The Georgia journal. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1809-1847, November 14, 1810, Image 3

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tended, that the principle of hanking upon mortgage, ior instance, is to lend i»ml give credit to those who have property, and a desire to melt it down ; and is therefore much the safest mode, because the property mortgaged, whether real or personal, i b a security in the hands of the company for the paper in circulation. 'Phis is admitted, while commerce is in a flourishing state and brings in a balance of trade to the country.— it is then that banks lend and give /.redit, for they have no occasion to borrow. But whenever the balance of trade turns against the country, front causes unforeseen; when the state, where banks are established, begins to owe a balance to other stales or nations ; the companies of those banks are then obliged to pay it jin coin or bills of exchange.— Then are visible the first symptoms of decay and the decline of trade. The country is then t<J be exhausted of its Gold and Silver coin to ena- i ble the banks to pay that balance. The inevitable and ruinous conse quence of this would be, that the bank paper in circulation would be return ed to the bank whence it issued, and coin demanded for it. The coin, il to be found in the bank, would be taken, away, add nothing b i t in its place but the paper in circu lation ; if not to be found, the com- panv, upon a return of their notes issued upon credit, would of neces sity be compelled to stop payment. As the return of every year’s ba lance against the State would make a new demand for coin necesarv ; in the same proportion to the dem.shd of payment in coin, would the pa per of the bank be thrown out of cir culation, and the country left in a deplorable situation. Every state therefore before it makes the p iper of any bank a legal tender, even could it do so under the constitution of the United States, ought, for the safety and future welfare of its citiz 11s, to see" upon what security that paper stands, which is to become the in strument of commerce, a part of e- vejy man’s private property ; and which, if any part of it should once tail, either through the knavery, mis conduct, or misfortune of a particu far company, would cast a general discredit upon all p iper, and be a means of bringing on those dreadful calamities which have been realized in the old world, and which so ma ny people anticipate in the new, from the establishment of Banks, and making their paper, which bears no interest; a legal tender in the pay ment of debts. These principles more strongly apply to the prostrate situation in which trade lies in Geor gia, than perhaps, to that of any o- ther state in the Union. The prices of Cotton and Tobacco have fallen in the same proportion as those of fo reign merchandize, with which the country lias heen inundated, have ri sen, The consequence must be, that the exports will not defray the costs and charges of the imports. A balance of trade therefore, will be left 8g tinalTthe State, and must be paid in gold and silver from the Banks In this exhausted and forlorn situa- , tion, who are to be (he real suffer Not the bankers,not the stock holders, who, by than; immense pro fits, have amassed princely fortunes ; but the people on whose funds they have drawn ; whose cotton and to bacco they have purchased for song—fora bauble out of the stores and resold on a profit of one hun dred per cent, in the way ol exchange The circulation of paper money therefore, for either commercial or pgi icultural benefit, may be ol tern porary and transient utility to a lew individuals, who have capital and solid property which they may wish to melt down for the advancement of their fortunes, or (which is more probable,) the payment of their debts but can never be of any real intrinsic or lasting advantage to auy country much less so an agricultural one citizen who is embarrassed and would wish to go to a Bank to pledge capital which he may have occasion to melt down, what would he re ceive in return, for his obligation bearing 8 per cent interest? No thing but paper money which bear V no interest, and is ever liable to thousand accidents. His property therefore, is pledged, not only tor th return of the paper loaned, or gold and silver in lieu thereof ; but tor (he rate per cunt agreed on, whether it be the lawful interest or any othe rate, that may i;e considered as an equivalent for the loan. So various and multiform ate the operations a l^nk, t{iat it vould require vo lumes to delineate ;tnd trace them in all-their involutions, ramifications and consequences. The prices of the staple commodities of a country,., where Banks are established, are in a great measure regulated by them. They fluctuate, remain stationary, rise and sink to the last point of e- levation or depression, according as the tide of commercial enterprize and monopoly ebbs and flows in their favour. According to the principles by which these institutions are, and e- ver have heen regulated, there is nothing certain, nothing permanent and lasting, on which a great, agri cultural state can fasten, as a securi ty for the prosperity of her citizens. Ol what commercial advantage would be the establishment of a bank in Augusta or in Petersburg, to the mer chants of Milledgeville, of Greens- boroug’n, of Athens, of Lexington, or those of any other place on the waters of the Oconee ? If any, it must he very small; if little or nore to them, it is, if possible, of still less advantage to the people. The course of trade for the produce of ail those counties which lie adjacent to the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers, is down the Altamaha to Darien, and Brunswick. A large capital once established at either of those places would give new life and vigor to the settlements on these rivers. At the same time that it would invigorate and give additional secu rity to these newsettltments, it would open the navigation of the principal water courses, and accelerate the growth and prosperity of those towns upon the sea coast, from which trade is now drawn, round by the way of Tiber to Savannah. This would give a larger scope for the ad vancement of industry, and to the state, those solid advantages, those true riches, which consist in its strength and population. Time will shew the futility of all calculations of profit to an agricultural people from the establishment of Banks, and point out the errors into which other states have run, from similar establish ments. The effects produced by them are seen from their connection ith 1 he governments of Europe. There they are considered as a na tional blessing ! If they can be so to any people, il must be to a com mercial one, who subsist almost sole- by commerce, and depredations committed upon that of other nati ons. The same reasoning which would apply in favor of these institu tions in a commercial manufacturing state, cannot apply in an agricultural country, where connnei ce and manu factures are in their infancy. Geor gia is an agricultural state, and must ever remain so, while there is land more than sufficient for all the pur poses of cultivation. One of the leading consequences, flowing from the establishment of a bank, and making its paper a legal tender in payment of debts, would be, to cre ate a fictitious credit, by inundating the country with paper money, (which is nothing more than the representa tive of gold and silver) and thereby lraining it of those precious metals. This paper can never pass current, as every one knows, except in the state where it originated, and is set afloat. The citizens of other states will not take it in payment of debts ; anti foreigners will not receive it at all. Like gold and silver, it will not pass current in o.her countries or States ; and for that reason, it must subject the citizens of the State where it is current, to many incon- veniencies from the want of those metals. What would be the con sequences resulting to the State & its citizens, in case the securities, upon which the Bank in contemplation is about to be established, should fail ? They are more easily imagined than described. Yet, that there arc fai lures of this kind, and that too with in the limits of the United States, is a fact within the knowledge of all mercantile men of any information. To many of the citizens who may have much of this paper in their hands, insolvency and bankruptcy would be, (as it has been elsewhere the case) the inevitable result. Have the people of this country So soon forgotten the disastrous con sequences v'hich flowed from the e- mission of paper money in time of the war ? are not the effects produc ed by the depreciation of that mo ney, still visible in many of the fa milies of this State ? What securi ty can be given, that like causes will not produce like effects, and that all those direful consequences, seen a- faroff, and emanating from the cor rupt governments of. Europe, will not be realized in this country ? Banks are handmaids that minister to the wants of merchants, and aid them in the accumulation of im mense fortunes ; but whenever they minister to the wants ol government, they are like Pandora's Pox, scatter ing their baneful influence through every pore, vein, and artery of the body politic. Is not this evident from the present deplorable situation and prostrate condition of the sub jects of Great Britain ; which at this time, from the most recent calculati ons, owes to these fnonopolizing * u * stitutions, (the Banks'), upwards of one thousand millions of pounds sterling, for the payment of the in terest of which, the revenues ol the nation are pledged, and the people, to supply aliment tor these devour ing volcanoes, are loaded and groan ing under the most enormous bur thens. Is this an enviable, or in any way, a desirable situation, that the citizens of this state, or those ol the United States, should blindfold ed, and heedlessly plunge them selves and their posterity into it, by pursuing the same steps that Eng land has done. If it were easy to foresee all the consequences that must result from the establishment and incorporation ol Banks, would he morally impossible that they should ever obtain ground, or ever acquire foot-hold in free go vernments, that have lor their basis, and whose ruling principle is, the li berty, the personal security, and hap piness of the citizen. The most ob vious and immediate result of the establishment and incorporation oi a Bank at Augnsta, would be, the de pression of the rising prosperity ol the frontier settlements, by turning the course of trade from its natural chan nels across the country to the North Eeastern boundary of' the State ; thence down the Savannah river to the town of Savannah. There the staple articles of these settlements find vent, and meet a return in mer chandize by the way of Augusta ; thence across the country by land to Milledgeville, and other places oi trade ; for the freight and expences of which, the consumer, that is, the planter, the mechanic, and t)ie labour ing class of citizens, must pay out oi the small profits (if any,) which they make from their farms, trades and professions. This bird’s-eye view ol the piobuble effect of the Banking System, upon the inland trade and navigation of this State, should it meet countenance from the Legisla ture, in the manner contemplated, will be a sufficient outline to those whose duty it is to extend their en quiries beyond the limitsol a News paper communication. PUBLIUS. I he Latest News. BY LAST NIGHT S MAIL. NATCHEZ, October 8. We have received nothing very late from West-Floridu—It is said though, that the Conventionalists are becoming pretty strong, and that they have betwen five and six hundred men in the fort of Baton-Rouge. The friends of the old Spanish Monarchy, are embodying themselves in the eas tern part of the province, to resist the Conventionalists. themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s warning. This is a pre cautionary measure, in consequence of the threatening aspect of affairs in West Florida. We learn by a gen tleman from Havanna, that the recent revolutionary movements in Florida are attributed by the Spaniards to the improper interference ot the A- mericans. judge Toulmin, of the Mississip pi Territory, in his charge to the gran ! jury of Washington county, at the late September term, has made some severe animadversiohs on the^ conduct of certain settlors in the By the Representatives of the people eastern section of that territory, who An opinion is generally entertained that all original Essays published in a News- Paper, are congenial with the sentiments of the Editor. This impression is not correct. The Publisher of a News-Paper should not set up his own judgment as the standard of orthodoxy. The Editor of this piper, in publifhing the Essays signed Publius, had no intention to manifest opposition to the Bank at Augufta. The subject however, is certainly not an improper one for discus sion. Iimaynot.be ami‘8 to remark, that the Essays of Publius are not written by the distinguished member of the Legislature to whom they have bees ascribed. Elections. On Saturday last both branches of the Legislature pro ceeded by ballot to the election of 4 Brigadier Generals, to fill the vacan cies occasioned by the death ol Generals Glascock Sijackson, the removal of Gens. Adams Jk Harris ; onthesame day cameonthe elections of Judges and Solicitors for the se veral Circuits, and of Aft. General. BRIGADIER GENERAL3. Col. Wm. Byne was elected for the Sd Brigade, lit Division. Col. Valentine Walker for tst. do. 2d do. Col Eppes Brown, for 2 1 do. 2d do. Col. Frederick Beall for 2d do 4th do. JUDGES. Eastern Circuit, Jo in M Berrien, Esq Middle do. Robert Walker, Esq. Western do' Young Gresham, Esq Ocmulgee do p.'trr Early. Esq ATTORNEY GENERAL. John Forsy'h, E«q SOLICI TORS GENERAL. Eastern Circuit, John Kell, Esq Western do Oliver Skinner, Esq Ocmulgee do B Franklin, Esq Our Subscribers in Greene county are assured, that their papers have been duly forwarded from this office ; and it is with regret and sur prize we learn they have not been regularly received at Greensborough —Our efforts shall be immediately used to discover the cause ol the^ failure ; at any rate, we shall be a- ble to convince our Subcribcrs that the fault is not On our part. ofW n st-Florida. A DECLARATION. It is known to the world with how much fidelity the good people of this territory have professed and main tained allegiance to their legitimate sovereign while any hope remained of receiving from him protection for their property and lives. Without making any unnecessary innovation in the established principles of the government, we had voluntarily a- dopted certain regulations in concert with our first magistrate for the ex press purpose of preserving this ter ritory and shewing our attachment to the government which had here tofore protected us. This cojnpuct which was entered into with good faith on our part, will forever remain an honorable testimony of our up right intentions and inviolable fide ity to our king and parent country,' While so much as a sh itlmv of legiti mate authority remained to be ex ercised over 11s—We sought only a speedy remedy forsuch ev ils as seem ed to endanger our existence and prosperity, and were encouraged by our governor with solemn promises of assistance and co-operation. But those measures which were intended for our preservation, he has endea vored to pervert into an engine ol destruction, bv encouraging, in the most perfidious manner the violation of ordinances sanctioned^ establish ed by himself as the law of the land. Being thus left without any hope of protection from the mother coun try, betrat ed by a magistrate whose duty it was to hive provided for the safety and tranquility of th people and government committed to his charge, and exposed to ail tlu evils of a state of anarchy, which we have so long endeavored to avert j it becomes our duty to provide for our own security as a free and inde pendent state, absolved from all al iegiance to a government which no longer protects 11s. We, then lore, the representat ve* aforesaid, appealing to the supreim ruler of the world for tile rectitude of our intentions, do solemnly pub lish arid declare the several districts composing tlvs Territory of Wes'. Florida to be a free and independent State, and that they have a right to institute for themselves such form of government as they may think conducive to their safety and happi ness,—to form treaties—to establish commerce—to provide for their com mon defence, and do all acts which may of right be done by a sovereign and independent nation—At the same time declaring all acts within die said territory of West-Florida after this date by any tribunal or au thorities not deriving their powers from the people agreeable to the pro visions of this convention, to be null and void—and calling upon all fo reign nations to respect this our de claration, acknowledging our inde- dence, and givingussui.il aid as may be consistent with the laws and usa ges of nations. This declaration made in convcn tion,atthetownui Baton Rouge, on the 26th day of September, in the year of cur Lord, on thousand eight hundred and ten —We the representatives in the name, and on behalf of our con stituents, do hereby solemnly pledge ourselves to support with our lives and fortunes. (Signed) John H- Johnson, John Mills, John IV. Leonard, William Barrow, Philip Hicky, John Morse an, Edmund Hawes, Thomas Lilly, WilSiam Spider, John Rhea, President. By order of the Convention, Andrew Steele,sec. have threatened to make an attack on the town of Mobile, in West Flori da. The charge is at great length, and the paper which we have receiv ed contains only the first part ot it; when the remainder of the charge comes to hand we shall give it to our readers. We are informed that orders have heen issued by brigadier general Hampton, who is now on a visit to this city, for a detachment ot the troops in this harbor to proceed im mediately for the south western fron tiers of the state of Georgia. Commodore Samuel Barron died of an Apoplexy in Norfolk, Va. on the 29th ultimo. The last mail brings the official account of the taking iff B aton Rouge by the Troops of the Florida Con vention—Of the Governor’s Troops, Grand J*re, the commandant of Ba ton Rouge was mortally wound d ; one private killed an 1 four badly .wounded ; 21 prisoners were taken— the rest of the garrison escaped by flight. London accounts to the 28th Sep tember, received at Charleston, fur nish nothing of importance. Several persons had been arrested in Paris about the middle ol Septe.ri- h r, on suspicion of having conspir 'd against the life of Bonaparte.' Our subscribers will observe hat the size of the Journal is consi derably enlarged. fry-** Sealed Proposals for Pruring the I.awsand Journals of the pres-nt 9elIio« Of the Legislature, (till e received hy the Subicri- her, until "Yiday the tixteenth imi at 4 o'clock P. M ——Uy order of the Comm tree, IV. D i/inr. November 14. 3 * 1 * Charleston, November 3. Governor Holmes, of"the Missis sippi Territory, has ordered de tachments from the several regiments of militia in that territory to hold For Sale, Cogniac Brandy ; 1 loll and Gin ; Madeira Wine; London Porter ; Spanish Segars; Salmon and Mackarel; Fresh Chocolate and Coffee ; Cheese, Onions Ik Nor. Cider, Vlinonds and Raisins; Fresh Mustard; and various Articles of first quality. P. Menard. Nov, 14th. 3—U The Subscriber, Accustomed thro’ many years past to teach the Creek, Latin and English Ijinguages, Geography, ci'c. will 0- |pen at his own house,, 9 miles b low \Greensborough, on the 1st day of Ja nuary, 1811, A Grammar School, at the following prices : For Greek or Latin, S 5 ; English Gram. or Geo-, grapliy 8 3 75, by the quarter, paid in advance—the quarter to consist of twelve weeks—Boarding can be had very reasonably—/’/it* situation is healthy, and entirely rural; free from the temptations to vice and idleness, peculiar to towns. Francis Cummins, A. M. P. S. The school will com/nence if ten students engage. Greene county, Nov 14 3— Fen Dollars Reward. STRAVED from the Subfcrihcr on the firft of May laft, a CH SNU r SORRiil. HOR-.E, about *1 feet 6 inches high large hla e /uce, all white feet, and one as high uy a» the knee, a- bout eleven year* old. A Dark Day C.ilr went off with him JOEL S <’KK S >. November 14 9 3t Mr. GriMith’s Rail. Mi.Griffith, will have a Bal a: his Dan cing Kiom, (at Mr. P«ttr M••nam's.) to morrow evening, to r.omme.'Cr at p.x, continue until one o’clock.—Tickets to be had of Mr. Griffiths personally, at one dollar each, whn h will admit a gentleman and a lady. Mr. Gr ffi h. will provide good music, and the room (hail be well i:hi'rvna». ted—He will introduce a n.imUr of hand* tome Co intry Dances ; (if the company should requeft) Proper Donr-Kccpc's will be provided, and no person will e ,ij. mitrr< J without a ticket., Nov. 14 P. 8. No lit kcti wiii bt sold after 6 o’clock