Page:A History of Banking in the United States.djvu/309

 resume specie payment in less than ninety days, by means of loans contracted in Europe. He had also adopted the notion that only the power of the general government could save the country, and to the question, How? he answered, "Through the agency of the Pennsylvania Bank of the United States, which, being already in operation, presents the only practicable mode by which immediate action can be effected." He added a declaration that he wrote without any conference with the authorities of the Bank. His good faith and integrity of opinion are beyond all question. He always insisted that without a bank the government could not bring about a restoration of specie payment. Calhoun declared in the Senate, September 18, 1837, that specie payments could be restored by re-adopting the Bank, but he would not vote for this, because it was unconstitutional. That all the whigs thought the same goes without saying.

The New York act of May 16, 1837, allowed suspension for one year; forced all the banks which took advantage of it to accept each other's notes; forbade them to sell their specie; limited their circulation; provided that they should make monthly reports to the Bank Commissioners; and provided that the safety fund banks should have no income from the fund during suspension. All chartered banks which availed themselves of the act must submit to the visitorial power to which the safety fund banks were subject. Finally, they were forbidden to make dividends while suspended, which was the most effective provision of all to enforce resumption. Really insolvent banks might still be enjoined by the Commissioners, when the others no longer need accept their notes. The law only remitted those penalties which were exactable by the State; forfeiture, etc. The remedies of private creditors remained intact, and if they were not enforced it was only because there was general acquiescence in the prevailing policy.

The leading bankers in New York began to prepare for resumption immediately after the suspension. Elsewhere the banks generally continued to pay dividends, sometimes eight or ten per cent., although they were not paying their debts. August 15th, a meeting of the officers of the New York banks was held, from which a circular was issued on the 18th, to some of the banks of other cities, inviting them to send delegates to a convention at New York in October, at which measures might be concerted for resumption. It was suggested that resumption might be reached between January and March, 1838, although they thought that the foreign exchanges must be reduced to specie par before specie payments could be re-established. The ground taken in this circular was that the banks were bound by law and honor to resume; that resumption did not depend on congressional action but must be accomplished by the banks. To this circular the banks of Philadelphia replied that they fully shared the anxiety for resumption and would join in the convention if it would do any good, but that, without the action of Congress, resumption could be only partial and temporary; hence