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WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP. BANK SUSPENTION-THE WHIRL UPON morning information was telegraphed to this city that all the banks in Baltimore had suspended specie payment, creating a run upon those in this city, which forced two of them-the Patriotic Bank and Bank of Washington-to suspend for the present the payment of specie except upon notes of the denomination of $5, and checks for small amounts. They feel themselves able to meet every obligation against them, but resort to this as a measure of self-defence. The Bank of Metropolis has, up to the time of going to press, sustained the heavy run upon it without yielding; as has also the Washington Saving's Bank. The run upon Sweeny, Rittenhouse & Co., has also been promptly met. With regard to the Bank of Washington and the Patriotic Bank no fears are entertained of ultimate loss to any one through their suspension as they are known to be abundantly able to liquidate every demand against them. BE or GOOD CHEER.-There is truth in the following reflections on the business condition of the country, for which we are indebted to the New York Evening Post. Though speculation may cramp New York city and the far West for a year to come, the general condition of business people North, East and South is sound; more especially in the South There, people of all classes owe less and work harder than ever before. But for the business system of the country, which compels the South to pay a tribute on all things to the North, the current monetary troubles in the non-slaveholding States would be unfelt everywhere south of Mason and Dixon's line. As it is, it affects no one in the South not tied up in speculations in the Northwest. The fact that such troubles, trials, difficulties and embarrassments have taken place at the North with slight effect on the South should be sufficient to make it plain to politicians of the Evening Post school that their stereotyped stories concerning the comparative industrial condition of the South are roorbacks, and nothing else. We are, however, glad to have it in our power to lay before the Star's readers the following facts from the paper mentioned above, showing that the present pressure in the North is likely to be but ephemeral In 1837, we importing from Europe large quantities of grain to supply our necessities, in addition to our usual importations of merchandise We bad experienced a loss of over twenty millions of dollars by the most disastrous fire this country ever experienced The winter of 1833 was one of the very coldest ever known in this climate, and was followed by a backward spring a short summer and a general failure of the crops. Added to this, the country was possessed with an insane passion for speculations in wild and unproductive lands With nothing to pay with, without crops to live upon, with wealth all invested in lands of no current value, with destructive fires and inclement skies, began the revulsion which over trading and mad speculation rapidly ripened into general ruptey But how different is our present condition There has been. without question. much overtrading, much bad management and extravagance and yet the recent report of the Secretary of the Treasurys that we have exported, inclusive of specie, during the fiscal year ending 1st July last, some millions more than we have imported The crops of the country the largest ever known; almost every section of our land reports bounteous harvests, and there is every prospect of a good foreign demand, at fair prices, for all the grain and flour we can supply. Through the troubles in India, and the general increasing foreign demand, our pork and beef, which have become important articles of export, will command probably double their average value, and we shall have a greatly increased supply The prospects for a fuliy fair crop of cotton are prom. ising, and prices are nearly or quite double those of average years Throughout the length and breadth of the land there is an unusual prospect of late fall pasture, and roots for the sustenance of cattle, which is a matter of more importance than is generolly considered. California is sending us regularly more than forty millions of gold per annum, a considerable portion of which remains in circulation in the interior of our country Emigration to our shores of a more thrifty class of people steadily onward. and through the money they bring, together with their industrious habits. our estern States are reaping a rich harvest These are facts plain to every observer. and present a state of things as different from what prevailed here in 1837 as it is easy to conceive occuring in any country in 80 short a period as twenty years. We are all great deal wiser for what has occurred. Several enormous bubbles have been exploded; credit will hereafter rest on a sounder and therefore more profitable basis, and. unless something happens not lying within the range of probabilities, our next New Year's Day will be one of the happiest and most prosperous that has ever dawned upon this country." COMPENSATION OF CONSULS.-The Attorney General has given an opinion relative to the pay of consuls, in which, after reviewing the various acts of Congress regulating such pay, he decides that the compensation of consuls is to be regulated by the law which was in force when the services were rendered and not by that which prevailed at the date of the commission. A doubt has arisen about the construction of the last clause in the 8th section of the act of 1856. A consul shall not be allowed compensation for the time occupied in coming home "if he shall have resigned, or been recalled therefrom for any malfeasance of his office." The Attorney General decides that the words underscored qualify the word "resigned" as well as "recalled." Under the rule laid down in the opinion of the Attorney General, the claim of Mr. McCrea. late consul at Paris, and Mr. Murphy, do., at Shanghae for time spent in returning home is allowed, as their return home was long after the act of 1856 went into effect, and their resignations were not for malfeasance in office. The claim of Mr. Epping, Consul at Oldenburg, for salary while waiting instructions and going out is disallowed, as is that of Mr. Blythe, Consul General for Cuba; of Mr. Andrews, late Consul General for the British American Provinces; and of Mr. Huffnagle, Consul General to British India, as the time at which the services were performed does not bring them within the provisions of the acts allowing such pay. WALKER'S PROPOSED new raid on Nicaragua is eleciting appropriate comments from the
