Columbia telescope. (Columbia, S.C.) 1828-1839, June 16, 1838, Image 1
BY A. S. JOHNSTON.
NEC DEESSE, NEC SUPERESSE REIPUBLICiE.
T<WL. 84-NO; %5.
COLUMBIA, S. C. JUNE 16, 1838.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
S3 PER ANNUM.
COLOMBIA TS1ESOOF3
T8 PUBLISHED BY
A. S. JOHNSTON,
Svery Saturday JMorninf ,
A* I) EVERY WXDNBSD Y AXD SATURDAY MORNING
D7R1NG THI SESSION OF THS tSGISLATUR* .
TERMS :
Three do Dafs per annum, if paid in advance, or
\ J*oor doners at the end of thf^year.
\ Advertisements conspicuously inserted at 75
?cents per square for the first insertion, and 371 cents
for every subsequent insertion. All advertisements
ordered in the inside every publication ? or inserted
Otherwise than regularly, to be charged as new lor
eve* j insertion. Advertisements not having the
boJfeber of insertions marked on them will be contin
ued ?il! ordered out* and charged accordingly.
SPEECH
Of ike Him- WADDY THOMPSON
South Carolina, on the Bill providing for
the issuing of ten millions of Treasury
XoteSr deter cred in ike House of Represen
tatives , United States, Ma rjr? 1838.
Mr. Chair?a5: Although sir, I regard
the present as an occasion when, if ever in the
history of this country, it would be justi&ab e
to resort to the great conservative principle
of English liberty, to withhold supplies until
there was a change of measures and a redress
of grievances, I am nevertheless, willing to
vote tire necessary supplies to the Govern
ment. I must however, be allowed to choose
the mode of raising the funds- I cannot
vote for a measure like that proposed, which
is, in my deliberate judgement, a violation of
the Constittttfob, and of evil and dangerous
tendency. Howsoever and by whomsoever
administered, I cannot forget that it is still
the Government of my country, and entitled
to all just aids from me of money, and of
everv thing else. But I' will not allow any ex
igency, however great? any pressure, howev
er severe? to induce me, in the slightest par
ticular, to violate the Constitution. The
section from which I come, is the weaker
interest in the confederacy; the Constitution
is therefore to us literally the " ark of our
covenant," and should be as sacredly kept^?
Every consideration of interest is superadded,
to the highest sanction under which men can
act, so to watch over and protect it. As a
matter of conscience and of sworn duty I can
not ; as one of prudence and of policy I would
not, if; I could, in the slightest particular vio
late that sacred instrument.
He looks but narrowly at this measure who
legards it simply as a question of raising mo
ney for a present emergency. No, sir, it is
a part, a most important part ? the very foun
dation of a new fiscal, financial, and com
mercial system, which ii is intended to erect
upon the ruins of all the salutary usages to
which we have been accustomed, of the Con
stitution itself, and of the property, prosperity,
and happiness of the peo pie. A purpose, now
no longer doubtful, to suppress bank notes as
a currency, and to substitute in their place
this (Government currency. We have been
told from a higfi quarter, one entitled to all
consideration, that a " mortal conflict was now
waging between bank paper and metallic cur
rwrcy, and that qne or the other must perish ;
that the business of discount and issuing cur
rency are incompatible, & explicitly that banks
ought not to issue their paper as currency.
These atmuflciiitions are distinct enough ; and
I trust that it will not again be denied that the
purpose, (no doubt mosthonestly snd patriot
ically entertained,) is gradually to suppress
bank notes as a currency ; yet we are told at
the same time that it is not contemplated to
bring the country to a currency exclusively
metallic. The currency then is to be m no
part bank paper, and not entirely metallic.
What then ? Nothing has been proposed
but this Government currency. I am no in
discriminate advocate of the banking system.
I know the faults and vices of that svstem,
-and would rejoice to see them reiormed, yet 1
prefer k with all these faults to the terrible
suffering and agony of passing through the
transition from that system to a metallic cur
rency. I also prefer bank currency to tins
Government currency which you now pro
nose to issue : ~
1. Because I think the issue of such a pa
per clearly unconstitutional.
2. It is not so good a currency as converti
ble "bank paper.
3. Its tendency to excess, the great fault ot
the banking system, is greater.
4. It is more expensive.
5. Its political tendencies are more dange
6. Its effects will be unequal and sectional,
and specially injurious to the section from
which I come.
I submit sir, that these Treasury notes are
bills of credit, and that this Government has
no right to issue bills of credit. What is a
biH of credit ? In its largest sense it means
almost any evidence of debt. But in the
sense in which it is used in the Constitution,
it means such issues of paper upon tiie cred
it of the public faith as were then in exis
tence, and by which the country had been so
severely scourged, now generally denomina
ted continental money. That and nothing
else was intended by the general designation,
biHs of credit. We find the term frequently
used at that period in acts of ordinary legisla
tion, and why should we attach a different
meaning to it when found in the Constitution .
One act directs that " bills of credit be re
ceived for postage other acts forbid the re
ceiving of 44 bills of credit" for public dues.
WTxat bills ef credit ? The only bills of credit
then in existence in the country were those
paper issues of the Federal and" State Gov
ernments. That was what was meant by bills
of credit, and nothing else. The Constitu
tion was framed about the same time as these
acts of ordinary legislation, and by the same
men ; and there can be no pretence for saying
that one thing was meant in these acts of
Congress bv the terra bills of credit, and
another and a different thing by the same
words when used in the Constitution. It
was such a currency that had caused so much
ruin in. the country, and such a currency
wbieh it was intended to prohibit. Is then
the oaper now proposed to be issued the same
as the continental money? I answer yes, in
every particular, important and unimportant.
It is a paper issued on the public credit, and
intended to circulate as money. I can see
no single point of difference but ,nt? paper
on which the two are printed. The frugal
ra
[ habits of our fathers made them use ordina
ry paper ; we use silk paper. It is said that
[ these bills draw interest, and that the conti
nental money did not. This, as is usual with
these ardent theorists, is a mistake in point
of fact. Much of the currency issued by the
States, and denominated "bills of crcdit,"
did bear interest? that of New York for ex
ample. But suppose it had not ; are gen
tlemen, who profess themselves on all occa
sions the exclusive friends of a strict construc
tion, prepared to palter with their consciences,
to evade, to cheat the Constitution, by such
a contemptible fraud as making these notes
draw one mill interest On an hundred dollars 7
The enlightened framers of the Constitution
(say they) foresaw the evils of the Govern
ment paper, and forbade us to issue such, and
made us swear that we would not do that or
any other act in violation of the Constitution ;
t but by this paltry trick, we will evade it, and
^thus in effect do the very thing which we
were sworn not to do. Shame ! Shame !
It haskeQ suggested that such a paper
may be issued in another form so as to avoid
the constitutional difficulty ; certificates re
ceivable in payment of public dues, and not
promises to pay. This, like the other, is an
unworthy evasion of the highest obligations
which can be imposed upon men ,and equally
baseless. A large'portion of the bills of credit
of the revolution were these receivable certi
ficates. But in a case, long since the revo
lution, the case of Craig vs. Missouri, it has
been decided, and the decision sustained by
unanswerable argument, that such certificates,
receivable for public dues, are bills of credit,
and therefore unconstitutional.
The State of Missouri had issued certifi
cates receivable in payment of public dues
and without any promise whatever to pay.
They were decided to be bills of credit and
unconstitutional. Chief Justice Marshall
defines a bill of credit to be " a paper issued
by the sovereign authority and intended to
circulate as money." Can any objection be
made to the definition, or any other be given ?
are these not issued by the sovereign au
thority, and are they not intended to circulate
as money ? Let any man answer the ques
tion and put his vote upon the answer.
Thompson says, there being 'no means of
enforcing payment, their credit depends solely
upon the faith and voluntary will of the State,
and are therefore bills of credit. Is there
anv means of enforcing payment of Treasury
notes ? or have they any basis of credit but the
public faith ? Judge Marshall says, that the
great question is, are they intended to circu
late as money, and that this is to be ascertain
ed by the face of the act and the face of the
paper. Are these notes intended to circulate
as money 1 Who will have the hardihood to
deny it? They are inteded to circulate as
money, au issue of Government paper intend
ed as monev, and actually used as money,
and in no other way. One of my colleagues
tells us that this is a loan, and is constitutional
under the power to borrow money. Is it sir,
really, and bona fide a loan ? a loan at one
mill per cent, per annum. Is it by such
tricks on the Constitution, that he and I hare
been accustomed to construe it? We, sir,
who have in time past staked our all, of life,
honor, and character, in resisting a similar
and less flagrant violation of the Constitution
" a violation by perversion" ? which we were
taught and believed was the most dangerous
of all violations. No one denied the power
to lay duties on imports ; but we did deny
the right to pervert a power intended only to
raise revenue to a power to protect manufac
tures. Which perversion is the grossest ?
that or the perversion of the power to borrow
money into one to issue a currency ? If this
is honestly intended as a loan and not as an
issue of currency, why are not the certificates
of stock made transferable at the Treasury,
as heretofore, before the commissioner of
loans, and not as is now proposed by the sim
ple act of delivery ?
Is it in the common transactions of life re
garded as a loan when one man gives to an
other his note in payment of an account ? Is
the act of making money borrowing it? The
Government has a right to borrow, but that
right is restricted by the condition that it shall
not borrow by issuing bills of credit ? bills
intended to circulate as money.
Could a State without a violation of the
Constitution issue such ap.per? No one
will say so who admits the correctness of the
decision in the case referred to. If not, why
not? No answer can be given. But because
thev are bills of credit. For if they are not,
the" states may issue them. If these notes
are not bills of credit, I demand to know
what are ? Give me a definition which, will
not include these. Draw a form of a bill of
credit which the States may not issue. 1 hat
clause of the Constitution must have meant
something. What manner of thing was
meant bv bills of credit, if these are not bills
of credit ? I do not think that the argument
can be answered. If then they are bills of
credit, has Congress power to issue them .
It is enough for me and the school of politi
cians to which I belong, that the power is
not to be found in the Constitution. I am
accustomed to look there for the grant, not
for the prohibition of powers. But this
| case is infinitely stronger. The power was
inserted in the Constitution and' was stricken
out by the convention, and under circum
stances expressly refusing the specific power
itself. On the 5th of August the committee
which had been charged with the the duty
of preparing a Constitution submitted their
draft to the convention. In that draft was
! the following clause, taken verbatim from a
1 like clause in the articles of confederation : j
! " Congress shall have power to borrow mo
ney and envti bills on the credit of the United
States." On the 16th of August a motion is
made to strike out the words "and emit bil s
of credit," and carried, nine States to two. 1
repeat that it is enough forme that the power
is not enumerated in the Constitution, nor
necessary (not convenient) to any power that
is granted. ,
But how infinitely is this ground strength
ened when the power is not only not found
in the Constitution as adopted, but was actu
ally proposed and inserted, and afterwards
stricken out on motion and debate. By an
opposite rule of construction I demand to
know what power it is, that is not expressly
prohibited, that may not be arrogated . 1.110
constitutionality of a bank has been well i
questioned on grounds infinitely less strong,
as I will proceed to show. A proposition to
give Congress power to grant charters of in
corporation generally, was referred to a com
mittee, and never afterwards acted on. The
power to grant a charter of a bank was never
proposed.
Now it may with much plausibility be said
that the convention refused to give the
general and dangerous power to grant char
ters as an independent power, at the same
time believing, that they had given the power
to charter a bank as an implied power, and
as an auxiliary to granted powers. But in
the case of bills of credit the very power is
specially proposed and rejected. The pow
er to grant charters of incorporation, was
not acted on by the convention, and the pow
er is now denied with great reason from the
non-action of the convention. But in the
case of bills of credit the question was dis
tinctly acted on, the power was inserted and
| was stricken out on motion. How infinitely
stronger is the one case than the other. Why
was the power in either c?se refused? There
is no evidence in the caseof a bank, that it was
refused with an in tent to deny the power. ?
Bu* in the caseof Treasury notes there
is. Luther Martin, a distinguished mem
ber of the convention, immediately after
its adjournment, when all the facts were
fresh in his memory, tells the Legisla
ture of Maryland that the words emit bills of
credit were stricken out with the view of
denying the power, and not because it was
given, if it became necessary as an auxiliary
power. He says in his letter to the Legislature
of Maryland; "By our original articles of
confederation, the Congress have power to
borrow money and emit bills on the credit of
the United States; agreeably to which Was
the report on this system as made by the
committee of detail. When we came to this
part of the report, amotion was made to strike
out the words * to emit bills of credit against
the motion we urged, that it would be impro
per to deprive the Congress of that power ;
that it would be a novelty, unprecedented, to
establish a government which should not
have such authority. That it was impossible
to look forward into futurity, so far as to
decide that events might not happen that
should render the exercise of such a power
absolutely necessary, and that we doubted,
whether, if a war should take place, it would
be possible for this country to defend itself
without having resource to paper credit, in
which case there would be a necessity of be
coming a prey to our enemies, or violating
the Constitution of our Government ; and that
considering the administration of the Govern-,
ment would be principally in the hands of the
wealtHy, there could be little reason to fear
an abuse of the power by an unnecessary or
injurious exercise of it.
But, sir, a majority of the convention, be
ing wise beyond every event, and being will
ing to risk any political evil rather than admit
the idea of a paper emission, in any possible
case, refused to trust this authority to a Gov
ernment, to which they were lavishing the
most unlimited powers of taxation, and to the
mercy of which they were wrlling blindly to
trust the liberty and property of the citizens
of every State in the Union; and they erased
that clause from the system." ?
Now, sir, here is the cotemporaneous tes
timony of an illustrious member of the con
vention, that it was intended in " no possible
emergency" that the Government should
have power to make a paper emission. This
statement was uncontradicted at the time,
and is as authoritative as if the debates in full
were published, and it should be found that
it was put by all the speakers on the subject
on the ground that it would be dangerous to
grant such a power, and by no single one on
the ground that the power might be exerted
as an implied power. If such rules of con
struction are adopted, to what point will it not
carry us? The sum of the argument is? a
power not granted, but specifically proposed
and rejected, is to be assumed, although de
monstrably not necessary ; and I would here
remark, that the only instances in which it
has heretofore been exercised, was in a peri
od of war when mdney could not be borrowed,
and when it was the only resource left ; not
only then convenient, but absolutely neces
sary to the very existence of the Govern
ment.
I trust that it will not be contended, at
least, that it will not by any state rights' man,
that the po\ver is prohibited to the States, but
not to this Government, and that therefore it
may be exerted. That the dangerous doc
trine will not be avowed, that this Govern
ment may do whatever is not prohibited. By
such construction what may it not do? Is
a bank prohibited. 19 internal improvement,
or a protective tariff? None of them. How
I few powers are prohibited? Not a dozen. ?
It was necessary to prohibit this power to
the States: because without such prohibi
tion, they possessed it. It was not necessa
ry expressly to prohibit it to the General
Government; because they could not ex
ercise it unless granted by the Constitution.
2d. It is not so good a currency as bank
paper. It is the currency of revolutionary
governments and never has maintained a par
value, and never will, except in periods ol
great pressure, and in small amounts. It is
even now below par, when every circumstance
of the condition of the country is most aus
picious to it ; and when added to its quality
of currency it has that of stock bearing inter
est. But it is said that if it does depre
ciate the loss falls on the Government, not
on the people. Mr. Chairman, where are
we, and on what times have we ftllen ? ?
Is it in this republican land where the Gov
ernment is the mere trust, the mere agency
of the people, that we are told that the
loss of the Government is not the loss of
the people. Suppose one hundred millions
in your treasury, and uses and demands for it,
and it is consumed by fire. This too, I sup
pose, would be the loss of Government, not
of the people ; no concern whatever of theirs.
3d. That its tendency to excess will be
greater than bank currency, I do not doubt;
and that is the great vice of the banking sys
tem. Can there be a more striking proof of
this than the present state of things. With
an exhausted Treasury, an emaciated and
suffering people, the Government alone is
unaffected by the universal pressure, and is
seen careering along in a course of unexam
pled extravagance. Yes, s?r, an administra
tion which came into power with the watch- I
, ?
words retrenchment and economy eternally
on their lips, proposing to expend in the pre
sent year more than forty millions ; thirteen
being the highest amount expended under the
administration which they denounced as ruin
ing the country by its extravagance. How, and
why, is all this 1 Why, sir, for the simple rea
son that the more money that is appropriated,
the more Treasury notes will be issued, and
the greater the present relief to the country.
No such currency ever has been resorted to,
which has not run into wild excess.
4th. It is more expensive. Bank currency
costs the country nothing. Nothing at all sir,
and until recently, no such idea has ever
been advanced. This Government currency
costs directly six per cent, upon the whole
amount in circulation.
5th. As to its political tendencies. I sir,
am a republican of the state rights' school,
not of some ten or twelve years' standing, I
have always been so. I was born one. I was
bom in the midst of the black cockade contest,
aiid "iave.no drop ofbloop that flows from any
one who ever wore one; abd I confess that I
am amazed, I am almost disposed to doubt my
own identity, when I hear gentlemen of the
strictest sect, declaring that this power of mak
ing currency is too important a power to trust
to poor r.iserable cowardly corporations, (as
they have shown themselves to be,) corpora
tions which are State institutions, drawing the
breath of their nostrils from the States, re
ceiving from and giving strength to the States;
indissolubly united in their destinies with the
States, and having no other powers but this.
But that it is perfectly safe to add this power,
<rreat as it confessedly is, to the vast mass of
power already possessed by this Government
?this raw-head-and-bloody-bones accumula
tion of power in the Federal Government
which we have been denouncing and warring
against ? because it is said the power must
abide somewhere, and it is too dangerous a
po^er to trust to state corporations, which
have neither motive, courage, nor ability, to
abuse it. And, sir, has it come to this 1 Is
this the boasted separation of the Government
from the money power? A most notable
separation. A separation by a direct and en
tire union. A separation by granting the
unlimited power to make and issue moiiey ; a
power too dangerous to give to State Corpor
ations, lest peradventure they may combine
with the Government; but perfectly feafe U)
grant the whole power without restriction to
this Government. And this is State-jpghts .
6. It will operate unequally. Thesf notes,
by laws of trade and commerce, invariable and
unchangeable, will accumulate in large cities
where they are needed, under the universal
law of demand and supply, and will afford no
relief to the interior? to the farmers and
the country merchants. Snch was the ex
perience of Mr. Dallas in 1816. H& says,
"that the treasury notes afforded no general
relief; that they had, and would continue to
accumulate in the large commercial cities
where they were needed, and rarely found
their way into the interior, and that the cur
rency of the local banks was all *be
mer could obtain." Mr. tfrawford says The
same thing, and adds that "they gave relief
only to that section east of this city,'
the Government disbursements were chiefly
made " Where is now the largest amount
of these notes ? Where it always will be
in New York? where they are most wanted.
Below par in New York ; five per cent, above
par in Charleston ; and yet I am asked to be
lieve that, to have a peculiar currency for the
Government, when that currency accumu
lates in such abundance in New \ ork, as to
be below par, and is so scarce in Charleston,
as to command five per cent, premium, is to
facilitate the payment of duties in Charles
ton. Am I forever to be asked to assent to
these novelties, unsupported by argument,
and opposed by all experience and facts. It
is said the importations of Charleston have
increased of late, and hence this policy is la
vorable to the south. So id a much greater
degree have those of Philadelphia. Is Phil
adelphia a southern city? Why hare .hey
increased 7 For the simple reason, that in
the present derangement of the cutrency,
funds cannot be placed in New York ; and
from the greater suffering of New Xork than
any other point by the late universal crash,
one of those tornadoes, in which the tallest
trees are the first to fall, when time must be
allowed for those to straighten which have
been bent, and for a new growth.
The chairman of the Committee of )
and Means tells us, that it was not adticipa
ted that these notes would have so soon r -
turned to the Treasury. I suppose it was
not. But it might have been foreseen, and
would have been, by a financier of ordinary
sagacity, or even by the present Secretary, if
he had consulted the history of J^rmer issues
of the same kind of paper. The JCP?? of
Mr. Dallas would have informed him, tfcat,
when tried in 1816, " the revenue had been
collected almost exclusively m 1 r.?f7
notes, and would continue to be so c?"ect?;
as long as they are issued by the governmer it.
Mr. Crawford says the same thing, and in the
opinions of those able men, such must always
be the case. That if any revenue was collec
ted, it must be in these notes, and that of
consequence, they would return to e
surv in the payment of public dues as rapid
ly as they were paid out to the public creditors
like Penelope's webb, undoing in the n.gbt
the work of the day. But I suppose that the
brilliant nius of Mr. Woodbury scorns all
aid fro i . -UC lights of experience, or the sug
gestions of such plodding feUows as Dallas,
Crawford, and Gallatin ; and that if he looks
at all into the history of these times, it is as he
would into the history of the Peisian monar
chy. as a matter of curious reading, not for
information and practical instruction. But
sir, is it really necessary that the Governmen
should resort to this dangerous power? It
is not. There are other, and in every way
better modes of raising money, by which the
necessary supplies may be raised, and most
beneficent effects produced upon the prostrate
energies and interests of the country. Ma?e
a loan in the regular and proper form of a
loan? receive it in specie, or the bills of spe
cie-paying barks? and in sixty days yon will
see the prosperity of the country revive; its
powerful energies, now paralyzed by unwise
legislation, will raise it up again like tt giant
aroused from his slumbers. You can s?ll
your stock thus raised at a premium, wlirist
you aust dispose of the Treasury Botes at
a discount. Both plans create a debt? neither
creates a permanent and funded debt: toe
whenever you are in funds, yfcMiX^rejieeni
such stock. You will save at lea# half a
million, and what is of infinite^ con
sequence, you will save tne constitution. !t
need not be said that the *tock 'dun created
will not be more valuable than TfCWHry.JloJ?**.
Mr. Crawford tells us, that such a
stock, bearing six per ceet. intertsfc and re
deemable at the will of the Government, sola
in 1S22, 1823. and 182? at a premium of two
per cent. Why it is sp, I shall not ?to? to
show. So it always has been^wfrso, i .am
informed, on the highest authority ^jtwi
now. I will wit propose such a loan, because
I will not relieve the Government from t e
just odium of bringing the countiry^trto su<^
a condition. Let the administrate openly
and aboveboard go to the people, tell them
there is no money in the Treasury* that Joey
are forced to borrow, my life upoigti tl 1 1
it is no fault of theirs, they will not be held
answerable ; if it is their fault, they-fofgnt not
to be allowed ro escape the respjmsHMl?ty.
A.sk for a loan, I say, openly, and douot wrap ;
it up in the delusive pretext of issuing f*?a~
sury notes. What individual, if he wished
to borrow ten millions, and by issuing is
notes in large sums to a few individuals, cortld
raise upon them two hundred thousand dol
lars more than their face, would choose to
issue them in small sums, easily negotiable,
to a multitude of ci editors, and at a loss of
three hundred thousand dollars ; in all, hall
a million. That precisely is the difference
between the two plans, and we are about to
do for the country what uo sane man would
do for himself.
I would receive payment for the stock iu
the bills of specie-paying banks, or in spccie.
Let a portion of the stock be sold in Europe,
and serve as a conduit to bring into this coun
try (not by a forcing and artificial process) a
portion of that specie, which the natural con
dition of our country and of Europe, and the -
wise policy of that enlightened nation, upon
whose commerce we have been waging a
barbaric war, is disposed to send here.
These Treasury notes give no permanent re
lief, unless reissuable.
They are paid in as fast as tliey are paid
out, and if reissuable, you convert your Trea
sury Department into a Government bauk of
issue and depo^te, and in the transfer of its
funds necessarily of discount too.
These advantages, great as I regard them,
sink in comparison with the benign and all
blessing influence of an annunciation by the
Government, in a manner formal and authori
tative, that the bills of specie-paying Banks
will be received by it. The disease has all
ways been more one of credit than of currency.
The banks never have been in as sound a
condition as at present ; never have they had
so large a basis of specie as now. Confi
dence, and confidence alone is wanting to give
us a sound bank currency, and to carry once
more prosperity and happiness, in broad
streams through the land. Without it, the
banks never can permanently resume. Con
fident is their vital air; without it, they can
no more live, than can a fly in an exhausted
receiver. It may be easily demonstrated,
that in a period of doubt and distrust, a bank
with a million of specie, and never more than
fifty thousand dollars of notes in circulation
may be forced to suspend. Tberteatt be
no more striking illustration of this than the
suspension in 1797 by the Bank of England.
It had at the period of its suspension, only
ten millions of notes in circulation, thir
ty millions of specie. But the directors dis-.
tinctlv foresaw, that with the demands occa
sioned by foreign wars and subsidies, the large
importation of foreign corn, and the panic and
apprehension of an invasion from France, that
their spccie would be exhausted, and t iey
determined to suspend ; and by doing so, sus
tained the industry and business of the coun
try, and carried England triumphantly thro
a long and perilous conflict, in a manner that
is absolutely a miracle, and under, trials and
difficulties which I hesitate not to say no na
tion ever could have borne, if unsustainedby
this much abused banking system. Bo?a
parte, the wisest man of his time, knew that
the great basis of the banking system Was
confidence ; and when he was about organi
zing the Bank of France, and if ep ting its
president, he said, I have no confideface in
Portalis; but France has; therefore let For
talis be president. I am well satisfied that
the true and only issue before the count! y
is between the state banks and a national
bank. No people not held down by an iron
despotism, will submit to the terrible agony
and bloody sweat of coming to a metallic
currency. Nor will one so intelligent as ours,
adopt the dangerous expedient of a Govern
ment paper; and my life on the issue, if the
state banks fail, the result will ^ Govern
ment bank, or a United States Bank. It is
because I think so, that I am disposed to take
from the State banks all improper weights
and hindrances to aid them by all proper
means in resuming specie payments, without
doing which, they cannot, and ought cot, to
be tolerated. f ,
?uch, sir, was the course of the able and
patriotic men who presided over the Treasu
ry at the close of the war. They addressed
all their efforts and powers to aiding the banks
to resume and furnish a sound currenc y. Mr
Dallas even took the responsibility of re"]??
the bills of non-specie-paying banks without
the authority of law, and he was gained in
it by the whole country. He says in his re
port to Congress in 1816? ...
*? The consequence of rejecting bank notes ,
which were not paid on demand in coin, mus
have been to put to hazard the collection of
the revenue in point of time and in pomt of
product, to deteriorate (if not to destroy he
only adequate medium of exchange adopted
by the common consent of the nation) in
case of extreme necessity, and to shake the
foundations of private property. '
?? The restoration must be the work of the
\ Stati1 mstittwions. But the inteTposition o
Government will still be required to secure a
successful result. -
" To appeal to their fears by refusing;
to take their bills in payments to 'he Gov
ernment, would be to visit the ?
tanks upon the gr*rt mass ?f
citizens, unless the Government wasprepartd
to furnish a sufficient legal currency to meet
the demands. of the community.
Mr. Crawford, in 1817, refus.d to deposite
the public funds is the United States Bank*
where it was provided by kw that they should
be kept,anddeposited them in State institu
tion^ expressly and avowedly fbt the purpose
of aididg the banks to resume ; not only not
taking it from {Hem in their moment of se
verest tn^-but actually giving it to them.?
?Taking, Ofcsome instances, with a care, wise*
practical, and paternal, from the strong banks,
and giving it to the feeble and tottering, to
enable all to stand ; and be succeeded, and in
this^ rendered the most important of all his
services to bis country in a lone life of distin
guished public usefulness. Hear what he
says upon the subject, and in circumstances ?
identical with the present z
t" In order to induce ihe banks in the Dis
trict to resume specie payments simultaneous*
ly with the banks already enumerated, it be
came necessary for the Treasui^ Department
to give them assurances of support during the
first months succeeding such resumption-"?
In conseguence of this assurance, a conside
rable portion of the deposUefc in the banks of
Washington and Georgetown w^s MSKuUed
to remain until the 1st ,
It is cheering, it is delightful, to turn from
the uncertain and dangerous theories of the
present day, from the eternal experiments
that are made upon the Ijappiness, jhe very
means of subsistence of the people, as a phi
losopher would ^?$t the ptfwer ofprussic acid
on a mouse, to tnKr?ractical suggestions of
these calin, quiet, and^ile minds. My busi
ness is with the things of (his world as 1 find
them, not as I would liave n^m. I leave the
higher walks of div-ine philosoyhy to others.
I have only the very poor ambithu of being a
practical man; aud 1 prefer to follow the
steady light of experience, taper though it be*
to the dazzling, but too often dangerous and
delusive light of a prioi i theory, whether it be
the ever blazing torch of a brilliant genius, or
the farthing candles which are lighted at it*
In my judgement, the greatest good now to
be attained, is a resumption of specie pay
ments, aud to that end 1 would have the Gov
ernment not ouly not obstruct Jt, by throwing
its powerful influence over public opioioU
agaiust the banksj but to -aid them by all
proper means. This Government,, aud this
Government alone'has prostrated the banks,
and with them the whole industry of the
country, with muscles yet quivering riomthe
blow ; but with powerful energies they aro
struggling to rise again. Is it wise or just
still to keep your paralyzing hand upou them? .
But it is said will you do this to enable the
banks to pay their debts? It wouid be a
much more true statemcut of the case to say
that it is to be done to enable the people
to pay their debts to the banks. Gentlemen,
who talk thus, must surely forget that the
banks maintain to the people the double re
lation of debtor and of creditor, and that the
creditor relation is the largest. -The banks
oWe the people about two hundred millions,
the people owetheiu fiveliundJed millions.?
Now, sir. this game of demanding specie is
one at which both the people and the banks
can play, and the banks, if forced to pay all
their debts, notes, and depositee in specif, can- ,
not choose; they have no alternative ; they -
must collect their debts, in specie. What?
then, must be the result ? The banks have
thirty-five millions of specie ;? the people tlie
same amount. Force the banks into a posi
tion where they must collect, as far as their
two hnudred millions of debts go, they can
be, paid in their own debts; after that is all
called in, there is three hundred millions
of debt due to the banks, and thirty-five mil
lions of currency to pay it with. Let the *
banks collect that in payment^ and what then
is the condition of the country ? More than
two hundred and fifty millions due to the
banks, and no currency at all to pay it with*
For, although in the ordinary transactions of
commerce, one dollar will pay one hundredf
not sO in thi* case. Evety consideration of inte
rest and 4elf preservation will concur to make
the banks keep every dollar they receive, and
the gales of death wilfbe shut upon it. Will
not this state of things place the whole prop
erty of bank debtors at the toiercy of the
banks ? and by being in possession of all the
currency, all the saleable property of the
country also ? That any such state of things
is likely to occur I do not believe ; it would
be arrested, if in no other Way, by popular
commotion, or by the substitution of some
other currency. c.' ?.?' >? 9 ...
Would you do this to enable the banks to
pay their debts? I answer, yes, J would.?
The bank capital of the country is abortion,
a large portiou, of its wealth and power* and I
would do all that I rightfully can to save it
from ruin, if nothing else vfete involved. I
would not lightly strike down fotti hundred
millions of the capital of the eofcntry, a
larger portion df which, than of. any other
equal amount, is owned by wide## and or
phans, and which, when it does topple in
ruins, will crush thehope^and the happiness
of thousands. Espedally do I feel bound to
do it when their present condition has beep
brought about by no act of theirs of omission
or commission, bat solely and exclusively by
the action of this Government. No mad of
any party has attributed it to%ny cause which
is not the result of the action of the Govern-.
ment. -4^v.va<!
To what causes is the present state of things
attributed ? V ariously, and with mtteh truth,
to the folllowing : 1st Toft large accumula
tion of public funds ; that is not the work of
the banks, norjcould they have prevented it.
2. To overtrading from excessive jbank die
counts. This they were expressly Ordered
to do; for General Jackson's requests were
orders. 3. To the distribution act,- and the
pitiable folly and stupidity wkhw^ch it was
executed. In transferring, in the first in
mouths, funds to places where they were net
needed for distribution in eighteen months*
Thus making that sudden and harsh which
was intended to be easy an4 gradual. And
4th. to the specie circular, ldo not doubt
that all theise' causes, jointhr and separately,
produced the present c|]?iuu?us condition of
the eouotry. Is any pne of them the set
oF?tfcfo banks, or con Id they have controll
ed them ? Have I not shown that the sus
pension was unavoidable, and that it was
more a measure -of mercy to the country
than of interest to the tasks? Since the Sus
pension, what fault have they committed?
We were told at the extra sswion'j, tjbatthey
most curtail their issues. TnTt" could only
(For remainder see last page-J