The Vermont defalcation.
--The ascertained defalcation of Mr. Bates, the late State Treasurer of Vermont, is $53,810, with more to come. Of this sum $2,300 is a deficit in the office accounts as kept by himself and delivered to his successor, while all the balance is made up of sums borrowed in the name of the State and for which no account was made.--The laws of Vermont give the Treasurer authority to borrow to an unlimited extent — so great has been their reliance upon individual honesty up there. It was only discovered, therefore, that the ex-Treasurer had created any debt when a note of $9,000 at the Brattleboro' Bank fell due. Mr. Bates then looked for, had deeded away his property and fled!--The principal notes now discovered, going to make up the sum of $51,500, are: $15,000 with Lawrence Brainerd, of St. Albany; $9,000 with Abel Underwood; $4,500, Orange County Bank; $3,300, Lamoille County Bank; and lesser sums with seven other banks. Of course the State cannot dodge payment, as the Treasurer's name bound the State under the law. There is a further, and, it is feared, a larger defalcation in the Treasurer's settlement with the towns. Investigation shows that some of the towns have receipts in full and are credited only in part.
