[698] to increase the number of treasury notes. He was severely censured in regard to this matter, and Southern writers have accused him of having thereby contributed to the depreciation of Confederate paper. Nevertheless, as he himself observed, this paper could always be used in the purchase of government bonds; and as the interest on these bonds was also paid in paper, they were liable to experience precisely the same depreciation. In fact, the value of treasury notes redeemable at par after the war, and of government bonds whose interest was payable in paper, was regulated according to the chances, more or less promising, which the Confederacy had of triumphing, and both the bonds and notes had to suffer depreciation in proportion as the favorable termination of the struggle seemed more remote. The law of October 13, 1862, authorized a new issue of one hundred million treasury notes, redeemable, like the former, at six months after the conclusion of peace, besides five millions of the smaller denominations of one and two dollars. The necessities of the treasury were so urgent that it could not wait for the manufacture of these notes, and was obliged to borrow nearly ten millions from private banks in order to defray the most urgent expenses. This new issue, not being guaranteed by any pledge, soon detracted from the value of Confederate paper. In the month of September the premium on gold was one hundred per cent.; in December, 1862, it reached as high as two hundred and thirty-five per cent. At this period the Confederate government presented an account of its receipts during the ten and a half months that had elapsed since the 18th of February, the date of its permanent installation. We give below the official summary to show what was the real condition of its finances:
Patent Fund | $13,920* |
Custom-house receipts | 668,566* |
Miscellaneous | 2,291,812* |
Repayments of disbursing officers | 3,839,263 |
Interest on moneys borrowed from the government | 26,583* |
Certificates of deposit (law of December, 1861) | 59,742,796 |
One hundred million loan (law of August 19, 1861) | 41,398,286 |
Legal tender notes | 215,554,885 |
———— | |
Carry forward, | $323,536,111 |