THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



671 



tho most venerable and the most architectural mdnii- i 

 ment in En-jlaiut. The jt;\vi'ls of the ciowii wcie ' 

 jilaced III iiiiiiiiiuMit jcopanly by the catastiophc, ami 

 the tire was witii Ki'«''>t ditiicuily prevuntea ixtLiuliiii; 

 to the arsenal. Tlie aniiory, vvliich was consumed, 

 contained about 300,000 muskets, and the loss, with 

 the cost ot rebuilding that part of the structure, will [ 

 exceed jt 400,000. I 



A stupendous fraud has been discovered in tiie issue i 

 of exchequer bills, which appears to luive been con- j 

 tinned for sever;il years, and so lar as iiad appeared | 

 amoitnted to about Jt 350,000. The cotton market j 

 remained without any material alteration. There is ] 

 no later news from China. The Lords of the Trea- , 

 sury have authorized the admission of the rough rice ! 

 from the United States at Id. per quarter. It is suid 

 that the Irish jieasa-itry will this year be exposed to I 

 the terrible calamity of a failure of the potato crop, j 

 It is also known that the wheat and oat crops are one { 

 third below the average, and the price of meat is 

 rising on account of a d'stemper among the cattle. | 

 The abortive attempt in Spain had been completely j 

 crushed. A conspiracy had been detected at Brussels, I 

 and a quantity of arms and ammunition seizeil. 'Jhe j 

 ultimate object'of the conspirators was variously re- ] 

 ported — some alleging that it was a republic, otiiers ) 

 a restoration of the Dutch dynaiSiy.— Public Ledger. | 



All th'> banks of Buffalo, except a " red dog" one, 

 have exploded, and a gener^il suspension is anticijiated 

 in the Western New York Banking system. The 

 currency of Western New York has been ruined by 

 the mismanagement of the present state government. 

 In the old " iiil'ected district" both the state banking 

 systems, (the "safety fund" and the "free bank- 

 ing") have now exploded and become mere wrt'cks. 

 Throughout the last summer and autumn, up to the 

 day they blew up, these banks had been sustained 

 by4he state government, merely for political pur- i 

 poses — and they are now permitted to fall to pieces and 

 to cheat the hard working community, solely to em- 

 barrass the next legislature. From the time ot Rath- 

 bun, who is now expiating his forgeries in Auburn 

 State Prison, up to the present day, the banking:, poli 

 tical and commercial system of Western New Yoik 

 has been teriibly demoralizing. We see its results in 

 such spectacles as Kathbun in Auburn, Mitchell in 

 the court of sessions, and a general suspension of all 

 the Buffalo banks, and the probable downfal of many 

 now standing up like drunken men, in that region. — 

 N. Y. Her. 



P Gen. Santa Ana is now undisputed master of 

 Mexico. Having put down all o[)position by military 

 force, he was elected president of the republic ol 

 Mexico by a junta of his own appointment. Tins 

 is a very convenient and quiet mode of election, and 

 well suited for such a republic as Mexico. 



The authorities of the New Orleans banks have 

 had a formvil meeting, and resolved that it was expe- 

 dient to resume specie payments a year hence!.'.' 

 They might as well have fixed upon the day of judg- 

 ment, which will be full as early as these or any other 

 banks will voluntarily resume payment. But though 

 we have no faith in any voluntary resumption by the 

 banks, or even of their being ever compelled thereto by 

 the legislative power alone, in Virginia or elsewhere, 

 yet there are numerous and strong indications of re- 

 sumption being speedily compelled by the popular 

 will, acting authoritatively on the government and 

 legally on the banks, to force a return to resumption 

 of payments. The question of early resumption is 

 now, and for the first time, fully before the public, 

 every where, and especially in Virginia. Tiie bankite 

 newspapers, are clamoring for continued suspension — 

 and even some others that claim to be for resumption, 

 are for postponing it for nearly another year more. 

 But whatever the banks and the iegislativa power 



may choose, they cannot much longer maintain the 

 reign of dishonesty in an irnilccmaldi! and deprecia- 

 ted i)a|)er curiency, alter its being borne for nearly 

 live yeais. We love especially to co|)y truths on this 

 subjei^ iioiii bankite news|)apeis, v\lien such rare 

 opportunities occur. The last mail brings something 

 in this way from our friends the editois of the Rich- 

 mond Compiler and the Augusta Chronicle. The 

 former say — " There has Jbeen such a continuation of 

 abuse ol banking, of erroneous legislatiou with re- 

 u-aid to it, and such a succession of disappointments 

 of just expectations, that we may well wonder that 

 the condition of things is not worse than it is. No- 

 thing but the iiulomitable spirit and recuperative 

 energies of our country could have sustained it so 

 well under such trying events." And the latter say — 

 " Our observation of Georgia legislation on the sub- 

 ject of banks and currency, has satisfied us long since, 

 that in the main, the currency is better when the 

 Legislature has least to do with it, for the body is 

 composed, generally of such a mass of ignoiance and 

 stupidity, on all subjects connected with banking and 

 currency, that a majority of them have not sufficient 

 capacity to prolil by the plainest lessons of expe- 

 rience." Now we heartily concur in these opinions, 

 and to the application of each one to both the legisla- 

 tures referred to. And when it is considered that almost 

 every thing d<iiie by both legislatures in regard to 

 bardis, and especially for the last five years, has been 

 to sustain and pamper them with exclusive privileges, 

 and to indulge their oilences and pardon their iniquities, 

 failures and frauds on tlie community — and that al- 

 most nothing has yet been done to restrain their evils 

 or to punish their misdeeds, tiie legislators and banks 

 could scarcely be more strongly condemned than i'l 

 the above quoted words of bankite editors. 



" There was some hope that the legislature of Vir- 

 ginia would have compelled a resuiaption within the 

 limits of that state, but the example of New Orleans 

 will now be made the pretext for continuing to shave 

 i the public with depreciat^•d paper, under the pretence 

 1 of calling it exchange. .The banks will now without 

 ' scruple ship their specie to New York, and buy up 

 j their own paper at as high rates of discount as possi- 

 I ble. This can be done in two ways ; one is to keep 

 : an agent here lor the pur[)0se of using the funds of 

 the banks maturing in this city for the direct purchase 

 of the money, as it is olfered in Wall street by those 

 who bring it or receive it as a remittance from the 

 South. The other is, instead of paying the bills in 

 specie, when presented at their counters, they ship 

 iheir specie to the agent here and sell bills drawn 

 against it at ten to fifteen percent, premium, which 

 is in fact buying their own bills at their own counters 

 at 15 per cent, discount. Intelligent men are found 

 who submit to this robbery, and innocently complain 

 of the "high rate of exchange." The bank officer 

 laughs in his sleeve, and condoles with him on the 

 " ht'id times," and joins him in cursing "Captain 

 Tyler for vetoing the" bank," and sometimes persuades 

 him that the high rate of exchange is because the 

 New York banks " won't suspend." The man pays 

 his 15 percent, shave, and goes off, satisfied that no- 

 thing but universal bankruptcy can restore the currency. 

 So credulous are the southern people. Year after 

 year they permit themselves to be plundered on the 

 shallowest pretences. The banks send their specie 

 to New York. It accumulates here and goes to Eu- 

 rope. The banks then say they cannot resume, be- 

 cause the specie is leaving them." — N. Y. Her. 



Pork.— The American publishes this morning a let- 

 ter from Kanawha, (Va.) which says that there are 

 about 20 or 25,000 hogs on the road leading from 

 Ovvensville, Kentucky, to Charlestown, Kaiiawha ; and 

 about 8 or 10.000 on'the road from Point Pleasant to 

 that place. Some 5 or 6,000 have passed through that 

 village to the eastern markets. Price in Charlestown, 



