25th CONG....1st SESS.

mean to be understood that any of them, strictly speaking, were insolvent, or that they could not ultimately pay all their debts. He had referred to the Dry Dock Bank, which was placed by the Chancellor in the hands of receivers, and to the heavy losses sustained by many of the banks in the late revulsion. By reference to the Treasury report, it would be seen that one of the city banks alone had twelve hundred thousand dollars of suspended debt; yet even that bank would in a few years restore its capital to its original amount by its collections and profits. He had merely intended to express the opinion that the actual capitals of many of the banks had been diminished during the revulsion. He begged to be understood as entertaining no hostile feelings towards the gentlemen interested in these institutions, nor to banks, as the mere agents of trade; but to that legislation which is perpetually and improperly interfering with this as well as other branches of trade. His hostility was exclusively directed to this mischievous and corrupting interference with the business of inen, which was not among the legitimate duties of Government."

Mr. DUNCAN and Mr. WHITTLESEY, of Ohio, also said a few words in mutual explanation, but in no way varying the statement of last evening as to the perfect solvency of the Ohio banks.1

Mr. DAWSON resumed, by saying that it was not at his own solicitation the House adjourned last evening, for he would willingly have concluded his remarks then, much as he regretted the unpleasant necessity of sitting at such un casonable

hours.

li

Mr. D. continued: Me. Speaker, I shall a in resume the subject, and shall cadeavor to confine my couvirks closely to The matter we are investigating. With your permission, str, 1 will just repeat the substance of what I gated last night. wan, that the Secretary of the Treasury had announced to the American people that the Treasury of the country was now full of funds, but that they were not available; dat he asked Congress to be supplied with $10,000,000 to carry on the Govern ment; and that this application to the discrtion of Congress the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means had confirmed, and also asked a similar amount for the Government. Now, sir, I assume this position-for I desire this matter well understood, since I stand alone here from the State I have the honor in part, to represent. I then ask, sir, what is to be done with the unavailable funds, if we make this appropriation of $10,000,000 required of us? The response will be, the only response can be, that they must remain-where? In the deposite banks. If then, sir, they are to be unavailable to the Government-and I wish the question to be fairly understood-if the Government can go on without these unavailable funds, what earthly necessity, what earthly advantage, will it derive from the postponement of the fourth instalment? They tell you they do not desire any portion of it; they do not wish to use one single dollar of it, in the event of your grant the sum of $10,000,000. Then, sir, this postponement of the fourth instalment will not even be required by the Government. Then, i: it will be of no advantage to the General Government to grant this postponement, would it not be of immense advantage to the various States to have the use of this deposite money?

But gentlemen say that the States will not receive the bank paper of the other States in which the money is deposited. Have you tried them, sir? It is urged that you cannot divide the money among the States, because it is unavailable. Sir, there is, in my view, no difficulty upon this branch of the question at all; and why? Because the deposite law of 1836 requires the funds in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1837, to be deposited with the States; and, whether the money be available or not, whether in bills or notes, or in specie itself, or in any kind of funds, available or unavailable, still the States have the right to become the depositories of the public money therein provided for, if they desire it, without regard to its kind or character. Sir, this is an argument merely for effect, and is not founded at all on the deposite act of June, 186. The idea that the States will not receive it, is a mere gratuitous anticipa tion, a mere assertion without the shadow of a reason for its support.

Again, sir: the ten millions will grant instant relief to the Government. for the Secretary will not require the use of a sin gle dollar, which shall be in the deposite banks, or duc from the merchants, even if the whole of it becomes available within three weeks after the passage of this bill. Is not this proposi tion true, sir? It can not be denied. I ask gentlemen to respond to this interrogatory-will he have any use for that money? None, sir, none. This bill provides ten millions of dolI for the Government to pay its appropriations, its officers, and its agents; and this is all the Government requires. We are affording the means to do this, without reference to the mo ney in the State banks.

sent.

Mr. Speaker, what is the next link in this chain of relief, having a connection with this postponement bill? It is the bill to grant indulgence upon the bonds due by the importers to the custom-houses. And what amount do the merchants owe this Government? About nine millions of dollars. Now, sir, I propose, in investigating this subject, to present all these facts fairly to the people whom, in part, I have the honor to repreI ask this question, therefore: pass this bill proposing indulgence on merchants' bonds, and whom does i reiteve? It relieves the importers, an isolated class in the cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston; and whether they be located there, or abroad, or whether they consist of the foreign manufacturers, it relieves then alone, and that indiscriminately. What aid, let me again ask, will that bill afford the retailing interest of the country? None, sir. What aid will it extend to the agricultural? None. What to the consuming interest! None, sir, none. The importer derives all the benefits of the indulgence. Sir, is this equal? Is it just legislation? Is it doing to others as you would be done by? These are questions the people will examine and investigate. By whom are the duties finally paid? By the consumer, and by hun only. He pays the retail merchant, and the retail inerchant pays the importer; yet you grant indulgence neither to the consumer nor to the retail merchan', but to the importer alone. This, sir, is what I call not only partial, but exclusive legislation, and in favor of a class which bears but an insignificant--hardly a discernible-proportion to the consuming, agricultural, or farming increst of the country; and if these large classes of the people were forced to rely on this bill for relief, they would be in a truly lamentable condition and yet we are told this is a bill granting relief to the people. But mark me--I take no ground at this time for or against the merchants; I am only showing, the fallacy of calling the measures before us a system for the relief of the people.

What, sir, is the next link in this chain of relief submitted by

2 Louisiana

3 New York

4 Ohio

5 Alabama

6 Michigan

7 Kentucky

S Indiana

9 Missouri

10 Tennessee

11 Virginia

12 New Jersey 13 Maryland

$1.744.373 14 Maine

1,110023 15 Georgia 1,400,670 16 North Carolina

1,127.979 17 South Carolina

$257.5-1 172.260 146.030 111,590

1,020,556 18 New Hampshire

114.526

998.050 19 Massachusetts

81.278 39,693 20,461 21,024 8.428 2,900

403,136 24 Delaware 320.674 25 Vermont 250,198

Does this statement not show extreme inequality, great injustice, partiality, and grounds for dissatisfaction and complaint, if this body shall permit the public money, notwithstanding the deposite law, to be so unequally distributed?

Let us compare. The surplus, by the deposite law, is re quired to be distributed among the States, according to the number of Senators and Representatives. Mississippi, with two Representatives, has of the public moneys $1,744,373; whilst Georgia, with nine Representatives, has only $172,269the State of Mississippi more than ten times as much as Georgia; and yet Georgia, under the deposite act, is entitled to four times as much. And, sir, you will remember that the deposite banks in Georg'a (at least two) are, and have continued to be, specie-paying banks; and, by this time, it is thought, have fully paid over to the Government every dollar, or nearly so. not too unequal.

Is this

Again: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have in deposite only $59,705 56, while Mississippi and Louisiana have $3,184.396; and the proportions of the former being to the latter as 41 is to 9.

Again: Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, adjoin. ing States, have, in all, $429,889 86; whilst Alabama, Mississip pi, and Louisiana, also adjoining States, have $4,205.253; the proportions of the former being to the latter as 37 is to 16.

Again: Ohio has $1,127,979 50, and Georgia $172,269 69; and, perhaps, by this time, not a dollar-for, of the five deposite hanks which the Secretary of the Treasury reports as specie paying banks, two are in Georgia.

Sir, is it not evident, from these representations, from this statement of facts, that we are about to legislate unequally, unjustly, and unfairly, if we pass this bill? In argument it is adinitted that the money in the banks will not be wanted for the necessities of the Government, when we grant the ten mil lions of Treasury notes.

But one word to the gentleman from Ohio. He says there is no pressure in the neighborhood of Cincinnati. No, sir! Then I want the world to know that, notwithstanding the President of the United States has called us here, and told us that the country was bleeding and suffering under embarrassment, still there is one green spot in this wide confederacy enjoving all the prosperity that can be desired. Why is it, sir? I will tell you. The single town of Cincinnati, in that gentleman's district, has one million of the public money in her banks, and, of course, loaned to her people-or perhaps to three times that amount of loans to the people upon the million in her banks. Sir, this is a strong inducement to operate upon the minds of the gentlemen in voting upon the measures under consideration, though I have no idea that the gentleman from Cincinnati would suffer a thing of this kind to influence him; money however, Mr. Speaker, will have its effect.

Well, now, sir, let us compare Ohio with Georgia in relation to this matter. Georgia, with her deposite banks, has paid nearly, if not quite, every dollar; and to make them able to fulfil their engagements with the Government, and to perform honestly what they had agreed to do, these deposite banks had to draw from the people, and of course press them; and for this honest course of conduct, what is to be meted out to her? She is still to be oppressed. Do not gentlemen who take ground in favor of this bill, discern the injustness of its passage?

Can I be mistaken in representing the interest of my consti tuents, and other sections of this country, by an opposition to this measure? No, sir, I know I cannot be mistaken upon a Like all question where honesty and justice are involved.

men, I have my feelings; I am capable of knowing what is right and what is wrong-what to do here and what to do there. Sir, Georgia is to receive a fine reward at your hands for fultil ling her contract honestly! Sir, let me tell you, this is a fine specimen of congressional legislation! Let me ask you, sir, let me ask gentlemen on this floor, would it be patriotism for me to yield up the rights of the people I represent, in this way? Sir, you may cry out patriotism with your lips as much as you picase; it requires me to make no such sacrifice. You may represent, gentlemen, the prosperous condition of your particu lar sections of the country; but I tell you, it is a prosperity

H. of Reps.

gained by the public deposites-it is a prosperity procured by an unequal distribution of the public money.

Mr. Speaker, has this House come to the conclusion to take the fourth instalment away from the States? and for what? To leave it in the hands of those who have it; and three or four States have one-half of the whole deposites of the country! Is this to be only a postponement, Mr. Speaker? I apprehend not, sir. I I apprehend it will be indefinite. Yet this is called a measure of relief! It is partial relief-relief of one class at the expense of another. Sir, there is not one single principle in the whole proposition founded upon a patriotic view of the subject, or consistent with equality among the States. It is doing more than justice to one, and withholding it altogether from others It is narrow and contracted legislation, to benefit and relieve corporations at the expense of the honest people of this country. I am not opposed to the banking or mercantile interest; on the contrary, I am willing that relief should be extended to every interest; but the deposite banks and merchants, having been vilely abused, it is to make some little atonement to them, that these bills, for their exclusive benefit, (I allude how to the bills extending indulgences,) are to be passed, at the expense of every other interest.

Well, sir, presuming all these bills pass, I return to my con. stituents, and they ask me what I have done for them: what shall I answer? Shall I answer in the language of the gentleman from Ohio? Shall I say to them, Oh, yes! we have been most nobly and patriotically engaged. We have felt your oppression; we have sympathized in your distresses; we have seen the difficulties brought upon you by the Government; we have mourned over your situation, and we have almost wept tears for your afflictions! Well, what have you done? Why, we have passed a bill to relieve the Government, by authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue ten millions of Treasury notes. Very well: what else? We have passed a bill to relieve the importing merchants. Well, what else! Why, we have passed a bill to relieve the pet banks from the payment of the public money deposited with them. Well, but what have you done for us? Nothing, sirs, nothing; nothing at all! That will be the answer, Then, sir, will they reply, You have relieved the officers of the Government? Oh yes, we did that. And you have indulged the banks? Yes. What! indulged those very banks which General Jackson denounced, in such strong terms, as having violated their faith, and being no longer worthy of the slightest confidence? Yes. Why did you do it? Now, sir, how can I reply to that? I tell you, sir, there will be a burst of feeling among the people on this subject; and this Administration have mistaken their ground, if they imagine their acts will incet with approbation. It is all a mistake, sir. And why is it a mistake? Because it is not right. Because it is not just. Because it is not doing equal justice to all, but is benefiting one class and section of the country at the expense and to the wrong of others. My constituents will ask me, Where is the fourth instalment we were to have had? What have you done with it? Why, I must reply, gentlemen, did you not see the President's Message, where it was recommended that you must postpone it? Did you not read the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, wherein he said it was wrong to pay it, and it must be left with him; that is, in the ban's. And do you not know that he and the President both were against your having it from the beginning? Well, they reply, What have you done with it? You passed a bill to issue ten or twelve inillions of Treasury notes. That was for the relief of the overnment. What have you done with our money-our fourth instalment? Oh! we left that with the banks. Left it with the banks! Why, who told you to do that? Why, Mr. Van Buren, and his Secretary, and the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Meane! (A general smile.]

Mr. Speaker, I have not drawn this picture to excite laughter. No, sir. It is a melancholy truth. I insist upon it, sir, that this whole machine, this entire system, is a violation of the rights and equal justice of this country. And, say the people, you have left the whole of our surplus money in the banks; well, in what States are the banks? Why, they are over in Louisiana, and over in Mississippi, and over in Alabama, and in Indiana, and in Ohio, and in Michigan, chiefly, None in Georgia? No. Sir, these are all very hard questions, which will be presented by my constituents to me when I return, and the only answer I can give is, that I stated to the Speaker, I stated to Congress, my objections to this bill; I pointed out this inequality, and there was not a man in the House dared to deny it, and yet it was all of no use.

But, Mr. Speaker, I am not going to contend for the power of this Congress to relieve the distresses of the people; for I do not believe in the constitutional power of this House to raise money to give to the people. I only believe in a parcotal regard this House should have for the wants of the people, and, if any means can be devised, within our constitutional limits, that they should be. And we have the means of constitutional aid; and all we want is the inclination and the spirit to come up and do it, in spite of any mandates to the contrary, come .om what quarter they may. That is all. sir. That is the only thing necessary for us to do. Uninfluenced by party, as the rcpresentatives of the people, and of them alone, let us do what

we can.

Well, sir, what can you do? Why, you can pay the fourth instalment, which you plighted your faith to pay. But, it is said that the deposite will not be received in the only mode by which the Government can pay it. Sir, is there a gentleman upon this floor, and, if there be, let him rise in his place, and say that his state will not receive its portion of the surplus in good solvent bank notes of the States. There is not a gentleman who will do it. I have no doubt every State would receive them. Why, sir, look at the fact, from Maine to Louisiana; for the question has been propounded by me to every State in the Union, and the answer given, that the deposite banks are all solvent, from one end of the country to the other. But they say they have not specie enough to pay all the States. Well, where are the States of this Union, whose circulating medium consists of specie? Where the States, whose commercial operations are carried on solely and exclusively through that medium? None. It is all a paradox. These bank notes are good. Alabama notes, how are they? They are owned by the State of Alabama, which is interested in all her banks. the property in the State is pledged for their redemption. 'And who receives the profits? The State. Think you that the State of Alabama would fail to act with becoming magnanimity and honesty towards the other States? An imputation to the con. trary would be injustice to her high character for punctuality as a State. So with Louisiana, Mississippi, and the other States having in their banks large amounts of Government de posites. They would surely act fairly to their co-States. The

All

25th CONG....1st SESS.

deposite banks would not dare attempt such an outrage, as 10 refuse to make satisfactory arrangements with the States. Let Congress refuse to postpone the distribution of the fourth instalinen and the banks will soon make the settlement with the States.

Gentlemen charge the opponents of this measure with a dis position to embarrass the Administration of Mr. Van Buren. Why should I desire to impede his policy? If the Administration pursue that course which accords with my principles and views, so far I will sustain it; when it fails to do so. I will oppose it. If I were capable of any other feeling, I should be unfit to be a representative on this floor. No, str; I will endeavor so to act as to be just; and to have fair, honest, even handed justice extended to my constituents.

But, sir, let Congress refuse to make the deposites with the States, as required by law, and justice will not be done Such

are the necessities of the country at this time, that unless something be done, many of the States cannot, with any convenience carry on their usual commercial intercourse. The West and Southwest usually supply the Atlantic States to the South with stock during the fall of the year; and such is the condition of the currency at this time, that great perplexity will be the consequence. The specie is all locked up; no United States Bank notes; no western money; all belonging to the Govern ment in deposite in the Western and Southwestern banks. Supply the States, distribute the fourth instalment, and they will take the paper of those States in whose banks there is, ac I before showed you, a superabundance of the public funds. But, sir, this kind of talk, of the notes of your deposite banks being unavailable for the payment of the fourth instalment, will not do. You may make your "Globe" speak what it will: but it will not set aside the honest judgment of the people, especially when they know you have done an act of injustice. You cannot deceive them much longer; it is out of the question to do it; and it is ignorance of their intelligence to believe it.

These bank notes, being put into circulation, would be great relief to the people of the States; they will add to the circula. ting mediam. Bank notes are the only means now in the hands of the citizens to transact their ordinary business. It is idle, sir, to attempt to justify this postponement by the allegation of the inconvertibility of the bank notes of the State institutions. Yes, sir, the people are told that the country has been overcome by distress, weighed down by over-trading and speculation, and that they ought to be aided and assisted; they are told that the Government has bank notes in great abundance-solvent, but they ought not to be circulated; that specie cannot be obtained for the States; and, therefore, they must have nothing.

I repeat-let any representative on this floor answer me-are not bills of the deposite banks of every State of this Union good? Yes, they are; and the people of there States know it.

Sir, there is another question coupled with this, that belongs to the States. The very moment you proclaim, through the papers of this country, that the banks are indulged from the payment of a debt, (which debt is a specie debt,) and tell the people these banks that have the money have loaned it to speculators to buy up the people's lands, as charged by the gentleman from Ohio, and have only notes for it endorsed by persons, many of whom are important functionaries, they will fire with indignation at this interposition of the Administration, if the fourth instalment be postponed.

(Mr. HAMER begged Mr. D. to give way for a moment. Mr. H. said he made no distinction between the banks West and East. He said that the banks had a large amount of public money in their possession, and that they had loaned it out to merchants and speculators. He meant to draw no invidious distinction between the banks East and the banks West.]

. Mr. DAWSON. Yes, sir, I was not mistaken, nor have I mis represented the gentleman.

I repeat it again, sir; this very movement will seriously af fect the State institutions It will stab their popularity among the people. And have I not a right to raise the suggestion here? I call upon the friends of the States, the friends of the rights of the States, to mark it well. The State banks must be prostrated, say some gentlemen; and the first step to secure their prostration is to make them the peculiar favorites of the Government, by indulging them and making them unpopular among the people. This is the first step in the march. Then they "will have the banks upon the hip, and will keep them there," as the gentleman from New York said during the past

summer.

If this be the object, I then inquire, Mr. Speaker, will not the postponement of the fourth instalinent be an immense and incalculable injury to the States? No doubt of it. And, gir. It will not expedí e the resumption of specte payments. Why not? Let me explain. The postponement carried, the banks will still resist payment. What care they? The debt sull exists; how are they to pay it? They have not specie to do it with; and how can they do it if the Government continues to require specie, which is a professed object of the postponement and the indulgence?

To get the specie, they must curtail their issues; call in their notes, by reducing their credits; thereby pressing their debtors, decreasing the circulating medium, and consequently increas ing the commercial embarrassments, and, of course, depreciating the value of the agricultural productions of the country.

But, sir, let the fourth instalment go to the States, and these difficulties will, in some measure, be avoided; the bank notes will go into circulation, and the people be aided, and to some extent relieved, The banks can then indulge their debtors without apprehension, and have no fear of the approaching day when specie shall be required en masse by the Government; and I feel confident that this course will better suit the present condition of affairs, and the exis ing state of things, than any other. It will be an act of sheer justice to the whole, and be, in my view, a partial discharge of the duty we owe the States.

Sir, if the money were absolutely required by the wants of the Government, I would vote for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I will not at this time go into the subject of a divorce of this General Government from honks. I will only say that I have my doubts both of its expediency and practicability But, when the occasion arises, I shall then be willing to express my views upon it; and, in the mean time, shall give the subject my calmnest deliberation.

Then, sir, in conclusion, I aver that this postponement will be no relief to the Government, no relief to the people; but, on the contrary, inflicting an injury upen them; that the measure to grant indulgence to the importers is a measure which is local in its character, personal in its nature, partial in its operations,

SPEECH OF MR. JENIFER,
OF MARYLAND.

In the House of Representatives, September 27, 1837.—On the bill to pos pone the payment to the States of the fourth instalment of the surplus revenue.

The bill to withhold the payment of the fourth instalment from the States having been reported from the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, without amendmentMr. JENIFER, of Maryland, addressed the House. He commenced by saying that his remarks should be confined principally to the subjects embraced in the following inquiries, to

Wil:

1. For what purpose was Congress called?

2. For whose benefit was the deposite law of June, 1836, passed?

3. Can the demands upon the Treasury be supplied without withholding the fourth instalment from the States? And,

4. What has given rise to the present embarrassments of the country?

Mr. J. said he should not attempt to discuss the question of contract, expressed or implied by the deposite law of 1836. That question had been ably debated on both sides in committee: and wi atever might be the decision to which the House will come upon that point, he considered it of much more importance to ascertain whether the execution of that law, or its virtual repeal by the bill now on the table, would operate mo beneficially to the country.

Was Congress called together at this extraordinary session, to take into consideration the state of the community at large, and to adopt measures for its relief!

Or was it called solely to replenish the Treasury, at no matter what sacrifice to the interests of the States?

Was it called to relieve the Government, and further to oppress the people?

If the latter, then the object will be accomplished by the passage of the bill now under consideration, and others reported by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means.

Is there a gentleman here present, from no matter what part of the Union, when he read the Proclamation of the President of the United States, convoking Congress, who did not believe that the object for which it was called was to relieve the people as well as the Government? to adopt measures to restore the currency? to unite our exertions with those of the Executive, to say the wide spread ruin pervading the whole country? But now we are told that neither Congress nor the Executive have any right to regulate the currency; that there must be a separation or divorce of the Government and the pecuniary interests of the people. If this doctrine had been practised, and if the Government had not assumed all power over the currency, and had not attempted to regulate and give us a sounder and better currency, then all might still have been well.

But, Mr. J. asked, how long had it been since the Executive yielded the right or the power to interfere with the pecuniary concerns of the community, and to take under its fostering care the interests of the banks, of the merchants, and of individuals? It will be recollected that, in the fall of 1833, just before the meeting of Congress, the then President of the United States a sumed and exercised the power to withdraw the public moneys from where they had Leen placed by law, and where they had remained since 1816, and distributed them where he pleased. This unprecedented act was viewed at that time, even by many of his warn est friends, as stretching the powers of the Execu tive beyond the constitutional right, and was deprecated by a large majority of both Houses of Congress. Yet, after the act was done, it was supported by those who had before denounced t; and this act was done to regulate and give to the country a better currency-to afford increased facilities to commerce, and to extend accommodations to individuals."

In a letter to the President of the Girard Bank in Philadel phia, one of the selec ed deposite banks, the Secretary of the Treasury, in September, 1833, uses the following language, which was, none will doubt, the expression of the opinion and wishes of the Executive:

"The deposites of the public money will enable you to af ford increased facilities to commerce, and to extend your accommodations to individuals. And, as the duties which are payable to the Government arise from the business and enterprise of the merchants engaged in foreign trade, it is but reaSouable that they should be preferred in the additional accom modation which the public deposites will enable your insitution to give, whenever it can be done, without injustice to the claims of other classes of the community. "I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

R. B. TANEY. Secretary of the Treasury. "To the President of the Girard Bank, Philadelphia.” Mr. J. continued: It will be seen, by this letter, that the Executive at that time felt a deep interest in the "merchants," and particularly those engaged in foreign trade," and directs the deposite banks to afford increased facilities to commerce, and to extend their accommodation to individuals." These instruc tions on the part of the Executive (at a time when, in conse quence of this forcible removal of the deposites from the Bank of the United States, it was believed it would compel that institution, in self-defence, to contract her accommodations,) were cansi lerc the inost redeeming measures growing out of that atrocious act,

How does the liberal feeling expressed in that letter contrast with the miserable calumny vented by the late President, in a series of letters addressed to his dear friend, the Editor of the Globe, and which, though marked private, were published to the whole world.

The public money having been withdrawn from its lawful place of deposite and transferred to the selected State banks, ome of which objected to receive it because they believed it to have been improperly removed, and which Eimately accept ed the term with pec fic instructions-what were their obli gations? They were compelled to obey the instructions of the

H. of Reps.

Executive; which were "to adopt the most biberal course 10wards other institutions," "to afford increased facilities to commerce, "10 extend accommodations to individuals," and "to give a preference to inerchants engaged in foreign trade," because the duties which are payable to the Government arise from their business and enterprise." And now, for having exe cuted the orders of the Executive, for having performed the duties enjomed upon them, the banks and the merchants are denounced as being corrupt and under foreign influence; and this by the man who has brought them to the verge of rua.

In bis pavate letter to Mt. Blair, published in the Globe of the 9th of August last, Geu Jackson says:

"Now is the time to separate the Government from all banks, receive and disburse the revenue in nothing but gold and silver coin, and the circulation of our coin through all public disbursement will regulate the currency for ever hereafter.

"The history of the world never has recorded such base treachery and perfidy as has been committed by the deposite banks against the Government, and purely with the view of gratifying Biddle and the Barings."

In another letter he adds:

"From the conduct of the banks and the merchants, they deserve no favors from the Government which they have at tempted to disgrace, and to destroy its credit, both at home and abroad."

Is there a friend of the late Administration here present who does not feel ashamed and recoil within himself when he reads or hears read those foul calumnies promulged through the official organ by the late President of the United States? Are they believed? Does the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. CAMBRELENG), or the chairman of the Committee on Finance, (Mr. WRICHT,) in the other House, believe those charges? Have not both o those gentleme pronounced them to be false in the very bills reported by them from each of these committees? I refer to the bills on your table for the extension of the time of payment upon merchants' bonds. those gendemen believed the statements contained in General Jackson's letters to be true, they would not have recommended indulgence to those merchants who, by fraud and connivance with the banks, have attempted to "disgrace the Government, and to destroy its credit, both at honie aj d abroad." Thus, Mr Speaker, the State banke were used to put down the Bank of the United States, and then to enable the Executive to prostrate them also. This work has been commenced, and is to be pursued, regardless of the sufferings of the People, and all to give them a sound and better currency, which, like the long promised "reform," means nothing meie than strengthening the hands of the Executive to execute what purpose they please.

Mr. Speaker, in looking over the number of bills reported in either House, I see none, no, not one, calculated to relieve the People of this country from their present embarrassments, or to give any hope whatever of future prosperity. They cannot prosper without a sound, uniform, and stable currency. It is true, sir, that there is a bill for the postponement of the pay. ments on merchants' bonds. This bill, so far as they are concerned, may have a beneficial effect. It is proper that such relief should be given. because your own acts had bought upon them the necessity of it. I approve the measure, and shall go for it with pleasure, and even to give still further time if required. It is also true that we have before us other bills for the relief of the Government.

Such is the object of the one to authorize the issuing of Treasury notes But, sir, where is the measure cinanating from either of those Committees on Finance to relieve the great body of the People 3.

The bill immediately under consideration is to withhold from the States upwards of $9,000,000, which was directed to be pais to them on the 1st October approaching, and this, too, without any notice to the States. The deposite bill of June, 1836, distributing £37,000,000 amongst the several States, pro vides that in the event that any portion of said deposites should br quired for the Treasury, the Secretary is authorized to withdraw it in sums not exceeding $10,000, from any one State, in any one month, without previou notice of thirty days for every additional sum of $20,000, which may at any time be equired." Thus protecting the States against a too sudden or heavy draft, by which they might be inconvenienced. This bill proposes, without such Potice, to withhold from them from $300,000 to one and a half millions, according to the amount to which each might be entitled. From Maryland, for instance, upwards of $300,000; from Pennsylvania, near $1,000,000; South Carolina, near $400,000; New York, near one million and a half, and the other States in proportion. Is there no other means by which the Treasury may be replenished than resorting to the sum pledged to be paid to the States on the 1st October, and which has, in many instances, been anticipated in advance? This deposite with the States has been variously appropriated. By some of them loaned out at interest; by o hers applied to works of internal improvement; and by some to the purposes of education; the withholding of which, as proposed, must necessarily affect, more or less, those several

interests.

Should the amendment of the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr PICKENS) he adopted, it will render much less objection able the bill, because that fixes the period when the nine millions shall be paid to the States, and takes from the Executive the power of withdrawing it at his will. The amendment to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. ADAMS) would make the bill still more acceptable, because in it the means are provided by which the payment is guaranted to the States. Put, sir, pass the 11, and you still have to raise, by loan. Treasury notes or other means to an auditional amount. The estimate by the friends of the Admi nistration makes a deficiency in the Treasury of from twelve to sixteen millions to be supplied. The nine millions withheld from the States will not answer your demands; and if you have to resort to the expedient of raising money as you propose by your Treasury note bill, why not issue notes to the full amount?

By this means you supply the demand upon the Treasury, without sacrifice to the States; and the principle is the same, whether you raise ten or twenty millions.

Mr. J. said he had seen a statement prepared by his friend from Massa Fusetts, (Mr. Phillips,) and which, it was to be regretted, ha hot been presented to the consideration of the Houre, which points out the means by which the demands upon the Treasury may be met without the withdrawal of the nine millions from the States, and without an additional tax

25th CONG....1st SESS.

upon the people. He hoped, before the question was taken, the House night have the benefit of his suggestions.

But, Mr. Speaker, why is the Government thus situated? Why is there a deficiency in the Treasury? Why is it that Congress is called to remedy the embarrassments under which the country is suffering?

I know that the response to these inquiries by the friends of the Administration is, that it is attributable to the Bank of the United States-to the State banks-to over-trading by merchants--to extravagant speculations If such be the facts, who is responsible for all these causes?

In 1828 the country was prosperous, the currency sound, bank issues within proper limits, and confidence between man and man. From that period to the present time, the country has been under the dominion of Andrew Jackson. Congress has been under his control, and his will the law of the land. Which of his friends here present, in either House, have ever dared to raise their voice against his will? He undertook to re-organize the Government-to put down the Bank of the United States-to give to the country a sound and uniforin currency-to establish a metallic circulating mediumn, and to make the people prosperous and happy. And now, after eight years of uninterrupted experiments, with all the departments of the Government under his control, with the exercise of a power which was never wielded in any country except a de. spotic one, his successor, in almost the first act of his administration, is compelled to convoke Congress to remedy the evils which he has inflicted upon the country.

But, sir, Congress cannot, by their acts alone, place the coun try where it was ten years since. They may, by persevering in the late experiments, divide the responsibility of those ruinous measures with the Executive, but they cannot remedy them without retracing their steps. Go back to 1834; replace the public money where the law directed it should be kept, restore the Constitution to its original purity by obeying its isjunctions; repeal your Treasury circular, which was issued contrary to the almost unanimous consent of the Representatives of the people; listen to the voice which has spoken, in no doubtful language, from Indiana to Maine: attempt no more experiments upon the currency; do this, and confidence may be restored; but do not aggravate the sufferings of the people by contrasting their miserable currency with the golden bribe tendered to their representatives.

Sir, is it not extraordinary that while, on the 1st January, 137. by a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, there was in the Treasury of the United States $37,468,859 47 surplus over all the demands of the Government, and which was by law directed to be distributed amongst the different States, now we are told there will be a deficiency of from twelve to sixteen millions of dollars? And whilst the people are parentally advised to deny themselves many of their accustomed rom.orts, and to economize their own expenditures, not one fort is made to curtail the expenses of the Government, which Fave risen up in eight years from thirteen to thirty-two millions

of dollars.

The proposition has been made to separate the interests of the Government from that of the people-to establish for the one a sound, uniform metallic currency, and for the other such paper as is denounced to be perfectly valueless. This new experiment has already commenced, and a discrimination is to be made between different classes of Government creditors. I cannot more clearly show the rank injustice, and, I might add, cruelty, practised by the Government in relation to this dis crimination, than by stating a fact which has come to my no vledge sine: the adjournment of the House on Saturday. An old soldier of the Revolution. worn down by years and arduous duties in the service of his country, and who is entitled to a pension in consequence of those services from his Government, presented, as usual, his e'aim at the proper Department. A check or certificate was given for the amount, and, although entreated to have a few l'ar for the payment of his post efice account, he could not obtain a single dollar. To what resections are we brought by such a state of things as this? The Representatives in Congress, Heads of Departments, and va jous other officers of the Government, receive and send their papers, packages, and letters to and from all parts of the United States free of postage. Their frank saves them from oppression here. Among them, with few exceptions, gold and silver can be dispensed with except at the post office; and they being thus protected still are tendered gold and silver, before it is asked for. And yet a poor old soldier, who is as much a creditor of the Government for his pension as a mem ber of Congress is for his mileage or per diem, cannot obtain as much of the precious metal as will enable him to buy from the post office his long-expected let er, perhaps from his children or grandchildren, whom he may never see again. Sir, the old soldier, with a check for sixty dollars in his pocket, paid for his services, cannot obtain from his Government money enough to pay for his letter, or credit at the post office to enable hin to obtain it. And yet members of Congress and officeholders daily receive their golden reward for adhering to these experiments.

V

Amongst the bills reported from the Committee of Ways and ans, is one to revoke the charters of the several banks in the rict of Columbia, unless they resume specie payments in tary days. A similar bill was simultaneously reported by the Committee on Finance in the Senate; the chai men of those committees are both from the State of New York, and I would ask why has not this experiment been made there, where specie payments were first suspended? Sir, the reason is obvious. Neither of those gentlenen is responsible to the citizens of the District of Columbia for whatever acts he may perpetrate. And I will venture to say that the honorable chairman of the Ways and Weans (Mr. CAMBRELENG) would not have dared, at the present time, to have made such a proposition in rela tion to the banks of the city of New York, were he a member of the Legislature or the Corporation, notwithstanding he may suppose he has them as well as the merchants on the "hip." and so far down as not to be able to get up again. The citi zens of the District of Columbia, and the adjacent counties of Virginia and Maryland, are alone interested in these banks. Their notes circulate freely, and are taken in payment for all business transactions, and, within the range of their circulation. are as current as the notes of any other banks; and, as regards the present derangement of the currency, are less responsible than most others. I speak from a knowledge of the fact, that two of the banks in this city continued to redeem their notes in specie some days after the suspension had taken place in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. Nor did they cease to continue paying specie until advised by the Executive of the United States 99 we do. And one of those banks, being a depo.

Making public officers depositories-Mr. Pope.

site bank, was bound to obey the advice of the Secretary of the Treasury. With a knowlege of these acts, I cannot believe that this measure to revoke their charters can have originated from the Treasury Department, or can receive countenance there. It would argue a degree of injustice, if not perfidy, which I should be unwilling to attribute to any quarter. But the honorable chairman may have other reasons in commencing this attack upon the interests of the District of Columbia, and the surrounding counties of Virginia and Maryland. They are not us immediate constituents; they have no control over his acts; he may make his experiments here without respon sibility; and these are his victims, because they cannot reach him.

We are told, and with much apparent triumph, that the notes of the State banks are perfectly valueless. Gentlemen who make these declarations cannot have much regard to the facts. Why are they received if there is no value attached to them? Why is it that they enter into all the business transactions, since you have compelled the seclusion of specie The assertion is negatived by the fact that you receive them your seives. And were it not that the Secretary of the Treasury, to his extreme kindness, has tendered you gold and silver, there is not one of you who would refuse to receive them. So that, with all the attempts to discredit the only currency your miserable policy has left us, the State banks at this moment are in a better condition than when you cntrusted them with millions of the public money. A similar effort was attempted to depreciate the paper of the Bank of the United States, when it was determined to put down that institution; and although eight mil lions of the jub'ic money were vested in its stock, yet untiring were the exertions of the Government to discredit its netes and remler them entirely worthless. What was the result? It was that the notes of the Bank of the United States were current every where, and taken in preference to all others, save by the Government, who are by law bound to receive them. The Government having succeeded agains: the will of the country in putting down the Bank of the United States, now directs all its energice against the State banke, notwithstanding millions of the public inoney are in their vaults, and which might any moment have been made available by payment to any of the public creditors. Which of the Government creditors, whether contractors, office holders, or members of Congress, would have refused to receive in payment the notes of or checks upon, any State bank within the range of their business, had not the Government waged this unnatural, un grateful war upon them? Until this war commenced, no creditor asked for speeie; they preferred the notes as more conve nient; and when checks or drafts were drawn on the deposite hanks the banks met them to the satisfaction of the holder. Had the banks been compelled to pay out specie for the drafts of the Government, I am sure I am safe in the assertion that no one could have been found which would have received thet deposites. Some gentlemen have erroneously imagiged that specie was placed in the various deposite banks by the Government to meet those demands. I am not misinformed, the deposite bank in Baltimore, which has paid drafts and checks of the Government to upwards of a million of dollars, during the same period has not received from the Government perhaps twenty thousand dollars in specie. Most of the other banks have, no doubt, been in a similar situation; and yet they are discredited because they do not pay specie for all demands, when it cannot be denied that the Government, with all the deposites paid in specie, could not meet their own engagements, but had to resort to a loan or other means to effect it.

Mr. Speaker, there is no necessity for withholding the fourth instalment from the States; the deficiency in the Treasury cannot be supplied from this fund, it will not be sufficient for your purposes. If you require sixteen millions, nine millions will not suffice, and you will have to raise the remainder from some

other source. Were the nine milions all that the Treasury require, there might be strong reasons for withholding it from the States. It might render unneces ary the resort to your Treasury notes or a loan. But if you have to borrow or is ne your paper money, let it be for the full amount of your de ficiency, and do not embarrass the States by withholding this payment from them.

SPEECH OF MR POPE,
OF KENTUCKY.

In the House of Representatives, Oct. 12, 1837-The House having again resolved itself into a Commitee of the Whole on the bill "imposing additional duties, as depositaries in certain cases, on public officers,"

Mr. POPE, of Kentucky, addressed the Chair. He observed that he rese with reluctance, and much hesitation, to give his views to the committee on the principles involved in the bill, and the several subjects connected with it, after they had been discussed with so much ability in both Houses of Congress, and our session had approached its termination. He was aware that the committee were impatient to have the debate closed, and to take the question. He felt, however, that duty to the expectatios of his immediate constituents and to himself forbade him to give a silent vote on a measure of so much magnitude, both in principle and consequences.

Many topics had been introduced into our debates during the present session, which did not seem to belong to any of the measures before us, and with reference to the parties in this House and the past political struggles of the country, to which he begged leave to give a passing notice. We ought (said Mr. Pope) to lay out of view every thing which does not belong to the crisis in which we are placed; and it seemed to kim that gentlemen of all parties should elevate themselves for a mo. ment above the mere party contests of the day, and act exclu sively with reference to the good of the country. The vessel of State, in relation to our monetary system. appeared to be stranded, and all certainly should unite to put it fairly afloat again upon the great current of the public interest.

Mr Chairman, the part I acted in the election of the late Chief Magistrate (said Mr. Pope) is well known: and on that account he had ever been unwilling to assail him or the measures of his Administration. This veto of the bank bill, the removal of the deposites, and other acts tending to an alarming increase of Executive powers, at the expense of the other branches of the Government, were so much at war with his opinion of the principles and genius of our free institutions, that I have for several years declined to participate in the mere party struggles of the country. While I could not endorse the measures alluded

H. of Reps.

to (sai Mr. Pope.) I have not indulged in bitter censure or criInisation of those with whom I have been politically associated. Is my cuvass for a seat here, (said Mr. Pope) I appealed to no party on party grounds. My opinions about the United States Bank, currency, &c. were given to the people with openness and ca der. Without disguise or evasion, or any mental rezer vat on whatever, (Mr. Pope gaid) he had publicly avowed to his constituents his fan conviction that a national bank was a necessary and proper fiscal agent for the Government, the best regulator of our paper syst in, and an important auxiliary to the foreign and domes le commerce of the United States; and for the correctness of that opinion, he had appealed to the force of reason and experience.

Mr. Pops decired that, cotwithstanding all the denunciations of the Bank or a Benk of the United States, his firm and unshaken belei was, that it is the best pessible remedy of a perma nent character which can be applied to cure the disorders in the local currencies, check excersive issues of paper money, and easure to the nation a stable and uniform medium, and restore a healthy action to our teney system. Public opinion in the Western State was strong and decisive in favor of this mea. sure, and would be more so, from causes which do not apply as strongly to the Adamic States. In Virginia, Maryland, New York, and other States on the Atlantic, the people hade to the cities on the seaboard in their own States; and the local currency will answer their purposes to a considerable extent. The trade of the Western States is carried on to distant places, much of it through other States, and the local currencies will not answer, and our Western traders are subjected to much loss in changing the paper received in every State through which they pass, going and returning; and all this loss falls on the farmers of the West; whereas, while the branch barks of the United States bank existed in the South and West, the traders were not subjected to the losses and inconveniences to which they are now exposed.

As so much has been said about mercbants and overtrading, &c. Mr. Pope would remark that he represented an agricultu ral district, and that the farmers of the West were, if possible, more urgent than any other class, for a national bank, in order to have a currency in which they could confide-one sound and uniform. They had experienced the beneficial effects of a United States Bank, and were desirous to see that sound condi tion of things restored. Mr Chairman, (said Mr. Pope,) I had occasion to act on this question of a national bank twenty-five years ago, in the other brauch of Congress; and I then examined it with an honest inquiry after truth, and became entirely satisfied of the constitutionality and great utility of such an institution. The opinion I then formed, (said Mr. Pope,) I have maintained ever since, through good and evil report. Whether popular or unpopular, (Mr. Pope said,) he had made it a rule through life, when duty required him to aet on a principle of zardinal importance or vita! interest to the people, to explore it well, to establish truth in his own mind, and to adhere to it, unless overruled by the delib rate will of his fellow-citizens. Fortunately for me at this moment, in the opinion I express I stand supported by the voice of those who sent me, and the State at large.

Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. Pope.) before I proceed to bestow a special consideration on this Sub Treasury scheme, contemplated by the bill under consideration, or a national bank, which seems to be associated with it in this debate, permit me to notice other topics so frequently adverted to at this session. We are daily entertained or disturbed about the annexation of Texas, the tariff, and abolition. On the subject of Texas, I have no opinion (said Mr. Pope) at present to give; indeed, I have not considerǝd it sufficient ly to decide on the power or expediency of the annexation of Texas, if desired by the people of that country. Mi. Pope said he was not prepared to say to what extent our plan of Government could expand without endangering its integrity. It was a question on which an American statesman should not indulge hasty speculations; it was one which demanded grave and profound consideration.

In the old world there seemed to be natural barriers between nations-the Alps and Pyrenees separated communities; but here we had disregarded those geographical divisions, and cut down and perforated the Alleghany which divided the Atlantic States from the great Western valley. By roads and canale, with the consequent facility and rapidity, we had contracted practically the extent of our territory. I would, however, (said Mr. Pope,) implore gentlemen from the North and East, and especially the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams,) never to urge as a ground of opposition to Texas that slavery is tolerated in that country. It does not appear to be a legitimate ground of opposition. Should the provinces of Canada be ever separated from the mother country, and their independence established on the plains of Abraham, and that people should desire to he made part of this Republic, I should not think of objecting that they have or have not slaves. The question ought to be viewed on more elevated ground. We should bear in mind that in the struggle for liberty and independence, Virginia and Massachusetts shook hands as brothers, and staked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, in the common cause. Each State was left free to act in relation to domestic slavery.

It affords me pleasure on this occasion. Mr. Chairman, (continued Mr. Pope.) to do justice to the consistency of the respectable gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams,) in the opi nion he has expressed that Congress has no power to annex Texas to the United States. I well recollect (continued Mr. Pope) that he expressed the same opinion in the Senate, during the session of 1807-8, in regard to the admission of new States formed out of the Territory of Louisiana; but at the same time avowed his willingness, and. I believe, with entire sincerity, while he could not concede the power to admit them, to vote for an amendment of the Constitution to authorize their admission. The subject of abolition, so often mentioned on this floor, has never disturbed the people of Kentucky, although a slave State I know (said Mr. P.) that there have been in my own State a large number averse to slavery, desirous of getting rid of it by emancipation, or in some other way. Some, probably, were in favor of abolition; but experience and observation have convinced the warmest friends of emancipation that any mode of terminating slavery and retaining them among us would be mischievous and dangerous. The Ohio river divides Kentucky from the free States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; and while we are aware that there is a religious feeling and some fanaticism in relation to slavery, we in lulge (said Mr. P.) no suspicion that the great body of the people of these States are disposed to disturb our slave property; and as to the enthusiasts and fanatics, we tolerate error and folly, while reason and practical observation are left free to counterac

25th CONG....1st SESS.

them. The question of domestic slavery is one over which each State must be left to exercise sovereign control, subject to the power of Congress in reference to the importation of slaves from abroad.

The tariff is often mentioned, too, here, certainly foreign to the subjects of our present deliberations. Permit me, Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. Pope,) to retrospect the history of this ta riff policy for the last thirty years. Nearly thirty years ago he was a member of the other branch of Congress; and gentlemen from the South and West, with the exception of Mr. John Randolph, and perhaps a few others, favored the tariff policy; and, in accordance with the expressed or imputed opinions of Mr. Jefferson, advocated the policy of rendering this country, to a great extent, independent of the workshops of Europe. I well recollect (said Mr. Pope) that I united in this opinion, without having ever considered deeply the effects of this policy on the different sections of the Union. The people of the Eastern States were at the time more inclined to employ their capital in commerce than manufactures, and Mr. Hillhouse, a Senator from Connecticut, a man of practical wisdom, remarked to me with apparent candor and much earnestness, that it was wrong to force or stimulate manu actures prematurely; that they ought and would grow up gradually with the growth of the nation. Circumstances, however, turned a large portion of Eastern capital into manufacturing establishments, and the Eastern people, ever astute and sagacious in whatever concerns their inte rest, asked for protection-more and more protection, until the South, awakened to a sense of the effects of this protective po licy on the planting States, changed their course, and resisted this protective policy, which at one time gave rise to a most an gry and excited contest. Fortunately for our peace and har mony, the question was compromised by the agency of a Kentucky member of this House, and a distinguished Senator from the sime State: they, at least, aided much in restoring quiet to the country, and I hope that compromise will not be disturb ed, and that until the year 1812 this matter will be at rest. is very probable that the tariff policy was carrie! too far. Ken. tucky is a consuming State, as much so as Virginia and many other Southern States; and while she admits the power and po licy of giving reasonable protection to American industry, she will be among the last to support, knowingly, any policy tend. ing to sacrifice the interest of the South to advance or aggran dize any other portion of the Union. He would, however, take leave to remark, that he believed at no distant day Virginia and Kentucky will rival the Eastern States in many branches of manufactures. These States abound in coal, water power, and minerals, with a temperate climate; and it has been said of Kentucky that she contains the richest mineral wealth in the United States. Regions there, hardly inhabited now and considered of little value, will ultimately be filled with towns, villages, and an industrious and thriving population.

It

In connection with these vexed and exciting questions of abo lition, tariff, annexation of Texas, we too often hear of disunion, &c. and I must confess, Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. Pope) that I regret to hear language of this sort from the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams) when speaking of Texas. When contending for freedom and independence with Great Britain, our brethren of the North did not object to an association with the South on the ground of domestic slavery. Kentucky is a central State, and a farming or planting State; a great consumer of foreign and American manufactures. We, the people of Kentucky, although, from habit, education, personal and commercial intercourse, partial to our Southern brethren, are not blind to the value and importance of our po litical association with the Eastern States. We consider them the right arm of our national strength as a maritime power. For intelligence, hardy enterprise, and skill in commerce and navigation, they are not surpassed, if equalled, by any nation of ancient or modern times. By the union of free and slave States, by their joint counsels and arms, our liberties and independence were achieved; and let not the trashy effusions of fanatics, or the visionary speculations of mhusiasts, disturb our tranquillity or weaken those ties by which these States have been so long united. If we continue (sad Mr. P.) a united people, this nation will, at no distant period, by their justice and power, exercise more influence and control over the affairs of natious than ancient Rome when mistress of the world, or Great Britain when she asserted the empire of the seas. He begged pardon of the committee for digressing so far from the question under consideration, and had only to assure them that he was led off by a solicitude to divert their attention from subjects which had been, as he thought, rather strangely brought into discussion, and to bring the minds of all to a deep and solemn consideration of the existing crisis; for sufficient for the time is the evil thereof.

The bill under consideration provides not only for the collec tion of the revenue, but the establishment of a number of SubTreasuries, to be located in different places in the United States where the revenue and proceeds of the public lands are collected, and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to ap point agents to inspect the books and accounts of these SubTreasuries, and report to him. Those charged with the collec tion and preservation of the money drawn from the pockets of the people, with the agent to inspect, &c. are to be appointed by the Executive, removable at his pleasure, and in all respects subject to his control. It is in substance a bill to unite the purse and sword of this Government in the hands of the President, in derogation of a fundamental principle of our free Constitution, and the title of it should be, (said Mr. Pope,) a bill to consum. mate the overthrow of that equilibrium and division of power which the wise founders of this Republic intended to establish to secure American liberty.

This

The maxim that a division of power among different departments or bedies of magistracy was necessary to secure liberty, seems to have been better understood and practically applied by the statesmen of modern times than in remote ages. maxim has been incorporated into all the American Constitu tons, and pervades every ramification of this confederated Republic. Such a division of power as will prevent undue accumulation of power in the hands of one department or hody of magistracy, was deemed by our ancestors essential to the secu rity of the public liberty. This great principle forms a vital feature in the political law of modern Europe, where it is held that every power ought to be restrained within such limits as will ensure the independence of neighboring States; and hence the numerous wars to maintain the balance of power.

Our Constitutions divide the powers of Government into se. veral departments or bodies of magistracy, and these powers are again divided between State and federal bodies of magis. tracy. To the le islative department it belongs to impose taxes upon the people; and I put the question (sail Mr. Pope) to the

Making public officers depositories—Mr. Pope.

grave and candid consideration of this committee, whether it properly belongs to the Legislature or the Executive authority o create or select the agent to keep and guard the money of the people, until drawn out in conformity to appropriations made by law? Is the Executive or Legislature the keeper and guardian of the public treasure? In practice, the first Bank of the United States was the chief agent in taking care of the public money, and the last bank was made the agent by legislative authority; and that both were safe and responsible agents, is as certained by the fact that no loss was ever sustained while they had the care of it; whereas we know that numerous defalcations and frauds and peculations have been committed by collectors, receivers, and others charged with the care of the pub. lic revenue. Large sums confided to individuals furnish temptations too strong for poor weak human nature. Treasurers in Virginia and Kentucky, of the fairest character for purity and honor, afford strong proofs of the danger of confiding large sums of money to the care of individuals; and both States have directed the public money to be placed in sound and responsible banks. When it is deposited in a bank, to the credit of the Government, the whole corporation is responsible. The capi tal of thirty five millions of dollars of the late Bank of the United States was bound for the money placed in its vaults

I will not, said Mr. Pope, detain the committee by any calcu lation of the additional expense, or Executive patronage of this new scheme of Sub-Treasuries, because it is liable to other objec ions of much more magnitude. To what responsibility, Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. Pope,) do you look for the security of the public revenue? Do you rely on the bonds and securities provided for in this bill? Remember, (said he,) that there will be collected in the city of New York alone, from twelve to fif teen millions; and that in the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans, from three to five millions on an average will be received by the collectors at each port; and a large amount of this money must remain for a considerable time in their hands before it can be paid out. In the whole of these S Treasuries, there will generally be on hand from five to ten millions of dollars. Now, sir, what individual and securities can be good and responsible for millions? Sir, you have no security for the safety of the public funds, but in the honor and integrity of the officers charged with the care

of them.

I have, Mr. Chairman, other fears and objections in relation to this measure. The officers to have charge of your money will be the creatures of the Executive, holding their offices at his pleasure, and responsible directly to him. We all know (said Mr. PoPE) that money has become a powerful agent in our political contests, and especially in the large cities. Let me supp se a violent party contest for the Presidential office, and the man under whom these treasurers hold their office a candidate; can you believe that they will resist the appeals of the friends of power, to use the public money to ensure the elec tion of their favorite candidate? I cannot (said Mr. Pope) think of a scheme more likely to be fatal to the purity of our institutions, and the public liberty, than the one on your table. I deem it, said he, a most sacred duty of the representatives of the people to place the money drawn by their authority from their constituents in safe hands, and not where it will be in danger of being wasted and plundered. The guardianship and care of the public treasure belongs to Congress, and not to the Executive. Acting upon this principle, and in accordance with the genins of our free institutions, the people of Kentucky, in convention, provided that the Treasurer of the State, who was to be charged with the care of the public money, should be elected by the Legislature, while the appointment of all other officers was confided to the Governor and Senate.

This measure seems designed to substitute an exclusive me. tallic currency for the specie and paper currency, that is, paper Convertible into specie, to which the people have been accus. tomed for half a century. During forty years out of forty-eight of our political existence under the present Constitution, we have had a currency consisting chiefly of silver money and bank money, that is, bank notes convertible into specie; for such paper has been considered and called money from the commencement of the banking system in. Europe. That notes at all times convertible into specie. such as issued by the banks of the United States, have been deemed by the people money, and paid and received as such by all classes in this nation, is a fact of universal notoriety. And why we should, after this long practice and experience, revolutionize our whole monetary system, and run counter to the fixed habits and prejudices of the people, I am (said Mr. P.) utterly at a loss to imagine. Are gentlemen prepared to injure the best interests of the people and endanger our domestic tranquillity merely to preserve their consistency in error? Would it not he more wise, manly, and patriotic, regardless of all party considerations and past opinions, to sacrifice party opinions and a selfish policy on the altar of their country's good? Let us, said he, now look at our condition. According to the last estimates with which we have been furnished, there is now in the United States from sixty to eighty millions of gold and silver, twice as much as we ever had before, with double the number of banks we had five years ago, and our whole land abounding with the fines' crops ever before witnessed; and yet, strange to tell, owing to the instability in the public councils, and a disordered currency, confi-dence and credit are destroyed, and distrust and painful anxiety pervade this great community. The commercial action of the nation is to a great extent, suspended; a large number of our vessels and steamboats are laid up and idle; and a large portion of the laboring classes thrown out of employment.

men.

The wisest statesmen and purest patriots of this nation bave abandoned long-established opinions and prejudices in obedience to the voice of experience and the exigencies of their country. and why cannot we do likewise to redeem this people from the embarrassments, dangers, and difficulties which surround them? In this age and Government of experiment, we ought not, said he, to be surprised at change of opinion in the wisest The most enlightened statesmen ever selected to preside over the affairs of nations have been often mistaken: they have only seen through a glass darkly the consequences of their measures. God has given to the mental vision of mortals but an imperfect and limited view of the future. I must here he permitted (said Mr. Pope) to repeat the remarks of Mr. Giles. of Virginia, a most distinguished parliamentary debater on the floor of the Senate, when charged with inconsistency. In his defence, he observed that he should have lived to little purpose, if he had not learnt by experience to correct his errors; but, said he. I have another very sufficient answer to give to the charge-am consistent in this, said Mr. Gi'es, tha: I consider it my duty, at all times, to my country, to do what is best for that country under the circumstances in which I am placed. In a

H. of Reps.

review (said Mr. Pope) of our political history for the last forty years, it will be found that there have been frequent and great changes of opinion on the most important subject. At one time the great body of the people of the South and West were oppos ed to a navy; but experience has corrected their error. Many of the most daringuished men have changed their opinions on the question of a national bank-Mr. Madison and Mr Monroe among others. Thirty years ago the people of the Eastern States were rather opposed to the manufacturing policy, the South and West for it; and now the East for it, and the South and West, or a great portion of them, against it.

Let experience, said Mr. Pope, the bet of all teachers, leara us to act wisely, in relation to the exising crisis in our pubi e affairs. Let us reason together with frankness, and in a spict of patriotism, and with bosoms animated with no other feeling than the public good, apply such remedies to the disorders in the currency which experience has proved to be efficacious, and restore once more a healthy action to the body politic. Let us, said Mr. Pope, have no more new, untried nostrums. The bro kers and shavers are now reaping a rich harvest from this ruin ous condition of the currency, and the loss must ultimately fail on the laboring and industrious classes of the community. The vacillating and unstable policy of the Government has shaken the confidence of moneyed men, who are now hoarding their treasures, because they are unable to calculate the results and consequences of the present state of things, afraid to lend or invest their money.

Mr. Chairman, (continued Mr. Pope,) the farmers of the West, when they sell their stock or other products of their in dustry, want that sound, good currency to which they have been accustomed; and when they sent agents here to correct existIng evils, they did not expect them to provide good money for themselves only, but for their masters-the great body of the people. This bill provides that no money shall be received for land, or at the custom-houses, but gold and silver. Twenty or thirty millions of gold and silver are to be drawn from the interior every year into the land offices, and to the large cities on the seabord, where it is to remain until paid out to the public officers to the navy, army, and for the public works; and I fear it will be slow in its march back to the interior States, where there will be little or no public expenditures. How the State banks can resume specie payments, or maintain specie pay. ments under this operation, I must leave, said Mr. Pope, to better judges to decide. From five to ten millions must be generally locked up in the Government vaults, and withdrawn from circulation. To reconcile us to this experiment, we are told that we are to have a hard money constitutional currency. I will, not, said Mr. Pope, by exploding paper money convertible into specie, and establishing an exclusive me tallic medium, carry this nation back to a rude and half civilized age, before commerce, enterprise, and navigation had enlightened and civilized the nations; but will con cnt myself with the facts and examples furnished by the most enlightened and powerful people of modern times, as the basis of my opi nion and reasoning on this question. On a territory of no greater extent than Delaware or Rhode Island, or the city of New York or Philadelphia, a hard money medium would be practicable, and a paper medium could be dispensed with. It can only suit a small territory, where the population is dense, where it can be removed from place to place without much expense or hazard; but in this extensive country it must be evident, on a moment's reflection, that convenience and necessity require a paper representative of specie. Every traveller through this vast territory, with a moderate amount of the precious metals, would be exposed to hazard; the weight of his trunk or saddlebags would give notice, at every inn at which he stopped, of the amount of his treasure; and when large sums are to be transported to distant places, the peril and expense would be increased.

I will not, said Mr. Pope, by my vote, anthorize the President of this free people to imitate the example of kings and emperors a few centuries past, who hoarded up at the capital all the gold and silver they could extort or filch from their subjects, to Carry on wars of ambition and conquest. Neither my pursuits nor reflections have led me to explore, with the eye of a profound financier, the monetary systems of the commercial world in all their ramifications and effects; but I believe I may venture to say that neither this nor any other people can long have more than their fair proportion of the gold and silver of the commer cial nations. If we should be able to obtain an excess, so as to produce a pressure in other countries, that excess would soon leave us and return to places where it would be wanted; nor can bolts, or bars, or vaults, embargoes, prohibitions, pains, or penalties, arrest the current established by the laws of trade, which no power, the most despotic, had ever been able to con trol. The currency of Great Britain and France consisted of gold chiefly, and paper with this difference, that in Great Britain the proportion of paper, in the form of bank notes to gold, was greater than in France- With these countries we have more commerce than with any others. Our currency has generally consisted of silver chiefly, and paper in the form of bank notes, with a greater proportion of paper than in either Great Britain or France; and the specie must flow from those countries to this, and from this back, according to the laws of trade, regardless of any laws or regulations of either.

Mr. Chairman, said Mr. Pope, in exploring the causes of our present difficulties, I shall not go back to the removal of the deposites, but content myself with the recital of a few extracts in relation to this subject. There is no doubt that the extensive and extravagant speculations in the public lands, diverting twenty or thirty or forty millions of dollars from the ordinary channels of trade and business, may have had some influence The unusual importations of gold from England and France may have produced a pressure for specie there, which, reacting on this country, produced a rapid return of it, and forced the banks, for self-preservation, to suspend specie payments. In this conflict and pressure in both countries, cotton fell, merchants failed, and a shock was given to confidence, credit, and business; and owing to the fall of cotton, with other causes, a large balance was created against us in favor of Europe. In this state of things, said Mr. Pope, the Government, instead of denouncing the State banks, and threatening to crush them, by destroying their credit and issuing commissions of bankruptcy, should, on account of the people, if not the banks, have exerted all their power and influence to sustain their credit and confidence in them and their paper, the only currency among the people.

The effort made to carry into effect, at this moment, the hard money policy, and cast off the State banks, is calculated to have the most disastrous consequences on the community, by encouraging creditors to refuse to take the local currencies for their debt; to reduce the value of property, and unjustly

25th CONG....1st SESS.

ange the relation of creditors and debtors. The Legislatures of The States may be driven to stop execution, unless the creditors will take paper, as has been done by Virginia at her last session. Mr. Chairman, we do not realize the dangerous consequences to result from the disordered condition of the money system. Derangement of the currency, loss of confidence and credit, is the hinge upon which many revolutions have turned in civilized countries. It is well known that the derangement of the finances, and destruction of public and private credit, was the immediate cause of that revolution in France which deluged that country with blood. At an early day an insurrection occurred in the State of Massachusetts; and in my own State, not more than ten or twelve years ago after we had created numerous banks, the creditors and debtors had a most angry conflict; and after relief laws, judge-breaking, and a temporary war upon our judiciary, the people of that State were brought to the verge of civil war. On no condition of the State ought we to look with more deep concern than a disordered› tate of the monetary system. There are no duties of more paramount obligation on the Congress of the United States, than to exercise all the powers granted them by the Constitution, to restore a sound and healthy action to that currency which regulates the transactions of the people. To preserve union, establish justice, and ensure domestic tranquillity, are among the leading objects of the Federal compact.

Mr. Chairman, said Mr. Pope, another unmeaning and.com plex notion is to be presented to the nation to reconcile them to this new and dangerous project They are to be amused with the cant phrase, that Government ought to be divorced from the banks, and the people, who have based all their transactions on the local banks and the currency furnished by them, are to be abandoned to shift for themselves, under the denunciation and slanders of the Government-that same Govern. ment that brought many of these banks into existence, and assured the people they were to be confided in, and that they would furnish a better currency, and do the business of exchange on botter terms, or as good, and more extensively, than the Bank of the United States ever had. And this language was held by the Administration up to the 4th of March last, when the late President, in his farewell address, only about eight weeks before the banks all suspended specie payments, from causes to which I have briefly adverted, announced to the nation that all was well in regard to our banks and currency. If those placed by the people of this country at the head of public affairs, for their supposed wisdom and patriotism, could not foresee the fatal catastrophe which was to occur in so short a time, how can they criminate with such wanton and mufeeling cruelty the conduct of the banks which had followed their counsels? For, sir, I have now before me the letter of Secretary Taney to the deposite banks, after the removal of the deposites, in which he exhorts the State banks to expand their issues, and to be liberal in their accommodations to the Community No sooner, however, (said Mr. Pope,) had the shock been felt by the banks, and their doors closed, than the friends of the Administration became alarmed lest censure an reproach should fall on the Aministration, and "let alip the dogs of war" on the banks, in order to make them the scape-goats to bear off the sins and blunders of the Adminis tration.

Sir, (said Mr. Pope,) how many of the deposite banks are insolvent, and how much is the Government likely to lose by them? I should like to have a candid answer to this question. I am sure (said he) that I have not been informed. If any are likely to prove insolvent, they ought to be designated. On the enatrary, we are informed by the Secretary that the public money plac d in them will be ultimately safe. Their whole crime, then, consists in having expanded their issues in con formi y to the advice of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the approbation of the Government, and, under an unexpected revizion in trade, and a pressure for specie which the wisest en among us did not foresee, suspended specie payments. this hour of difficulty and alarm, Mr. P. Said he would ask of y candid man whether the Government, after having nafionazol these banks and their paper, were not bound in gratitude to their bank frien is and the people to put forth all their strength and constitutional power to aid and sus tain their credit and the confidence of the community in the paper.

Mr. Pope said he had not much sympathy for those banks which accepted the deposites at the time of their removal from the Baited States Bank. because they had been hired and seduced to embark their influence in a crusade against the nation. al bank, which they will find, and ought to have known long since, as the best regulator of our paper systein, and the great conservator of the soun à State banks of the nation. From the commencement of the Government, the national bank and Sve binks had lived in harmoney, and worked together for the gool and prosperity of this rising nation. By their joint ef forts spurious and fictitious banks had been kept under, and, during the existence of a national and good State banks, the people had been secure against a vicions national or local

currency.

Mr. Chairman, if I was as jealous of men in power as a polirical man ought to be in this free Government, I should incline be jeve that the plan has been long and deeply laid to destroy the pissent banking system of the nation, national and local, for the purpose of rearing up on its ruins a great Government tank, to be wielded by those in power; yes, sir, to concentrate in the hands of the Executive not only the sword, but the great money power of this nation. The first bank to be destroyed was that of the United States; and, that accomplished, the ext to be sacrified were State banks; and it might have been apposed, from what occurred in 1814 and 1815, that they would . an easy prey from similar causes; and then a Government bank would seem to be a necessary result of the destruction of all others; for, sir, it has never been imagined by the enlightened men of this country that the fiscal and commercial business of the United States could be carried on over our extended territory by an exclusive metallic medium. Until lately, I was utterly at a loss to conjecture the motive which induced the friends of the Administration to oppose, with euch zeal and violence of denunciation, the char er of the late Bank of the United States by the State of Pennsylvania; and what is most extraordinary is, that a distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania, now on a foreign mission, should have so lately advocated, in the public prints, the revolutionary course of annulling, in a convention, the solemn charters granted by that State. The bank had ceased to exist as a national institution; and why there should have been sach hostility to its incorporation by the State of Pennsylvania I could not divine, until this SubTreasury scheme was announced in the late Message of the

Making public officers depositories—Mr. Pope.

President. It is possible that it was apprehended that a State bank of such magnitude, under State authority, might present some obstacle to the great destroyer of banks, and embarrass the scheme under consideration, designed, if I am not greatly deceived, to lay the foundation of a great Treasury bank.

In looking at the past and present course of things, I am led back (said Mr. Pope) to the discussions in the Virginia conven tion of this Constitution, between Patrick Henty, the first orator of ancient or modera times, and one that looked through the deeds of men, and the late Mr. Madison, among the most vittuous and enlightened statesmen in America. Mr. Madison could. not believe that any President would remove a good officer without reasonable cause, and supposed that the powers of Go. vernment were so arranged and divided that there could be no undue or dangerous accumulation in any department. Mr. Henry, with prophetic vision, at the same time that he bestow. ed a merited eulogium on the virtues and intelligence of Mr. Madison, said in emphatic terms that, unfortunately for himself, and unfortunately for his country, he had been bred up in the dark closets of study, and knew nothing of mankind. Sir, said Mr. Henry, whatever others may think, however they may ad mire this Constitution, to me it has an awful squinting towards monarchy. Mr. Henry had studied human nature thoroughly, and explored with an eye of a wary statesman, all the sceret springs of human actions, and foresaw, or thought he foresaw, a strong ten lency in this Government to concentrate too much strength in the Executive head, and predicted that at no distant day he would be more absolute in fact, if not in form, than any monarch on the British throne since the revolution of 1688. Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. Pope,) from what I have ob served within a few years past, I fear Mr. Henry's predictions will be fulfilled, unless every man who thinks this free system is worth preserving will stand forth and contribute his mite to check this tendency to prostrate all other departments at the fest of the Executive.

I know, said Mr. Pope, that many gentlemen calculate that this cant-phrase of divorce Government from banks is to carry them triumphantly through the pending struggle; but if they mount this petty, poor hobby, they will soon find themselves cast into insignificance. They rely too much ou the credulity of the people, and underrate their intelligence In prosperous times, when they feel, said Mr. Pope, no distress or suffering from the measures of the Administration, they cannot be easi ly roused to resist error; but in times like the present, gentle. men may be assured that the whole intellect and energy of the people will be brought into action to vindicate their rights and interests.

The respect I have, said Mr. Pope, for many gentlemen who talk about a divorce of the Government from all banks induces me to examine more gravely than might seem to be necessary or proper, the nature and character of this divorce. The parties to be divorced are the Government on the one part and the banks, and I would add, said Mr. Pope, the people, on the other part. Now sir, what is the Government, the party on the first part? It is, Mr. Chairman, if I understand the matter, the States and people acting here in all the departments by agents; this is a Government of the people and States, who are at present acting by selected agents, in one branch, the States acting by agente selected by them in their corporate capacity. Now, sir, what are the banks of the States but money corporations, created by the States, furnishing bank money or currency for the people of the States, and solemnly made by this Government nioney agents of the United States, and furnishing with the sanc tion of this Government, bank money for the Government and people of the United States? The stock of some banks is owned exclusively by the States; in some the stock is owned in part by the States, and in part by the people; in others the whole is owned entirely by citizens. This divorce, then, if I can, said Mr. Pope, comprehend the true character of it, is a separation of the States, banks, and people, from the States, banks, and people. There is something so obscure and prepos terons in the proposition advanced, that the Government of the nation onght to sever itself from the States and people, and leave the people to struggle with a ruinous currency without an effort to correct the evil, that I am at a loss for an arguinent to combat such an incomprehensible, idle phantom. Am I to understand gentlemen, said Mr. Pope, that the existing currencies in the nation, practically the money of the people, long the standard and measure of value among them, the basis of all their contracts and transactions, is to be left in chaotic disor der and confusion, without an effort on our part to apply a corrective, and that we, the agents of the people, are merely to provide good money for ourselves and public officers-that we, a select few only, are to be taken care of?

Mr. Chairman, let us reflect, said Mr. P. like faithful re: presentatives and guardians of the public prosperity and happiness, and act effectively in obedience to the dictates of duty and patriotism. Let us exert all the powers granted by the Constitution to redeem our country from the evils and dan gers which surround it It is proper to examine, said Mr. P. the powers of this Government in relation to commerce, and money or currency. By the Constitution, power is expressly granted to Congress to coin money and regulate the value thereof, and to fix a uniform standard of weights and measures. To Congress power is expressly granted to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and between the several States, and with the Indian tribes. That money and currency is intimately as sociated with commerce, and has been so in all times and in all well r gulated commercial nations, I need not, said Mr. P. adduce facts or arguments to prove. Money and currency have ever been considered the life and soul of commerce; in the language of Mr. Hume, it is the oil which renders the wheels of trade smooth and easy, and he considers the thorough concoction and circalation of money through a State of much importance.

The people of the United States, in Convention assembled, were deeply impresse with the necessity of granting to Congress full power over the Bubjects of commence, external, and internal, and currency; and to make their intention more manifest, they denied to the States the power of coining money or emitting bills of credit. The evil which had been experienced from the power of the States to coin money or emit bills of credit, and the danger and inconvenience of permitting the States to regulate commerce with foreign nations, or with each other, induced the Convention to vest Congress with plenary and exclusive sovereignty over these subjects; and I put it to gentlemen, said Mr. P. to answer whether the powers and du. ties of this Government in relation to currency and commerce are not as ample and imperative opder the limitations o' the Comtution, as can be imposed on my other Government. The States and people of the States have not reserved any control or

H. of Reps,

severeignty over these subjects, but have surrendered them to Congress

The people of these States, by their relation to this Government, are bound, by their money and their arms, to stand by and support it in good and evil times, and have a right to de mand the exercise of all the power and means within the sphere of their authority, to give them a good currency, a fair measure of value to insure a just relation between creditor and debtor, and preserve a healthy action in the external and internal commerce of the country. Nor can the Government refuse or neglect to perform these duties to the extent of their power and means, without a criminal violation of their highest duties and obligations. If those placed in authority are too elevated to feel for the distresses of the people, or nor wise enough to perceive the remedies necessary and proper to cure existing disorders; are so tight laced with commitment and consistencies as to be unable to act the part demanded by the exigencies of the times and the voice of a disturbed nation; let them retire from the post assigned them, and give place to wiser and batter men, who have not sought the post of honor at the expense of principle and the public good; will not be committed against measures essential to maintain credit and confidence, and protect the great springs of the public prosperity. How different is the language held by the Administration of public affairs in this country, said Mr. P. from that held by the Administration of Great Britain and the Whigs of that country. In the year 1793, when the people of that country were overwhelmed with difficulties and embarrassments, and the commercial credit was in danger, the Government stepped forward with a kind and aiding hand, and arrested the ruin and desolation which seemed to be impending.

In 1797, when the Bank of England suspended specie payment, and a panic seized the nation, the prime minister of England, instead of denouncing the bank, and ordering a commission of bankruptcy against her, had a committee raised to examine her affairs, who reported, after a full examination of the affairs of the bank, that the means were ample to meet her engagements, and that she was sound and solvent; that the suspension was forced on the bank by the circumstances which surrounded the country, and the dangers which menaced it.

If, Mr. Chairman, said Mr. P. this Government had taken the same course, had an investigation made into the condition of our banks, and a report of the same character, so far as merited, made to the nation, with assurance that the Government would aid them with its credit and countenance to resume specie pay. ments, they would have maintained with the people confidence in our institutions, so important in this hour of alarm and distrust; and if the President, in his Message, instead of denouncing a national bank, had declared, like President Madison, that the State bank experiment would not answer without a national bank, and recommended the measure to the consideration of Congress; if he had hurled from him the hobby by which he rode into power, and dismounted his followers, and admitted his error with that magnanimity which becomes the Chief Magis trate of a nation. he would have gained a crown of public appro bation worth all the Treasury note bills and Sub-Treasury schemes which his ingenuity can invent in the four years for which he was elected. In confirmation of the opinion I have advanced, said Mr. Pope, of the duty of this Govenment to give the people a good currency, and guard against a ruinous and unstable one, let me call your attention to the sentiments expressed by the Whigs of England, such as Charles Fox, Sheridan and others, whose lives were devoted to sustain the rights of the people against the usurpations of the crown.

In a protest entered on the journals of the House of Lords in the year 1797, during the war between England and France, they hold and maintain the following language and opinions. The whigs insist, in that protest, that "the advisers of the Crown are responsible for the condition of the State; responsible for its internal peace and general good Government; for the protection of its commerce, its credit, and the various sour ces of its prosperity and wealth." And Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. P.) I concur with Fox, Sheridan, and other whigs of Eng. land, whose lives were devoted to the maintenance of the pow ers and privileges of Parliament against the encroachments and usurpations of the Crown, that those charged with the administration of this or any other Government, are responsible for the condition of the State, and for the protection of its com merce and credit, and that no Administration can evade that responsibility with honor or a regard to public duty. According to the express provisions of our Constitution, and the fundamental law inherent in every political association, these placed in authority are under the most imperious and sacred obligations to perform the duties to which he had adverted. It is true, (said Mr. P.) that, technically and strictly speaking, nothing but gold and silver can be forced on a creditor; but we know also that, in practice, whatever medium may by law or general consent be generally received in exchange for property or commodities, and in payment of debts, is, and must be, the circulating medium and currency of such country, and will regulate the performance of contracts, if another medium be not specially provided for; and hence the necessity imposed on the sovereign power to guard against the depreciation and fluctuations of currency, whatever it may be, to secure society against violent struggles between debtor and creditor, the ne cessary cons quence of a spurious, uncertain standard of value. For forty years out of forty-eight of our national existence, our Government, by the use of national banks, has secured the country against these evils. It seems to be fashionable new, said Mr. P. to denounce the tanking and credit system, and extol the hard money plan. The policy and expediency of banks he did not consider, at this day, a debatable question. They are liable, like all other good institutions, to abuses; but the system here, while we had a national bank, said Mr. P. attained as much perfection as in any other country where they had been used. Banks have been introduced in the most enlightened countries of Europe, the offspring of commerce and wealth in commercial nations. The experience of ages has ertablished their utility, and it would be strange for us, at this day, to run counter to the long usage and testimony of the whole commercial world. We have had them in this country, said Mr. P. for more than half a century. Few men are wil ling to keep in their private coffers a large amount of money; the fact is difficult to conceal from those about them. A man cannot be always at home to guard his treasure, and is exposed to robbery and murder; hence men are generally disposed to deposite their funds on hand in some place of safety, and banks of good and solvent character, and having general confidence, are selected by prudent men to take care of them: and these deposites, said Mr. P. are of great advantage to the public ve cause the money of the country, instead of being hoarded, is