University of South Carolina Libraries
?a? i?? powers too hastily or oppressively ; vot it is a power which ought to he most cau tiously exerted, and perhaps never, except In a case eminently involving the public interest, or one in which the oath of the President, acting under his convictions, both mental and moral, imperiously requires its exercise. In such a case he has no alternative. He must either exert the negative power entrusted to him by the Constitution chiefly for its own preservation, protection, and defence, or commit an act of gross moral turpitude. Mere regard to the will of a majority must not, in a constitutional republic like ours, control this sacred and solemn duty of a sworn officer. The Constitution itself I regard and cherish as the embodied end written will of the whole people q, the United Slates. It is their fixed and fundamental law, which they unanimously prescribe to the public functionaries ?- their mere trustees and servants. This. their will, and the taw which they have I given us as the rule of our action, has no guard, no guaranty of preservation, pro- ' lection, and defence, but the oaths which ! it prescribes to the public officers, the sanctity with which they shall religiously i observe those oaths, and the patriotism with which the people shall yield it by their own sovereign will, which has made the Constitution supreme. It must he ex* erted against the will of a mere representative n ajority, or not at all. It is alone in pursuance of that will that any meas"ure can reach the President; and to say j, mninritv in Congress have -.? J ? passed a bill the President should therefore sanction it, is to abrogate the power altogether, and to render its insertion in the Constitution a work of absolute supererogation. The duty is to guard the fundamental will of the people themselves * from (in this ease I admit unintentional) change or infraction by a majority in Con-1 jjress. And in thai light alone do I re- j gurd the constitutional duty which I now j most reluctantly discharge. Is this bill, now presented for my approval or disapproval, such a bill as 1 have already declared could not receive my sanction ? Is it such u hill as calls for the exercise of the negative power under the Constitution? Does it violate the Constitution by creating a National Bank to operate per sc over the Union? Its title, in the first place, descrilws its gene- j nil character. "It is "an act to provide j for the better collection, safe keeping, { and disbursement of the public revenue, by means of a corporation to be styled the Fiscal Corporation of the United States." j In style, theu, it is plainly natif^ial in its\ character. Its powers, functions, and j duties are those which pertain to the col- j Jcctiug, keeping and disbursing the public i revenue. The means by which these are ' to be everted is a corporation, to be styled j the Fiscal Corporation of the United States. It is a corporation created by j the Congress of the United States, in its j character of a National Legislature for the | whole Uoion, to perforin the fiscal pur. i posys, meet the fiscal wants and exigen. ! cies, supply ihe fiscal uses, and exert ihe i fiscal agencies of the Treasury ot the Uni- j ted States. Such is its own description i of itself. Dq its provisions contradict its title ? They do npt. It is true that, by its hist section, it provides that it shall be established in the District of Columbia ; hut the amount of its capi. to I?the manner in which its stock is to , L ^ LuLI tko iu?rannu 00 MIIPM^riDCU I Wl n llll lll?IU - lliv |/vi awtiw I and bodies, corporate and politic, by whom its stock may be held?'he appoint, tnent of its directors, and their powers and duties?its fundamental articles, especial, ly that to establish agencies in any part of the Union?the corporate powers and ] business of such agencies?the prohibi* I Hon of Congress to establish any other ! corporation with similar powers for twen. j ty years, with express reservation in the ! earae clause to modify or create any bank for the District of Columbia, so that the I aggregate capital shall not exceed-five millions; without enumerating other fea. turns which are equally distinctive and characteristic, clearly show that it cannot be regarded as other than a Bank of the United S utes, with powers seemingly more limited than have heretofore been granted to such an institution. It oper tea per se over the Union, by virtue of the unaided and, in my view, assumed authority of Congress as a National Leg. islature, as tho local Legislature of the District, Every United States bank -? *--- 1?? ? j.,?I heretofore created nas nnu pu?ci UTVfll in bills of exchange, as ell as local discount. Both were trading privileges conferred, and both were exercised, by vir.tue of the aforesaid power of Congress, over the whole Union. The question of power rt rnaips unchanged, without referenoe to the extent of privilege granted. If this proposed Corporal ton is to he regarded as a focal bank of the District of Columbia, exist by Congress with general powers to Operate over the Union, it is obnoxious to still stronger objections. It assumes that Congress may invest a local institution with general or national powera. VYrith the same propriety that if muv do this in regard to a bank of the District of Columbia, it may to a State bank. Yet .. i n^, who can 'inouige me iue? umi una v?/?ernment can rightfully, by making a State bank its fiscal agent, invest it wjth the absolute and unqualified powers conferred ] ? by this bill? When I come to look at ^ the detaijM of the bill, they do not recommend it strongly to my adoption. A brief notice of some of its provisions will suffice. ' First. It may justify-substantially a system of discounts of the most objection- \ able character. It is to dieal in bills of exchange drawn in one State and payable in another, wit boat any restraint. The bill of exchange may have an unlimited time to run, and its renewabiliiy is no where guarded against.1 It may. in fact, usstime. the most objectionable form of accomodation paper. It is not required to rest on any actual,- real, or substantial 1 exchange basis ; a drawer in one place becomes the acceptor in another, and so, in turn, the acceptor mav become ;he drawer, upon a mutual understanding.? It may, at the same lime, indulge in ine.e local discounts under the name of bills of exchange. A bill drawn at Philadelphia on Camden. New Jersey ; at New York on a border town in New Jersey; at Cincinnati on Newport, in Kentucky; not to multiply other examples, might, for any thing in this bill to restrain it, become a mere matter of local accommodation.? Cities thus relatively situated would possess advantages over cities otherwise situated, of so decided a character as most justly to excite dissatisfaction. Second. There is no limit prescribed to the premium in the purchase of hills ol exchange; thereby correcting none ol the evils under which the community now labors, and operating most injurious* - ' l . l_ Iv upon the agricultural States, in wnicn .he irregularities in the rates of exchange are most severely felt. Nor are these the only consequences. A resumption of specie payments hv the hanks of those States would be liable to indefinite post, ponement: for, as the operations of the agencies in the interior would chiefly consist in selling bills of exchange, and the purchases could o ily he made in spe cie. or the notes of banks paving specie, the State banks would either have to continue with their doors closed, or exist at the mercy of this national monopoly of brokerage. Nor can it be passed over without remark, that whilst the District of Columbia is made the seat of the principal hank, its citizens are excluded from all participation in any benefit it might afford bv a positive prohibition on the hank from all discounting within the District. These are some of the objections which prominently exist against the details of the bill; others might be urged, of much force, hut it would be unprofiiahle to dwell upon them; suffice it to add. that this charter is designed to continue for twenty years, without a competitor; that the defects to which I have alluded, being founded on the fundamental law of the corporotion, are irrevocable ; and that if the objections bo well-founded, it would he over-hazardous to pass the hill into a law. In conclusion, I take leave most respectfully to say, that I have felt the anxious solicitude to meet the wishes of Congress in the adoption of a Fiscal Agent, which, avoiding all constitutional objections, should harmonize conflicting opinions. Actuated by this feeling, I Kuvo r#?aHv to vield much, in a soirit of conciliation, to the opinions of others; and it is with great pain that I now feel compelled to differ from Congress a sec- j ond time in the same session. At the' commencement of this session, inclined J from choice to differ to the Legislative will, I submitted to Congress the proprie- j ty of adopting a Fiscal Agent which. I without violating the constitution, would ' separate the public money from the Exec- j utivc control, and perform the operations of the Treasury, .without being burdensome to the People or inconvenient orj expensive to the Government, ft is deep- j ly to he regretted that this department of the Government cannot, upop constitutional and other grounds, concur with the Legislative Department in this last measure proposed to attain these desirable objects. Owing to the brief s|?ace between the period of the death of mv lamented predecessor nnd my own installation into ( office, I was. in fact, not left time to pre- ; pare and submit a definitive recommendation of my own in mv regular message; and, since, my mind has been wholly oc. cupied in a most anxious attempt to conform my action to the Legislative will. In this communication, I am confined, bv the constitution, to my objections simply - - I . C . L _ l_*_ to this hill, hut me period 01 m? rt^uuir session will soon arrive, when it will he mv duly, under snot her clause of the Constitution, "to give to Congress informa- ' tion of the state of the Union, and re- : commend to th^ir consideration such measures as 1 shall judge necessary and I expedient." And I must respectfully ! submit, in a spirit of harmony, whether i i the present differences of opinion should i be pressed further at this tirnff, and whe- ! ther the peculiarity of my situation does j n??t entitle me to a postponement of this i subject to a more auspicious period for deliberation. The two Houses of Congress have dis- j tinguished themselves at this extraordinm t* ary session by the performance 01 <tn immense mass of labor, at a season very unfavorable both to health and action, and have passed many laws which I trust will prove highly beneficial to the interest of the country, and fully answer its just expectations. It has been my good fortune and pleasure to concur with them in all measures, except this: and why should our difference on this alone be pushed to -eftremets? It is my anxious desire that it should* not be. I, too, have been burdened with extraordinary labors of late, and I sincerely desire time for deep and deliberate reflection on this, the greatest difficulty of my administration. May we not now pause until a more favorable time, when, with the most anxious hope that the Executive and Congress may cordially unite, some measure of finance may he deliberately adopted, promotive of the good of our common countiy. I will take this occasion to declare, that 1 the conclusions to which I have brought myself are those of a settled conviction. founded, in my opinion, on a just view ot the constitution ; that, in arriving at it, I have been actuated hy r.o other motive or desire than to uphold the institutions of the country as they have come down to us from the hands of our god-Iilte ances. tors; and that I shall esteem my efforts to sustain them, even though I perish, more honorable than to win the applause of men by a sacrifice of ro* duty and my coniietf?nce." JOkN TYLER. " Washington, Sept. 9, 1841. the letters of resignation. The following Letters of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attornoy.Gener. al, resigning their respective frusta, have been placed in our hands for publication: Wasiiing'^n September 11,1841. Sin: Circumstances, have occurred in the course of your Administration, and chiefly in the exercise by you of the veto power, which constrain me to believe that rnv longer continuance in office as a member of your Cabinet will be neither agreeable to you, useful to the country, nor honorable to myself. Do ine the justice, Mr. President, to believe that this conclusion has been ad. opted neither capriciously;/1 no?' in any spirit of party feeling or personal hostility, hut from a sense of duty, which, mistaken though it may be, is yet so sincerely en. tertained, thnt I cheerfully sacrifice to it the advantages and distinctions of office. Be pleasad, therefore, to accept this aa my resignation of the office " of Attorney General of the United States. Very respectfully, vours. die. J. J. CRITTENDEN. The President.'f ' t Treasury Depathknt; Sept. 11, 1841. Sin : After the-most calm and careful consideration, and viewing the subject in all the aspects in which it presents itself to my mind. I have come to the conclusion that I ought no longer to remain a member of vour Cabinet. I therefore resign the dtice of Secretary of the Treasury, and beg you to accept this as my lottor nf rr>?i<rnntion. "",l" " I", To avoid misunderstanding, I distinctly declare that I do not consider a difference of opinion as to the charter of ft National Bank a sufficient reason for dissolving the ties which have existed between us. Though I look upon that measure as one of vast importance to the prosperity of the country, and though I should have deeply deplored your inability or unwillingness to accord it to the wishes of the People and the States, so unequivocally expressed through their Representatives, still, upon this and this alone, uneonnected with other controlling circumstances, I should not have felt hound to resign the place which I hold in your Administration. But those controlling circumstances do exist, and I will, in mv own justification, place them in connexion before you. It is but just to you to sa v that tho hill which first pnssed the two Houses of Congress, and which was returned with your ohjectihns on the 16th of August, did never, in its progress, as far as I know or believe, receive at any time either your express or implied assent. So far as that hill was known to me. or as I was consulted upon it. I endeavored to bring its provisions as nearly as possible in accordance with what I understood to be your views, and rather hoprd than expected your approval. I know thp extent to which you were committed on the question. T knew the pertinacity with which you adhered to vour expressed opinions, and I dreaded from the first the most disnsfrous con9eauences, when the project of * compromise which I presented at ffn early day was rejected. . It is equally a matter of justice to you nnd to myself to say that the bill which I rejHjrted to the two Houses of Congress at the commencement of the session, in obedience to their ca'l, was modified so as to meet your approbation. You may not, it is true, have read the bill through, out, and examined every pnrt of it; but the 14lh fuudamenta! article, which bo. came the contested question of principle, was freolv discussed between us, and it was understood and unequivocally sane, tioned bv yourself. The last clause in the bill, also which contained a rcserva. tion of power in Congress, was inserted on the 9th of June, in your presence, and with your approbation; though you at one time told me that, in giving your sanction to the hill, you would accompany it with an explanation of your understanding of that last (?) clause* v In this condition of thing*, though I greatly regretted your veto on the bill as it passed the two Houses of Congress, and though I foresaw the excitement and agi. tntion which it would produce among the People, yet considering tho changes the hill had undergone in its passage, and its variance from the one you had agreed to sanction, I could not find in that act e* nough to disturb the confidential relations which existed between u?. I was disposed to uttrihutc this act, fraught with mis. chiefs as it was to pure and honorable tno. tives. and to a conscientious conviction on your part that the bill, in some of its provisions, conflicted with the Constitution. But that opinion of your course on the hill which ha3 just been returned to Congress with your second veto, I do not and cannot entertain. Recur to what has passed between us with respect to it, and you will at once perceive that such opinion is impossible. On the morning of the 16th of August, I called at your chamber, and found \ou preparing the first veto message, to be despa ched to the Senate. The Secretary of War came in also, and you read a portion of the message to us. He observed that, though the veto would create a great sensation in Congress, yet he .thought the minds of our friends better prepared for it than they were some days ago, and he hoped it would be calmly received, especially as it did not shut out all hope of a bank. To this you replied, that you reaily thought there ought to be no dilficulty about, it; that your veto me&sage what kind ofa bank you would approve, and that Congress might, if tbey saw fit, pass such a one in three days. The 18th being the day for our regular Cabinet, meeting, we assembled, all exccpt Messrs. Crittenden and Granger, andyou toki wthat you had a long conversation with Messrs. Berrien and Sergeant. who professed to come in behalf of the Whigs of the two Houses to endeavor to strike out some measure which would be generally acceptable. That you had your doubts about the propriety of conversing with them your&.lf, and thought it more proper that you should commune with them through your constitutional advisers'. You expressed a wish that the whole subject should be postponed till the next session of Congress. You spoke of the delay in the Senate of the consideration of your veto message, and expressed anxiety as to the tone and temper which the debate would assume. Mr. Badger said that on inquiry h? was happy to find that the best temper prevailed in the two Houses. He believed they were perfectly ready to tako up the bill reported by the Secretary of the Treasury, and pass it at once. You replied,) Talk not tome of Mr. Ewing's bill; it contains that.odious feature of local dis t v i:.L._ j luuuia fTiiiv.ii i liuvo rr|iuuiuieu in my message.' 41 then said, to you I have no doubt, sir, that the House, having ascertained your views, will pass a bill in conformity to them, provided they can be satisfied that it would answer the purposes of the Treasury and relieve the country.' You then said, "Cannot my Cabinet see thatthi* is brought ab< ut ? You must stand by me in this emergency. Cannot you see that a bill passes Congress such as I can approve without inconsistency?' I declared again my belief that such a hill might he passed. And you then said to mo, 4 What do you understand to be my opinions ? State them, so that I may see that there is no misapprehension about them.' I then mid that I understood you to be opinion that Congress might charter n hank in the District of Columbia, giving it its localities here. To this you assented. That they might authorise such bank to establish offices of discount and deposite in the several States, with the assent of the States. To this you replied, 4 Don't name discounts ; they have been the source of the most abominable corruptions, and are wholly unnecessary to enable the bank to discharge its duties to the conntry and the Government.' I observed in reply that I was proposing nothing, hut simply endeavoring to state what I had understood to be your opinion as to the powers which Congress might constitutionally confer on a bank; that on that point i stood corrected. I then proceeded to say that I understood you to be of opinion that Congress might authorize such bank to establish agencies in the several States, with power to deal in bills of exchange, without the assent of the States, to which you replied, 4 Yes if they he foreign hills, or bills drawn in one Slate and payable in another.. That is ail the power necessary for transmitting the public funds and regulating exchanges and the currency.' I Mr. Webster then expressed, in strong terms, his opinion that such & chaiter would answer ail just purposes of Govern* ment and be satisfactory to the People ; and declared his preference for it over any which had been proposed, especially as it dispensed with the assent of the States in the creation of nn institution necessary , for carrying on the fiscal operations of Government. He examined it at some length, both as to its constitutionality and its influence on the currency and ex* changes, in all which views you expreased your concurrence, desired that such a bill should bo introduced, and especially that it should go into the hands of your friends To my inquiry whether Mr. Sergeant would be agreeable to you, you replied that he would. You especially requested Mr, Webster and myself to communicate j with Messrs. Berrien ind Sergeant on the subject, to whom .you said you had promised to. address n note, hut yon doubted not that this personal communication would be equally satisfactory. You dosired us, also, in communicating with those gentlemen, not to commit you personally, lest, this being recognised as your measure, it might be made a subject of comparison to your prejudice in the course of discussion. You and Mr. Web' Kter then conversed about the particular wording of the 16th fundamental article, containing the grant of power to deal in exchanges, and of the connexion in which 1 that grant should be introduced you also 1 spoke of the name of the institution, de' siring that that should be changed. To ' this I objected, a* it would probably be 1 made a subject of ridicule, but you insis- 1 ted that there was much in a name, and this institution ought not to be called a bank. Mr. Webster undertook to adapt it in this particular to your wishes. Mr. Bell then observed to Mr. Webster and myself that we had no time to lose? that if this were not immediately attended to, a' nother bill, less acceptable, might be got < up and reported. We replied that we would lose no time. Mr. Webater accord, ingly called on Messrs. Berrien ind Sergeant immediately,and I waited on them by his appointment at 5 o'clock on the same (Jay, and agreed upon the principles of the bill in accordance with your expressed wishes. And I am apprised of U A...t th, limit it A'lA nnt nnnnr in mv ! 111^ Iui/VJ Iiixru^n tv Uivi ||??? WVUI presence, that after the bill was drawn up, and before it was reported, it was seen and examined by yourself: that your at- j * ii? ?II_J i (eniioo was specialty rnueu to mo iulii fundamental article: that on full examination you concured in its provisions : that at the same time its name was so modified : as to meet your approbation : and the ! hill was reported and passed, in all essential particulars, t*s it was when it came through your hands. You asked Mr Webster and myself; each to prepare and present an argument1 touching the constitutionality of the bill; j and before those arguments couid be j prepared and read by you, you declared as, I heard and believe, to gentlemen * r . \ " ' ?mmmmrnammmiammmmmammmmm?mmimaKi Members of the House, that you would cut off your right hand rather than approve it. After this nmv resolution was taken, you asked and earnestly urged the members of your Cabinet to postpone the bill, but you would neither give yourself, nor suffer them to give, any assuanccofyour future course, in case of such postponement. By some of U9. and I was myself one, the effort was made to gratify your wishes in the only way in which it could be done with propriety; that is, by obtaining the general concurrence of the Wlitg Members of the two Houses to the postponement. It failed, as I have reason to believe, because you would give no assurance thnt the delay was not sought as a means and occasion for . , hostile movements. During this season of deep feeling and earnest exertion upon our part, while we were zealously devoting our talents and influence to and tosustain you, the very secrets of our Cabinet councils made their appearance in an infamous paper printud in a neighboring city the columns of which were daily charged with flattery of yourself and foul abuse of your Cabinet. All this I bore for I felt that my services, so long as they could avail, were du? to the nation?to that great and magna nimous People whose suffrages elevated your predecessor to the station which you now fill, and whose united voices approved the act when hesumoned us around him, to he his counsellors; and I felt that what was due to his memory, to his injunctions which he left us in his last dying words, and to the People whose servants wc wore, had not all been performed until every means was tried, and every hope had friled of carrying out the true principle upon which the mighty movement was founchid that elevated him and you to power. This bill, framed and fashioned according to your own suggestions, in the initiation of which I a.jd another member of your Cabinet were made by you the agents and the negotiators, was passed by large majorities through the two House.-' of Congress and sent to you, and von rejected it. Important as was the part which I had taken, at your request, in the origination of this hill, an 1 deeply as I was committed for your action upon it, you never consulted me on the subject ot the veto messnge. You did not even refer to it in conversation, and the first notice I had of its contents was derived from ruinor. And to me, at least, you have done nothing to wipe away the personal indignity arising out of the act. I gathered, it it true, from your conversation shortly after the bill had passed the house that you had a strong purpose to regect it; but no. thing was said like softening or apology tome, either in refereoce to myself or to those whom I had communicated at your request, and who had acted themselves and induced the two Houses to act upon the faith of that communication. And ? ? man una n ftlA l/l Sira njju .is 11 IIKI^V ffuuiui mv ? u<w attack" it in an especial manner the wrv provisions which were inserted at your request; nnd even the name of the cor poration, which was not only agreed to by you, but especially changed to meet your expressed wishes, is made the subject ol | your criticism. Different men might | view the transaction in different point: of light, but, under these circumstances, j as a matter of personal honour, it vtoald | he hard for me to remain of your counsel | to seal my lips and leave unexplained and | undisclosed where lies in this transaction the departure from straight forwardaes: and candor. So far indeed from admit, ting the encouragement which you gave to this bill in its inception, and explaining and excusinn your sudden and violent has. tility towards it, you throw into your Ve| to Message an interrogatory equivalent to I an assertion that it was such a bill as you j had ohendy declared could not receive your sanction. Such is the obvious effect of the first interrogatory clause on the second page. It has all the force of an assertion without its open fairness. I have met and refuted this, the necessary inferrence from your language, in my pre. ceding statement, the correctness of which you I am sure will not call in question. Your veto to the first bill you rested on constitutional ground and the high I convictions of conscience; and no man, in my opinion, had a right to question your sincerity. I so said, and I so acted, for through nil the contest and collision that arose out ofthat act you had my adherence and support. But how is it with respect to this? The subject of a Bank is not new to you; it is more than twenty years that you have made it r n object of consideration and of study, especially in its connexion with the constitutional powers of the General Government. You, therefore, could not be, Hnd you were not. taken unprepared on this question. The bill which I re' ported to Congress, with your approbation | at the commencement of the session, had the clause relating to agencies & the pow. - - -i- J?1_ ; er to deal in exchanges, as sirongiv uoeiw I ped n9 the one you have now rejected and equally wuthout the assent of the States. You refetred specially and with approbation to that clause, many days after, in a conversation held in the Department ofS'ate. You sanctioned it in this particular bill as detailed above ? And no doubt was (brown out upon the subject by you, in my hearing, or within my knowledge, until the letter of Mr. Butts came to your hands. Soon after the reading of that letter you threw out strong intimations that you would veto the bill if it were pot postponed. That letter I did and do most unequivocally condemn, but it did not affect theconstistutionality of the biPf or justify you in reje ting ii on that ground; it r ould effect obly the expediency of your action; and whatever you may now believe as io the scruples existing in your mind, in this and in a kindred source there is strong ground to believe they have thoir origin. If I he right in this, and I doobt not( am, here is a great public measure de. inanded by the country, passed upon and approved by the Representatives of Siates and the People, rejected by you as President on grounds having no origin in conscience, and no reference to the public good. The rejection of this measure, loi, continues the purse with the sword in the hands of the Executive, from which we strove to wrest it in the contest which elevated your predecessor and you to power, I cannot concur in this, your course ofpolicy. In or out of office my opinions re. niain unchanged^ I cannot abandon the principles for which, during nil my political career, I have struggled; especially I cannot be one of the instruments by which the Executive wields these combined, accumulated, and dangerous powers. These, sir, are the reasons for the important steps which I have felt it my duty to take, and I submit them as'its justification. I am, very respectfully, yours, T. EWING, To the President. . iii " , From th? National Intelligencer Washington Sir*, 13, 4S41'. To Messrs. Gales 4* Seaston1 Gentlemen : Lest any, raieappreheneion should exist, as to the rca^){t ..which hi led me to differ from the cotuse pursued by my late colleagues, 1 wish "to say tHst I remain m mv place. fir*V'bocau*e f hnvejseen nosufficimtn a-cmPor the deaolution of the late Cabinet, by the voluntas ry act of its own members. I am perfectly persuade^ of the absolute necessity af an institution, under the authority of Congress, to aid revenue and financial operations, and to give the countrv the blessing of a good currency and cheap exchanges. Notwithstanding what has* passed, I have contidence that the president wilU ^ co-operate with the Legislature in overcoming all difficulties in the attainment ?>f these objects; and it is to the union of the Whig party?by which I . mean the whole party, the Whig ftesidbnt, tho ! VVhig Congress, and the Whig Pbople?1 that I look for a realization of our. wisto* I ' can look no where else. In * the second place, if I had seen reason to resign my office, I should not havw done so wiihout giving the President reasonable notice, and affording him time o select the hands to which he should confide the delicate and important affairs now pending in this Department. I am, gentlemen, . respect full, your o? bedient servant, 1 DANIEL WEBSTER. The following letter from Mr. Webster to it friend in New York assignee an additional i reason for retaining hie seat in ti?c abmct. Washington, SKIT. II, 1841. My Dear Sib: I thank you Vor your kind and friendly letter. You will have learned that Messrs. Ew ing, Ile'l, Badger, and CrittemlcV havw I resigned their respective offices. Proba - " -te ? . ae bly Mr. lirangcr win leei oouno io rouow . thi: example. This occurence can hard* iy cause you the same degree of'regret which it has occasioned to mo as the/ are notortlymy friends, but persons with' ' whom I have had for sometime daily , official intercourse. I could not partake ' in (hi* movement. It is supposed to be justified, 1 presume, by the difference* which have arisen between the President and Congress upon the means of cstab[ lishing a proper Fiscal Agency and resto^ ring a sound state of the currency, and * collateral matters growing out of, those differences. I regret these differences a* deeply asany man; hut I have not been 4 bio to see in what manner the resignation oC * I the Cabinet was likely either to remove J or mitigate the 'vils produced by the in. f On the contrary, iny only reliance for* | remedy for those evils has been, and is*, j on the union, conciliation, and peraevier| ancc of the whole Whig party ; and I hy 110 means despair of seeing yet accom* plished, by these means, all that we dasire. It may render us morn patient Under disappointment in regard to one measure to recollect, as is justly stated by the President in his last message, how great a number of important measures has beer* already successfully carried through. ' 1 hardly know when such a mass of busk ness has lieen despatched in a single sts? | sion of Congress. t: The annual winter Session is now noes at hand: the same Congress..be again: soon to assemble, and feeling deeply jut I?. ever did the indispensable necessity- >of some suitable provision for the keeping.ef * th*? nuhlir. mnncv. for aid to the. opera *;? i ? ? > lions of the Treasury, and to the high publie interests of currency and exchange, [ . am Dot in haste to believe that the party . which has now the predominance wiH not," in all these respects, yet fuMil' the expectations of tho country. If it shalrHWi*' then our condition is foilorn, indeed. But?' for one, 1 will not give up the hope. ' My particular connexion with the Administration. however, is in another De- * ' parrment. I think very humbly?none can think more humbly?of the vidiin of ' the services which I am able to render to the Public in that post. But as there is, so far as I know, on all subjects affecting " our fore gn relations, a concurrence in op inion between the President and myself and as there is nothing to disturb the harmony of our intercourse, I have not felt it consistent with the duty which I owe the country to run the risk, by any sudden or abrupt proceeding, of embarrassing the Executive in regard to subjects and questions now immediately pending, and which intimately atfect the preservation of the peace of theconnfrv. 1 am, dear, sir, with coMtaat regard, dec. DANIEL WEBSTLR. H. Ketchcm, Esq. New York. * ' -?f * \ ' ' V- V