sufficient to convince the most skeptical that nothing but ruin can attend such a system. Objectionable as this feature would be, even under the supposition that the Treasury had a large capital to loan out in this manner, it becomes infinitely worse when connected with the fact that that Treasury is now bankrupt. The proposed issue of paper money is a borrowing operation cloaked under the pretext of supplying a uniform currency. Under that clause $15,000,000 of paper money are to be issued simply upon the credit of the government, and trusting to casual balances arising from the customs for their redemption. This money to be paid out in the discharge of debts, and in the discount of bills, and of course to come in conflict with the Bank issues. From these measures incalculable evils must arise if adopted. Independent of the great risks of government failure, and a consequent depreciation of the notes, a fate which has uniformly overtaken all paper that has ever yet been issued by any government, its effect upon the commerce of the country must be directly opposite from that which is intended. We have seen, in the fore part of this article, that notwithstanding the most rigid curtailment on the part of the Banks here, a suspension during the last fall was very narrowly escaped. An issue of government paper will, in the same degree, increase the volume of the currency, and place it beyond the control of the Banks at this point, where the settlements take place for the imports of the country. The result must be, that the credits of the Banks will be entirely supplanted by that of the government, or a suspension be produced. If the circulation should thus fall entirely into the hands of the government, the door would be thrown wide open to inflation and failure. In short, the issue of paper money on the credit of the government is a matter much too dangerous to be ventured upon. Yet it is argued that a universal paper medium of circulation is of the highest necessity in facilitating commercial intercourse between one section of the country and another. To meet this want a proposition has been made, which will seemingly embrace all the advantages of paper money without risk of loss. It is to authorize the issue from the Treasury of paper money dollar for dollar, at the option of the government creditor, that is, if an individual has a claim upon the department for say $1,000, and the specie is there to meet it, the individual has the option of taking the coin or the same amount in Treasury notes, if he chooses paper. By this means, the facility of remittance, transfer, and use of the coin is sought to be obtained without its encumbrance. At the same time it does not increase the volume of the currency, because, if the bills are taken, the coin remains in the Treasury, and if the coin is taken, the bills are not issued. In this form only is it safe to issue government money. Such emissions would not add to the fluctuations in the currency, nor enable those who are without capital to obtain its semblance in order to speculate in the produce of the country at the risk of its government, nor would the notes come in competition with those uttered by the Banks, but, on the contrary, would become a basis for their emission. This would leave the control of the currency in the hands of the Banks, who would be obliged still to govern it with an eye to the preservation of their ability always to pay specie, and consequently to preserve the currency as steady as possible. The basis of all credits in this country must, from the nature of its trade, exist in the condition of the national credit abroad; inasmuch as the ability to purchase from foreign countries depends upon the extent of the exports. If, through the medium of paper credits, prices are inflated so as to induce large imports, the excess over the value realized for sales abroad must be paid in coin, which necessarily involves failure on the part of the Banks, or sufficient credit must exist abroad to have the payment postponed to some future period. Such a credit has heretofore existed in various shapes, particularly in the few years previous to 1836, when they reached a dangerous height, and depended entirely upon the will of the Bank of England. It was a strong conviction of the fearful power of that institution, through the medium of existing credits, that drew from Mr. Van Buren the remark, that "the Bank of England had the power to alter the condition of every man in every village in the United States." Subsequent events justified the truth of that remark in its fullest extent. In the year 1838, State stocks supplied the credits necessary to sustain a Bank inflation here; and for the year ending in September, 1839, the imports were immense. In the year 1840, no such credits existed, and the exports showed an apparent excess over the imports of nearly $26,000,000. During the past year the excess of imports is apparently about $3,000,000. The following is a table of the imports and exports for a series of years ending October 1, 1841: IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE United StatES FOR A SERIES OF YEARS, DISTINGUISHING THE DUTIES. VALUE OF Imports. VALUE OF Exports. Paying duty. Total. Domestic Foreign mer. Total. tember. 81,024,162 23,312,811 104,386,978 1836 1837 1838 92,056,481 97,293,554 189,980,035 85,569,481 157,689,560 100,951,004 17,408,000 118,350,004 57,186.204 49,945,315 1841 64,785,449 59,381,934 107,141,519 113,895,636 18,190,312 132,080,948 106,059,625 15,101,626 121,161,311 We have before seen that the Banks had great difficulty in sustaining themselves during the past fall, in consequence of the demand for specie for shipment, and the absence of all credits abroad to supply a temporary deficiency. Notwithstanding that, the excess of imports is not so much as a healthy state of trade would warrant. This arises from the deceptive action of the paper currency upon the method of valuing the exports. The real value of the products of the country, particularly the principal articles of export, cotton and tobacco, is that for which they sell abroad, which for several years has been much less than the nominal value at home. During the past year, the losses on cotton have been large, probably $15,000,000, and on other produce perhaps $5,000,000, making a deduction of $20,000,000 to be made from the amount of exports. These losses grow out of the fact that the shipments are not made to order on foreign account at stipulated prices, as is the case with goods imported here from England; but they are shipped on speculation by operators here, who obtain their facilities from suspended Bankst Those people compete in the markets for the produce, raise the prices upon each other, and ship it without regard to the price abroad, and in almost all cases give more for it here than the price in Liverpool at the time of purchase. The price paid here is nominal in irredeemable money, the depreciation of which increases according to the quantity paid out. The prices so paid enter into the official valuation of the exports, and consequently are always higher than the amount realized abroad. The practical result of this system is seen in the constant suspension of the Banks that are the agents in the transaction, their constantly increasing suspended debts, the reclamations upon speculators who have no capital to meet them, and who consequently clamor for a Bankrupt law to relieve them from the burden. The same general system which causes the over-valuation of exports, causes goods to flow into the country for sale, when they are converted into specie as speedily as possible for transmission abroad. It counteracts in an eminent degree all the benefit which manufactures at home might derive from a tariff; yet it is a singular fact, that the advocates of the latter are at the same time in favor of a fluctuating paper currency, and have been strenuous supporters of the policy of ingrafting upon the fiscal agent the means of borrowing and expansion. In the present and prospective state of the market abroad for American credit, it is impossible to support a currency in this country of a value materially less than that of the commercial countries with which we have intercourse. The moment that the currency is in any degree depreciated in comparison, either by government issues, the operations of a National Bank, or the State institutions generally, exports are checked, and imports increase the drain of specie to pay the excess of the latter, which will again deplete the currency, and raise its value, if the principle of specie payments is rigorously maintained under the loose system necessarily attending government issues. This would, however, be impossible; and the state of American credit abroad is by no means such as to justify the hope that it will be speedily revived so as to support any new scheme of inflation that may be devised on this side. A long course of steady business upon a cash basis must ensue before even an approximation can be made to the unbounded confidence that formerly existed. In our last number, in an article upon "the Peace Movement," we gave some account of the history of that holy and beautiful cause; concluding by a promise, which we now proceed with pleasure to perform, to present to our readers some slight characteristic and biographical sketch of one of the most interesting men of the age, the American "Apostle of Peace," whose beloved and venerated name adorns the present page. There is no want of respect, and confidence, and love on the part of the people for such men as William Ladd, who raise themselves above the common tone, and stand upon the high moral elevation of the principles of Jesus Christ. It may be believed that their notes are too sweet to blend with the harsh sounds which the collisions of selfishness cause to grate upon the ear; that their theories are better fitted for heaven than for this lower earth. Still they love and reverence the kind-hearted advocate of peace. Whenever William Ladd spoke, the people crowded to listen to him. They hung upon his accents with delight, for his soul was in his work, and the people easily detect heart-work from head-work; they distinguish the disposition to lead men from the desire to govern them. During the last years of his life, when he had become known, he never failed to fill the largest churches and public rooms; and if he made not converts to his own faith, he left his audience, standing in the light of a friend to each and every one who had listened to him. He had confidence in the eternal principles of truth. He had faith in the moral nature of man. He uttered his convictions boldly, manfully. He would say, "The sword shall be beaten into the ploughshare, the spear into a pruning-hook; the day is coming when men shall learn war no more for ever. I believe it; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And then he would draw so beautiful a picture of a world in peace, of the day when every nation should draw together the bonds of love, when man should knit himself close to his brother man, when in place of the sword men should approach each other with the olive-branch in their hands, and with words of kindness on their lips, with love glistening from their eyes! We wonder not that he drew all hearts to him, for it was holding out, as it were, to the starving, weatherbeaten, tempest-tossed mariner the picture of a happy home in the green valley, the fruits of the garden hanging ripe and ruddy for his parched lips, the calm of a summer evening for his stormworn frame, the embrace of his wife, the merry shout of his children, for his homesick heart. No wonder that he touched and moved his audience. If he made them not Peace-men to the full extent, he left on their minds a deep impression of the false nature of martial glory, of the hideous lie that is covered up by the splendor of military array. We remember his description of the field of Waterloo; he cleared off the smoke which covers up the slaughter-house aspect of the battle-field. He showed us what a fight was, stripped of the veil which "glory" has drawn over its enormities. He pointed to the heaps of carnage-told us that it was fifteen days before all the wounded could be removed, and that many for this full time, in the heat of the sun by day, in the chills and dews at night — their pillow the already dead, their couch a pool of blood-for more than two weeks, there they cursed and raved as if death mocked at them in their misery, holding them at arm's length, permitting them neither to live nor die and at this very time the city of London illuminated, and the bells ringing, and the cannon thundering out the joy of the nation that another laurel had been won, that the national glory was complete! "Go now, mother," we have heard him say, “go now, and educate your loved child to the profession of arms. Fill his young heart with aspirations for glory. Let him shout at the military array. Deck his baby form in the garb of the soldier; put a feather in his cap; place in his tiny hands the mock instruments of human butchery; determine that the infant which now draws from your bosom its nourishment, determine that he shall be the butcher of other men, or lay down himself with thousands of others in the pool of blood on some battle-field, to utter his dying groan amid the shouts for victory, while some camp follower strips his body for plunder almost before he is dead." We do not quote his words, but have tried to give some idea of his manner, to show why the people so loved to hear him 1 speak. His speech and manner were peculiar; difficult to imitate or describe. In person he was large, even to corpulency; his face round and full, beaming with intelligence and benevolence; his forehead high and noble, while his head was entirely bald, save a few gray curls clustering on his neck. His appearance impressed the audience with the striking traits of his charactergentle-heartedness, enthusiasm, and intelligence. He appeared a truly venerable man. His memory was peculiarly retentive, and every fact or incident, bearing on his cause, was distinctly remembered, and told in a simple, artless manner. He had always some story to tell, often of a humorous kind, which was so pleasantly related, that it made him at once the friend of the audience; and thus having gained their ear, his after eloquence touched their hearts. His manner disarmed all prejudices; the most inveterate opposer of the Peace doctrine had, for the time at least, to yield to his opinions, and listen attentively to the speaker. Few men have spoken so often or so long without any abatement of the interest of his hearers. The character of his mind was not of a fanciful or theoretic cast. He was not a metaphysician-had no tendency to abstractions. In his various employments-as a shipmaster, as a merchant, as a farmer, in the care of his property, he exhibited plain, practical common sense, with a good-natured interest in the happiness of all around him. His benevolence manifested itself, rather in the desire to diffuse happiness generally, than in a hot, and hasty, and ardent attachment in a limited circle. These traits of good common sense, general kindness, with a cultivated and retentive mind, when devoted to the cause of Peace, gave him his power. They saved him from the common faults of reformers, which militate against their general usefulness, and tie them to some little clique. He was never intolerant nor denunciatory; while he opened his whole heart, and declared his own opinions boldly, he did not hate if those opinions were not fully adopted, but was thankful when in the least degree he could overcome the military tone, and make even a slight lodgment for the principles of Peace. The common fault of reformers is, that they are intolerant in their feelings, and denunciatory in their language. The very elements of character which enable them to rise above a common error-earnestness of conviction, self-confidence, and energy— expose them to this characteristic failing. Even as the advocates of Peace, they are inclined to be combative; and while they would strike the weapon from their brother's hand, their own tongues are sometimes sharper than any two-edged sword. They |