which may be estimated to affect the duties on those articles remaining in store on the 1st of January, 1832, to the amount of about $750,000. The receipts from the public lands during the present year, it will be perceived, have likewise exceeded the estimates, and, indeed, have gone beyond all former example. It is believed that, notwithstanding the large amount of scrip and forfeited land stock that may still be absorbed in payments for lands, yet, if the surveys now projected be completed, the receipts. from this source of revenue will not fall greatly below those of the present year. From all the information which the department has been able to obtain, the receipts into the Treasury during the year 1832 may be estimated at Viz. Customs Public lands - $30,100,000 00 - $26,500,000 00 490,000 00 110,000 00 Bank dividends Incidental receipts, including arrears of internal duties and direct taxes The expenditures for the year 1832, for all objects other than the public debt, are estimated at Viz. 13,365,202 16 2,809,484 26 6,648,099 19 3,907,618 71 Which, being deducted from the estimated receipts, will leave a balance of - $16,734,797 84 An exhibition of the transactions of the Treasury will show that this department has endeavored to carry into effect the policy indicated by the laws, and the views of the President, in regard to the early extinguishment of the public debt. Upwards of forty millions will have been applied to that object, from the 4th of March, 1829, to the 2d of January, 1832, inclusive; of which about sixteen millions and a half will have been drawn from the Treasury during the present year. The occasion is deemed a propitious one, to bring before the Legislature the subject of the debt, with a view to its redemption, at a period not only earlier than has been heretofore anticipated, but before the termination of the present Congress. The entire public debt, on the 2d of January next, as has been already shown, will amount to The amount of the receipts into the Treasury during the year 1832, after satisfying all the demands of the year, other than on account of the public debt, are estimated, as above, at 16,734,797 84 24,322,235 18 Which, being applied to that object, will leave the total amount of the public debt, at the close of the year 1832 10,302,686 97 The Government, however, has other means, which, if Congress see proper, may be applied towards the payment of the debt, viz.-the shares in the Bank of the United States, amounting at par to $7,000,000, but which, as will be presently explained, may be estimated at not less than In that event, the amount of the debt on the 1st January, 8,000,000 00 2,302,686 97 $2,503,258 02 It may be further observed, that, should any diminution take place in the estimated revenue, or should the expenditure exceed the estimated amount, the deficiency which either event might produce in the means of the Treasury applicable to the debt, would be supplied by the amount reserved in this estimate for the unsatisfied balances of appropriations. For, although that sum constitutes a legal charge on the Treasury, to be met as occasion requires, yet, in any estimate of present means, it may be considered rather as a nominal than a real charge. It will be thus perceived that the Government has the means, if properly employed, of reimbursing the whole of the public debt, by purchase or otherwise, on or before the 3d of March, 1833. The moral influence which such an example would necessarily produce throughout the world, in removing apprehension, and inspiring new confidence in our free institutions, cannot be questioned. Seventeen years ago the country emerged from an expensive war, encumbered with a debt of more than one hundred and twenty-seven millions, and in a comparatively defenceless state. In this short period it has promptly repealed all the direct and internal taxes which were imposed during the war, relying mainly upon revenue derived from imports and sales of the public domain. From these sources, besides providing for the general expenditure, the frontier has been extensively fortified, the naval and maritime resources strengthened, and part of the debt of gratitude to the survivors of the revolutionary war discharged. We have, moreover, contributed a large share to the general improvement, added to the extent of the Union, by the purchase of the valuable territory of Florida, and finally acquired the means of extinguishing the heavy debt incurred in sustaining the late war, and all that remained of the debt of the revolution. The anxious hope with which the people have looked forward to this period, not less than the present state of the public mind, and the real interests of the community at large, recommends the prompt application of these means to that great object, if it can be done consistently with a proper regard for other important considerations. Of these means, as has already been shown, the shares owned by the Gov ernment in the Bank of the United States are an indispensable part; and for the reimbursement of the debt within the period contemplated, it will be necessary to effect a sale of them for a sum not less than eight millions of dollars. The stock created by the United States, for their subscription to the bank, having been actually paid previously to the 1st of July last, their interest in that institution has ceased to be nominal merely, and the shares form a part of the fiscal resources applicable to the public demands. The objects connected with the early reimbursement of the public debt are more important than the interest of the Government as a mere stockholder; and it is therefore respectfully recommended to Congress to authorize the sale of those shares for a sum not less than $8,000,000. A sale of so large an amount in the public market could not be expected to produce more than the par value; and, if attempted under circumstances calculated to shake public confidence in the stability of the institution, would, in all probability, prove wholly abortive. For these reasons, it is deemed advisable to effect a sale to the bank itself--a measure believed to be practicable on terms satisfactory both to the United States and that institution. In submitting this proposition to the wisdom of Congress, it is not intended that its adoption should be founded on any pledge for the renewal of the charter of the bank. Considering, however, the connexion of the proposition with the bank, and viewing the whole subject as a necessary part of the plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit, the undersigned feels it his duty to accompany it with a frank expression of his opinions. The act of Congress to establish the Treasury Department makes it the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest and prepare plans for the support of public credit, and for the improvement and management of the revenue. The duties enjoined, as well by this act as by the subsequent one of the 10th of May, 1800, requiring the Secretary "to digest, prepare, and lay before Congress, at the commencement of every session, a report on the subject of finance, containing estimates of the public revenue and public expenditures, and plans for improving or increasing the revenues from time to time, for the purpose of giving information to Congress, in adopting modes for raising the money requisite to meet the public expenditures," have been supposed to include not merely the application of the resources of the Government, but the whole subject of the currency, and the means of preserving its soundness. On this supposition, the first Secretary of the Treasury, in his memorable reports of January and December, 1790, recommended a national bank as "an institution of primary importance to the finances, and of the greatest utility in the operations connected with the support of public credit;" and various communications since made to Congress show that the same views were entertained of their duties by others who have succeeded him in the department. The performance of the duties thus enjoined by law upon the Secretary of the Treasury implies, however, no commitment of any other department of the Government, each being left free to act according to the mode pointed out by the constitution. The important charge confided to the Treasury Department, and on which the operations of the Government essentially depend, in the improvement and management of the revenue and the support of public credit, and of transferring the public funds to all parts of the United States, imperiously requires from the Government all the facilities which it may constitutionally provide for those objects, and especially for regulating and preserving a sound currency. As early as May, 1781, the Congress of the United States, convened under the articles of confederation, approved the plan of a national bank submitted to their consideration by Mr. Morris, then superintendent of the finances, and, on the 31st of December, of the same year, from a convic tion of the support which the finances of the United States would receive from the establishment of a national bank," passed an ordinance, incorporat ing such an institution, under the name and style of "The President, Directors, and Company of the Bank of North America." The aid afforded by that institution was acknowledged to have been of essential consequence during the remaining period of the war, and its utility subsequent to the peace of little less importance. The authority of the present Government to create an institution for the same purposes cannot be less clear. It has, moreover, the sanction of the executive, legislative, and judicial authorities, and of a majority of the people of the United States, from the organization of the Government to the present time. If public opinion cannot be considered the infallible expounder, it is among the soundest commentators of the constitution. It is undoubtedly the wisest guide and only effective check to those to whom the administration of the constitution is confided; and it is believed that, in free and enlightened States, the harmony not less than the welfare of the community is best promoted by receiving as settled those great questions of public policy in which the constituted authorities have long concurred, and in which they have been sustained by the unequivocal expression of the will of the people. The indispensable necessity of such an institution for the fiscal operations of the Government in all its departments, for the regulation and preservation of a sound currency, for the aid of commercial transactions generally, and even for the safety and utility of the local banks, is not doubted, and, as is believed, has been shown in the past experience of the Government, and in the general accommodation and operations of the present bank, The present institution may indeed be considered as peculiarly the offspring of that necessity, springing from the inconveniences which followed the loss of the first Bank of the United States, and the evils and distresses incident to the excessive, and, in some instances, fraudulent issues of the local banks during the war. The propriety of continuing it is to be considered not more in reference to the expediency of banking generally, than in regard to the actual state of things, and to the multiplicity of State banks already in existence, and which can neither be displaced, nor in other manner controlled in their issues of paper by the General Government. This is an evil not to be submitted to; and the remedy at present applied, while it preserves a sound currency for the country at large, promotes the real interests of the local banks, by giving soundness to their paper. If the necessity of a banking institution be conceded or shown, that which shall judiciously combine the power of the Government with private enterprise is believed to be most efficacious. The Government would thus obtain the benefit of individual sagacity in the general management of the Bank, and, by means of its deposites and share in the direction, possess the necessary power for the prevention of abuse. It is not intended to assert that the Bank of the United States, as at present organized, is perfect, or that the essential objects of such an institution might not be attained by means of an entirely new one, organized upon pro. per principles, and with salutary limitations. It must be admitted, however, that the good management of the present bank, the accommodation it has given the Government, and the practical benefits it has rendered the community, whether it may or may not have accomplished all that was expect. ed from it, and the advantages of its present condition, are circumstances in its favor, entitled to great weight, and give it strong claims upon the consideration of Congress in any future legislation upon the subject. To these may be added the knowledge the present bank has acquired of the business and wants of the various portions of this extensive country, which, being the result of time and experience, is an advantage it must necessarily possess over any new institution. It is to be observed, moreover, that the facilities of capital actually afforded by the present institution to the agricultural, commercial, and manufactur. ing industry of all parts of the Union, could not be withdrawn, even by transferring them to another institution, without a severe shock to each of those interests, and to the relations of society generally. To similar considerations, it may be presumed, is to be traced the uniform policy of the several States of the Union, of rechartering their local institutions, with such modifications as experience may have dictated, in preference to creating new ones. Should any objection be felt or entertained on the score of monopoly, it might be obviated by placing, through the means of a sufficient premium, the present institution upon the footing of a new one, and guarding its future operations by such judicious checks and limitations as experience may have shown to be necessary. These considerations, and others which will be adverted to in a subsequent part of this report, the experience of the department in the trying periods of its history, and the convictions of his own judgment, concurring with those of the eminent men who have preceded the undersigned in its VOL. III.-15 |