Philadelphia, 27 March, 1784.
Dear Sir:
You will observe by my letter of this day to our President, that I have
been requested to postpone my visit to the bank until they shall be
well informed that the Bank of New-York has, or actually will, obtain
a charter. Although I am confident this is only an ostensible reason
for not wishing to see me at the bank, it will be highly necessary I
should be regularly informed of what is doing in this respect, that I
may be able to speak fully and with firmness to the subject; therefore,
exclusive of any letter the director may write to me, I trust you will
communicate to me whatever may appear to you essential for me to know.
The fact is (and which cannot be communicated to the many, and
therefore not mentioned in my official letter), their motive for not
wishing to see me at the bank just now, arises from their being at
present in very great confusion--the opposition of the new bank began
it, and being pressed so hard by this opposition, they were obliged
to lay themselves so open, that it evidently appeared, if carried
further, it would strike too fatal a blow. Therefore, for the safety
of the community at large, it became absolutely necessary to drop the
idea of a new bank, and to join hand in hand to relieve the old bank
from the shock it had received. Gold and silver had been extracted in
such amounts that discounting was stopped, and for this fortnight past
not any business has been done at the bank in this way. The distress
it has occasioned to those dependent on circulation and engaged in
large speculations, is severe; and, as if their cup of misery must
overflow, by the last arrival from Europe, intelligence is received
that no less a sum than £60,000 sterling of Mr. Morris’s bills, drawn
for the Dutch loan, are under protest. It is well known that the bank,
by some means or other, must provide for this sum. The child must not
desert its parent in distress, and, such is their connection, that
whatever is fatal to the one must be so to the other. However, the man
who has more than once, by his consummate abilities, saved the American
Empire from ruin, will no doubt be found equal to overcome these
temporary inconveniences, and to restore universal confidence and good
order. I trust you will be guarded in your conversation with others
on this subject, lest it might recoil on me, and not only place me in
a disagreeable situation, but defeat the purposes of my coming there.
I have had several interviews with our friend Gov. Morris; he is for
making the bank of New-York a branch of the bank of North America, but
we differ widely in our ideas of the benefit that would result from
such a connection.
If it will not be intruding too much upon your time and goodness, may
I request that you will now and then inform me what is doing by our
Legislature, and permit me to assure you, that it will ever give me
singular pleasure to have it in my power to evince the respect and
esteem with which
I am, dear Sir,
Your ob’t and very humble serv’t,
Wm. Seton.
Alexander Hamilton, Esq.