A third objection will probably be, that the plan provides for the estab lishment of too many offices, and the appointment of too many officers. Let us look into this objection. There are now more than thirteen thou sand "sub-treasury" offices, including the post offices. The number of "sub-treasurers" is still more considerable. Besides the collectors of customs, there are deputy collectors and cashiers of custom-houses, and clerks in the land offices and post offices, acting as money receivers Then there are marshals and clerks of courts, and navy agents and pension agents. Then we have ambulatory "sub-treasurers" in the Indian agents, the paymasters of the army, and certain officers of the engineer and ordnance departments. Then we have those who go by water, in the persons of pursers of the navy. In the most comprehensive sense of the word, every man who has the handling of the money of the United States is a "sub-treasurer," and in this sense, our army of "sub-treasurers" greatly exceeds our army proper. To bring this host into proper order, it is proposed that a few general provisions shall be adopted which shall affect them all, and eight general offices established in which their business shall be concentered as far as can be advantageously done, and that about thirty officers shall be appointed for the proper management of these general offices, and for properly connecting their affairs with the miner fiscal establishments. Eight general Treasury offices are not too many for a country embracing already, in its organized States and Territories, upwards of a million of square miles. The duties these general offices would have to perform, were once performed by eighty banks, and never for many years past by less than twenty or thirty, counting each branch of the United States bank as a distinct institution.

A fourth objection will probably be, that this is only the beginning of a system which will afterwards be extended. Yes; when regularly organized State and Territorial governments shall cover the whole two million two hundred thousand square miles over which the United States claim jurisdiction, more Treasury offices must be established. Perhaps more should be organized almost immediately. There ought to be a sufficient number to perform properly the Treasury business of the United States.

Great is the responsibility of the present Congress. On it devolves the duty of laying the foundation of a Treasury system which shall answer, under all circumstances of peace and war, for a country which now contains sixteen millions, which twenty-five years hence will contain thirty two millions, and which, fifty years hence, will contain sixtyfour millions of inhabitants. It is their duty to lay the foundation of a system, which will be safe and convenient, not only under the administration of such men as at present fill the posts of President of the United States and Secretary of the Treasury, but of all who are likely to be elected to the one office or appointed to the other. They must guard against abuses of power, and misuse of the public funds, by men in high

places and by men in low places. They must also make due provision for the convenient receipt and disbursement, and the safe keeping of the money requisite for the public service, in peace and war, wherever the same is to be received, kept, or disbursed.

These objects cannot possibly be accomplished except by

First. Strictly prohibiting all public officers and agents from apply. ing the public money to private uses.

Secondly. Establishing a sufficient number of general offices for the proper transaction of the fiscal business of the United States.

Thirdly. Making all persons employed in Treasury offices or other fiscal agencies, jointly responsible for the safe keeping of the money entrusted to their care.

Fourthly. Providing for an adequate inspection of these offices and agencies.

Fifthly. Providing for the prompt settlement of accounts.

To frame a system on any other principles than these, will be to throw aside the experience of ages and of nations, and to resort to untried experiments. What may, by way of brevity, be called the double lock and key system, is the only safe one. In the countries where it is used, defaults rarely, if ever occur. Not for one day longer than is absolutely necessary should sums of public money be entrusted to mere individual agents, whether they be collecting or disbursing officers. As fast as collected they should be deposited in places where adequate guaranties are provided for their safety, and should be drawn from thence in such amounts only as are wanted for immediate disbursement. Simply to declare it a felony for any public officer to apply the public money to private uses, is not enough. Neither will it suffice to add a mere system of account keeping, however excellent such system may be in itself, and however valuable it might prove as an auxiliary in preventing abuses in public trusts. No Treasury system can be regarded as a safe one, unless the principles of joint responsibility, adequate inspection, and prompt settlement of accounts, are incorporated into its very substance. Such is the infirmity of human nature, that every precaution should be taken that men be not led into temptation.

If nothing has been said on the medium of receipt and payment, it has been only because that can no longer be regarded as an open question. If the "specie clause" does not form part of the bill, the Treasury offieers will have to act as if it did. Even in the best of times, the United States Bank, when acting as fiscal agent, was under the necessity, in order to provide for its own safety, of requiring the local banks to make a weekly settlement of balances. In times like these, when the continuance of specie payments by the banks depends on contingencies with which the Administration cannot be acquainted, it would be compelled, if any discretion were allowed in regard to the receipt of bank paper, to throw the exercise of that discretion entirely on the collecting officers, and hold them responsible for any loss that should thereby occur. But, in a mat

ter like this, no discretion should be allowed to the President to or any subordinate officer of the government. The medium of receipt and payment ought to be definitely fixed by the National Legislature.

The good or bad condition of a country has more connection with its financial system than most men imagine. Disorders in the finances brought on the awful French Revolution. Fundamental errors in our fiscal system are the causes that, in the midst of peace, and with most plenteous harvests, commercial embarrassments overspread the land. Bad as our banking system is, the evils it would have produced would have been comparatively small, if it had been entirely disconnected with the State. The dissolution of this unholy union cannot, with safety, be deferred any longer. Perpetual peace we cannot expect to enjoy. We do not deserve such a blessing from Providence. We must hasten to place our fiscal system on such a basis, that it will serve the purposes of the country whatever contingencies may occur. The task will be soon accomplished if the members of Congress, act with a single eye to their country's good.

THE GOOD OLD THINGS.

[The following lines were suggested by a remark of one of the Kings of Spain, that the four best things in the world were, old wood to burn, old books to read, old wine to drink, and old friends to love.]

The wintry wind sings loud without,

The snow falls mixed with pattering hail,
The creaking boughs of old oaks stout
Join solemn chorus with the gale.
Abroad be winter's cheerless gloom,
He cannot pass my well-barred gate,
I'll seek my snug sequestered room
And summer for myself create.
I heed not here the howling storm,
Whilst to the cheerful hearth I turn,
Piling thereon to keep me warm
Old wood to burn, old wood to burn.

The sofa to the fire drawn nigh,
My shelves display their precious store,
Of ancient tomes a good supply,
Such as our fathers loved of yore.
The works in great Eliza's reign
Or later Anne's esteemed the best,

New laurels destined still to gain
And bear of future times the test.
"Pure wells of English undefiled"
(That leave for later pens small need,)
Give me upon my table piled

Old books to read, old books to read.

Perusing thus some rare old wit,
How quick the pleasant moments pass!
Can any say it were unfit

To crown his memory with a glass?
No! bring the oldest vintage forth
And draw the cork with cobwebs spread,
The wine should be of rarest worth
To drink the worthiest of the dead.
Some have declared no wine is bad,
That none is good some others think,
But give me whilst it may be had
Old wine to drink, old wine to drink.

Yet not alone would I enjoy

The racy book, the sparkling wine,
The hermit's pleasures quickly cloy,
Divided be all joys of mine.
Around my fireside gathered be
The ancient tenants of my heart,
Friends long beloved there let me see,
To take in wit and wine their part.
With fire and books and social bowl,
What greater blessing can I prove,

If heaven but grants to crown the whole--
Old friends to love, old friends to love.

THE GAME OF TWENTY QUESTIONS.

FROM THE UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT OF A FOREIGN MINISTER.

street,

London, 1823, July 20. Dined at Mr. Planta's, New Burlington We had Count Lieven, the Russian ambassador; Count Martin D'Aglie, the Sardinian envoy; Mr. Secretary Canning; Mr. Huskisson; Mr. Robinson, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord Granville; Lord George Bentinck; Lord Francis Conyngham; Mr. Charles Ellis, M. P., and Lord Howard de Walden.†

*At present English Ambassador in Paris.
+English Ambassador to Portugal.

There was much small talk, some of it in a high degree sprightly, making the evening fit to be remembered. Parliament having just risen, Mr. Canning and the other two members of the cabinet seemed like birds let out of a cage. We went to dinner at seven. Ten o'clock arriving, with little disposition to rise from table, Mr. Canning proposed that we should play "Twenty Questions." This was new to me and the other members of the diplomatic corps present, though both had been longer in England than even I had been, but familiar to the English. The game consisted in endeavors to find out your thoughts by asking twenty questions. The questions to be put plainly, and in the alternative, if desired. The answers to be plain and direct. The object of your thoughts not to be an abstract idea, or any thing so occult or scientific as not to be supposed to enter into the knowledge of the company, but something well known at the present day, or to general history. It might be any name of renown, ancient or modern, man or woman; or any work or memorial of art well known, but not a mere event, as a battle for instance. These were the general rules. It was agreed that Mr. Canning, assisted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who sat next to him, should put the questions; and that I, assisted by Lord Granville, who sat next to me, should give the answers. Lord Granville and I were, consequently, to have the thought in common; and it was well understood that the discovery of it, if made, was to be the fair result of the questions and an swers, not of any hocus pocus. With these as the preliminaries, and the parties sitting face to face on opposite sides of the table, we began.

To the

First question by Mr. Canning. Does what you have thought of belong to the animal or the vegetable kingdom? Answer. vegetable.

Second question. Is it manufactured or unmanufactured? Answer. Manufactured.

Third. Is it a solid or a liquid? Answer. A solid. (How could it be liquid, said one of the company slyly, unless vegetable soup!)

Fourth question. Is it a thing entire in itself, or in parts? Answer. Entire.

Fifth. Is it for private use, or public? Public.

Sixth. Does it exist in England, or out of it? In England.
Seventh. Is it single, or are there others of the same kind? Single.
Eighth. Is it historical, or only existent at present? Both.
Ninth. For ornament or use? Both.

Tenth. Has it any connection with the person of the King? No.
Eleventh. Is it carried, or does it support itself? The former.
Twelfth. Does it pass by succession?

[Neither Lord Granville nor myself being quite certain on this point, the question was not answered; but as it was thought that the very hesi tation to answer might serve to shed light upon the secret, it was agreed that the question should be counted as one.]

Thirteenth. Was it used at the coronation? Yes.