Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1830-1842.] FIRM IN HARD MONEY CONVICTIONS.

151

/denomination of five dollars. Many able men would have
gone much farther, favoring such a system as that prevailing
in England, where the five-pound note ($25) is the smallest
denomination, and people must use gold and silver in all transactions below that sum. The measure referred to was very
unpopular; an attempt to repeal the act was defeated; the
popular outcry against it rose to angry denunciation, and the
party in power were accused, not only as having brought on a
serious evil, but as obstinately determined that it should not
be abated.
The Albany Regency were divided on some of these questions. General Dix stood firm in his hard money convictions,
and in favor of the separation of the government business
from that of State institutions, although he foresaw the danger which must ensue to the administration. I quote from a
letter on the subject, dated at Albany, August 26, 1837:
"I dread nothing so much in this country as the influence
of pecuniary interests upon government. The danger to be
apprehended from a great moneyed institution is sufficiently
apparent:in the history of the United States Bank. From
a large number of small institutions at a distance from each
other, and apparently incapable of any concert of action, there
would seem to be no cause for apprehension. But I am not
sure that they may not, by an intercommunication of views,
accomplish as much as a single institution of larger capital.
They have certainly the advantage that they move by detachments, and do not create the agitation or excite the alarm
which are attendant on the movement of a single body of
greater force. Individuals in their interest may be put in
office in different districts without any apparent concert, until
a sufficient number is obtained to control the action of the
government. Such attempts were made by the United States
Bank, and they are likely to be repeated by the State banks.
Indeed, some movements have recently been made in this
State which indicate a settled purpose to build up a Bank
party. Whatever may come, the Democratic party should