THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



443 



operating an object to induce tbeir distant notes 

 to be sent homeward, and in a few months they 

 will be at hand and in very inconvenient quantity. 

 And after November 1st, (he banks can no longer 

 avail of the present false pretences of paying, and 

 yet effectually withhold payment. 



Eighteen months ago, we endeavored to ex- 

 pose the like exercise by the banks ol the same 

 false pretences; and we shall copy the etalement 

 then made, as being as applicable now as then, 

 (March 1841,) when the banks pretended, for a 

 very short lime, and falsely preiended, in like 

 manner, to pay specie, belbre ihey again boldly 

 refused it altogether. 



" It is one of the common argoments of the day, 

 which we may hear any where in ihe slreei?, and 

 which are as current as ihe banks' ^•promise to 

 pay,'''' that " the bank has received on deposite all 

 sons of notes —not only of all the branches in Vir- 

 ginia, but of the bnnks of North Carolina — and 

 that it would be moneirous, and most unreasona- 

 ble and unjust, to demand specie for checks drawn 

 for deposites so constituted.'' Now, in the first 

 place, the rule thus set up \'ot the bank, if good, 

 should work both ways. If North Carolina notes, 

 for example, are to be paid out to check?, because 

 such notes had been deposited, (hy the bank^s 

 own rule, adopted for tlie bank's own benefit,) 

 either by the drawer, or by others, in ordinary 

 business, then it certainly would follow, that a de- 

 positor of specie, or of notes issued by the bank, 

 should rightfully draw specie, or these only specie- 

 bringing notes (or his checks. Yet it is well 

 known that such would not be peri ifed, unless 

 as a matter of favor to the drawer, and a departure 

 from the rule of the bank's right. All checks, 

 for money previously and generally deposited, 

 stand (and ol' right ought to stand) on equal foot- 

 ing; all deposi'es which the bank chooses to re- 

 ceive as its own notes, are thereby made the same 

 (as to that bank) as its own notes ; and the bank 

 is in every sense bound to pay for them in its own 

 legal and proper currency. If the consequences 

 were likely to be inconvenient or injurious, and 

 if the practice had not been adopted for ihe special 

 benefit of the receiving bank, it would be very easy 

 for it to reftise to receive deposites in any notes 

 except such as it agreed to redeem in specie; or, 

 if receiving them, to return them for payment to 

 the banks whence they issued. But this return- 

 ing of foreign notes, and receiving their own, is 

 precisely what the banks wish especially to avoid. 

 But, in fact, (though it is not required to sustain 

 our position,) it is just as convenient and easy 

 for a bank to pay specie lor deposites m.ade in one 

 kind of paper as another. Whether a deposite be 

 made in the notes of the bank receiving the de- 

 posite, or of North Carolina notes, it would not 

 add a dollar to the bank's stock of specie ; nor 

 would the payment diminish that stock more in 

 the one case than the other, if then it be true, 

 (as is alleged in defence of the banks,) that it 

 would be "impossible for them to pay specie for 

 deposites made in foreign notes," it is equally 

 true that it would be just as impossible to pay 

 them if every deposited note had been of their 



own issue. We are very willing to admit the 

 impossibility in both the cases. 



As it presents a curious incident in the history 

 of the progress of irresponsible banking in this 

 country, we will copy the notices of this bank, 

 (signed by the cashier,) under which it claims 

 exemption from paying checks, and seeks to 

 avoid all such demands. They are now stuck up 

 at the counter of the Branch Bank of Virtrinia ; 

 and under these, or some equally potent safe- 

 guards, the like exemption from paying checks is 

 maintained by all other banks in Virginia. 



" Notice. 



"All deposites made in this office are to be con- 

 sidered as made in current bank notes. 

 " Oct. 16, 1839." 



"In addition to the above notice, depositors are 

 further notified, that in order to avoid any diflicul- 

 ty at the counter, they are required to make their 

 checks payable in current bank notes. 



"Feb. 11, 1841."' 



Thus, ifthis be indeed a " specie-paying bank," 

 (andif this is not, then there is certainly not one 

 in Virginia,) it is guarded at all points against 

 paying specie to any extent either injurious to the 

 bank or beneficial to its creditors, or to the public 

 interest. 



First, all of its own notes (by some means, 

 whether designed or accidental, natural or super- 

 natural, it is not our business to establish) have 

 been taken out of Ihe home circulation, and sub- 

 stituted by others issued by remote banks; and, 

 therefore, readily as its own notes may be re- 

 deemed by the bank, there are almost none that 

 can be presented for redemption. 



Secondly, all deposiies are rendered irredeema- 

 ble in specie, by virtue of the above notices; or 

 in any other currency than the worst paper money 

 which the bank may choose at any future time 

 to receive. 



Thirdly, even if the bank authorities opposed 

 no such obstacles as are above st.iied to the 

 making payments in specie, ihe fear of their en- 

 mity, and the tremendous influence which they 

 wield over the trading community, would deter 

 nearly every individual from claiming his just 

 rights. 



And fourthly, Ics' all these safeguards should 

 prove too weak, the aid of new legislative enact- 

 ments will be called in, and of which the purport 

 and force are yet to be seen ; but which will cer- 

 tainly fail of their designed object, if they do not 

 secure the banks still more efleclually than now, 

 against all possible demands to pay their debts 

 and comply with their obligations. 



The three banks in Richmond, like the one 

 spoken of here, pay bills of their own issue only ; 

 and still more strictly pay no checks, and have 

 paid none,. (as a general rule,) since their pre- 

 tended resumption. It is only a matter o( inler- 

 ence that all the other banks and branches in 

 Virginia do no belter, and therelbre are not now, 

 nor have they ever been, even Ibr a day, truly 

 specie-paying banks. And il any doubt now 

 exists, we think it will be speedily removed by 

 their admission of Ihe fact of general re-suspen- 

 sion. That will probably be the acknowledged state 

 of things before this article can be issued from the 



