It is more than probable that the attempt would not only be unsuccessful, but that it would injuriously affect the public credit.

It may, also be proper to observe, that those sections of the Union where a measure of this kind would be most likely to be acceptable, would probably derive from it the least benefit. In the West and in the South, the complaints of a deficient currency have been most distinctly heard. In the latter, these complaints are of recent date. In both they proceed in a greater degree from the disbursement of the public revenue than from any other cause. The great mass of public expenditure is made to the East of this city. The revenue accruing from imports, though principally collected in the middle and eastern states, is paid by the great mass of consumers throughout the Uuited States. That which is paid for the public lands, although in some degree drawn from every part of the Union, is principally paid by the citizens of the West, and of the South. The greatest part of the revenue accruing from the public lands, as well as that collected in the southern states, upon imports, has been transferred to the middle and eastern states to be expended. The necessity of making this transfer, arises from the circumstance that the great mass of the public debt is held in those states, or by foreigners, whose agents reside in them: and from the establishment of dock yards and naval stations in their principal ports. This transfer will continue to be necessary until the public debt shall be extinguished, and until the other expenditures of the government can, consistently with the public interest, be more equally distributed.

If a national currency should be established, the demand for it in the southern and western states, for the purpose of transmission, would be incessant; whilst its return, by the ordinary course of trade, especially in the latter, would be slow and in some degree uncertain. The currency, being every where receivable by the government, would, for the purpose of remittance, be more frequently demanded in that section than specie, for the same reason, that the notes of the Bank of the United States and its offices command there, at this time a premium in specie. As the transfers of the public money are made by the Bank of the United States, the excitement produced by the demand for specie, or funds that can be remitted, consequent upon such transfers, has been directed against that institution. All the evils which the community, in particular parts of the country, has suffered from the sudden decrease of the currency, as well as from its depreciation, have been ascribed to the Bank of the United States, which, in transferring the public funds, has been a passive agent in the hands of the government.

It is then believed that the evils which are felt in those sections of the Union where the distress is most general will not be exten

sively relieved by the establishment of a national currency. The sufferings which have been produced by the efforts that have been made to resume, and to continue specie payments, have been great. They are not terminated, and must continue until the value of property, and the price of labor, shall assume that relation to the precious metals which our wealth and industry, compared with those of other states, shall enable us to retain. Until this shall be effected, an abortive attempt, by the substitution of a paper currency, to arrest the evils we are suffering, will produce the most distressing consequences. The sufferings that are past will, in such an event, recur with additional violence, and the nation will again find itself in the situation which it held at the moment when specie payments were resumed.

I have the honor to be your most obedient servant,,

PROVIDENT BANKS.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

A FEW years ago, my professional pursuits led me to travel many times between Leeds and Manchester. In that populous and florishing part of the kingdom I often had an opportunity of observing neat and elegant, sometimes splendid and magnificent, mansions and gardens; and, upon inquiring who was the owner, my informant frequently added, that not many years back he had been a workman for daily wages in some neighbouring manufactory.

And in walking with a lady in one of the best streets in a great trading town, I was expressing my admiration of the elegance of the houses, where the large plate-glass in the windows, the mahogany doors, and every other circumstance, denoted the opulence of the owners,-my companion observed, that there were few occupiers of those handsome houses who had not begun their lives as clerks in a counting-house.

These are objects that cheer and animate the mind, and inspire an Englishman with a genuine love of his country; more especially if he is told, that such scenes are not to be found upon any part of the surface of the habitable globe out of the King of England's dominions.

Happy country, where such instances of talents and industry abound! Happy country, where liberty unparalleled resides, and which affords perfect security to the unbounded acquirement of property!

I mention these instances, to show what industry and care can accomplish; and the richest reader of this humble page will not scorn the slender pittance of the poor, when he reflects, that many generations cannot be passed since the