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Whole jYo. 237-
Tarborough, Edgecombe County, wV. C. Friday, March 6, 1829.
m r.xo. so,
THE "FREE PRESS,"
By Ceo. Howard,
Is published weekly, (every Friday,) at
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bers,) if p:iid in advance Tivo Dollars &
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year or, Three Dollars at the expiration
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Twenty-five Cents per month. Subscribers
at liberty to discontinue at any time on pay
ing arrears. Subscribers residing at a dis
tance must invariably pay in advance, or
give a responsible reference in this vicinity.
No subscription discontinued unless a noti
fication to that effect is given.
Advertisements, not exceeding 16 lines,
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er ones at that rate for every 16 lines. Ad
vertisements must be marked the number
of insertions required, or they will be con
tinued until otherwise ordered.
Letters addressed to the Editor must be
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Notice.
rpHE Subscriber informs the citizens
of Edgecombe and the adjacent coun
ties, that he has commenced Ihe
Gig and Wagon-making
BUSINESS IN TARBOUO',
Near I hp. Bridge,
And earnestly requests those friendly to
humanity to give him a share of patron
age. QrHis work shall be completed
equal to any in the Slate.
770.9. J. BLAKE LEY.
Feb. 12, 1S29. 27
At the Post-Office in the town of
HALIFAX,
The fallowing Articles, to wit:
Bacon, Lime, Herrings, Shad, Flour,
Stained curtain Bedsteads,
Windsor Chairs, Leather, wagon Collars,
Tobacco, (twist and bundle,) wholesale
and retail,
ALSO the following Articles:
Bottle Corks, Fly Stone, Tcrmerick,
Liquid backing, Ginger, Spice, Nutmegs,
Venitian Red, Red Lead, White Lead,
Verdigris, Raitman's Drops, Opodeldoc,
Allum, Letherid.2;e, Ink Powder, Pearl Ash,
Ground Paint Brushes, assorted,
Shaving Hoxes and Soap, Spanish Whiting,
Turkey Umber, Crom. Yellow, Prussian blue,
Durable Ink, Staughton's Bitters,
Tooth Brushes Mace, Snuff Boxes,
Snanish Annatto, do. Blueing, do. Indigo,
Wagons ironed, do. not Ironed, Almanacs,
Garden
Marrowfat PI7 i Q
Early six week C JL JSLjIlO
Green Bunch
Spinning Wheels, Shaving Brushes, Razors,
Blank VVarrants, do. Notes, do. Bonds,
All of Ihe above articles will be sold
very low, for Cash only.
JOS. L. SIMMONS.
Halifax, Feb. 6, 1829.
Notice.
A LL persons indebted to the Subscri
hers either by noie or account, are
respectfully invited to coll and settle the
same as oon as possible, as the subscri
bers are under the necessity of making
collections between this time and Feb
ruary Court.
KING & GATL1N.
Tarboro', Jan. 20, 1S29.
Notice.
J ANA WAY from the Subscriber, on
the 22d of December last, an indent
ed apprentice boy, by the name of
Aurvrs Kr,iJAtu.NU, about seven
teen years of 3ge, dark complexion. 1
will cive a reward of Ten. 7W.c. r.
ne delivery of said boy to me in Tar- i
,o.jSn all persons are forbid harbor
ng or employing him under the penal
of the law.
HENRY JOHNSTON
urDoro'; Jan. 20, 1S29. (
Domestic
Bank Debate. The following re
marks were made in the House of Com
mons of the last General Assembly of
this State, on the resolutions relative to
the Banks, submitted by the Committee
appointed for that purpose:
Mr. POTTER, (the Chairman
of the Committee) rose, and mov
ed the adoption of the Resolution
reported by the minority commit
tee, in preference to that recom
mended by the majority. Mr. P.
after some prefatory remarks,
which he had partly made before
the Reporter entered the Hall, in
which he said the safety of the
community depended upon the de
liberations of the General Assem
bly on this subject, proceeded to
dilate on the evidence which had
been adduced before the Com
mittee to whom this matter had!
been referred.
Mr. P. said he would first ad
vert to the manner in which the
capital stock of the several Banks
had been raised; and for this pur
pose he would refer to the state
ment made to the Committee by
the gentleman from Newborn.
' ' 7
who is President of the Bank ofj
that town, (Mr. Gaston.) He!
states, that the charter of that!
Bank was granted in 1804. How;
the shares were then paid for, he!
does not know. By the act of
1814, the charter of the Bank was
prolonged, and an enlargement of
its stock authorized, by a sub-!
scription for additional" shares,;
which were to be paid for in ten!
instalments. These were paid,!
as all other debts, in whatever
was regarded as money, or the,
r . . . r 1
icjMUMiinauvc oi money, very
little was received in gold or silver.
The greater part was paid in
Bank notes of the State; and, no;
doubt, the means of making the
deferred payments, were, in many
instances, procured by loans from
the Banks. The act of 1814, in
providing for these additional
shares,says nothing of paying them
in gold or silver, and that such a
requisition could avail nothing, as
the gold and silver could have been
obtained only from the Banks."
It follows, said Mr. P. from jts
statement, that in 1814, the Banks
had in their possession all the
gold and silver coin in thecountry.
Gold and silver, it is stated, could
be obtained only from the Banks.
Mr. P. then read Mr. G's an
swer to the question. "Has the
Bank of Newborn paid its notes
in specie on demand!" Ans, "In
the war, the Banks of this State,
as of all the southern and middle
States, suspended specie pay
ments. At what precise period
after the close of the war, they j
were punctually resumed, 1 can
not say; but I think in the sum
mer of 1817. In 1819, the runs
on the Bank for specie were very
heavy. r It became certain that
the Bank could not supply this
continued drain, unless it compel-!
led its debtors to make large pay
ments. The exned iftnt was thn
resorted to, in concert with the
other Banks of the State, to refuse
specie to the brokers, who princi
pally annoyed the institutions.
The Bank has since been irregu
lar in the payment of specie.
It has paid when it had the means
of paymentand when it had not
the means of payment, it made
the best arrangements in its pow
er with those who presented de
mands against it."
Taking these two statements
together, said Mr. P. and to what
do they amount! That during
the war, the Banks suspended
specie payments, which were not
resumed untill 1817. So that
when this additional stock was
granted to the Cape-Fear and
Newborn Banks, they were not
specie paying Banks. They had,
it is acknowldged, at the time all
silver to the commissioners at the
time of subscribing; and after it
was certified to the principal Bank,
by the representative branches',
that the sum required to authorise
the bank to go into operation, the
mother bank, the only part of the
institution which discounted a
note, did discount one note only,
in order to call in the second in
stalment, which by the charter
was payable in sixty days thereaf
ter. The payments after the first
instalment, of course, were paid to
the Cashier in gold and silver, as
far as this witness has any knowl
edge of this payment, and he feels
satisfied such was the fact. Af
ter the second instalment was
paid in, the Bank then went into
operation to a considerable extent;
and it is the belief of this witness,
that the remaining two instal
ments were paid gonerally in the
notes of the Bank. Thn
the gold and silver coin in their feels considerable confidence in
- I 1 .1 I . . - T
tins opinion, from the well known
fact, that nearly the whole of the
paper money of the State had
been obtained by the Newbern &,
Cape-Fear Banks, and used by
them as a defence: that the circu
ting medium at that time consist
ed almost entirely of Newbern &,
j Cape-Fear Bank paper, including
uie issues oune state Bank; and
though the State Bank was quite
able to meet the call of such notes
as might be brought to obtain spe-
possession; but they did not choose
to part with it.
How, then, was it possible, at
the time these two Banks increa
sed their capitals, the one
8575,000, and the other 8525,000,
to add any thing to their means of
doing business!
The plain inference is, that
these Banks manufactured this
additional capital of 1, 100,000.
The Banks, nevertheless, pro
ceeded to issue notes on this cap
ital; and if they issued, as they
were authorized to do, tfiree for
cie to pay the third enstalment.
as that course wnnlrl rmr Um nn
one, they loaned between three &JtuaHy increased the amount of
tour million ot dollars in theirlspecie in the Bank, he feels satis-
notes, bearing no interest, in ex
change for the well secured notes
of the people, bearing an interest
of six per cent. These individu
als, might as well have issued
their own notes, as to have gone
into a large Brick House, called
a Bank, and issued notes on no
better foundation.
It appears, then, that all the in
terest received on this assumed
capital, has been improperly ex
torted from individuals, without
any corresponding banking capital
to authorise the loans upon which
it was paid.
The gentleman from Newborn,
in giving his testimony to the
committee, had said he did not
know how the original stock of
the Bank of Newbern was paid
for; but Judge Seawell and M r.
Mears, in their testimony, say that
nearly the whole of the paper mo
ney of the State had been obtain
ed by the Newbern and Cape-Fear
Banks, which was kept and used
by them as a defence, to ward off
specie payments.
Mr. P. said he would next enr
quire how the capital of the State
Bank had been raised; and fi r
this purpose hs read an extract
from the statement made by Judge
Seawell, who states, "that he was
originally one of the Commission
ers appointed to receive subscrip-
fied that the notes of the Bank
w ere taken in payment of the
third instalment, and he presumes
the same thing was done in most
instances in payment of the fourth
instalment, as the State Bank had
not at that time forced the local
Banks to deliver up the paper mo
ney." Judge Seawell further adds,
'Hhat the stock not sold in the
first instance, was directed to be
sold in 1819, not for the purpose
of increasing the legal capacity of
contracting debt, but to enable
them to extinguish some portion
of that which actually existed."
It was evident, Mr. P. said, that
the $424,000 of Stock last sub
scribed, was added in order to en-
able the Bank to extinguish a part "
of the existing debt, and the char
ter required that three-fourths of
the subscription should be paid in
specie. Yet payment was allow
ed to be made in Bank notes of
the State, which could not then
be considered specie-paying In
stitutions, as in June, 1819, the
Banks had agreed to discontinue
payments in specie.
As no specie was received for
this stock, Mr. P. said, it might
be considered as fabricated by the
Bank. Admitting that the ori
ginal capital of the Cape-Fear
and Newbern Banks, and the two
tions for stock; that one fourth of first instalments of the State
each share subscribed for, he is , Bank, were paid in specie the
confident., was paid in gold and j whole amount of specie received