974

BANKING AND ITS EFFECT IN ILLINOIS.

1843.

child?" The infant, which had heen saved, was brought to her, and she fainted at the sight of it.

Many of the passengers who entered the boat at Cincinnati, had not registered their names, but the lowest estimated number of persons on board was two hundred and eighty; of these, eighty-one were known to be killed, fifty-five were missing, and thirteen badly wounded.

On the day after the accident, a public meeting was called at Cincinnati, at which the mayor presided, when the facts of this melancholy occurrence were discussed, and among other resolutions passed was one deprecating " the great and increasing carelessness in the navigation of steam vessels," and urging this subject upon the consideration of Congress.

The Moselle was built at Cincinnati, and she reflected great credit on the mechanical genius of that city, as she was truly a   u-perior boat, and under more favorable auspices, might have been the pride of the waters for several years. She was new, having been begun the previous December, and finished in March, only a month before the time of her destruction.

Among the events of this year, deserving notice, was the liquida-1843.]   tion of the Illinois State Bank.

Iu 1816, as before mentioned, the bank of Shawanee town was chartered for twenty years, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars, one-third of which was to be subscribed by the State. In 1821, this institution closed its doors, "and remained dormant," till 1835, when its charter was extended to 1857, and it resumed business. Two years later, in March, 1837, the capital was increased by adding one million four hundred thousand dollars, all subscribed by the State.

But the great crash which soon prostrated business throughout the United States, involved this, with other institutions of a like kind, in difficulties too great to be surmounted; aud though the State, in 1841, offered to relieve the bank from a forfeiture of its charter, provided it would pay two hundred thousand dollars of the State debt, in 1843 it was found necessary to close its concerns once more.

The State banks were not more fortunate. The constitution of Illinois, like that of Indiana, provided that no other than a State bank and its branches should be allowed. In March, 1819, a State bank was accordingly chartered, with a nominal capital of four millions, but its stock was not sold.