A sensation has been created in the money-market this week
by the appearance of a new description of American Securities. In consequence of' the extreme difficulty of procuring unexception- able bills of exchange to remit to England, the merchants of New York called upon the Bank of the United States to supply them with the promissory notes of that establishment, payable in London. This application was immediately acceded to; and the consequence is, that a very large amount of paper, of which the following is a specimen, has been remitted to this country.
"No. 86. 1,2001.
"BANE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, March 30, 1837.
" The Prefident, Directors, and Company of the Bank of the United States promise to pay to the bearer, on the first day of April 1839, Twelve Hundred Pounds Sterling, at the Counting-house uf Messrs. Baring, Brothers, and Co.
in London.
" L. S. " Witness the seal of the said Company, and the signatures of
their President and Cashier.
"S. Jautiost, Cashier. "N. PIDDLE, President.'
Not only the Bank of the United States, but the Manhattan Company, the Bank of America, the Morris Canal Company, and the Girard Bank of Philadelphia, have issued promissory
notes of the same description; which have been discounted in Lon- don at the rate of between 6 and 7 per cent. No doubt seems to be entertained of the legality of circulating paper of this de- scription; and we may expect to have as much of it as the Market will bear.
The consequences of this operation may be very serious, in several ways. The first effect appears to have been to relieve the American trade ; and the second to knock down the pre- Mit= of Exchequer Bills, which fell yesterday to the extent d Ile. or 12s. How this inundation of American paper will affect our circulating medium permanently, is a difficult question to decide. It would seem to destroy the control of the Bank of England over the currency, by bringing foreign money- lending establishments into the British market. It is very pro- bable that the existing notes will be replaced not with gold but with fresh notes ; and it is possible that gold may be shipped to the United States in return for a supply of this paper. But there is no end to speculation on the working of this new financial achievement of the enterprising and sagacious Mr. NICHOLAS BIDDLE. We must wait till we are instructed by some expe- rience before we can speak confidently on the subject.
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