active aid for general purposes; and consequent- || (if such payments were not thereby rendered genely a subscription in the local currencies of the se-ral) must have been to put at hazard the collection veral states must have been contemplated as the of the revenue, in point of time and in point of prochief resource for procuring the public supplies, || duct; to deteriorate (if not to destroy) the only adas well as for discharging the public engage- equate medium of exchange, adopted by the comments. Under a sense, therefore, of the necessi-mon consent of the nation, in a case of extreme nety which seems, for a time, to have reconciled the cessity; and, in short, to shake the very foundations whole nation to the suspension of payments in of private property. The powers of the treasury coin, the treasury continued to receive bank department were granted, for purposes contemnotes, in satisfaction of every public claim and de-plated by the legislature in making the grant; mand; and Congress, after a session of six months, but it is not believed, that a case attended with adjourned on the 3d of March, 1815, without inti- circumstances so extraordinary, embracing intermating any objection, or making any provision, ests so extensive, and involving consequences so upon the subject. important, was at any time anticipated by the legislature; or that it could be properly subjected to any other than the legislative agency. Having therefore, made several ineffectual attempts to re

The same state of things continued throughout the year 1815; in the annual estimates communicated to Congress, at the commencement of the present session, it was stated that the aggregatelieve the public embarrassment, it was deemed amount which would probably be realized the duty of the department to repose, with confiand received at the treasury during 1815,dence, upon the wisdom and authority of Confrom revenue and loans, might be placed at the gress, for the application of a remedy suited to sum of about $30,400,000. But the gross amount the malady of the times. of treasury notes issued and unredeemed in 1815 The period has arrived, when such a remedy could not be averaged higher than $16,000,000; may be safely and surely applied. The opinion and the amount in actual circulation, must be ta- expressed in the treasury report of the 6th of Deken at a much less sum; for whenever and where-cember last, is still however entertained, that the ever the treasury notes rose to par, and above currency in coin cannot at once be restored; that par, they were for obvious reasons, withheld from it can only be restored through a gradual reducthe ordinary uses in exchange. Nor was it in the tion of the amount, attended by an amelioration power of the treasury to augment the issue of of the value of the existing paper medium, and treasury notes beyond the immediate demand for that the measures of reform must originated with fiscal purposes. Treasury notes have not hith-state banks. It has been said, indeed, that those erto been regarded by the law as a substitute for institutions have already begun the salutary work; the national currency, and the authority to issue that the amount of their discounts has been reducthem is only granted, as an auxiliary for supply-ed; that the issues of their paper have been reing the occasional deficiencies of the revenue. In stricted; and that preparations are made for conthe New-England states alone, the banks still proverting their capital of public stock into the more fessed to pay their notes upon demand in gold legitimate capital of gold and silver. Public and silver; but, in fact, the issues of bank notes confidence must naturally follow these just and in that quarter have proved inadequate to meet judicious arrangements; but the interposition of the wants of the community; and the revenue is the government will still be required, to secure almost entirely collected in treasury notes, which a successful result. have been purchased at a considerable discount. It is certain therefore that neither treasury notes nor circulating coin, nor the notes of banks paying in coin could furnish, in 1815, a sufficient medium, to satisfy the amount of the duties, taxes and loans, for the year. But it is important here to add, that while the interior of the country was as destitute of a currency in coin, as the cities and towns upon the Atlantic, the treasury note medium was in effect, monopolised by the commercial cities; and the local banks furnished all the means which the planter or the farmer could collect for the payment of his rent or his tax.

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During the year 1815, the effects of the late war upon public and private credit were still felt; and the extraordinary event which involved ed Europe in a new conflict, threatened a continuance of the drain upon our gold and silver; to be augmented, according to a general apprehension, by the force of an unfavourable balance of trade. Under such circumstances, the restoration of the national currency of coin, could not cease to be desirable; but it must become more difficult in the accomplishment. The alternative issue of the measure deserved, therefore, the most serious consideration; and it was to be determined, not only upon views of fiscal interest and accommodation, but upon principles of national policy and justice. The consequences of rejecting bank notes, which were not paid on demand in coin,

It must at all times be a delicate task, to exact the payment of duties and taxes in gold and silver, before the treasury is prepared, independent of any contingency, to give an assurance that the public creditors shall be paid in the same or an equivalent medium. If, however, a national bank be now established, this assurance may be confidently given; and it is believed that the apprehension will prove unfounded, which suggests that the issue of bank paper will be increased, and consequently will depreciate by the opera tion of such an institution. A demand for the paper of the national bank may diminish the demand for the paper of the state banks, but, after the restoration of the currency in coin, the whole issue of bank paper will be regulated by the whole demand; and the proportions of the issue to be enjoyed by the national bank and the state banks, respectively, will be the subject of a fair competition, without affecting the public interests or convenience. If, therefore, the state banks have resumed the payment of their notes in coin, before the national bank shall be organized, there will be no hazard of disappointment in promising a similar payment to the public creditors; but even if that be not the case, the hazard will be slight, considering all the legislative precautions which it is proposed to adopt. Added to the metallic capital of the national bank, the deposit of the revenue, collected in gold and

taught even the alphabet. Instead, however, of working on the Sunday, it is much more common to find men of this class of the poor in bed at noon, and in a state of intoxication at night. Numerous as are still such instances of depravity, more than fifteen of them out of twenty will be found to have had no such instruction in early life, as is at present afforded by Sunday schools. Persons who have been for many years connected with these institutions, and have anxiously traced the desti-esting to a mind in any degree acquainted with anI am now surrounded with objects highly internations of many of the children that were former-cient history, or with the writings of the latin clasly under their care, can point out great numbers, sicks, and although 14 years laborious pursuits of who being grown up into life, are now good my profession had very much weakened, or nearly members of society; but they have never dis-effaced, those impressions, which such writings covered any instance of one becoming a mendi-would necessarily make on a mind so easily and cant. Youthful beggars are found, with few ex-strongly impressible, yet I have found all my enceptions, unable to read. It has occasionally hap-thusiasm renewed in presence of these objects, so pened, that such children have applied for ad- calculated to produce the most powerful associamission to a Sunday school, sent by the kind in- tions. terference of persons who have seen and pitied them in the streets, but they seldom remain many weeks; either they are disinclined to submit to the restraint which the discipline of a school imposes, or their worthless parents require their services on that day as well as on others. Well regulated Sunday schools are directly calculated to counteract the dispositions and habits that might lead to mendicity. In the course even of a few months after the lowest order of children have been admitted, their very appearance is observed to undergo a decided improvement; they are uniformly cleaner and more tidily dressed; and their minds are evidently raised a degree further from the meanness and degradation of mendicants. But they do not therefore become assuming and impertinent; on the contrary, the order and subjection to which they are trained, and the instruction they receive in their moral and religious duties, excite a more respectful behaviour and more correct feeling towards their superiors in general. The knowledge and moral influence of which the children thus partake, they communicate, in a greater or less degree to all their various families. Not unfrequently too, the benefits, which in this way extend to the parents, is confirmed by a word of counsel and admonition from a teacher, who calls perhaps to inquire after an absent child, or to afford relief in case of sick-lians have preserved their superiority, and this ness. Through such means multitudes of the country is still the school, as Greece formerly was poor, who were before notoriously vicious and to Rome, for all who would excel in this most useprofligate, and were among the most likely to be-ful and noble art. come mendicants, are now not less remarkable for the virtues by which families and society at large are so much benefitted. These remarks, in a great measure, apply to those day schools in which the children are assembled on the Sunday, for moral and religious instruction, and are statedly conducted to public worship. If required, proof could be afforded of every part of the state

ment.

LETTER FROM ROME.

From the Boston Daily Advertiser.

ROME, Nov. 23, 1804. promised you a more detailed one from Italy, and My dear friend-In my letter from Marseilies although, immersed as you are in business or pleasure, you may possibly receive it rather as an unwelcome interruption, yet my heart will not permit me to withhold this testimony of my affection and constant recollection of you.

Mn. HALE,

It may possibly afford some amusement to your readers in this period of general tranquility to use the following letter, written by an American at Rome to his friend in Boston, in the year 1804.

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In Italy every thing bears the marks of that colossal and august power which placed ancient Rome above all other nations, and of that highly refined and cultivated taste for which the Romans in the most brilliant period of their history were distinguished. There must assuredly be something in the climate of this country favourable to human genius. It would not be sufficient to say that this superiority in the fine and useful arts might be attributed to the encouragement afforded by the emperors or even to the still more powerful stimulus of general luxury. These had a very extensive operation. But it should be remember. ed that scarcely any nation has been in a more wretched situation, as to government and general prosperity, than Italy since the revival of letters. Perhaps we may except a part of it, viz. Venice under its aristocracy and Tuscany under the Medicis. Yet Italy has been, and still is almost, or quite as superior to other nations in the fine and ornamental arts, as she was in the days of the twelve Cesars. The highest pretensions of West or David do not extend further than to be the rivals, or perhaps successful pupils of Raphael, Corregio, Titian or Guido. In sculpture there have been no attempts to equal Michael Angelo, or Bernini, except by their own countryman Canova. In architecture it is still more true that the Ita

Perhaps the fine specimens of ancient architecture and sculpture which escaped the ravages of the barbarous hordes, and the more destructive fury and cupidity of the modern vandals, together with the inheritance of such a reputation as their ancestors bequeathed to them, may have stimulated the pride of the Italians, and induced them to preserve a glory so flattering to their nation. You will be anxious to know whether after the late ravages of the French there are still subsisting in this capital such specimens of Roman art as would be sufficient to excite emulation and to form the taste. There are innumerable specimens of this sort in every department of the fine arts. Every order of architecture from the hands of Grecian and Roman artists is still to be found in a perfect state, if not in the same edifice, yet in different ones.To be sure the finest specimens of sculpture have pe-travelled westward, and have gone to adorn the triumphs of the victors. Yet there are some models of every species, of the colossal and of minia

tures, such as camaicus and intaglios, of the vigorous and of the beautiful, of Herculus and of Venus of the Gods and of men. You are surrounded with Jupiters, Minervas and Appollos, and with Ciceros, Cesars, and Senecas. The works of Bernini and Michael Angelo are almost all still in Rome.

I remarked that the specimens of ancient art had suffered from the ravages of modern Vandals; I did not mean to confine the remark to the French alone. Long after the revival of letters, and when these ancient relicks became valuable, the popes and their "nephews" who had an absolute domi-ed nion over this country began to take great liberties with the objects of ancient art. Some they carried off to decorate their palaces, others they stripped to ornament their churches, & even the accomplish-In ed family of the Medicis, the Mecanases of modern Italy are accused of having cut off the fine heads of the statues in bas relief which were placed on the arch of Constantine! One hardly knows which most to admire, the savage disregard of the fine arts which such conduct betrays, or the weakness of the policy which would have permitted it.

The Coliseum, or noble theatre of Vespasian, was the most perfect monument of architecture extant. The Huns, Goths, and Vistgoths, and all the races of barbarians had spared it. It is still an elegant and interesting pile. But Paul II. and III. destroyed one half of this magnificent edifice, to erect two modern palaces for their degenerate posterity, the fruits of their illicit connexions.

what consists the danger or difficulty? They must be passed on foot. Forty thousand can pass as easily as a single man. Who has forgotten Suwarrow's noble retreat through the whole length of Swiss mountains, much more difficult than Mont Cenis or St. Bernard? When he arrived in Italy, Buonaparte met with a people already subdued, a degenerate, dejected race, oppressed by Italy no longer dreaded for her power, or courted civil and religious tyranny. He offered them the for her favour, will be an object of attraction so phantom of liberty, and they flew to his standard. long only as she preserves these vestiges of for- But he fought some hard battles with the Austrimer and more splendid times. I cannot refrain ans! Yes, but add the well known fact, that the from giving you one signal example of this destroy-revolutionary spirit infected the Austrian ranks ing spirit so fatal to Rome, and which calls down and paralized their efforts. It is no longer disputthe execration of all strangers. ed that treachery, and even the baser crime of bribery, contributed as much as valour or skill to these famous victories. But the idge of Lodi you exclaim!! That is the dazzling part of this hero's history. How it sinks as you approach it. A miserable little brook fordable without difficul y, and a contemptible bridge, that would require about 15 seconds to pass. The opposite shore level, and undefended by batteries. If you add another fact related to me by my landlord at Lodi, who lodged the French officers the night before the battle, that the French soldiers were made drunk before they went into action, and then this heroic affair dwindles down into as insignificant a battle as ordinarily occurs. When we consider, that all Buonaparte's reputation hitherto reposes on his Italian victories; that his Egyptian expedition did not add one sprig to his laurels, and that the later battle of Marengo was most assuredly lost, and with it his fortunes, had it not been for an error of the Austrians and the skill of Gen. Dessaix; when we reflect also that Italy has been so often subdued, (for even the Romans themselves were the conquerors of Italy) it appears to me that impartial history, in its account of the French achievements, will place them only in the rank of ordinary conquerors, and will not as some Americans have done, consider them as "prodigies of this age, sent by Heaven to show what a brave people can do, and what can be achieved by a nation of heroes." This language is gratifying to French pride, but have always thought, and do now verily believe, that they are not, nor ever have been superior, if equal, to the rest of mankind; stimulated by the same thirst for plunder, and the same false notion of superiority.-Adieu. We soon hope to set our faces homeward, to enjoy again the society and scenes of our native country, dearer to us than any which Europe can boast.

Enough of antiquities of which I dare say you are now as tired as I am. I know no one who took a livelier interest than you in Buonaparte's campaigns in Italy. I have been carefully over all the scenes of these celebrated battles, and with no common interest.

Rome in 1791 contained 160,000 inhabitants, which in 1813 were reduced to 100,000, 40,000 of whom were vinedressers, herdsmen and gardners.

subdued it. The Spaniards have held it. The Austrians have possessed it for a century or two. It has been always an easy, and of course, an inglorious prey. But it may be said Buonaparte did not subdue the venerated Italians only, but the veteran troops of Austria. And pray what did a general of Charles V.? Did he not vanquish on these very plains the flower of chivalry, the firmest and bravest troops of France, with their gallant monarch at their head? Did he not annihilate the French power in Italy, and take the illustrious Francis prisoner? But Buonaparte has twice passthe Alps with an army. The Alps are not defended by a single cannon. There is less danger and difficulty in passing them with an army, than in crussing them with ladies, as I did in October.

Objects viewed at a distance appear in a very different light, and not unfrequently a grander one than they exhibit on approach. Heroes (especially such as Buonaparte) appear more perfect when known only by their inflated accounts, than when seen through a clearer medium. I will suppose your geographical knowledge to have been as imperfect as my own, if you will forgive the supposition. I had formed an idea that the scene of the famous campaign in Italy, was very different; that the country presented difficulties for the passage of troops; I conceived from what had been said of Hannibal and Buonaparte, that the passage of the Alps was an achievement which surpassed those of Theseus, or Jason, or Hercules. When I heard a bulletin giving an account of forcing the line of the Adage or Tanaro, I formed an idea of such ri-I vers as the Merrimack and Connecticut at the least, and when they spoke of the Po, the king of Italian waters, my notions extended to a stream as respectable as the Hudson. These ideas were all erroneous. No country is so indefensible as Lombardy. It is as easy for military operations, and more so than the Jerseys. It is a level country, without defiles, with admirable roads. Its rivers are what an American would call large brooks. I has been easily conquered in all ages. Charlemagne