the depressions of money are chiefly confined to the western country, where the substantial capital is small, and where, (there is reason to believe,) a large proportion of the people are less acute. The error committed in the Western States, is not in consequence of any defect exclusively inherent in the democratic system of government; as the fraud is neither matured nor confirmed in the older States, and as England suffers under an evil of the same kind, and apparently in a more dangerous form. Her restriction act of 1797, is not understood to be opposed by any recognized constitutional principle. It emanated from the highest authority in the land. It is not yet repealed, and twenty-four bank-directors still have it in their power to regulate the _money_ value of all the property in the empire.[118] Amidst all the pecuniary inconveniences of this country, the personal liberty of men is not in danger of being assailed by the hand of constituted authority. May the time soon come, when the people shall have understanding enough to take care of their property. FOOTNOTES: [117] This practically stopped execution sales, as the freeholders appraised property so high that no bidder would offer two-thirds of the appraised value. Flint regards the replevin laws as a protection to knaves; as a matter of fact, they were a protection to the majority of the people of the Western States, who had bought their lands on credit, and in the depreciated state of paper money found themselves helpless to pay, and their land about to be sold at a great sacrifice. See McMaster, _History of the United States_, iv, pp. 506-510.--ED. [118] Essay on the Justice and Expediency of Reducing the Interest of the National Debt. By Mr. J. R. McCulloch. Edinburgh, 1816.--FLINT. {198} LETTER XVII Depreciated Paper Money--Stagnation in Trade--Produce cheap--Labourers and Mechanics in want of Employment--The Poor and Poor’s Rates--Appropriations for the Expenses of the State of Indiana, for the year 1820--Objects and Rates of Taxation--County Taxes--A rude style of Improvement--The progress of New Settlements--Lands about to be Forfeited to the Government for non-payment of the price. _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) May 4, 1820._ The accounts given in my last letter of the depredations committed by bankers, will make you suppose that affairs are much deranged here. Bankruptcy is now a sin prohibited by law. In the Eastern States, and in Europe, our condition must be viewed as universal insolvency. Who, it may be asked, would give credit to a people whose laws tolerate the violation of contracts? Mutual credit and confidence are almost torn up by the roots. It is said that in China, knaves are openly commended in courts of law for the adroitness of their management. In the interior of the United States, law has removed the necessity of being either acute or honest.