Newspapers. These are sent free to any part of the kingdom, provided they be mailed within eight days after they are printed. All foreign newspapers are charged with postage at the rate of two pence each. Every newspaper published in England pays a stamp duty of two pence; it would therefore, seem scarcely right to tax it again when sent by mail. Transmission of funds. There being no bank notes in England of a less denominotion than five pounds, the department, for the convenience of those who wish to transmit small sums by mail, have a money order office, where all sums under two pounds are insured for a small premium. Drafts are drawn upon the respective postmasters at the offices where it is desired to remit money, and notices of such drafts are made out and forwarded to these officers the day previous to the remittance of the drafts themselves. Number of letters and newspapers. The average number of letters received daily, for delivery in the London Post-Office, is 75,359. The average number of newspapers received daily, for delivery in the London Post-Office, is 11,460. The average number of letters sent, daily posted in London, is 80,370. The average number of letters daily distributed and forwarded is 22,310. The average number of newspapers daily posted in London is 83,510. The average number of newspapers daily distributed and forwarded is 3,000. In the London district post, the average number of letters received and delivered daily is 68,000; number of newspapers, 3,500. Delivery of letters. As all the principal mails arrive in London in the mornTransportation of the mail on railways. ing, there are but three deliveries a day by the carriers of the Contracts for carrying the mail are made by the Post- belonging to the two-penny post, or city delivery, by wearing general post. These carriers are distinguished from those master General with the respective railway companies, in the livery of the department, viz: a scarlet coat with a blue the same manner as in this country. Each company, how-collar, and buttons stamped with an impression of the royal ever, is obliged by law to carry a mail whenever desired to arms. The carriers of the two-penny post wear the common do so by the Postmaster General, no matter whether it be citizen's dress. night or day. Should the company and the Postmaster General disagree as to the compensation to be allowed, the matter is referred to three disinterested individuals, whose award is final. At present, the mail is carried upon nine different railways, at an average price of ninety dollars per mile per annum. On the great road from London to Liverpool, upon which the large mails for Ireland, Scotland, the British Provinces in North America, and for the United States, are carried, the price paid per mile per annum is $107 50, and the contract time for the performance of the whole distance of 210 miles is twenty-three miles per hour; leaving London at half-past 8 o'clock, P. M., and arriving in Liverpool on the following morning at about half-past 5, being altogether night service. Railway post offices. delivery, the carriers are taken to their respective walks in When the mails coming in the general post are ready for omnibuses belonging to the department. Comparatively, there are very few letters delivered from the window of the larger towns, boxes are put up similar to those in our cities, post office at London. At Liverpool, and some other of the which are sold by the postmaster, and is one of his perquisites. The advantage to the owner of the box is, that he receives his letters much earlier than by waiting for the Each railway company provides a separate car, when de- a sired to do so by the Postmaster General, for the exclusive use of the mails. As with us, these cars are fitted up with boxes, to facilitate the distribution and reception of the way mails. On the London and Liverpool road, it requires the constant and active employment of two clerks to assort, receive, and hand out the mails; such is the rapidity of travel, and so numerous are the post-offices upon this route. No letters or papers are received at the cars and mailed, as with us. Everything must come through the post-office. To all the mail-cars there is an ingenious machine attached, intended to catch and drop a mail at the same time, at places where the train would not otherwise be obliged to stop. This I have seen successfully done several times, while travelling at the rate of 30 miles an hour; but it has been frequently known to fail-the mail to be taken in dropping upon the road, and the train proceeding without it. Such mail, however, would be picked up and forwarded by the next train, by an officer stationed to receive the mail left. Making up and despatching mails. The hours for closing the mails for the evening despatch are as follows: At the receiving houses, 5 o'clock P. M. All the principal mails for the Kingdom, as well as for every part of the world, are sent off by this despatch. The hour for departure is 8 o'clock, thus leaving only one hour and a half for assorting and making up this immense mail. For a fee of sixpence, letters can be mailed at the principal office until half past 7 o'clock P. M. Newspapers and pamphlets must be in the office by 6 P. M. carrier. All letters by the general post are delivered by the carriers without additional charge. any Besides the letter carriers, there are also attached to the general post ninety-five bellmen, who call at every house in their walk for letters to go by the evening despatch. They carry a locked bag, with an aperture large enough to drop in letter, which can only be opened at the post office. Any the bag himself, pay the bellman his fee of one penny for person having letters to go by the mail may drop them into each letter, and then may rest assured that they will be despatched by the mail of the same evening. The letter carriers belonging to the two-penny post (still the postage is only one penny) assemble at the several so called, to distinguish it from the general post, although branch offices in their respective districts, where each receives the letters for his walk every two hours. to the branch offices. In Paris, where there are six deliveries of the "petite The establishment of receiving houses in some of the larger cities in the Union, upon a plan similar to those of London and Paris, and having carriers to deliver letters three or four times per day, would undoubtedly be a great convenience to the people, and would add considerably to the correspondence of those cities. It could be done, in my opinion, without loss to the revenue of the department.— The receivers in London are generally men engaged in a business, the duties of which oblige them to have some one constantly in attendance; and, therefore, they can afford to do the duty of receiving letters, and taking the pay for them, for a very small commission. The houses in London are principally drug stores, groceries, stationers, small retail shops, &c. &c. Mail Transportation. tire control of the coach, he scarcely ever fails to be within the time specified. He is armed with a blunderbuss and pistols furnished by the department. Steamboat Mails. Mails are carried, in steamers, by contract with the department at London, to Boston, via Halifax. A copy of the The number of miles upon which the mail in the United contract with Mr. Cunard, and a notice of the days of sail Kingdom is annually carried by mail coaches, ing, from the secretary of the general post-office, are hereto annexed, (marked A.) Letters post paid to Boston, from any part of the Union, will be sent by these steamers to side. When they reach England, each letter not weighing England or France, without any additional charge on this more than half an ounce, will be charged with one shilling postage, and at this rate for every additional half ounce, no matter to what part of the kingdom it may be addressed. If The number of post towns in the United Kingdom and destined for France, the French postage will be added-20 their dependencies is as follows: England and Wales,....... Sub-offices and receiving houses,. . Ireland,.... Sub-offices and receiving houses,. Scotland,.. Sub-offices and receiving houses,. Total in the United Kingdom,... Accounts. 640 1,821 339 sous, or cents, for every half-ounce. A conventional arrangement is now existing between England and France, a copy of which is annexed, (marked B,) by which letters can be sent to and from either country, 506 without the pre-payment of postage; which was not the case. some time since. Similar arrangements are about being 403 made between England and Belgium, Prussia, and some other of the German kingdoms. 229 3,938 The general post-office in London has accounts opened only with the 640 offices called post towns, in England and Wales, and with the post-offices of Dublin, in Ireland, and Edinburgh, in Scotland. Mails are made up in London for the whole of Ireland, to the post-office at Dublin, where they are distributed, and separate bills made out for each office, In like manner, the sub-offices in Ireland make up their mails direct to Dublin. So also in Scotland. The office in Edinburgh is, in fact, the post-office department for Scotland. That office compares all the bills as they are returned, (which is done daily.) collects all the moneys due, and finally settles the account with each sub-office under its jurisdiction. If there should be any discrepancy between the account of any sub-office and the office at Edinburgh, the bills are sent to the general department at London for decision. The accounts between the larger offices, such as Dublin, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, &c., are sent to the department at London and settled monthly. Upon leaving England, the Chancellor of the Exchequer informed me that propositions of a like nature had been forwarded to the English minister at Washington, to be laid before our Government. Steamboat mails are also sent from London to Rotterdam, and to Hamburgh and Bremen, semi-weekly. An agent from the department accompanies the mail cach trip, under whose especial charge it is placed. It might be worthy of the serious consideration of the department, whether a plan somewhat similar to this, could not be beneficially introduced into the United States. The Stamps of one penny and two pence each were first inrapid increase in our population, the enormous extension of troduced on the 6th of May, 1840; and since that period mail routes, and the vast accumulation of post-offices, make there has been an increase of nearly 300,000 letters, taking it absolutely necessary that the labor required of the depart- the week ending on the 26th April, and comparing it with ment at Washington, to be effective, should be divided. It the week ending 21st June. Some of these stamps are is well known that even at this time, it is entirely impossi- annexed. They are a great convenience to the correspond. ble to examine and compare all the post bills which are re-ing public, as they can at all times be carried in the pocket, turned quarterly to the department, and that consequently there is no effectual check upon a single post-office in the Union. What will it be if the same state of things is suffered to continue a few years longer? If three or four subdepartments, with limited powers, were established in different quarters of the Union, the existing evils of the present system would doubtless be remedied. Of course, these subdepartments should be under the direction and control of the general department at Washington. Mail-guards. and, by wetting them slightly, they will adhere most closely to the letters upon which they are placed. Envelopes of half a sheet of paper are also in uso. The price of these is 14d. each; but they are by no means as convenient as the stamp. They have, however, been used as a medium of advertising, by many persons having their notices printed on the inside. When this is the case, they are sold at the stationers for ten and eleven pence per dozen. It is proper to state, that the estimated deficiency in the revenue of the department, for one year from the commencement of the new law, will probably be nearly one million of pounds sterling. Admitting this estimate to be correct, the department would still have a surplus revenue for the year of upwards of six hundred thousand pounds sterling. General duties. Every mail, of any importance, leaving or coming into London, is accompanied with a guard, who has the especial charge of the mail while on the road. He delivers and takes in all the mails at each office upon his route. He is employed by the department, and, like the letter carriers of the general post, wears its livery when on duty. The guard is In the British post-offices the detail of duties is very simalso furnished with a chronometer, set exactly with the post-ilar to our own, with the exceptions already given. Their office time, which is locked, so that it cannot be altered by system seems to work exceedingly well in their own counhim. Being furnished with a way-bill containing the time try, where there are, comparatively, few post-offices and no of arrival at each office upon his route, and having the en- bad roads to contend against, and is, perhaps, as nearly per fect as it can be made. They have the advantage of long servile act, in defacing the journals of the senate; and others, experience, and of laws to meet any exigency that might through a cherished though mistaken abstraction, abandoned have a tendency to retard the operations of the department. their posts; which has impaired, and, if continued, will deI cannot close this part of my report without again ex-stroy, the most stable and valuable part of our Constitution, pressing my obligations to the gentlemen at the head of the and, in all probability, the government itself. British Post-Office Department. My thanks are also due to the chiefs of the several bureaus, all of whom, without an exception, took pleasure in showing and explaining to me the operations in their respective divisions. I should feel that I was neglecting a portion of my duty, if I did not take this occasion to bear testimony to their extreme kindness and liberality. MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR DUDLEY OF NORTH CAROLINA. To the Honorable the The House of Representatives could not but feel the influence of the will of the people concentrated in the Executive. His power was tremendous enough to intoxicate the brain of a less philosophical chief. The fate of the bank was decided. The deposits were retained in the local banks, and recommended to be loaned out. Banks increased rapidly, and discounted freely. The disbursements of the government increased some fifty per cent., or about twelve millions of dollars annually. Property and labor of all kinds rose in price. Public works were commenced, and some completed, of vast magnitude; and general prosperity reigned, not only in this country, but in Europe. Up to 1834, under the operations of the "bill of abominations," the payment of the public debt, mostly due to Europeans, filled that country with money seeking investments; a great deal of which was taken by our States, Banks, Railroads, Canals, and Manufacturing Companies, and returned to this country at a rate of interest higher than had been given by the gov ernment. Whether designed or not, this command and disbursement of large amounts of money, completely, at the time, covered the consequences of the destruction of the Bank of the United States, and gave to the country a hol General Assembly of North Carolina: GENTLEMEN:-The declarations of the people against the administrations of the Federal and most of the State Governments-the deep sensation and embittered feelings of the contending parties as to the cause, must necessarily greatly deepen the interest which usually attends the meeting, and increase the responsibility of your honorable body. But, while we have, in the confident hope that it will re-low and fictitious prosperity, store the country to its former happy and prosperous condition, abundant cause to rejoice over this peaceful revolution; yet we should remember that our fellow-citizens of the administration party, with the exception, perhaps, of the officers and aspirants, although mistaken, as we believe, in their views, can have but one common interest with ourselves, and are rather entitled to our sympathy and conciliation than to our hatred and persecution. Their fortunes have failed in their own hands, and under their own management; and it becomes us, as those on whom the responsibility has devolved, calmly to survey the position we occupy, and prepare ourselves with energy and dignity to meet the crisis. A general review of the condition of the United States, and events, As it is the part of wisdom to profit by experience, it is necessary and proper to refer to the causes of the revolution, and particularly where connected with our peculiar interest, the better to enable us to avoid the evil and embrace the good. Notwithstanding the great increase of expenditures, some forty millions of surplus had accumulated in the vaults of the local banks. Upon a previous occasion, the President had advised a distribution; and, after a fierce struggle in Congress, an act was passed directing it to be deposited with the States: and, although his views had subsequently undergone a change, he reluctantly approved the measure. Foreign capitalists, used to wars and convulsions, watched the operations of our government with a vision true to their interests; and, taking alarm at the attack of the President on foreign capital, his revolutionary spirit, and daring usur, pations, withdrew their funds, in time, to a place of safety. The banks commenced curtailing, to meet the provisions of the distribution act. But it was soon discovered that it could not, with other demands, be met; and a suspension of specie payments ensued throughout the land. A tremendous and frightful revolution, in every branch of business, took place; and credit and confidence were shaken to the centre. Money became more scarce in both hemispheres; it seemed, indeed, to have vanished. Interest rose, and with difficulty negoThe Bank of the United States, which grew out of the tiations could be effected on any terms. Instead of coolly necessities of the country, at two periods of great distress, investigating the causes, and applying such relief as his ele(and which would seem almost to give sacredness to its ex-vated and powerful position might command, to save thouistence,) and which answered every purpose promised by its most sanguine friends, or anticipated by the public, was doomed to Executive hostility, because it would not yield political obedience. It was re chartered by Congress, but vetoed by the President. The public money was then removed from its lawful place of deposit, in the Bank of the United States, to the local banks, by the President, under the plea that it was unsafe. This ground, taken by the President, was disproved by a report from a committee of Congress, sands from ruin and distress, the President denounced the local banks as worthless and faithless-pursued them with an inveterate rancour-and turned upon them the full tide of public indignation-made them the stalking horse of the demagogue-robbed them of the people's confidence, and paralyzed all their useful energies. But, by his own act, the deposit of the publie moneys, the banks had been stimulated to wild expansion; they were, for the most part, controlled by his own political friends, and were the creatures of his devoted states. In the Treasury Circular, the President added another link to the already lengthened chain of Executive usurpation. This circular required specie only to be received at the land offices, which checked sales, and, by further alarming the capitalists, added another blow to the already sinking credit of the banks. Congress ventured on a vote of disapprobation, by a large majority in both houses, repealing the order. But the President placed it in his pocket, and thus defeated it. The Senate of the United States became alarmed at these indications of violence and usurpation, and declared the removal of the deposits unconstitutional. The President appealed to the people, against both the bank and the senate -declaring the bank dangerous to the liberties of the country-a monster of foreign materials; and that a better currency could be given by the local banks, without the danger; and that the senate had done him gross injustice. The appeal was sustained. Nothing was recollected but his splendid and successful military career. Several of the state leg- The President's popularity was yet so powerful as to conislatures were filled by his partizans, who supported his tribute very largely to the election of his successor, the preopposition to the bank; and instructed their Senators to ex-sent incumbent, whose other claims on the confidence and punge the resolution declaring his act unconstitutional for removing the deposits, or to resign their seats to more unscrupulous hands; and it was done. Some yielded to the affection of the American people, were certainly questiona ble. He promised, however, to tread in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor, and declared that it was glory enough to have served under such a chief; and the people were satisfied. The present incumbent came into power at a period most unfortunate for himself and for the country. A re-action, as we have shown, had commenced-in a bloated and boasted prosperity; and he had pledged himself to the course best calculated to urge it on. He had, in his zeal to support the views of his predecessor, denounced a Bank of the United States as unconstitutional, and cut off all relief from that quarter. The local banks had been denounced as unworthy of public confidence; and he sunk them yet lower by concurring in their condemnation. The affairs of the country had become desperate-money scarce and bank notes depreciated-the prices of property and labor tumbling downimprovements suspended-and bankruptcies numerous.— Indeed, so gloomy were the affairs of the country, that the President convened an extra session of Congress, to devise means of relief; to whom he gravely recommended the withdrawal of the public moneys from their former places of deposit, and to lock them up in safes and vaults, as the remedy. As a part of his argument for a Sub Treasury, he decried | institutions which had been used, from the establishment of the government, as depositaries; and which, in times of emergency; responded patriotically to the calls of the government; and which had aided the great interests of this country to enter honorably the list of competition, in all necessary and valuable works of improvement, with those of the old world. At the first moment of difficulty, they are condemned as unworthy of public confidence, and even dangerous to liberty. Again, in December, 1837-38, this Sub Treasury is pressed on the consideration of Congress, as the grand panacea of all our woes. Congress was composed of a majority of his friends, and it is quite immaterial whether they considered his project incompetent for the crisis, defective in principle, or nerveless in expediency-it was rejected. The President now seemed to take the matter seriously to heart. The only measure he had concocted, by the aid of the Secretary of the Treasury, must not be treated so lightly. His forces are marshalled anew-the unfaithful discharged, and more supple tools put in their places. They open their battery on the dead bank. The dying and living banks they represent then as the hydra-headed monster, against which the former President had to exert his Herculean strength to keep in check. Corporations of all kinds were declared dangerous to liberty, to the poor, and to democracy. Congress convenes, and the President draws a strong and vivid picture of the distresses of the country, and again recommends the locking up of the public money in safes and vaults, as the means of relief. This doubtless was pro forma, as he had no money in the Treasury to be locked up. The fact that he has had to issue, from time to time, Treasury notes, shows how preposterous it is to expect relief at present, at least, from a scheme on which the government is destitute of the materials to operate. To make this Sub Treasury scheme a law, the State of New Jersey has been disfranchised-her legal and official attestations trampled under foot-her sovereignty violated— her rights disregarded and insulted, by the friends of the present administration in the House of Representatives, by refusing seats in their body to persons regularly commissioned under her authority, and clothed with all the attributes of her sovereignty. By this act, every State in the Union has received a blow which should not be disregarded. By the request of the Governor of New Jersey, I herewith submit the resolutions of her Assembly on this subject, While the rights of New Jersey were being desecrated in the House of Representatives, the Senate was engaged in passing a resolution gratuitously refusing to assume the debts of the States, alike insulting to their feelings and injurious to their character. If, under circumstances of peculiar hardship and distress, a State were to petition Congress to assume her debts, and Congress was to do so, it would not differ in principle from assistance granted to an ally in distress by war, or to the relief afforded Carraccas suffering from the effects of an earthquake, or to New York, when almost devastated by fire. At all events, a state would be entitled to a respectful attention and friendly consideration; but to refuse without being asked, is marked with the grossest impropriety and injustice. The Senate knew that many of the states were engaged in improvements of great importance, and depended on negotiating loans in Europe to complete them, and requiring unimpaired credit for advantageous success; which was necessarily injured by that action of the Senate, and the works most probably defeated. It is true that North Carolina has no public debt; but it is not the less injurious and insulting to her character, to be told by her servants, (who are presumed to know,) in the Senate chamber, that she is unworthy of credit; and such a declaration by the Senate, when seen in distant parts of the world, where negotiations for money are sought, must be injurious to her credit-and probably would have defeated her object, if she had attempted to procure the loan contemplated by the act of your last session. Now, gentlemen, I have shown you the destruction of the National Bank, in total disregard of the wish of Congress and the mercantile and commercial parts of the nation; the violation of law and contract, in the removal of the public treasure from the place where the representatives of the country directed, under a false allegation; the issuing a Specie Circular, at the Executive will, and the continuing its operation after Congress had condemned it; placing the public money in favorite local banks, and urging them to use it in expanding discounts-and, because they could not return it when called for, denouncing and persecuting them; the outrage upon the sovereignty of New Jersey; the gross and gratuitous insult on the character and credit of all the States; were enough, surely, without referring to the operations of trade, or the abuse of the banking privilege, to alarm capitalists as to the stability and integrity of our institutions—to banish money and destroy credit-in fine, to produce the terrible pecuniary revulsion which has shaken our country to its centre, bringing ruin and distress on thousands. And the Sub Treasury remedy, gentlemen, for discases like these! Surely the Sangrado theory never has been so graphically illustrated. The weakness and inadequacy of the proposed remedy is, indeed, like sporting with our wrongs and sufferings. What good can result from the withdrawal of all governmental connexion-all its fiscal operations from the banks, and leaving the States to regulate the currency among them. selves as they best may? It is like separating the head from the body, and expecting their joint functions to be continued. The President says that the banks form a chain of dependence from one end of our country to the other, and that it "reaches across the occan and ends in London, the centre of the credit system ;" and with this chain of dependence of mighty magnitude, he will have nothing to do, but leave us to the tender mercies of the English to regulate our currency and credit, perfectly indifferent to our fate, so that the government and its officers get their dues in gold and silver. The President certainly looks to a total destruction of all banks when he says, "it is morcover a principle, than which none is better settled by experience, that the supply of the precious metals will always be found adequate to the uses for which they are required. They abound in countries where no other currency is allowed." Like the fabled appearance of men in Rhoderick Dhu, it is only necessary to will, and we shall have a plenty of specie, which seems to be so dear to his feelings. He overlooks, or forgets entirely, the sacrifices to which we must submit to obtain it in competition with those countries; where it is now held. It will be first necessary to make the balance of trade preponderate in our favor in order to effect this, (the aid of bank credit and our hitherto liberal and enlightened policy having been dispensed with.) We must submit to the European, and Asiatic prices of labor, their rigid economy, their grinding slavish habits of toil, before we can successfully compete with them in trade, agriculture and manufactures, or produce a balance in our favor to be discharged in coin. To expect a permanence of the precious metals from a forced and unnatural importation, would be about as rational as to attempt a suspension of the laws of gravitation. The President says, " in a country so commercial as ours 6 banks in some form will probably always exist," and thinks the sub-treasury will deprive them of the character of monopolies, and be a salutary regulator and keep them in check. In this expectation of the continuance of banks, he may be sincere; but the recent destruction of these institutions in the District of Columbia, shows very conclusively the wish and intention of his party. The collection of gold and silver in the dues of the United States may have some influence on the banks in the large cities, where large disbursements are made; and where the balance of trade concentrates, they will no doubt be least injured and enabled to exist; and on New York he must have had his attention fixed, when he made this assertion as to the probable existence of banks: but to remote places, agricultural and interior States, what other than a deleterious influence can it have, whence the specie must be drained constantly in payment of the dues to the United States, without any probability of an invigorating reflux? It is due to the State, and necessary to a restoration of our happy, prosperous, and honorable condition, as far as in our power, to mark with unqualified reprobation, this infringement on the rights and credit of the States-this war on the institutions and capital of the country. For when the accumulation of wealth is the result of industry, economy and skill, it is certainly honorable to the owner; and whether it consists in land, chattels or stock, is unquestionably entitled to the stern protection of the law; and the person, matters not what his standing or position in society, who indulges in the practice of misrepresenting and detracting from the value of either, deserves its severest lash. Let us put the seal of reprobation on the unfaithful officer who violates the Constitution in letter or spirit. Let us inform the President that we consider the purposes of Government to mean "trade and something more important, as the regulator of commerce with the States," than merely picking out the gold and silver from the currency, in the discharge of the public dues, to pay out to the officers. That the currency of the country, no matter of what it consists, must be the medium of exchange, and is as essential to "trade and commerce with the States," as the circulation of the blood is to the animal existence, and as necessary to a healthy State, to be regulated by a central power, as the other is to flow from the heart. Gold and silver are tests of the value of the currency be it what it may, and if so applied, are valuable; but their intrinsic value is of small consideration, compared to the advantages of bank notes, checks, and bills of exchange, as a medium of exchange. What power should apply this regulator? Certainly the United States, for none other can. A uniform currency-Banks. The object to be attained, is a uniform currency, throughout the Union, based on specie and on the credit of the States, or of the United States. How can this be accomplished is the rightful inquiry. I have no fear in the answer, that it can only be effected by an arrangement entered into by law, between the State and Federal Governments, for improving and using the local banks, or by the establishment of a Bank of the United States, with sufficient capital assigned to each State to supply the amount of notes for all One kind of bank notes, useful and necessary purposes. with a specie basis and ample guarantees, can alone meet the object and accomplish the purpose desired. Where, as at present, a large variety of bank notes, issued from eight or nine hundred banks, are thrown into circulation, experience has proved that they cannot stand on equal footingactual and fictitious circumstances will produce degrees of value totally destroying their worth as a national circulating medium. I would prefer an arrangement by which the local banks would be remodeled to the establishment of a Bank of the United States, because the renewal of their charters could be made to happen successively, without producing the political convulsion which has twice attended the renewal of the charter of the National Bank; because, too, some of the present institutions could be adopted, and the redundant merged into them, or allowed to expire at the end of their charters. A Bank of the United States, of sufficient capital to super sede all the local Banks, might be made an engine of oppres- Capitalists in all countries, and more particularly in ours, are the pioneers of their own fortunes, and look with an eye single to their interests on the selection of the managers of institutions in which they invest their funds. Nor are they usually combined with the politician, for their notions are antagonistical. The study and success of the one, destroys that of the other. Stockholders are the managers of the local Banks. The funds of these Banks, divided over as great an extent of country as ours, and under the management of their own officers, presents an insuperable difficulty to the formation of political cabals or any other, for the injury of the great interest of the country, with whose welfare they are so intimately connected and identified. A National Bank might fall into the hands of a clique, who, conscious of their power, might be tempted to interfere in federal policy to the great injury of its pecuniary affairs, and inflict a stab on the liberties of the country. The Banks in the North are much more numerous than in any other section, being established in most parts where money could be usefully employed, and in such sums as were demanded by the capacities of the country; and they have been ably and sucessfully managed; pushing and developing the natural capacities of the country to a great state of perfection, stand high in their own sections where best known; yet we seldom ever see one of their notes in circulation in our State, and a greater part of them never pass out of their immediate neighborhoods. The Banks of the Southern and Western States, have partaken more of, and, no doubt, have been influenced by, the character of the country. Many have been established on false principles and been badly managed, and the result could not be otherwise than disastrous to the stockholders, who had actual capital invested; but that appears not to have been the case to any very I have no doubt that those which have capital, great extent. and will take warning from experience, will yet do a valuable business. The recuperative powers of these sections of the country are immense, and afford great room for the employment of capital. Even under their recent management, I do not know that we have more cause to lament than to rejoice, except as to the injury our national character and credit have sustained; as it has resulted in many great and solid improvements, equal, and perhaps superior, to any thing of which we can boast. That banks are susceptible of improvement both in form and management cannot be doubted now, when such vast and astonishing improvements have taken place in agriculture, manufactures, sail and steam ships, railroads and other inventions. The operations of the Federal Government continuing to effect the banks, ours as well as many others, were a second time compelled to suspend specie payments, or force the collection of their debts to the injury and ruin of many of their dealers. The wisdom of their choice I am not disposed to question. Most persons seemed to acquiesce in its correct ness. The few who did not, complained to cover their demands for the double interest, the penalty imposed on our banks for refusing specie when demanded. For political effect, they have been subjected to the constant fulmination of spleen and vituperation by certain partizan presses and orators, who hope to bolster up their falling fortunes by exciting popular prejudice, and diverting attention from their own misdeeds in the popular clamor. And the usefulness of these institutions has no doubt been considerably curtailed by these attacks. Surely they calculated greatly on the ignorance of the people, when they expected to acquire either reputation or strength by such a course.Of what, I ask, consists the banks of this State? The State has put into the stock about one million fifty thousand dollars, individuals about two millions two hundred thousand dollars. This constitutes the banking capital of North Caro |