Scope and Contents

The plans he wrote about yesterday [to give money to the creditors of James Maury and Sons] will not come about; today they hear that the U[nited] S[tates] Government is bankrupt and that No[rthern] banks have stopped specie payment; previous suspenions of this sort were the result of over trading, but this is not the case this time; the Northern States are full of specie; blames Congress for this situation; since they did not tax property as he thought they should; Congress keeps voting to give money to the war, but hey did not tax propoerty as he thought they should; Congress keeps voting to give money to the war, but they did not make provisions for obtaining that money; thinks that the North has now lost an advantage over the South; if taxes are imposed now all they will be able to do is slow down the process of depreciation of paper money issued by the Treasury; paper money will become less valuable as the war goes on; now the North and South are both headed for financial ruin; des not expect the war to end soon; does not think separation would last long if there is an early peace; if the war lasts past the planting season the South will have to find new employment for at least half of the slaves who now do agricultural work; they should be taught handicraft and manufacture; southern society will be entirely changed by their push for independance; thinks they would eventually emacipate the slaves; her stocks are no longer good investments; only gold, real estate, and commodities will be worthwhile now; advises her to sell the stocks and put he money into gold or A/1 bills of Exchange; New York banks have lent all their capital to the Gov[ernment]; which may be safe; it will be hard for them to use their deposits safely though; would rather invest in U.S. stocks than bacnk stocks; losing a year's interest would be less than losing money from the stocks themselves; does not expect northern currency to depreciate as quickly as southern currency did; money in Richmond I at 40 p[er]cent discount; thinks the Bank suspension is designed to breed discontent in the US army and make northern civilians want peace; Matthew could probably tell her all of this but he wanted to make sure she got his opinion too; she said the country needed to undergo deep humiliation before the situation was fixed; thinks there is more still to come; Mr. J. Wakefield Cropper likes Mr. Weed; (15 January) received her letter of 29/30 December; assumes she anticipated the suspension of specie pay[ment] from her comments about selling stocks keeping money in England; thinks she should consider how long the war will last and the possibility if wholesale taxation; the North bis weakened by this; Matthew does not seem as concerned by these events as he should be; thinks he may be of more use in England than in New York now; asks her to show Matthew the letter. 10pp. ALS Bears ANS from Matthew Maury, to his sister, Ann Maury, [New York,Ny], 31 January [1861]. Stating that he disagrees with Rutson's interpretations of these events.