prices is a guaran
tee that the imports will be small, and the ex
ports Jarge. There is, therefore, but very
little prospect of an external demand for spe
cie for many months. The domestic ex
changes are in a most disordered condition,
in all the States within the influence of the
suspended batiks. These compromise the
producing and importing States, while in New
York" and New England, the manufacturing
and importing States, the banks all pay specie
and exchange is at par. There is apparent
ly, a heavy indebtedness from the south and
west, to New York aud New Engla nd. This
grows out of the operations of the V. S
Bank last year. The north and east sent
their goods and manufactures, to the amount
of $75,000,000, to Philadelphia, from whence
they were distributed through the southern and
western sections. The proceeds of the pro
duction of those sections passed through the
hands of the same agents, the Philadelphia
banks and the.southern banks in their inter
est, and have not been applied to the pay
ment of the smnA K..
Ci i ll!
!utr e-;
1 - 1 :
id it' Eti'
. w .'i r.oi.r
uy me oauks in advance. This cannot "be
done, because post notes are no longer avail
able, and bills payable on demand would
oblige them to pay their debts. The sound
banks cannot issue bills payable on demand
because this would put them in the power of
the insolvent banks. The whole business of
the country is at a stand still, although in all
sectious there is a large stock of produce and
merchandize.
In the Eastern States there is liierchan-
dec .1. .. . 850,000,000
teoutn, cot'on, tobacco, &c. 30,000,000
VV est, produce of all kinds 150,000,1 00
Total $230,000,000
"This vast amount is now lying perfectly
dead, and suffering daily depreciation; the
laboring and manufacturing classes entirely
out of employ: the merchants and traders
daily failing; the currency at a joint lower
than for many years; and the specie paying
banks remain within their shells, because the
Philadelphia institutions say they owe New
York and Boston $4,000,000, which they
cannot pay immediately, for the reason that
it is due them by the U. S. Bank and the Gi
rard Bank, who won't pay or can't pay, which
,j oalire im.ug. ?ieie 11 not lor tins cir
cumstance a general resumption would, by
making the currency once more uniform, in
stantly give life to the mass of property, and
the banks could extend the currency 50 per
cent, without affecting the prices any great
degree."
But the Whig presses raise the cuckoo note
of Hard times! Low prices!" and Wm, C.
Rives is insidious enough, in imitation of the
Vhiir panic cry nf leii, in tM prls
Neison iu his Address of the 24th. March,
that but for the course of the Administration,
their tobacco would have been up to $10 the
hundred! Now, is this the only year that
produce has been low? Look to the prices
of 1819, those good old days of the .Yational
Dank. Then, Niles quotes the best wheat
at Buffalo at 37 1-2 cents, and flour at Balti
more, after paying all costs, "yielding the
owner only $1 25 the barrel." Come down
10 years lower and compare prices in 1S30,
with a National Bank, to prices in 1S4U,
without a National Bank:
Li April 1S30, with a National Bank,
W heat, 75 cents a bushel.
Flour, 4 25 a barrel.
Oats, 20 cts. a bushel.
Corn, 35 do.
Potatoes, 18 do.
Beef, $2 1-2 to $3 per cwt.
Pork, $4- do.
In Feb. 1840, without a National Hank.
Wheat, S3 cts. a bushel.
Flour, $5 25 the barrel.
Oats, 31 cts. a bushel.
Corn, 47 do.
Potatoes, 20 do.
Beef, $4 to $5 per cwt.
Pork, fB5
do.
The above Comparative Prices are from a
Syracuse (N. Y.) paper.
Will Wm. C. Rives & Co. then insist
upon saying, that present prices are all owing
to this Administration? Fudge! as friend
Uurpnell says.
From the Richmond Enquirer.
STaylor Nailed to the Counter at Iat t
We have been puzzled bv ihe contradictorw
statements which have appeared in the Phila
delphia papers annul the evidence ol Gill. But
the fulbwinsr frnmtbe Inst Peiuisylvnnian which
bus reached us, seems to put t fie fraud beyond
a doubt, and to naii Naylor 10 the wall.
THIRD DIST RICT INVESTIGATION
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.
Philadelphia JWarck 31.
Mr. InrersII yesterday announced that his
examination of witnesses was closed for the pre
sent, and wjtnesses on the part of the silting
member will he called to day,
"Two of the last witnesses examined by Mr.
Inorersri!!, were William G. Cunrow and Ernest
C. Smith the former the Whig return judge,
fbr Spring- Garden, who signed Mr. Nayln?a
return the latter the Chairman of the W"hi
Committee of Superintendence for Spring Gar
den in 1838. Both these gentlemen testified to
their having learned from Mr. Bela Badger, at
Hiirrisburcr, in December, 1838, the addition of
900 to 1000 names to the Northern Liberties
registry list, also proved bv other witnesses tn "
have been confessed by John C. Gill. Mr.
Conrow was asked in 1 he course of his examina
tion, whether be or any of the election officers
for Spring Garden, in October, 1838, were
sworn or affirmed according to law a question
which he declined to answer; and being desired
to state bis reason fiir declining, the witness
assigned as bis reason that be was not bound
by the law of ihe label to aive evidence which
criminated himself. Mr. Ernest C. Smith af
terwards swore, that Mr. Conrow had inhumed
him thnt not one of the election officer in '
Spring Garden was under oath or affirmation!
Mr. Conrow and Mr. Smit h are both well lenuwri
to be men above contradiction or impeachment.
Thus the whole election in Spring Garden la