done.' Said he, 'If you think it is best to have all the gold withdrawn from the market, I will go to Washington at 7.30.' I went back and told him I should like to see Mrs. Corbin. I had several interviews with her before this. She came down, and she was precisely of the opinion of Mr. Corbin-that they had either got frightened at Washington, or that Boutwell had sold the gold without consulting the President. Mrs. Grant had written her a letter, in which she said she hoped this gold business would be over as soon as possible; that it made her husband as nervous as possible. I replied that we must get out of it as soon as possible, and that the best thing they could do would be to go to Washington and see what it all meant. Upon that they packed up on Saturday night, and telegraphed that they would breakfast at the Executive Mansion on Sunday morning, and he said that he would be back on Monday morning and let me know the whole story of the thing. Corbin went on his way, and I went mine, and (said Fisk, dramatically) that is about the beginning and the end of the gold panic on the 'black Friday of September 24th.'

Fisk then added by way of postscript:

"The Committee seemed very anxious to obtain from me whether any government official was connected with the affair. They repeatedly put this question to me: 'Now, Mr. Fisk, will you state to the committee if any government officer was connected with you in the gold transactions in the city of New York?" 'Now,' said I, 'Mr. Chairman of the Committee, I beg

to tell you that I have told you under oath here exactly in what connection I consider the government officers of this country figured with me in that gold transaction.' They were," said Fisk, "evidently trying to get out of me that no government officer was in it. Then they would make up their report that I said so. Every time they asked me the question I said, gentlemen, I have stated to you the precise position in which General Grant stood, which I have derived from Mr. and Mrs. Corbin, and that is all the information you can get. I said to the committee that I had a great desire that they should examine Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Corbin-that I demanded it."

CHAPTER IX.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS.

The operations of the gold ring-The full report of the committee on banking and currency-Feasting President Grant to learn his policy -A troublesome brother-in-law-The Pool-A pliant tool-A game of bluff-Men of show-Assault on the conspirators-Tremendous crash-Total rout.

In the House of Representatives, March 1st, 1870, Mr. GARFIELD, Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency, made the following report:

The Committee on Banking and Currency, having been directed by a resolution of the House of Representatives, passed December 13th, 1869, "to investigate the causes that led to the unusual and extraordinary fluctuations of gold in the city of New York, from the 21st to the 27th of September, 1869," beg leave to submit the following report:

In obedience to the order of the House, the committee resolved to examine the following topics, in the order named:

First. The Gold Exchange and the Gold Exchange Bank; their history, the character of their ordinary operations, and their relations to the gold panic of September.

Second. The alleged conspiracy of September, to aise the price of gold; the persons engaged in it, and the instrumentalities made use of.

Third. Whether any officers of the national govern(140)

ment were directly or indirectly engaged in the alleged conspiracy.

The peculiar character of the operations to be investigated, and the secrecy with which they were carried on, made it difficult for the committee to find the clue to many transactions, a knowledge of which was essential to a full understanding of the subject; and the large number of persons engaged in the movement, and the reluctance of many of them to disclose their own transactions, have protracted the investigation and swelled the volume of the testimony to an extent which the committee regret, but could not reasonably avoid.

In narrating the facts developed by the investigation, the committee have used the language of the witnesses themselves wherever it could conveniently be done, and have, in the main, followed the chronological order of events.

The history of the gold panic will itself include all the topics above named, and they need not, therefore, be treated separately. In order to exhibit the full history, it will be necessary to review briefly the movement of gold during the year previous to September last.

On the first of September, 1868, the price of gold was 145. During the autumn and winter it continued to decline, interrupted only by occasional fluctuations, till in March, 1869, it touched 130, (its lowest point for three years,) and continued near that rate until the middle of April, the earliest period to which the evidence taken by the committee refers. At that time, Mr. Jay Gould, President of the Erie Railroad

Company, bought seven millions of gold, and put up the price from 132 to 140. Other brokers followed his example, and by the 20th of May had put up the price to 1447, from which point, in spite of speculation, it continued to decline, and on the last day of July stood at 136.

The first indication of a concerted movement on the part of those who were prominent in the panic of September was an effort to secure the appointment of some person who should be subservient to their schemes, as Assistant Treasurer at New York, in place of Mr. H. H. Van Dyck, who resigned in the month of June. In this effort Mr. Gould and Mr. A. R. Corbin appear to have been closely and intimately connected. If the testimony of the witnesses is to be believed, Mr. Corbin suggested the name of his stepson-in-law, Robert B. Catherwood, and Mr. Gould joined in the suggestion. This led to an interview with Catherwood, the object of which is disclosed in his own testimony, as follows:

"I went the next day to have a conversation with Mr. Gould and Mr. Corbin, and I found that the remark was simply this: That the parties could operate in a legitimate way and make a great deal of money, and that all could be benefitted by it in a legitimate manner. I satisfied myself that I could not fill the bill.”

And again:

"Mr. Gould, Mr. Corbin, myself, and some other associates, had an understanding that we would go into some operations, such as the purchase of gold, stocks, &c., and that we would share and share alike."