The Southern Bank Convention.
Second day.
Richmond, July 25, 1861.
The President having called the Convention to order, additional Delegates presented themselves from South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.
The Hon. C. G. Memminger, having been invited to take a seat in the Convention and participate in its deliberations, appeared and thanked it for the liberal manner in which the Banks had responded to the call of the Government.
The following resolutions were referred to the Committee on Debate:
By Mr. G. W. Mordecai-- ‘
Resolved, That the several Banks represented in this Convention will receive in payment or on deposit, and pay out during the continuance of the present troubles, the notes of all the Banks in the Confederate States of America, as may be designated by the following Banks in the several States: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee.
Resolved, That the standing committee be instructed to inquire whether it is expedient to adopt any, and what, measures to provide for the engraving and printing of bank notes and the manufacture of bank paper within the limits of the Southern Confederacy. ’
By Mr. G. A. Trenholm--
Resolved, That the planters of cotton and other produce responding with great spirit and liberality to the calls of the Government, and subscribing largely in produce to the proposed loan for the defence of the Confederate States, it is hereby recommended to all the banks throughout the country to make to planters who have thus subscribed a portion of their cotton and other produce in aid of the Government, such moderate advances on the remainder of their crops as their necessities may require, to be refunded when the produce shall be sold.
By Mr. James Caskie--
Resolved, That the several banks of the Confederate States will receive and pay out the notes of each other, and also the Treasury notes that may be issued by the Confederate States for circulation, of all denominations, from five to one hundred dollars; all balances between them, when required, to be settled in Treasury notes.
Resolved, That each bank agreeing to an entering into this arrangement, be required to limit the circulation of its own notes, so that the amount shall not exceed its actual capital.
By Mr. J. Whiting--
Resolved, That, in accordance with the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, the committee take into consideration, and to report to this Convention, the character of post notes which they deem it advisable for the Government to issue, and the amount which may be safely put into circulation; and to inquire, further, as to the propriety of controlling, by advances on produce, the cotton crop and other produce not perishable, in case the blockade shall not be raised, and to submit a plan for the same in its principal bearings, that the sense of this Convention may be known to the Government.
By Mr. W. T. Sutherlin--
Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Convention, the most effective and ready resources of the Confederate States, in its present emergency, consists in the issue of Treasury notes, a large proportion of which, in the opinion of this Convention, should bear interest at the rate of not less than five per cent. per annum.
Resolved, That any interference, on the part of this Convention, with the present regulations of receiving and paying out the paper circulation of the Confederate States, other than the agreement to receive and pay out the Treasury notes of the Confederacy, would be, at this time, unwise and inexpedient.
On motion, the President appointed seven additional members to the Standing Committee on Business.
On motion, the Convention adjourned to meet to-morrow at 10 A. M. 