the other as a loan, are cancelled on the books of the bank, and the money is applicable by it to the discount of a new note. If his obligation matures at another bank, he by his own check transfers the amount from one bank to another. The money is not drawn on the check, but is simply certified, and all the banks exchange the checks received in the course of their business with each other daily. In all this operation, actual money is very little employed. The whole movement of exchanging the produce of an agricultural district for the goods and supplies of a city, is performed by means of individual orders which follow the commodities, and which are cancelled by them at every stage of the operation. Now, the more produce the district raises the more goods it can buy, and the greater will be the amount of these paper operations. If its crops entirely fail, and it has nothing to sell, there will be no use for paper in any shape. When, however, the amount it has to sell is very large, and the demand for it to export or consume active, the quantity of paper created to represent it will also be large, and the profits of the agents in the transfer, whether banks or individuals, greater. While this operation goes on smoothly and uninterruptedly, there is no danger of disaster, nor can there be any actual scarcity of money; because, whatever may be the amount of purchases of grain, the sales will always realize a larger sum in an active market. If the price falls, so that produce does not realize the amount of the draft from the interior against it, the miller loses, and his individual capital must make good the bank. It happens, however, that many are unmindful of the old and useful maxims of "sell and repent," or the "first loss least," and when produce arrives on a flat market there is a disposition to hold for higher prices. This operation is to delay the actual payment of the draft drawn against the producer, or to procure an accommodation loan to take it up. This "accommodation," of which the supposed case is perhaps the most legitimate, is adverse to sound banking, and is the source of all speculation. The moment banks pursue it generally, or permit renewals, they place their resources beyond their control, and subject themselves to a demand for liabilities when nothing is coming in to meet them, and money at once becomes scarce and high. In former years, when the state of foreign exchange was the only indication of a demand upon the banks, they were too prone, when specie was flowing into the country, to favor speculative operations, and push out their funds in illegitimate channels, to the exclusion of that paper representing commodities which it is their legitimate business only to discount. The action of the independent treasury, by keeping the specie in constant activity without regard to foreign exchanges, acts as a constant guard over bank movements. They must at all times be vigilant, and loan their money only in such direction, and on such paper, as will insure its being under their control in case of emergency. The effect of the large amount of business done during the past year, has been a corresponding movement in the banks. As we have seen above that the aggregate business for New-York has been larger than in 1836, so have the liabilities of the New-York banks been greater than even in January, 1837, when suspension, in consequence of inordinate expansion, had become inevitable. The institutions of the states owe now * The immediate means and liabilities of the New York banks for August, 1847, as compared with January, 1337, are as follows:

$10,000,000 more in excess of their immediate means than they did at the moment of suspension, and their loans are larger; yet their situation is one of infinitely greater strength, because the paper due thereon is of a sound business character, promptly maturing, and all within their control. That it is so may be ascribed to the caution imposed upon them through the operation of the independent treasury. By thus confining capital to its legitimate use, in developing the resources of the country and facilitating its trade, the general prosperity of the whole country and of all classes is promoted. This has been the indirect effect of the independent treasury plan, although its principle is rather negative than active. It is the "let alone" principle. Congress, in enacting the law, did not affect to do anything for trade, or to facilitate the application of capital more directly to trade, in opposition to speculation. It simply refused to allow the public funds to be made the basis of speculation, and of the multiplication of credits not representing commodities. It intended simply to recognise the constitutional currency only in its transactions, and to promote its activity and circulation by receiving it and paying it out. From this determination have flowed the benefits which general commerce has derived from it; nor have the operations of the department, although trammeled with the extraordinary expenses of a war, not contemplated by the plan, and which have made necessary the continual transfer of large amounts of money, collected and borrowed mostly at the north, to New-Orleans and Mexico, been incommoded. On the other hand, the system has worked with the utmost harmony; being sound in principle, it meets every emergency.

In contemplating the benefits which the independent treasury has conferred upon the employment of labor and the prosecution of industry, we are to dwell upon the fact that it has seemingly, thus far, done for the United States what it was intended the reformed charter of the bank of England should have done for Great Britain, viz., prevented capital from leaving its regular and useful channels of occupation, to go into speculative operations to an injurious extent. The new charter of the bank of England has not done what was expected from it, and mainly because it is closely connected with the finances of the government, which uses its notes in the operations of the exchequer. An undue proportion of the capital of England has left the employ of commerce and manufactures, and been absorbed in railroads, resulting in terrible disasters to the mercantile interests. In the United States, in former years, this was also the case. The capital that should have been at the command of commerce was poured into other channels. As a slight indication of this, we may allude to the late national bank, which, for many years, had charge of the national funds. Its capital was $35,000,000; and when it failed, the investigating committee reported among its assets two items-" active assets," $12,187,111; suspended assets." $9,799,800-making together $21,986,911, or two thirds the whole capital. The committee refused to report the nature of these assets, lest it might injure individuals, remarking:

"In regard to these two lines, therefore, the committee will content themselves with remarking, that but a small proportion consists of regular mercantile discounts."

This was the case with a vast proportion of the capital in the country; and probably an amount as large, in proportion to the capital of the United States, was locked up in transactions "not mercantile," as is now the case with English capital in regard to railroads.

This brief review of the general progress, which might be elaborated by statistical details, in almost every department, is sufficient to show, that the national welfare has prospered, not only without those means of relief which were alledged to be indispensable to its restoration, but under measures that

were asserted to be active agents of evil. If we look back at the state of things a few years since and compare them with what now exists, the change for the better becomes eminently manifest. In 1841, a national bank was declared indispensable for the recovery of the country from its state of commercial depression. A bill to establish one was vetoed, and subsequently many projects were proposed as a substitute, among others, an exchange plan was proposed by Mr. Ewing. This plan contemplated as its leading feature, the issue of a large amount of paper money, ranging as high as 50,000,000 paper dollars, to furnish a medium of exchange. This was strenuously supported by Mr. Webster, in his speech delivered in Boston, October, 1842, just five years prior to that recently made in opposition to the war. In that speech, after alluding to the project of Mr. Ewing, he remarked:

"This is the best measure-the only measure for Congress and the people to adopt. I am ready to stake my reputation on it, and that is all I have to stake, that if this whig Congress will take that measure and give it a fair trial, within three years it will be admitted by the whole American people to have proved itself to be the most beneficial measure ever established in this country, the constitution alone excepted. (Immense cheering.) Understand, gentlemen, that I mean that Congress shall take it as it is-as it came from the consideration of the cabinet. I do not mean that they should take it as it looked after the committees of Congress had their hands upon it. For when they struck out the provision for exchange, it was not worth a rush-it was not worth the parchment on which the law would be engrossed. (Great cheers.) The great desire the urgent and immediate necessity of this country is, that there should be a common currency, and a facility of exchange. You work for the people of Alabamayou get tea for them-they plant for you. You want a common currency, and something that will equalize debt and credit with the same velocity that steam carries men and merchandize from one end of the Union to the other. (Cheers.) You have not got it. In the nature of things you cannot get it, but by the authority and provision of government. Never. Never. large and liberal provision for exchange-ready exchange-such as will enable every man to convert his New-Orleans funds into money to-day, and use it to-norrow (cheers)—a cheap exchange, one which we have had in better times, when many millions were exchanged rarely at a cost of more than three fourths of one per cent. (Cheers.) How are we going to do it? How? Why, I needn't say, gentlemen, that a bank of the United States, founded on a large subscription of private capital, is altogether out of the question-(Cheers)—and the man who pursues it pursues an obsolete idea! (Cheers.) One will not vote for a bank with power to establish its branches here, because it would impair the constitution; another will not vote for a bank that does not possess that power, because that would surrender a right that would increase executive influence, and break the constitution. (Laughter and cheers.) Just as a boatman, amid rocks and currents and whirlpools, will not pull one stroke for his own safety, lest he break his oar. (Cheers and laughter.) And we are looking forward, now, to a time when there will be that confidence that will enable a bank with large private capital to be established. When will that time come? When the prosperity of the country returns, and when, therefore, the emergency is over. (Cheers.) We will do nothing to save the ship from sinking, till the chance of the winds and the waves shall have landed us safely on shore. (Cheers.) That is the policy we pursue. Now, he is more sanguine than I, who looks to see a time within a reasonable period when the whigs of this country will have more power to work effectually for good, in relation to this great subject of the currency, than they now have. (Loud cheers.) This very moment—this approaching session—calls upon them, in my judgment, in the loudest voice of patriotism, not to put off and not to postpone, but to make the most-the best-of the means before them, and try the experiment.

"And to give up all practical real attempts to restore the prosperity of the country, with a view of first amending the constitution, appears to me-1 will not say trifling-but to be treating the great emergencies of the country with quite too little regard. (Cheers.) I repeat, then, gentlemen, that now is the time, and this whig Congress are the men, to accomplish that great object with regard to the currency of the country, which it has been the pursuit of the people, and especially of the whig people, for the last ten years to accomplish. And till it be accomplished, there can be no restoration of former prosperity. And I say, that, in my opinion, the plan proposel last year will do that. I am confident of it. (Cheers.) I KNOW IT. (Loud cheers.) If the mechanic makes a tool of his tradee-an axe, a saw, or a plane-if he knows that the temper of it is good-if he sees that the parts are proportioned-if he sees that the construction is accurate, he knows it will answer its purpose; and I know that this system will auswer its purpose. (Loud

cheers.) There are other subjects, and I bave already alluded to them; but there is one, gentlemen, of so much importance that I cannot avoid alluding to it. I mean the mortifying state of the public credit of this country. I cannot help thinking, gentlemen, that if the statesmen of a former age were among us-that if Washington were here, and John Adams, and Hamilton, aud Madison-they would be deeply concerned and soberly thoughtful about the public credit of the country.

These were the views then entertained by a large party, and by a consider able portion of the commercial community, who, biased by political views, were no doubt convinced that there could be no general prosperity or successful industry but under the invig orating care of government. Mr. Webster confidently asserted that there could be no restoration of former prosperiity" until Congress had furnished a national paper currency of some sort. In some measure, this was true, because the recognition of specie only, as currency by Congress, caused its rapid multiplication, and furnishes a great addition to the circulating medium. The notion in relation to exchange, was, however, as circumstances have proved, a mere chimera, no authority of government has authorised any "provision for exchange," and never in the whole history of our commerce was there less difficulty in converting "New-Orleans funds into money." During the operation of the national bank in its best days, from 1829 to 1831, New-Orleans funds in New-York varied from 1 to 2 1-2 per cent. discount. During the past year they have varied only 1-4 discount to 1-4 premium, and the amount negotiated has probably been six times as much as in the former years. From all this it results that not only a national bank, but all schemes of government paper currency are "obsolete ideas."

HAIL, lady, to thy natal day!
And may it ever be
A happy and a blessed one,
And full of joy to thee!
And through the winding cycle
Of many a passing year,
Still may it bring a blessing,
And wipe away a tear!

Hail, tenth of bright September!
Sweet early autumn tide:
Thy mild and genial breezes
In sunny freshness glide;
And in the sparkling sunlight,
And in the purling streams,
And over the still verdant earth,
Thy cheering presence gleams.

So may it o'er thy senses

Its hale, glad freshness throw,
Till lip, and eve, and forehead,
In healthful lustre glow!
And may the gentle spirit

Of sweet September fling
Its magic mantle over thine,
Forevermore to cling!

St. Louis, September, 1847.

May all that's bright attend thee
Throughout life's lengthened hours,
And, deep within its sunset vale,
Attend thee with their powers!
Hail, lady, to thy natal day!
And may it ever be

A happy and a blessed one,
And full of joy to thee!

* * * * **

And when the last September comes,
Ere life's dark curtains fall,

Still may its cheerful morning light
Shine brightest of them all!
And, with a heart as high as now,
Go on thy lasting way,
And hail, with never-ending joy,
The true, great natal day.

Hail, lady, to thy natal day!
And may it ever be

A happy and a blessed one,
And full of joy to thee!
And through the winding cycle
Of many a passing year,
Still may it bring a blessing,
And wipe away a tear!

PTOLEMY.

POLITICAL PORTRAITS WITH PEN AND PENCIL.

NATHANIEL GREENE.

NATHANIEL GREENE, the present postmaster at Boston, was born at Boscawen, N. H., on the 20th May, 1797. His father, Nathaniel Greene, was at the time a lawyer in respectable practice in that town. Owing to the pecuniary reverses and subsequent death of his father, the subject of this notice found himself at the age of ten years (1807) without a home, dependent solely on his own judgment to guide, and his own exertions to sustain life. Having made good progress at the little village school of his native town during the few years he had enjoyed its advantages, the lad was enabled to procure a situation as a clerk in a country store; but the business of measuring tape and weighing tea soon became distasteful to him. He had read the life of Franklin, and it became the great object of his ambition to become an editor. His whole mind became absorbed in this one wish, and the means of accomplishing it was the only theme of his daily meditations and nightly dreams. At length, accident afforded an opportunity for entering on a career which promised to lead to the desired consummation. In May, 1809, Mr. Isaac Hill, who has since occupied many of the most honorable offices in the gift of his fellow citizens, and earned a most enviable reputation for industry, integrity, and pre-eminent talents, established a democratic paper in Concord, entitled the New-Hampshire Patriot. This paper was taken at the store where young Greene was a clerk; its opening numbers were read by him with great interest and enthusiasm, and on the 4th day of July, 1809, his tender of service to Mr. Hill being accepted, he commenced his apprenticeship in a printing office. Ile remained about two years with Mr. Hill, when, finding the prospect of promotion from mechanical to editorial duties too remote for his impatient ambition, he took service in a neighboring office, where, at the age of fifteen, he was put in charge of the editorship of the paper called the Concord Gazette. This paper continued under his sole editorial charge until January, 1814, when he removed to Portsmouth, where, during a year, he filled a large space in the editorial columns of the New-Hampshire Gazette, published by Messrs. Beck & Foster. In April, 1815, he removed to Haverhill, Mass., where he continued two years in the service of Messrs. Burrell & Tileston, the latter of which gentlemen, having changed his business, is now of the firm of Spofford & Tileston, New-York. While with B. & F., Mr. Greene had the sole charge of the Haverhill Gazette, published by them, as is believed to the entire satisfaction of his employers and their patrons. In May, 1817, at the age of twenty, he made his first appearance as an editor and publisher in his own name and on his own account. that time he started a new democratic paper called the Essex Patriot. which he continued to publish and conduct until invited to Boston, for the purpose of starting a new democratic paper there. This paper, the Boston Statesman, was commenced in February, 1821. It was at first issued semiweekly, then tri-weekly, and afterward, for several years, daily. It took a high stand as a political and commercial paper, becoming extensively known and exercising a large influence throughout the United States. It was not, however, a source of pecuniary profit. Mr. Greene having always been a determined advocate for regular nominations, and a firm supporter of the time-honored usages of the democratic party, felt it his duty to sustain the

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