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About The Democrat. (Columbus, Ga.) 1830-18?? | View Entire Issue (May 26, 1832)
SuvA i r. ik* hy 'lu- directors with a view improve the vain<*<>fthi! IV« ik proper ty. c:i'! !,.» more ceUr rTirt:t Xee ri<x!it ofthe Bunk as a proprietor of real ©st ate to ait! i.i the con.-ruction o! works, which would increase the value of that estate, and i can w.li imagine c ists in which die incieased value oi’the property would be five or ten times tlic nniount of the so a appropriated. It is a u.icstinu Let wee: i the Directors and the Stockhold ers merely, as to the wise and judicious application of the funds of the institution; &if I were a stockholder-—is lam not - I should certainly approve of the conduct of my agents, should the fact he as I have learned from the officers *d the Bank that these two small appropriations were > tide with a view to increase the value of the Bank property, iu the manner 1 before suggested. There is another topic introduced in the Report, m relation to which 1 will sub mit a single reflection. Reference is made to the multiplication of its branches, by the Bank Within the last four or live years; and the opinion is expressed that this extension of the branches is of very questionable propriety, both as it relates to the commercial community and to tkc interests of the Bank itself. Now, so far am I from holding tins opinion, that 1 should vote against the establishment of any national Bank, if it were to const ist of one uxeat central instPutio. without branches, co-extensively with the wants and growth of the country, & connecting it with the operations of our internal com merce. I should not regard a Bank as being a National Bank at all, if (he facili ties it utfords were cofmed to New-York and,Philadelphia, and a few other Atlan tic cities. 1 regard it as the chief excel lence of the Bank of the United States, that it possesses a sort of commercial übi quity, by means of ihese reprobated branches, whereby it lias given to our currency that almost perfect uniformity winch is unknown in any other country of the same i xteut, and established a sys tem of domestic exchange, to which I will i.mi beg leave to call the attention of the House ior a moment. It was one of the grounds of complaint | presented to the House when this? investi gation was tirst proposed, and is now a gain adverted to ui the repot, that the I mother Bank had drawn large sums of spe cie from the Southern ami Western bran- j cites, and supplied the place of it by its own paper. For myself, sir, I have an interest in this lnaHer, as a cotton planter and a Southern man; and 1 have some practical knowledge of the opei ition com plained of. and 1 do not hesitate to pro nounce the system of exchange on which it is founded, the most decidedly benefi cial of all the operations of the Bmk 1 Would not desire a better exposition of! the true federal character of tins institu tion, than what is furnished by tbs very I system. It is true, that the House, on ex- i aimmngtlie general accounts of the Bank, i vrdl ti l I that a large amuat of specie is ; annually drawn from the .Southern and W estern branches. Bat on looking into j the details fit these accounts it will lie seen that almost tiie whole of this specie is draw- 1 from New Orleans. Now every one knows that tins :s the great specie market oi tiie United States, and upon obvious principles of trade, the specie will naturally go from a place where it is not wanted, to a place where it is. New Or leans supplies the whole Union with this article. Almost the whole amount of re turns for the productions we send to Mex ico and other mining countries, directly ami indirectly, ire received in specie, and New Orleans is the port into w hich it is imparled. Tins specie must le transpor ted by someone, into the Northern and Ei.-.erii cuics ; and as the Bank has very large transactions of this kind, it can af ford to edict tins tinnsportation at one half the price ti would cost individuals.— It >s erroneous, therefore, to say that the Bmk draws this specie from tiie South west: it is merely tiie agent, or carrier, for tiie commercial community. A mer chant in New Orleans, for example, who has specie, and is bound to make a pay ment a; New-York, obtains a branch draft on the branch at New-York, or Philadel phia, which answers his purpose better than specie. "Issie Bank, at its conven ience, transpoitt the specie in time to meet anv dinnnds which may be created ag u ist the Eastern branches hy the drafts drawn upon them. As to the other Southern and Western branches, it is not correct to say that the mother B ink has drawn large sums of specie from them. On the contrary it will b .-ecu on referring to the Monthly state -111 ms for some time past, that the credit given by the mother branch to these bran ches, has been two or three tunes as great as the amount of specie drawn from them When, for example A 100.000 has been draw i from a particular branch, the draft of this hr inch upon tiie Northern hr in -ches, will he found to be two or three hun dred thousand dollars; an operation which is ,a. cisely equivalent to that of placing two or three hundred thousand dollars of specie iu the Southern or Western branch. I will now submit a few remarks upon another branch of tin exchanges in which the bank has had ai important agency. Th I’resident of tin* Bank adverted to the practice, rcce itlv introduced by the Directors, of selling hill* ii|kui London, for the U •t*t |i».|i?t trftfbf, li.ivkm; hi point off e’t about twelve month* to run, bein'/ pit iV' it s.x cioatliK after sight. Bv th - oj* . 4lt -ml i li ii ibe Ir on of S|M-- e Ij hid In in forme 1 Iv p-odae* and |iv lb" K I nfi i Hade, li i I tun J no.f ru tin !v i.t «'rd 'file Report layoM-. ill oi*. I‘n that 'bn hr i i ■" iV *•*» i httuge ojM/raUous ol the Bank ha* br*<i injurious instead of being beneficial to the • marry, i will, therefore, usk the atten tion of the House to a brief examination of the true character and effect of this ope ration’ According to the former usage of the E is! India trade, a merchant, when about entering upon a commercial advenure, was under the necessity of purchasng spe cie in advance to the full amount of his adventure. Owing to the length of the ! li ist India voyages, he would he under the necessity of retaining this specie, proba bly six months in an unproductive state, before lie would have occasion to use it. Here would he a loss to the merchant of six months’ interest on the amount ot Ins cargo. But as the bills on Loudon, which tiie merchant now obtain from the Bank, are not presented to the London hank ers until twelve months after they are dr iwii, the interest for this period is saved to the merchants, and through them to : the country, by this operation which the report deems to be injurious. It is sup posed bv a part of the Committee, that the only material effecot this arrangement, is to cause the exportation of specie to England, instead of the East Indies.— Even if this were correct, it is apparent that the interest of the specie, during more than half the voyge, would he sa ved. But the true result is very different i from that supposed. It is true that the hills on London must | he paid hut if does not follow that specie must be exported to provide the means of paying them. It is the cotton, the rice, and the other agricultural productions of the South that furnish the means of paving these hills in London. When the ex por ter of these productions finds that lie cannot owing to our tariff or otliet causes import the manufactures of England these manufactures are sei t to the East Indies to be exchanged for nankeens sil s, and teas. The result of the whole is, that cotton and rice and tobacco, instead of l specie, are exchanged for such East! India production as our mar et requir- ! es. lanta little surprised that the gentle i man from Georgia should question the j utility of a measure so beneficial to the i planting States. I am sorry that it has become my duty to notice the rctnar s j ] upon another topiewhich the majority of J ! the Committee have thought it expedient 1 j to introduce iu the conclusion of their re- J j port —remar s which can do no good, in ! niv opinion but may be productive of much I mischief, if not promptly explained and refused. I know the Commitee did not intend j to produce the ( fleet which I apprehended I and 1 believe they are not fully aware of I the impression which their remarks are j calculated to make on the public mind, if j left unexplained. They go into a com- | parison of the resources of the Bank, to] meet its engagements in 1819. and at the j present time; and they present this com- I parison in such a way as to suggest the j conclusion, that the Bank has overtraded i and has not the means of fulfilling its cn- j gagemeiits, or at least, without producing j a great and injuroiis pressure on the com mercial community. Now, I would be w illing to risk .what little reputation 1 have for knowledge on these subjects, on the assertion, that there is not in the United States, or upon the face of the earth, a Bank (if the old Bank of Hamburg is not still in existence, a mere Bank of deposit©) that is more ade quate to meet any demands which may come against it, than the Bank of the U uited States at this moment. In estima ting its resources the Committee have con fined themselves to the specie in the vaults and the paper of the State Bunks. Now it is true, sir that the specie of the Bank, and its State Bank notes together amount only to about ten millions anda half while its nett circulation amounts to twenty one millions. But in estimating the resources of the Batik, w e must add $1,750,000 re served by the bank, and charged to the head of profit and loss, making tlie eash resources of the institution upwards of twelve millions. But in addition to these items, there is one nearly double as large, which the committee lias entirely over looked, and which is almost equivalent to so much cash —1 allude to domestic bills of exchange, purchased hy the Bank, a mountmgto 21,000,000 dollars, none of which have more than ninety days to run and mdst of which will he converted into cdsh in a much shorter period. These domestic bills were not of the nature of discounted notes. They are not only business transactions, but business transactions that will be certainly brought to a close wlien the bills fall due. They were '’used upon the actual sale of pro ductions of the Southern and Western States. For example the merchant of ; Charleston, or New-Orleans, sells pro- I (iuee to the Northern merchant and sells ] the Hank a draft upon this latter for the ! proceeds. This draft must be paid at | maturity,at the hazard of a protest,and i the loss of commercial character and no additional accommodation is experted from the Han , as in the case ofdiscoun ted note. The idea of a renewal is w hol ly inapplicable to the transaction. Be sides the twelve million of cash there fore. we have here a resource of ;J1,000,- 000 dollars, inn ini; u the whole .’111,000,- 011(1 which is a fund possessed hy the Htn to meet a circulation of •,* 1.000,00(1 without culling in u single dollar of tlie I l,t)00,000 dollars of di>countcd, ! notes. It Ik true, sir, that if the II uu thoubl i have occasion to -mow rt its domestic lulls into ca»h, mul cease, to certain • Unit, to porch., m> these h.lls, the merchant*. Would hate to pureluiM'them from-100 • cr# at« looiira'e. 'J'ftw would lio the * lwl« i inconvenience that the community would suffer. The oppetation would not he at all ! analogous iri its effect to calling in dis ; counted twites. The Ban -, then, has resources to the I amount of 33,000,000, available to meet ! any run which may lie made upon it: and I fearlessly express it as my opinion, that if tin attempt were now made to bren the I Ban -, by running upon it for specie, it would be prepared to pay every dollar of i its circulation before the bills could possi ! bly reach the Bank, and would have some ! ten millions of its resources left, without any curtailment of its discounts. FOBEIGf. [from 'he I'hrhidr j)!ua l S. Ctaztte May !• J LATEST FROM ENGLAND. By i lie Mouougahela, Capt. Dixy, ar j rived last evening at this port, from Liv ! erpool we have London and Liverpool | dates to the 7th April, for which we are | indebted to Mr. Sanderson of the Coffee ! House. Tiie papers contain lit!le of interest. The second reading of the reform Bill was to take place in the House of Lords 1 oil the 9th. A passenger in the M. mentions that ! little or no alarm appeared to exist in London on account of the cholera and the disease was considered as sub : siding. The London Times of the 3d, holds this language. “There is little chance, we understand, that the second reading of the Reform i Bill will lie carried in the House of Lords by more than the scantiest possible j majority. Os the Bill passing the Com- j mittee without an entire chance of its | most essential clauses, there is no pros- j licet whatever, —not tli most remote, — j with a body of I'eers composed like the present.” “Although, however, a defeat upon the j first great questions which is likely to n rise in the Committee may lie repaired i hy an immediate creation of Peers, who | would aid the Government in recinding! the obnoxious vote upon bringing tip the report, it is abundantly certain that a dr- | feat on the second reading itself must be ! altogether irretrievably. Act how trt mendously daring is the game now play- ! ed by men in power! The Ministerial lists ior the House of Peers are not yet j represented as offering more titan a tna- j joritv of six for the ensui tiff stage of the j Bill. A majority of six in an assembly of! fIOO members!” BELGIUM AND HOLLAND. Brussels, April 2. —This county con- ! fumes dreadfully agitated—troops are i marching towards the frontiers Irom all directions. The fortresses are vitualled —the hospitals preparing—and from the j preparations and orders issued by the AY ar Ministers, a rupture with Holland may lie daily expected. It is in contemplation j to call out the second levy of militia for j the year 1832, amounting to about 12,000 men. At Ghent the troops are already in motion, and two regiments one of in fantry, the other of light horse, and sever al batteries of artilery, have received or ders to march toward the frontiers, two batteries of art illery and lancers have been ordered for Brussels, from Namur; two vessels, laden with hall and ammunition leftTournav on the 27th tilt, for Antwerp and on Sunday last several canpaign ma terials left the same fortress, taking dif ferent routes. The fortresses of Liege, Huy, Namur, and Ghent, have been pro visioned for three months and the head quarters of the army leave been removed from Brussels to Louvian. At Antwerp the troops are nightly put under arms, and the horses harnessed to the guns. The Dutch and Belgians themselves think that an appeal to arms is high ly probably, because they are both making the most anxious and expen sive preparations for that contingen cy. PORTUGAL. Our Madrid and Lisbon letters contin ue to strengthen the impression that, in the approaching struggle between the bro thers for the Crown of Portugal Spain will act neutrally. The latest accounts from Don Pedro state that lie took pos session of St. Michael’s on the 22d. a mid the congratulations of the inhabi tants; and an expedition, under Admiral Satorios, was to sail against Maderia up on the 20th, which it was confidently ex pected, would also succeed in restoring tha' important island to the lawful .Sov ereign of Portugal. The intelligence from Lisbon itself is satisfactory—for Don Miguel, though strong in all the materials of defence, was becoming daily more weak in the fidelity of his troops. Even the tyrant himself, since the refusal which lie had met with from Spain, is said to be desponding as to the issue of the coining conflict. The confi dence of Don Pedro’s friends remained unabated. IRELAND. Two poor creatures died last week of starvation in the streets of Dub lin. Irish poor. —Mr. Sadler has given no tice that, on the 10th of May lie will ap ply fop leave to bring ilia bill for estab lishing a permanent provision for the suf fering and destitute poor of Ireland by [ levy upon nil the real properly of | that part of the United Kingdom, and ! more particularly upon that of the ahsen j tees. Murtlrr in (lain ay. — Mr. Clark,of the W 4'.tern Argus newspaper was murdered j >ui Monday night lust, and his body throwji into o lake. There are upwards of 399 | m re oiis confined there for trial at i the present and/* v Murder. —Wednesday night last, five armed villians entered the house of n man named Tate who resided at Dun drum, iiud, stabbed him to death with a bayonet. They then turned on his ser vant, tired at, and so s vercly wounded | linn, that there’s no hopes of his recuvet y. Clonmel Advertiser. I [Fn>rn the Message.r des Chambers, of April sth] FRANCE. It is impossible any loi ger to doubt I that there is an organised band in Paris j who poison the wine, the milk and the J water, throughout the city and the envi- I rous. The people are greatly exaspera ted, the citizens are in a perfect dread, and cry loudly against so infernal a con spiracy. AYe will give a few facts as wc hear them, and w hich unfortunately appear to lie too true. At Cros Cnillon three men in succes sion have been arrested on supickm of poisoning. One of these delinquents entered the simp of a wine merchant when he was quite alone, and asked for a boftlo de vin a vingt sous, and whilst the latter had ! gone to the cellar for it, he drew a packet from his pocket and threw the contents j into a large jug winch stood there. The merchant’s wife however, who was sitting concealed by a curtain, and had watched j the man’smovsment, ran out seized him by the collar and held him until her cries I brought her husband and others to lierj •assistance. The villian was immediately taken to •a neighboring t orps de grade, where two { others were brought iminediatelv after,] charged with the same offence*. The people w ere so enraged, that they would have killed them had it been in their pow er the whole neighborhood was in a groat uproar. The Commissaire de Police had the greatest difficulty in conveying them safely to tiie Prefec ture. In another instance of the kind, a man entered the shop of a milk-woman living iu die Rue de Bac, and asked for gome warm milk, which she gave him in a measure and he poured it into a cup lie took front under a part of his dress. He then put his fingers into it for the preten ded purpose of feeling whether it was warm, and saying it was cold, attempted to throw it again into the tin milk pail; but feeling some suspicion from the re ports in circulation, and not altogether liking the appearance of her customer, the woman closed the lid of the pail snatched thecupfroin his hand threw the milk into the gutter. The same night, at Villejuif, two haw kers entered the house of a milk women and attempted to throw a poisonous drug into some pails of milk which were about to be taken to Paris. In the Ruede Colombier, an attempt was made to poison the well of a Inker, j In consequence of which the wells art; ev- J cry where covered, and fastened with a lock and key, so appehensive are people ! of these nefarious transactions. Many i ladies have themselves gone to the wells ] of their bakers; for the purpose of seeing j that precautionary measures had been taken. i The water carriers padlock their pails, j and have the lids to fasten down herme tically’. Thus one calamity was not enough, but another must lie added. To thy phy sical evils epidemic and Cholera, are ad ded these torments of the mind which ag gravate the* others and throw the whole city into a state of consternation. The day drags on, people run to and fro, and in the midst of so many trou bles, seek distractions of which there is ; no great need; but every where something I dismal presents itself. Several families! in the same house join for personal safe ty. The city towards ten or eleven is ! quite deserted, except in the very cen ; tre, where the agitated crowds continu ! ally assemble in great numbers? AY e must not however; lose our confi dence. There is no want of precaution ary measures. Each is looking to the I safety of the other. The authorities are i very prompt in their duties, arid do eve ! rv tiling that can be done and medicines , and attendance are every whereto be had j for the Cholera patients. As to the pot j soners , it is to be hoped that the first ar ! rests, and the punishments awarded to j these villians, will prevent others from • following so abominable an example of j vice, and that that security will he res ; tored to the capital of which it lias so | much need. The editor of the Havre Journal ! states that he has been assured that fif ] teen or twenty thousand persons will ! repair to that city, from countries bor j dering on the frontiers for the purpose jof embarking for the U. States du i ring the ensuing summer. Already the | government foreseeing the inennvenien ! ees attached to this continual emigra tion of persons, who for the most part arrive without resources in the French ports; have prohibited the admission on the frontier, of all such as did not pos sess measn of passing through the j country, without* being obliged to re sort to charity on the way. But it was said this measure did not prevent these unfortunate persons from arriving in 1 the sea ports in the most destitute con dition and remaining three sometimes a very long time before the departure of ii vessel. Th© port of Bridgetown, (Barbados,) has been derl.uvd by Proclamation, open for the ndniirsiou of Floor and Lumber from the I nit*d States free of duty, the regulation to 4'otiiuiue in force, until fur ther order*. From the Curt espnndent og ! hy Ch• COUP. I' ? AA ASIHNGTON, May 10, le-32. “The question was taken to-day in die Senate, on the proposition made by Mr. Bibb, to abolish liie postage on newspu -1 pers, and the decision was in t lie nega tive, there being 22 in the affirmative, and 23 in the negative. The question will be again taken m die Senate to-mor row, the first decisionUeing in Conuni' tee of the Whole; and as i presume am ther of the friends of the -motion (Mr. | AA aggaman) may be in his place, the de j cisiou of tins question would, in that case • he devolved on the A’ice Pri sident, who ' would give his vote in the affirmative. ; There was some splendid sjieakmg on the question of the condition of the Post Os ! flee Department, by Mr. Clayton and Mr. Holmes. A good deal of their ri< r or was | expended on a man who is really too eon ] tcmptible to be selected by champions of ! such tried ami acknowledged temper ami ; chivalry. I allude to Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, who has not a friend or asso j ciate iu all the Senate—scarcely one, ou ! ol the circle oftlie kitchen U.ubmet, iu all the city. He was irritated I eyond bear ing; and at one part of Mr. Clayton’s re marks, rose from Ins seat, arid asked if the Senator from Delaware applied his observations to him Mr. Clayton replied with great calmness and serenity, that when he had concluded Ins observations the member from New Hampshire might read another speech. Mr. Hill rise to or der, and as required to write down the words, but as he was only able to w rite down “There are creatures too despica ble,” and as it was impossible for the Se nate, sagacious as that i;ody is, to discov er anv thing disorderly in these words, the V ice President, alter w aiting awhile for some Senator to make a motion on the subject, and waiting in vain, repeated the words, and then desired Mr. Clayton to proceed. Mr. Hill w rote a good deal afterwards and I doubt not that we shall have the benefit of his writing and rea ding on some future day apply to some fu ture object. “In the House there has been a very warm debate on the Houston affair. A desperate effort has been made to bring the discussion to a close 'o-day. To-mor row is appropriated for business connec ted with the District of Columbia; and the House has already come to a determina tion to adjourn over from to-morrow un til Monday. Mr. Crane, of Ohio, lias made a very eloquent speech to-day, in opposition to the motion to discharge Gen. Houston. .Air. Wayne, of Georgia, lias stated that he made an arrangement with a gentleman from Alabama to sit out the question to-niirlit; hut he had sub sequently learned that there are at least seven gentlemen who are prepared to de bate this question extensively; there was therefore no prospect of corning to a de cision to-night. He then appealed to the friends of Gen. Houston, with whom lie intended to vote for the discharge of the General, and assured them that to hurry the question would be to endanger the safety of General Houston. A pro position was then made to adjourn until 10 o’clock to-morrow, and another to ad journ till 11, the usual hour of meeting. Mr. M’Duffie suggested that if gentlemen who intend to make speeches, make them with a view to be heard, they had better sit here and speak tins evening; because there will he a full house, in the expecta tion that the question will be taken this evening, lie had always found that mor ning speeches were made almost to emp ty seats. To-night, they would he made to a full house, and he would sit here with pleasure until midnight. “There was a great tumult and hustle Mr. Kerr, of Maryland, spoke of the dif ference, which was to he looked for be tween a mob and a deliberative body like this silttingto decide a judicial ques tion. A motion was made by Mr. Craig to suspend the rule, f r the purpose of enabling him to move that th< House shall meet tomorrow morning at 10 o’- clock, for the purpose of taking up the subject. ’The rule was suspended, and the motion to meet at 10 o’- clock was put, and decided in the affir mative.” \Vc are obliged to confess that a gninst all our habitual predilections, ;ve are exceedingly pained at seeing the course that has been adopted by the present session of Congress. First, a set ot vapouring challenges that in their ridielousness escaped the more serious ofthe nation. Then the Bank enquiry on which the friends ofthe bank, as a body by seeking to screen it from scru tiny, behaved as badly ns possible; and lastly Houston’s affair’ in which our political friends have acted as badly as any before them, ns regards both principle and policy. In principle be cause the freedom of debate is vitally important to tiie existence of liberty it self. In policy because any, the least backwardness in protecting that immu nity, puts a rod into the hands of their adversaries. Houston beat the member this is Confessed.—He beat him for words spoken in his place as a repre sentative: this is also confessed. AVhy then evade and delay and beat the bush. Why not giveup the man. at once. let him be who he may. to due course of law let bun receive such punishment as is due to bis offence. Let the dig nity of the floor of congress be vin dicated, and lei us hear no more of it..— Ga. Journal. The Hon. John Branch says the Ra leigh Slur, pissed through this place ou Friday last on his wav to Florida whither |he lias been called hy the uulisposi | inm of Mrs. B. lie expects to re l turn to Washington iho first of mx* I mouth.
