honest tradesman is often overwhelmed and ruined. In either case the hard hearted creditors demand with a Shylock's capacity his pound of flesh, rejecting all promises to pay, refusing to aid in retrieving a worthy debtor's fallen fortune, and by his goading demands, driving ofttimes to despair and ruin those he should have assisted.

Men are not all of this character, however, there is still some humanity left; there are creditors who, actuated by the principles of the gospel, when they find honesty coupled with misfortune will stoop to raise the fallen one and encourage him to renewed effort―verily the righteousness of such exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees of the present day, many of whom perhaps make long prayers and are very devout and consistent so long as they are not asked to contribute something or to deny themselves; but who would not hesitate to grind the face of honest poverty if unfortunate enough to be his debtor for a bill of goods.

What is bankruptcy? Like some ghostly visitant it stalks abroad felt though invisible, through business circles and into stores and dwellings, with a powerful hand shutting up shops and vacating counting house desks, labeling with the placard of "Sheriff's Sale" the mansions of the rich as well as the humbler dwellings of the poor, casting a shadow over happy households and rendering even childhood less joyous.

Under its malign influences banks suspend and savings institutions close their doors against those who but yesterday entrusted all their hard earnings to their safe keeping.

Penury and want often follow in the wake of this shadowy reality as it passes through the land; the sick are unrelieved; the poor are left to beg or steal or die; the rich reduced to poverty or instigated to deceptions in order to retain in their avaricious grasp a part of that which belongs to another. Such are some of the consequences of bankruptcy.

It cannot be disputed that in a great majority of cases, it is the result of overtrading, of undue speculation or profligate expenditure, and yet this propensity for scheming and speculating with means that are not legitimately their own is winked at by business men, sanctioned by custom, and encouraged by those who would take advantage of the downfall of their victim.

But is there no remedy for all this? Yes; pay cash for all you buy, and buy nothing that you cannot pay for. What right has one man to live in a palace, or drive a handsome carriage or keep three or four servants when he has not means of his own to support the establishment?

What right has a poor man to run up a bill at a dry goods or grocery store which he has no means to pay and perhaps never intends to pay?

Here is where all the mischief lies. The credit system is an evil that has been for years entailed upon the community until it seems a necessity in business circles; but it is like the vampire that sucks the blood of its victim at the same time that it lulls him into a soft slumber. It is this that undermines credit, destroys confidence, disarranges the wheels of trade and floods the market with due bills and promissory notes.

Once a man's word was sufficient to insure the payment of a debt; afterwards it required a written promise; then as these paper transactions increased in number and amount, and men found how convenient it was to give a note instead of paying cash, banks became more scrupulous and men too, losing confidence in each other, required endorsements on their notes or additional securities in the shape of collaterals or mortgages to make the promise to pay effectual.

Besides, as money began to be in demand, those who had to lend, gradually charged more and more for its use, until of late it has been very common, to demand one and a half or two per cent a month, and in some instances even more.

Let me ask the candid reader, the honest

business man-is this a proper state of things? What must be the condition of that man's affairs, who is compelled to pay twenty or twenty-five dollars for the use of one hundred for a year? Does he suffersome one upon whom he is dependent must suffer correspondingly; because as men in business hinge one upon another like the cogwheel in a piece of mechanism any derangement of one, of course throws the whole machinery out of gear or jars its harmony.

But let us look at this matter in another light. A man has a thousand dollars to pay on a certain day but finds when the day arrives that he cannot raise the money; he pays a portion of it and gives a note with interest for the balance. The holder of the note cannot wait until it matures; he must have money to carry on his business; and hence throws it in bank to be discounted or has it shaved outside, that is, pays a premium to have it cashed.

The second holder of it perhaps exchanges it for other paper, or uses it in payment of his liabilities, and thus it passes from one to another, each time receiving an additional endorsement, and I may say continually depreciating until its maturity, when it is either paid or protested.

Thus these promissory notes or time drafts become the circulating medium of the community, legalized by custom, although unauthorized by law. Men doing a large business in stock, bonds or real estate, often deal exclusively in paper; credits are substituted for gold and silver, and the whole machinery of trade is kept under the mysterious influence of per centage.

In a general sense, "credit is a responsibility extended by a person of wealth and standing, to one who has character and business capacity, but no property, and to whom this responsibility is to serve as capital. The former does not expect to part with any portion of his means, but only to be liable in the contingency of the ill success of the latter." Such a system is

extremely disastrous in its influence upon society, enterprise and industry are set in motion without any adequate basis or support, and in ninety-nine cases in a hundred without the possibility that the fabrics produced, will be purchased and paid for.

Another prolific source of bankruptcy, or at at least what tends to promote and aggravate the causes that lead to it, is the present defective banking system.

We have now in this country, at the present time, about 1600 incorporated banks of discount and circulation. A very large number of these are got up and managed by borrowers, who get them up solely for the purpose of borrowing. Of course, such banks cannot have adequate capitals. This is largely made up of the notes of the parties who control them. Their issues, consequently, are fictions, which, for a time, perform all the functions of capital, to be followed by results which we have already described. In the most prosperous times, the capital of such banks is almost entirely monopolized by the directors and their friends. In a pressure like the one we have just passed through, they seize upon the little capital left. If they do not break the banks, they cripple them to such an extent as to render it impossible for them to extend any aid to relieve the public pressure, and often force them into liquidation. But I have neither time nor disposition to talk about banks.

I prefer to consider this subject of Bankruptcy as an individual matter. The remedy for it as has been stated already, is simply-pay cash for all you buy; and do without, all you cannot pay for.

"Oh! there's the rub!-it is well enough to talk about doing without things, but we must live”—says one—“ we must keep up appearances, and the money will be forthcoming some day!" Another says-" the butcher will trust me for a short time, and I can get goods at the store-with this pass book;" and thus to all the ramifications of society, this evil extends.

Now the principal of trust and confidence

is not wrong, per se, on the contrary it is a lovely feature of our common humanity, that enables one to have faith in another; in his word, in his promises; that induces one man to relieve another who is in need -pecuniarily though it may be trusting for remuneration to his future ability to pay.

Deut. xv. 7, 8. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need.

Deut. xxiii. 19. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother: usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury.

Matt. v. 42. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Luke. vi. 34, 35. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thanks have ye, for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But do good

In the broad sense of the term, a man has no right to buy for himself food or clothing even, much less the luxuries of life, if he have not the means of his own.

If men resorted to no extravagance, all could live within their means; if a man whose income was but eight dollars a week, knew that he could not buy on credit, he would soon learn to make his eight dollars last through the week; there would be no temptation to spend more than he earned. If a merchant knew that he could not get his Spring or Fall supply of goods without paying cash for it, he would manage to save during the year enough to make the purchase, or else would buy less. The direct result of all this would be, that each would do a safe business; it might be a smaller one but it would be for cash; the mechanic would be sure of his wages, tradesmen would not want for market money; business of all kinds would receive a new impetus, because it would have a moneyed basis and a reality instead of a merely nominal thing, and bankruptcy would be unheard of.

But what does the Bible say on the subject of debit and credit? As it treats of almost every other relation of life, so it is not silent here, and if men would but follow its infallible teachings in their business transactions, it would save them many a sleepless hour, and troubled conscience.

OF CREDITORS.

Ex. xxii. 25. If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.

shall be great.

OF DEBTORS.

Ps. xxxvii. 21 The wicked borroweth and payeth not again; but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. Rom. xiii. 8. Owe no man anything but to love one another.

Christian, let me exhort you to follow these simple precepts, try the experiment if you have not already done so, and see if greater prosperity will not mark your

career.

To you it belongs to create and maintain a correct public sentiment. Let all your business transactions, therefore, be conducted upon the broad principles of right, leaving the plausible theory of expediency entirely out of view, and rest assured you will prosper in this world, and be at the same time laying up treasures in heaven, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

L. L. H.

scarce

ADVANTAGES OF THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. An intelligent class can ever be, as a class, vicious; never, as a class, indolent. The excited mental activity operates as a counterpoise to the stimulus of sense and appetite. The new world of ideas; the new views of the relation of things; the astonishing secrets of the physical properties and mechanical powers disclosed to the well informed mind, present attractions, which, unless the character is deeply sunk, are sufficient to counterbalance the taste for frivolous or corrupt pleasures; and thus, in the end, a standard of character is created in the community, which, though it does not invariably save each individual, protects the virtues of the

mass.

For the Lutheran Home Journal.

THE CAPITAL OF HUNGARY.

ATURDAY evening, October 3d, eight o'clock, the steamboat landed me on

SAT the quay of the city of Pesth, rendered especially memorable as being the scene of the most desperate conflict between patriotism and oppression, when in the year 1849 the eyes of the world were fixed upon bleeding Hungary. Sad is the remembrance of that unsuccessful struggle for liberty. Is it true that I am really here on this sacred soil? The full orbed moon

calmly looks upon the city and the rolling Danube, and the imposing prospect makes me feel as though I saw a "vision of the night." But as I step on shore, a violent attack on my trunk by the Pesth porters soon puts to flight the delusion and with my three companions I repair to the hotel "Zum Tiger."

The Lord's day following was a most lovely day, full of beauty and sunshine. My first desire was to find my esteemed Hungarian friend, Rev. Dr. Székács, (pronounced Saycatch,) whom I had learned to know and to love in Cassel and in Berlin. I had received a pressing invitation to visit him in Pesth, and now I hoped to hear him preach in his native tongue, but in this I was to be disappointed for in the morning his church was occupied by the Sclavonians and in the afternoon by the Germans. Therefore, after a pleasing interview with my friend, I concluded to attend the Lutheran (German) church in Buda, (called by the Germans Ofen,) opposite Pesth across the river. These cities are united by a suspension bridge that was begun in 1840 and finished in 1849. It was opened on the 5th day of January to allow the Hungarian army of Kossuth to retreat when pursued by the Austrian forces. The Hungarians passed over in the greatest disorder, closely pursued by the imperialist squadrons and cavalry at full gallop, supported by thousands of infantry, in fact, the whole platform was one mass of moving soldiers. During the first

two days 60,000 Imperial troops, with 270 pieces of cannon passed over. The strength of the bridge was, therefore, at once most severely tested. These two cities, from their intimate relationship,

are ofttimes called Buda-Pesth. Pesth itself is situated on a plain rather low and subject to inundations of which it has experienced thirteen since the beginning of the last century, caused by the swelling of the Danube and the stoppage of the ice a little below the town. In 1848, in Pesth, Buda, and the environs, 3988 houses were destroyed and 1000 others seriously injured. The greater part of Buda, however, lies on a high bluff, especially that called the Festung, (fortification,) which encloses a good part of the city. The population of the two cities is about 160,000, of whom about 40,000 belong to Buda. But I was about to tell of my going to church in the Hungarian capital. The Lutheran church in Buda is up in the so called Festung. As I was wending my way thither I was attracted by soldiers and officers splendidly uniformed and to the sound of music marching into a large Romish church, and yielding to the charms of the music and the persuasion of curiosity, I was drawn in with the multitude and witnessed the ceremonies of High Mass performed by the Bishop. It was the grandest display of a religious kind I have ever witnessed. The so called Bishop entered the church arrayed in glittering, gilded vestments, crowned with his mitre and holding in his hand a richly ornamented crozier, followed by a retinue of about a dozen priests and attendants. The process of bowing at the altar, before the crucifix and at the side, to the Bishop when he sat in his episcopal chair, continued for an hour and a half. All that was uttered was in the Latin tongue. The music in the choir was by the most accomplished musicians accompanied by the organ, trumpets, violin and other instruments. The sweet full tones of several female voices made me forget the unprofitable ceremonies before me and carried my thoughts far away amid the ecstatic

joys of the celestial world. Oh! how cunning is the scarlet robed harlot of Rome, to have in her train one of the fairest and loveliest of the creatures of Infinite Wisdom. Who can estimate the power that is wielded by music? And this power the Church of Rome has understood but too well how to appropriate. A heathen, having come into this assembly, would have been led to believe that no God was worshipped, except the Bishop and the little image on the crucifix. This extraordinary performance was in the presence of the Archduke Albrecht, who was attended by a great number of officers, military and civil, and several regiments of soldiers, who filed into rank upon leaving the church, bearing a banner riddled to pieces in 1849. Up here in the heart of this Festung fell General Hentzi, who made most dreadful havoc in Pesth by opening upon it his 100 cannon and pouring down for several days a hail storm of 24 pounders, causing universal panic and death to thousands. A proud monument stands erected to the memory of him and his companions. It is a Gothic cross, or pinnacle of bronze, under the canopy of which lies the figure of a wounded knight over whom Fame is bending. On the front is the inscription, "General Hentzi, mit ihm Oberst Allnoch sammt 418 Tapfern starben hier den Opfertod für Kaiser und Vaterland 1849." On the remaining three sides are the names of the 418 "braves" who fell with Hentzi, "a sacrifice for Emperor and Fatherland," or rather in obedience to the requirements of insatiable despotism. From the Festung I could overlook Buda and Pesth and many miles of the rolling river. On a hill still higher than the Festung, a new and formidable fortification has been constructed since 1849. It is called Blocksberg, and is the hill which was held by Gorgei and his forces, from which, for five successive days cannon balls were showered upon the army of Hentzi in Buda, utterly demolishing many of the houses, and among them the Palatine Palace which has since been re-built.

66

As my friend Bishop S., from P., and myself wandered through this unfortunate city, how could we but sympathize with down-trodden Hungary that breathes with difficulty under the crushing weight of an almost countless Austrian soldiery. But the fire is only buried, it is not extinguished. Many of the proud spirited Hungarians cannot entirely restrain their discontent. On inquiry of one what the Hungarians thought of Kossuth, his reply was, They thought him a God." They consider him a poor soldier and general, but an unequalled orator. An incident was related to me concerning an Austrian general who came to Pesth during the revolution and expressed to a citizen the desire of hearing Kossuth. The man inquired whether he would hear him alone or at the head of his (the Austrian general's) army? Upon which the general asked whether it made any difference. The citizen replied, "If Kossuth speaks at the head of your army, you'll be left alone." Near the hotel in which I lodged is the house occupied by Kossuth when he was Governor of Huhgary.

Pesth, though one of the oldest towns in Hungary, was a place of slight consequence until the reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II; its previous history is little more than a series of misfortunes, as it was five times taken by the Turks and only rescued from their hands in 1686 by the Duke of Lorraine. Since that time it has risen rapidly into prosperity and importance. It is now the finest, most populous city of Hungary, the seat of manufactures and improvements, and before the late insurrection, was constantly increasing in extent and prosperity. It is differently laid out from most European cities, its streets are wide and regular, many of them crossing each other at right angles. Along the water side runs a wide quay, which is highly ornamental now that it is terraced and well paved; not long ago the greater part of it was no better than a ploughed field, half mud and half filth. It was little else than a rush-covered marsh. Now it