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’THE FRIEND AND MONITOR. Three dollars per annum.'] Volume I.J BANK OF AUGUSTA, 3 and October, 1815. At a meeting of the Board of direct ors Ordered , THAT a statement of the fa&s and circumstances connected with Mr. Secretary Dallas's proposition of 24th June, 1815, refpe&ing Treasury Notes, be prepared and laid before this boat'd, on Tuesday next,with a view to the publication thereof. October 10, 1815. In compliance with the above recited order, a Report was laid before the Board, in the words fol lowing, which being duly confider ed, and compared with the files & records of the Bank, was ordered to be signed by the President and published. TO THE PUBLIC. THE directors of this Bank have waited patiently several weeks, with the hope that Mr Secretary Dallas, would do us the justice by order ing a publication of the real state of the case , and correcting the errone ous impreifaons made by his noti fication of the 15th August, as far, at least, as regards the two Banks in Georgia, and render it unneces sary on our part to appeal to the public—And, as it is to the State of Georgia, and not to the Secretary of the Treasury, that we (land ac countable, in regard to our Char ter, this appeal is the more cheer fully made, and it is with confi dence we anticipate, that a careful examination of the following fads, will fully juffify us in the public mind. ExpeCting that Mr. Dallas would weigh the force of our objections, when they should be refpectfully submitted to his view, and be in dined to accept such a fubffitute as we could fafely offer, in lieu of his propositions, which the reltiact ions of our Charter would not al low us to accept: and after it was ascertained, that the Planter’s Bank at Savannah would decline, we ad drefied a letter to Mr. Dallas, of which the following is a copy, but received no answer. “Bank of Augusta, 22djuly , 1815. SIR, “ I have the honor to acknow ledge receipt of your letter of the 24th June, 1815, which has been laid before our Board of Directors and duly considered. It is true that we fupended pay ments in specie, and it is equally true we were among thelaft, if not the very last in the United Stares. We are anxious and prepared to resume it as fooi> as a lufficient i number of banks (hall unite to ren der the measure in any degree fafe for us. And as our Notes are in good standing in the public opin ion, we should regret to fee them | discredited, by an exclusion in the receipt of United States* taxes.— We therefore hope you will on fur ther consideration, fee no objection to permitting the Colle&ors to re ceive them, upon the engagement hereby offered on our part, that for £ny amount of the Notes of this PUBLISHED (weekly) BY JOHN K- M. CHARLTON, WASHINGTON, (Geo.) FRIDAY, >. v*V E M BER 3, 1815. Bank received in payment of inter nal duties and taxes, and not want ed here by government, she whole or any part To received and paid in to this Bank, shall be placed at our expense and rilque to the credit of the treaiurer or the United States in any Banks required, in'Savannah, Charleston, Baltimore, Philadel phia or New-York. “On the fubjeCt of receiving, re-issuing arid circulating Treasury Notes, we are under the necellity of dating, that to do so, would em barrass if not totally ruin the credit of our institution—the obligation to receive them without limitation from all who should offer, and to pay them out, only to such as should choose to receive them , would very soon produce such an accu mulation in our hands as would re quire an issue of our own paper transcending our Charter limits, and thus, (independent of other ob vious r|afons) fubjeCt the directors, individually, to Ihe penalties incur red by a violation of our charter. Hie large sums sent hither from the North for inveffment in our staple articles, will at one luggeft Welt to your mind, as alone fuffi cient to juftify apprehensions on this ground, supposing Treasury Notes to be chiefly employed for this purpose ; and our remote fix ation also throws us much out of the way of negotiating them w ith that facility which the frequent & extensive operations in large cities aflord. “We would not trespass on your time by soliciting a recolledipn of the various tokens we have given, during the war, of a desire to pro mote and aflift the public credit; evidences of the fruits of that dispo sition are on the files of your pre decessors—without knowing w'hat was done by others, I think we may fay that our efforts, in proportion t 6 our means, would not fuffer by a comparison with other Banks. Theferemarks lam aware Sir, are not ftridly conneded with the fub jed of your letter; they are offered to shew that as we freely encoun tered the rifque of Government se curities in the dark days of the war, our obejedions cannot (now that the public credit is so well revived) be from any distrust of their perfed fafety. “ I have the honor to be, refped fully, fir, your obt. fervrt. (Signed) THOrCUMMING, Brest. “ Hon. A. y. Dallas , Secy. Tr. United States.” Thus the matter remained, until the Treasury Notice of the 15th August came out, bv which it ap peared, that the bills of this Bank would be refnfed in payment of United States’ taxes, while the Sa vannah Bank was passed over in si lence, as if they had really agreed to the Treasury terms!—And as we had from the fir ft, understood their purpose, not to accede to the con ditions, as they flood, (and for the very fame reasons which compelled us to decline) w$ naturally enqui VIRTUE, LIBERTY, jf.ND SCIENCE. fed of their Board of Diredors up on w'hat grounds they had been ex empted—to this enquiry, it was promptly and candidly replied, that they had made no arrangement what ever with the 1 reaiury on the lub jed. It is of this unfounded dis crimination between the two Banks that we chiefly complain, because, on feeing the bills of only one of the banks in the State, receivable, for United States* taxes, the people would naturally suppose, until they should examine the whole slate of the case, that there was fome fplid realon lor the. preference— eipe cially when they fee, that the Col ledors, hot only fay, in the \vords of the Treasury Notice, which are to be received} but earetuUy men tion also, which are to be refufed. It is not supposed that Mr. Secre tary Dallas can feel any special en mity towards this Buck ; but we do contend, that the comic pursu ed, in authorizing the receipt of the bills of fome Banks, which made conditional offers , and of fome , others, w hich made no offers (cases which are well underllood to exist in a neighboring State, as welt as in this) is, upon his own grounds, utterly unjultifiable. The plan offered to the Banks, 24th June, 10 1 5, admitted of no condition or modification , as to Trea sury Notes, or wefhuuid cheerfully have assented, and undertaken as far as we could, and within the li mits of cur Charter—hwasrhere : fore, that we off ered the filbflitution contained in the letter of 22 July, of which, however, as already men tioned, no noticeihas been taken. On the fubjecl of receiving l rea : fury Notes to an unlimited amount, we had Hated in that letter, and now repeat, for more full informa tion, on a fubjecl not yet generally understood by the public, an insur mountable .obstacle in our Charter, which prohibits the Bank, under heavy penalties, from ever owing more than three times the amount of its capital. We have always ri gidly adhered, and mult adhere to this prudent reftriCtion. Now, if we were bound to receive Treaiu ry Notes without limitation, as re quired by the words of the propo sition j “ for all payments to the Bank, and re-issue them in pay ment of all demands on the Bank, to such persons as choose to receive them,”it is plain, to the undemand ing of every man, that so soon as we had issued our bills to those who w'ould not choose Treasury Notes for those left in Bank, & to an amount, which, being added to our paper, . already in circulation, would exceed three times our capital-flock, we should thereby violate the chatter, and incur its penalties —and over and above this obje&ion if it could be disregarded—the profpeCt of re suming specie payments would be shut out, during the continuance of such a fyflem. We have heard lately, and with f irprife and regret, of an opinion entertained by fome individuals, ’ that we exhibited unwillingness to [Payable half yearly. aid government, during the late war : this is a complaint, for which of all others there is the least foun dation. Let the following fails speak for us ■ ln September, 1813, this Bank fubferibed and took, and yet hold, one hundred and thirteen thousand dollars in the fix per cent, loan of that year. In the y ear fol lowing we paid in money, and at par, for an hundred thousand dol lars of Treafuary notes On the 111 day of May, 18(4, we received immediately from the secretary of the Ireafury, by agreement, feven ty-five thousand dollars more, and paid him for them, in money, and at par ; besides various other ad vances to public agents ; and such loans to the State also, as it deft red, amounting in the whole, in loans and advances, to upwards of four hundred thousand dollars, the greater part in times of peril, and expended by government in defence of the in the prosecution of the Indian War. And, not withstanding the large sums repaid, we flill hold nearly two hundred thouland dollars in public Securities of the United States, for money ad vanced, of which, seventy five thouland dollars in Treafuary notes, due’ (and unpaid) ill May last, laid over by the public ’till 111 September 1815, when, as it had been notified by Mr. Dallas in the public prints,,they & all others, due in Georgia, should be paid off, in current money; but when the day arrived, there was no means provided} unless a confiderablefum in the New I reaiury Note?, which cary no interest in their prefentform (and which Mr. Dallas admits, in his advertifenient of 15th June, 1815, it “afcertained” would not then aniwer the purpose of a circulating medium) were intended for that purpose. Informed that all the new Trea sury notes were small, and judging that our having poffeflion of luch, would afford agood opportunity of aicertaining, whether the people were willing to aid in giving them circulation, we sent two hundred thouland dollars to Savannah, the sth of last month, to pay for the fame amount of those Treasury Notes; but, our agent upon feeing they were ail of a defeription, we had not expe&edL- ai )d bearing no interest, they were riot taker.—an application was made on the 12th September for a part of those small Treasury Notes, that we might be enabled to furnifh tax money to the public, in this application, w r e were likewise disappointed; the Commiflioner of loans flaring he could do nothing with them, until he should hear further from Mr. Dallas. The foregoing fads are submit. ted to the consideration of the pub lic, for the purpose gs ffitvving, Ilf, the grounds on which we felt com pelled to decline the Treasury pro posal as it flood—2d, that the non acceding Banks have not all been placed upon the fame footing 3dly, that this inflituucn has done- [Number 43.