at the operations in New York affected
largely and seriously the business interests of the country, and until
it became apparent that the Treasury receipts were diminished by the
panic that had taken possession of the public, I refrained from any
interference with those who were engaged either in forcing up or
forcing down the price of gold.

Under date of the 24th day of September, I received a letter from my
special and trusted correspondent in the city of New York in which I
find this statement: "This has been the most dreadful day I have ever
seen in this city. While gold was jumping from forty-three to sixty-
one the excitement was painful. Old, conservative merchants looked
aghast, nobody was in their offices, and the agony depicted on the
faces of men who crowded the streets made one feel as if Gettysburg
had been lost and that the rebels were marching down Broadway. Friends
of the Administration openly stated that the President or yourself must
have given these men to feel that you would not interfere with them or
they would never dare to rush gold up so rapidly. In truth, many
parties of real responsibility and friends of the Government openly
declared that somebody in Washington must be in this combination."

The last sentence in this quotation unfolds the policy which had guided
Gould and Fisk and their associates from April to the culmination of
their undertaking, the 24th day of September. As far as I know, the
effort had been directed chiefly to the support of a false theory that
the President was opposed to the sale of gold, especially during the
autumn months, when a large amount of currency is required, or in those
days was supposed to be required, for "the moving," as it was called,
of the produce of the West to the sea coast for shipment to Europe.
They even went so far as to allege that the President had ordered the
Secretary of the Treasury to suspend the sale of gold during the
month of September, for which there was no foundation whatever.
Indeed, up to the 22d of September, when I introduced the subject of
the price of gold to the President, he had neither said nor done
anything, except to write a letter from New York City under date of
September 12, 1869, in the following words:

NEW YORK CITY, _September_ 12, 1869.

DEAR SIR: I leave here for western Pennsylvania to-morrow morning and
will not reach Washington before the middle or last of next week. Had
I known before making my arra