they declined to appoint delegates. J. Q. Adams reports a conversation which he had with Biddle at this time. Biddle thought that the proposition of the "deposit banks" of New York "was a mere stratagem to procure the restoration to them of the public deposits;" that they knew that resumption was impossible until the foreign debt was paid, "and made the proposal to plume themselves upon it and gain credit for the performance under the delusion of a false promise." He had told General Hamilton, of South Carolina, that resumption "could not be maintained a week."
Here the matter rested until after the extra session of Congress, when, October 20th, the New York banks sent out invitations to a convention at New York, November 27th. As an indication of the jealousy existing between the two cities, it is instructive to note that so good a writer as Raguet, when trying to explain why the exchanges were against both Philadelphia and Boston, in November, declared that it was because drafts on New York were not paid, but were thrown back on the other two cities. "What therefore makes New York the creditor city is the fact that she is a debtor."[1] As for Boston, the banks there had, since the suspension, pursued a policy of expansion. In general the banking system of Boston at this period was not strong.[2]
The bank convention sat from November 27th to Decernber 2d. There were one hundred and thirty-five delegates from eighteen States, including Pennsylvania. The opposition was led by Pennsylvania and was dilatory and obstructive in its tactics. The leading proposition was to resume July 1, 1838. The other proposition was to appoint a committee to inquire, and to call together the convention again whenever it should seem best. The convention was adjourned until April 11th, without action.[3]
A somewhat acrimonious controversy arose in the New York papers about this convention, and its apparent fiasco. The "American" said: "The most serious obstacle to New York resuming alone is a sort of vague and indefinite belief that unless the United States Bank of Pennsylvania comes into the measure, it cannot be successful." The "Commercial Advertiser," comparing all the banks of the State of New York with those of Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, showed that the former were weaker than any of the latter, and repelled the imputation cast on the Bank of the United States by the "Albany Journal" for having attempted to thwart the efforts of the New York banks to resume. The "American" argued that while New York had been reducing her obligations, in order to resume, and Philadelphia had gone on expanding, the latter had won an apparent advantage at the expense of the former, and now New York was told that she should not collect her debts from Philadelphia, and resume, and take the benefit of resumption, but should allow the debt to stand. The "Commercial Advertiser" answered this, which it said was aimed at the Bank of the United States, by referring back to the aid given by Biddle
