The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX, Part 85

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 440

USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX > Part 85

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My impression, therefore, is that, with a view to the safe and punetual payment of the publie revenue, the government would be benefited by postponing the pro- posed payment of the public debt to another quarter, by which time the country will sustain less inconve- nienee from demands on foreign account."

The committee are obliged to dissent from the views .expressed by the president in the foregoing extraet. The committee cannot believe that the pressure which has, and which continues to exist since October last, is attributable mainly "to the great amount of duties paya- ble for the last few months." The committee believe the operations of the Bank of the United States in Phila- delphia, and the offices in Baltimore, New York, and Boston, (the four principal places where bonds are pay. able, ) during the last quarter, furnish evidence to the contrary. By a reference to the weekly statements of

New York, and Boston, from July 1831 to April 1832, marked No. 36, it will be seen, that the amount of re- duetions on discounts and loans at those four largest commercial cities, during the last quarter, taking the maximum amount in January 1831 to April 1832, marked No. 36, it will be seen, that the amounts of re- ductions on discounts and loans at those four largest commercial cities, during the last quarter, taking the

1st of April, is $2,498,489 76, or in round numbers, two millions and a half of dollars; this reduction by the bank and its branches, has probably compelled a similar reduction on the part of the State institutions, in propor-

By document marked No. 39, it would appear, that, on the 13th of March last, the bank was aware of the | tion to the amount of their loans in each of those places.

300

UNITED STATES BANK.

[MAY

In this, and in this alone, the committee are fully per- suaded is to be found the true secret of the pressure which has existed, and does still exist, operating upon the commercial community.

That this pressure will continue for some time to come, the committee fear; for the expansion has been so great, that the contraction which is now in operation cannot, in the opinion of the committee, be effectually checked or controlled, without a necessary curtailment of discounts,

If the bank possessed the ability to sustain itself with- out curtailing its discounts, the revenue falling due the present quarter, might be collected, and facilities grant- ed during the time, upon the principle before pointed out, to the commercial community, and disbursed again by the Government, without any inconvenience being caused by the operation. But such ability, the com- mittee are well satisfied the bank does not possess, nor cannot at present command. Besides the diminished means of the bank previously alluded to, through the loss of five millions of its specie, its foreign exchange and other resources, one of the great difficulties under which it now labours, in paying the public debt, is its being compelled to receive the public revenue, in the Atlantic ports, in a currency, to wit, branch notes and drafts of the western offices, not promptly convertible, and to pay the public debt in current money.

Without a large abridgement of the usual accommo- dations, which will, of course, greatly distress tbe com- munity, the committee are under the strongest convic- tion that it will be little better able to meet the pressure the Government payments will cause, on the 1st of Oct. than they would have been on the 1st of July. The words of Mr. Crawford, in a letter dated 6th of April, 1819, to the president of the bank, the committee con- sider peculiarly appropriate here to introduce. "Pal- liations may prolong the existing embarrassments, and by exciting the hopes and fears of the community, ag- gravate the existing evils, but cannot influence the final result."

In another letter, dated the 9th April, 1819, to the same gentleman, he says, "Banks, in order to secure specie payments, must approximate their circulation and individual deposites, to a sum justly proportioned to the amount of specie in their vaults. Any thing short of this will keep them in a precarious state, and post- pone the period when banking operations can be safely prosecuted upon ordinary principles.

When an institution, with investments amounting to 75,000,000, commanding the foreign and domestic ex- change of the country, monopolizing the government deposites, cannot, at the moment when we are export- ing our annual crop of cotton, amounting, by the ad- mission of the president of the bank, to $20,000,000 (but really near thirty, ) transfer a few millions of its funds abroad, to pay the government debt, without em- barrassing its operations; and seriously distressing tra- ders, is there not reason to believe that its business has been too much and too rapidly extended?

The committe in order to ascertain the precise man- ner in which the annual election of directors has been conducted, called at an early period of the investigation, for the following document, viz: "A statement of the number of votes given at each annual election of di- rectors since that of 1823, the whole number of votes given, the number given in person, and the

number given by proxy, and in the latter case, by whom," which statement was not furnished the committee, but the statement, marked No, 41, was furnished. This shows the whole number of proxies to be 4,533, of which the president holds, exclusively, 1, 436, and as a trustee, in conjunction with others, 1, 684, which gives him, without intending to impugn the exercise of the power, decidedly a preponderating control in the election of directors, a power which was never contemplated by the charter; so far from it, that . instrument, as well as subsequent laws passed by Con- gress, have studiously endeavoured to prevent the very mischief which this accumulation of proxies in the hands of one person, is most obviously calculated to produce. The charter has limited the votes of the largest stock- holders, no matter what may be the number of shares, to the number of thirty, clearly with a view to prevent the whole affairs of the bank from falling into the hands of a few individuals. It is too powerful an engine to be controlled by one man alone, and this must be apparent to the good sense of every one; yet, notwithstanding this restriction, by the use of proxies, individuals, with little, or no immediate interest, can perform what those possessing a direct and deep interest, are prohibited from doing. Connected with this subject, there is one which ought not to go unnoticed.

The charter positively requires twenty-five directors; for some years past, as appears by the list of directors, marked No. 42, there have been but twenty-four. The president of the bank holding the appointment from the government and the stockholders at the same time.

Upon a reference to the weekly statement of the of- fice at New York, from July, 1831, to April, 1832, be- fore alluded to, the committee find no aggregate in- crease of loans; but on the contrary, they find that there has been a reduction in the amount viz; the amount on the 29th February, being less than on the 2d and the 8th days of the same month, and $140,000 less on the 28th day of March, than on the 29th of Feb. previous.

By examining the statement No. 36, it will be [seen that the total amount of discounts at the New York branch, between the 4th October, 1831, and the 28th of March, 1832, were actually diminished $468,447 17, while during the same time, the bonds paid at that port, amounted to between nine and ten millions of dollars.

The committee cannot pass over mentioning the sub- ject of the sums paid for printing. By reference to a statement furnished the Senate in March last, it will be. seen that, from the period of the establishment of the bank, after the year 1817, up to the year 1829, the sum paid for printing, in any one year, has not exceeded $867 19; and in some years, it has been as low as $124 and $165 50. But in 1830, the amount is swelled to the sum of $6,762 54; and, in 1831, to $9,187 94. In the year 1817 the year in which the bank was established and went into operation, and consequently a greater expense was incurred, the expense for print- ing was $3,226 15.

What circumstances occurred or existed during the years 1830 and 31, to require such an unusual increase in this branch of expense, over the preceding years

In the late letter of the president of the bank to the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 29th of March last, there is the following postscript: "As an illustration of in the ordinary course of its business, the committee the effect of the measures I have suggested, I may mention that, in the month of February last, the collec- tor of New York, with a laudable anxiety to protect the public revenue, applied to the bank to authorise an ex- tension of loans in that city, in order to assist the debtors to the government. This was promptly done; this I should desire to do again, as the payment to the govern- ment during the next quarter will be very large."

have been unable to discover, though they called for the accounts under this head of expenditure, but have not yet received them. In the same document is con- tained the sums paid to "attorneys," annually, since the establishment of the bank. This subject, owing to their limited time, the committee were unable to investigate. Sufficient, however, came to their knowledge, to justify the belief that the sums returned as having been paid to "attorneys," embrace only what was paid to them in that distinct character; that the sums paid to solicitors and counsellors for the bank, are not in the amount given.

The committee addressed the following inquiry to the president of the bank, believing that it involved a fact which will be useful to Congress in its future legislation on the subject of its charter:

301

LAW CASE.

1832.]

"Did Mr. Ellsworth, or any one else of the State of Connecticut, as assessors of taxes of that State, write to request you to give him a list of stockholders belong- ing to that State for the purpose of taxing them accord- ing to a law thercof?"

The president replied-"In December, 1829, Henry L. Ellsworth, of Hartford, in Connecticut, addressed a letter to me, requesting to be furnished with a list of the stockholders of the bank residing in Connecticut, for the purpose of taxing the stock. The request was de- clined, for reasons which will appear in the correspond- ence hereunto annexed;" to which the committee refer, marked No. 43.

The committee, in calling for various statements, have collected a number of useful documents, not refer- able to any particular head, but as containing a mass of useful information, they present them to the House, subject to their future order, and, if found necessary, to be appended to this report, when it, together with the papers to which it refers, shall be published.

The majority of the committee feel authorized to state that they have not been able to give even the pa- rent bank that investigation which its extensive opera- tions deserve, much less the branches-in some of which there have been subjects of complaint, but which they have been compelled to abandon for the want of time.

The committee that investigated the affairs of the bank in 1819, when it had been but two years in ope- ration, with its business much less extended than at pre- sent were engaged, as it would seem from the records of that day, from the 30th of November to the 16th of January, before they reported, and then they had not made as thorough an examination as the transactions of the institution seemed to require. At the present time, with a greatly enlarged business of sixteen years' ac- cumulation, and twenty-five branches, whose opera- tions have been charged with signal instances of irregu- larity, the bank requires a much more minute examina- tion than the committee have been able to give it.

There have been many statements called for, which the business of the bank and the shortness of the time allowed for the investigation would not admit to be fur- nished. The committee were particularly desirous of ascertaining how far the payment of the public debt, and throughout the whole term of the existence of the bank, affected its operations, and called for all the re- solutions and correspondence relating to that subject since 1817, but have only received such as related to the three per cent. Joan, and the circular of the 7th of October last.

On the subject of specie payments, domestic and fo- reign exchange, investments in public debt by the bank in 1824 and 1825, and its ability to make loans to the Government-the influence of the operations of the bank upon trade-on the increase of the paper circula- tion of the bank-its agency in diminishing or enlarging the circulation of local banks, and the means of perma- nently regulating our general circulation, so as to pre- vent its injurious effects upon the trade and currency of the country; all matters of vital importance in the re- organization of the bank; concerning which the commit- tee submitted a number of inquiries to the President of the bank, who has not been alle, from the press of other indispensable duties, to answer; and which que- ries are appended to this report. The investigations, however, which have been made, imperfect as they were, fully justify the committee in saying, that the bank ought not, at present, to be rechartered.

It is obvious, from the statements submitted, and the correspondence with the treasury concerning the pub- lic debt, and the fluctuations of the revenue of go- vernment, that these have hitherto essentially affected the general circulation and operations of the Bank of the United States. It would, therefore, seem to your committee to be most judicious not to act upon the question of rechartering that institution, or of char- tering any other national bank, until the public

debt shall have been paid off, and the public revenue shall have been adjusted to the measure of our federal expenditures.

TABLE

Referred to in the Report of the Select Committee appointed to examine into ille affairs of the Bank of the United States.

JApril 1.

January 1.

September 1.

June,

May,

April,

March,

February,

January,

1819.

December,

November, .

October,

September,

1818.

Nonc.

3,497,681 06 11,545,116 51|

7,139,485 36 2,283,882 49

7,160,210 71|

2,104,739 53

1,749,951 40

2,048,108 08 13,719,828 49

13,867,828 49

6,829,690 21

5,994,301 17

6,441,407 17

6,563,750 19

7,286,069 49

8,348,421 82

8,713,951 05 12,986,543 83

8,214,885 10 12,484,420 16

Deposites.

1,876,802 39

168,373 72

356,007 31

445,320 231

876,648 00

1,130,911 13

1,665,083 69

2,049,212 72

499,517 04

596,482 99

173,072 80

1,908,706 37

Due in Europe.

EASTON, (Pa. ) April 10. CIRCUIT COURT PROCEEDINGS.

The Circuit Court for this county commenced on Monday the 2d inst. Judge Huston presiding. The first case tried was

BENJAMIN Carw, Esq.

vs.

Conrad Keck, Peter Dreisbach, John Miller, George Gross, Conrad Bachman, (weaver) Frederick Bachman, Con- rad Bachman, Adam Flickinger Jacob Geiser, Joseph Fenster-macher, Conrad Dreisbach, Herman Rogers, Philip Renner und Henry Renner.

This was an action of cjectment brought in the name of Benjamin Chew, Esq. of Philadelphia, to recover

Jesuca.

Circulation.

15,884,938 43

5,424,707 87

5,658,935 72

6,147,610 69

6,581,929 49

6,374,907 53

5,792,871 40

9,134,038 14

8,682,734 85

2,818,208 96| 2,541,072 90| 19,854,881 39

2,780,728 15 2,838,632 19 19,622,881 39

Specie.

Banks.

Notes of other

35,811,623 96|

14,084,138 49

1,830,514 55 14,068,138 49

7,322,823 64 2,053,622 90

7,391,823 64 2,184,088 57 1,999,537 84 13,719,828 49

2,666,696 52

2,389,626 28

2,039,001 58

19,989,618 07

1,974,037 01 19,968,934 1,5

7,393,049 12 2,176,928 92

7,425,549 12

9,430,926 60

Funded Debt.

6,799,753 63 2,836,900 40| 42,118,452 13| 23,717,441 10 17,056,386 69

2,200 00 7,038,823 12 2,171,676 31 40,621,211 18 24,630,747 60 17,997,689 57 1,4 47,784 68

2,080,442 33

22,399,447 52

5,083,613 40

5,615,024 91

1,877,909 13

13,719,828 49

7,391,823 64

7,393,049 12

1832.

1831.

7,139,485 36 2,510,371 27 |1,415,580 35

307

LIFE OF CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY.

[MAY

750 acres of land situate in Lehigh township. The plaintiff set up his title to these lands under a deed of lease and release from William Penn, to Thomas Church, bearing date 3d April, 1695. A warrant dated 25th November, 1737, from Thomas Penn, on the application of Theophila Patridge, executrix of Thomas Church, to survey for the use of his heirs 1500 acres of land, in the province of Pennsylvania, whereof this is one moiety -- a survey and return thereof dated 19 July, 1739. The first papers given in evidence by plaintiff's counsel, were the warrant, which recites the deed of lease and release, and the proceedings of Commissioners of pro- perty thereupon. The survey was then offered in evi- dence and objected to by the defendants' counsel, as being made without authority-it not being signed by Scull, Deputy Surveyor.

BY THE COURT .- The indorsement on the survey shows it was received into the Land Office, and as that is the case, it is of no consequence who made it. It is but lately the authorized surveyors write D. S. after their names.

The will of Thomas Church, was next offered, dated the 30th of June, 1730, and proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in England, accompanying which was the affidavit of Jarvis Kendrick, that the copy was a true one, and that the annexed seal was the seal of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Defendants' coun- sel object, 1st. That there is not sufficient proof of the seal-the affidavit being exparte. 2d. No record or registry of Church's will. 3d. No affidavit of mode of probates. The court after argument admit it to be read.

Following this was the will of Theophila Patridge, dated May 17, 1736, and proved 17th April, 1748; ob- jected to by defendants' counsel in addition to former objections, that Theophila Patridge, being only tenant for life, she cannot pass real estate.

BY THE COURT .- I will for the present admit the will to be read, and will tell the jury in my charge whether it conveys title or not. .

The will of her son John Patridge, dated 19th April, 1748, and proved 22d December, 1748, was next read; also the will of Samuel Ingram, dated 25th October, 1773, and the will of Thomas Ingram, dated 16th July 1774,-bringing down the title to Frances Ingram, who intermarried with John Rice.

The plaintiff's counsel next offered deeds of lease and release from Frances Rice and Rev. John Keeble, to the plaintiff B. Chew, dated 4th and 5th September, 1815. Proved before the Lord Mayor of London. The defendants' counsel object -- that the deeds are not prov- en, and cannot go in evidence. There is no proof that the seal in question is the corporate seal of London, and the seal of London cannot in this State prove itself.

BY THE COURT .- I should like very much to have the whole of this case before the Jury; but if the defend- ants' counsel insist, I don't see how I can get over the objection. The deeds cannot go in evidence, besides, it is a point of importance whether any of these deeds relate to the land in question or touch them at all. It is also remarkable that the release refers to another and prior deed to Benjamin Chew. The plaintiff's counsel then allege they were taken by surprise and ask the court to withdraw a juror and continue the cause.

PER HUSTON, J .- I cannot withdraw a juror. If it were done in this case, it might be done in every case where the plaintiff on the trial finds that he fails in his testimony. It cannot be done: and if it could, I would not do it in favor of a title that has lain asleep for 95 years. The plaintiff's counsel then submit, that as the seal was already in evidence, the seal should be put be- fore the Jury for comparison.

SED PER CURIAM .- The seal in evidence was not ad- mitted, it was disputed, and its authenticity denied; with such a seal comparison wont do. Plaintiff's counsel then submit to a non suit, with leave to move to take it off. Plaintiff appeals to the Supreme Court. Porter

and Brooke for plaintiff, and John M. Scott, Hoffman, and Prior, for defendants.

From the Blairsville Record. SKETCHES, No. VII.

Of the Life, and Military and Hunting Adventures of CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY.

(Continued from page 270.)

The massacre at Fort Freelying cast a damp on the settlement at West Branch, but the hardy settlers pre- pared for the worst, by such measures of precaution as their means afforded. The Indians, after committing some further depredations, and murdering some fami- lies in Buffalo valley, retreated. The settlement pro- gressed and had reached the Muncy hills. A fort was built at the mouth of Muncy creek, near where Pennsborough now stands, the command of which was given to Captain John Brady.

Frequent skirmishes took place between the whites and Indians, who resumed their old practice of har- rassing the settlers by dividing themselves into small squads, taking some prisoners, scalping others, and car- rying away or destroying the cattle and moveable pro- perty of their victims. Brady, it appears, left the fort of the regular service, prior to the battle of Brandy- wine.

Shortly after the return from, the camp of Captain Brady and his son, a company of men formed for the purpose of aiding a friend to cut his oats, near the mouth of Loyalsock creek. James Brady, son of Captain John, the younger brother of Captain Samuel of the Rangers, went along. According to a custom in those days, which was, that if no commissioned officer were present, the company selected a leader whom they styl- ed " Captain," and obeyed as such; James was selected leader or Captain of this little band of about twenty men. After arriving on the ground, they placed two sentinels at opposite sides of the field; the other sides having clear land around, were not thought to require any. The guns were all placed together at one side of the field, and the order was, that in case of alarm, all were to run to the rifles.

The first day, which was spent in cradling the oats, nothing remarkable happened; during the night a strict watch was kept. The next day in the evening, one of the sentinels fired, and cried, "Indians." The young Captain without looking round for his men, ran for his rifle. When near the guns he was fired upon by a white man with a pistol-Happening to stumble over a sheaf of oats he fell, and the ball missed him. The In- dians supposing him dead, ran to secure his scalp. He fell within reach of the guns, and seizing one he shot the first Indian who approached him. He now discov- ered that his men had fled and left him to contend with the savages alone.

Despair rendered him but the more determined to die gallantly. He caught another gun, and brought down a second Indian. They rushed in upon him in numbers; he was a stout, active man, and struggled with them for some time. At length one of them struck a tomahawk into his head. He was stunned with the blow, and for a time remained altogether powerless; yet strange as it may seem, he retained his senses. They tore the scalp from his head as he lay in apparent death, and it was quite a trophy to them; for he had long and remarkably red hair.

After they had scalped him, as he related afterwards, a little Indian was called and made to strike the toma- hawk into his head in four separate places, then leaving him for dead, they took the guns with them and fled to the woods.

After coming to himself, he attempted, between walking and creeping, to reach a little cabin where

303

MISCELLANEOUS.

1831.]

was an old man who had been employed to cook for the working party. On hearing the report of the guns the old man bad hid himself, but when he saw Brady re- turn, he came to him. James begged the old man to fly to the fort, saying, "the Indians will soon be back and will kill you." The old man refused to leave him. Brady then requested to be taken down to the river, where he drank large quantities of water. He still beg- ged the old man to leave him and save himself, but he would not. He next directed his old friend to load the gun that was in the cabin, which was done and put into luis hands; he then lay down and appeared to sleep. A noise was suddenly heard on the bank above them; he jumped on his feet and cocked the gun. It was soon discovered that the noise was made by some troops who had come from the fort on horseback in pursuit of the Indians. They carried the brave young " Captain" to the fort, where he lived for five days. The first four days he was delirious, on the fifth his reason returned, and he described the whole scene he had passed through, with great minuteness. He said the Indians were of the Seneca tribe, and amongst them were two chiefs; that oneof those chiefs was a very large man, and by the description he was supposed to be Cornplanter; the other he personally knew to be the celebrated chief "Bald Eagle;" from whom certain creeks and the Ridge so called in Centre and Huntingdon counties, have their names-"The Bald Eagle's nest," as his camp was called, was for part of the year at the mouth of the creek called "Bald Eagle," which empties into the Susquehanna near the Great Island, and about thir- ty mdes by water, from the scene of action.

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The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX, Part 85

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870 Publication date: 1828 Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ; Number of Pages: 440

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 440