^1j«,>\uqr^ 
 
Class jLMi_ 
 Book .B^^- 
 
SPEECH 
 
 9c 
 
 ^^:z^<- 
 
 MR. HILL, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 
 
 MR. BENTON'S EXPUNGING RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 In Senate, May 27, 1836— On Mr. Bestoh's ex- 
 punging resolutions. 
 Mr. PiiEsinE^T. t'e preamble and resolution of 
 the Senator fVcm Tennessee, (Mr. White,) which 
 have been introduced as a substitute, are of that 
 hermaphroditechnracter that pleases neither side, 
 and being abimfloned on all hands, must fall to the 
 ground. They are only important so far ah they 
 countenance the principal argument that das been 
 urged against expunging liie record; and it is re- 
 markable that the burden of the song has been, 
 not that the condenuiatoiy resolution was right, but 
 that it was a violation of the constitutitm tu ex- 
 punge what was cK arlv wrong from tiie journal. 
 "E:ich House shall keep a journal of its pro- 
 ceedings, and from time to time publish the s;ime." 
 Here is a positive act to be performed; and when 
 the act is don.-, the injunction is (ully complied 
 with. If it yore intended to apply to all journals, 
 as relating to this or that particul:-*r sessi(m of the 
 Senate, the ianguas'e would have been so definite 
 as not to be mistaken. If it had been intended to 
 keej) and pres-erve the original manuscript journal, 
 language convening that idea would have been 
 used. Tlie mandate of the constitution has been 
 fully complied with, when the journal has been 
 kf^pt a sufficient time to "publish the same." 
 Copies are then muUiplcd, so there can be no 
 mistake as to what the journal contained; and any 
 subsequent vote of either House to expunge any 
 particular part of any single copy of the journal, 
 is no more a violation of tlie injunction to keep a 
 journal, than it is of that part of the constitution 
 which authorizes the people to elect members of 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 TheSeii.tor from Virginia, (Mr. Leigh,) probably 
 as an ofi'sel to the resolutions recently passed by 
 the Legislature of his State, directing the Senators 
 from that State to present and vote for expunging 
 Vthe condemnatory resolution from the journal, a 
 few diys ago presented a memorial from John 
 Vimberlake, and others of that State, against ex- 
 
 pungmg. These memorialists consider the propn 
 sition to expunge to be "a pinin and pa], able vie 
 latum r.fthe constiiution, and ;t is remaikable tha 
 the;- off t-r the following as the only reason agains 
 Its constitutionnliiy. 
 
 "Suffice it to say, that to their humble iindet 
 standmgs, 'to ksi-er,' as here used by the coHSti 
 tiition, means Xo preserve, and that the lafte- clius 
 of the constitutional provision, as previously que 
 t. d, furnishes a key to the interpretati.n of tha 
 which precedes it, since it would be obvioiis'y im 
 possible to publish the journal from time to lime, i 
 such journal had not been kipl and preserved." 
 
 Here is an admission thi.t the journal i^ to b 
 preserved only for the purpose of 'being puhUshed 
 What is the inference? It can be no other thai 
 that when thus kept, the whole purpose of th^ 
 constitution has been complied wuh. I will here 
 after make inquiry for what other purpose (hi 
 journal can be kept. In relation to the keeinnj 
 of the journal of the House of Representaive 
 for thiriy-five years, I have received intormatioi 
 from the clerk in the following letters: 
 
 House of Representatives, U. S., ^ 
 Jipnie, 1836.5 
 Dkak Sill: In answer to (he inquiry containec 
 in your letter of this niolrning, I have to sta'c tha 
 the original rough mauscript journal of the liousf 
 of Representatives of the United S'ates (those 
 read .ni the mornings) have not been preserved tc 
 a period anterior to tiie commencement of the 
 first session, eighteenth Coni^res--, (1823, '4 ) 
 
 For your further information, I enclose you £ 
 copy of a communication from Mr. Burch on tht 
 subject. 
 
 With very great respect, I am, sir. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. S. FRANKLIN, 
 Clerk H. R. United Stales, 
 Hon. Isaac Hili., 
 
 United States Senate. 
 
 "7 
 
2 
 
 rid 5%. 
 
 Office, House of Rf.ps. U. S. ^ 
 
 ^737776,1836 S 
 
 I entered this office a youth, under John Beck- 
 ley, who was the first clerk of th'- House of Re- 
 presentatives unner the present Constitution of 
 the Unittd States, and who died in the > ear 1807. 
 
 During the recess of Congress lie put mi; at 
 wh,U was termed "recording' the journal" of the 
 pr< ceding- session, wliicli was to write it off' from 
 the printed copy into :>. large bound volume. 1 
 inquired of him why it was that it was copied, 
 w)ien lliere were. so many printed copies? He an- 
 swered that tiie printed copies would pnbibly, in 
 time, disHppear from use, Etc. — the laige MS. vol- 
 ume would not. 
 
 The "rough journal," as it was then termed.and 
 is still termed, being the original rough draft re.sd 
 in the House on t!ie morningafter the day of which 
 it narra'es the proceedings, was not, and had not, 
 from the beginning, been preserved 1 inquired 
 the reason, and was answered, that the printed co- 
 py was the I ([}cih\ copy, as it was printed under 
 the official order vi' the House; and, as errors, 
 whicli were sometimes discovered in the lough 
 journal, wt-re currecttd intiie proofs of the printed 
 copy, the pi ifited copy was ,the most corrs ct, and 
 that, therefore, there was no use in lumbering the 
 olli' e v.'ith the "rough journal" at'ier it had been 
 printed. 
 
 Two of Mr. lieckley's immediate successors in 
 oflice, Mr. Magruder and Mr. Doughertj , viewed 
 the matttr .IS Mr. Beckley viewedit. I know the fact 
 from having callea their attention to th^' subject. 
 J often reflected upon the subject, and it appear- 
 ed t(,' me to be proper that the "roup,h juurnal" 
 should he preservid; although I could not see 
 any purpo.se wha ever to be answered by doing 
 .so. I often convt rsed v/ith the clerks of the of- 
 fice upon the subject,but as we were only subordi- 
 nates, tii^ practice was not changed till 1st session 
 of t]»e l8th Congress, (1823,'4, ) when I determin- 
 ed, without consulting m}' superior,that tiie ''rough 
 journal" should no longer he throv/n awxy, but 
 be presei ved and bound in voluines; and it has 
 been regularly preserved and bound since. 
 With ^real lespect, I am, sir, 
 Yoiu- obedient bervant. 
 
 .S. BURCH. 
 Col. Walter S. Fhankhx, 
 
 Ckrk Hi.use of Bcpresentaives U. >S- 
 
 By these letters it appear-! that tlie original 
 minusc:ipt journal, the journal whcli is read in 
 the morning of every day, succeeding that of the 
 proceedings, was kepi and preserved pi-ecisely long 
 enough to answer the purpose designated by the 
 mtmorial from Virginia. It was kept long enough 
 to be published, Avhen the original journal was 
 destroyed or laid aside, and a new manuscript 
 copy was taken from the printed published jour- 
 Kal. Here are ficts in relation to the journal that 
 cannot be g.dnsayed; facts which prove, tliat 
 even the destruction of the original manuscript 
 journal, after that journal has been printed .nnd 
 publi>hed, was never dreamed to be a violation of 
 that clause of the constitution, which requires 
 each House of Congress to keep a journal of its 
 pi'oceedings. For the first thirty-five years, in 
 
 construing the constitution, plain common sense 
 had not been driven from our legislative halls by 
 the refinement of sophistry — the world of argu- 
 ment had not then been turn-d upside down — in- 
 genuity had nt)t then contrived to turn a pla'ii 
 duty of the representative to obey his constitu- 
 ents into a violation of his oalh, and his con- 
 science. 
 
 In the year 1823, the Senate of Massachusetts 
 passed a lesolution to expunge another resolution 
 from tiieir journal, passed in 1813, which the pub- 
 lic sentiment had condemned. A member of the 
 Legislature of th.at State iov the present year, in- 
 foimed me th.'it he recently ex'.'.minel the manu- 
 script journal, containing both the expunged and 
 expunging resolutions. Both of them were pass- 
 ed by an exact vote of the two political parties. 
 The olil (edi ral party had the ascendancy in the 
 Massachusetts Senate in 1813, and the resolution, 
 that it was unbecoming a moral and religious 
 people to Firjoice in the success of our army and 
 navy, was passed b} the votes of that parly alone; 
 and in ten years alterwards, the first time the de- 
 m.)ci-atic party had the full ascendancy, that party 
 voted to expunge the resolution from the journal. 
 The cojistitution of Massachusetts requires the 
 keeping of a journil, and directs that the ayes 
 and noes of eaci^ branch of the Legislature shall 
 be entered on that journal^ but it does not require 
 that this journ^d shall be published. In this it dif- 
 fers from the constitution of the United States in 
 relation to the journals of Congi-css; but the dis- 
 tinction makes iiltogeilier in favor of the doctrine 
 ofexpimging. In the case of Massachusetts, the 
 resolution was expunged, but th'i manuscript 
 journal (the onl)' ollicial copy i.t existence) was 
 not touched. In our case, the condemnatory re- 
 solution may be expunged, and either the manu- 
 script record may remain unmolested, or it may 
 be ring-marked and crossed, or it may be entire- 
 ly obliterated; and ill neither ca:.e can it be con- 
 sidered a violation of the constitution, because, 
 from the time the journ-il has been kept long 
 enough to be published, every printed copy of that 
 journal is .m official copy, so that n6 vote to ex- 
 punge, nor even any act of defacing the manu- 
 script journal, can milit'ate with tlie mandate of 
 the cons:itu!ior., vi hich requires each House of 
 Congress "to keep ajouin-ilof its proceedings, 
 and from time to time publisii the same," after the 
 journal shall iiave been kept a sullicient length of 
 time to be pih:)Iished. 
 
 Some thirteen years ago, I first visited the 
 city of Washington, during the sitting of Congress. 
 The Supreme Court of the United States was at 
 the same time in session. A gentleman of the 
 bar, now of the Senate, from Kentucky, (Mr. Clay,) 
 was engaged before the court on oiw siile of a 
 case; and another gentleman from the same State, 
 (Kentucky,) then, and now, a melnb^2r of the 
 Mouse of Represent itives, of somewhat rougher 
 a'^pect, (Mr Hardin,) argued the case on the other 
 side. I listened attentively to both. The rough- 
 er gentleman, in the course of his argument, 
 talked of tne practice in Kentucky, and with 
 great nonchalance informed the court how he 
 gained an important land cause in that State. He 
 created, he said, 9. fake or feigned issue before th 
 
sating- of the court, ami led the antagonist party ( witn the jo.n-nal, mav be accl.lert.ll. V a 
 
 to confine h:s attention exclusively to the tak^n,^ thief may steal it TnYcarrv it ofT ) . ' T-'^' ^ 
 of testimony .n rdalion to that feigned issue U-ater or in the e XT/ minn^ "^ ' '" ^''^ 
 
 Keepmg- the real point a secret from the adverse during an evenir^es^io^ a^^^^^^^^^ "lay take fire 
 party, h. earned his case »t th. trial by surprise. Secr.lu-y S,m S^pi ht ; '"?J'" ^"'"?'' '^^ 
 ^^I'^^L-^' "-h-^ Wa.hin.ton, .h.n cil the | The coZluZrf^X^J'o:::^^ telS^ 
 
 uld all thpsf» /-iciimU;..,, ., . ■ . . '^'-P'-- 
 
 bench, smiied at the frank express! >n of the blnnt 
 attorney, who told the story as if he redlv thought 
 he deservtd crtdit for the trick. ' 
 
 Tlure are many feiffntid issiie.^, Mr. President- 
 but feu- who i)raciis« them are as candid ms waJ 
 this Kentuci<y lawyer, before the Supreme Cmrt. 
 ^Ihentlie i.lea was first broach d, tiiat a reso'u- 
 
 laws could .not be i.xpun-ed from the legi.ktlre 
 journal of the S.-nat-, because the co^istitution re- 
 quires the Senate to keep a journid of its nroceed- 
 '»gs. I would not have believed that such a 
 lejgned issue couhi be entertained so lontr as 
 ready to have assumed the appearance of settled 
 
 would all these casualties or acts by which'X 
 journa! sha<I be destroyed, be so many vida! 
 turns of the constitution? 
 
 Even if the resoluuon now under consideralion 
 
 without recitmg: it, went so tar a« entu-eiy to ob! 
 
 - .. ^, ,.„... u, .... H r.so.i- ]'\T ''' ?'T'- '■^-^«'^'^^"^' l!'«t sliould be deemed 
 
 tion having no mces...u-y reference to :.ny existing- c3ede",t^t.''''''T'^ " " ''''^ J""-'"""'' ^ ^=*"""' 
 laws could not be .-xriMno.^^ i\...„. .i.„ ,,„: ,_._•-' concede thiit the act ' ' ' 
 
 . . "f obliteration would be 
 
 uncon.st.tut.onal. If that resolution werean existin.r 
 lavv st.ll intended to be kept in force, the ac ol' 
 obliteration would no'; nullify the law annlied 
 to a sunpie declaratory resolution that was never 
 intended to have the force of a law, the oblite-a 
 ton cannot harm the pef>p!e for whose benefit ad 
 
 seriousness, S.uvly, in all the expunging- th' T ^ , ,- • 
 
 heretofore has taken place, it never bef-reentereru""'' "'■'/■' ''"'' '^ '^ ''"'^^ "«* harm them it 
 mto the l.e.rt of ma/i to c'onceive such an ohjej! ^^W wo'Th^ F "^'"f '^'- '' '"^ '^o'^'^Utulion, sucl 
 
 •1 ^ '^^ 's worthy or reprobation. 
 
 tion as this. 
 
 It is s«id the constitution requires a journal to 
 be kept; and ihe.eioie no part of this juurual can 
 be mmiia.td, ^t^uck ou-, or destroyed If it be ui 
 imperative con,t.lutional injunction to ru-eserv'e 
 there must be some object to be gaintd bv the 
 preservat.on. The journal can be us. ful for no 
 other purpose, th.m the preservation of evidence 
 ot proceedings 
 
 1 marvel much at the pertinacity with which 
 this question is attempted to be Ci.cussed ,s Z 
 .nfnngement of the constitution. It seems to li e 
 tha . by taku.g the ground they do, t.e opponents 
 of the expunging resolution blink the rfal quel 
 
 W " Th '' ' ^''' ^PP-V-"--' «f - --ere s^Z 
 |Uge. The horns of this altar will not protect 
 thcm-i.^e cryof "a violated constitution," as it is a 
 
 AH those parts of the journal relating to laws that ! ^'S^'vTZl!^:\-'"' T^''' T '''^''' "' ''- 
 have become obsolete, or to proceed m.^sibrr. so if£ f "b!.terat,o:i ot an infamous record, 
 of no consequence, Jre valuil^^Jnt^V^y ect on ci ret^l.aTll^^-^^^ ^^^''^"^ «^ 
 
 ime'resr'^'lH"" ^ -^,^---/'niistory; the piblic was wr^ g -n it e f ' .-olutionto be expunged 
 interest could not sufi, r, ,f such parts were ut ' 
 
 ^.ih destroyed. The journal of the Senate is 
 kept ana preserved for no oth r purpose, than to 
 show when and how laws are passed, :,nd it is of 
 as much consequence to preserve the engrossed 
 Dill or resolution in that branch of the I c'^'isla 
 tiire, in which such engrossed bill or resol'uton 
 originated, as it is to preserve the journal of pro- 
 \o show the progress and history of ih 
 
 cecdin< 
 
 same bill or resolutiyn. 
 
 My object is not, Mr. Presi lent, so much to 
 argue the question of power in the Senate to ex- 
 punge, as to show that the sentence of condem- 
 nation pa.ssedon the President of the United States 
 was not only e.xtra-judicial. but>imjust; for Icon! 
 ceive It to t)c a most inglorious evasion tha' Sena 
 tots now say this sentence of condemnation im- 
 puted to the Pres, lent no crim... [f the Senators 
 'r \:Z':'T )F'''''0 -"d. Vir.ginia (Leigh) will 
 
 ,/i 1 , •■ — wuiii i.uui,»iiana ii 
 
 andthejournarwv;edcs;ro::!;,^b;S;^f;;;!l^''°^' ^-^'" .'^f ---l ch^i^-^f " high 
 or. parchment would remain; wh.ch would b evt^lXLi" Tl'^'f'^i '''"""" ""''^^^ -ere almos 
 dence of the existence of the law; .nd even if t^ t n i '," I" ^""^^ ^""^ >'^="'^ • ''S''' '''^ v may 
 
 enrolled bul we, ed-stroyed, the la™ 'd l ;' ! '^ ' '^""^'";'« !''-''^^ 
 be in existence, if there t^m^^ned any whrre nub , tT '^^ '^'^ ^''''"^^'^ ■>«-. that 
 
 ■shed copies, which had been certlLl a" £ m ' 1" sSt Jti:' u'^?^ ^^^^^^ '"''"'^^'^ "' »'»« 
 the original. , i ics.ucnt ot tlie United States no criminal in 
 
 The ol^ect of ...ssessing «n official copy of the i !^;d^hr;:;;i;::t S^^^ 
 journal of legislative proceeding,, is simp /to pre- 1 the passaire of that rr . '. ^ V ^ '^''^'^'^^ "> 
 serve collateral evidence that existing laws nassld ' tnore ?l ufonl ^ n t ""''t ' 'i^ ^P^^'^hes of 
 induecourse of legislation: other fvi?;::^; C;;^"o;: r^^:; ;^ 
 these journals, .such as petitions on which Jaws I the Senator from kW S .^^ 
 
 _ -•:• ' '„ -"i..i.iiii.^v_o „u muse 
 
 petmon.s, minutes of reference, original drafts of 
 bUIs or resolutions or amMidments, may be eqailv 
 Mmportantjandyetit will not be ur^ed that the 
 destruction or obstruction of these, eithe- weakens 
 i^ force ot the law, or violates the constitution 
 ^nn T r?, ''''o""" "'^-''' '"' ^'''^'^ ^he manuscript 
 i^S ° ^^^ ^r"''"= "^'^y ^^ obliterated or de- 
 i'^ro^d. The building may take fire, and that. 
 
 It. Re.natb April 30, 1834.-Mr. Clay rose- 
 ' Never," said he, "Mr. President, have I knoTn 
 or read of an administration which expires with 
 so much agony, and so little composure and re' 
 s.gnatn.n, as that which now. unfortunately, has 
 th« control of public affairs in this country It 
 exhibits a state of mind feverish, fretful and 
 fidgetty [a beautiful alliteration!] bounding 'ruth- 
 
lessly from one expedient to another, w'.lliout tiny *' 
 
 sober or settled purpose. 
 
 « * *■ * * » 
 
 "Uut I would abk in what tone, tamper, and 
 spirit does ihe President come to the benate? 
 As a great StaTeculprit who has been ariaigiied 
 at the b.ir of justice or sentenced as guilty i" Doea 
 be manifest any of tliase compunctious vi^ilmirs 
 of conscience which a g'udty violator of the con- 
 stitution and laws of the land ougiit to feel? 
 Does he address himself to a hiq'h court with the 
 respect, to s;iy noticing' of humility, which a per- 
 son accused or convicted, would naturally feel? 
 No, no- He comes as if the Senate were guilty; 
 and as if he were: in the judgment seat, and tiie 
 Senate stood accused before him. He arraigns the 
 Senate; puts it upon trial; condemns it. He 
 comes a-8 if he felt iiimself elevated far above the 
 Senate, and beyond all reach of the law, surround- 
 ed by unapproachable impunity. He who pro- 
 fesses to be an innocent and injured man, gravely 
 accuses the Semite, and modestly a>ks it to 
 put upon its own record his sentence of condem- 
 nation! When before did the arraigned or con- 
 victed party demand of the court which was to 
 try, or had condemned him, to enter upon their 
 records a severe denunciation of their own con- 
 duct? The President presents himself before the 
 Senate, not in the garb of suffering innocence, 
 but in imperial and royal costume, as a dictator 
 to rebuk>- a refractory Senate, to command it to 
 record his solemn protest; to chastise it lor diso- 
 bedience." 
 Concluding: 
 
 "The Senator Qi«r. Grundy of Tennessee) 
 thinks that there is no coverlet lart;e enough to 
 ])rotect all the various elements of the opposition. 
 He is mistaken; there is one of sufficiently eapa- 
 cious dimensions, recently wove at a Jackson 
 loom, culled a protest, on which is mirked a vio- 
 lation of the constitution, and an assumption of 
 enormous Executive power; and the honor<ible 
 Senator had belter hasten to jdace himself under 
 the banners of those who a'C contending against 
 power and prerogative for free institutions and 
 civil liberty. And he had better lose no time, 
 for the protest is the last stroke upon thel ast nail 
 driven into the colTin (not of Jackson — may he 
 live a thousand ye.irs!) but of Jacksonismi" 
 
 In a speech delivered at Concord, New Hamp- 
 shire, in October, 1834, by a Senator (Mr. Web- 
 ster) who voted for the condemnatt.ry resolution, 
 I find the following strong and positive assertions: 
 '•It is true, that the operation commenci d with 
 the Branch Bank in this State, (New IIamps!iire ) 
 It was tried to make that bi-nk a political institu- 
 tion. Men here applied to the President to make 
 the bank at Portsmouth a political bank. I'hey 
 wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury to do this. 
 These are fads — made known to the world — not 
 disputed." 
 
 " It never was asserted, then, tliat the bank 
 was unconstitutional — that it was a 'monster.' And 
 there was good reason for this silence. 'J'he 
 bank had taken no part in politics; no one had 
 been wicked enough to bring it into the political 
 arena. It is as true as that our fathers fell at 
 
 Bunker's Hill, at Lexington, and at Monmouth, 
 that this outcry against the bank was raised be' 
 cause ihe bank refused to be made a political en- 
 gine- " — Same speech. 
 
 This language was used by that honorable Sena- 
 tor about tlie same time that a commiitte of the 
 Senate, commonly called the ^f liilewas>iing Com- 
 iniltce, reiterated the same and other similar lan- 
 guage in justification of the Bank and in condem- 
 nation of those who opposed its recharter 
 
 I intend, in the remarks I have to make, to no- 
 tice the charge that the " operation coram ;nced" 
 by an attempt on the part of the friends of the ad- 
 ministration "to make the batik at Poitsmouth a 
 political bank;" and tiie statement that the bank 
 " had taken no part in politics." The tt slimony 
 on which the charge and (JTsclaimer have been 
 based, is the authority and word of tiie Preisident 
 of the bank. 1 shall confront these statements 
 gener;illy, with other statements coming from the 
 same quarter; and if 1 shall fail to prove by the 
 President of the bank, that the President of the 
 bank and the aforesaid Senator charged falsely 
 when he charged the attempt to mike the 
 Branch Bank at Portsmouth a political engine — 
 if 1 sliall fail to demonstr.Ue, on tlie authority of 
 the President of the bank himself, that he had 
 entered, with all the money of the bank, iito the 
 political arena, 1 will concede that the frir;nds of 
 the bank have not been quite as much in the 
 wrong as the enemies of the bank have alleged. 
 
 I understood the Senator Irom Vuginu (Mr. 
 Leigh) to say, there is no prt>«)f of abuses and mis- 
 conduct of the; Bank of tlie United States, unless 
 we take charges against the bank for evidence 
 against the bank. ,f he intends by this to justify 
 the resolution of the Senate w hich condemned the 
 President of the United States with- ut a hearing — 
 f )r it is presumed he would impute t;iese unprov- 
 ed or false charges against the bank to the Presi- 
 dent, who has iieen assailed as the b.mk's greatest 
 enem) — I will answer his allegation, that the Presi- 
 dent is guilty, by making the bank fals, fy its own 
 charges, and disprove the bank's innoctnce by the 
 confessions of the bank's own principal officer. 
 
 The Senator from Virginia saya he is strictly and 
 peculiarly a lawyer, meaning, I presu ne, a lawyer 
 as contradistinguished from the legiilatoi' or the 
 politician. Jtidging from the character of his 
 speech alone on the expunging reaoiutii)n, I agree 
 that his description of himself is correct; for who 
 so well as the mere lawyer can wrap up the plain- 
 est proposition in a web of metaphysical subtleties? 
 To those who place implicit faith in bun, all his 
 propositions and deductions undoubtedly carry the 
 weight of mathematical demonstration. To my- 
 self his whole speech appeared in the true charac- 
 ter of the lawyer, who makes the most for his cli- 
 ent; his argument was the .reversal of that rule 
 which every plain, unsophisticated mind would 
 adopt to convince others of the truth as it had con- 
 vinced itself; he seemed to entrench himself in a 
 citadel of assumptions, appUed to the case as he 
 would have it; and he afterwards m ale all his facts 
 precisely to conform to his assumptions. The late 
 Thomas Addis Emmett was once coHcerned as a"* 
 sociate counsel in a case with Aaron Burr, in wh^ii 
 
the latter bad the prior management. When the ; the bank at Portsmouth, New Hampshh'C, in the 
 
 case was about comi;-g to trial, Emmelt asked 
 l?urr what fiicts they "could prove in support of 
 their client r Tlie answer was, ask not what we 
 can prove; rather ask what is necessary to be 
 jiroved? Here is a specimen of the mere lawyer. 
 It v/as in that early ai;e of the practice probai)ly, 
 when tiie profe-sion had not learnt to throw off, as 
 legislatois, tlieir ex parte character as lawyers, thut 
 they wrre excluded from tiie Brit sh Parliament. 
 "Sir Richard Baker, in his Clironicle, undei- the 
 year 17.36, records, that the House of Commons 
 ordered that no man of the law should be returned 
 MS knight of the shire, and, if rt turned, that he 
 should have no wages." ! would by no means 
 recur to this precedent as a parliamentary prac- 
 tice at this time binding on either House of Con- 
 g^ress. 
 
 The point on which I would first comment, is 
 the charge wiiich iias been so often repealed by 
 the bank and its friends involved in " the contro- 
 versy, relative to the removal of Mr. Mason from 
 the presidency of the brancliof New Hampshire." 
 'I'his charge was not conjured up until nearly 
 three years after the events to which it alludes 
 had transpired. It first made its appearance i'i the 
 report of a single meinber of the comrniltee of the 
 
 summer of 1829, and the correspondence be- 
 tween the board at Philadelphia and the late Se- 
 cretaries of the Treasury and of War, form a por- 
 tion of the documents relatmg to tlie books and 
 proceedings of the bank, called for by the com- 
 mittee and communicated to them. They are 
 not noticed in the report of the chairman, but, 
 in the opinion of the subscriber, arc more deserv- 
 in<^ of the attenlion of Conpress and of the nation, 
 than any other -part of the papers commented upon 
 in the report. An effort,, very thinly veiled, on the 
 part of two of the executive departments of the 
 General G^jvcrnment, to exercise a control, po- 
 litical and pecuidary, over the proceedings of 
 the bank and its branches — a control highly ex- 
 ceptionable in principlf, and even contrary to 
 law, appears to him to be full)' disclosed in those 
 papers. He w.ll not permit himself to inquire 
 into the motives of the agents in those transac- 
 tions. It i.s sufificient for the protection of the 
 pubhc inti-iest that tiie projected encroachments 
 of power were disconcerted and laid aside." 
 
 So much fv-r the high accu'sations made by 
 Mr, Adams against "two of the executive de- 
 partments of the General Government." It 
 would, perhaps, be a stifticient answer — an an- 
 
 Hbuse of Representatives " appointed on the 15th swer that would forever shut the mouths of all ac- 
 of Marcli, 1832, to examine and report on the | cusers — toquotetlie statement of Mr. Ingham in re - 
 
 books and proceedings of the Bank of the United 
 States." 
 
 The committee had been in session twenty-four 
 d.ays at Ptiiladelphia, (from March 22d to April 
 14th) and were about to close the examination 
 vrhen the following proceeding was had: 
 
 " On motion of Mr. Watmougii, 
 
 " Re.iohed, That the President of the Rank of 
 
 lation to this matter, written in June, 1832, near the 
 time at which Mr. Adams's report first appeared. 
 At the time of writing this letter, Mr. Ingham 
 was no friend of the administration; and from the 
 temper he discovered after leaving the office of 
 Secretary of the Treasury, it might well be ex- 
 pected that he would be no less willing to see 
 any charge of "projected encroachments of pow- 
 
 the United States be requested to furnish the com- er" ei>tabhshed against the admmistration, than 
 mittee with copies of the corresptmdence between ' even Mr. Adams himself. Noticing the unauthor- 
 
 himself and the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 Isaac Hdl, late Second Comptroller of the Treasu- 
 ry, with reference to charges made against the 
 official conduct of Jeremiah Mason, Picsident of 
 tlie United States Branch Biuik in New Hamp- 
 shire." 
 
 The correspondence, in manuscript, making 
 more than forty closely printed pages, was pro- 
 duced by Mr Biddle on the instant. It bore evi- 
 dent marks of age, having been thumbed till parts 
 of it were scarcely lee:ible. The majority of 
 the committee, it li. understood, before that day, 
 had never heard of this correspondence, nor iiad 
 it entered into the heart of mortal m:in concerned 
 in this correspondence, exce[)ting Nicholas Bid- 
 die himself, to conceive that it coidd be tortured 
 into a piirpose or use such as was afterwards made 
 of it. It a majority of the committee had time 
 or opportunity to scan this correspondence, ih?y 
 would by no means s ippose that such an infer 
 ence cndd be deducecl fi-om it, as seems to have 
 been discovered by the keen optics of a single 
 member, (Mr. J. Q.Adams,) and afterwards corw 
 curred " fully in all the statements made, and 
 principles developed," by another member of the 
 minority (Mr. J. G. Waimough. ) Mr. Adams's 
 report relative to this correspondence was in the 
 words following: 
 \ " The complaints made against llie president of 
 
 ized publication ef a confidential correspondence 
 nearly three years after it took place, and the 
 accusation made in the report of Mr. Adams, Mr. 
 Ingliam, in a letter published in the Philadelphia 
 Sentinel, says: 
 
 *' But my motives were misunderstood, an! my 
 friendly purposes wholly disappointed, and I now 
 found myself virtually accused of a desire to ex- 
 ert the power of the Governmsnt to seduce the 
 oank from its vestal purity, into a base political 
 connexion with the administration. 
 
 " Having been promidgated by an ex-President 
 of the United States in the legislative hall, and 
 thus openly by a dircdoi of the bank, [by a Mr. 
 Piatt, at a' public hotel in Trenton, undertaking 
 to vouch for the truth of Mr. Adams's statement,] 
 it cannot fail to justify this notice. To be silent 
 would be to sanction for truth tvhat 1 know to he 
 false, and deeply prejudicial to my character." 
 » • * * * 
 
 "When the friendly purpose of my letter is 
 d'.ily appreci:tted, in connexion whh the repeated 
 declarations pressed upon me of the political 
 abuses of certain branch banks, in corroboration 
 of which it was added that the selections of di- 
 rectors were, in many branches, made entirely 
 from one political party, it should be rather a 
 matter of surprise that my suggestions should be 
 so little obnoxious even to severe and suspicious 
 
criticism. It requires bdt little kiiowlede;e of 
 the luinian charaLter to know, tliiit no bank can 
 be faithi'uUv and impartiall)' co iducted where t!ie 
 directors are se t:ctt.-d from one sect, whatever its 
 character may be, pnjvided their selection is made 
 with a view io their liectarun opinions; and when 
 directors a; e found thus arranjj-ed, however pure 
 they may be, it will be alinost in-ipossible to satisfy 
 even an enligliteiied pubic opinion, that there 
 may not have been some design in the arrange- 
 ment. The obvious and natural means to pre- 
 vent abuse in such a caSL-, as well as to sa- 
 tisfy public opinion, and even to '•.onfoiind cla- 
 mor, (wiiich is sometimes necessary in the ad- 
 ministration of public affairs,) is to give some 
 variety lo the org'aniz^UOii of th:; |Doard. — 
 Such were the refl,;ctions which induced the 
 suggestion of fornting suitable 'checks anil coun- 
 terbalmces' to prtiii-rve a proper equilibr.um in 
 the manageir.eiit of the ijistituiion; a measure in 
 its conception purely adnionitory and preserva- 
 tive, not only tending to prfcvent tlie pernicious 
 influence of political nias in the operations of I lie 
 bank, but incapable of being pet verted to such 
 abuse; sui'gested, too, by ihe cf)nstituiional repre- 
 sentative of one-fifth of the whole stcck; forms the 
 solitary }wint, kft by Mr. Biddle. on which it is to be 
 presumed Air Adams has founded his ^rave and so- 
 lemn charge. I shall not now attempt to sliow the 
 difference betw ecu a meuiure proposed to prevent, 
 and one to promote an abuse, nor enter upon a 
 discussion ot the rights of the constituent or repre- 
 sentative to advise the agent, or attempt to prove 
 that what might propeily have been addressed to 
 the directors appointed by the President might, 
 with the same propriety, be addressed to the 
 whole board. The question of riglit is too clear 
 to admit of a doubt. The chai acter of the pro- 
 ceeding must theref ire depend on its fitness, and 
 the motives which induced :t, on wliate-v.r grounds 
 it shall be placed, I am conient to be judged by a 
 discerning public. 
 
 " Of Mr. Adams, however unwarrantable his at- 
 tack upon me, it seems most fit that I should say 
 as little as possible. A. great man has said of him 
 'that he could not see the truth:' this case is a 
 striking example of the wisdom of that obser- 
 vation." 
 
 Mr. Ingham says, in the satTie letter, " the Sec- 
 retary cf the Treasury, for the time being, is ex- 
 clusively responsible for all the sentiments con- 
 tained in his correspondence." 
 
 This explanation of Mr. Ingham, who surely 
 could have no interest to exculpate any person in 
 the administration other than hiniself, would seem 
 to be sufficiejit. So far as relates to one of the 
 two departments, he takes to himself exclusively 
 the responsibility, and denies rny -irij cvcty at- 
 tempt to exercise an exccjjtionable or unlawful 
 control on the part of the governmenl of cillier the 
 bank or any of its branches. 
 
 Yet in the face of this positive denial of Mr i 
 Ingham, the directors of the btnk (in a report j 
 adopted by a vote of twelve to three, December 
 3, 1S33, many thousands of which repoitwere 
 gratuitously cliculated, and paid for cut of (he 
 friends of the bunk) reiterate the charge in the 
 " llowing words: 
 
 "It was in the midst of this career of inoffensive 
 usefulness, when soon aftc:- tlie accession to pow- 
 er of the prestiit Executive, the purpose was d'S- 
 tinctly revealed tliat other duties than those to the 
 country were required; and that it was necessary 
 for the bank, in administering its affairs, to consult 
 the political viev/s of those who had now ob- 
 tained t!ie ascendancy in the Executive. It is un- 
 dcT stood that sjon ajUr that event, a meeting tvas 
 held in IVashington af the principal chiefs, to consi- 
 der the means of perpetuatins; their new authority, 
 and thevossesnon tf the hatik was among the niu^t 
 prominent objects tf ihe partios as^tnibted. The 
 fir^t open manifestation of the purpose was in 
 June, 1829, when a conceited tffort was made by 
 the executive officers to interfre in the election 
 oftheboHi-d of directors at Portsmouth. At the 
 head cf this attempt was Mr. Levi Woodbury, now 
 a member of the present Cabinet at Washington, 
 wlio <bd Udt hesitate to avow in a letter to the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, which, though mark- 
 ed 'confidential,' Vi^as subsequently ordered to 
 be publiihed by the cwmniittee of investigation in 
 1832,* that he wished the interference of the 
 Government, to remove the President of the branch 
 at Poitstnouth. * » * This letter of Mr. Wood- 
 bury was trt nsmittcdto the bank by the Secreta- 
 ry of the Treasury, who stated that 'from some 
 expressions in his letter, it may be inferred that 
 it is partly f)iinded on a supposed apfilication of 
 the influenc." of the bank, with a view to pohtical 
 eflTect;' in consequence of which, he deemed it 
 his duty to present it to the bank, '■with, the vieios 
 of the admini trafion in relation to it.' At the 
 same titne, Mr. Isaac Hill, acting as the Comptrol- 
 ler of the Treasury, until rejected by the Senate, 
 and now a Senator of the United States, sent a 
 meiBorial from the members of his political party 
 in the Legislature of New Hampshire, requesting 
 tlie removal of Mr. Mason. In another commu- 
 nication presented to the bank, he gave it as lii^ 
 opinion that no measure, short of Mr. Mason's re- 
 moval, cot'.ld lend 'to reconcile Ihe people of New 
 Hampshire to the bank, and tliat the friends of 
 General Jackson, in NeAr Hampslsire, have h:-»d 
 but too much rei'.son to complain of the manage- 
 ment oflhe branch at Port-smouth.' Finally, the 
 Secretary ;it War ordered the transfer of the pen- 
 sion fund from tlie bratich bank at Portsmouth, 
 to another bank in Concord, an ^ct so obviously in 
 violation of the laws, that it was first resisted by 
 the bank, and then retracted by the Secreiarj'. 
 
 "It became then manifest to the bank, that there 
 was a combined iffortto render the institntioii 
 subservient to political purposes, and that it was 
 necessary to come to some immediate and dis- 
 ttnct understanding of its rights and duties." 
 
 To sustain this reiteration of an already ex- 
 ploded charge, the managers of the bank are 
 obliged to resort to a fiction of their own inven- 
 tion, tor which there is not even the slightest pre- 
 tence of a foundation. They say "it is under- 
 stood that soon after that event, a meeting was 
 held in Wa.shinirton of the principal chiefs, &c., 
 and the possession of the bank was among the 
 
 'This is not true: the committee never directed the publica- 
 tion. It was Mr. JJiddle himself, who. without a.sl;iiig liberty 
 from the writers, shamelessly exposed this correspondence. 
 
most prominent objects of the parties assemb'ed." 
 Now if" there be any tbundalion for this story, 
 could not the gentlemen directors i'urnisli some 
 better evidence than a mere "it is understood?" 
 Ofliiese "princip;.! chiefs/' have we not :i rif^ht 
 to suppose ihat < ither Mr. Ingliam ortlieiwo 
 other disaffected members of tile Cabinet wlio re- 
 tired with him, must iiavt- had seme knowledge' 
 and has not each ol' them discovered at least an in- 
 clination to expose before the public any and 
 every transaction vvhicli mig-ht go to disgrace tiie 
 administration? The alkged meeting is disproved 
 by every circumstance which can go to establ sh a 
 negative! The facts of il;e case itself, and amomr 
 them the flict fully established by the correspond'- 
 ence that the ground of complaint against Mr. Ma- 
 son was not political, demon:,trate that both tlie al- 
 leged meeting and its objects were the mere in- 
 ventions of a mnid predetermined to seek a plausi- 
 ble pretext for an accusation of some sort. 
 
 It will not be denied that the object of some of 
 the petitioners for a change in the board ofDa-ect- 
 ors of the Portsmouth bianch, was an exemption 
 irom that exclusive political managi^ment whicji ' 
 haa been practised for ) ears at that branch. It 
 was a matter of notoriety, that up to ihat time 
 every member of tiie Board was opposed to the 
 
 " bad management," and the " most exten- 
 sive frauds." Mr. Bi^Idle liimsclf says, "Mr. 
 Mason is only one member of that board, 
 consisting of the same gentlemen wh.'} have had 
 charge of the branch far ininnj years.''' 
 
 But the management under Mr. Mason, became 
 f (im "bad" to "worse." 7'he most profiiable and 
 safi; busmess of the bank had been its country hxias 
 made in sums of from ^500 to §2000 each, under 
 an agreement that the interest and ten per cent, of 
 the principal should be checked in every fViir 
 months. As the bank had lost in its large loans, 
 to speculators in factory and other stocks, Mr. 
 Mason took it into his head that the smill debtors 
 were less safe than the large one?; and violating' 
 the pii^lited faitii of the bank, by a circular letter, 
 called on all to renew their notes every two montlls, 
 and at e;ich renewal, to pay tv^enty per cent, of 
 the principal. This course, rigid y pursued, 
 created a panic at once; and Mr. Mason stiH fur- 
 tiier contributed to the distress, by taking a large 
 sum from the circulation, and loaning it m Boston 
 to his own paiticular friends and connexions. 
 
 Witiiln the town of Portsmouih, the excite- 
 ment against Mr. Mason became almost universal 
 among the business men. It was charged on him, ihat 
 ... ,,--___ ...^ he arbitrarily changed (by shortenit.g) the periods 
 
 admmistration; and for the la.st three years, the of payments of paper amounting to several him- 
 bank had been managed (whether with or without drcd thousand dollars, reducing the time for re- 
 
 the sanction of the Directois of the mother bank) 
 with a view to political favoritism. 'I'lie bank had 
 been befoi-e, as almost every branch bardi lia-j been 
 since, a political m.achine, operating on t!ie elec- 
 tions. At the time of the first election of Presi- 
 dent Jackson, all the Directors were aciive parti- 
 sans against him; and in time of scarcitj-, money 
 ascommodaiions wtre understood to be granted as 
 a matter of political favor 
 
 This political management of ih:- Bank had 
 proved to be bad management. Mr, Biddle, in a 
 letter to Mr. Ingham, of July 18, 1829, 'says: 
 " The office at Portsmouth had origmaliy the mis- 
 fortune to have at its head a Mr. Cutts, who ended 
 by defrauding the United States of upwards of 
 S20,OLiO of the pension fund, whi^h the Bank was 
 obliged to replace; and last year the oflice was 
 nearly prostrated, in the general ruin which spread 
 over the country. Tmt of ^460,000 of loans, 
 i!>148,000 was thrown under protest: still furthrr 
 protests were expected, and the actual loss sust.dn- 
 cd there will not be less than $112,000. * * » _^ 
 confidential olHcer was despatched to Portsmouth, 
 who found the affairs of tlie office in great jeop- 
 aidy, covered witii the wrecks which ba i n.:Vnagc- 
 ii.ent and the most e.\tensive f.auds iiad occasion'^d. 
 'I'o retrieve it, it became necessary to select a man 
 of the hrst rate char;icler and abilities: such a man 
 was Mr. Mason." i 
 
 nev/als from one hundred and twenty to sixty 
 diys, Hnd increasing eacii call from ten to twenty 
 per cent.; that the best jiape'r in the State was re- 
 fused ciiscoiint; that he ni:ide a run upon one of 
 the local banks, with a view to stop it; and refu=ed 
 dpafis at sight on a Boston bank, and denied the 
 P ortsmoutii bank time even to send (a six hour's 
 ride) to Boston, for its money there in deposite; 
 that the papers.under which the revolutionary pen- 
 sioners had usually drawn, were rejected upon ca- 
 pricious and technical objections- Inconsequence 
 of these reasons, and mainly for the reason that he 
 threw into jail a ci'izen, (mie of his own political 
 party,) by \irt.ue of;i process which,a.'5 a lawyr, h« 
 issued against him, bt^caiise hs failed to comply 
 with the requisition which, u^ Fi-esident,he ex-.icled 
 in violation of the terms on wnich loans were 
 made, the public indignation against Mr. Mason 
 became so strong, tnat his imHge was hung, and 
 burnt ill effig'y in front of h\i own dwelling. 
 
 Mr. Mason had been p!ac>din the office of Pre- 
 sident and attorney of the bank under a coinpen- 
 saion raised from $800 'a §2000 per annum. Mr. 
 Biddle, in his letter to Sir. Ingham, speaking of 
 Mr. Mason says: — "Of his e-ntir.- competency, <^spe- 
 cially in detecting the complicated frauds, and 
 managing the numerous law suits which s'^jmed 
 inevittible, tlicrc couhl be no doubt." " Since 
 
 , lie has been in (office, he hss been exceedingly use- 
 To correct Uie "bad min:.g:ment," :.nd "ex- 1 ful— has saved the bank from great losses— has 
 tensive frauds," there was at no time a change secuivd the bad debts; nor until Mr. AVoodbury's 
 ot direction: the s^^me individuaLs from tha?, i letter, was I informed of any coHiplaint agamst 
 the ( hapter, continued to con- i him." 
 
 to tlie end of 
 
 trol the bank— tiie same polit:c<l coterie at ;dl 
 times wiekled it as their weapon of influence. .Mr. 
 Mason w:is appointed President— he had been a 
 ^lirector and attorney for the bank before tliat 
 ttne; and he remained associated in the Board 
 wiji the same men that controlled it at the ti.me of 
 
 If the bank had Intended to make severe exac- 
 tions of the people, Mr. M:^.son was the man of all 
 otners to lio their business; but he was not the 
 mail to manage an odlce of discount and deposites 
 either for the benefit of the bank or to the satis, 
 'faction of men of busness; and the result prove- 
 
8 
 
 the truth of my proposition. A (abular slate- 
 men', furnished by tlie bank, presents the follow- 
 ing as the profits on llie business of the Ports- 
 mouth branch bank: 
 
 In 1828, - - - ^25,903 80 
 
 1829, - - - 9,697 04 
 
 1830, - - - 5,164 16 
 The truth is, Mr. Mason's severe freatmenl and 
 
 violition of the plig-hted faith of the bank, at once 
 drove from it its most profitable customers, so 
 that in two years the profits of that branch were 
 redu -td to less than one-fifth the ordinary amount. 
 These were the causes which induced fifty-eit^ht 
 
 President." "In making these general repre- 
 sentations, I am repeating whut are in the mouths 
 of almost every citiz-m, of wliatr.ver pohtical de- 
 nomination, and am inviting, at the request of 
 many, your influence at tlie mother Hank, in pro- 
 ducing a change." "Never, on any occasion, 
 have I known complaints so wide and bitter as in 
 the case now under consideration." 
 
 We have just seen how completely Mr. Ingham, 
 then Secretary of the Treasury, exonerates all 
 others than himself from any intention of assum- 
 ing political control over the bank, and how he 
 likewise demonstrates, that in making the repre- 
 
 respectable individmls and firms, comprising j sentation he did, he disclaimed "all desire to 
 most of the active businei-s-men in Portsmouth, to I derive political aid through the bank." Mr 
 
 petition the President and Directors of the mother 
 
 liiddle himself shall speak of what were the mo- 
 
 bank for a change of the President of the branch ' tives of Mr. Woodbury. In his letter of July IS, 
 at the end of his term. (;f these fifiy-eight houses, ! 1829,toMr Ingliam.he says: "It appeisrs.tlun, froni 
 thirty-eight at least were men of the same politi-j Mr. Woodbury's own statement, that, so far from 
 cal party as Jlr. Mason. Ihe most of them re- employing the influence of the bank," with a 
 
 main of thut paty^ and as a proof that the main 
 reason for petitioning for a substitution was not 
 political, I may sti.te the fact, th;it twenty-four of 
 tnese names appear on the oidy petition for a res- 
 toration of the deposit.es to th - Bank "f the Uni- 
 ted States, which was presented from New Hamp- 
 shire during the season of panic and distress of 
 the f^ession of Congress two vears ago. 
 
 Scarcely any worse condition of the bank could 
 be conceived than that represented by Mr. B;ddle 
 hitBself. He says:— " A confidential ofiicer had 
 been despatched to Poitsmouth, who found the 
 affairs of the ofiice in great jeopardy, covered 
 with the wrecks which bad maiiagemeni and the 
 most extensive frauds had occasioned." Further 
 on, he admits that no change had been made for 
 thebttter, for he says: " Mr. Mason is only one 
 n~.ember of that Board, consisting of the same gen- 
 tlemen who have had charge of the brancli for 
 many years." 
 
 It was against such a state of things as this, that 
 respectful representations were made by citizens 
 ol all parties in Portsmouth, (and a major part of 
 those citizens, men who had never supported the 
 administration of Andrew Jackson, avid men who 
 did not support him so late as the winter of 1834, 
 in the act of the removal of the deposites,) in favor 
 of a change of the President, and'direction of the 
 
 view to political effect, " it is a notorious fact 
 that the complaints are made by Mr. Mason's otcn 
 political friends; so that, in truth, if there be any 
 politics in ihe matter, it is a question between Mr. 
 Mason and politicians of his own pursuaiion." 
 
 Is it not surprising, that in tiie lupse of little 
 mnre than a year afterward-i, Mr. Biddle should 
 represent Mr. Woodbury, as at tlie "head of the 
 attempt" to create a political subserviency of the 
 bank to the administration? And this charge is 
 made by him in the pamphlet report of a com- 
 mittee of directors of the Bank of the United 
 States, adopted by the Board, December 3, 1833. 
 May we not account for this discrepancy in the 
 change of circumstances of the c^se.'' In July, 
 1829, tliere was not even an expectation ef charg- 
 ing the efforts made for the removal of the Pre- 
 sident of the Portsmoiith branch ,to a design of 
 the administration to convert the bank into a poli- 
 tical instrum-nt in its own hands; while in De- 
 cember, 1833, it became highly important that the 
 directors of the bank should fix on certain un- 
 named "political chiefs" as having "distinctly 
 revealed" that other "duties than those to the 
 country were required" of the bank. 
 
 In the same pamphlet, for the purpose of 
 strengthening the charge of a "desire to derive 
 political aid through the operations of the bank," 
 
 branch at Portsmouth. And it was at the especial I the humble part I fiCted in forwarding the wishes 
 
 instance of those c.tizens, of all parties, that 
 about sixty members of the I-egislature of New 
 Hampshire subscribed their names to another peti- 
 tion, recommending a change of the direction, and 
 naming ten persons, a majority of whom was not, 
 at that time, friends of the admini.st ration, as 
 suiti-ble for directors to that braneh. Neither did 
 Mr. Woodbury or Mr. Hill move in this business 
 of their own accord, b-.it at the especial request of 
 the same citizens of Portsmouth, a mnjor part of 
 whom were then, and since have continued to be, 
 of the opposition to this administration. 
 
 Mr. Woodbury, in a confidential letter to Mr, 
 Ingham, requests him to lend "any aid for the 
 relief of the complainers that he can with pro- 
 priety furnish." He says "our commercial men 
 are almost unanimous in their complaints, and the 
 people in the interior, who were wont to be ac- 
 commodated formerly at the branch, jwin with 
 them in a desire for the removal of the present 
 
 of the citizens of Portsmouth, without distinction 
 of party, is misrepresented, by quoting from !ny 
 letter detached sentences going to show that my 
 application had a bearing exclusively political. 
 Then holding a subordinate siaiion in one of the 
 accounting departments of the Treasury, I was 
 absent a few weeks in ^ew Hampshire. While 
 at my place of residence, which is the seat of 
 governmont, a messenger, who had arrived the 
 day before from Portsmouth, presented the peti- 
 tion, subscribed by fifty-eight individual firms of 
 Portsmouth, addressed to the Directors of the 
 Bank of the United States, remonst,rating ag.Hinst 
 the reappointrnent of Mr. Mason as a director of 
 the briinch at [Portsmouth, and representing that 
 "the administration of its concerns during the 
 past year Ivas created great dissatisfaction ii.i thi> 
 quarter of the country, and has been of a charfC- 
 ter, in our opinion, partial, harsh, and no less in- 
 jurious to the bank itself than to those vvIk are 
 
9 
 
 accustomed to do business with it;" and also a nne 
 moriril,8 giied by between fifty and sixty members 
 of the siHte Legislature, reprepeiitini^ that they 
 " lia\c f^ond reason to believe t!iat the l-t!e man- 
 ag'emeiit of the Hoard of Directors cf tlie Branch 
 li.-ink at Portsmouth has been oppressive to the 
 men of buyiness in the State, and tends to the in- 
 jury of the institution itself;" "that the conchict 
 of the head of the Hoard has been destructive to 
 the basin< ss of Portsmoutii, and ofFi-nsive to the 
 whole Lommunity;" and respectfully naming- ten 
 iiulividuUs wlio are recomnu-nded as randuiates 
 for dirt ctors. This pethion and memorial he re- 
 quested me to take on my return to W:ishin.;ton, 
 and cm e them to be laid before the President of 
 the motht-T hank. Passing' rapidly through Phila- 
 delphia, I had no time to see or consult vvitli the 
 president and directors, with whom I had no per- 
 sonal acquaintance. I did, however, consult with 
 two gentlemen whom I knew, who engaged to 
 lay them itter before the president of the bank, 
 whenever 1 should forward the papers from Wash- 
 ington. It is my letter to those two gentlemen 
 that Mr Blddle not only took and used as a pub- 
 lic letter, but the contents of which he has dis- 
 orttd, for the purpose of forcing an inference 
 ^hat I was interfering in accordance with the de- 
 sign of cei tain "political chiefs " at AVashington, 
 *o corrupt the vestal purity of the bank, and en- 
 tice or di ive it " into a base political connexion 
 with the ailmini-tration." 
 
 The f 'llovving exti acts, embracing the whole 
 scope of the private letter which I address d to 
 Messrs. Fiarker and Pemberton of Philadelphia, 
 imder date of July 17, 1829, decisively prove that 
 my objict, so far as I had an object, was entirely 
 misrepresented in the pamphlet of the Bank Di- 
 rectors : 
 
 "Having recently spent several weeks in New 
 Hampshire, I am able to say, from my own know- 
 jedgp.that the sentiment of dissatisfaction on account 
 of the rt ct nt management of the branch at Ports- 
 mouth, by Mr. iVIason, is general; that his conduct 
 has bt en partal and oppressive, ^nd calculated not 
 less to injure the institution than to disgust and dis- 
 affect the principal business men, and that no 
 measuri- short of his removal will tend to reconcile 
 the people of New Hampshire to the Bank. * * * 
 '•I he friends of General Jackson in New Hamp- 
 shire have had but too much reason to comp'ain of 
 the management of the branch at Portsmouth. 
 All they now ask is, that this institution in th t 
 State m y not continue to be an eng ne of politic d 
 oppression by any party. The board has, I be- 
 lieve, inva iably and exclusively consisted of indi- 
 viduals ■ pposed to the Gener.d Government. Of 
 the ten (lersons named in the petition for directors, 
 six are friends of the last, and four are friends of 
 the prt s. n administration; they are, however, 
 alike, genjemen nf respectability, who have no 
 sinist; r obj cts to be promoted, understanding well 
 the rest) nsihilities and wants of business men. 
 With >uch a direction, I do not doubt the branch 
 at Poitsmouth will be secure and prosperous, and 
 satisfy :dl." 
 
 Under tlu'se reprr sentations the President of 
 the bank visited Portsmouth, and is understood to 
 have exhihi'ccl every written representation made 
 to him, confidentially or otherwise, to the eyes or 
 
 the esrs of the assembled citizens of the town; and 
 the well known ta'ent of his principal oflRcer, for 
 small verbal criticism and for ridicule, was put in 
 requisition for an exhibition of the letters and peti- 
 tions before the people. It was soon discovered 
 10 be no purtof Mr. Biddle's object to listen to the 
 complaints of the people, whether with or without 
 foutidation He came there for no such puipose. 
 It was no part of his object to satisfy that commu- 
 nity by any relaxation of severity, but rather to 
 conquer the revolting spirit by letting all know 
 who wanted any indidgence from the bank, how 
 much ai-id how deeply they wet e under obligations 
 to his favor. The exclusive pohtical rule of that 
 bank, from that day to the day it was closed, was 
 continued. A directorship has in two or three in- 
 stances been offered to friends of the existing ad- 
 ministration, and, being obliged to act .as mere au- 
 tomatons, each of them, it is believed, has de- 
 clined to act. 
 
 That this bank, existing there for about eigh- 
 teen yea-^s, without taxation from the State, 
 and having all the benefits of the public deposites 
 during a greater part of the time, has been of 
 real injury to the Slate, must be admitted. At 
 first furnishing, by extraordinary capital that 
 could not be usefully employed, strong tempta- 
 tions for speculation, this bank terminated the ca- 
 reer, by prostrating in pecuniary ruin, many men 
 who might have done a safe business through life 
 if temjjtations had not been thrown in their way 
 to make investments by loans from the bank. 
 
 The charge in the''directors' pamphlet, of an ef- 
 fort at Washington "to rendi r the institution sub- 
 servient to political purposes," by the order of the 
 War Department to transfer the pension fund 
 from the branch bank ;»t Portsmouth to another 
 bank at Concord, but illy accords with the other 
 charge which I have at length been considering. 
 If, in the one case, the aUempt had been to cre- 
 ate a subserviency on the part of the bank by 
 changing the political character of the directors, 
 where would be the consistency in depnving the 
 bank at the .same time of what seems now to have 
 been a privilege, but which, until that time, had 
 always been represented to be a burden? The 
 truth is, that a majority of the Legislature of 
 New HHmpshire, having been always taught by 
 those concerned in the United States Bank, that 
 the bank coveted not the privilege of paying the 
 pensioners, petitioned the Secretary of War to re- 
 move the fimd to a more central point, which 
 would make the average distance of travel for 
 each and every pensioner from twenty-five to thir- 
 ty miles less. In several other States, up to that 
 time, pensions had been paid by agencies other 
 than those of the Bank of the United States and 
 its branches. The Secretary of War, doubting 
 not his right, because it had not before been dis- 
 puted, fiirected thj pension agency to be changed. 
 This direction and cha<ge threw new light on the 
 subject. The Bank of the United States, to mag- 
 nify its services to the public and make them 
 more than an equivalent for its exclusive privile- 
 ges, had represented the holding and disbursing of 
 the public moneys as extremely onerous. But Mr. 
 M.ison presents an entirely different view of the 
 subject, which he offers as a reason v/hy the bank 
 should resist the transfer of agencies. He s.ays: 
 
10 
 
 "The removal coritemplalcd would lessen our 
 means of circulation, and, as 1 think, be very in- 
 urious lo the bank." It is uifHcuIt to perceive 
 how the other of "tiie two Executive Depart- 
 ments," tile Secretary of War, should have been 
 acting in concert v/ith the Secretary of the Trea- 
 sury, when he directed the pt nsion agency to be 
 removtd from a bark which the latter was attempt- 
 ing to control, to another bank over which, by 
 possibility, he had no ritjht of control. It appears 
 to me that the "two Executive Departments," if 
 designing to do what they are charged with doing, 
 were acting directly at cross purposes. 
 
 Connected with this subject of alleged inter- 
 ference of the Executive to render the institution 
 subservient to ])olitical purposes, is the charge 
 made against the I*' esident of having from the out- 
 set entertained a violent hostility to the bank and 
 its management. 'I'his charge is countenanced by 
 the whitewashing report of tlie Finance Com- 
 mittee of 1834; it is m-jre partlcidarly set forth in 
 the pamphlet o* the directors, after having alleged 
 that they valiantly resisted ail the wicked at- 
 tempts of the Ex. cutive to sully the pure honor 
 of the bank by forcing them to become pohti- 
 cians, when tliey say — 
 
 "These extracts reveal the whole secret of 
 the hobtility to the bank of those who, finding it 
 impossible to bend it to their purposes, have re- 
 
 entire confidence" of its inamorato? The charge 
 of seduction or force attempted upon tSie bank i« 
 false — it is an after thought, an accusation which 
 will return " but to plague- tlie inventors." 
 
 The whitewashing report of the Committee of 
 Finance of 1834, bears evirlent marks of being 
 the production of more than one hand. The 
 largest half of this report, if I might be permit- 
 ed to give an opinion, I would say canje from the 
 same quarter as h.ive most of the wliite-vvashing 
 reports that had preceded it; that it scents of the 
 shop, so that its author may be detected as one 
 of the banking fiaternity, whose business is to 
 regulate the rise and fail of stocks and the course 
 of exchange. Observe the expression on page 
 42, line 12 from tiie bottom, of "drafis ju llm 
 iijfice.''' Tnis expression, isolated as it is, and re- 
 lei'ring with certainty to no particular place, one 
 would think could never have been midc by oric 
 of the committee. Referring, as it evidently 
 does, to tl>e offline at Philadelphia, ill-nature 
 might say it could have been written only by a 
 tenant of the marble house. Critics would of- 
 fer this as one of the external evidences, that the 
 larger portion of the jipology for the hank came 
 from the bank itself. I must do the gentlemen on 
 the committee the justice lo a;iy, that I believe 
 either of them would, after an application of two 
 months-, during the recess of Congress, have 
 
 solved to breaS it. For this purpose, all the i produced a more credit.tble production than the 
 poisoned weapons of political warfare have, for | larger part of this report— a report so meagre in 
 the la.stfourytars, i)een unsparingly and unceas- 1 accurate facts, and yet so fruit fid in matters for 
 mgly employed against the institution." conjecture; a report which reluctantly admit.s 
 
 This charge upon the veteran salesman and [what it cannot conceal, and poorly attempts to 
 patriot comes with an ill grace from the man who I cover up what it had better have exposed to the 
 had for four successive yer,r.s been non-iina:ed hy j world. 
 
 the President oftli'-. United States to the oflice of j I give my behef that the report is not all pro- 
 director of the bank. Mr. Adams himself, in his duced bv the same hand; I would not positively 
 minority report, makes the boa.t "that Mr. Bid- , say it is part from the bank and part from the 
 die had enjoyed the unquestioned and emire con- 1 committee. When the report says, on page 1, 
 fidence both of the Government and the individ- 1 " every facihty was aflbrded by the officers of the 
 ual stockholders." " Ten long years," continues j institution which the committee could have de- 
 Mr. A., "has this confidence been enjoyed and j sired;" that "no hesitation or reluctance was 
 
 justified by that distinguished citizen and honora- 
 ble man. No question had ever been invidiously 
 started how many proxies he held.? The more he 
 held, the more extensive was the confidence of 
 the stockholders in him. No scruple had ever 
 crossed the mind of any President of the United 
 States to deter him from nominating- him year af- 
 ter year a;; a Government directorT" 
 
 Where has this man found occasion, in his own 
 
 manifested in furnishini;; every book or paper 
 which was required; and every avenue to a lull 
 and free investigation, not only at the bank, but at 
 the several branches visited by the commitiee or 
 any member of it, was promptly laid open;" when 
 the report speaks thus, we would scarcely believe 
 the language lo "be that of the committee. But 
 when the report, on page 46, siys, " the directors 
 should carefully have avoided every appearance 
 
 person, to saj that the President interfered of mystery, nor should they iiave consented to 
 
 against him or his management until aft. r th 
 election of 1832.? When did President Jackson 
 "distinctly reveal" to president Biddle, that he 
 required "other duties" of him "than those due 
 to the country.?" When did the patriot states- 
 man give Mr. Bid tie to understand that it whs ne- 
 cessat-y for the Bank to « consult the political 
 views of ihose who had obtained the ascendancy 
 in the E.\ecutive.?" Cjuld it be possible that this 
 immaculate institution, with its immaculate guard- 
 ian genius and head, should have preserved their 
 vestal purity for four years.? should have succes- 
 sively resisted every assault upon tlieir virtue, and 
 repelled the lawl. ss assailant; and at lliesame time 
 
 p'ane the president in a situntion so full of em- 
 barrassments;" that "the committee owe it to them- 
 selves to state, that they submitted to the presi- 
 dent the propriety of disclosing the objects 
 of expenditure;" that "the president averred that 
 the banic could not have the least difiiciiliy 
 in making an ample and minute detailed disclo- 
 sure of every item of expenditure, so far as the 
 bank itself or its officers were concerned, but 
 urged the delicacy and justice, in his opinion, of 
 refraining from disclosures which would most pro- 
 bably expose others, every way innocent, to vitu- 
 peration, malignant a">persion, and, peradventure, 
 jiersonal venge.ance," that "he averred his wil- 
 
 enjoyed for the whole term the "unqueslionedand; hngness to verify, under any form of solemnity. 
 
11 
 
 in any way agreeable to the committee, for wliat 
 ^he expenditure Jiad not been made — lliat no por- 
 tion of it had been made to subsidize any portion 
 of the public press, or tamper witli or affect the 
 purity of any public functionary, but reverted to 
 the indelicacy and possible dan.e^er of exposing' 
 innocent persons to odium or persecution;" when 
 the report speaks after tliis sort, I should be more 
 than half inclined to the belief that some one of 
 the committee had a hand in producing' a part of it. 
 
 Wii.it H singular anomaly does the whitcwushing- 
 report of the Finance Committee present! The 
 first statement is, that there was no concealmi?nt — 
 that every thing was tUrown open to the view of 
 the committee, and by the committee to the 
 world. Tiie last statement is nearly a ful! page of 
 apology for concealment of every thing- that the 
 president of the bank supposed would make 
 against him. Such a ))alpable contradiction, in a 
 rs-port of this kind, stamps its character as scarce- 
 ly more reputable than tiiat of the subject on 
 which it treats. We may believe such a report, so 
 far as it admits truth that makes ag<*inst the bank: 
 we can place no confidence in such assertions, 
 without proof, as make any thing- in its favor. 
 
 I have been forcibly struck, ^!r. President, 
 with the keenness of sensibility evinced by the 
 bank and its friends at every imputation < f its in- 
 tention to interfere with the politics of the coun- 
 try. From t!:e first of January to the List of 
 December of every year since 1829, the bur- 
 den of the song lias been, that the bank keeps it- 
 self entirely al'iof from politics. Under the date 
 of June 19, 1829, we find Mr. Biddle writing to 
 the Secretary of the Treasury: 
 >, "The ofiicers of the bank and all Its brandies 
 are thorouglily imbr.ed with this spirit, knowinjr, 
 as they do, that tlieir interfrrence in political 
 contentions would be highly offensive to the gene- 
 ral admiiiistration of the institution." 
 
 "S believe tliere are r,ot in the whole country any 
 other five hundred persons, of equal intelligence, 
 so abstracted irom public ^fFairs, as the five hun- 
 dred who are employed in administering the bank; 
 and I am satisfied that no loan was ever granted 
 to, or withheld from any individual, on account of 
 partiality or hostility." 
 
 "In the choice of its agents «nd the distribution 
 of its loans, it should be wholly indifferent to poli- 
 tical parties." 
 
 "In general, the clifs of persons active'y enga- 
 ged in polititical contentions, as well from tlieir 
 own war.ts, as from the train of adherent*, whose 
 claims they are too prone to support, :ire among 
 the most dangerous inmates of a bank." ' 
 
 Again, G:;neral Cadwalader, acting president of 
 the hnidc iti the absence of Mr. Bidrlle, writes, 
 under date of August 4, 1829, to the Secretary of 
 the 'i'reasury: 
 
 "If, however, it can he .shown that, in any quar- 
 ter, the officers of the bank have lent tliemselves 
 OS the ministeis of a parly, or have used 'he power 
 of the corporation for political purpo.'scs, not a mo- 
 ment will be lost in visiting such offences with the 
 utmost seveii'y of censure and punishment." 
 
 How graphically, in the one cas^-, does Mr. 
 Tiiddle present,in contrast the five hundred oflicers 
 of the bank operating throughout the Union in 
 
 the Presidential and Congressional elections 
 of 1832 and 1834, and the army of hired and 
 purchased and dependent " tiain of adhe- 
 rents," who fought like bullies to overpower the 
 people at those elections; and how truly in the 
 other case does General Cadwalader and his Board 
 of Directors exliibit fie picture of deformity which 
 must attach to officers of the bank, who stand 
 condemned out of their own mouths. 
 
 The correspondence of Mr. Bid:lle is full of 
 similar expressions of detestiition, at all attempts to 
 make the bank instrumi/nta! of promoting political 
 or parly purposes. So much for 1829: ve find 
 the case a little altered in 1830. In that year the 
 Board gave tlieir president authority to circulate 
 an article on banks and currency, (.for writing 
 and not printina^ whicli, Mr. Biddle paid Mr. 
 Albert Gallatin, it is said, ^,000,) published in the 
 American Quarterly Review, containing a favora- 
 ble notice of the bank. 
 
 In 1831, Mr. Biddle suggested to the Board of 
 Directors the "expediency and propriety of ex- 
 tending still more widely a knowledge of the 
 concerns of the institution;' and a resolution 
 passed the Board, authorizing the president to 
 cause to be prepared and circulated, such docu- 
 ments and papers as may communicate to the peo- 
 ple information in regard to the operations of the 
 bank." 
 
 I'lie directors of the bank say, in their pam- 
 phlet of 1833, that the expenses incurred, as 
 stated in the expense account, in executing these 
 resolutions, from December, 1829, when t/ie first 
 assault wai made upon the bank bjj the P esiden\ 
 to the present time, &c-, amount to $58,265.05, 
 &c. 
 
 "So that the general result is,that within fi)uryears 
 past, the bank has been obliged to incur an ex- 
 pense of §58,000 t') defend itself against injurious 
 misrepresentation ." 
 
 I wish the following sentence from the bank 
 pamphlet, published in December 1833, should be 
 particularly noted: 
 
 "The bank lias never interfered iti the slightest de- 
 cree in politics, and never hifitienced, or sought to 
 infiuencc, elections,- but it will not be deterred by 
 the menaces or clam;jr5 of politicians, from execu- 
 ting its duty in defending itself." 
 
 This was said and solemnly declared to the 
 world in the latter part of 1833. February 4, 1834, 
 the Committee of Finance of the Senate of the 
 United States gave their countenance to V.- above 
 declaration, as will be seen in the following ex- 
 tracts: 
 
 "The last charge preferred against the bank, 
 by Mr. Taney, is, that it has used iis means with a 
 view to obtain pohtical power, and tliereby se- 
 em e a renewal of its charter. 
 
 "The very statement of such a charge, as a rea- 
 son for tlie removal of the deposltes, is calculated 
 to excite disfrust in the wisdom and propri-ty of 
 that measure; because the charge, too gner!«lto 
 be proved, is also too 'general to be disproved." 
 * * * "Nor is it either acknowledged, nor po 
 far as the committee know, proved, that the bank 
 took an open and direct interest, as a corporation, 
 in the election refercd to," (the Presidential elec- 
 tion of 1832.) 
 
12 
 
 Even the report of t'^e Commif tee of Finance, ' 
 made at the last srssion of Congress, conderaa^ 
 the interference of the bank in the elections. It 
 says: "For a great moneyed corporation, created 
 to subserve the purposes of the country, to lend 
 itself to pirty, and to enter throti_£rh its moneyed 
 power, in any way, into the political stnigdes of 
 the da)', would be to render it truly and deserv- 
 edly odious," 
 
 The committee published several letters of an- 
 terior dales, in which Mr. Biddle denies all inter- 
 ference of the bank in politics; from them I select 
 the following sentences: 
 
 Letter to J. Harper, Esq., Lexmshn, Kentuchj, 
 dated January 9, 1 S29 
 
 "I have myself an extreme unwillingness to 
 blend politics with the concerns of the bank 
 Nearly all its misfortunes may be traced to this 
 cause, and in your section of the country we have 
 surely had a melancholy experience of the hazard 
 of lending to politicians-" What politicians are 
 meant here? 
 
 Lnter to E. Sheppm, Esq , Lnnisville, Kentucky, 
 February 12, 1829. 
 "That the offices in Kentucky had suffered 
 deeply from the influence of politicians; that we 
 had for some time been endeavoring to withdraw the 
 bank out of the reach of that influence; that we 
 had at length succeeded in giving a business cha- 
 racter to its transactions," &c. 
 
 Letter to J. Johwov, Esq., Charleston, {S. C.) Sep- 
 tember 30, 1830. 
 
 "In the administration of the Bank of the United 
 States, no principle is more fundamental, than its 
 total abstinence from politics, &c. 
 
 These and ntlier letters, and extracts of letters 
 fromMr. Biddle, were published by the white- 
 washing committee, for no other seeming purpose 
 than to produce an impression on the public mind, 
 that the m magers of the bank had such an innate 
 abhorrence of politics and politicians, that it might 
 be safely sworn the bank retained, down to the 
 year the report was made, its vestal virgin purity; 
 and had never interfered at all in politics. 
 
 But could that committee believe the Americ'in 
 people so destitute of common sense, as not to dis- 
 cover, tven from the scantv evidence which their 
 report exhibited, that the allegation is false; that 
 the bank has abstnined from direct and posi- 
 tive interference in the elections; and that the 
 Board of Directors, and all those who have given 
 currency to their statement of December, 1833, 
 that "the bank has never interfered in the sliirbt- 
 cst degree in politics, and never influenced, or 
 sought to influence elections," stand convicted of 
 untruth in its deepest and broadest sense? 
 
 This unpardi)nab!e departure from the truth, 
 constituting a criminality even more flatjrant than 
 the acts ofintcrference themselves, may be proved 
 m some fifty or a hundred cases. I shall content 
 myself in this place, to rite one only. 
 
 As a prelude to an exhibition of the sums paid 
 for publications by the bank, to partizan editors and 
 others, the committee exhibit a letter from Nicho- 
 las Biddle, under date of September 26, 1832, to 
 the president of the Lexington, Kentucky, Branch 
 Bank, sending therewith a copy of Mr. Webster's 
 
 speech on the President's veto message, and also 
 an article reviewing that message. These he 
 state?;, it is desirable should be circiila'ed.to coun- 
 teract the injurious impressions which the mes- 
 sage was calculated to make against the institu- 
 tion. He also directs the publication of Mr. Clay 
 and Mr. Ewing's speeches on the same subject, 
 andsavs: '"AH I wish to caution jou against, is, 
 that abstaining, an the bank dues, from all comitxion 
 ivUh what are called politics, you will confine your 
 efforts exclusively to the distribution of what may 
 be explanatory of the optrations and conduct of 
 the bank.'' 
 
 Here was a very pretty, and a very positive 
 declaration, with wliich the whitewashing commit- 
 tee might commence their exhibition of "the ac- 
 count of tlie Bank of the United States for print- 
 ing, &c., other than ordinary." To stamp an in- 
 delible falsehood on the declaration that the bank, 
 in the elections of 1832, abstained from all politi- 
 cal interference, I wiil quote from the statement 
 of the committee one simple i'em, as follows: 
 
 "Nathan Hale, printing 40,00U copies of Web- 
 ster's speech at Worcester Convention; 12,500 
 copies Webster's speech on the bank veto, and 
 stitching, boxes, freight by packet and stages, 
 packing and sending awa}-, iJ2,422 65." 
 
 Now, I happen to recollect something about this 
 Worcester speech: there was scarcely an indivi- 
 dual voter of the State of New Hampshire, who 
 was not, just previous to the November election 
 of 1832, futnlshed with a copy of this Worcester 
 speech. Such as would not take them from the hands 
 of the runners appointed to distribute them, had 
 them thrown into their door yards, at night. They 
 came into New Hampshire (about the eame time 
 their author made us a visit,) just before the 
 day of election, when, too late for contradiction, 
 certain Bos'on gentl men kindly certified to us 
 false news relative to the Pennsylvania elections. 
 
 This Worcester speech was not confined to a 
 vindication of the bank — it was spoken, printed, 
 and circulated for quite another object; and this 
 object will be best explained by reading a few ex- 
 tracts from it. I read them, Mr. President, to 
 show that Nicholas Biddle practised a most audaci- 
 ous and glaring deception on the Committee of Fi- 
 nance.if by artfully introducing his disclamer along 
 side of hi« account, he inducc-d them to believe 
 that he had paid for the circulation only of such 
 articles as were " explanatory of the operations 
 and conduct of the bank." 
 
 Extract, from Mr. Websteu's speech at the Nalion- 
 al Rtpublican Convention, in Worcester (Mass.) 
 October \2lh, 1832. 
 
 " Mr. Pre.sident: I take the hnzanl of the reputation of an 
 alarmi.st. I clieerfnlly submit to the imputation of over-excitecl 
 apprehension. I discani all learoftlie cry of false prophecy, 
 and I declare thai, in my judgment, not only the great interests 
 of ihecomitry, but the constitution itself, is in imminent peril, 
 and that nothini; can save either the one or the other, but that 
 voice which has authority to say to the evils of misrule and 
 mis-government, hitherto shall ye come, but no farther. 
 
 " Sir, Vie see one State of the Union openly threatcnins to 
 arrest the execution of the i-evenue laws of the Union, by acts 
 of her own. This proceeding is threatened, not by irresponsi- 
 ble persons, but by those who fill her chief places of power 
 and trust. 
 
 "In another Stale, free citizens of the country are imprison- 
 ed, and held in prison in defiance of a judgment of the Su- 
 
 Webster's I prcme Court, pronounced for their deliverance. Immured in 
 
a dungeon, marked, and despatched as subjects of a peniten- 
 tiary puni.shment, these ciiizens pass tlieir days in couiuius 
 ihc slow revolving hours of their miserable captivity, and tlieir 
 nights in feverish and delusive dreams of tbeir homes, and 
 their own families; while (he constiiuiicmstands aiijuilged m 
 be violated, a law of Congress is eli'uctually repealed by the 
 act of a Slate, and a judgment of deliverance by the Supreme 
 Ci>urt is set at nought, and contemned. 
 
 "Treaties, importing the nios. solemn and sacred obligations, 
 are deaied to have binding force. 
 
 '■ A feeling that there is great insecurity for property, and 
 the stability of the means oflivin;: extensively prevails. 
 
 ''Tlie whole subject of the laritl", acted on for the moment, is, 
 at the same moment, declared not to be at rest, but liable to be 
 again moved, and with greater effect, just so soon as power 
 lor that purpose shall be obtained. 
 
 ••The currency of the country, hitherto safe, sound, and 
 universally satisfactory, is threatened with a violent chanse, 
 and embarrassment iii pecuniary affairs, equally distressing 
 and unnecessary, hangs over all the trading and active classes 
 of society. 
 
 '• V long used, and long approved legi-slative instrument for 
 the collection of revenue, well secured against abuse, and al- 
 ways reipoitsihSe to Congress a7ul the lairs, is denied further 
 existence; and its place is propo.=ed to be supplied by a new 
 branch of E.N;ecutive D.^partment, with a money power, control- 
 led and conducted solely by Executive agency. 
 
 "gir, the question is wholly unsettled, and the principles of 
 ilie administration, according to its most recent avowal of 
 those principles, is adverse to tlie | rotecling policy, decidedly 
 hostile 10 tlie whole system, root and branch; and this on per- 
 itianent and alleged constitutional grounds. 
 
 " The question, therefore, of the tariff— the question of every 
 tariff— the question between maintaining our agricultural anil 
 manufiiciuring interests where they now are, and breaking up 
 the entire system, and erasing every vestige o( it from the 
 .statute book, is a question materially to be affecta,d by the 
 pendin; election." 
 
 Fro.n this extract it will be seen th:it the Wor- 
 cester speed) liad but little to do with explana- 
 tions " of the operation '^nd conduct of the bank," 
 but that it iHunched at once into all the exciting" top- 
 ics which were calculated to influence the then 
 pending' election. We may very much admire 
 the ho'dness of the speaker who could *' cheer 
 fully submit to the imputation of over excited ap- 
 prehension," — who conld " discard all fear of the 
 cry of false prophecy" — who could declare the 
 country and the constitution, e"ery thin^ we hold 
 dear, to be in "imminent peril;" and who, on that 
 great occasion, threw himself into the breach; but 
 we must detest that hypocr'sy, whether it be 
 of the b«nk or its friends, which continues to de- 
 clare and reiter.ite that tiie publication and gratui- 
 tous circulation of forty thousand such speeches, 
 just on the eve of the presidential election, was no 
 interference with politics. 
 
 Why, Mr. President, this speech was like An- 
 tony's funeral oration over the dead body of 
 Cxsar; it opened the " poor dumb wounds" of the 
 bleediiij? country, and roused the men of Massa- 
 chusetts, who had long been taught to consider 
 Aii'lrew .Jackson as the veriest tyrant, the most 
 liard-hearted oppressor that ever existed in this 
 or any other country, to such an effort .is tliat 
 .State had not made since the time when its Le- 
 gislature resolved it to be " unbecoming a moral 
 and religious people to rejoice" at the successes 
 of our gallant army and navy,in the war of 1812; it 
 was such an exciting appeal .is would almost 
 move the rocks to mutiny. This Worcester 
 speech in 1832, was hut the comm-ncement of the 
 t;looiny predictions followed up in 1834. The 
 ujmni.stration decidedly "hostile to the protect- 
 ing policy," and " embarrassment in pecuniary 
 uffairs, equally distressing and unnecessary, hangs 
 
 over all the trading and active classes of socie- 
 ty." How often did we hear during the panic 
 ses.sion of Congres.s, that the' estimates of the 
 Treasury were overrated; that there would be a 
 great falling off in the revenue; that confidence 
 was destroyed; iucUistry paralyzed; commerce sus- 
 pended; that the wiilidr.iwal of the deposltes had 
 changed the face of the country from a sc; ne of 
 unparalleled prosperity to a scene of unparalleled 
 desolation; that the commercial towns were de- 
 serted; orders for goods were cf)iinterm*nded; 
 foreign purchases stopped, etc ? Now mark how 
 a pain tale shall disprove all these pred ctions. 
 The imports and exports of the last five years 
 show tiiat the business of the country has 
 at no lime been so prosperous and so exten- 
 sive as in the two years since the withdrawal of the 
 deposites. 
 
 [Value of im- I g . . | j, ■ I Total exports 
 
 Yr's! P°^i^i'^*:^J domestical-- foreign ar- I »' l^'reign 
 tides. tides. 
 
 U.S. of for- I 
 eign articles j 
 
 and domes- 
 tic articles 
 
 ISU I $97,0:3-2,858 I SO-i.OlS,^^ 
 
 '?,■> \ \mfiry2fi77 03,074,81.5 
 
 '33 109.0011,000 I 70,W-.-,030 
 
 '34 I 1-2?,093,3S1 | 74,444fi29 
 
 '35 I HS',87g ,')-';8 I 101.1Sf)082 
 
 [ ■S1S,3-J4.333 
 2:3,963. 1-^s 
 20,0:21.373 
 2-2,874;-295 
 
 $80,37'2,566 
 87.1«7,943 
 90,663,403 
 97,318,724 
 
 20,504,49-5 | r21,t593,577 
 
 Our imports and exports have fully kept pace 
 with the increase of our population; the former 
 exceeding the latter in about the ratio of profits on 
 foreign traffic, including the products of the sea, 
 earned and st-cured by our enterprising fi-,her- 
 men and sailors. Since the commencement of 
 the present administration, the annud imports 
 liave increased from about seven!y-four millions 
 to one hundred and fifty millions of dollar!-; the 
 country is prospered as no other nalio.. v. r was 
 prospered, in spite of the efforts to ihiov/ em- 
 barrassments in the way. Surely something must 
 be due to the admi listration, since it was to the 
 administration that all the anticipated misery and 
 desolation were charged! 
 
 There was some little sophism inch:irging > 'he 
 Pres'dent and his friends the acts of those who 
 filled the "chief places of power" in a southern 
 State, that has acted for the last few years almoit 
 entirely in concert with those who sustain *• the 
 chif places of power" in .Massachusetts; but we 
 must pardon something to tliis liberty taken by the 
 orntor,when we consider th.it he che. rfuily submit- 
 ted " to the imputation of over excited apprehen- 
 sion,"and ingeniously contrived to unite the cas 
 of the imprisoned inissionaries in another State with 
 the nullification of South Carolina. The story 
 told of the •• slow revolving hours of their mis- 
 erable captiv'ity," of their " feverish and delusive 
 dreams of their homes," was in admirable keep- 
 ing with the efforts that had been m.ule for the 
 purpose of producing collision between the 
 fiovermients (;f the State of Georgia and of the 
 United Stites, by citizens of Ma.ssachusetts, who 
 ha 1 prosecuted the suit and obtained an ex parte 
 trial and decision of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. 
 
 One siTi:iil circumstance the Worcester orator 
 seems not to have adverted to; and as that would 
 have spoiled the effect of his moving appeal, the 
 knowing ones readily excuse the omission; and 
 that is, that thesj poor imprisoned missionaries. 
 
14 
 
 from the moment of their trial and conviction, 
 were tenderid by the competent authorities the of- 
 fer of release and pardon, on the simple condition 
 that they would either trd;e an oath to support the 
 laws of the State orGeori;iH, or consent lo Ie.i\e 
 the State without taking such oath. But let that 
 pass. 
 
 The speaker does, indeed, refer to the " instru- 
 ment for the collection of revenue, well secured 
 againsf, abuse, and alwciys re.spomible to Congress 
 and the laus," for the purpose of passing an en- 
 comium upon the bsnk. Tiie last report of the 
 committee presents hut a s:k1 conimentary upon liis 
 allegation of tecnritij agains! abuse; and, as if the 
 bank itself " was pr'-determmed to falsify the 
 praises of its very best friends, and to extend the 
 range of infractions of the charter to its utmost 
 width, it has s nee even refu-ed to acknowledge 
 that resp mobility to Congress, expressly named in 
 its chaitei', l;y denying to h committee of the 
 House of llepreBentatives all access to its books 
 and its proceedings. 
 
 15ut the question of the tariff was a subject of 
 high excitement to M.tssachuetts and the North; 
 and the Worcester speech, for the purpose of 
 alarming the people, declares, in effect, that tjie 
 then pending election will decide the fate of the 
 " agricultui-al and manufacturing interests," tliat 
 " the breaking up the entire system, and ern-ing 
 every vestige of it from tiie statute book," will 
 result from the failure of his party. Here wa a 
 subject that appealed directly to tlie citizens of 
 New England; and the false attitude in which it 
 was placed — filse, as hai^ been dcmor.slrated by 
 subsequent events — was calculated to mislead 
 ©r deceive the ptople. Tlie bank miglit evince 
 a temporary cunning by pouring out its money to 
 circulate among the peo[)le infor-ation caiciilateii 
 to alarm their fears and work up th Mr already 
 "overexcited apprehensions." Was this not in- 
 terference in politics — a most unjustifiable inter- 
 ference .'' 
 
 I again turn to the bank'.s Worcester speec 
 
 '• Among the great interests of the country, Mr. President, 
 there is one, which appears to me not to have attracted, from 
 the people of this Commonwealth, a degree of attention, alto- 
 getlier equal to its magnitude. 
 
 "Mr. President, .among the bills which failed, at the last ses- 
 sion, for want of the President's apjiroval, was one in which 
 this State had a great pecuniary inteiest. It was the bill for 
 thepaymentof interest to these States, the funds advanced by 
 litem during the war, the principal of which had been paid, 
 or assumed, by the Government of the United States. ' ' • • 
 
 "But where a State has so direct and so heavy an interest, 
 v,-here the justice of the case is so plain that men agree in it 
 who agree in hardly any thing else, where her claim has passed 
 Congress, without considerable opposition in either House, a 
 refu.jal to approve the bill without giving the slightest reason, 
 and he taking the advantage of the rising of Congress to give ii 
 a silent go-by, /s an act tliat may well awaken the attention of 
 the people in the Slates concerned. . • . • . 
 
 "The principles of the administration are hostile to internal 
 improvements. Here is another power, heretofore exercised 
 in many instances, now denied. The administration now de- 
 nies the power, except with qualifications, which cast an air of 
 ridicule over the wliole subject; being founded on such dis- 
 tinctions as between salt water and fresh water; places above 
 custom-houses and places below; and others eqtially extraor- 
 dinary." 
 
 Here we find the bank taking ground in favor 
 of a bill in which Massachusetts had a "great pe 
 cuniary interest." We all supposed Ma.ssaclui- 
 setts had been well paid for her claims for ser 
 
 vices during the late war when she obtained ne:<r- 
 !_y half a million of dollars imderthe administration 
 of Andrew Jackson. She got from him what she 
 never could obtain under an administration at the 
 head of which was one of her own cilizci;.'^; and 
 nov*' she c-implaiiis that interest on tliat cltim is 
 not a lowed her! All who can remember the his- 
 tory of our country twenty years, must recollect 
 the nature of tlicse Massachusetts claims. Be- 
 sides the interest on wiiat was tiliowed, she has 
 behind a claim tor principal amDtinting to proba- 
 bly more than half a million of dollars. When 
 shf gets tlie in'e^e^t on one, she will claiin the 
 principtd of tlie other; and to that wid succeed 
 another claim fur interest upon tlie last sum. It 
 is believed that Massachusetts has received qtiite 
 as much for her war claims as she was ever enti- 
 tled to; and as for the other States, claiming a bal- 
 ance of interest, it is well known that much was 
 ailov/ed them in those settlements which wa? ex- 
 pended without the authority of the Genera! Gj- 
 vernment, and was exchisively the ex])eiidiiiire of 
 the State. If the bill allowing interest on ci;iiins 
 to the States, together with tUe land bill of 1832, 
 had become laws, it is quite certain the Govern- 
 ment would have been obliged to resort to loans, 
 or to increased direct or indirect taxes. The ve- 
 toes of the Presittent, having also partially check- 
 ed ap])ropi'iations fv)r internal improvements in 
 some States, to t'le entire exclusion of other States, 
 has probably already waved to the people an ex- 
 traordinary expe;iditi;re of the ptiblic money to 
 the amount of more than a hur.dred millions of 
 dollars. 
 
 We next find the bank's speech laying in strong 
 claims for it.* friends to the title of conservators of 
 tl'ie public liberty: 
 
 •'Sir, our condition is singularly paradoxical. We have an 
 administration opposed to tiie constitution; we have an oppo- 
 sition which is the main support of the Government and the 
 laws. We have an administration which denies to the very 
 Government which it administers powers wliich it has exer- 
 cised lor lorty years; it ilenies tlie protecting power, the bank 
 power, and the power of internal improvement. The great 
 and leading measures of the national legislature are all resisted 
 by it. These, strange as it may seem, depend on the opposi- 
 tion for sujiport. We have, in t nth, an opposition witliout 
 which it v/ould be difficult for the Government to get along at 
 all. I appeal to every member of Congress present (and I am 
 happy to see many here) to say, what would nov/ become of 
 the Government if all members of the opposition were with- 
 drawn from Congress. For myself, I declare my own coniic- 
 tion that its continuance miglit piobably be very short. Taka 
 away the opposiuon from Congress, and let us see what proba- 
 bly would be done the first session. The tariff would be en- 
 tirely repealed. Every enactment having protection by du- 
 ties as its main object, would be struck from the statute book. 
 This would be the first thing done. Every work of internal 
 improvement would be stopped. This would follow as a mat- 
 ter of course. The bank would go down, and a treasury mo- 
 ney agericy would take its place. The judiciary act of 1769 
 would be repealed, so that tlie Supreme Court should exercise 
 no power of revision over State decisions. And who would re- 
 sist the doctrines of Nullification) Look, sir, to the votes 
 of Congress for the last three years, and you will see that each 
 of these things would, in all human probability, take place at 
 the next session, if the opposition were to be withdrawn. The 
 constitution is threatened, therefore— imminently threatened — 
 by the very fact that those are entrusted wiih its administra- 
 tion who are hostile to its essential powers." 
 
 Here we find the virtues of the opposition set 
 ofFin striking contrast to the vices of the friends of 
 the administration; wlio dare dispute in relation 
 to the bank, that 
 
 "Even itsfm'lifigs leaned to virtue's side," when 
 the virtues of the immaculate minority, whose 
 
15 
 
 cause it espoused, are talceu into consideration. 
 It it be a fitiling', after the positive asseverations of 
 the president of the bank and (he Board of Direct- 
 ors, Ih.t they would abstain from all inteference 
 ]'A po itics, \hat failing- must be overlooked when 
 we consider tiiat the opp )sition which they sup- 
 ported were tiie "main support of the Govern- 
 ment and th.e Imvs," and that "without this oppo- 
 sition, it u ould be difficult for tlie Government to 
 gft alotig- at ail!" ''The constitution wa> threat- 
 ened, imminently threatened," and thc-re was 
 none but the opposition wlio could "resist the doc- 
 trines of nullification." What coidd the b;ink do 
 better than furnish funds to print and distiibute 
 forty thousand, a hundred thousand, a million of 
 tpeeches, to save the Union, the cwnstitiition, eve- 
 ry thing- we hold dear.' 
 
 Great as was tlie danc^er— quite equal to total 
 darknes-,lhe absence of all g-o.id — from the friends 
 of the administration in C^nfji-ress, there was a 
 iffeater evil from the attempt to extend the power 
 of tl e Executive; and the bank had an excuse for 
 noing-any thing-, even usurping- power itself, to put 
 ciown Executive usurpation. Let us see what it 
 lias to offer on this subject. 
 
 '' Bill, sir, in my opinion, a yet greater danger threatens the 
 consiitntion and ilie Guveinment, and that is irom the attempt 
 !o extend the potccr of the Executive at the expense o/alj the 
 other bramhis of the Governmejit, and of the people them- 
 selves. Whatever accustomed power is denied to the consti- 
 iic.ion, — wliaiever accustomed power is denied to Congress or 
 ihe Judiciary, ?ione is denied to the Executive. Here, there 
 i3 no retrcnchmenl; here, no apprehension is Colt for the hber- 
 ties oC the people; here, it is not tlioughi necessary to erect 
 barriers againsi corruption. 
 
 ■' I begin, sir, with the subject of removals from office for 
 opinion's salre — as I think, one of the most signal instances of 
 the attempt 10 extend the Executive power. This has been a 
 leading measure, a cardinal point, in ihe course of administra- 
 tion. It has proceeded, from the first, on a settled system of 
 pro!!cription for political opinions; and this system it has 
 carried inio operation to the full extent of its ability. The 
 Presidenihas not only filled all vacancies with his own friends, 
 generally iho.^e most distingui.?hed as personal pariizans, but 
 he has turned out political opponents, and thus created vacan- 
 cies, in order that he might fill them with his own friends. I 
 lliink the number of removals and appointmenis is said to he 
 two thousand. While the administration audits friends have 
 l)een auempiing to circumscribe and decry the powers belong- 
 ing 10 otiter branches, it has seized into its own hands a patro- 
 nage most pernicious and corrupting, an authority over men's 
 n-.ean.'? of living most tyraimical and odious, and a power to 
 punish freemen for political opinions altogether intolerable. 
 
 " And what did wn witness, sir. when the administration ac- 
 inally commenced, in the 'full exercise of its authority! One 
 universal sweep, one undistinguished blow, levelled ag'ainstall 
 v.-no were not of the successful party. No worth, public or 
 jirivaie; no service, civil or military, was of power to resis. 
 I lie relentless greediness of proscription. SoIi-!iers of the late 
 war, soldiers of the revolutionary war, the vcrj- contemporai-y 
 ol' the liberties of the countiT-, all lost their situations. No | 
 oifice wa-s too high, and none too low; for office was the spoil, I 
 and a/.' //(c .9/>oi7-9. It was sail!, belonged to the cjc/oj-.v.'" ' ' "I 
 
 The administration has been g-uiUy of the unpar- 
 donable sin of preferring- its fiends to its enemies 
 in makinJif appointments to olHce; nay, it has hard- 
 ly d me thi.s, for it is well known :i large share of 
 the patronage and the offices of the present atl- 
 ministration have been bestowed on those who are 
 anything; but friends. Will the bank pi-, ase to 
 look in any direction where its friends have the 
 ascendency' do they allow their opponents .iny 
 fsvor when they have the power' Turn to Phila- 
 delphia, v.here even the humble watchmen were 
 turned out in drove."?; at New York, wliere the 
 municipal agents were changed, and even cirmen 
 denied their accustomed employ; at Connecticut, 
 
 where in almost the same brep.th some three hun- 
 dred judges, justices, anil other officers were driv- 
 en from office during the panic year; at even the 
 State of Massachusetts, where especial good care 
 is taken tiiat no ft lend of the admimstr.ition sh.-»U 
 receive any lucrative or honorable appointment. 
 The bank, without d(;ubt, might be brought to 
 consent, in some instances, to the appointment of 
 friends of the ailministration; but the conditions on 
 which it would grant favors would be w ell under- 
 .stO"d to be the same as were made to Webb and 
 Noali, and to Jasper Harding, when it loaned 
 the one some seventy thousand, and the other some 
 twenty-four thousand doUais, without competent 
 securiiy; they must consent to be sold, soul and 
 body, to the enemy ! 
 
 We turn to another topic of the bank' Worcess- 
 ter production: 
 
 "And is a press that is purchased or pensioned, more free 
 tlian a press that is feuered? Can the people look lor truths 
 to partial sources, whether rendered partial through fear or 
 tiuough favor? ^Vhy sh-ill not a manacled press be trusted 
 with ilie maintenance and delence of pojjular riglitsJ Because 
 it is to be supposed to be under the inlluence of a power 
 which may prove greater than the love of truth. Such a 
 press may screen abuses iii Government, or be silent. It may 
 fear to speak. And may it not fear to speak, too, when its con- 
 ductor.s, if they speak in any but one way, may lose their 
 means of livelihood? Is dependance on Government for bread 
 no temptation to screen its abuses? Will the press always 
 speak the truth, though the truth, if spoken, may be the means 
 of silencing it for the luture? Is the truth in no danger? is the 
 watchman under ho temptation, when he can neiilier proclaim 
 the approach of national evils, nor seem lo descry them, without 
 the loss of his place." 
 
 "Some fifty or sixty editors of leading journals have been 
 appointed to office by the present Executive. A stand has 
 been made against this proceeding in the Senate, with partial 
 success; but by means uf appointments which do not come be. 
 fore the Senate, or other means, the number has been carried to 
 the extent I have mentioned. • • « ■ . 
 
 "There can, sir, be no objection to the appointment of an 
 editor to ofhce, if he is the fittest man. There can be no objec- 
 tion to considering the services which, in that or any other 
 capacity, he may have rendered his fow7!rr»/. ' ' " 
 But the ground of complaint is, that the aiding, by the press, 
 of the election of an individual, is rewarded by that same 
 individual witli the gift of moneyed rffices. Men are turned 
 out of office and others put in, and receive salaries from the 
 public Treasury on the ground, either openly avowed or falsely 
 denied, that they have rendered services in the election of the 
 very individual who makes this removal and makes this ap- 
 pointment. Every man, sir, must see tl-.at this is a fatal stab at 
 the purity of the press." 
 
 How does the Bank stand condemned from its 
 own moutli? Has it not directly !<ought up news- 
 papers and editors like cattle; in the market.' 
 Where the administr^ition has employed editors to 
 the amount of hundreds, the bank has done the 
 Sime thing to the amount of thousands. Tlio 
 bank h.-vs paid money directly to newspaper edi- 
 tors and others for electioneering services, a jjor- 
 tion of which was the money of the Government. 
 When has the administr.Htion done as much.' 
 Never! 
 
 But the President has occasionally appointed 
 editors of newsjiajiers to office; and the ground of 
 rompiainl is, that the aiding by the press of the 
 election of an individual, if rewarded by that same 
 individual with the gift of moneyed offices. Now- 
 let us put another case, which inight have hap- 
 pened. Suppose the forty thousand Worcester 
 speeches had accomplished their intended object, 
 and [ilaced a certain candidate in the cliiir of the 
 President; and let us suppose for these services, 
 for this speaking and writing, and the bank for 
 
16 
 
 publishing-, that " the aiding, bj' the press, of the 
 election of an indivWual, is rewarded by that same 
 individual with the gift, of moneyed offices." 
 Wherein would tlie two cases differ? Yet in the 
 last mentioned event, v/e should have witnessed no 
 mawkish display of affected fear of corruption, 
 such as stands out so prominent in the cases jubt 
 quoted. 
 
 A.;aui hear the bank versus the right of the Pre- 
 sident's veto: 
 
 " If the! President is at liberty to negative any, or all of these 
 laws, at pleasure, or rather to refuse to render the bills laws, 
 by approving them, and still may neglect to return them to 
 Congress for renewed action, he will hold a very important 
 control over the legislation of this country." * • ' 
 
 "A silent veto on the Bank bill would have been the inevita- 
 ble fate of that bill, it its friends had not refused to fix on any 
 term for adjournment before the President should have had 
 the bill so long as to be required, by constitutional provisions, 
 to sii'n it, or to send it back with his reasons for not signin? 
 it. The two Houses did not agree, and could not agree, to 
 fix a day for adjournment, until tlie bill was sent to the Presi- 
 dent, and then care was taken to fix on such a day as should 
 allow him the whole constituuonal period. This seasonable 
 presentiment rescued the bill from the power of the silent 
 negative." 
 
 Fortunate had it been for the bank if it had 
 taken m asures that the " inevitable fate" of the 
 bank bill had been a silent veto! Never was there 
 a Siatc paper sought for with such avidity by the 
 pgople — never did any public document, in so 
 short a sp^ce of time, throw so great a flood of 
 liglU over the community, as did the veto message 
 of the President. " A silent veto" was prevented, 
 and the bank intended it for evil; but an unerring 
 Providence turned that evil into good. 
 
 One more extract from the bank's electioneering 
 document, and I am done with that: 
 
 "If the President be re-eleeted, with concurreut and co- 
 operating majorities in both houses of Congress, I do not see 
 that in four years more, all the powers vf hich is suffered to re- 
 main in the Governmewt, will be holden by the Exeoutive hanil. 
 Nullification will proceed, or will be put down by a power as 
 unconslituiional as it?elf. The revenues will be managed by a 
 Treasury bank — the use of the veto will be considered as sanc- 
 tioned by the public voice — the Senate, if not "cut down," will 
 be bound down; and commanding the army and the navy, and 
 holding all places of trust to be party property, what will then 
 be left, sir, foi constitutional reliance"!" 
 
 "I fully believe, sir, that a great majority of the nation de- 
 sire a change in the administration, and that it will be difficult 
 for party organization or party denunciation to suppress the ef- 
 fective utterance of that general wish. .... 
 ' I fully believe, sir, that gratifying intelligence is 
 already on the wing. While we are yet deliberating in Massa- 
 chusetts, Pennsylvania is voting. To-day she elects her mem- 
 bers to the next Congress. I doubt nottheresult of that election 
 will show an important change in public .sentiment in that 
 State. 1 cannot doubt that the great States adjoining her 
 holding similar constitutional principles, and having similar in 
 terests, will feel the impulse of the same causes which affects 
 her. 
 
 " At least, sir, let the star of Massachusetts be the last which 
 shall be seen to fall from heaven, and to plunge into the utter 
 darkness of disunion. Let her shrink back — let her hold others 
 back, if she can — at any rate let her keep herself back from this 
 gidf, full at once of fire and of bluckness; yes, sir, as far as hu- 
 man foresight can scan, or human imagination (iithom, full of 
 the fire and the blood of civil war, and of the thick darkness of 
 general political disgrace, ignominy, and ruin." _ 
 
 The prediction tiiat "a great msjority of the 
 nation desired a change" of the administration, 
 was quite as true as was the anticipation that in 
 four years more "all the power which is suffered 
 to remain in the Government will bo holden by 
 the Executive hand;" or that "nullification will 
 proceed." Andif the nation has been kept back 
 from the "gulf, full, at once of fire and black- 
 ness," " and the blood of civil war, and of the 
 
 thick darkness of general political disgrace, igno- 
 miny and ruin," it is most apparent that n< iv erthe 
 "star of Massachusetts," nor the Bank of the 
 United Statt-s, nor yet the forty tluiusand Wor- 
 ctster speeches which tlie bank paid for printing 
 and circulating, have in anywise tended t i avert 
 those calamities. 
 
 Such, Mr. Presid nt, is a sample of'tlie leading 
 Cdntcnts of the Worcester speecli — of one of the 
 greatest efforts ever made to influence the result 
 ofoueoflhe most important elections that ever 
 took place in this or any other country; a giant ef- 
 fort, which, if it had not been manifcsily on the 
 wrong side, must have been attended with all the 
 success that the right deserves. Let it be remem- 
 bered that tills great electioneering eflort was 
 made by the bank in the year 1332: let it be re- 
 membered that since that time, (to wit, in Decem- 
 ber, 1833,) the Boaid of Directors, by a solemn 
 vote, has declared "The bank has never iiittrjered 
 in the sli<^hfest dcaircc in ■politics, and never rnjlu- 
 encedor sought to injiuence elections;" that this vote 
 liLis been backed up, so far as positive assertion 
 would go, by the friends of tlie bank in both 
 Houses of Congress, and that the positive declara- 
 tion has been, both before and since, repeated by 
 the president of bank. Kemembeiing this, what 
 deptndance can be placed on the tnit i of the 
 avi rments of any committee who shall bpru ve that 
 the president of the bank and the Boird of Direct- 
 ors acting under him, would not conceal from 
 them all the truth thtt made against them 
 which thf y knew would not get out in spite of 
 their utmost tffurts? 
 
 Mr. President, I have shown you that the cap- 
 tion of the whitewMshiiig committee, introducing 
 that part of the expenditures of the Bank of the 
 United States paid for printing, &c. is a inisromer, 
 le ding to a faUe issue — disgraceful to the Board 
 of Directors, if intended as a deception on the 
 committee, and little creditable to tlie !nteilii,''ence 
 of the committee itself, if suffered to be there, 
 placed without a full understanding of its import. 
 
 Meagre as is the information contained in the list 
 of expenditures, presented by the bank; reluc- 
 tantly as v.'as exti.a-ted the skel ton of facts 
 which the bank found it impossibl - longer to con- 
 ceal; it is, nevertheless, a doctiment of immense 
 magnitude in assisting us rightly to esiin^nte the 
 value of his services, who has eminently contri- 
 buted to put an end to this institution. 
 
 I will only read a few items of the long list, for 
 the purpose of making a passing comment upon 
 them. The whole list ought to be p ihjibhed in 
 every newspaper of the Union: it ought to be 
 stereotyped and published at the Ii.jiiiiiing of 
 eveiy session of Congiess, as of itstlf a most con- 
 clusive reason against making any such grant as 
 was contained in the act of 1816, establiihing the 
 Bank of the United States. 
 
 The first item of printing commences with the 
 year 1829; it is the following: 
 
 "To Garden and Thompson, for trienii.il re- 
 port, &c., «24 87. 
 
 This Garden and Thompson, who subsequently 
 received from the bank their hundreds and their 
 thousands of dollars for different jobs, are un- 
 derstood to have published a weekly newspaper. 
 
17 
 
 called the ''Mechanics' Ft-ee Press," then the only 
 newspaper in the city of Philadelphia, oppose 1 to 
 the recharter of the United States Bank. The op- 
 position of that paper was soon si enced. It will 
 be seen that the course of the bank has been not 
 less to reward its friends than to buy up its 
 enemies. 
 
 According' to this statement, the whole expense 
 for extraordinary printing in the year 1829 was 
 only ?105 25. 
 
 In the first half year of 1830, there was paid for 
 printing and distributing- Smith snd McDuffie's 
 reports to the two Houses of Congress, in favor of 
 the bank, <p.3,285 17. Among the item«, Garden 
 and Thompson print to the value of $1,685 75. 
 p. P. F. Degrand, a foreigner and broker at Bos- 
 ton, whose officious inteif'erence in all matters re- 
 lating to elections, has been long well known in 
 New England, furnished the same to the amount 
 of $258; and N. Biddle's bill for distributing, &c. 
 [Could " &c." mtan writing and preparing re- 
 ports'] was $700. 
 
 The second half year, (all for Smitli ana McDuf- 
 fie's reports, and Gallatin's pamphlet,) amounts to 
 $2,.':91 50. Again we have a payment to Gar- 
 den and Thr.nipson of $691; to N. Biddle for dis- 
 tributing ?.IcDuffie's n-port, f)i375 — to the same for 
 printing' Gallatin's pamphlet, $1000. There can 
 be little dou'it, the truth is falsified here; the sum 
 of $1000 was probably paid for xvriH.n^ the report, 
 because E. Littell, in the very next line, is paid 
 "for printing the same, $300" Mr. Degrand 
 again comrs in for distributin[[' Gallatin's pam- 
 phlet,. toOO. 
 
 The expense for extraordinary printing in 1830, 
 is given at $5,876 67. 
 
 in 1831, for ihe first half year, the expenditures 
 swelled to the lirge amount of $10,401 74. 
 Benton's speech in the Senate, which wan not an- 
 swered in (hat body by the friends nfthe bank, had gone 
 forth and been published in m^st of the democra- 
 tic newspapers of the country. The bank imme- 
 diately set to work, and employed writers and re- 
 viewers, and printers, to counteract tlie eiFect of 
 that speech. Hitherto the b uilc had gone on very 
 quietly, paying for the circulation of extra reports 
 made in both Houses of Congress, by committees 
 friendly to it : these repoits invar ably presented 
 precisely such, and no other facts and arguments, 
 than could be elaborated from the partial state- 
 ments of the bank itself. But the repetition of 
 the opinion expressed by the President, that the 
 bank ought not to be rechartered, and the general 
 publication of Benton's speech in 1830-31, creat- 
 ed a necessity that the bank should arouse its 
 friends in all parts of the country. 
 
 This account commences with a payment to 
 Gales and Scaton for printing and distributing Mr. 
 Gallatin's pamphlet, §1,300; $2,000 to Nicholas 
 Biddle for tlie distribution of Smith and McDuf- 
 fic's reports; $7:^3 75 for distributing the ^me 
 Vat New York; $123 to Gray and Bowen of Bos- 
 Von for 2000 copies review of bank report in the 
 Uqrth Amcirican lleview. It will be bor.ne in 
 miivj that t!ie bank not onlv subsidized the news- 
 paper press, but that the principal reviews of the 
 
 country, which should be devoted to subjects 
 purely scientific and literary, and which claim con- 
 fidence for their impartiality, were paid for blind- 
 folding the people in relation t ' the true designs 
 MuX intents of that institntion. Jesper Harding in 
 this half year receives] §440 for 11,000 extra pa- 
 pers. His paper, the Pennsylvania Inquirer, had 
 taken ground in favor of the administration: itbe- 
 ciime important that its influence should be pur- 
 chased into the interest of the bank. It was so 
 purchased. Not only was Jesper Harding em- 
 ployed in jobs of printing to a considerable amount, 
 but he was suflered to contract a debt, as ap- 
 pears in another part of the report of the com- 
 mittee, of $23,490 40, without security for its 
 payment, and not one cent of it probably ever was, 
 or ever will be paid. 
 
 " James Wilson, 25,000 copies of McDuffie's re- 
 port, and 25,000 address to the State Legisla- 
 tures, folding, &c., $1,447 75. 
 This James Wilson hved west of the Alli^gha- 
 nies, and these publications were intended ti) in- 
 fluence public opinion in Ohio, Kentucky, and the 
 grc^at west. The report very prudently omits to 
 state that the original bill showed that these 25,- 
 000 copies each of Messrs. McDuffie and Smith's 
 reports and addresses to members of the St.ite Le- 
 gislatures, were furnished "agreeably to order, 
 and letters from John Sargeant, Esq." and that 
 tliis gentleman was the bank's candidate for Vice 
 President, who came here during ihe panic win- 
 ter at tha head of a committee, demandmg, in th.e 
 name of the Stale of Pennsylvania, the r> storation 
 of thi deposiles to the bank. That flict is shown 
 in the memorial of the Government directors to 
 both Houses of Congress, in December, 1833. 
 
 "To Carey and Lea, for printing Professor Tuck- 
 er's article, and 1000 of Gallatin on banking, 
 $2,850." 
 
 These gentlemen, now that their occupation as 
 bank publishers is about to terminite, were to be 
 provided for by the subscription which tlie Joint 
 Library Committee had reported in their favor, 
 for five hundred copies of the History of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 The extra printing for the last half of 1831 
 amounted only to ?751 50^i, a large portion of 
 which was paid simply to editors for publishing 
 reports in their newspapers, which, ordinarily, 
 would have gone in as a matter of course: thus 
 Uuff Green (then supposed to be oppcjsed to tlie 
 baidc) is paid $28 for publishing the report of the 
 stockholders; E. [presumed H.] Niles receives 
 j^70 for puhlisliing in the Weekly Register (a pa- 
 per that coMtains no advertisements) the report of 
 the Bank of the United States; Garden and Thomp- 
 son again for publish'ng report of stockholders 
 [in their newspaper probably] and extras $191 57; 
 J:imes V/ilsoti (the peculiarly favored printer of 
 the State) for publishing repoit of stockholders, 
 $63 75. In th's w;iy editors were paid for servi- 
 ces that cost them nothing; for inserting matter 
 such as is usually given in a newspaper as gene- 
 ral information, and without expectation of pay— a ■ 
 very considerable amount. In this manner "gyjden 
 opinions" were bought, and almost every euitor^ 
 
IS 
 
 k gratitude for the almost unasked generosity of 
 |ie bank, was induced to espouse its cause with 
 ;al. 
 
 1 he tot il amount for printing in 1831, as per the 
 ank's account, was §11,153 24A- 
 I In 1832, tiie first lialf year presents only 
 1990 35. Ofthesa there are two items to Carey 
 . Lea, one for paper and extva binding, of 
 150 50, and the other for expensss (writing the 
 rticle probabh',) attendiniiC Quarterly Review, 
 y orders, §100. Gales h Seiton com^ in with a 
 harge of $800 for 20,000 copies of "a pai'-pblet 
 onc'erningtlie bank," and $360 for lOOO copies of 
 IcDuffie's and Adams's Reports. 
 
 For the last half year the expense was 5516,499 
 4^. It commences wiih the wel! kuovvii namt; 
 f Jcsper Harding, for printing review of the veto, 
 nd ex-pensts incident thereto, (meaning, in all 
 ikelihood, pay for writing,") and 200 handbills, 
 rdered by Col. J. $321 '78; Edward Olmsted, 
 ank documents, J^62'i 11; same for ]irinting re- 
 iew, 5f,4l8 25. On inquiry, I find that this Mr. 
 )imsled is neither editor (!r printer, but a lawyer, 
 ctijie; as treasurer for a "You:ig Men's Clay Com- 
 fiittce," a borly especially constituted tu operate 
 iH the elections. John S. Kiddle, for printing 
 nd circulating reports of McD'ifTie, Smith, 
 k.danis, and the Secretary of the Treasury, thf- 
 peech of Webster on the President's veto, and 
 eview of the veto message, is paid $2,580 50. 
 ;'iiis Mr. Ri'ld'e was neither printer, editor, or 
 iwyer, but a merchant, and Treasurgr of the Old 
 klen's Chy Committee, appointed, like the other, 
 o opera'eon the elTCtions William Fry, printer 
 f the N^tioiwl Gazette, is also paid §1,708 for 
 3,100 Webster's speecli on the veto message, 
 rid»f50l 60 for 22,800 Adams's and McDuffie's 
 leporls. James Wilson, of Pittsburg, is paid 
 580 "for printing don- for the bank," as per his 
 wn account rendered. This item leaked out in 
 onsequence of another gentleman of the same 
 ame taking the letter from the post office, i.nd 
 ndiiig in it Mr. Eiddle's drjifc. Wilson denied the 
 urprjse uf this payment at tiie time, by equivoca- 
 on; but aft. r tli;: election had passed, the truth 
 ame out- 
 
 'V/iltisvn A. Merwin, prtnting General Jnckson's 
 ■vdo, 30,000 c.pies, wra]?ping and distributing'' 
 lhcin,$558." 
 
 Th'.s the chairman of ilie committee inform ;d 
 ne iiS we rnay well suppose, was a mistake; it 
 ,houM b<J "Gena-alJticksijn vetoed 30,000 copies." 
 This expenditure was in the city of New York._ 
 Vfler this comes the charge of Nathan Hale, of 
 Safcton, for 40,000 copies of Webster's Worcester 
 speech, and 12,500 copies of Webster's speech on 
 ,ank veto, he, an:ounting to $2,422 GJ; and two 
 Items amounting to $766 40, for prm< ng m Ger- 
 man, extracts from Webster^s speech and olher 
 articles. The attempt io argue the German po- 
 pvdation into a belief of the necessity and utility 
 of the bank, or to enlist them in a crusade against 
 General Jackson and the democracy, wps an ut- 
 ter lailure. „, 
 
 The expense for 1832 was $18,490 79^. The 
 first half of 1833, presents charges for Jl,30S,and 
 
 the last half amounts to ^jl ,888 03. Of this. Gales 
 and Sea'on huve i'^l,895 for 50,000 bank report 
 arid other documents, and William Fry has $870 
 for two items of charge ^in bank reports. Total 
 expen<;e for the veai', quite moderate, is 
 JL',193 03. 
 
 Hut it is tlie account for the memorable year of 
 1834 that presents the most audacious attempt to 
 excite public opiruon and influence the elections, 
 that ever has come within my observation. The 
 items for the first half ytar are .such as should at- 
 tract universal attention. Considering- wiiat took 
 place day after day within tiie Capitol during the 
 first s-ix months of the year 1834, and looking at 
 the following items in the bank's account, can we 
 be surprized at the great agitation which prevail- 
 ed? Was the like of this ever belore presented? 
 Every item of this unparalleled account should be 
 repeated: 
 
 Fer first halt" year cii.lin.T .30ii> .Iimo, viz: 
 To Diilf Gieeii, lor priiiung 50,000 copies 
 
 01' Wclji^tcrs report of liie ComniiUee 
 
 of Finance .... $1,750 00 
 
 25,000 cnpiesof Clay's speech on (Icpos'ites 1.000 00 
 50,000 Calliuuii'H speech on do. • • 1,0<J0 00 
 
 50.000 WcDutiie's speech on do. - - l.t'iW 00 
 
 50,a>iJ adililiotial of Calhoun's - - 1,0(10 00 
 
 15,000 additional of Mc0ufiie's • - 4oO 00 
 
 SC,200 00 
 
 Gales and Seaton, for 0,.593 Clav's speech - 570 00 
 
 50,000 H. Biir.iey's do. - ' - 
 
 o,fKJ9 of Southard's do. 
 
 .5,000 of Humingdi.n's do. 
 
 10,000 of Webster's do. - 
 
 10.000 :=econd edition of Southard's do. - 
 
 3,000 Poiiidexter's do. 
 
 3,(X)0 Sjirague's do. ... 
 
 3,000 Frelmshiiysen's do. 
 
 l,l-X)0 Swing's do. .... 
 
 6,000 do. do., second edition 
 
 10,000 of Hinney's report on the pension 
 
 fund, ..... 
 
 20,009 Senate's report on deposites 
 7,01)0 Poindexter'sdo., second edition, and 
 10.001) do. Webster's 
 HMXK) Archer's speech on bank question, 
 For binding, paper, envelopes, &c. for 
 
 Uinnev r.nd others 
 
 P.iper and folding ' • • 
 
 50,(W0 cofjiesof iVIr. A<Hms's speech 
 
 5,000 copie.5 speech of Allen, of Ken- 
 tuc'Ky, . . . - . 
 
 2,000 additional of Allen's do. 
 
 2,000 Corwin's speech 
 
 .5.000 Leigh's speech on Protest - 
 
 1,000 Clayton's do. on the bank 
 
 D,OIX) Clay '.s last speecli on bank • 
 
 1,000 McKennon's .■speech 
 
 2 50npaini!h!ets Mr. Wcb.'=ter's do. 
 
 10 000 do. Wilde's da. 
 
 Printing extra half sheet containing state- 
 ments concerning the bank, 8,lt)0 co- 
 P'ca . . . - . 
 
 10,00:1 cnpios Webster's spocchon renew- 
 al bank charier . . . . 
 
 5,000 do. Leigh's on do. 
 
 5,0'JO do. Leigh's do., 8 pages added, 
 
 3,000 copies D'xnn's speech 
 
 75.000 do. Webster's spe«ih on power 
 assumed over the bank by the E.xecu- 
 live. . . - . . 
 
 5,0ct0 Harden's speech 
 
 Paper, seals, envelopes.&c. 
 
 William Fry, for 1,000 National Gazettes, 
 and prinliiisr report Ex. Committee, 
 
 Coniirevcial Ileiald, .'(ir priming Adams, 
 IJinney, anil Webster's speeche.s, 
 
 C. Aleximdcr, for printing report of E.\- 
 change Committee 
 
 3,000 (X) 
 
 235 43 
 
 20.9 00 
 
 2.S8 30 
 
 65-t 10 
 
 as 9s 
 
 103 47 
 
 (5.^ 'j3 
 
 157 32 
 
 2.13 ti2 
 
 2.93 30 
 
 577 80 
 
 524 m 
 
 288 30 
 
 40 00 
 
 301 29 
 
 2,833 00 
 
 208 60 
 
 10,^ C4 
 
 102 (J4 
 
 125 00 
 
 40 00 
 
 ?W 20 
 
 ;.s w) 
 
 290 30 
 
 3f3 20 
 
 7,129 52 
 
 132 <i0 
 104 30 
 156 45 
 
 122 22 
 
 S5,033 29 
 
 2,681 00 
 320 -18 
 3(:0 00 
 
 80,429 70 
 
 National Printing do., and ,\dams'e tperch, 46 00 
 
 ^m &} 
 
19 
 
 \. II.-i!e. tbr :.,ij;)0 co;)ie:?,A<!ams"3speecli,- S5 T'O 
 W. B. To winciiil, for 50,000 copies teporc ' 
 
 K\'chau!je C;uiniif.co - - ■ 1,375 00 
 
 5104 050 51 
 
 Here Is $6,200 (o one printer, and f.15,642 51 
 to another, for printing' s-pteclies vvlticli liad no 
 other object tliaa to pri.duce .or increase excite- 
 meiit in every part of the United States. The 
 amotnit paitl to \hc same printers, under virueis of 
 the two Houses of Con;,rrcss, was en:. raious; every 
 thin^ was printed that cnuld be rr^ade to bear on 
 the questiui-'; and extraordlirary numbers of i very 
 thins^ that could be suppos d to have an eflect, 
 were ordered to be furnisl:ed at the public expense. 
 That, however, v/as not enoufjli; l!ie bank must 
 pay for tind circulate addi'ional numbers of re- 
 ports of comniittees; and thousami.s, ter.s and 
 hundreds of thoiifap.ds of speeches c&lcidated 10 
 alarm the people — *o exasperate such of t'lem 
 against the Exec.Uive as supposed thc-iv interests 
 had been touched — to eitiier lash them into fury 
 or overwhelm them in do.^po.idency — to either 
 upturn the whole business of the country, and in- 
 volve its ci'izc-ns in a cornrnon ruin, or else to 
 seize upon and control the Government. It would 
 be wed ir.deed for the bank if it could show that 
 its president a.id dii'ecfKrs iiad no hi^.nd in this 
 impositio'V; it would l5e to die credit of members 
 or Congress, who made ?n di speeches ua llie bank, 
 should consider it an object to jjrint and circvdate 
 in her justirication, if il-.ey cou'd no\V show that 
 the institiiti;>n they praise was as pure, as useful, 
 as inclispensaide as ttiey repi-esc nt-:-d it to be. 
 
 The items of cbarg'e are brcught do vn to t!ie 
 oOth September, 1834 '' he espenditarcs of the 
 last quarter v.- ere $2,0] 1 50; tiiis added to $'24,- 
 252 51 for tlie two first quarters, makes tlie Ag- 
 g-rega':e am^iunt for the th.-ee first quaiters of the 
 year $26,284 01. 
 
 Let ns Kee w^hat was the aid furnished by the 
 bank to a';si«t members of Congr.ss in their se- 
 veral secuoris of country. Every speech was 
 circula'ed without stmt I'.iat could lie fuppnsed 
 to operate. It was declared, and rcpeateii here 
 and elsewiierc, that President Ja.kson had 
 scarcely a friend left sc',!{]i of the Ptjtomac — that 
 the m.easure of removing- the deposites was nni- 
 versuliy condemned by tlie entire South. That 
 the South miijh: understand tlie reasons why they 
 ought to pass sentence of condem^ia'.ion on the 
 President ar.d the Secretary ©ft lie Treasury — that 
 the proceedmj^s of the Execi;iive mip^ht be nul- 
 lified at one;-, tiie hank fmnishcd 100,000 speech- 
 es of one So'itli Carolina g^endemin, ai d 65,000 
 of another. To operite on old Virgiida — to pre- 
 sent her the "awful alter natives" which had 
 hedged her i 1 — to onvmce iier that t!ie «.vils of 
 a violated cons'itulion are a mere trifle vdien 
 compared with that destructioii wKIcli iniist fol- 
 low the roni(>v."iI of the deposiies <rom an imcon- 
 stitutional iiai.k — fifteen ti.ousand speeches of 
 one, and ten thousand of anotlier of li-r Senators, 
 are circuht<-d. A nicnibtr of Georj^ia, (Wildj.) 
 wiicse fortune it has been to sufi'er inaityrilom in 
 the cause of the bank, was, by the same bank 
 
 enabled to spc:.k in his own and the bank's be 
 half ten thousand times, in as many speeches, fo 
 the benefit of that Slate. Mississippi was '.at 
 nished with ten thousand of her Senator's, which' 
 like a child ever-fed with kindness, she repuii 
 only with deep ing'ri-tilude. Kentucky come: 
 in for thirty-stven thousand five hundred ant 
 ninety-nine frtnn a member of tiie upper House 
 seven thousand from one, and five thousand frorr 
 another membei- of the House of Tie presentatives 
 and she ins really eviiiced a more efficient grati 
 tu'le to the bank than any other Stat^ of th( 
 Union. She is the oidy ins'ance of" conclusive 
 demonstution, that a mnnej-<_'d monopoly can con 
 trol the voice of a wl;o!e communi'v. Wheth-:-] 
 she will persevere in fighting the battles of tht 
 bynk, is quite uncertuin. Pennsylvania has al 
 ways been highly favored of tb-e bank, and mos 
 ungrateful was she at first for the continued kind 
 n .ss. Fifiy ihousiin:! speeches and ten thousanc 
 reports from a great cliam;)ion of lite bank^ :/idcc 
 by one thousand extra speechesfromfinother of he; 
 member.-i from tliew'-s^ of her mountains, scarceh 
 produced a vibration of sentiment in the Keystone 
 State. She !ia:5, however, n-ade amends for ail 
 by sufTerirsg a minority of her peojde to clec 
 such a Legislature as has thrown itself into th< 
 arms of Old Nek, and grante;! what hf could no 
 obtain here: a chartered monopoly of thirty -fiv< 
 milii'jns of dollars, calculated to gr/nd into th( 
 dust and oppress the people of that State. 
 
 "The canal a solitude and the lake a deser 
 waste of waters," comes in from Ohio in thesha))« 
 of 7,000 appeals from a Senator, and 2,00( 
 speeches irom a Representative — all p;iid for anc 
 circnhited by the bank. Rut X\\^ young lion o 
 the west, in spite of al', declares its independenc* 
 ofihe ba\ik. New Jersey had tht; bene fit of 13, 
 000 from one, and 3,090 from another of her Sena 
 t(n"S; but, "calm a'l a summer's morning," one o 
 these Senators yields his place in this body. In th( 
 otiier H use of Congress, and in her legislature 
 >he supports the adrnmistration imdth.e vetooflh( 
 btmk. J^ittie IJclaware, aldiough considered safe 
 war, deemed much more sure vith 1,000 speeches 
 of her able Senator; and as a "miss is as goo.! as : 
 mile," foiu-teeu vntes, in a .^^eneral canvass of ths 
 State, only stood between her and her emaiicipa 
 lion trom the rule of the bank. To the empire 
 S' ate of New York, meagerly supported with : 
 single 3.000 edition of one near slighted speed 
 from its anti-masonic region, is lurnished 50,000 o 
 the mendacious report of the E.xchange Commit 
 tee, for whicit the pi-ess of the secretary of thi 
 Hartfordconveition receives fromthe bank $1,37^ 
 as a largess. Connecticut gets no corap'dmen 
 from the bank in the Senate; but 5,000 speeche; 
 oi one of her members, of the House could no 
 prt-vent her Irom nniting with those legislature: 
 which hr.vo directed tlicir Senators to vote fi) 
 expunging the condemnatory resolution of th; 
 Senate iVom its .Journal. Vermont and Nev 
 Hampshire receive no coiTipliment fiom tin 
 h^mk in thoi.isunds or ev^^n hundreds of ])ub 
 liMied speeches; nor w:is it necessary, ior the iirs 
 was d-emed sufiiciently subservient without fur 
 ther training; and the Granite SUte was too incot 
 
20 
 
 rigibly obstinate in her opposition to the bank to 1 ing community was, in many places lashed into a 
 thank Mr. Biddle for any compliment of the kind, warfare against the administration. Forgetting 
 Khode Island was then tiiought safe without pur- every tiling tliat was due to the Executive for 
 chasing the speeches, as sh.:; needed not to pur- what it liad done to subserve the interests of com- 
 chase either of her Senators, for none were more | raerce.to retrieve the propertj- that had been unlaw- 
 
 faithful to the bank in their votes. The people of 
 that State now repudiate the bank, v/hile the 
 bank is able to retain two Senators for the entire 
 term of three years, and one or' tliem tor five 
 years. Massachusetts (and why should not apart 
 of this go to New Hampshire for what she once 
 was, and what she once contained!") — Massichu- 
 setts comes in for greater jrlorification on account 
 of published speeches, (some of which were and 
 some were not delivered,) and for reports sup- 
 plying the place of speeches, than any otiier State 
 of the Union. Indeed, Massachusetts and South 
 Carolina seem to have been honored by the bank 
 beyond any other States; tlie first iirobably be- 
 cause in her war agai?ist nuilification, slie liad fas 
 
 (ully seized, and to secure the rights of trade and 
 intercourse in all parts of the world, the merchants, 
 in some of the prlnci|)al seaports, fought the ad- 
 ministration with a'l the infuriate zeal of madmen. 
 They were goaded on to the contest by the Bank 
 of ttie United States, which also forced most of 
 the local banks to aid her in the fight. 
 
 But, Mr. President, the detail of extraordinary 
 printing which I have exhibited, is not all, nor yet 
 the worst part of the exhibition. That amount is 
 ^6.5,103 25. The expenditures by the president of 
 the bank, according to his own voluntary confes- 
 sion, for which he renders no vouchers, is $29,605^ 
 If he Iiad no shame for the items he has purtially 
 specifitd in his blli of parcels, what must we sup- 
 
 tened the "strong man m the morass;" .^nd the ^^^e to be the use to which he applied the sum for 
 last tor the distmguislu d love and gratitude she ^i,;^], ],^ rendered no particulars? If a trust be 
 owed that ''strong mao, t^hus cruelly fas ened; for | committed to my charge, and I lavish my employ- 
 accounting 
 for ob- 
 
 uwcu ..i*t ;,uw..5 ...^.., LMus ..,ucu_y lub ci.cu; lor , committed to my charge, and I lavish my e 
 his services to the b:inl;s 70,000, reports of the H- ^,..5 ^o,,^y f„r ide-itimatc purposes ace- 
 nance Committee, 107,500 at least of Webster's, ; ^ j,;^ specifically for a part, and tt.at part 
 
 and 52,000 of Adams's undelivered speeches: all 
 these must go to the credit of Massachusetts. But 
 the State of Maine, ahhough last not least, more 
 ungrateful to the bank, if possible, than any of her 
 sisters, because she set the liist example, after the 
 panic, of rebelling- against her at the polls; — the 
 State of Maine, although tnoni y was raised by 
 thousands and tens of thousands m a sister State, to 
 produce a different result, ;;nd although honored 
 by tlie bank in a publication of 3,000 speeclies of 
 her Senator,ungratefully and ungenero sly refused 
 to elect that Senator to the first office in her gift, 
 or to return sucli a delegation to Congress as vvoultl 
 support the bank. 
 
 jects which would reflect on me no credit, and re- 
 fuse to account at all for the remainder, alleging 
 tfiat a disclosure would expose iniu cent persons 
 ' toA'iiupeiation, malign aspersion, and peradven- 
 ture to personal vengeance," would my employer 
 and pa'''on 'lot Imvc a right to infer the worst of 
 me; and could I, under any pretence, expect my 
 friends seriously to oli'er for me my reasons for 
 concealment as a ground of confidence to the same 
 or to anotlier employei? We may well suppose 
 that the expenditure for objects entiiely concealed 
 was for something even worse than stipends to 
 printers and editors. About the time of the re- 
 
 moval of tlie di-posites, the newspapers regularly 
 _ Mr. President, was there ever a spectacle ex- j rcport.-d every thing that was going on in the pub- 
 hibited before the people that equalled this ap- j iic ofiices. The proceedings of cabinet meetings 
 plication of money by the bank to influence and | were hinted at and alluded to in the bank press 
 
 control the elections! Who has the a;;daciiy now 
 to admit that the b mk did all this, and to declare 
 that the bank never interferes with politics? And 
 the money made use of (one-fifth part at least) 
 was the property of the. people or' the United 
 States. If the enormous expenditure wa', not an 
 act of faithlessness tow;;rds other stockholders, 
 was it not a high breach of trust to the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, whicli owned one-fifth 
 of the stock of the bank? 
 
 Situated as the bank was, wliiie it he'd the pub- 
 lic deposites, and controlled all public disburse- 
 ments, if it had not expended a cent in publishing 
 speeches and arguments to be circuiattd among 
 the people, it wielded such an influence, as ail 
 other pecuniary intercts combined could not 
 command. II completely controlled all the pub- 
 lic moneyed instilutiors of the country; and 
 through them it controlled almost die entiiv- mer- 
 cantile and commercial community. "With tins 
 tremendous power, it might have been anticipated 
 that the bank would be content to go into tlie 
 elections Without expending a .single dollar in 
 printing, or in the distribution of speeches or do- 
 cuments. Almost the entire mercantile and trad- 
 
 I 
 
 throughout the country, as if they were regularly 
 informed of every tldnf^ that trai-spired. Was any 
 portion of the expenditure money paid to secret in- 
 formers, whose business it was to pry into c;ibinet 
 secrets i" 
 
 Nor is the expendi'ure of $94, 70S 25 (one-fifth 
 of whi h, $18 941 65 belonged directly to the 
 people of the United Slates) stated by Mr. Biddle, 
 iill ihe expenditures which have bt e 1 i-nade. As 
 the recoiil ha-; inany times been fiil.tified, I would 
 not be surprised if only a part of the trutli has 
 bce:» given in relation to this matter. The ex- 
 penses at the Bank of the United States for the 
 fir.st half year of 1833, were g63,S61 42; for the 
 second half of the same vear the expenses were 
 ^60,646 02; but forvhefir.'t half year of 1834, the 
 same expriises were 'i'"88,714 03, from twenty-five 
 to thirt}' thousand dollars boyond the u-ua! amount.. 
 These extta expense*^, we iiave a right to pre- 
 sume, until they shall be explained, \v^i-q made for 
 no honest or laudable [lurpose. 
 
 Besides ilie extraordinary expenses paid for 
 printing, have wc not a right to knov;' how many, 
 and how Lirgr; sums have been sunk in bad and 
 suspended debts.- I'he committee has shown us 
 
21 
 
 two cases of such lost debt. The one is a debt of 
 Jesper Harding, amouhling to '|23,49C 40; the 
 olherisadebtof J. W. Webb and M. M.Noah, 
 which in several successive discounts, amounted 
 to 571,575: tlie committee informs ws, that of this 
 debt, 152,975 has been discharged, leaving 55.1 8,600 
 still due, on which Webb had given security.by an 
 assignment which is absolutely, under the circum- 
 stances, worth nothing. They say a part of tbe 
 debt has been " discii.arged" — they do not say it 
 ever has been paid. 1 have ever considered the 
 loan that was made to Webb— a loan which was 
 not entered on the books of the bank, until the 
 president of tlie bank found the who'e m.itter 
 would be ferreted out — as little short of down- 
 right bribery. Let the facts be borne in mind, 
 that Webb's paper, of most extensive circulation, 
 and of u supposed ir.flucnce greater than any 
 press in the Union, had steadily opposed the bank, 
 ui.til the time this money was furnished; that from 
 this time, at first covertly and insidiously, and by 
 and bye openly, it advocated the recharter of the 
 bank; and what better can we think of this bank, 
 than the worst that has been charged upon it.> 
 
 In addition to this. Gales & Seaton, in March 
 1833, o\« ed the Bank of the United States more 
 than «,80,000. This debt would probably have bten 
 as bad, or worse oft", than that of Jesper Harding, 
 and Webb, and Noali, had not the influence of the 
 bank succeeded in electing these men printers to 
 Congress, in dtfiance of the public sentiment. 
 Opposition printers were elected in 18'3, in birth 
 branches of Congress; and tlie extraordinary fact 
 has resulted from this election of printers, hostile 
 to the administration, thntthe expanse of the pub- 
 lic printing has been increased ])robably ten-fold 
 in the Senate, and in the House alone, greater than 
 it ever was before in both branches. 
 
 The committee have mentioned two considera- 
 ble suspended debts. Tlie loans connected with 
 these must be considered in the same light, and 
 may well be added to tlie same list, as other " ex- 
 traordinary expenditures " made for i^rinting, Sec. 
 These loins cannot be considered in any other 
 light than the employment of money for the pur- 
 pose of bribing the public press. Report speaks 
 of other loans of doubtful security, whicli huve 
 been "discharged," not by paj ment in full, but 
 by secHiity in some soit, often, twenty and thir'y 
 cents on the dollar. If such ioaiis had been so 
 made and so discharged, in consequence of services 
 of any sort done or to be performed for the bank, 
 can the whitewasiiing conmiittce t;ive us the assu- 
 rance that they were made acquainted with the 
 factsi* Might not" the possible danger of expos- 
 ing innocent persons to odium or persecution " 
 iiave prevented the bank — especially as they 
 niight not have been pressed very h.ird on this 
 point — from making such an exhibit of this kind of 
 accommodations and debts as tlie case required' 
 
 We think we had a riglit to complain of lliR 
 report of the committee, not more for the opinions 
 it gives than for those it does not give. We com- 
 plain of it, that v palliUes where it ougiit to con- 
 demn; ihut it omits facts essen'iAl to the case; tliat 
 where the committee were unwilling to hazard 
 tJKMr own reputation in justification, they 
 suffer the party implicated to justify for them- 
 
 selves; that where neither the committee nor the 
 bank can make a present pretence of justification, 
 they sulfer the bank to tlirow iiself back upon a 
 reputation which, previous to the ttppalling de- 
 velopments of the last two or thre; years, it was 
 allowed to possess. We complain tiiat the com- 
 mittee place the eflTect for the cause; that they 
 offer as" an excuse for the violent assault of the 
 bank on the industry and proi^pcrity-.f the coun- 
 try, those very acts of the administration which 
 were rendered indispt nsable to the protection of 
 the public from the abuses of the bank. We 
 complain that the committee should characterize 
 the withdrawal of the deposites as a "blow " at 
 the bank, whereas the intention of the bank by- 
 holding on to the deposites was tlie aiming of a 
 more effectual "blow" at the independence of 
 the country and the integrity of the Government. 
 
 It was for withdrawing the deposites of the 
 public money from an institution whose manage- 
 ment had been thus flagitious— an institution 
 which, in addition to tlicse enormities withholds 
 at this moment from the people millions of their 
 money — an institution whose wliole course for the 
 last foi"- years has been directed with a view to 
 coerce the people into its measures, or bankrupt 
 the whole community; it was for legally and con- 
 stitutionally arresting the arm of the wrong-doer 
 and preventing the great mischief he intended— 
 that the President of the United States was un- 
 lawfully condemned by a vote of the Senate. 
 The people call ;doud that the record of this act 
 shall be expunged, wnd they wii! not rest until it 
 shall be obliterated. A simple repeal or rescind- 
 ing of that act wil! not answer. Nor can the de- 
 nial of the imputation of crime to the President 
 be now taken as evidence that the passage of the 
 resolution was a mere ordinnry matter. 
 
 In the month of June, 1834, the Legislature of 
 New Hampshire passed rer^olutions which de- 
 clared — 
 
 "That the course of 'he administration and of 
 the President was entirely approved; and that the 
 latter, by his endeavors to restore the constitution 
 to its original purity, by his integrity and firmness, 
 by staying the expenditure of the public money 
 in an imconstitutional system of internal improve- 
 men'.s, by settling the tarift'on a satisfactory basis, 
 by his resistance of all measures tending to a dis- 
 solution of the Union, by his veto on the bank 
 bill, and the stand he has taken against the alarm- 
 ing proceedings of the bank, has proved himself te 
 he a true disciple of Tiiomas Jeil'erson, the father 
 of American democracy. That he only exercised 
 a power conferred on him by the constitution, re- 
 cognised by the example of all his predecessors, 
 when he removed from office the late Secretary of 
 the 'I'reasury, (W. J. Duane.) 'thU the present 
 Secretary of the Treasury, (Itoger 15. Taney,) in 
 removing- the deposites of public money from tbe 
 Bank of the United States, has violated neither 
 the letter nor th-- spirit of the charter of the bank; 
 and that his course is fully approved by the peo- 
 ple, and was dem.inded by th-; profligate conduct 
 of the officers of th^ bank'. That the Bank of the 
 United States ought not to be rechartered, be- 
 cause, unconstitutional in its creation, it h:i3 
 proved itself to i;e an institution of the most dead- 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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