old and silver belonging to, and in the
custody of, the treasury department on the 28th of March, where
located and what deductions were to be made from it, on account of
actual existing demands against it. This interview, extending
through several days, and covering seventy-three printed pages,
embraced every phase of the financial condition of the United
States, and the policy of the treasury department in the past and
in the future. At the end of the first day the principal question
seemed to be whether it was possible that the United States could
resume specie payments and maintain them. This led to a careful
scrutiny of the amount of gold in the treasury, Mr. Ewing assuming
that a portion of the amount stated was "phantom" gold, and was
really not available for the purposes of resumption. I said that
the United States would be, on the 1st of January, in a better
condition to resume specie payments than the Bank of England was
to maintain them, and gave my reasons for that opinion. I saw that
Mr. Ewing regarded this statement as an exaggeration.

After the adjournment I understood that Mr. Ewing said that I was
grossly in error, and that he would be able to show it by authentic
documents as to the condition of the Bank of England. He said that
I was laboring under delusions, which he would be able to expose
at the next meeting. When we again met with the full committee
present, Mr. Ewing said:

"I ask your attention to a comparison of the condition of the
treasury for resumption with the condition of the Bank of England
in 1819 and now, with the Bank of France this year, and with the
banks of the United States in 1857 and 1861."

To this I replied:

"When I said the other day that I thought the condition of the
treasury, on the 1st of January next, would be as good as the Bank
of England, I had not then before the actual figures or tables,
but only spoke from a general knowledge of the facts. Since then
I have given the matter a good deal of attention, and now have some
carefully prepared tables, founded upon late information, giving
the exact comparison of the condition of the Bank of England, the
Bank of France, the Bank of Germany, the Bank of Belgium, the
national banks, and the treasury. These tables will show that
pretty accurately."

I handed the tables to the committee, and they are printed with
the report. I then proceeded to show in detail that while the Bank
of England had notes outstand