Certainly the King’s gift of a round sum in cash, a pension of £200 yearly, and, if Deane be right, a rank in the English navy, placed that consummation well within his reach, while his ensuing desertion of the stirring life that his soul had loved and retirement into country solitude pointed strongly toward a master motive satisfied. Samson was shorn and drawn into paths of inglorious peace. “God knows what he does!” said a wondering witness. “He dwells with his wife in a little country house, a quarter of a mile out the town.” KATHERINE PRENCE. _Evening Post, N. Y._ CIVIL WAR SKETCHES. CONFEDERATE FINANCE IN ALABAMA BANKS AND BANKING In a circular letter dated December 4, 1860, addressed to the banks, Governor Moore announced that should the State secede from the Union, as seemed probable, $1,000,000 in specie or its equivalent, would be needed by the administration. The State bonds could not be sold in the North, nor in Europe except at a ruinous discount, and a tax on the people at this time would be inexpedient. Therefore he recommended that the banks hold their specie. Otherwise there would be a run on them and should an extra session of the Legislature be called to authorize the banks to suspend specie payments, such action would produce a run and thus defeat the object. He requested the banks to suspend specie payments, trusting to the convention to legalize this action.[1] The Governor then issued an address to the people stating his reasons for such a step. It was done, he said, at the request and by the advice of many citizens whose opinions were entitled to respect and consideration. Such a course, they thought, would relieve the banks from a run during the cotton season, enable them to aid the State, do away with the expense of a special session of the Legislature, prevent the sale of State bonds at a great sacrifice, and prevent extra taxation of the people in time of financial crisis.[2]