He wished it to be distinctly understood, that he did not propose to continue the restrictions in consequence of any circumstances in the internal state of the bank, which he believed was fully prepared to make good its payments; but on account of those external circumstances which would render such an operation extremely unpropitious and dangerous at the present moment. He hoped, however, that another measure which he should have the honour to propose, might have the effect of considerably alleviating the evil of the restriction-a measure which, he trusted, would place a great part of our paper currency on a more secure footing than ever. On the resumption of cash payments, it would be proper that our paper currency should return as nearly as possible to what it had been. For himself, he could assure the committee, that he was very desirous that the bank should resume its payments in cash; and the committee might rely upon it that, if they were anxious for the return of that state of things, the bank directors were as sincerely desirous of bringing it about. They were most willing to adopt every measure which might be thought necessary for the effecting of that object, and for confirming every regulation which parliament might wish to propose.

But he was now to direct the attention of the committee to the other part of the subject to which he had alluded, and which he should endeavour to explain as shortly as possible. He had to propose a plan, which, in the course of no long period of time, would give the public such a security for a considerable part of our paper circulation, as it never before possessed. It was his intention to propose, that the restriction act should be continued for another year, namely, to July, 1819, and that in one year from that period the operation of this new plan should commence.There could be no doubt, that the most perfect and desirable currency for any country, was a mixed one of specie and paper. It might be advisable, that there should be a paper circulation to a large amount, but it was certainly advisable at the same time, that it should always be convertible into specie, so that the holders might have the most complete reliance, that whenever they pleased they could convert the paper into a metallic currency.

It was his intention to propose, that after the 5th of July, 1820, no private banker should issue notes in England or Ireland (for he would except Scotland, as the objection against the paper circulation of the private bankers of England and Ireland did not apply to Scotland) for any sum under five pounds without having made a sufficient deposit of government securities, consisting either of stock or of exchequer bills. He proposed therefore, that it should be enacted, that every private banker should transfer into the names of the commissioners, for the reduction of the national debt, an amount of stock double that of the nominal value of the notes of that description issued by them, or deposit in the hands of the commissioners exchequer bills of equal value to that issue. The cause of the difference which he recommended in this respect VOL. XIII.

was, that from the frequent fluctuation in the price of stock, the nominal value of the notes in stock might turn out to be a very inadequate security. The interest arising on the stock transferred, or on the exchequer bills deposited, would of course be paid to the owners after the deduction of charges for management.-With respect to the notes to be issued on this credit, he meant to propose, that before they could be so issued they should be carried to the stamp-office, and stamped in a way that should denote they were so secured. Some farther collateral security against fraud or forgery, might perhaps be deemed expedient; but that would be a matter for future consideration.

This was the general outline of his plan, which, he hoped he had rendered sufficiently intelligible. The details would of course be matter of much deliberation.

He had thus briefly stated the measures he had to propose; the latter of which he should have thought desirable, even if he had not recommended the continuance of the restriction. Considerable preparation would be necessary before the plan relating to country bankers could be brought into operation. Inquiries must be made as to what species of stamp ought to be put upon their notes to afford the most effectual security against imposition. The public would thus have a double guard against forgery-that which the country bankers might adopt, superadded to all that a public office could do: which together would be as perfect a security as the nature of the case would admit of. As soon as these preparatory arrangements were made, every banker who was willing to issue small notes on the security of stock transferred, or exchequer bills deposited, might do so: and it would no doubt be the wish, as he was persuaded it would be the interest, of many bankers to do this before the period (July 1820) which he had mentioned. Many of the country bankers were holders of stock; and they might thus perhaps add two or three per cent to the interest of that stock. It might be said that it would be inconvenient to them to transfer double the amount of their issues; but they had the choice of depositing exchequer bills merely equal to those issues. He would not detain the committee any longer, but would conclude with moving,

That leave be given to bring in a bill for further continuing an act of the 44th year of his present majesty to continue the restrictions contained in several acts of his present majesty on payments of cash by the bank of England.'

ART. VII.-The Champ-d' Asile, or the French establishment on the Trinity River. [Although the settlement attempted by the French officers in the province of Texas, attracted the notice of our newspapers, it did not receive the degree of public attention which its extraordinary character required. We have found in a number of the Parisian journal entitled Minerve Française’— for September last, an account of the Champ-d'Asile, which dis

6

closes more of its history and spirit, than any American publication on the subject, which we have seen. We offer, therefore, a translation of the Parisian article. It has intrinsic evidence of having been written by authority, or under the dictation, of those concerned. It professes to give the truth of facts; but those who recollect the tenor of the law of Congress, appropriating the tract of land in the Alabama, for the cultivation of the vine and olive, and who are acquainted with the understanding on the subject, between Congress and the grantees, will perceive that the whole truth of the facts is not given. After making every allowance for the necessitous condition of the French officers, we must still reprobate the original perversion of the bounty of our government. We may infer from the language of the Parisian article, that it never was intended by the French officers to correspond to the views of Congress, or settle at all in the territory of Alabama. The disparaging tone in which the American pretensions to the province of Texas are mentioned, the covert allusion to the utility of the Champ-d'Asile for the Spanish monarchy, as a barrier against those pretensions, and the offer of fealty, to the court of Madrid, implying a condemnation of our claims, all bespeak, not only a great degree of ingratitude, but a certain hostility towards the United States, and leave little room for regret at the destruction of the establishment. One of the purposes of the article in question, was to promote a subscription, set on foot in Paris, for the benefit of the Champ-d'Asile. It is stated in another number of the Minerve, for the same month, that a subscription-list was deposited with all the principal bankers of Europe, and that various sums had been subscribed. A writer in the Parisian journal, in recommending the establishment on the Trinity, to the liberality of the French nation, in a strain of great eloquence, appeals to the French government for sympathy and protection, on the score of the national interests, and hails a French colony in the province of Texas, as an instrument of future national ends.]

THE foreign gazettes, and after them the French journals, have

spoken of the plan of establishment formed by the French generals and officers who are now in America. All that has been published respecting it, consists either of incomplete details, or incorrect statements, or calumnious diatribes. The incomplete details are to be traced to the American newspapers; the incorrect statements to the English, and the calumnies to certain journals of Paris.-Persons well informed, have enabled us to give the truth of the facts.

s from

An act of the legislature of the United States, granted t18. French who had arrived in America since 1814, one he have thousand acres of land, upon the Mobile and Tombigbye, tomisfora colony there. Each military man was to receive a sect land proportioned to his grade. But the greater part of the oivilized

by In

when they disembarked on those foreign shores, were without the means of procuring even articles of first necessity. After some months of sojourn in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, they found themselves involved, in consequence of the condition in which they arrived, in debts to their hosts, the more onerous, inasmuch as they possessed at the moment, no resources of any kind wherewith to satisfy them. Some American speculators came to their aid; they proposed to the French officers to discharge their debts, to furnish them even with some small sums of money, on condition that the latter would assign to them all their rights to the portions of land granted by Congress. The officers had no alternative; they submitted to the law of necessity; they accepted the proposals, and the bargain was struck. What was the consequence? that the seven-eighths of the inhabitants or proprietors of the colony were all of a sudden Americans, instead of being exclusively Frenchmen, as was originally intended. This circumstance gave an entirely new character to the plan of establishment. The generals and superior officers, who had converted into money the allotment destined to agriculture, found themselves in this way isolated in the midst of a population whose language, habits, and customs had no affinity with theirs; they could not consent to live separated from their companions in misfortune. Had they alone composed the colony, these expatriated Frenchmen might have solaced their imaginations with the idea of a new France; but as soon as they were mixed or confounded with strangers, all illusion vanished. The mere hope of a new association, of a new community of misfortune, revived their courage, and sustained their spirit of perseverance.

The generals Lallemant, accompanied by some intelligent officers, proceeded to examine the neighbouring provinces. That of Texas, in the gulf of Mexico, comprised between the rivers Trinity and del Norte, appeared to them to hold out all the advantages which they sought, with a view to founding another colony. The soil of it was fertile; the climate fine and moderate. Some experiments were made, which succeeded perfectly; and it was at once resolved to form an establishment there.

General Lallemant the younger, had just married a niece and heiress of Stephen Girard, the richest merchant of the United States. (His fortune is estimated at forty millions of francs-eight millions of dollars.) This match furnished him with many facilities for placing himself, with, his brother, at the head of a great enterprise. In consequence, they addressed to the court of Spain, the channel of the Spanish ambassador, a note, in which they thunced

Frat their intention, as well as that of the French refugees in our ca, was to go and fix themselves in the province of Texas. whit, since official proclamations invited emigrants of all classes a nuuntries, to settle in the provinces of Spanish America, his foric majesty would doubtless see with pleasure, the formation

of a colony in a desert country, which wanted only industrious inhabitants to become one of the finest and most fertile on earth.

That the persons composing the colony, were all disposed to recognize the Spanish government, to do homage to it (à lui faire homage), to support all burdens, to pay taxes proportioned to their revenues; but that they solicited the privilege of governing themselves by their own laws; of being exempt from obedience to a Spanish governor; and of creating themselves their military sys

tem.

That if the court of Spain acquiesced in their demands, it might count upon their services and their fidelity.

That, in the contrary case, they would avail themselves of the right which nature gives to every man to fertilize uncultivated wilds, and to maintain himself in possession of them. That their pretensions in this respect rested on very different grounds from those of the Spaniards, at the time of the conquest; since the latter then came for the purpose of seizing by force upon a free country, while they (the French) had for object only the cultivating and fertilizing deserts.

That, in fine, they were determined, whatever might happen, to fix themselves in the province of Texas.

The generals Lallemant, received no answer to this note; they went on with their projects. They enlisted all the French, whom misfortune or necessity had brought to America, and they defrayed the expenses of the expedition. A schooner was first armed and equipped at Philadelphia; and it transported to Galveston, in the gulf of Mexico, three hundred men, who were soon followed by three hundred more, under the command of general Rigaud. General Lallemant the elder, who was already on the spot, received those who arrived, and guided them on their debarkation; whilst his brother, who remained at New-Orleans, purchased agricultural instruments, seeds, plants, and provisions of every kind, which he sent to Galveston. The next step taken was to parcel out the land: each officer received twenty acres square, and all that was necessary to construct his hut, and cultivate the field allotted to him. They set to work, and the colony began to take a determinate shape.

The French exiles, in settling on this distant and desert land, called the new colony by the name of Champ d'Asile, or Field of Refuge, for the end, no doubt, of removing the apprehensions of the scattered tribes in their neighbourhood, and in order to furnish a pledge of their pacific intentions. They published a sort of proclamation, of which we shall quote the principal parts.

Champ-d'Asile, Province of Texas, May 11th, 1818. Re-united by a series of the same calamities, which have torn us from our homes, and scattered us suddenly in different countries, we have resolved to seek an asylum, where we may be able to recall our misfortunes, that we may draw from them useful lessons.

A vast country presents itself to us: a country abandoned by civilized men, where are only to be seen some points occupied or traversed by In