131
PAPERS OF MIR.ABE.AU BUON.AP.ARTE LAM.AR
No. 1476 1839 Oct. 12, S. [A. ROBERTS], WASHINGTON, [D. C.J, TO W. ROBERTS, GALVESTON,TEXAS 0 Washington Oct 12th 1839 Uy Dear Father Two days ago the news reached this place of the suspension of specie payments by the Banks of Philadelphia & Baltimore, and yesterday the Banks of this City stoped also- To day we learned from New York that there the banks will not stop as long as they have a cent in their vaults-there are various and contradictory opinions here & hereabouts of the ability of the N. York Banks to keep up- It seems to me impossible for them to do, unless they can manage to pay the debt of the whole U States, for the drain must be enormous- Upon the back of this news came the British Steamer Liverpool with most gloomy and disastrous intelligence- The agents of the U S Bank in Paris had refused the dfts of the Bank to the amou[nJt of 7. 000 000 francs (over a million of dollars) which had however been provided for instantly by :Mr Tandon (who went to Paris for the pur- pose) thro the House of the Rothchilds- The wheat & corn Crop of England has been cut very short by the heavy rains- this will compel them (the English) to look abrod for their bread stuffs and the estimate is that £10.000.000 will be required to make up the deficiency, which will have to go out in specie, for it is said they canno[t] now hope to make their manufactured articles supply its place- To meet this heavy drain of specie the Bank of England has only a little over £3 000,000 in vault- Thus it is confidently predicted that the Bank of England will follow the lead of the U S Bank & other American banks- This as may be supposed has rendered money more scarce than ever and as I confidently predicted in my last letter 10 Genl Ham- ilton has returned without a cent- He is yet in New York but will be here on monday- We learn from a letter that he was offered a Million just before leaving, in London, but declined taking it, thinking· he could make better terms- (what the terms proposed were I have not heard)- He also states says our informant, Ur Treat, that he has left things en train, and that as soon as things get a little better the whole amnt will be tak:en and perhaps even before-,- I give yo~ all this for what is is worth- For my part I look upon the negotia- tion as a positive failure, and only what I expected and predicted. tho I have even now no doubt that a portion of the amount wanted, might be obtained by paying heavily[?] for it which I think ought to be done- It is wrong, however to judge & more especially to speak of these things with the limited information I possess, and therfore you will see the propriety of keeping all this to yourself. (Genl Lamar of course excepted)-
0.A. L. S.
' 0 R<iberts may have meant his last letter to Lamar, no. 1458, or a letter to his father which is not in the Lamar Papers. The last letter to his father that is in the Lamar Papers, no. 1438, contair.s no prediction concerning Hamilton'a success.
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