David Liss - The Whiskey Rebel

At near seven, Duer received us in the parlor of his Greenwich mansion. He seemed as unflappable as ever, cool and friendly, a man at ease in the comforts of his own home, and he was alone: no Isaac Whippo in sight and no Reynolds. He showed us a painting he’d purchased and pointed out his window to a new pair of hunting dogs. Not a care in the world, and certainly not a thought for that pesky business with the Million Bank.

At last we sat but, unlike our last visit, no offer of refreshment was made.

“Now, how is it I can assist you gentlemen? Always at the service of the Secretary of the Treasury and his men.”

Lavien leaped right in. “I have heard that your plans to acquire a controlling interest in the Million Bank came to nothing.”

Duer kept his speculator’s smile in place. Let the building collapse around him, Duer would not flinch. “I never entertained such a scheme. I thought very ill of that project.”

Lavien scowled. “And now I hear that your agents move to acquire Bank of New York issues, and you continue your efforts to control government six percents.”

“You perhaps think you observe much from your little perch in the Merchants’,” Duer said, “but you are new to the world of trade, and you may not understand all you see. I beg you to leave my business to me. I have politely entertained your interference, but you must understand that Colonel Hamilton will not thank you for troubling me.”

“I understand it is time for you to be honest with us,” Lavien answered. “No more prevarication, if you please.”

“I must object, sir,” he said, with a bit of a nervous laugh. “You speak to me as I am unused.” Duer turned to me. “Do you not think a more civil tone is in order?”

“I shall tell you what is in order,” said Lavien, with surprising harshness. “Forthrightness, sir. I must know of your plans. I want to know everything about your schemes, with the banks and with the government issues. I want it all and I want it now, and then Treasury will decide if you can be permitted to continue.”

Duer flushed but attempted to laugh it off. “Oh, a businessman never reveals such things. I’m sure you understand.”

“I don’t give a fig for your schemes,” said Lavien. “And you, sir, do not wish to stand in my way.”

“Now, wait a moment-”

“No,” Lavien said, his voice hard but quiet. “There is no negotiation. I am telling you what will happen, not proposing an arrangement. The time for subtlety is done. You will tell me what I wish to know, or I will find out my own way and you shan’t like it.”

Duer’s face, which had gone white, suggested he did not doubt it. No one looking upon Lavien could doubt it. The man appeared to be himself in every way, and yet somehow he had metamorphosed into a devil. There was a hardness in his eyes, a hooded quality to his brow.

“I am happy to make open inquiries,” Lavien said, “to spread about what I know and collect the information I require from others, laying open your schemes, as I understand them, to all. I presume you do not wish that.”

Duer continued to gaze upon Lavien but said nothing. I believe this man, who had made his way through the world with lies and manipulation, could not now speak when faced with the sheer unmovable force of a man who would not, under any circumstances, allow himself to be convinced, charmed, or manipulated.

Lavien turned to me. “We will now go to the Merchants’ Coffeehouse. We will announce what we know about Mr. Duer and offer a reward for anyone who will tell us more. Surely if we get enough men together, each saying what he has heard from the man himself and each finding himself contradicted, then we shall know all.”

Before I could rise, Duer spoke. “No, no, wait. I will tell you, but you must promise to keep everything I say a secret.”

Lavien said, “I’ll promise nothing. I’m not a gossip, and I’ll not go about speaking of your business idly, but I’ll speak of it as needs must.”

Duer shook his head, as though exasperated at Lavien’s stupidity. “I think the value of both six percent securities and bank stock will rise. I am patriot enough to invest in my country, and if you wish to persecute me for that, go ahead. Yes, I have tried to convince the world that I do otherwise, but that is the curse of my success. I am watched too closely, and my plans would be thwarted should they be uncovered.”

“That is all?” asked Lavien. “What about your Mr. Whippo buying up money so dearly-taking those absurdly expensive loans from grocers and peddlers?”

Duer shrugged. “I require cash. It is a steep rate of interest, but it shall be repaid by and by. Hammy has made sure of it, by extending credit through the bank so readily. That is all, Lavien. A man who attempts so much at once, in an economy as small as ours, must have cash, so I raise cash. Would you destroy me for that?”

Lavien smiled. “If you had said as much sooner, we could have avoided the bickering.”

“You must understand that a man of trade must keep his secrets.”

“And a man of the government must sometimes discover them.” Lavien rose from his chair, and I did the same. In the hall, I observed Whippo as he came out of a room, a pair of heavy books tucked under his arm. He stopped and looked at me, and I thought he should say something accusing. Instead he shook his head, as though with a recollected amusement, and laughed softly. “Pudendum,” he said. “Very witty.”

As we rode back to the tavern, Lavien sat in silent contemplation. I did not think he was withholding anything from me. As we rolled past the dark countryside between Greenwich Village and New York City, and he stared into the darkness, I honestly believed he forgot I was beside him. He might even have forgotten that he himself was there. Perhaps he was back in some dank Surinam jungle.

“It is still our plan to return to Philadelphia?” I ventured at last.

“Yes,” he said, his voice thick.

I thought of Cynthia Pearson, whom I would soon see. “So, our work is done here?”

“It would seem so. Duer is acquiring both bank stock and government securities. He is interested in hoarding, not trading what he has for quick profit. That is why he is willing to borrow money at such exorbitant interest rates.”

“But he will have to pay the interest, and even if he makes a fortune in his venture, he will have a hard time making enough to cover his loans.”

“It is more complicated. The bank issues that are in circulation are not yet fully paid for. They are bought in several payments, and those payments have not yet come due. The bank will accept specie for some payments, but it will only accept six percent government securities for others. Do you understand now?”

“Duer will control government securities, which bank scrip holders need to make their payments, and because they will be off the market, the prices of six percents will soar while bank scrip values plummet. Duer will then sell off a small portion of the six percents so he can raise enough money to buy a controlling interest in bank scrip, which will now be cheap since holders can’t get six percents to pay them off. And in that way, he means to gain control of the Bank of the United States.”

“Yes,” said Lavien. “That is why we are going back to Philadelphia. We have, I believe, discovered the nature of the threat against the Bank of the United States. We know its author and his means. We now need only to discover how to stop it.”

January 1792

There are signs, irrefutable signs, that a moment in history is coming to a head. I was not aware that I knew to look for these signs, and yet, when one manifested, there could be no mistaking them. And so, when I was awakened in the darkest black of night by my landlady’s very agitated serving girl, who moaned, rather than said, that a man was below to visit me, I understood at once that events had accelerated. I had passed through a threshold from one era to another.