Doc. 209.-New York and Georgia. Interesting correspondence.
Sir:--By proclamation dated 26th day of April last, Joseph E. Brown, Governor of the State of Georgia, sets forth and declares that property of the citizens of Georgia, whenever found within the limits of the anti-slavery States, in which the said Governor includes the State of New:York, is seized, and forcibly taken from its owners.
And Gov. Brown further forbids and refuses to allow the citizens of Georgia to pay their indebtedness of. whatever kinds or nature, to any citizens of this State, but invites them to pay the same into the Treasury of the State of Georgia, in any funds bankable in Augusta or Savannah, and to receive therefor a certificate of sums so deposited.
We now, as officers of banks in the City of New York, doing business with banks, bankers, and merchants of Georgia and other States, known as the Confederate States of America, now in revolt against the Government of the United States, deem it proper to apprise your Excellency that we do distinctly deny the truth of the statements so made by the said Governor of the State of Georgia.
The Banks of this City have paid, and continue to pay, in every case, all drafts against funds deposited, whether by Southern, Western, or Northern banks, bankers, or other dealers, and any statement or allegation to the contrary is wholly unfounded.
Jno. A. Stevens, President of Bank of Commerce, New York. Geo. S. Coe, President of the American Exchange Bank. Jas. Gallatin, President of National Bank. Jno. J. Crane, President of Bank of Republic. G. D. Angelis, Cashier of Mechanics' Bank, New York, Jas. M. Morrison, President of Manhattan Bank. J. E. Williams, President of Metropolitan Bank.
Reply of Governor Morgan.
gentlemen: I have received your communication of the 13th inst., formally denying the truth of the statements made by Gov. Brown, of Georgia, in his proclamation of the 26th ult.
You affirm that “the banks of the City of New York have paid, and continue to pay, in every case, all drafts against funds deposited, whether by Southern, Western, or Northern banks, bankers, and dealers, and that any statement or allegation to the contrary is wholly unfounded.”
This course I believe to be emphatically in consonance with the sentiment of the commercial and business classes throughout this State.
The sterling uprightness of the bankers of the City of New York is widely known.
Their sensitiveness is, therefore, natural under the circumstances, and it is but proper that they should meet, with a prompt and broad denial, the loose and ill-founded assertions of his Excellency, the Governor of Georgia, so far as they affect them.
The position taken by you, that business obligations must be respected as well now as in ordinary times, should command the respect of rebel as well as of loyal States.
Rebellion affords neither at the North nor South an excuse for repudiation by individuals or corporations; and when the excitements which now disturb the country shall have been allayed, no one will have the courage to plead it as a reason for disregarding his obligations.
I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully yours,
E. D. Morgan. To John A. Stevens, Esq., President Bank of Commerce, George S. Coe, President of the American Exchange Bank, and others.
--N. Y. Times, May 28.
