61S 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



nunciation oC ihe system and its train oT Irauds 

 and evfla, not so much as one argument or fact 

 has been brought lorvvard to maintain the piinci- 

 ple, or delend ihe abuses ol the sysiem. Plenty 

 oi other and strongly operative means have been 

 used to put down and destroy opposers of this 

 despotism ollraud. But no bank dignitary or bank 

 advocate, nor even any one ol'the most servile and 

 shameless of bank slaves, has been " so soft" as 

 to attempt to maintain ai length belbre the public 

 either that the alleged abuses of banking did not 

 exist, or that they ought not to be relormed. 



If mdeed we have violated either pledge or 

 duty in this respect, as charged, it must have been 

 by discussing prohibited questions, and not taking 

 the wrong side. N«w we put it to our corre- 

 spondent's own sincerity and candor, whether he 

 would have thu:s denounced our alleged improper 

 meddling with banking and politics, if we had 

 sustained the policy which he approves, instead of 

 that which he opposes. 



(b) The uninlbrmed reader might inler from 

 this compaiisoii and strongly expressed prelerenca 

 iha^ our correspondent nieant lo convey thai he 

 thought but lightly o\ marl banks j but we happen 

 10 know that he thinks very highly vt' their value, 

 and iherelore tnat his estimate of the agricultural 

 value of irredeemable paper money banks is so 

 much the more exalted in proporiion. 



(c) We admit fully our conviction that such is 

 our correspondent's own opinion ; lor we know him 

 to be an upright and honorable gentleman, and one 

 who, however ultra as a bankite, is no more a 

 bank slave than we are. But, while thus admit- 

 ting every thing that could be claimed lor our 

 friend's sincerity and truth, and entire honesty, 

 we must say that his opinion of the salutary 

 efi'ecls of the existing banking system (including 

 non-specie paying of course) is opposed, not only 

 by all high aulhori-iy among political economists, 

 but also, and not less so, by the wisest practical men 

 of the bank paity ; lor example, by Albert Gallatin 

 and Nathan Appleion, as shown in their recent 

 able pamphlets, which we earnestly recommend 

 to his perusal and consideration. We do not 

 name any anii-paper-money authority — but leave 

 the question to be settled entirely by the best 

 and most undeniable authorities on the other and 

 his own side ol the general question. 



(d) We are not sure that we know the precise 

 force that our correspondent means 16 give to the 

 word "corrupt" as he uses it applied to the banks. 

 We think them rather ihe agents than the subjects 

 of the wide-spread and general work of corruption ; 

 thai they are the corruptors, much more than the 

 corrupted. But there are other words more 

 definite, which in common parlance are often 

 comprehended under the general term "corrupt," 

 and m such sense it is probably used above. If 

 then our correspondent means that term to imply 

 either or all the several characters ol' false, un- 

 faithful or treacherous to trust and duly, fraudulent 

 m principle and in general operation, then we as- 

 sert, in opposition to him, that our banking sys- 

 tem and the banks are each and all of these. Bat 

 it would be Q non sequititr, which we have never 

 asserted, that the officers and directoTs of these 

 institutions are therefore or necessarily corrupt. 

 And it is a still more gross non sequitur, that be- 

 cause the " men at the head of them" are honest 

 and honorable, (for we ca're hot to claim any ex- 



ceptions,) thai the banks are pure and honest, and 

 trust-worthy. The world is lull of institutions 

 and of systems which are corrupt, and of immo- 

 ral tendency and operation, of which many or 

 most of the agents are or may be good and ho- 

 nest men. Our correspondent douhiless views 

 with abhorrence the African slave trade as it was 

 formerly legalized by the British government. 

 Would he iherelore denounce as a villain every Bri- 

 tish minister or statesman who legislated, and 

 every military or naval commander who Ibught 

 (0 maintain, or carry on the slave trade? If so, 

 his denunciation would include halfof the eminent 

 men in England, during that time. Or if claim- 

 ing that these men were as virtuous as most 

 other people — or if believing, as we do, that John 

 Newton was a pious and sincere Christian while 

 employed lor years as the regular master of a 

 slave ship, would it be a logical dedui tion ihat 

 the slave trade was a just, virtuous and Christian- 

 like institution? At this time, most good and 

 thinking men consider piivaieering as a sysiem 

 of robbery and murder. Would the expression 

 of such general opinion convey Ihat all who had 

 been concerned in privateering were robbers and 

 murderers'? Or, if persons so engaged, and even 

 leading the enterprises, have been, as many 

 doubtless were, patriotic, honest, generous, and 

 mreciful, is that a proof that the system and 

 operation of privateering have the like charac- 

 teristics'? One of every two nations engaged in 

 war must be necessarily in the wrong; and many 

 wars of Great Britain (lor example) have been 

 without even color of justification, and vpere com- 

 menced lor conquest, or other unlawful gain. But 

 no one would condemn as a robber and murderer 

 every officer who commanded in such wars, nor 

 even the states ncn who directed them. And yet, 

 according to the reasoning of our correspondent, 

 the piety ot the prime minister of England, and 

 the honorable character of her military and naval 

 commanders, would be sufficient ground to prove 

 the justice of the attack on Copenhagen, the 

 conquest of India, and the present opium war 

 with China !! ! We protest against all such ille- 

 gitimate deduciions, and against none more strong- 

 ly than ihat particular one of our correspondent, and 

 which is so generally used, and which amounts to 

 this, that because bank presidents and directors, 

 or many of them, may be of high and honorable 

 character, patriotic, moral, and even religious., 

 that the principle and the operation of the institu- 

 tions they manage must therelbre be honest, and 

 beneficent. We might admit the private characters 

 of the bank authorities to be as good as our corre- 

 spondent's argument may require, and still the sys- 

 tem under which they operate may be corrupt and 

 abominable, and its operation on the interests of 

 the community may be fraudulent, plundering, 

 and even ruinuus. 



(e.) We admit, and regret, that most news- 

 papers are indeed "vehicles of falsehood" lo 

 greater or less extent. As a matter of mere 

 curiosity, we should like to know which paper 

 our correspondent reads and confides in, as free 

 Irom such ground of reproach ; lor, without know- 

 ing, we much suspect that he has had in especial 

 favor, and will continue to have as a monitor 

 and guide, some one paper which is among the 

 most willing and operative among the " vehicles of 

 falsehood." For our own little weekly "summary 



