[458] Stat.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., 2d Sess.; McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 203, 204. European merchants and capitalists also had a large trade with the South when the war broke out, and thus sustained great losses. They had made large advances to southern planters and merchants, and were also interested in property in the South. Proceeds were remitted to foreign creditors or owners in Confederate or state currency or bonds for there was no other form of remittance. Robertson, “The Confederate Debt and Private Southern Debts” (English pamphlet).
[459] McPherson, “Rebellion,” pp. 203, 204; Acts of Prov. Cong., Aug. 30, 1861; Benjamin’s “Instructions to Receivers,” Sept. 12, 1861.
[460] Stats.-at-Large, Prov. Cong., 3d Sess., Feb. 15, 1862.
[461] McPherson, “Rebellion,” p. 613.
[462] Acts of Ala., Dec. 10, 1861.
[463] Two years after the passage of the Sequestration Law its entire proceeds in the Confederacy amounted to less than $2,000,000. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 220.
[464] Suspension of specie payments had been made in order to prevent a drain on the banks. The Confederate government took possession of some of the coin, while much was used in the contraband and blockade trade. All this contributed to discredit Confederate paper currency. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 421. In May, 1862, General Beauregard seized $500,000 in coin from a bank in Jackson, Ala. The coin belonged to a New Orleans bank and had been sent out to prevent confiscation by Butler. Confederate money was almost worthless at Mobile in 1864, while in the interior of the state it still had a fair value.
[465] Confederate paper held up well in 1861 and 1862, though prices were very high. The people were opposed to fixing a depreciated value to Confederate money, but they were forced to do so by speculators. The money was worth more the farther away from Richmond, though comparison with gold should not be made, as gold was scarce, and prices in gold fell. Board, which formerly cost $2 a day, could now be had for fifty cents in gold. Gold was not a standard of value, but an article of commerce with a fictitious value. Pollard, “Lost Cause,” p. 425.
[466] Clark, “Finance and Banking Memorial Record,” Vol. I, p. 341; “Two Months in the Confederate States by an English Merchant,” pp. 111, 115; DeBow’s Review for 1866.
[467] O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. X, Pt. II, p. 639.