ry. But I contend for no
perfection; all I say is, that the country is a glorious country, and
that you and I have every reason to be proud that old Hugh Roger, our
predecessor and namesake, saw fit to transplant himself into it, a
century and a half since."

"I dare say now, uncle Ro, it would strike most Europeans as singular that
a man should be proud of having been born an American--Manhattanese, as
you and I both were."

"All that may be true, for there have been calculated attempts to bring
us into discredit of late, by harping on the failure of certain States
to pay the interest on their debts. But all that is easily answered, and
more so by you and me as New Yorkers. There is not a nation in Europe
that would pay its interest, if those who are taxed to do so had the
control of these taxes, and the power to say whether they were to be
levied or not."

"I do not see how that mends the matter. These countries tell us that
such is the effect of your _system_ there, while we are too honest to
allow such a system to _exist_ in this part of the world."

"Pooh! all gammon, that. They prevent the existence of our system for
very different reasons, and they coerce the payment of the interest on
their debts that they may borrow more. This business of repudiation, as
it is called, however, has been miserably misrepresented; and there is
no answering a falsehood by an argument. No American State has
repudiated its debt, that I know of, though several have been unable to
meet their engagements as they have fallen due."

"_Unable_, uncle Ro?"

"Yes, _unable_--that is the precise word. Take Pennsylvania, for
instance; that is one of the richest communities in the civilized world;
its coal and iron alone would make any country affluent, and a portion
of its agricultural population is one of the most affluent I know of.
Nevertheless, Pennsylvania, owing to a concurrence of events, _could_
not pay the interest on her debt for two years and a half, though she is
doing it now, and will doubtless continue to do it. The sudden breaking
down of that colossal moneyed institution, the _soi-disant_ Bank of the
United States, after it ceased to be in reality a bank of the
government, brought about such a state of the circulation as rendered
payment, by any of the ordinary means known to government, _impossible_.
I know what I say, and repeat _impossible_. It is well known that many
persons, accustomed to affluence, had to carry thei