All of this was based on credit. The
banks were irresponsible, for they were without capital: they had
created a credit and loaned it in the shape of bank paper to every one.
Finally, the hour came when all was to be paid for. The banks
failed--like the fame of woman, a whisper destroys it; so a whisper
blew away the banks. They could not redeem their promises to pay. These
were no longer available for currency: they had driven from the country
the coin, and there was no money. The merchants failed, the planters
failed, money appreciated to the gold standard, and property
correspondingly depreciated; and ruin--financial ruin--swept over the
country as a consuming fire.
Nowhere was this destruction so complete as in Mississippi. The people
of the State had been collected from all the States of the West and
South. There was no common bond but interest; a healthy public
sentiment, which must result from a homogeneous population, was
unknown; there was no restraining influence upon the conduct of men,
save only the law, and, for the want of efficient administration, this
was almost powerless.
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