LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDDOSSliflfllV :".♦ .0^ <1» • ' (; v3- 'c •• s> ^ -'^ v-^^ v-^^ ^•^., .♦ / ■% \^'^«i' <.^\ V-^'>* %-'^v^^ v-^^*/ \v -ov*' » . '.-' / '^^^**^^-*\/ V'^'^'ao'^ "^^''^'■^\'«- fc » • • » '*tft A*-" ^ ^9^ '^^^Oii^*. .^0* t ♦ o. ^°^ .•V'. <> <^^ SPEECHES ^ ^epartm^ €=^r^ i./BRAK^ FORENSIC ARGUMENTS. BY DAIVIEL WEBSTER. VOL. I. EIGHTH EDITION BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY CHARLES TAPPAN. 1846. £v^i ,s .Vl3«1 By TreuDjrfW" DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit : District Clerk^s Office. Be it remembered, that on the tvventy-nintli day of November, A. D. 1830, in tlie fiftv-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Perkins and Marvin of tlie said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof tliey claim as Proprietors, in tlie words following, to wit: " Speeches and Forensic Arguments. By Daniel AVeestek." In cor.formity to tlie Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act for tlw tncouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to tlie Au- thors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned :" and also to an Act entitled " An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, an Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Autiiors and Proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints " JNO. W.DAVIS, I ClerK of the District ' ( of Masxachusetta. dt^ PREFACE. Since the publication of the second volume of Mr. Webster's "Speeches," his Congressional career has been brought to a close. Having been invited by the lamented Harrison to take a place in his Cabinet, Mr. Webster resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States, in February, 1841, and, on the 6lh of March fol- lowing, entered on the duties of the Department of State. The ability and success with which he has conducted the foreign affairs of the country, in this new sphere of public service, need no remark The Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, negotia- ted by him and Lord Ashburton, has been too recently proclaimed to require to be recalled to any body's remembrance. Ratified, on our side of the ocean, by four fifths of the Senate, without distinc- tion of party, it has been hailed by the whole People as an honor- able and highly advantageous settlement of controversies by which the Peace of the Nation had long been endangered. It is the pur- pose of tlie Publishers, at a future day, to collect into a volume the State Papers of Mr. Webster on the subject of this Treaty, and on other subjects which he may have been called on to treat in the sta- tion which he now occupies. In the mean time, they have thought that they should render an acceptable service to the Public by com- pleting the series of Mr. Webster's " Speeches," delivered in the Senate and before the People, previously to his entering upon Exec utive office. With this view, the presc. *■ volume has been prepared. In submitting it to the Country, the Publishers avail themselves of the opportunity to connect in a permanent form with Mr. Webster's Works, the following just vindication of his political course and char- acter from charges which the wantonness of party warfare has too often arrayed against him ; — 4 MR. WEBSTER AND HIS REVILERS. [from the national intelligencer of APRIL 24, 1841.] It is the practice of demagogues, in all free governments, to seek the direction of public opinion, by keeping alive old prejudices, or exciting new ones. In no country has this artifice been more freely or fre- quently resorted to than in our own, nor by any party in it so system- atically and intolerantly as by that which has sprung up of late years, and assumed to itself the name of Democratic, but which, so far from possessing the elements of true and enlightened democracy, is imbued and guided by the very spirit of despotism. Let any man have labored as long or as signally as he may in support of the rights of his country, of the national prosperity, of the Constitution, and of public liberty, — let his whole career have been marked by public usefulness, and his patriotism be as unblemished as the sun, — these shall all weigh as nothing in the scale, if he stand in the way of disappointed office-seek- ers, or of ambitious and aspiring partisans. Can nothing better be found to serve the ends of party rancor, he shall, though he be patriot- ism and purity personified, be hunted down and sacrificed, without scruple or remorse, to superannuated prejudices, or mere political abstractions. There is not one among the men whose names adorn the annals of our country, who has suffered more from this species of injustice than the present Secretary of State. This eminent citizen, whose name, in the most remote regions of the globe, sheds a lustre on the fame of his country, is at home assailed with all the malevo- lence of an intolerant faction, on the score of political incidents which took place before one half of our readers were born, and which, what- ever were their merit, ought, after such a lapse of time, to be consid- ered, upon any fair construction, as barred, by the statute of limitations, from any title to a place in political controversies of the present day. We had occasion to say the same thing not much more than six months ago, when an assault of this sort was made, and justly rebuked by pub- lic opinion, on the occasion of Mr. Webster's visit to the city of Rich- mond. Nor was it any new opinion of ours ; for it was, upon an occasion which then offered, expressed with equal confidence six years ago, and has been entertained by us, with the same earnestness of con- viction, more than twenty years gone by. It is preposterous to be rip- ping up any man's life for thirty or forty years, to discover whether, at some time or other, he has not differed in opinion from some other man or men who have long since gone down to the home of all the living. Not, by any means, that we think that Mr. Webster has any thing to apprehend from a free and fair inquiry into the whole of his poHtical life. On the contrary, we have no doubt he would court it. But what we do most decidedly object to is the falsification of history, the mis- statement of facts, and the distorting and blurring of the face of such facts as are not wholly misrepresented. These remarks are suggested by an article which we find in the Neio York Express of Wednesday last, the writer of which has taken the trouble to meet, and absolutely extinguish, the latest of these incen- diary attempts upon the reputation of JMr. Webster. We have a very sensible pleasure in transferring the whole article to our columns. Here it is : — FROM THE NEW YORK EXPRESS OF APRIL iil. MR. WEBSTER AND THE LAST WAR. During the struggles of the last election, some parties appear to have explored tlie Journals of Congress, during tlie war with England, to find mat- ter of accusation against Mr. Webster. A letter was published [hereto subjoined] appearing to furnish the result of such examination. Whether this was fair or not, few people could judge, as few have either the means or the leisure of going through so many vol- umes of public proceedmgs, and seeing whether the real truth has been extracted or not But a friend of ours, in this city, having leisure sufficient, in these dull times, has prepared a statement, in answer to the charges in, the letter aforesaid. We now publish the letter and the statement, and, at the request of the writer, we publish part of Mr. Webster's speech, in reply to Mr. Calhoun March 22, 1838. ' We commend the consideration of these papers not only to the friends of the last Administration generally, but in an especial manner to Governor Polk, of Tennessee, who, by newspaper accounts, is already "on the stump," as the Western phrase is, for the next August election. Instead of discussing subjects of present interest, the wortliy and venera- ble Governor seems to rejoice in discussions relating to by-gone times. There appear to be two objects which most attract his Excellency's atten- tion; one, to abuse Mr. Clay, who supported tlie war, and the other to abuse Mr. Webster, who, he says, opposed it We hope his Excellency will not omit some notice of the Berlin and Milan decrees, the affair of the Chesapeake, and that he wiU even take some notice of the quasi war with France. The venerable Governor will see how important it is to enter into these matters, when the questions before the American people are, whether m A* exhausted treasury shall be replenished, whether the country shall be defended, and -whetlier any attempt shall be made, by giving a sound cur- rency to the country, to revive business and confidence, and restore public and private credit. THE LETTER, (referred to above.) "Sir: I herewith send you the vote of Daniel Webster, on several occasions, while a member of Congress during the war. " 1st On the 7th of January, 1814, he voted against an appropriation for defraying the expenses of the navy. "2d. On the 19th of January, 1814, he voted against a proposition more effectually to detect and punish traitors and spies. " 3d. On the 25th of March, he voted against the bill to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union and repel invasion. " 4th. On the 1st of December, only a few days before the sitting of the Hartford Convention, he voted against a bill to provide additional rev- enue for defraying the expenses of the Government, and maintaining the public credit. "5th. On the 10th, he voted to postpone indefinitely a bill authorizing the President of the United States to call upon the several States for their respective quotas of militia to defend the frontier against invasion. " Cth. On the 13th, he voted against the same bill. " 7th, He also voted against a bill to provide additional revenue for the support of Government and the public credit, and also against an appropria- tion for rebuilding tlie Capitol, which had been destroyed by the enemy. "The above is taken from the public records at Washington. I could give you more, but the above is enough. Such is the vote of a Tory, now called Whig. Sorry I am to find you in such company, with such a leader. [What follows is of a private nature.] " Respectfully yours." THE STATEMENT. A true and exact statement of the case, in regard to each of these ■votes, as appears from the Journals and the printed debates. The charges are : I. " On the 7th of January, 1814, he voted against an appropriation for defraying the expenses of the navy.'' This is exceedingly disingenuous, for two reasons : 1st. Because the matter is not accurately stated, nor the reason for the vote given, as that now appears in tlie debates. A bill had passed the House of Rep- resentatives, and without opposition, either on the question of its engrossment or the question of its final passage, " making partial appropriations for the service of 1814." The Senate inserted, as an amendment, an appropriation of owe 7»i7- lion of dollars for the expenses of the navy. It was quite unusual, at tliat time, and indeed it is believed unprecedented, for the Senate to originate, by way of amendment, such large grants of money for the public service. On this ground, alone, the amendment was opposed by some who had been the warmest friends of the navy from the time of General Washington. It was a question of the regularity of proceeding, a question of the order of business, merely. The record shows that Nathaniel Macon, and other Administration men, voted with Mr. Webster, on that question, against concurring with the Sen- ate in their amendment. 2d. Because it is well known that, throughout the whole war, Mr. Webster was constantly urging upon Government greater extension of our naval means, and augmented expenditure and augmented eiforts on the sea. The navy had been exceedingly unpopular with the party tlien in power. This every body knows ; and Mr. Webster was attempting to argue it into popularity. The Journal shows that, on the 8th November, 1814, the House went into committee on the bill from the Senate to authorize the President to build twenty vessels of war, to carry a certain number of guns. Mr. Reed moved to increase the number of guns more than twofold for each ship. Mr. Webster voted in the affirmative, but the motion was lost, and the bill then passed without opposi- tion. Doubtless many other votes of this kind may be found in the Journal, for the debates show that Mr. Webster constantly urged the increase of our naval power as the best means of meeting our enemy, the proudest maritime power in the world. In respect, then, to the vote here complained of, the fact is, that it was not a vote against an appropriation to defray the expenses of the navy, but was a vote against the assumption of the Senate to originate, by way of amendment, large appropriations of money for military service. It was then, and is now, thought by many, exclusively the legitimate office of the House of Representatives, to originate all the principal grants of money for the support of Government. Would it be considered fair to charge Nathan- iel Macon and others, the friends of Mr. Madison, and distinguished supporters of the war, with a disposition to withhold the means of defending the country, because he and they voted against the extraordinary amendment of the Senate .'' Certainly not ; and, therefore, the same charge now made against Mr. Webster with voting with jYathaniel Macon on that question, is unfair, if not ridiculous. II. " On the 10th January, 1814, he voted against a proposition more effectually to detect and punish traitors and spies." This is absolutely untrue. On the 10th of January, 1814, Mr. Wright, of Maryland, moved the follow- ing resolution : " Resolved, That a Committee of the Whole House be instructed to inquire into the expediency of extending the second section of the act for the establishment of rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States, relative to spies, to citizens of the United States." The effect of extending the rules and articles of war relative to spies to citi- zens of the United States, would have been to expose every American citizen vis- iting the encampment of the American army, to be charged with being a spy, and have that charge tried and determined by a drum-head court-martial, and that trial followed by death. It would have withdrawn from our citizens that great shield of American liberty — the right of trial by jury — and placed the whole country, and all our citizens, at once under martial law. So thought Mr. Webster, and he voted 8 against it. So thought Mr. Cheves and Mr. Farrow, of South Carolina ; Mr. Duvall, Mr. Ormsby, and Mr. Clark, of Kentucky; Mr. Eppcs, of Virginia; Mr. Kent, of Maryland; Mr. Seybert, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Fisk, of Vermont, (or INew York ;) Mr. King, of North Carolina, (now Senator from Alabama, and late President of the Senate ;) Mr. Richardson, (late Chief Justice of New Hampshire;) Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana; and many others of the warmest supporters of the administration of Mr. Madison ; and they voted with Mr. Webster ; and there is no more truth in this charge against Mr. Webster than in the same charge, should it be made, against Mr. Eppes, the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, son-in-law of Mr. Jefferson, and leader of the then Democratic party in the House of Representatives. III. "On the 25th of March, he voted against the bill to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union and repel invasion." This is wholly a mistake, or misstatement. The Journal of the 25th of March shows no such question voted upon, or pending. IV. " On the 1st of December, only a few days before the meeting of the Hartford Convention, he voted against a bill to provide additional revenue for defraying the expenses of the Government, and maintaining the public credit." This reference to the Hartford Convention is merely for effect, and to make unfair and false impressions ; as it is known to all, who are not wilfully ignorant, that Mr. Webster had nothing to do with the Hartford Convention. The opponents of Mr. Webster have been, again and again, challenged in vain to the proof, that he was in any manner connected with the Hartford Con- vention, its origin, or proceedings. No such proof has been or can be presented. And yet the charge, so falsely made, and so often refuted, continues to be re- peated. As for the rest of the fourth allegation, it only appears that Mr. Webster was in a very small minority against a bill laying taxes on various articles, to some of which taxes there were very serious objections, however important the object, while money could be raised in other modes. This bill proposed a direct tax upon various articles. It laid duties upon sales at auction, on the postage of letters, on licenses to retail wines, on licenses to retail spirituous liquors and foreign merchandise, on carriages for the convey- ance of persons, and on ])late, harness, &c. It is but fair to ascribe Mr. Web- ster's vote against this bill to his objection to the form of some of the taxes, because the Journal shows that, a few days before, he voted in the affirmative on a proposition to increase other taxes. The yeas and nays given in the Journal show that the vote on the tax bill referred to was not, by any means, a test of parties, or a party vote — most of the leading Opposition members having voted in the affirmative. The Journal of the 26th of October, 1814, sliows that Mr. Webster proposed and voted for some of the taxes provided for by this bill, but, as he disapproved of other taxes con- tained in it, he voted against the whole bill. V. " On the 10th, ho voted to postpone indefinitely a bill authorizing the President of the United States to call upon the several States for their respective quotas of mili- tia to defend the frontier against invasion." VI. " On the 13th, he voted against the same bill." The answer to these stands on the same ground as those to some of the pre- ceding. The reason is not given, but the debate shows a reason, fair and honest at least, whatever may be thought of its strength and validity. Mr. Webster never gave a vote against defending the country, against repelling invasion, or 9 against execuling the laws. He was as ready to defend tlie country as the warmest patriot ; and we have seen it stated, what is no doubt true, that when Portsmouth, the town in wliich he then hved, was supposed to be in danger of an immediate attack by the enemy, he was placed, on the nomination of John Langdon, at the head of a committee raised for its defence. In Mr. Webster's speecJi, 21st March, 1838, in reply to Mr. Calhoun, he challenged that gentleman to show that he ever gave an unpatriotic vote, during the war or at any other time. He admitted that, with Mr. Calhoun, he had pre- ferred to carry on the war with England on the ocean, and had indicated that preference by his votes, as had Mr. Calhoun and others. It is well known that, on the occasion referred to, Mr. Calhoun, who has served with Mr. Webster for nearly thirty years in Congress, and who well knew what his votes were during the war, was perfectly silent when this challenge was made. VII. " He also voted against a bill to provide additional revenue for the support of the Government and the public credit, and also against an appropriation for rebuilding the Capitol, which had been destroyed by the enemy." The answer given to the fourth charge is the answer to the seventh, except that under the seventh head is contained, also, a very disingenuous charge — that Mr. Webster voted against a bill to provide for the rebuilding of the Capitol after it had been destroyed by the enemy. The unfairness and falsity of this charge are shown by an examination of the record. The Journal shows the following legislation in respect to rebuilding the Capitol. It is to be remembered, however, that, in consequence of a domestic calamity, Mr. Webster did not take his seat in Congress, in 1814, until the 15th day of October. On the 26th of September, Mr. Fisk, of New York, a distin- guished friend of the administration of Mr. Madison, moved for a committee "to inquire into the expediency of removing the seat of Government, during the ses- sion of Congress, to a place of better security and less inconvenience." The motion prevailed ; ayes 72, noes 51. This was not a party vote, as the record tshows. On the 3d of October, the committee reported " that it was inexpedient, at this time, to remove the seat of Government;" but Mr. Fisk himself moved to amend the report by striking out the word '■'■inexpedient,'' and substituting "expedient." On this motion the vote stood 68 to 68, and the Speaker (Mr. Cheves) declaring himself for the amendment, it was adopted, and the amended resolution was referred to a Committee of the Whole House. October 4. The order of the day on this subject being called for, Mr. New- ton moved its indefinite postponement. This was negatived; yeas W, nays 77; and not a party vote, as the Journal shows. October 6. The report of the committee, having been reported back to the House from the Committee of the Whole House, was taien up ; and on the question to agree to it, the vote stood, ayes 72, and 71 noes. So the report recom- mending the removal of the seat of Government from Washington to some more convenient place was agreed to, and a committee was appointed to bring in a bill. October 13. Mr. Fisk reported a bill for tJie temporary removal of the seat of Government. On the 15th of October, Mr. Webster took his .seat for the first time for that session, and on this day the question was taken upon a motion to reject the bill, and it was negatived, ayes 76, noes 79, Mr. Webster voting in the negative ; that is to say, he voted against the rejection of a bill, brought in by a leading friend of the Administration, and on which there had been in no stage of it a party vote, providing for the removal of the seat of Government from Washington, VOL. III. 2 10 The bill, not being rejected, wag read a second time, and committed to a Com- mittee of the Whole House. Being reported back from the committee to the House, it was moved to amend the bill by inserting a section which provided that the President's House and the Capitol should be rebuilt on their former sites in the city of Washington, which was rejected without a division. In the Committee of the Whole the bill had been amended, and one of the amendments was to name the place to which the Governmont should be removed. (The place does not appear upon the Journal, but is believed to have been Lan- caster, Pennsylvania.) The question then being put upon the engrossment of the bill, it passed in the negative ; ayes 74, noes 83. And so the bill was lost. Mr. Webster voted in the affirmative. This was not a party vote ; the Northern men generally voted to remove the Government to Lancaster, and the Southern were against it. The nest proceeding that appears upon this subject took place on the 20th of October, when Mr. Lewis, of Virginia, (whom Mr. Jefferson called tiie resid- uary legatee of all the federalism of the State of Virginia,) moved for a commit- tee to inquire into the expediency of rebuilding the President's House and the Capitol, and the necessary expense for that purpose. The resolution was adopt- ed without objection, and a committee appointed, which reported on the 21st of November ; and on that day Mr. Lewis obtained leave to bring in a bill making an appropriation for repairing or rebuilding in the city of Washington. It does not appear that any further proceedings took place in the House in regard to the bill introduced by Mr. Lewis ; but on the 8th of February, a bill from the Senate to provide for the rebuilding of the President's House and the Capitol being under consideration in the House of Representatives, it was moved that no part of the money should be expended until the President laid before Congress a report stating the principles upon which tlie Capitol, Presi- dent's House, and the Post-Office should be rebuilt, with an estimate of the cost. This motion was rejected. Then Mr. Stanford, of North Carolina, an ardent supporter of the Administration, moved " that the bill be recommitted, with instructions to report such change and plan of construction of the public build- ings as shall comjiort with the convenience of the Government." This motion was lost. Mr. Eppes, of Virginia, as appears by his vote, was of opinion tliat the money ought not to be voted without some kind of change in the old plan of construction, nor without some plan being laid before the House to show what the construction was to be, and the expense of it. Mr. Webster was of this opinion also ; and on the third reading of the bill there were 67 yeas and 55 nays, and the bill passed. Mr. Webster voted in the negative, and this is the crime he is accused of. Mr. Eppes, the Democratic leader of the House, and chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, voted with him. Mr. Farrow, of South Carolina, voted vrith him. Mr. Kerr, of Virginia ; Mr. Udree, of Pennsylvania > Mr. Taylor, of New York ; Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania ; Mr. Murfree, of North Carolina ; Mr. Williams, of North Carolina ; Mr. Conard, of Pennsylva- nia ; Mr. Stanford, of North Carolina ; and other stanch Democrats, voted with Mr. Webster ; and many of Mr. Webster's political friends voted for the bill. Tilt? trutli is, it was no party proceeding, and there was no party vote on it ; and all that can be made of it is, that Mr. Webster was not willing to vote away the money of the people until he knew how it was to be laid out and expended, any more than Mr. Eppes. Every public man knows, all fair-minded men admit, that justice can be done to no man by picking out a vote here and a vote there, and publishing them without their proper connection, without accurately stating the occasion, and without giving the reason on which they were founded. 11 Persevering efforts of this kind have been made against Mr. Web- ster many times, and by different hands, but thus far without success. The way in which Mr. Webster has himself met them may be learned by the following extracts from his speech in reply to Mr. Calhoun, on the 22d March, 1838 : — " But, sir, before attempting that, he [Mr. Calhoun] has something else to say. He had prepared, it seems, to draw comparisons himself. He had intend- ed to say something, if time had allowed, upon our respective opinions and con- duct in regard to the war. If time had allowed! Sir, time does allow — time must allow. A general remark of that kind ought not to be, cannot be, left to produce its effect, when that effect is obviously intended to be unfavorable. Why did the gentleman allude to my votes, or my opinions, respecting the war, at all, unless he had something to say .■" Does he wish to leave an undefined impression that something was done, or something said by me, not now capable of defence or justification .'' something not reconcilable with true patriotism ? He means that, or nothing. And now, sir, let him bring the matter forth; let him take the responsibility of the accusation ; let him state his facts. I am here, this day, to answer. Now is the time, and now is the hour. I think we read, sir, that one of the good spirits would not bring against the arch-enemy of mankind a railing accusation ; and what is railing but general reproach — an imputation without fact, time, or circumstance .' Sir, I call for particulars. The gentleman knows my whole conduct well : indeed, the Journals show it all, from the mo- ment I came into Congress till the peace. If I have done, then, sir, any thing unpatriotic, any thing which, as far as love of country goes, will not bear com- parison with his or any man's conduct, let it now be stated. Give me the fact, the time, the manner. He speaks of the war; that which is called the late war, though it is now twenty-fi.ve years since it terminated. He would leave an impression that I opposed it. How .' I was not in Congress when war was declared, nor in public life, any where. 1 was pursuing my profession, and keep- ing company with judges, sheriffs, and jurors, and plaintiffs and defendants. If I had been in Congress, and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the honorable gentleman's speeches, for all I can say, I might have concurred with him. But 1 was not in public life. I never had been for a single hour, and was in no situ- ation, therefore, to oppose or support the declaration of war. I am speaking to the fact, sir; and if the gentleman has any fact, let us know it. " Well, sir, I came into Congress during the war. I found it waged and raging. And what did I do here to oppose it.' Look to the Journals. Let the honorable gentleman tax his memory. Bring up any thing, if there be any thing to bring up — not showing error of opinion, but showing want of loyalty or fidel- ity to the country. I did not agree to all that was proposed, nor did the honor- able gentleman. I did not approve of every measure, nor did he. "The war had been preceded by the restrictive system and the embargo. As a private individual, I certainly did not think well of these measures. It appeared to me the embargo annoyed us as much as our enemies, while it destroyed the business and cramped the spirits of the people. " In this opinion, I may have been right or wrong, but the gentleman was himself of the same opinion. He told us the other day, as a proof of his independ- ence of party on great questions, that he differed with his friends on the sub- ject of the embargo. He was decidedly and unalterably opposed to it. It fur- nishes, in his judgment, therefore, no imputation, either on my patriotism or the soundness of my political opinions, that I was opposed to it also. I mean opposed 12 in opinion ; for I was not in Congress, and had nothing to do with the act cre- ating the embargo. And as to opposition to measures for carrying on the war, after I came into Congress, I again say, let the gentleman specify — let him lay his finger on any thing, calling for an answer, and he shall have an answer. " Mr. President, you were yourself in the House during a considerable part of this time. The honorable gentleman may make a witness of you. He may make a witness of any body else. He may be his own witness. Give us but some fact, some cliarge, something capable in itself either of being proved or disproved. Prove any thing not consistent with honorable and patriotic conduct, and Lam ready to answer it. Sir, I am glad this subject has been alluded to in a manner which justifies me in taking public notice of it ; because I am well aware that, for ten years past, infinite pains have been taken to find something, in the range of these topics, which might create prejudice against me in tlie country. The Journals have all been pored over, and the reports ransacked, and scraps of paragraphs and half sentences have been collected, put together in the falsest manner, and then made to flare out as if there had been some discovery. But all this failed. The next resort was to supposed correspondence. My let- ters were sought for, to learn if, in the confidence of private friendship, I had never said any thing which an enemy could make use of. With this view, the vicinity of my former residence has been searched, as with a lighted candle. New Hampshire has been explored, from the mouth of the Merrimack to the White Hills. In one instance, a gentleman had left the State, gone five hundred miles oif, and died. His papers were examined, a letter was found, and, I have understood, it was brought to Washington ; a conclave was held to consid- er it; and the result was, that if there was nothing else against Mr. Webster, the matter had better be left alone. Sir, I hope to make every body of that opinion who brings against me a charge of a want of patriotism. Errors of opinion can be found, doubtless, on many subjects ; but as conduct flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know that no act of my life has had its origin in the want of ardent love of country. " Sir, when I came to Congress, I found the honorable gentleman a leading member of the House of Representatives. Well, sir, in what did we differ.' One of the first measures of magnitude, after I came here, was Mr. Dallas's proposition for a bank. It was a war measure. It was urged as being absolute- ly necessary to enable Government to carry on the war. Government wanted revenue ; such a bank, it was hoped, would furnish it, and on that account it was warmly pressed and urged on Congress. You remember all this, Mr. Pres- ident. You remember how much some persons supposed the success of the war and salvation of the country depended on carrying that measure. Yet the hon- orable member from South Carolina opposed that bill. He now takes to himself a good deal of merit — none too much, but still a good deal of merit — for having defeated it. Well, sir, I agreed with him. It was a mere paper bank — a mere machine for fabricating irredeemable paper. It was a new form for paper money ; and, instead of benefiting the country, 1 thought it would plunge it deeper and deeper in difficulty. I made a speech on the subject ; it has often been quoted. There it is ; let whoever pleases read and examine it. I am not proud of it for any ability it exhibits; on the other hand, I am not ashamed of it for the spirit which it manifests. But, sir, I say again, the gentleman himself took the lead against this measure — this darling measure of the Administration. I followed him ; if I was seduced into error, or into unjustifiable opposition, there sits my seducer. " What, sir, were other leading sentiments, or leading measures, of that day ? On what other subjects did men differ .' The gentleman has adverted to one, 13 and that a most important one — I mean the na,vy. He says, and says truly, that, at the commencement of the war, the navy was unpopular. It was un- popular with his friends, who then controlled the politics of the country. But ho says he differed with his friends; in this respect he resisted party influence and party connection, and was the friend and advocate of the navy. Sir, I commend him for it. He showed his wisdom. That gallant little navy soon fought itself into favor, and showed that a man who had placed reliance on it had not been disappointed. " Well, sir, in all this, I was exactly of the same opinion as the honorable gentleman. " Sir, I do not know when my opinion of the importance of a naval force to the United States had its origin. I can give no date to my sentiments on this subject, because I never entertained different sentiments. I remember, sir, that immediately after coming into my profession, at a period when the navy was most unpopular, when it was called by all sorts of hard names, and designated by many coarse epithets, — on one of those occasions on which young men ad- dress their neighbors, 1 ventured to put forth a boy's hand in defence of the navy. 1 insisted on its importance, its adaptation to our circumstances and to our national character, and its indispensable necessity, if we intended to maintain and extend our commerce. These opinions and sentiments I brought into Congress ; and, so far as I remember, it was the first, or among the first, times in which I presumed to speak on the topics of the day, that I attempted to urge on the House a greater attention to the naval service. There were divers modes of prosecuting the war. On these modes, or on the degree of attention and expense which should be bestowed on each, different men held different opinions. I confess I looked with most hope to the results of naval warfare, and therefore I invoked Government to invigorate and strengthen that arm of the national defence. I invoked it to seek its enemies upon the seas — to go v.'here every auspicious indication pointed, and where the whole heart and soul of the country would go with it. " Sir, we were at war with the greatest maritime power on earth. England had gained an ascendency on the seas over the whole combined powers of Europe. She had been at war twenty years. She had tried her fortunes on the continent, but generally with no success. At one time, the whole continent had been closed against her. A long line of armed exterior, an unbroken hos- tile array, frowned upon her from the Gulf of Archangel, round the promontory of Spain and Portugal, to the foot of the boot of Italy. There was not a port which an English ship could enter. Every where on the land the genius of her 2reat enemy had triumphed. He had defeated armies, crushed coalitions, and overturned thrones ; but, like the fabled giant, he was unconquerable only while he touched tlie land. On the ocean he was powerless. That field of fame was his adversary's, and her meteor flag was streaming in triumph all over it. "To her maritime ascendency England owed every thing, and we were now at war with her. One of the most charming of her poets has said of her, that ' Her march is o'er the mountain wave, Her home is on the deep.' Now, sir, since we were at war with her, I was for intercepting this march ; I was for calling upon her, and paying our respects to her at home ; I was for giving her to know that we, too, had a right of way over the seas, and that our marine officers and our sailors were not entire strangers on the bosom of the deep ; I was for doing something more with our navy than to keep it on our B 14 shores, for the protection of our own coasts and our own liarbors ; I was for giving play to its gallant and burning spirit; for allowing it to go forth upon the seas, and encounter, on an open and an equal field, whatever the proudest or the bravest of the enemy could bring against it. I knew the character of its officers, and the spirit of its seamen ; and 1 knew that, in their hands, though the flag of the country might go down to the bottom, while they went with it, yet that it could never be dishonored or disgraced. " Since she was our enemy — and a most powerful enemy — I was for touching her, if we could, in the very apple of her eye ; for reaching the high- est feather in her cap ; for clutching at the very brightest jewel in her crown. There seemed to me to be a peculiar propriety in all this, as the war was under- taken for the redress of maritime injuries alone. It was a war declared for free trade and sailors' rights. The ocean, therefore, was the proper theatre for deciding this controversy with our enemy, and on that theatre my ardent wish was, that our own power should be concentrated to the utmost. " So much, sir, for the war, and for my conduct and opinions as connected with it. And, as I do not mean to recur to this subject often, or ever, unless indispensably necessary, I repeat the demand for any charge, any accusation, any allegation whatever, that throws me behind the honorable gentleman, or behind any other man, in honor, in fidelity, in devoted love to that country in which I was born, which has honored me, and which 1 serve. I, who seldom deal in defiance, now, here, in my place, boldly defy the honorable member to put his insinuation in the form of a charge, and to support that charge by any proof whatever." CONTENTS. Remarks made to the Citizens of Bangor, Maine, August 25, 1835 17 Speech on receiving a Vase from Citizens of Boston, October 12, 1835. . . . 23 Speech in the Senate of the United States, January 14, 1836, on Mr. Benton's Resolutions for appropriating the Surplus Revenue to National Defence 38 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, March 16, 1836, on present- ing sundry Abolition Petitions 59 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Deposit Banks, March 17, J836 63 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on a Resolution submitted by Mr. Benton, on receiving Specie only, in Payment for Public Lands, April 23, 1836 65 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Bill to authorize the Purchase, on the Part of the United States, of the Private Stock in the Louisville and Portland Canal, May 25, 1836. 73 Speech in the Senate of the United States, on introducing the Proposition for the Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, May 31, 1836 78 Speech in the Senate of the United States, on the Specie Circular, De- cember 21, 1836 89 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Protest against Ex- punging, January 16, 1837 Ill Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on presenting a Petition of Merchants of New York, for the Establishment of a National Bank, February 8, 1837 116 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, February 20, 1837, in Relation to the Manuscript Papers of Mr. Madison 119 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, in Relation to the Reduction of the Duty on Coal, February 24, 1837 122 Speech delivered in Niblo's Saloon, in New York, on the 15th of March, 1837 ;i29 Speech delivered May 17, 1837, at the Dinner given by the Citizens of Wheeling, Virginia 165 Speech delivered at Madison, Indiana, June 1, 1837 174 Speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, September 14, 1837, on the Bill to postpone the Payment of the Fourth Instalment of the Deposit to the States 185 Speech on the Currency, and on the New Plan for collecting and keeping the Public Moneys, delivered in the Senate of the United States, Sep- tember 28, 1837 : . 195 15 16 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, January 10, 1838, respecting Slavery in the District of Columbia 234 Remarks made in the Senate of the United States, January 17, 1838, in Relation to tlie Commonwealth Bank, Boston 239 Remarks on the Preemption Bill, made in the Senate of the United States, January 29, 1838 250 Speech on the Sub-Treasury Bill, delivered in the Senate of the United States, January 31, 1838 259 Second Speech on the Sub-Treasury Bill, delivered in the Senate of the United States, March 12, 1838 277 Speech in the Senate of the United States, in Answer to Mr. Calhoun, March 22, 1838 340 Speech in Faneuil Hall, July 24, 1838 359 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, on the Bill to graduate the Price of tlie Public Lands, January 14, 1839 375 Argument in the Supreme Court of the United States, February 9, 1839, in the great Appeal Case from the District of Alabama 379 Address at the Triennial Celebration of the National Agricultural Society, Oxford, England, July 18, 1839 400 Remarks on the Agriculture of England, at a Meeting of Members of the Legislature of Massachusetts, and Others interested in Agriculture, held at the State House, in Boston, January 13, 1840 404 Remarks in the Senate of the United States, March 3, 1840, in Answer to some Parts of Mr. Calhoun's Speech 416 Speech in the Senate of the United States, March 30, 1840, on the Treas- ury Note Bill 426 Speech in the Senate of the United States, May 18, 1840, on the proposed Amendment to the Bankrupt Bill 442 Speech in the Senate of the United States, June 5, 1840, on Mr. Clay's Motion to strike out the compulsory Part of the Bankrupt Bill 460 Speech delivered at the Great Mass-Meeting at Saratoga, New York, August 19, 1840 472 Declaration of tlie Principles and Purposes adopted by a General Con- vention of the Whigs of New England, at Bunker Hill, on the 10th of September, 1840. Prepared by Mr. Webster, and signed by him as President of the Convention 498 Speech at the Merchants' Meeting in Wall Street, New York, September 28, 1840 508 Speech delivered in the Capitol Square, during the Whig Convention at Richmond, Virginia, October 5, 1840 529 Remarks to the Ladies of Richmond, Virginia, October 5, 1840 547 Remarks upon that Part of the President's Message which relates to the Revenue and Finances, delivered in the Senate of the United States, December 16 and 17, 1840 551 REMARKS MADE TO THE CITIZENS OF BANGOR, MAINE, AUGUST 25, 1835. During a visit to Maine, in the summer of 1835, on business connected with his profession, Mr. Webster was at Bangor, where he partook of a collation with many of the citizens. There were so many more people, however, anxious to see and hear him than could be accommodated in the hall of the Hotel, that, after the cloth was removed, he was compelled to proceed to the balcony, where, after thanking the company for their hospitality, and their manifestation of re- gard, he addressed the assembly as follows : — Having occasion to come into the State, on professional business, I have gladly availed myself of the opportunity to visit this city, the growing magnitude and importance of which have recently attracted so much general notice. I am happy to say, that I see around me ample proofs of the correctness of those favorable representations which have gone abroad. Your city, gentlemen, has undoubtedly experienced an extraordinary growth ; and it is a growth, I think, ^yhich there is reason to hope is not unnatural, or greatly dispropor- tionate to the eminent advantages of the place. It so happened, that, at an early period of my life, I came to this spot, attracted by that favorable position, which the slightest glance on the map must satisfy every one that it occupies. It is near the head of tide water, on a river which brings to it from the sea a volume of water equal to the demands of the largest vessels of war, and whose branches, uniting here, from great distances above, traverse, in their course, extensive tracts, now covered with valuable productions of the forest, and capa- ble, most of them, of profitable agricultural cultivation. But at the period I speak of, the time had not come for the proper develop- ment and display of these advantages. Neither the place itself, nor the country, was then ready. A long course of commercial restric- tions and embargo, and a foreign war, were yet to be gone throuo-h, before the local advantages of such a spot could be exhibited or en- joyed, or the country would be in a condition to create an active demand for its main products. I believe some twelve or twenty houses were all that Bangor could enumerate, when I was in it before ; and I remember to have crossed the stream, which now divides your fair city, on some floating logs, VOL. III. 3 ^7 B* ° 18 for the purpose of visiting a former friend and neighbor, who had just then settled here, a gentleman always most respectable, and now venerable for his age and his character, whom I have great pleasure in seeing among you to-day, in the enjoyment of health and happi- ness. It is quite obvious, Gentlemen, that while the local advantages of a noble river, and of a large surrounding country, may be justly con- sidered as the original spring of the present prosperity of the city, the current of this prosperity has, nevertheless, been put in motion, enlarged and impelled, by the general progress of improvement, and growth of wealth throughout the whole country. At the period of my former visit, there was, of course, neither Rail-road nor Steam-boat, nor Canal, to favor communication ; nor do I recollect that any public or stage coach came within fifty miles of the town. Internal Improvement has been the great agent of so favorable a change ; and so blended are our interests, that the general activity, which exists elsewhere, supported and stimulated by Internal Im- provement, pervades and benefits even those portions of the country which are locally remote from the immediate scene of the main operations of this Improvement. Whatever promotes communica- tion — whatsoever extends ""Rneral business — whatsoever encour- ages enterprise, or whatsoever advances the general wealth and prosperity of other States, must have a plain, direct, and powerful bearing on your own prosperity. In truth, there is no town in the Union, whose hopes can be more directly staked on the general pros- perity of the country, than this rising city. If any thing should in- terrupt the general operations of business, — if commercial embar- rassment, foreign war, pecuniary derangement, domestic dissension, or any other causes, were to arrest the general progress of the public welfare, all must see, with what a blasting and withering effect such a course must operate on Bangor. Gentlemen, I have often taken occasion to say, what circum- stances may render it proper now to repeat, that, at the close of the last war, a new era, in my judgment, had opened in the United States. A new career then lay before us. At peace ourselves with the na- tions of Europe, and those nations, too, at peace with one another, and the leading civilized States of the world no longer allowing that commerce which had been the rich harvest of our neutrality, in the midst of former wars, but all now coming forward to exercise their own rights, in sharing the commerce and trade of the world, it seemed to me to be very plain, that while our commerce was still to be fostered with the most zealous care, yet quite a new view of things was presented to us, in regard to our internal pursuits and concerns. The works of peace, as it seemed to me, had become our duties. A hostile exterior, a front of brass, and an arm of iron, 19 all necessary in the just defence of the country against foreign ag- gression, naturally gave place, in a change of circumstances, to the attitude, the objects, and the pursuits of peace. Our true interest, as I thought, was to explore our own resources, to call forth and encourage labor and enterprise upon internal objects, to multiply the sources of employment and comfort at home, and to unite the coun- try by ties of intercourse, commerce, benefits, and prosperity, in all parts, as well as by the ties of political association. And it appeared to me that Government itself clearly possessed the power, and was as clearly charged with the duty of helping on, in vaiious ways, this great business of Internal Improvement. I have, therefore, steadily su]3ported all measures, directed to that end, which appeared to me to he within the just power of the Government, and to be practica- ble within the limits of reasonable expenditure. And if any one would judge how far the fostering of this spirit has been beneficial to the country, let him compare its state at this moment, with its con- dition at the commencement of the late war ; and let him then say how much of all that has been added to national wealth, and national strength, and to individual prosperity and happiness, has been the fair result of Internal Improvement. Gentlemen, it has been yoiir pleasure to give utterance to senti- ments, expressing approbation of my humble efforts, on several occa- sions, in defence and maintenance of the Constitution of the country. I have nothing to say of those efforts, except that they have been honestly intended. The country sees no reason, I trust, to suppose that on those occasions I have taken counsel of any thing but a deep sense of duty. I have, on some occasions, felt myself called on to maintain my opinions, in opposition to power, to place, to official in- fluence, and to overwhelming personal popularity. I have thought it my imperative duty to put forth my most earnest efforts to main- tain what I considered to be the just powers of the Government, when it appeared to me that those to whom its administration was intrusted were countenancing opinions inevitably tending to its destruction. And I have, with far more pleasure, on other occa- sions, supported the constituted authorities, when I have deemed their measures to be called for, by a regard to its preservation. The Constitution of the United States, Gentlemen, has appeared to me to have been formed and adopted for two grand objects. The first is the union of the States. It is the bond of that union, and it states and defines its terms. Who can speak, in terms warm enough and high enough, of its importance in this respect, or the admirable wisdom with which it is formed ? Or who, when he shall have stated its past benefits and blessings to those States, most strong- ly, will venture to say, that he has yet done it justice? For one, I am not sanguine enough to believe, that if this bond of Union were dissolved, any other tic, uniting all the States, would take its place 20 for generations to come. It requires no common skill, it is no piece of ordinary political journey-work, to form a system, which shall hold together four-and-twenty separate State sovereignties, the line of whose united territories runs down all the parallels of latitude from New Brunswick to the Gulf of Mexico, and whose connected breadth stretches from the sea far beyond the ^Mississippi. Nor are all times, or all occasions, suited to such great operations. It is only under the most favorable circumstances, and only when great men are called on to meet great exigencies, only once in centuries, that such fortunate political results are attained. Whoever, therefore, undervalues this National Union, whoever depreciates it, whoever accustoms himself to consider how the people might get on without it, appears to me to encourage sentiments subversive of the founda- tions of our prosperity. It is true that those twenty-four States are, more or less, different in climate, productions, and local pursuits. There are planting States, o-rain-irrowincr States, manufacturing States, and conmiercial States. But those several interests, if not identical, are not, there- fore, inconsistent and hostile. Far from it. They unite, on the contrary, to promote an aggregate result of unrivalled national hap- piness. It is not precisely a case in which " All nature's difference keeps all nature's peace ; ' ' but it is, precisely, a case in which variety of climate and condition, and diversities of pursuits and productions, all unite to exhibit one harmonious, grand, and magnificent whole, to which the world may be proudly challenged to show an equal. In my opinion, no man, in any corner of any one of those States, can stand up and declare, that he is less prosperous, or less happy, than if the General Govern- ment had never existed. And entertaining these sentiments, and feeling their force most deeply, I feel it the bounden duty of every good citizen, in public and in private life, to follow the admonition of Washington, and to cherish that Union which makes us one peo- ple. I most earnestly deprecate, therefore, whatever occurs, in the Government or out of it, calculated to endanger the Union, or disturb the basis on which it rests. Another object of the Constitution I take to be such as is com- mon to all written Constitutions of Free Governments ; that is, to fix limits to delegated authority, or, in other words, to impose constitu- tional restraints on political power. Some, who esteem themselves Republicans, seem to think no other security for public liberty necessary, than a provision for a popular choice of rulers. If politi- cal power be delegated power, they entertain little fear of its being abused. The people's servants and favorites, they think, may be safely trusted. Our fathers, certainly, were not of this school. They sought to make assurance doubly sure, by providing, in the 21 first place, for the election of political agents by the people them- selves, at short intervals, and, in the next place, by prescribing con- stitutional restraints on all branches of this delegated authority. It is not among the circumstances of the times, most ominous for good, that a diminished estimate appears to be placed on those constitu- tional securities. A disposition is but too prevalent to substitute personal confidence for legal restraint ; to put trust in men rather than in principles ; and this disposition being strongest, as it most obviously is, whenever party spirit prevails to the greatest excess, it is not without reason that fears are entertained of the existence of a spirit tending strongly to an unlimited, if it be but an elective, Government. Surely, Gentlemen, surely this Government can go through no such change. Long before that change could take place, the Con- stitution would be shattered to pieces, and the Union of the States become matter of past history. To the Union, therefore, as well as to civil liberty, to every interest which we enjoy and value, to all that makes us proud of our country, or our country lovely in our own eyes, or dear to our own hearts, nothing can be more repug- nant, nothing more hostile, nothing more directly destructive than excessive, unlimited, unconstitutional confidence in men ; nothing worse than the doctrine that official agents may interpret the public will in their own way, in defiance of the Constitution and the laws ; or that they may set up any thing for the declaration of that will except the Constitution and the laws themselves ; or that any pub- lic officer, high or low, should undertake to constitute himself, or to call himself iAe Representative of the people, except so far as the Constitution and the laws create and denominate him such represen- tative. There is no usurpation so dangerous as that which comes in the borrowed name of the people. If, from some other authority, or other source, prerogatives be attempted to be enforced upon the people, they naturally oppose and resist it. It is an open enemy, and they can easily subdue it. But that which professes to act, in their own name, and by their own authority, that which calls itself their servant, although it exercises their power without legal right or constitutional sanction, requires something more of vigilance to detect, and something more of stern patriotism to repress ; and if it be not, seasonably, both detected and repressed, then the Republic is already in the downward path of those which have gone before it. I hold, therefore. Gentlemen, that a strict submission, by every branch of the Government, to the limitations and restraints of the Constitution, is of the very essence of all security for the preserva- tion of liberty ; and that no one can be a true and intelligent friend of that liberty, who will consent that any man in public station, whatever he may think of the honesty of his motives, shall exercise or enact an authority above the Constitution and the laws. What- 22 ever Government is not a Government of Laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. Gentlemen, in the circumstances which surround us, I ought not to detain you longer. Let us hope for the best, in behalf of this great and happy country, and of our glorious Constitution. Indeed, Gentlemen, we may well congratulate ourselves that the country is so young, so fresh, so strong and vigorous, that it can bear a great deal of bad government. It can take an enormous load of official mis- management on its shoulders, and yet go ahead. Like the vessel impelled by steam, it can move forward, not only without other than the ordinary means, but even when those means oppose it, it can make its way in defiance of the elements, and — " Afjainst tlie wind, against the tide, Still steady, with an upright keel." There are some things, however, which the country cannot stand. It cannot stand any shock of civil liberty, or any disruption of the Union. Should either of these happen, the vessel of the State will have no longer either steerage or motion. She will lie on the bil- lows helpless and hopeless ; the scorn and contempt of all the enemies of free institutions, and an object of indescribable grief to all their friends. Gentlemen, I offer as a sentiment for the occasion — Civil Lib- erty : Its only security is in Constitutional restraint on political pow er. SPEECH ON RECEIVING A VASE FROJI CITIZENS OF BOSTON, OCTOBER 12, 1835. A LARGE number of the Citizens of Boston being desirous to offer Mr. Web- ster some enduring testimony of their gratitude for his services in Congress, and more especially for his defence of the Constitution during the crisis of Nullifica- tion, a Committee was raised, in the spring of 1835, to procure a piece of plate which should be worthy of such an object. By their direction, and more par- ticularly under the superintendence of one of their number — the late George W. Brimmer, to whose taste and skill the Committee were deeply indebted for the selection of the model and the arrangement of the devices — the beautiful Vase, now well kncwn throughout the country as the Webster, Vase was pre- pared at the manufactory of Messrs. Jones, Lows, & Ball, in Boston. After it was finished, the Committee found it impossible to withstand the wish both of the numerous subscribers, and of the public generally, to witness the ceremonies and hear the remarks by which its presentation might be accompanied. It was ac- cordingly presented to Mr. Webster in the presence of three or four thousand spectators assembled at the Odeon on the evening of the 12th of October. The Vase was placed on a pedestal covered with an American Flag, and contained on its front the following inscription : — PRESENTED TO DANIEL WEBSTER, THE DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION, BY THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON, Oct. 12, 1835. Mr. Zachariaii Jellison, the Chairman of the Committee, opened the Meet- ing with the following remarks : — Fellow Citizens: The friends of the Hon. Daniel Webster in this city, conceiving the propriety of jriving that gentleman an expression of the high estimation in which they liold his public services, and wishing also to tender him a testhnonial of their regard for his moral worth and social virtues, called a meeting of consultation on the subject, some months since, at which a committea was appointed, with instructions to procure a suitable piece of plate, to be presented to him in their behalf, before his official duty should again require his departure hence for the seat of government. In obedience to their instructions, that committee have procured, from the hands of the 23 24 most skilful artists in tins country, tlie piece of plato I now have the honor to exhibit to you. They have now called their constituents together, for the purpose of pre- senting tliis Vase in their presence. Had the Committee consulted the wishes only of the gentleman for whom it is intended, this presentation might, perhaps, have taken place in a more private or less imposing manner; but, in the course they have adopted, they have been governed by the wishes of the citizens at large. They now respectfully ask your kind indulgence while they proceed in the discharge of this part of their duty. The Committee have appointed, as their organ of communication, the Hon. Francis C. Gray, with whom I now have the pleasure to leave the subject. Mr. Gray then rose, and spoke as follows: — Mr. Webster: By direction of the Committee, and in behalf of your fellow-citizens, who have caused this Vase to be made, I now request your acceptance of it They offer it in token of their high sense of your public character and services. But on these it were not becoming to dwell in ad- dressing yourself. Nor is a regard for these the only, or the principal mo- tive of those, for whom I speak. They offer it mainly to evince tiie high estimation in which they hold the political sentiments and principles, which you have professed and maintained. Tliere may undoubtedly be differences of opinion among them with regard to this or that particular measure ; and a blind, indiscriminate, wholesale adhesion to the life and opinions of any one, would not be worth offering, nor worth accepting among freemen. ^V'e are not man-worshippers here in Massachusetts. But the great political principles, the leading views of policy, which you have been forward to assert and vindicate, these they all unite to honor; and in rendering public homage to these, they feel, that they are not so much paying a compliment to you, as performing a duty to their country. In a free republic, where all men exercise political power, the prevalence of correct views and principles, on political subjects, is essential to the safety of the State. It is not enough that their truth should be recognized. Their operation and tendency must be understood and appreciated ; tJiey must bo made familiar to the mass of the people, become closely interwoven with their whole habits of thought and feeling, objects of attachment, to which they may cling instantly and instinctively in all time of doubt or peril, so as not to be swept away by any sudden flood of prejudice or passion. Hence it is the duty of every man, to embrace all tit occasions, nay, to seek fit occasions, for declaring his adherence to such principles, and giving them the support of his influence, however high, or however humble that influence may be. There is no justice, therefore, in the complaint often made, against tiie members of our legislative assemblies, that they sometimes speak not for their audience merely, but for their constituents ; seeking not simply to affect the decision of the question then pending, but to influence the public sentiment with regard to the principles involved in it. This affords no ground of censure against them, so they speak well and wisely. The prac- tice may be abused, no doubt; but, in itself, it is a natural, inevitable right. So it siiould be in relation to all important principles in a free country. Nothing else but tiie excitement, kindled by the conflict of debate, will ever make those great principles subjects of general attention and interest. Nothing else but the observation of their application in practice can rnako them generally understood and appreciated. We all recollect questions, (and among them that on Mr. Foot's resolutions, not likely soon to be for- gotten,) the vote on which was as certainly known before tlie discussion as after it, and known to be unalterable by any argument or persuasion ; and 25 yet, the discussion of which Avas so free from being uninteresting and un- profitable, that it was echoed and re-echoed throurrh the land, making a deep and lasting impression on tiie public mind, establishing incontrovertibly vital principles before disputed, and thus giving new strength and stability to our free institutions, and forming, 1 may almost say, an epoch in our political history. On this and similar occasions, not to dwell on your steadfast adherence to those more general principles of civil liberty, which are equally important in every age and country ; on such occasions the fundamental principles peculiar to our system of government have always had in you a decided ad- vocate, ever ready to develop and illustrate their nature and operation, and to enforce the obligations which they impose. Among the most prominent peculiarities of our system is the fact that the United States are not a con- federacy of independent sovereigns, the subjects of each of whom is respon- sible to him alone for their compliance with the obligations of his compact ; but that, for certain specified purposes, they form one nation, every citizen of which is responsible, directly, immediately, exclusively to the whole na- tion for tiie performance of his duties to the whole; that the Constitution is not a Treaty, nor any thing like a Treaty ; but a frame of government, resting on the same foundations, and supported by the same sanctions, as any other government, — to be subverted only by the same means — by revo- lution ; — revolution to be brought about by the same authority which would warrant a revolution in any government, and by none other, — to be justified, when justifiable, by tlie same paramount necessity, and by nothing less. This government is not the government of the States, but that of the people ; and it behoves the people, every one of the people, to do his utmost to pre- ser\'e it ; not in form merely, but in its full efficiency, as a practical system ; to maintain the Union as it is, in all its integrity ; the Constitution as it is, in all its purity, and in all its strength; — and when they are in danger, to hasten to their support promptly, frankly, fearlessly, undeterred, and unen- cumbered by any political combination ; let who will be his companions in the good cause, and let who will hang back from it. The other great peculiarity of our political system, — and on these two hang all tiie liberty and hopes of America, — is this — That thp supreme power or sovereignty is divided between the State and National governments, and the portion allotted to each, distributed among several independent departments ; and this, notwithstanding the maxim of European politicians, too hastily adopted by some of our own statesmen, that sovereignty is, in its nature, indivisible. By sovereignty, I do not mean, and they do not mean, the ulti- mate right of the people to establish and subvert governments, the right of revolution, as it has been called ; for, thus understood, it would be absurd to inquire, as they constantly do, where the sovereignty resides in any particu- lar government, since this ultimate sovereignty never can reside any where but in the people themselves. It is inherent in them and inalienable, exist- ing equally as a right, however its exercise may be impeded, in free and despotic governments. But by sovereignty must be understood the supreme power of the government, the highest power which can lawfully be exer- cised by any constituted authority. Now, let the politicians of Europe say what they will of the indivisibility of this power, we know that, among us, it is in point of fact divided ; that in relation to some objects, the supreme power is in the National government, subject to no earthly control, but that of the people, exercising their right of revolution; and that in relation to others, it is in the State governments, subject to the same and to no other control ; and that in each of these governments the power conferred is divided among the Legislative, Executive, and .Judicial departments, each of which is entirely independent in the performance of its appropriate duties. This system of practical checks and balances, altogether peculiar to us, VOL. III. 4 c 26 is desigrned to operate, and docs operate for the restraint of power and the protection of liberty. But, like every earthly good, it brings with it its attendant evil in the danger of encroachment and collision. To guard against these dangers is one of the most important, most difficult, most deli- cate of our public duties; to see that the National government shall not encroach upon the power of the States, nor the States on that of the Nation ; that no State shall interfere with the domestic legislation of another, nor lightly nor unjustly suspect another of seeking to interfere with its own; but that each of these several governments, and every department in each, shall be strictly confined to its proper sphere ; that no one shall evade any responsibility which is imposed on him by the Constitution and the Laws, and no one assume any responsibility, which is not so. But by what power can tliis be accomplished ? Tiiere is only one. Physi- cal force will not do it The system of our government has been compared to that of the heavenly bodies, which move on, orb within orb, cycle within cycle, in apparent confusion, but in real, uninterrupted, unalterable harmony. And tlie harmony of our system can only be maintained by a power, which, like that regulating their movements, is unseen, unfelt, yet irresistible — Public Opinion. This is the precise circumstance, which renders the prevalence of just political views and principles peculiarly important among us, and secures to him, who labors faithfully and successfully to promote their diffusion, the praise of having deserved well of his country. The opinions of men, however, are invariably and inevitably affected by their interests and their feelings. This consideration opens a wide field of duty to the American Statesman, requiring him to prevent, by every means in his power, all collisions of interest and all exasperations of feeling — to correct and rebuke the misrepresentations which tend to array one part of the country against another, or one portion of society against another, as if their interests were adverse, whereas in truth they are one ; — and, avoiding the paltry cunning, which plays off the different parts of the country against each other, sacrificing the interest of the whole to this part, to-day, on con- dition that they shall be sacrificed to another to-morrow, by which means they are always sacrificed ; to be governed by that liberal, enlightened, far- sighted policy, which, in all questions of expediency, looks invariably and ex- clusively to the permanent interests of the whole nation, considered as one ; — which aims to impress on the minds and the hearts of this people, deeply, indelibly, the great truth, that t!ie prosperity and the glory of the United States, their improvement and happiness at home, their rank among the na- tions of the earth, must be proportioned to the strength and cordiality of their union; — and can only be carried to their highest pitch by the universal conviction, the deep-seated and overruling sentiment, that, for the purposes set forth in the Constitution, we are one people, one and indivisible ; and that for us to break the bond, that makes us one, and resolve this glorious Union into its original elements, would be as mad and as fatal as for England to go back again to her Heptarchy. The statesman, who is governed by these principles and this policy, whoso great object is not to win the spoils of victory, nor even its laurels, but to fight the good fight and render feitliful service to his country, Avill never want opportunity to merit the public gratitude, whatever may be his political position. If in the majority, considering that the duration of any Adminis- tration is only a day in the existence of the Government, — and yet a day which must affect all that are to follow it, — he will never be tempted to swerve from these great principles by any temporary advantage, even to the whole community, still less by any local or partial benefit; and least of all by any party or personal consideration. He will not make it the chief object of government to extend and perpetuate the power of his party. He will not 27 regard his political opponents as enemies, over whom he has triumphed and whom he is to despoil. He will not seek to throw off or evade the restraints imposed by the Constitution on all power, nor will he bestow public offices as the reward or the motive for adherence to his party or liis person. If in the minority, he will find inducement enough and reward enough for the most strenuous exertion, in the conviction, that an intelligent, resolute, vigi- lant minority is not utterly powerless in our government, but may often con- trol, modify, or even arrest the most pernicious schemes of reckless rulers, and diminish, if not prevent, the evils of misrule. He will consider also that in political science, as in tlie other moral sciences, truth must always force its way slowly against general opposition, and that although the great prin- ciples, for which he contends, should not triumph in the debate of the day, they may yet, if ably sustained, ultimately triumph in the liearts of the peo- ple, and come at last to rule the land ; and that, thenceforward, so long as tiieir beneficent influence shall endure, so long as they shall be remembered upon earth, so long will his name and his praise endure, who shall have watched over them in their weakness, and struggled for them in their adversity. But I must not be tempted beyond the tone which befits the part assigned me, which is simply to state the motives and feelings of those for whom I speak, on this occasion; and I am sure. Gentlemen, that I am the faithful interpreter of your sentiments, when I say, that it is from attachment to the great princi))les of civil liberty and constitutional government, that you offer this token of respect to one, who lias always maintained them and been gov- erned by them ; to one, whom this people, because he has been guided by tlioso principles, and for the sake of those principles, delight to honor ; whom they honor with their confidence, whom they honor by cherishing tlie mem- ory of his past services, and by their best hopes and wishes for the future, and whom they will honor, lot who else may shrink and falter, by their cor- dial efforts to raise him to that high station, for which so many patriotic citizens, in various parts of the country, are now holding him up as a candi- date ; and they will do this on the full conviction, tliat he will always be true to those principles, wherever his country may call him. To this address, Mr. Webster replied as follows : — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I accept, with grateful respect, the present wliich it is your pleasure to make. I value it. It bears an expression of your regard for those political prin- ciples which I have endeavored to maintain ; and though the material were less costly, or the workmanship less elegant, any durable evidence of your approbation could not but give me high satisfaction. This approbation is the more gratifying, as it is not bestowed for services connected with local questions, or local interests, or which are supposed to have been peculiarly beneficial to your- selves, but for efforts which had tlie interests of the whole country for their object, and which were useful, if useful at all, to all who live under the blessintrs of the Constitution and Government of the United States. It is twelve or thirteen years, Gentlemen, since I was honored with a seat in Congress, by the choice of the citizens of Boston. 28 They saw fit to repeat that choice more than once ; and I embrace, witli pleasure, this opportunity of expressing to them my sincere and profound sense of obligation for these manifestations of confidence. At a later period, the Legislature of the State saw fit to transfer me to another place ; and have again renewed that trust, under circumstances, which I have felt to impose on me new obligations of duty, and an increased devotion to the political welfare of the country. These twelve or thirteen years. Gentlemen, have been years of labor, and not without sacrifices ; but both have been more than compensated by the kindness, the good will, and the favorable interpretation with which my discharge of official duties has been received. In this changing world, we can hardly say that we possess what is present, and the future is all unknown. But the past is ours. Its acquisitions, and its enjoyments, are safe. And among these acquisitions, among the treasures of the past most to be cherished and preserved, I shall ever reckon tlie proofs of esteem and confidence, which I have received from the citizens of Boston and the Legislature of Massachusetts. In one respect. Gentlemen, your present oppresses me. It over- comes me, by its tone of commendation. It assigns to me a character, of which I feel I am not worthy. "The Defender of the Constitution " is a title quite too high for me. He who shall prove himself the ablest, among the able men of the country ; he who shall serve it longest, among those who may serve it long ; he on whose labors all the stars of benignant fortune shall shed their selectest influence, — will have praise enough, and reward enough, if, at the end of his political and earthly career, though that career may have been as bright as the track of the sim across the sky, the marble under which he sleeps, and that much better record, the grateful breasts of his living countrymen, shall pro- nounce him "the Defender of the Constitution." It is enough for me, Gentlemen, to be connected, in the most humble manner, with the defence and maintenance of this great wonder of modern times, and this certain wonder of all future times. It Is enough for me to stand in the ranks, and only to be counted as one of its defenders. The Constitution of the United States, I am confident, will pro- tect the name and the memory, both of its founders and of its friends, even of its humblest friends. It will impart to both some- thing of its own ever memorable and enduring distinction ; I had almost said, somethinfr of its own everlasting remembrance. Centuries hence, when the vicissitudes of human affairs shall have broken it, if ever they shall break it, into fragments, these very frag- ments, every shattered column, every displaced foundation-stone, shall yet be sure to bring them all into recollection, and attract to them the respect and gratitude of mankind. Gentlemen, it is to pay respect to this Constitution, it is to mani- 29 fest your attachment to it, your sense of its value, and your devotion to its true principles, tbat you have sought tliis occasion. It is not to pay an ostentatious personal compliment. If it were, it would be unworthy, both of you and of me. It is not to manifest attachment to individuals, independent of all considerations of principles ; if it were, I should feel it my duty to tell you, friends as you are, that you were doing that which, at this very moment, constitutes one of the most threatening dangers to the Constitution itself. Your gift would have no value, in my eyes ; this occasion would be regarded by me as an idle pageant ; if 1 did not know that they are both but modes, chosen by you, to signify your attachment to the true prin- ciples of the Constitution ; your fixed purpose, so far as in you lies, to maintain those principles; and your resolution to support public men, and stand by them, so long, and no longer, than they shall support and stand by the Constitution of the Country. "The Constitution of the Country ! " Gentlemen, often as I am called to contemplate this subject, its importance always rises, and magnifies itself, more and more, before me. I cannot view its preservation as a concern of narrow extent, or temporary duration. On the contrary, I see in it a vast interest, which is to run down with the generations of men, and to spread over a great portion of the earth with a direct, and over the rest with an indirect, but a most powerful influence. When I speak of it here, in this thick crowd of fellow-citizens and friends, I yet be- hold, thronging about me, a much larger and more imposing crowd. I see a united rush of the present and the future. I see all the patriotic of our own land, and our own time. I see also the many millions of their posterity, and I see, too, the lovers of human liberty from every part of the earth, from beneath the oppressions of thrones, and hierarchies, and dynasties, from amidst the darkness of ignorance, degradation, and despotism, into which any ray of political light has penetrated ; I see all those countless multitudes gather about us, and I hear their united and earnest voices, conjur- ing us, in whose charge the treasure now is, to hold on, and hold on to the last, by that which is our own highest enjoyment, and their best hope. " Filled with these sentiments, Gentlemen, and having through my political life, hitherto, always acted under the deepest conviction of their truth and importance, it is natural that I would have regarded the preservation of tiie Constitution as the first great political object to be secured. But I claim no exclusive merit. I should deem it, especially, both unbecoming and unjust in me, to separate myself, in this respect, from other public servants of the people of Massa- chusetts. The distinguished gentlemen who have preceded and followed me in the representation o( the city, their associates from other districts of the State, and my late worthy and most highly- 30 esteemed colleague, are entitled, one and all, to a full share in the public approbation. If accidental circumstances, or a particular position, have sometimes rendered me more prominent, equal patriot- ism and equal zeal have yet made tiieni equally deserving. It were invidious to enumerate these fellow-laborers, or to discriminate among them. Long may they live ! and I could hardly express a better wish for the interest and honor of the States, than that the pubh'c men, who may follow them, may be as disinterested, as patriotic, and as able as they have proved themselves. There have been. Gentlemen, it is true, anxious moments. Tliat was an anxious occasion, to which the gentleman who has addressed me, in your behalf, has alluded ; I mean the debate in January, 1830. It seemed to me then that the Constitution was about to be abandoned. Threatened with most serious dangers, it was not only not defended, but attacked, as I thought, and weakened and wound- ed in its vital powers and faculties, by those to whom the country naturally look for its defence and protection. It appeared to me that the Union was about to go to pieces, before the people were at all aware of the extent of the danger. The occasion was not sought, but forced upon us ; it seemed to me momentous, and I confess that I felt that even the little that I could do, in such a crisis, was called for by every motive which could be addressed to a lover of the Constitution. I took a part in the debate, therefore, with my whole heart already in the subject, and, careless for every thing in the result, except the judgment which the people of the United States should form, upon the questions involved in the dis- cussion. I believe that judgment has been definitely pronounced ; but nothing is due to me, beyond the merit of having made an earnest effort to present the true question to the people, and to invoke for it that attention from them, which its high importance appeared to me to demand. The Constitution of the United States, Gentlemen, is of a peculiar structure. Our whole system is peculiar. It is fashioned according to no existing model, likened to no precedent, and yet founded on principles, which lie at the foundations of all free governments, wherever such governments exist. It is a complicated system. It is elaborate, and in some sense artificial, in its composition. We have twenty-four State sovereignties, all exercising legislative, judicial, and executive powers. Some of the sovereignties, or States, had long existed, and, subject only to the restraint of the power of die parent country, had been accustomed to the forms and to the exercise of the powers of Representative Republics. Others of them are new creations, coming into existence only under the Constitution itself; but all now standing on an equal footing. The General Government, under which all these States are united, is not, as has been justly remarked by Mr. Gray, a confederation. 31 It is much more than a confederation. It is a popular representa- tive government, witii all the departments, and all the functions and organs of such a government. But it is still a limited, a re- strained, a severely-guarded government. It exists under a written Constitution, and all that human wisdom could do, is done, to define its powers, and to prevent their abuse. It is placed in what was supposed to be the safest medium between dangerous authority on the one hand, and debility and inefficiency on the other. I think that happy medium was found, by the exercise of the greatest politi- cal sagacity, and the influence of the highest good fortune. We cannot move the system either way, without the probability of hurtful change ; and as experience has taught us its safety, and its usefulness, when left where it is, our duty is a plain one. It cannot be doubted that a system thus complicated must be accompanied by more or less of danger, in every stage of its exist- ence. It has not the simplicity of despotism. It is not a plain column, that stands self-poised and self-supported. Nor is it a loose, irregular, unfixed, and undefined system of rule, which admits of constant and violent changes, without losing its character. But it is a balanced and guarded system ; a system of checks and con- trols ; a system in which powers are carefully delegated, and as carefully limited ; a system in which the symmetry of the parts is designed to produce an aggregate whole, which shall be favorable to personal liberty, favorable to public prosperity, and favorable to national glory. And who can deny, that by a trial of fifty years, this American system of government has proved itself capable of conferring all these blessings ? These years have been years of great agitation throughout the civilized world. In the course of them the face of Europe has been completely changed. Old and corrupt governments have been destroyed, and new ones, erected in their places, have been destroyed too, sometimes in rapid succession. Yet, through all the extraordinary, the most extraordinary scenes of this half century, the free, popular, representative government of the United States has stood, and has afforded security for liberty, for property, and for reputation, to all citizens. That it has had many dangers, that it has met critical moments, is certain. That it has now dangers, and that a crisis is now before it, is equally clear, in my judgment. But it has hitherto been pre- served, and vigilance and patriotism may rescue it again. Our dangers. Gentlemen, are not from loithout. We have noth- ing to fear from foreign powers, except those interruptions of the occupations of life which all wars occasion. The dangers to our system, as a system, do not spring from that quarter. On the con- trary, the pressure of foreign hostility would be most likely to unite us, and to strengthen our union, by an augmented sense of its utility and necessity. But our dangers are from within. I do not now 32 speak of those clangers which have in all ages beset republican gov- eminents, such as luxury among the rich, the corruption of public officers, and the general degradation of public morals, I speak only of those peculiar dangers, to which the structure of our gov- ernment particularly exposes it, in addition to all other ordinary dangers. These arise among ourselves ; they spring up at home ; and the evil which they threaten is no less than disunion, or the overthrow of the whole system. Local feelings, and local parties, a notion sometimes sedulously cultivated, of opposite interests, in different portions of the Union, evil prophecies respecting its dura- tion, cool calculations upon the benefits of separation, a narrow feeling, that cannot embrace all the States, as one country, an un- social, anti-national, and half-belligerent spirit, which sometimes betrays itself, — all these undoubtedly are causes which affect, more or less, our prospect of holding together. All these are unpropi- tious influences. The Constitution, again, is founded on compromise, and the most perfect and absolute good laith, in regard to every stipulation of this kind contained in it, is indispensable to its preservation. Every attempt to accomplish even the best purpose, every attempt to grasp that which is regarded as an immediate good, in violation of these stipulations, is full of danger to the whole Constitution. I need not say, also, that possible collision between the General and the State Governments, always has been, is, and ever must be, a source of danger to be strictly watched by wise men. But, Gentlemen, as I have spoken of dangers now, in my judg- ment, actually existing, I will state at once my oi^inions on that point, without fear, and without reserve. I reproach no man, 1 accuse no man ; but I speak of things as they appear to me, and I speak of principles and practices which I deem most alarming. I think, then. Gentlemen, that a great practical change is going on in the Constitution, which, if not checked, must completely alter its whole character. This change consists in the diminution of the just powers of Congress on the one hand, and in the vast increase of Executive authority on the other. The government of the United States, in the aggregate, or the legislative power of Congress, seems fiist losing, one after another, its accustomed powers. One by one, they are practically struck out of the Constitution. What has become of the power of Internal Improvement ? Does it remain in the Constitution, or is it erased by the repeated exercise of the President's Veto, and the acquiescence in that exercise of all who call themselves his friends, whatever their own opinions of the Con- stitution may be ? The power to create a National Bank — a power exercised for forty years, approved by all Presidents, and by Congress at all times, and sanctioned by a solemn adjudication of the Supreme Court — is it not true that party has agreed to strike this power, too, from tlie Constitution, in compliance with what has been openly called the interests of party ? Nay, more ; that great power, the power of protecting Domestic Industry, who can tell me whether that power is now regarded as in the Constitution, or out of it? But, if it be true, that the diminution of the just powers of Con- gress, in these particulars, has been attempted, and attempted with more or less success, it is still more obvious, I think, that the Exec- utive power of the government has been dangerously increased. Jt is spread, in the first place, over all that ground, from which the legislative power of Congress is driven. Congress can no longer establish a Bank, controlled by the laws of the United States, amenable to the authority, and open, at all times, to the examina- tion and inspection of the legislature. It is no longer constitutional to make such a Bank, for the safe custody of the public treasure. But of the thousand State corporations already existing, it is Con- stitutional for the Executive government to select such as it pleases, to intrust the public money to their keeping, without responsibility to the laws of the United States, without the duty of exhibiting their concerns, at any time, to the Committees of Congress, and with no other guards or securities, than such as Executive discretion on the one hand, and the Banks themselves on the other, may see fit to agree to. And so of Internal Improvement. It is not every thing in the nature of public improvements, which is forbidden. It is only that the selection of objects is not with Congress. Whatever appears to the Executive discretion to be of a proper nature, or such as comes within certain not very intelligible limits, may be tolerated. And even with respect to the Tariff itself, while as a system it is denounced as unconstitutional, it is probable some portion of it might find favor. But it is not the frequent use of the power of the Veto — it is not the readiness with which men yield their own opinions, and see important powers practically obliterated from the Constitution, in order to subserve the interest of the party — it is not even all this, which furnishes, at the present moment, the most striking demon- stration of the increase of Executive authority. It is the use of the power of patronage ; it is the universal giving and taking away of all place and office, for reasons no way connected with the public service, or the faithful execution of the laws ; it is this which threatens with overthrow all the true principles of the Government. Patronage is reduced to a system. It is used as the patrimony, the property of party. Every office is a largess, a bounty, a favor ; and it is expected to be compensated by service and fealty. A numerous and well-disciplined corps of office-holders, acting with activity and zeal, and with incredible union of purpose, is attempt- VOL. III. 5 34 ing to seize on the strong posts, and to control, effectually, the expression of the public will. As has been said of the Turks in Europe, they are not so much mingled with us, as encamped among us. And it is more lamentable, that the apathy which prevails in a time of general prosperity, produces, among a great majority of the people, a disregard to the efforts and objects of this well-trained and effective corps. But, Gentlemen, the principle is vicious; it is destructive and ruinous ; and whether it produces its work of dis- union to-dav or to-morrow, it must produce it in the end. It must destroy the balance of the government, and so destroy the govern- ment itself. The government of the United States controls the army, the navy, the custom-house, the post-office, the land-offices, and other great sources of patronage. What have the States to oppose to all this ? And if the States shall see all this patronage, if they shall see every officer under this government, in all its rami- fications, united with every other officer, and all acting steadily in a design to produce political effect, even in State governments, is it possible not to perceive that they will, erelong, regard the whole government of the Union with distrust and jealousy, and finally with fear and hatred ? Among other evils, it is the tendency of this system to push party feelings and party spirit to thuir utmost excess. It involves not only opinions and principles, but the pursuits of life and the means of living, in the contests of party. The Executive himself becomes but the mere point of concentration of party pow er ; and when Executive power is exercised or is claimed for the supposed benefit of party, party will approve and justify it. When did heated and exasperated party ever complain of its leaders for seizing on new extents of power ? This system of government has been openly avowed. Offices of trust are declared, from high places, to be the regular spoils of party victory ; and all that is f^n-nished out of the public purse, as a reward for labor in the public service, becomes thus a boon, offered to personal devotion and partisan service. The uncontrolled power of removal is the spring which moves all this machinery ; and I verily believe the government is, and will be, in serious danger, till some check is placed on that power. To combine and consolidate a great party by the influence of personal hopes, to govern by the patronage of office, to exercise the power of removal at pleasure, in order to render that patronage effectual, — this seems to be the sum and substance of the political systems of the times. I am sorry to say, that the germ of this system had its first being in the Senate. The policy began in the last year of Mr. Adams's administration, when nominations made by him to fill vacancies occurring by death or resignation, were postponed, by a vote of the majority of the Senate, to a period beyond the fourth of March then next ; and this 35 was done with no otlier view than that of giving the patronage of these appointments to the in-coming President. The nomination of a Judge of the Supreme Court, among others, was thus disposed of. The regular action of the government was, in this manner, de- ranged, and undue and unjustly-ohtained patronage came to be received as among the ordinary means of government. Some of the gendemen, who concurred in this vote, have since, probably, seen occasion to regret it. But they thereby let loose the lion of Execu- tive prerogative, and they have not yet found out how they can drive it back again to its cage. The debates in the Senate on these questions, in the session of 1828, 1829, are not public; but I take this occasion to say, that the minority of the Senate, as it was then constituted, including, among others, myself and colleague, contended against this innovation upon the Constitution, for days and for weeks ; but we contended in vain. The doctrine of patronage thus got a foothold in the government, A general removal from office followed, exciting, at first, no small share of public attention ; but every exercise of the power rendered its exercise in the next case still easier, till removal at will has be- come the actual system on which the government is administered. It is hardly a fit occasion. Gentlemen, to go into the history of this power of removal. It was declared to exist in the days of Washington, by a very small majority in each House of Congress. It has been considered as existing to the present time. But no man expected it to be used as a mere arbitrary power ; and those who maintained its existence, declared, nevertheless, that it would justly become matter of impeachment, if it should be used for i)urposes, such as those to which the most blind among us must admit they have recently seen it habitually apphed. I had the highest respect for those who originally concurred in this construction .of the Con- stitution.- But, as discreet men of the day were divided on the question ; as Madison and other distinguished names were on one side, and Gerry and otiier distinguished names on the other, one may now differ from either, without incurring the imputation of arrogance, since lie must differ from some of them ; and I confess my judgment would have been that the power of removal did not belong to the President alone ; that it was but a part of the power of appointment, since the power of appointing one man to office, implies the power of vacating that office, by removing another out of it; and as the whole power of appointment is granted, not to the President alone, but to the President and Senate, the true interpre- tation of the Constitution would have carried the power of removal into the same hands. I have, however, so recently expressed my sentiments on this point, in another place, that it would be improper to pursue this line of observation further. In the course of the last session, Gentlemen, several Bills passed 36 the Senate, intended to correct abuses, to restrain useless expendi- ture, to curtail the discretionary authority of public officers, and to control (government patronage. The Post-Office Bill, the Custom- House liill, and the J3ill respecting the tenure of office, were all of this class. None of them, however, received the favorable consid- eration of the other House. I believe, that in all these respects, a reform, a real, honest reform, is decidedly necessary to the security of the Constitution ; and while I continue in public life, I shall not halt in my endeavors to produce it. It is time to bring back the government to its true character of an agency for the people. It is time to declare that offices, created for the people, are public trusts, not private spoils. It is time to bring each and every De- partment within its true original limits. It is time to assent, on one hand, to the just powers of Congress, in their full extent, and to resist, on the other, the progress and rapid growth of Executive authority. These, Gentlemen, are my opinions. I have spoken them frankly, and without reserve. Under present circumstances, I should wish to avoid any concealment, and to state my political opinions, in their full length and breadth. I desire not to stand before the country as a man of no opinions, or of such a mixture of opposite opinions, that the result has no character at all. On the contrary, I am desirous of standing as one who is bound to his own consisten- cy by the frankest avowal of his sentiments, on all important and interesting occasions. I am not partly for the Constitution, and partly against it ; I am wholly for it, for it altogether, for it as it is, and for the exercise, when occasion requires, of all its just powers, as they have heretofore been exercised by Washington, and the great men who have followed him in its administration. I disdain, altogether, the character of an uncommitted man. I am connnitted, fully committed; committed to the full extent of all tliat I am, and all that I hope, to the Constitution of the country, to its love and reverence, to its defence and maintenance, to its warm commendation to every American heart, and to its vindication and just praise, before all mankind. And I am committed against every thing, which, in my judgment, may weaken, endanger, or destroy it. I am committed against the encouragement of local parties and local feelings ; I am committed against all fostering of anti-national spirit ; I am committed against the slightest infringe- ment of the original coini)roniise, on which the Constitution was founded ; I am connnitted against any and every derangement of the powers of the several departments of the Government, against any derogation from the Constitutional authority of Congress, and especially against all extension of Executive power; and I am committed against any attempt to rule the free people of this coun- try by the power and the patronage of the Government itself. 1 37 am committed, fully and entirely committed, against making the government the people's master. These, Gentlemen, are my opinions. I have purposely avowed them, with the utmost frankness. They are not the sentiments of the moment, but tlie result of much reflection, and of some experi- ence in the affairs of the country. I believe them to be such senti- ments as are alone compatible with the permanent prosperity of the country, or the long continuance of its Union. And, now, Gentlemen, having thus solemnly avowed these senti- ments, and these convictions, if you should find me hereafter to be false to them, or to falter in their support, I now conjure you, by all the duty you owe your country, by all your hopes of her pros- perity and renown, by all your love for the general course of liberty throughout the world — I conjure you, that, renouncing me as a recreant, you yourselves go on — right on — straight forward, in maintaining with your utmost zeal, and with all your power, the true principles of the best, the happiest, the most glorious Constitu- tion of a free government, with which it has pleased Providence, in any age, to bless any of the nations of the earth. D SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 14, 1836, ON MR. BENTON'S RESOLUTIONS. FOR APPROPRIATING THE SUR- PLUS REVENUE TO NATIONAL DEFENCE. It is not my purpose, Mr. President, to make any remark on the state of our affairs witli France. Tlie time for that discussion has not come, and I wait. We are in daily expectation of a com- munication from the President, which will give us light ; and we are authorized to expect a recommendation by him of such meas- ures as he thinks it may be necessary and proper for Congress to adopt. I do not anticipate him. I do not forerun hiu). In this most important and delicate business, it is the proper duty of the Executive to go forward, and I, for one, do not intend either to be drawn or driven into the lead. When official information shall be before us, and when measures shall be recommended upon the proper responsibility, I shall endeavor to form the best judgment I can, and shall act according to its dictates. 1 rise, now, for another purpose. This resolution has drawn on a debate upon the general conduct of the Senate during the last session of Congress, and especially m regard to the proposed grant of the three millions to the President on the last night of the ses- sion. ]My main object is to tell the story of this transaction, and to exhibit the conduct of the Senate fairly to the public view. I owe this duty to the Senate. I owe it to the committee with which I am connected ; and although whatever is personal to an individual is generally of too little importance to be made the subject of much remark, I hoi)e I may be permitted to say that, in a matter, in re- gard to which there has been so much misrepresentation, I wish to say a few words for the sake of defending my own reputation. Tliis vote for the three millions was proposed by the House of Representatives as an amendment to the fortification bill ; and the loss of that bill, three millions and all, is the charge which has been made upon the Senate, sounded over all the land, and now again renewed. I propose to give the true history of this bill, its origin, its progress, and its loss. Before attempting that, however, let me remark, for it is worthy to be remarked, and remembered, that the business brought before the Senate last session, important and various as it was, and both 38 39 public and private, was all gone through, with most uncommon despatch and promptitude. No session has witnessed a more com- plete clearing oft" and finishing of the subjects before us. The communications from the other House, whether bills or whatever else, were especially attended to in a proper season, and with that ready respect which is due from one House to the other. 1 recol- lect nothing of any importance which came to us from the House of Representatives, which was here neglected, overlooked, or dis- regarded. On the other hand, it was the misfortune of the Senate, and, as I think, the misfortune of the country, that, owing to the state of business in the House of Representatives towards the close of the session, several measures which had been matured in the Senate, and passed into bills, did not receive attention, so as to be either agreed to or rejected, in the other branch of the Legislature. They fell, of course, by the termination of the session. Among these measures may be mentioned the following, viz. The Post-Office Reform Bill, which passed the Senate unanhnomly, and of the necessity for which the whole country is certainly now most abundantly satisfied ; The Custom-House Regulations Bill, which also passed nearly unanimously, after a very laborious preparation by the Committee on Commerce, and a full discussion in the Senate ; The Judiciary Bill, passed here by a majority of thirty-one to five, and which has again already passed the Senate at this ses- sion with only a single dissenting vote ; The bill indemnifying claimants for French spoliations before 1800 ; The bill regulating the deposit of the public money IN THE Deposit Banks ; The bill respecting the tenure of certain offices, ani> THE POWER OF REMOVAL FROM OFFICE ; which has uow again passed to be engrossed, in the Senate, by a decided majority. All these important measures, matured and passed in the Senate in the course of the session, and many others whose importance was less, were sent to the House of Representatives, and we never heard any thing more from them. They there found their graves. It is worthy of being remarked, also, that the attendance of members of the Senate was remarkably full, particularly toward the end of the session. On the last day, every Senator was in his place till very near the hour of adjournment, as the Journal will show. We had no breaking up for want of a quorum ; no delay, no calls of the Senate ; nothing which was made necessary by the negligence or inattention of the members of this body. On die vote of the three millions of dollars, which was taken at about eight o'clock in the evening, forty-eight votes were given, every member • f the Senate being in his place and answering to his name. This 40 is an instance of punctuality, diligence, and labor, continued to the very end of an arduous session, wholly without example or parallel. The Senate, then, sir, must stand, in the judgment of every man, fully acquitted of all remissness, all negligence, all inattention, amidst the fatigue and exhaustion of the closing hours of Congress. Nothing passed unheeded, nothing was overlooked, nothing forgot- ten, and nothing slighted. And now, sir, I would proceed immediately to give the history of the Fortification Bill, if it were not necessary, as introductory to that history, and as showing the circumstances under which the Senate was called on to transact the public business, first to refer to another bill which was before us, and to the proceedings which were had upon it. It is well known, sir, that the annual appropriation bills always originate in the House of Representatives. This is so much the course, that no one ever looks to see such a bill first broug-ht for- ward in the Senate. It is also well known, sir, that it has been usual, heretofore, to make the annual appropriations for the Mili- tary Academy at West Point, in the general bill, which provides for the pay and support of the army. But last year the army bill did not contain any appropriation whatever for the support of West Point. I took notice of this singular omission when the bill was before the Senate, but presumed, and indeed understood, that the House would send us a separate bill for the Military Academy. The army bill, therefore, passed ; but no bill for the Academy at West Point appeared. We waited for it from day to day, and from week to week, but waited in vain. At length, the time for sending bills from one House to the other, according to the joint rules of the two Houses, expired, and no bill had made its appear- ance for the support of the Military Academy. These joint rules, as is well known, are sometimes suspended on the application of one House to the other, in favor of particular bills, whose progress iias been unexpectedly delayed, but which the public interest re- quires to be passed. But the House of Representatives sent us no request to suspend the rules in favor of a bill for the support of the Military Academy, nor made any other propositions to save the Institution from immediate dissolution. Notwithstanding all the talk about a war, and the necessity of a vote for the three millions, the Military Academy, an institution cherished so long, and at so much expense, was on the very point of being entirely bro- ken up. Now it so happened, sir, that at this time there was another ap- propriation bill which had come from the House of Representatives, and was before the Committee on Finance here. This bill was entitled " An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year 1835.'' 41 In this state of things, several members of the House of Repre- sentatives applied to the committee, and besought us to save the Academy by annexing the necessary appropriations for its support to the bill for civil and diplomatic service. We spoke to them, in reply, of the unfitness, the irregularity, the incongruity, of this forced union of such dissimilar subjects ; but they told us it was a case of absolute necessity, and that, without resorting to this mode, the appropriation could not get through. We acquiesced, sir, in these suggestions. We went out of our way. We agreed to do an extraordinary and an irregular thing, in order to save the public business from miscarriage. By direction of the committee, I moved the Senate to add an appropriation for the Military Academy to the bill for defraying civil and diplomatic expenses. The bill was so amended ; and in this form the appropriation was finally made. But this was not all. This bill for the civil and diplomatic ser- vice being thus amended, by tacking the Military Academy upon it, was sent back by us to the House of Representatives, where its length of tail was to be still much further increased. That House had before it several subjects for provision, and for appropriation, upon which it had not passed any bill, before the time for passing bills to be sent to the Senate had elapsed. I was anxious that these things should, in some way, be provided for ; and when the diplomatic bill came back, drawing the Military Academy after it, it was thought prudent to attach to it various of these other pro- visions. There were propositions to pave the streets in the city of Washington, to repair the Capitol, and various other things, which it was necessary to provide for ; and they, therefore, were put into the same bill by way of amendment to an amendment ; that is to say, Mr. President, we had been prevailed on to amend their bill for defraying the salary of our ministers abroad, by adding an ap- propriation for the Military Academy ; and they proposed to amend this our amendment, by adding to it matter as germain to it, as it was to the original bill. There was also the President's gardener. His salary was unprovided for ; and there was no way of remedy- ing this important omission, but by giving him place in the diplo- matic service bill, among charges d'affaires, envoys extraordinary, and ministers plenipotentiary. In and among these ranks, there- fore, he was formally introduced by the amendment of the House, and there he now stands, as you will readily see, by turning to the law. Sir, I have not the pleasure to know this useful person ; but, should I see him, some morning, overlooking the workmen in the lawns, walks, copses, and parterres which adorn the grounds around the President's residence, considering the company into which we have introduced him, I should expect to see, at least, a small di- plomatic button on his working jacket. VOL. III. 6 D* 42 When these amendments came from the House, and were read at our table, tliough they caused a smile, they were yet adopted, and the law passed, almost with the rapidity of a comet, and with somethino; like the same length of tail. Now, sir, not one of these irregularities or incongruities, no part of this jumbling together of distinct and different subjects, was, in the slightest degree, occasioned by any thing done, or omitted to be don°e, on the part of the Senate. Their proceedings were all regular ; their decision prompt, their despatch of the public busi- ness correct and reasonable. There was nothing of disorganization, nothing of procrastination, nothing evincive of a temper to embar- rass or obstruct the public business. If the history which I have now truly given, shows that one thing was amended by another, which had no sort of connection with it, that unusual expedients were resorted to, and that the laws, instead of arrangement and symmetry, exhibit anomaly, confusion, and the most grotesque as- sociations, it is, nevertheless, true, that no part of all this was made necessary by us. We deviated from the accustomed modes of legislation only when we were supplicated to do so, in order to supply bald and glaring deficiencies in measures which were be- fore us. But now, Mr. President, let me come to the Fortification Bill, the lost bill, which not only now, but on a graver occasion, has been lamented like the lost Pleiad. This bill, sir, came from the House of Representatives to the Senate, in the usual way, and was referred to the Committee on Finance. Its appropriations were not large. Indeed, they ap- peared to the committee to be quite too small. It struck a majori- ty of the committee at once that there were several fortifications on the coast, either not provided for at all, or not adequately pro- vided for by this bill. The whole amount of its appropriations was 400,000 or 430,000 dollars. It contained no grant of three millions, and if the Senate had passed it the very day it came from the House, not only would there have been no appropriation of the three millions, but, sir, none of these other sums which the Senate did insert in the bill. Others, besides ourselves, saw the deficien- cies of this bill. We had communications v^ith and from the De- partments, and we inserted in the bill every thing which any De- partment recommended to us. We took care to be sure that nothing else was coming. And we then reported the bill to the Senate with our proposed amendments. Among these amend- ments, there was a sum of {^75,000 for Castle Island, in Boston, ^100,000 for defences in Maryland, and so forth. These amend- ments were agreed to by the Senate, and one or two others added, on the motion of members ; and the bill, being thus amended, was returned to the House. 43 And now, sir, it becomes important to ask when was this bill, thus amended, returned to the House of Representatives ? Was it unduly detained here, so that the House was obliged afterwards to act upon it suddenly ? This question is material to be asked, and material to be answered, too, and the Journal does satisfactorily answer it ; for it appears by the Journal that the bill was returned to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the 24th of Februa- ry, one whole iveek before the dose of the session. And from Tuesday, the 24th of February, to Tuesday, the 3d day of March, we heard not one word from this bill. Tuesday, the 3d day of JMarch, was, of course, the last day of the session. We assembled here at 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning of that day, and sat until three in the afternoon, and still we were not informed whether the House had finally passed the bill. As it was an important matter, and belonged to that part of the public business which usually re- ceives particular attention from the Committee on Finance, I bore the subject in my mind, and felt some solicitude about it, seeing that the session was drawing so near to a close. I took it for granted, however, as I had not heard any thing to the contrary, that the amendments of the Senate would not be objected to, and that when a convenient time should amve for taking up the bill in the House, it would be passed at once into a law, and we should hear no more about it. Not the slightest intimation was given, either that the Executive wished for any larger appropriation, or that it was intended in the House to insert such larger appropriation. Not a syllable escaped from any body, and came to our knowledge, that any further alteration whatever was intended in the bill. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 3d of March, the Senate took its recess, as is usual in that period of the session, until 5. At 5, we again assembled, and proceeded with the business of the Senate until S o'clock in the evening ; and, at 8 o'clock in the evening, and not before, the Clerk of the House appeared at our door, and announced that the House of Representatives had disa- greed to one of the Senate's amendments, agreed to others ; and to two of those amendments, viz. the 4th and 5lh, it had agreed, with an amendment of its own. Now, sir, these 4th and 5th amendments of ours were, one, a vote of !^ 75,000 for the castle in Boston harbor, and the other, a vote of ^100,000 for certain defences in Maryland. And what, sir, was the addition which the House of Representatives proposed to make, by way of " amendment " to a vote of ,^'75,000 for repair- ing the works in Boston harbor ? Here, sir, it is : " And he it further enacted, That the sum of three millions of dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money 44 in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, in whole or in part, under the direction of the President of the United States, for the military and naval service, including fortifications and ordnance, and increase of the navy : Provided, such expenditures shall be rendered necessary for the defence of the country prior to the next meeting of Congress." This proposition, sir, was thus unexpectedly and suddenly put to us, at eight o'clock in the evening of the last day of the session. Unusual, unprecedented, extraordinary, as it obviously is, on the face of it, the manner of presenting it was still more extraordinary. The President had asked for no such grant of money ; no Depart- ment had recommended it ; no estimate had suggested it ; no rea- son wliatever was given for it. INo emergency had happened, and nothing new had occurred ; every thing known to the Administra- tion, at that hour, respecting our foreign relations, had certainly been known to it for days and weeks. With what propriety, then, could the Senate be called on to sanction a proceeding so entirely irregular and anomalous ? Sir, I recollect the occurrences of the moment very well, and I remember the impression which this vote of the House seemed to make all round the Senate. We had just come out of Executive session ; the doors were but just opened ; and I hardly remember whether there was a single spectator in the hall or the galleries. I had been at the Clerk's table, and had not reached my seat, when the mes- sage was read. All the Senators were in the chamber. I heard the message, certainly with great surprise and astonishment ; and I immediately moved the Senate to disagree to this vote of the House. INIy relation to the subject, in consequence of my con- nection with the Committee on Finance, made it my duty to pro- pose some course, and I had not a moment's doubt or hesitation what that course ought to be. I took upon myself, then, sir, the responsibility of moving that the Senate should disagree to this vote, and I now acknowledge that responsibility. It might be pre- sumptuous to say that I took a leading part, but I certainly took an early part, a decided part, and an earnest part, in rejecting this broad grant of three millions of dollars, without limitation of pur- pose or sjKJcification of object ; called for by no recommendation, founded on no estimate, made necessary by no state of things which was made known to us. Certainly, sir, 1 took a part in its rejec- tion ; and I stand here, in my place in the Senate, to-day, ready to defend the part so taken by me ; or, rather, sir, I disclaim all de- fence, and all occasion of defence, and I assert it as meritorious to have been among those who arrested, at the earliest moment, this extraordinary departure from all settled usage, and, as I think, from plain constitutional injunction — this indefinite voting of a vast sum 45 of money, to mere Executive discretion, without limit assigned, without object specified, without reason given, and without the least control under Heaven. Sir, I am told, that, in opposing this grant, I spoke with warmth, and I suppose I may have done so. If I did, it was a warmth springing from as honest a conviction of duty as ever influenced a public man. It was spontaneous, unaffected, sincere. There had been among us, sir, no consultation, no concert. There could have been none. Between the reading of the message, and my motion to disagree, there was not time enough for any two members of the Senate to exchange five words on the subject. The proposi- tion was sudden and perfectly unexpected. I resisted it, as irregu- lar, as dangerous in itself, and dangerous in its precedent ; as whol- ly unnecessary, and as violating the plain intention, if not the express words of the Constitution. Before the Senate, then, I avowed, and before the country I now avow, my part in this oppo- sition. Whatsoever is to fall on those who sanctioned it, of that let me have my full share. The Senate, sir, rejected this grant by a vote of twenty-nine against nineteen. Those twenty-nine names are on the Journal ; and whensoever the expunging process may commence, or how- far soever it may be carried, I pray it, in mercy, not to erase mine from that record. I beseech it, in its sparing goodness, to leave me that proof of attachment to duty and to principle. It may draw around it, over it, or through it, black lines, or red lines, or any lines ; it may mark it in any way which either the most pros- trate and fantastical spirit of man-ivorship, or the most ingenious and elaborate study of self-degradation, may devise, if only it will leave it so that those who inherit my blood, or who may hereafter care for my reputation, shall be able to behold it where it now stands. The House, sir, insisted on this amendment. The Senate ad- hered to its disagreement ; the House asked a conference, to which request the Senate immediately acceded. The committees of conference met, and, in a very short time, came to an agreement. They agreed to recommend to their respective Houses, as a sub- stitute for the vote proposed by ttie House, the following : " As an additional appropriation for arming the fortifications of the United States, three hundred thousand dollars." " As an additional appropriation for the repairs and equipment of ships of war of the United States, five hundred thousand dollars." I immediately reported this agreement of the committees of conference to the Senate; but, inasmuch as the bill was in the House of Representatives, the Senate could not act further on the matter until the House should first have considered the report of 46 the committees, decided thereon, and sent us the bill. I did not myself take any note of the particular hour of this part of the transaction. The honorable member from Virginia (Mr. Leigh) says he consulted his watch at the lime, and he knows that I had come from the conference, and was in my seat at a quarter past eleven. 1 have no reason to think that he is under any mistake on this particular. He says it so happened that he had occasion to take notice of the hour, and well remembers it. It could not well have been later than this, as any one will be satisfied who will look at our journals, public and executive, and see what a mass of business was despatched after I came from the committees, and before the adjournment of the Senate. Having made the report, sir, I had no doubt that both Houses would concur in the result of the conference, and looked every moment for the officer of the House bringing the Bill. He did not come, however, and I pretty soon learned that there was doubt whether the committee on the part of the House would report to the House the agreement of the conferees. At first, I did not at all credit this ; but was con- firmed by one communication after another, until I was obliged to think it true. Seeing that the bill was thus in danger of being lost, and intending at any rate that no blame should jusdy attach to the Senate, I immediately moved the following resolution : " Resolved, That a message be sent to the honorable the House of Representatives respectfully to remind the House of the report of the committee of conference appointed on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the amend- ment of the Senate to the bill respecting the fortificating of the United States." You recollect this resolution, sir, having, as I well remember, taken some part on the occasion.* This resolution was promptly passed ; the Secretary carried it to the House, and delivered it. What was done in the House on the receipt of this message now appears from the printed journal. I have no wish to comment on the proceedings there recorded — all may read them, and each be able to form his own opinion. Suffice it to say that the House of Representatives, having then possession of the bill, chose to retain that possession, and never acted on the report of the committee. The bill, therefore, was lost. Itwas lost in the House of Representatives. It died there, and there its remains are to be found. No opportunity was given to the mem- bers of the I louse to decide whether they would agree to die report of the two committees or not. From a quarter past eleven, when the report was agreed to, until two or three o'clock in the morning, the House remained in session. If at any time there was not a quo- * Mr. King, of Alabama, was in the cliair. 47 rum of members present, the attendance of a quorum, we are to presume, mit^ht have been commanded, as there was undoubtedly a great majority of the members still in the city. But now, sir, there is one other transaction of the evening, which I feel bound to state, because I think it quite important, on several accounts, that it should be known. A nomination was pending before the Senate for a Judge of the Supreme Court. In tlie course of the sitting, that nomination was called up, and, on motion, was indefinitely postponed. In other \yords, it was rejected ; for an indefinite postponement is a rejec- tion. The office, of course, remained vacant, and the nomination of another person to fill it became necessary. The President of the United States was then in the Capitol, as is usual on the even- ing of the last day of the session, in the chamber assigned to him, and with the heads of Departments around him. When nominations are rejected under these circumstances, it has been usual for the President immediately to transmit a new nomination to the Senate ; otherwise the office must remain vacant till the next session, as the vacancy in such case has not happened in the recess of Congress. The vote of the Senate, indefinitely postponing this nomination, was carried to the President's room by the Secretary of the Senate. The President told the Secretary that it was more than an hour past 12 o'clock, and that he could receive no further communica- tions from the Senate, and immediately after, as I have understood, left the Capitol. The Secretary brought back the paper contain- ing the certified copy of the vote of the Senate, and endorsed there- on the substance of the President's answer, and also added that, according to his own watch, it was quarter past one o'clock. There are two views, sir, in which this occurrence may well deserve to be noticed. One is a connection which it may perhaps have with the loss of the Fortification bill ; the other is, its general importance, as introducing a new rule, or a new practice, respect- ing the intercourse between the President and the House of Con- gress on the last day of the session. On the first point, I shall only observe that the flict of the Presi- dent's having declined to receive this communication from the Sen- ate, and of his having left the Capitol, was immediately known in the House of Representatives ; that it was quite obvious that if he could not receive a communication from the Senate, neither could he re- ceive a bill from jhe House of Representatives for his signature. It was equally obvious, that if, under these circumstances, the House of Representatives should agree to the report of the com- mittee of,conference, so that the bill should pass, it must, neverthe- less, fail to become a law, for want of the President's signature ; and that, in that case, the blame of losing the bill, on whomsoever else it might fall, could not be laid upon the Senate. 48 On the more general point, I must say, sir, that this decision of the President, not to hold counnunication with the Houses of Con- gress after 12 o'clock, on the 3d of March, is quite new. No such objection has ever been made before, by any President. No one of them has ever declined communicating with either House at any time during the continuance of its session on that day. All Presi- dents, heretofore, have left it with the Houses themselves to fix their hour of adjournment, and to bring their session, for the day, to a close, \\ henever they saw fit. It is notorious, in point of fact, that nothing is more common than for both Houses to sit later than 12 o'clock, for the purpose of com- pleting measures which are in the last stages of their progress. Amendments are proposed and agreed to, bills passed, enrolled bills signed by the presiding officers, and other important legisla- tive acts performed, often at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. All this is very well known to gentlemen who have been for any con- siderable time members of Congress. And all Presidents have signed bills, and have also made nominations to the Senate, without objection as to time, whenever bills have been presented for sig- nature, or whenever it became necessary to make nominations to the Senate, at any time during the session of the respective Houses on that day. And all this, sir, I suppose to be perfectly right, correct, and legal. There is no clause of the Constitution, nor is there any law, which declares that the term of office of members of the House of Representatives shall expire at twelve o'clock at night on the 3d of March. They are to hold for two years, but the precise hour for the commencement of that term of two years is no where 6xed by constitutional or legal provision. It has been established by usage and by Inference, and very properly established, that, since the first Congress commenced its existence, on the first Wednesday in March, 1789, which happened to be the 4th day of the month, therefore, the 4th of March is the day of the com- mencement of each successive term, but no hour is fixed by law or practice. The true rule is, as I think, n)ost undoubtedly, that the session holden on the last day constitutes the last day, for all legis- lative and legal purposes. While the session commenced on that day continues, the day Itself continues, according to the established practice both of legislative and judicial bodies. This could not well be otherwise. If the precise moment of actual time were to settle such a matter, it would be material to ask, who shall settle the time ? Shall it be done by public authority, or shall every man observe the tick of his own watch ? If absolute time is to furnish a precise rule, the excess of a minute, it is obvious, would be as fatal as the excess of an hour. Sir, no bodies, judicial or legis- lative, have ever been so hypercritical, so astute to no purpose, so 49 much more nice than wise, as lo govern themselves by any such ideas. The session for the day, at whatever hour it commences, or at whatever hour it breaks up, is the legislative day. Every thing has reference to tlie commencement of that diurnal session. For instance, this is the 14th day of January ; we assembled here to-day at 12 o'clock; our journal is dated January 14th, and if we should remain here until 5 o'clock to-morrow morning, (and the Senate has sometimes sat so late,) our proceedings would still bear date of the 14th of January ; they would be so stated upon the journal, and the journal is a record, and is a conclusive record, so far as respects the proceedings of the body. It is so in judicial proceedings. If a man were on trial for his life, at a late hour on the last day allowed by law for the holding of the court, and the jury acquitted him, but happened lo remain so long in deliberation ^hat they did not bring in their verdict till after 12 o'clock, is it all to be held for nought, and the man to be tried over again ? Are all verdicts, judgments, and orders of courts, null and void, if made after midnight, on the day which the law prescribes as the last day ? It would be easy to show by authority, if authority could be wanted for a thing, the reason of which is so clear, that the day lasts while the daily session lasts. When the court or the legislative body adjourns for that day, the day is over, and not before. I am told, indeed, sir, that it is true that, on this same 3d day of March last, not only were other things transacted, but that the bill for the repair of the Cumberland road, an important and much litigated measure, actually received the signature of our presiding officer after 12 o'clock, was then sent to the President, and signed by him. I do not affirm this, because I took no notice of the time, or do not remember it if I did ; but I have heard the matter so stated. I see no reason, sir, for the introduction of this new practice ; no principle on which it can be justified, no necessity for it, no pro- priety in it. As yet, it has been applied only to the President's intercourse with the Senate. Certainly it is equally applicable to his intercourse with both Houses in legislative matters ; and if it is to prevail hereafter, it is of much importance that it should be known. The President of the United States, sir, has alluded to this loss of the Fortification bill in his message at the opening of the session, and he has alluded also, in the same message, to the rejection of the vote of the three millions. On the first point, that is, the loss of the whole bill, and the causes of that loss, this is his language: — " Much loss and inconvenience have been experienced in conse- quence of the failure of the bill containing the ordinary appropria- tions for fortifications, which passed one branch of the National Legislature at the last session, but was lost in the other." VOL. III. 7 E 50 If the President intended to say that the bill, having originated in the House of Representatives, passed the Senate, and was yet afterwards lost in the House of Representatives, he was entirely correct. But he has been altogether wrongly informed, if he in- tended to state, that the bill, having passed the House, was lost in the Senate. As I have already stated, the bill was lost in the House of Representatives. It drew its last breath there. That House never let go its hold on it after the report of the committees of conference. But it held it, it retained it, and of course, it died in its possession when the House adjourned. It is to be regretted that the President should have been misinformed in a matter of this kind, when the slightest reference to the journals of the two Houses would have exhibited the correct history of the transaction. I recur again, Mr. President, to the proposed grant of the three millions, for the purpose of stating somewhat more distinctly the true grounds of objection to that grant. These grounds of objection were two : the first was, that no such appropriation had been recommended by the President, or any of the Departments. And what made this ground the stronger was, that the proposed grant was defended, so far as it was de- fended at all, upon an alleged necessity, growing out of our foreign relations. The foreign relations of the country are intrusted by the Constitution to the lead and management of the Executive Gov- ernment. The President not only is supposed to be, but usually is, much better informed on these interesting subjects than the Houses of Congress. If there be a danger of rupture with a for- eign State, he sees it soonest. All our ministers and agents abroad are but so many eyes, and ears, and organs, to communicate to him whatsoever occurs in foreign places, and to keep him well advised of all which may concern the interests of the United States. There is an especial propriety, therefore, that, in this branch of the public service. Congress should always be able to avail itself of the distinct opinions and recommendations of the President. The two Houses, and especially the House of Representatives, are the nat- ural guardians of the People's money. They are to keep it sacred, and to use it discreetly. They are not at liberty to spend it where it is not needed, nor to offer it for any purpose till a reasonable occasion for the expenditure be shown. Now, in this case, I re- peat, again, the President had sent us no recommendation for any such appropriation ; no Department had recommended it ; no esti- mate had contained ii ; in the whole history of the session, from the morning of the first day, down to 8 o'clock in the evening of the last day, not one syllable had been said to us, not one hint suggested, showing that the President deemed any such measure either necessary or proper. 1 state this strongly, sir, but I state it truly : I state the matter as it is ; and I wish to draw the attention 51 of the Senate and of the country strongly to this part of the case. I say again, therefore, that when this vote for the three milhons was proposed to the Senate, there was nothing before us, showing that the President recommended any such appropriation. You very well know, sir, that this objection was immediately stated as soon as the message from the House was read. We all well remember that was the very point put forth by the honorable member from Tennessee, (Mr. White,) as being, if I may say so, the butt-end of his argument in opposition to the vote. He said, very significantly, and very forcibly, " It is not asked for by those who best know what the public service requires ; how then are we to presume that it is needed?" This question, sir, was not answered then: it never has been answered since ; it never can be answered satisfactorily. But let me here again, sir, recur to the message of the President. Speaking of the loss of the bih, he uses these words: — " This failure was the more regretted, not only because it neces- sarily interrupted and delayed the progress of a system of national defence projected immediately after the last war, and since steadily pursued, but also because it contained a contingent appropriation, inserted in accordance with the views of the Executive, in aid of this important object, and other branches of the national defence, some portions of which might have been most usefully applied during the past season." Taking these words of the message, sir, and connecting them with the fact that the President had made no recommendation to Congress of any such appropriation, it strikes me they furnish mat- ter for very grave reflection. The President says that this pro- posed appropriation was " in accordance with the views of the Ex- ecutive; " that it was "in aid of an important object;" and that " some portions of it might have been most usefully applied during the past season." And now, sir, I ask, if this be so, why was not this appropriation recommended to Congress by the President ? I ask this question in the name of the Constitution of tlie United States ; I stand on its own clear authority in asking it ; and I invite all those who re- member its injunctions, and who mean to respect them, to consider well how the question is to be answered. Sir, the Constitution is not yet an entire dead letter. There is yet some form of observance to its requirements ; and even while any degree of formal respect is paid to it, 1 must be permitted to continue the question, why was not this appropriation recom- mended ? It was in accordance with the President's views ; it was for an important object ; it might have been usefully expended. The President being of opinion, therefore, that the appropriation was necessary and proper, how is it that it was not recommendd to Congress ? For, sir, we all know the plain and direct words h* 52 which the very first duty of the President is imposed hy tlie Con- stitution. Here they are : — " He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." After enumerating tlie poivers of the President, this is the first, the very first duty which the Constitution gravely enjoins upon him. And now, sir, in no language of taunt or reproach, in no anguage of party attack, in terms of no asperity or exaggeration, but called upon by the necessity of defending my own vote upon the subject, J now, as a public man, as a member of Congress here in my place, and as a citizen who feels as warm an attachment to the Constitution of the country, as any other can, demand of any who may choose to give it, an answer to this question : " Why was NOT THIS MEASURE, WHICH THE PRESIDENT DECLARES THAT HE THOUGHT NECESSARY AND EXPEDIENT, RECOMMENDED TO CON- GRESS ? " And why am I, and why are other members of Con- gress, whose path of duty the Constitution says shall be enlightened by the President's opinions and communications, to be charged with want of patriotism and want of fidelity to the country, because we refused an appropriation which the President, though it was in accordance with his views, and though he believed it important, would not, and did not, recommend to us ? When these questions are answered, sir, to the satisfaction of intelligent and impartial men, then, and not till then, let reproach, let censure, let suspicion of any kind rest on the twenty-nine names which stand opposed to this appropriation. How, sir, were we to know that this appropriation " was in ac- cordance with the views of the Executive " ? He had not so told us, formally or infomially. He had not only not recommended it to Congress, or either House of Congress, but nobody on this floor had undertaken to speak in his behalf. No man got up to say, " The President's desire is, he- thinks it necessaiy, expedient, and proper." But, sir, if any gentleman had risen to say this, it would not have answered the requisition of the Constitution. Not at all. It is not a hint, an intimation, the suggestion of a friend, by which the Executive duty in this respect is to be fulfilled. By no means. The President is to make a recommendation ; a public recom- mendation, an ofhcial recommendation, a responsible recommenda- tion, not to one House, but to both Houses ; it is to be a recom- mendation to Contrress. If, on receivinfr such recommendation, Congress fail to pay it proper respect, the fault is theirs. If, deeming the measure necessary and expedient, the President fail to recommend it, the fault is his, clearly, distinctly, and exclusively his. Tliis, sir, is the Constitution of the United States, or else I do not undei-stand the Constitution of the United States. Does 53 not every man see how perfectly unconstitutional it is that the President should communicate his opinions or wishes to Cono-ress on such grave and important subjects, otherwise than by a dtrect and responsible recommendation — a public and open recommenda- tion, equally addressed and equally known to all whose duty calls upon them to act on the subject ? What would be the state of things, if he might communicate his wishes or opinions privately to members of one House, and make no such communication to the . other ? Would not the two Houses be necessarily put in imme- diate collision ? Would they stand on equal footing ? Would they have equal information? Wliat could ensue from such a manner of conducting the public business, but quaiTel, confusion, and con- flict ? A member rises in the House of Representatives, and moves a very large appropriation of money for military purposes. If he says he does it upon Executive recommendation, where is his voucher ? The President is not like the British King, whose min- isters and secretaries are in the House of Commons, and who are authorized, in certain cases, to express the opinions and wishes of their sovereign. We have no king's servants ; at least we have none known to the Constitution. Congress can know the opinions of the President only as he officially communicates them. It would be a curious inquiry in either House, when a large appro- priation is moved, if it were necessary to ask whether the mover represented the President, spoke his sentiments, or, in other words, whether what he proposed were " in accordance with the views of the Executive." How could that be judged of? By the party he belongs to ? Party is not quite unique enough for that. By the airs he gives himself? Many might assume airs, if thereby they could give themselves such importance as to be esteemed au- thentic expositors of the Executive will. Or is this will to be cir- culated in whispers ? made known to the meetings of party men ? intimated through the press ? or communicated in any other form, which still leaves the Executive completely irresponsible? So' that while Executive purposes or wishes pervade the ranks of party fnends, influence their conduct, and unite their efforts, the open, direct, and constitutional responsibility is wholly avoided. Sir, this !s not the Constitution of the United States, nor can it be consistent with any constitution which professes to maintain separate depart- ments in the Government. Here, then, sir, is abundant ground, in my judgment, for the vote of the Senate, and here I might rest it. But there is also another ground. The Constitution declares that no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. What is meant by " appropriations " ? Does this language not mean that particular suras shall be assigned, by law, to particular objects ? How far tliis pointing out and fixing the E * 64 particular objects shall be carried, is a question that cannot be set- tled by any precise rule. But " specific appropriations," that is to say, the designation of every object for which money is voted, as far as such designation is practicable, has been thought to be a most important republican principle. In times past, popular parties have claimed great merit from professing to carry this doctnne much fardier, and to adhere to it much more strictly than their adversa- ries. Mr. Jcfffrson, especially, was a great advocate for it, and held it to be indispensable to a safe and economical administration and disbursement of the public revenues. But what have the friends and admirers of Mr. Jefferson to say to this apjrropriationl Where do they find, in this proposed grant of three millions, designation of object, and particular and specific application of money ? Have they forgotten, all forgotten, and wholly abandoned, even all pretence for specific appropriation ? If not, how could they sanction such a vote as this? Let me recall its terms. They are, that " llie sum of three millions of dollars be, and the same hereby is appropriated, out of any money in the Treasu- ry not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, in whole or in part, under the direction of the President of the United States, for the military and naval service, including fortifications and ordnance, and to increase the navy ; provided such expenditures shall be rendered necessary for the defence of the country, prior to the next meeting of Congress." In the first place, it is to be observed, that whether the money shall be used at all or not, is made to depend on the discretion of the President. This is sufficiently liberal. It carries confidence far enough. But, if there had been no other objections, if the objects of the appropriation had been sufficiently described, so that the President, if he expended the money at all, must have ex- pended it for purposes authorized by the Legislature, and nothing had been left to his discretion but the question, whether an emer- gency had arisen, in which the authority ought to be exercised, I might not have felt bound to reject the vote. There are some i)re- cedents which might favor such a contingent provision, though the practice is dangerous, and ought not to be followed except in cases of clear necessity. But the insurmountable objection to the proposed grant was, that it specified no objects. It was as general as language could make it. It embraced every expenditure that could be called either military or naval. It was to include " fortifications, ordnance, and increase of the navy," but it was not confined to these. It em- braced the whole general subject of military service. Under the authority of such a law, the President might repair ships, build ships, buy ships, enlist seamen, and do any thing and every thing else touching the naval service, without restraint or control. 55 He might repair such fortifications as he saw fit, and neglect the rest ; arm such as he saw fit, and neglect the arming of others ; or build new fortifications whenever he chose. But these unlim'ited powers over the fortifications and the navy constitute, by no means the most dangerous part of the proposed authority ; because, under that authority, his power to raise and employ land forces was equal- ly absolute and uncontrolled. He might levy troops, imbody a new army, call out the militia in numbers to suit his own discretion", and employ them as he saw fit. Now, sir, does our legislation, under our Constitution, furnish any precedent for all this ? We make appropriation for the army, and we understand what we are doing, because it is " the army," that is to say, the army established by law. We make appropriations for the navy ; they, too, are for " the navy," as provided for and established by law! We make appropriations for fortifications, but we say what fortifica- tions, and we assign to each its intended amount of the whole sum. This is the usual course of Congress on such subjects; and why should it be departed fiom ? Are we ready to say that the power of fixing the places for new fortifications, and the sum allotted to each ; the power of ordering new ships to be built, and fixing the number of such new ships ; the power of laying out money to raise men for the army ; in short, every power, great and small, respecting the military and naval service, shall be vested in the President, without specification of object or purpose, or the entire exclusion of the exercise of all judi,ment on the part of Congress ? For one, I am not prepared. The honorable member froml3hio, near me, has said, that if the enemy had been on our shores he would not have agreed to this vote. And I say, if the proposition were now before us, and the guns of the enemy were batterino- against the walls of the Capitol, I would not agree to it. ^ The people of this countiy have an interest, a property, an in- heritance in this Instrument, against the value of which forty Capitols do not weigh the twentieth part of one poor scruple. There can never be any necessity for such proceedings but a feigned and false necessity ; a mere idle and hollow pretence of necessity ; least of all, can it be said that any such necessity actually existed on the 3d of March. There was no enemy on our shores ; there were no guns pointed against the Capitol ; we were in no war, nor was there a reasonable probability that we should have war, unless we made it ourselves. But whatever was the state of our foreign relations, is it not pre- posterous to say, that it was necessary for Congress to adopt this measure, and yet not necessary for the President to recommend it ? Why should \ye thus run in advance of all our own duties, and leave the President completely shielded from his just responsibility ? 66 Why should there be nothins; but grant, and trust, and confidence, on our side, and nothing but discretion and power on his? Sir, if there be any philosophy in history ; if human blood still runs in human veins ; if man still conforms to the identity of his nature, the institutions which secure constitutional liberty can never stand long against this excessive personal confidence, against this devotion to men — in utter disregard both of principle and experi- ence, which seems to me to be strongly characteristic of our times. This vote came to us, sir, from the popular branch of the Legisla- ture ; and that such a vote should come from such a branch of the Lei^islature, was amongst the circumstances which excited in me the°greatest surprise and the deepest concern. Certainly, sir, cer- tainly I was not, on that account, the more inclined to concur. It was no argument with me that others seemed to be rushing, with such heedless, headlong trust, such impetuosity of confidence, into the arms of Executive power. I held back the stronger, and would hold back the longer. I see, or I think I see, it is either a true vision of the future, revealed by the history of the past, or, if it be an illusion, it is an illusion which appears to me in all the bright- ness and sunlight of broad noon, that it is in this career of personal confidence, along this beaten track of man-ivorship , marked, every furlong, by the fragments of other free Governments, that our ow n system is making progress to its close. A personal popularity, honorably earned, at first by military achievements, and sustained now by party, by patronage, and by enthusiasm which looks for no ill, because it means no ill itself, seems to render men willing to gratify power, even before its demands are made, and to surfeit Executive discretion, even in anticipation of its own appetite. Sir, if, on the 3d of March last, it had been the purpose of both Houses of Congress to create a military dictator, what formula had been better suited to their purpose than this vote of the House ? It is true, we might have given more money, if we had had it to give. We might have emptied the Treasury ;' but as to the form of the gift, we could not have bettered it. Rome had no better models. When we give our money for any military purpose ivhatever, what remains to be done ? If we leave it with one man to decide, not only whedier the military means of the country shall be used at all, but how they shall be used, and to what extent they shall be em- ployed, what remains either for Congress or the People but to sit still, and see how this dictatorial power will be exercised ? On the 3d of March, sir, I had not forgotten — it was impossible that I should have forgotten — the recommendation in the message, at the opening of that session, that power should be vested in the Presi- dent to issue letters of marque and reprisal against France, at his discretion, in the recess of Congress. Happily this power was not granted ; but suppose it had been, what would then have been 57 the true condition of this Govemment ? Why, sir, this condition is very shortly described. Tiie whole war power would have been in the hands of the President : for no man can doubt a moment that reprisals would bring on immediate war ; and the Treasury, to the amount of this vote, in addition to all ordinary appropriations, would have been at his absolute disposal also. And all this in a time of peace. I beseech all true lovers of constitutional liberty, to con- template this state of things, and tell me whether such be a true republican administration of this Government. Whether particular consequences had ensued or not, is such an accumulation of power in the hands of the Executive according to the spirit of our sys- tem ? Is it either wise or safe ? Has it any warrant in the prac- tice of former times ? Or are gentlemen ready to establish the practice, as an example for the benefit of those who are to come after us ? But, sir, if the power to make reprisals, and this money from the Treasury, had both been granted, is there not great reason to believe that we should have been now up, to our ears in a hot war? I think there is great reason to believe this. Jt will be said, I know, that if we had amied the President with this power of war, and supplied him with this gi-ant of money, France would have taken this for such a proof of spirit on our part, that she would have paid tlie indemnity without further delay. This is the old story, and the old plea. Every one who desires more power than the Constitution or the Laws give him, always says, that if he had more power, he could do more good. Power is always claimed for the good of the People ; and dictators are always made, when made at all, for tlie good of the People. For my part, sir, I was content, and am content, to show France that we are prepared to maintain our just rights, against her, by the exertion of our power, when need be, according to the forms of our own Constitution; that, if we make war, we will make it constitutionally ; and that we will trust all our interests, both in peace and war, to what the intelligence and the strength of the country may do for them, with- out breaking down or endangering the fabric of the free institutions. _Mr. President, it is the misfortune of the Senate to have differed with the President on many great questions during the last four or five years. I have regretted this state of things deeply, both on personal and on public account ; but it has been unavoidable. It is no pleasant employment, it is no holiday business, to maintain opposition against power and against majorities, and to contend for stern and sturdy principle, against personal popularity, against a rushing and overwhelming confidence, that, by wave upon wave, and cataract after cataract, seems to be bearing away and destroy- ing whatsoever would withstand it. How much longer we may be able to support this opposition in any degree, or whether we can VOL, III. 8 58 possibly hold out till the public intelligence and the public patriot- ism shall be awakened to a due sense of the public danger, it is not for me to foretell. I shall not despair to the last, if, in the mean time, we be true to our own principles. If there be a stead- fast adherence to these principles, both here and elsewhere, if, one and all, they continue the rule of our conduct in the Senate, and the rallying point of those who think with us and support us out of the Senate, I am content to hope on, and to struggle on. While it remains a contest for the preservation of the Constitution, for the security of public liberty, for the ascendency of principles over men, I am willing to bear my part of it. If we can maintain the Constitution, if we can preserve this security for liberty, if we can thus give to true principle its just superlonty over party, over per- sons, over names, our labors will be richly rewarded. If we fail in all this, they are already among the living, who will write the history of this Government, from its commencement to its close. REMARKS IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 16, 1836, ON PRESENTING SUNDRY ABOLITION PETITIONS. Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows : — Agreeably to notice, I offer sundry petitions on the subject of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The first purports to be signed by two thousand four hundred and twenty- five of the female inhabitants of Boston. This petition is in the usual printed form. It is respectful to Congress, and contains no reproaches on any body. It asks for the consideration of Congress, both with respect to the existence of slavery in the District, and with respect to the slave trade in the District. The second is a petition, signed by Joseph Filson, and about a hundred others, citizens of Boston, some of whom are known to me, and are highly respectable persons. The petition is to the same effect, and in the same form. The third petition appears to be signed by a large number of persons, inhabitants of Wayne county, in Michigan. I am not acquainted witii them. It is a printed petition, different in form from the preceding, drawn more at length, and going farther into the subject. But I perceive nothing in it disrespectful to the Senate, or reproachful to others. The fourth petition is like the two first, in substance and in form. It is signed by four hundred and thirty-three citizens of Boston. Among these signors, Sir, I recognize the names of many persons well known to me to be gentlemen of great worth and respectabili- ty. There are clergymen, lawyers, merchants, literary men, man- ufacturers, and indeed persons from all classes of society. I ask, Sir, that these petitions may be received, and move that they be referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia. This motion itself. Sir, sufficiently shows in what manner I think this subject ought to be treated in the Senate. The petitioners ask Congress to consider the propriety and ex- pediency of two things — first, of making provision for the extinction of slavery in the District; second, of abolishing or restraining the trade in slaves within the District. Similar petitions have already 59 60 been received. Those gentlemen who think Congress have no power over any part of the suhject, if they are clear and settled m that opinion, were perfectly justifiahle in voting not to receive them. Any petition, which, in our opinion, asks us to do that which is plainly against the Constitution, we might very justly reject. As, if persons should petition us to pass a law abridging the freedom of the press, or respecting an establishment of religion, such petition would very properly be denied any reception at all. In doubtful cases, we should incline to receive and consider ; be- cause doubtful cases ought not to be decided without consideration. But I cannot regard this case as a- doubtful one. I think the constitutional power of Congress over the subject is clear, and, therefore, that we were bound to receive the petitions. And a large majority of the Senate are also of opinion that the petitions ou^ht to be received. I have often, Mr. President, expressed the opmion that, over slavery, as it exists in tlie States, this Government has no control whatever. It is entirely and exclusively a State concern. And while it is thus clear that Congress has no direct power over the subject, it is our duty to take care that the authority of this Gov- ernment is not brought to bear upon it by any indirect interference whatever. It must be left to the States, to the course of things, and to those causes over which this Government has no control. All this, in my opinion, is in the clear line of our duty. On the other hand, believing that Congress has constitutional power over slavery, and the trade in slaves, within the District, I think petitions on those subjects, respectfully presented, ought to be respectfully treated, and respectfully considered. The respect- ful mode, the proper mode, is the ordinary mode. We have a committee on the affairs of the District. For very obvious reasons, and without any reference to this question, this committee is ordi- narily composed principally of Southern gentlemen. For many years a member from Virginia or Maryland has, I believe, been at the head of the committee. The committee, therefore, is the ap- propriate one, and there can be possibly no objection to it, on account of the manner in which it is constituted. Now, I believe, Sir, that the unanimous opinion of the North is, that Congress has no authority over slavery in the States ; and perhaps ccjually unanimously, that over slavery in the' District it has such rightful authority. Then, Sir, the question is a question of the fitness, propriety, justice, and expediency of considering these two subjects, or either of them, according to the prayer of these petitions. It is well known to us and the country, that Congress has hith- erto entertained inquiries on both these points. On the 9th of January, 1809, the House of Representatives resolved, by very 61 large majorities, " That the Committee for the District of Colum- hia he instructed to take into consideration the laws within the District in respect to slavery ; that they inquire into the slave trade as it exists in, and is carried on through, the District ; and that they report to the House such amendments to the existing laws as shall seem to them to be just.^' And it resolved also, " That the committee he further instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the gradual abolition of slavery within the District, in such manner that the interest of no individual shall be injured thereby." As early as March, 1816, the same House, on the motion of Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, resolved, " That a committee be appointed to inquire into the existence of an inhuman and illegal traj^c of slaves carried on in and through the District of Columbia, and to report whether any, and what measures are necessary for putting a stop to the same." It is known, also, Sir, that the Legislature of Pennsylvania has within a very few years urged upon Congress the propriety of providing for the abolition of slavery in the District. The House of Assembly of New York, about the same time, I think, passed a similar vote. After these proceedings, Mr. President, which were generally known, I think, the country was not at all prepared to find that these petitions would be objected to, on the ground that they asked for the exercise of an authority on the part of Con- gress, which Congress cannot constitutionally exercise ; or that, having been formally received, the prayer of them, in regard to both objects, would be immediately rejected, without reference to the committee, and without any inquiry. Now, Sir, the propriety, justice, and fitness of any interference of Congress, for either of the purposes stated in the petitions, are the points on which, as it seems to me, it is highly proper for a committee to make a report. The well-disposed and patriotic among these petitioners are entitled to be respectfully answered; and if there be among them others whose motives are less praise- worthy, it is not the part of prudence to give them the advantage which they would derive from a right of complaint that the Senate had acted hastily or summarily on their petitions, without inquiry or consideration. Let the committee set forth their own views on these points, dis- passionately, fully, and candidly. Let the argument be seen and heard ; let the People be trusted with it ; and I have no doubt that a fair discussion of the subject will produce its proper effect, both in and out of the Senate. This, Sir, would have been, and is the course of proceeding, which appears to me to be prudent and just. The Senate, how- ever, having decided otherwise, by a very large majority, I only F 62 say so much, on the present occasion, as may suffice to make my own opinions known. In reply to Mr. King, of Alabama, Mr. Webster said, that he was not aware of having said any thintr which could justify the remarks of the honorable member. By what authority does the gentleman say (said iMr. W.) that 1 have placed myself at the head of these petitioners ? The gentle- man cannot be allowed. Sir, to assign to me any place or any character, wliich I do not choose to take to myself. 1 have only expressed my opinion as to the course which it is prudent and wise in us all to adopt, in disposing of these petitions. It is true that, while the question on the reception of the petitions •was pending, I observed that 1 should hold back these petitions till that question was decided. It is decided. The Senate has de- cided to receive the petitions; and being received, the manner of treating them necessarily arises. The origin of the authority of Congress over this District, the views-and objects of the States in ceding the territory, the little interest which this Government has in the general question of slavery, and the great magnitude which individual States have in it, the great danger, to the Government itself, of agitating the question here, w^iile things remain in their present posture, in the States around us — these. Sir, are considera- tions all intimately belonging to the question, as I think, and which a competent committee would naturally present to the Senate and to the public. Mr. President, I feel bound to make one further remark. What- ever gentlemen may think of it, I assure them that these petitions, at least in many cases, have no factious origin, no political or party origin. Such may be the origin of some of them. I am quite sure it is not of all. Many of them arise from a sense of religious duty ; and that is a fcelinjr which should be reasoned with, but cannot be suppressed by a mere summary exercise of authority. 1 wish that all reasonable men may be satisfied with our proceedings ; that we may so act in regard to the whole matter as shall promote har- mony, strengthen the bonds of our Union, and increase the confi- dence, both of the North and the South, in this Government. REMARKS IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE DEPOSIT BANKS. MARCH 17, 183G. Mr. Webster rose to move for the printing of 3,000 extra copies of the statement of the affairs of the deposit banks, trans- mitted by the Secretary of the Treasury. In makino; this motion, Mr. Webster called the attention of the Senate to the document from the Treasury, showing the state of the deposit banks at the latest dates. He quoted from the tabu- lar statement some of the leading facts. The immediate liabilities of the banks amounted, it appeared, to nearly seventy-two millions of dollars, viz. the public deposits, $30,678,879 91 ; the private deposits, $ 15,043,033 64 ; the bills in circulation, $26,243,688 36. The amount of specie held by these banks, it further appeared, was $10,198,659 24; that is to say, there is less than one dollar specie for six dollars debt ; and there is due to the Government by those banks more than three times tho amount of all the specie. There are other items which swell the amounts on each side, such as debts due to banks, and debts due from banks. But these are only equalling quantities, and of no moment in the view I am taking of the question. Among the means of these deposit banks I see an item of "other investments," of no less amount than $8,777,228 79. What is meant by these " other investments," I am not informed. I wish for light. I have my suspicions, but I have no proofs. Sir, look at the reported state of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Michigan, the last in the list. The capital of that bank is only $ 150,000. Its portion of the public deposits is no less a sum than $784,764 75. Now, Sir, where is this money? It is not in specie in the bank itself. All its specie is only $51,01195; all its discounts, loans, he, are only $500,000, or thereabouts; where is the residue ? Why, we see where it is ; it is included in the item '' due from haiiks, $678,766 37." What banks have got this ? On what terms do they take it ? Do they give interest for it? Is it in the deposit banks in the great cities? and does this make a part of the other liabilities of these deposit banks in the cities ? Now, this is one question : what are these other liabilities ? But, as to these " other investments," I say again, I wish to know 63 64 what they are. Besides real estate, loans, discount, and exchange, I beg to know what other investments banks usually make. In my opinion, Sir, the present system now begins to develop itself. We see what a complication of private and pecuniary in- terests have thus wound themselves around our finances. While the present state of things continues, or as it goes on, there will be no lack of ardor in opposing the Land bill, or any other proposi- tion for distributing or effectually using the public money. We have certainly arrived at a very extraordinary crisis ; a crisis which we must not trifle with. The accumulation of revenue must be prevented. Every wise politician will set that down as a car- dinal maxim. How can it be prevented ? Fortifications will not do it. This I am perfectly persuaded of. I shall vote for every part and parcel of the Fortification bill, reported by the Military Committee. And yet I am sure that, if that bill should pass into a law, it will not absorb the revenue, or sufficiently diminish its amount. Internal improvements cannot absorb it : these useful channels are blocked up by vetoes. How, then, is this revenue to be disposed of? I put this ques- tion seriously to all those who are inclined to oppose the Land bill now before the Senate. Sir, look to the future, and see what will be the state of things next autumn. The accumulation of revenue may then probably be near fifty millions ; an amount equal, perhaps, to the lohole amount of specie in the country. What a state of things is that! Every dollar in the country the property of Government ! Again, Sir, are gentlemen satisfied with the present condition of the public money in regard to its safety ? Is that condition safe, commendable, and proper? The member from South Carolina has brought in a bill to regulate these deposit banks. I hope he will call it up, that we may at least have an opportunity of showing, for ourselves, what we think the exigency requires. REMARKS IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 23, 1836, ON THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION, SUBMITTED BY MR. BENTON: — *^ Resolved, That, from and after the day of , in the year 1836, nothing but gold and silver ought to be received in payment for the public lands; and that the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to report a bill accordingly." Mr. Webster said that he and those who acted with him would be justified in taking no active course in regard to this resolution, in sitting still, suppressing their surprise and astonishment if they could, and letting these schemes and projects take the form of such laws as their projectors might propose. We are powerless now, and can do nothing. All these measures affecting the currency of the country and the security of the public treasure we have resisted since 183-2. We have done so unsuc- cessfully. We struggled for the re-charter of the Bank of the United States in 1832. The utility of such an institution had been proved by forty years' experience. We struggled against the removal of the deposits. That act, as we thought, was a direct usurpation of power. We strove against the experiment, and all in vain. Our opinions were disregarded, our warnings neglected, and we are now in no degree responsible for the mischiefs which are but too likely to ensue. Who will look with the perception of an intelligent, and the can- dor of an honest man, upon the present condition of our finances and currency, and say that this want of credit and confidence which is so general, and which, it is possible, may, ere long, overspread the land with bankruptcies and distress, has not flowed directly from those measures, the adoption of which we so strenuously resisted, and the folly of which men of all parties, however reluctantly, w'll soon be brought to acknowledge ? The truth of this assertion was palpable and resistless. What, Sir, are the precise evils under which the finances of the Government, and, he believed, of the country now suffer ? They are obviously two — the superabundance of the Treasury, and its insecurity. We have more money than we need, and that money, VOL. III. 9 ^^ F* 66 not being in custody under any law, and being in hands over which we have no control, is threatened with danger. Now, Sir, is it not manifest that these evils flow directly from measures of Government which some of us have zealously resisted ? May not each be traced to its distinct source? There would have been no surplus in the Treasury, but for the veto of the land bill, so called, of 1833. This is certain. And as to the security of the public money, it would have been, at this moment, entirely safe, but for the veto of the act continuing the Bank charter. Both these measures had received the sanction of Congress, by clear and large majorities. They were both negatived : the reign of experiments, schemes, and projects commenced, and here we are. Every thing that is now amiss in our financial concerns is the direct consequence of extra- ordinary exertions of Executive authority. This assertion does not rest on general reasoning. Facts prove it. One veto has deprived the Government of a safe custody for the public moneys, and another veto has caused their present augmentation. What, Sir, are the evils which are distracting our financial opera- lions ? They are obviously two. The public money was not safe ; it was protected by no law. The treasury was overflowing. There was more money than we needed. The currency was unsound. Credit had been diminished, and confidence destroyed. And what did these two evils, the insecurity of the public money and its abun- dance, result from? They referred directly back to the two cele- brated experiments ; the veto of the bank bill, followed by the removal of the deposits, and the rejection of the land bill. No man doubted that the public money would have remained safe in the Bank of the United States, if the Executive veto of 1832 had not disturbed it. It was that veto, also, which, by discontinuing the National Bank, removed the great and salutary check to the immoderate issue of paper money, and encouraged the creation of so many State banks. This was another of the products of that veto. This is as plain as that. The rejection of the land bill of 1833, by depriving the coun- try of a proper, necessary, and equal distribution of the surplus fund, had produced this redundancy in the Treasury. If the wis- dom of Congress had been trusted, the country would not have been plunged into its present difficulties. They devised the only means by which the peace and prosperity of the People could have been secured. They passed the bank charter : it was negatived. They passed the land bill, and it met the same fate. This extraor- dinary exercise of power, in these two instances, has produced an exactly corresponding mischief in each case, upon the subjects to which it was applied. Its application to the bill providing for the re-charter of the Bank of the United States has been followed by the present insecurity of the public treasure, and a superabundance 67 of money not wanted has been the consequence of its application to the land bill. The country is the victim of schemes, projects, and reckless ex- periments. We are wiser, or we think ourselves so, than those who have gone before us. Experience cannot teach us. We cannot let well enough alone. The experience of forty years was insuffi- cient to settle the question whether a national bank was useful or not ; and forty years' practice of the Government could not decide whether it was constitutional or not. And it is worthy of all con- sideration, that undue power has been claimed by the Executive. One thing is certain, and that is, there has been a constant and cor- responding endeavor to diminish the constitutional power of Con- gress. The bank charter was negatived, because Congress had no power under the Constitution to grant it ; and yet, though Congress had no authority to create a national bank, the Executive at once exercised the power to select and appoint as many banks as he pleased, and to place the public moneys in their hands on just such terms and conditions as he pleased. There is not a more palpable evidence of the constant bias of this Government to a wrong tendency, than this continued attempt to make legislative power yield to that of the Executive. The restriction of the just authority of Congress is followed in every case by the increase of the power of the Executive. What was it that caused the destruction of the United States Bank, and put the whole moneyed power of the country into the hands of one man ? Constitutional doubts of the power of Congress ! What has pro- duced this superabundance of money in the treasury? Constitu- tional doubts of the power of Congress! In the whole history of this Administration, doctrines had obtained, whose direct tendency was to detract from the settled and long-practised power of Con- gress, and to give, in full measure, hand over hand, every thing into the control of the Executive. Did gentlemen wish him to exem- plify the truth of this ? Let them look at the bank bill, the land bill, and the various bills which have been negatived respecting internal improvements. Gentlemen now speak of returning to a specie basis. Did any man suppose it practicable? The resolution, now under considera- tion, contemplated that, after the current year, all payments for the public lands were to be made in specie. Now, if he (Mr. W.) had brought forward a proposition like this, he would at once have been accused of being opposed to the settlement of the new States. It would have been urged diat speculators and capitalists could easily carry gold and silver to the West, by sea or land, while the cultiva- tor, who wished to purchase a small farm, would be compelled to give the former his own price for the land, because he could visit large cities, or other places where it was to be found, and procure 68 the specie. These arguments would have met him, he was sure, had lie introduced a measure like this. If specie payments were to be made for public dues, he should suppose it best to begin with the customs, which were payable in large cities, where gold and sil- ver could be more easily procured than on the frontiers. But whether from speculators, or settlei-s, what was the use of these specie payments ? The money was dragged over the mountains to be dragged back again : that was all. The purchaser of public lands \vould buy gold by bills on the Eastern cities: it would go across the country in panniers or wa^^ons: the Land Office would send it back again by the return carriage, and thus create the use- less expense of transportation. He had from the very first looked upon all these schernes as totally idle and illusory ; not in accordance with' the practice of other nations, or suited to our own policy, or our own active condi- tion. But the effect of this resolution — what would it be? Let them try It. Let them go on. Let them add to the catalogue of projects. Let them cause every man in the West, who has a five dollar bank note in his pocket, to set off, post haste, to the bank, lest somebody else should get there before, and get out all the money, and then buy land. How long would the Western banks stand this ? Yet, if gentlemen please, let them go on. 1 shall dis- sent ; I shall protest ; I shall speak my opinions ; but I shall still say. Go on, gentlemen, and let us see the upshot of your experi- mental policy. The currency of the country was, to a great degree, in the power of all the banking companies in the great cities. He was as much opposed to the increase of these insthutions ; but the evil had begun, and could not be resisted. What one State does, another will do also. Danger and misfortunes appear to be threatening the curren- cy of the country ; and although the Constitution gives the control over it to Congress, yet Congress is allowed to do nothing. Con- gress, and not the States, had the coining power ; yet the States issue paper as a substitute for coin, and Congress is not supposed to be able to regulate, control, or redeem it. We have the sole power over the currency ; but we possess no means of exercising that power. Congress can create no bank, regulated by law, but the Executive can appoint twenty or fifty banks, without any law what- ever. A very peculiar state of things exists in this country at this moment — a country in the highest state of prosperity ; more boun- tifully blest by Providence in all things than any other nation on earth, and yet in the midst of great pecuniary distress, its finances deranged, and an increasing want of confidence felt in its circulation. But the experiment was to cure all this. A few select and favor- ite banks were to give us a secure currency, one better and more practically beneficial than that of the United States Bank. And 69 here is the result, or, rather, to use the expression of Monsieur Tal- leyrand, here is "the beginning of the end." We were told that these banks would do as well, if not a great deal better, for all the purposes of exchange, than the United States Bank ; that they could negotiate as cheaply and with as much safe- ty ; and yet the rate is now one and a half, if not two per cent, between Cincinnati and New York. Indeed, exchanges are all deranged, and in confusion. Sometimes they are at high rates, both ways, between two points. Looking, then, to the state of the currency, the insecurity of the public money, and the rates of ex- change, let me ask any honest and intelligent man, of whatever party, what has been the result of these experiments? Does any gentleman still doubt? Let him look to the disclosures made by the circular of one of the deposit banks of Ohio, which was read by an honorable Senator here a day or two since. That bank would not receive the notes of the specie-paying banks of that State from the Land Office, as I understand the circular, or, at any rate, it tells the Land Office that it will not. Here are thirty or forty specie-paying banks in Ohio, all of good credit, and out of the whole number three were to be selected, entitled to no more confidence than the others, whose notes were to be taken for public lands. If gentlemen from the West and South-west are satisfied with this arrangement, I certainly commend greatly their quiescent tempera- ment. As he said in the commencement of his remarks, he knew of nothing he could do in regard to the resolution, except to sit still and see how far gentlemen would go, and what this state of things would end in. Here was this vast surplus revenue under no control whatever, and, from appearances, though the session was nearly over, likely to remain so. Two measures of the highest importance had been proposed — one to diminish this fund; another to secure its safety. He wished to understand, and the country to know, whether any thing was to be done with either of these propositions. For his own part, he believed that a national bank was the only security for the national treasure ; but, as there was no such institu- tion, a more extended use should be made of this treasure, and in its distribution no preference should be given, as was the fact in the instance of the banks of Ohio, to which he had just alluded. In some way or other this fund must be distributed. It is absolutely necessary. The provisions of the land bill seemed to him emi- nently calculated to effect this object ; but if that measure should not be adopted, he would give his vote to any proper and equitable measure which might be brought forward, let it come from what quarter it might. In all probability, there would be a diminution in the amount of land sales for some time to come. The purchases of the last year, he supposed, had exceeded the demands of emigra- 70 tion. They were made by speculators for the purpose of holding up lands for increased prices. The spirit of speculation, indeed, seemed to be very much directed to the acquisition of the public lands. He could not say what would be the further progress, or where the end, of these things; but he thought one thing quite clear, and that was, that the existing surplus ought to be distributed. He repeated, that he intended no detailed opposition to the meas- ure now before the Senate ; and had he been in his seat, he should not have opposed the amendment to the pension bill. Let the ex- periments, one and all, have their course. He should do nothing except to vote against all these visionary projects, until the country should become convinced that a sound currency, and with it a gen- eral security for property, and the earnings of honest labor, were things of too much importance to be sacrificed to mere projects, whether political or financial. After remarks by Mr. Niles of Connecticut, and Mr. Be.nto:* of Missouri, Mr. Webstkr said the gentleman from Missouri had referred to the resolution of 1816; and he would beg leave to make a brief explanation in reference to the part he bore in it. The events of the war had greatly deranged the currency of the country, and a great pecuniary pressure was felt from one end of the continent to the other. The war took place in 1812, and not two months of it had passed before there was a cessation of specie payments by at least two thirds of all the banks of the country. So strong was the pressure, that although the enemy blockaded the Chesapeake, so that not a barrel of pork or flour could be sent to market, yet the prices of these articles rose fifty per cent. This state of things con- tinued ; the collectors of the customs every where received the notes of their own local banks for duties payable at their own places, but would not receive the bills of the banks of the other cities. And what was the consequence ? Why, at the close of the session of Congress, a member, if he had been fortunate enough to preserve any of his pay, had to give twenty-five per cent, to get the money received here exchanged for money that be could carry home. Another effect of this state of the currency was this — the Consti- tution provided that, in the regulation of commerce or revenue, no preference should be given to the ports of one State over those of anotlicr. Yet Baltimore, for instance, which had the exchange against her, had an advantage, by the payment of her duties in the bills of her banks, and had the advantage of at least twenty-five per cent, over some Northern cities. The resolution then introduced by him was to provide that the revenue should be equally paid in all parts of the United States; and what was the effect of it? The bank bill hud just passed, and the resolution was, that all debts due 71 the Government should be paid in the legal coin, in notes of the Bank of the United States, or in notes of banks that paid coin on demand. That was the operation of the law of 1816, rendered ab- sokitely necessary by the existing state of things. The gentleman from Connecticut inquired whether the omission to use the powers of Congress necessarily increased that of the Ex- ecutive. He would put a })oser to the gentleman. The President himself admitted that it was the appropriate duty of Congress to take the public treasure into its hands, and appoint agents to take care of it. The gentleman himself must admit this, for he supposed that he did not go the lengths of the Senator from Tennessee in being willing that things should remain as they were. Then, if it was their duty to take care of the national treasure, and they did not do it, it would go into the hands of the Executive. Was not the cus- tody of the national treasure power? and if they neglected to use this power, did they not augment the power of the Executive? Nothing could be more appropriate for a historian, than to review the doctrines which had been advanced with regard to Executive power, and the means by which it was sought to increase it. The President himself first advanced the doctrine, and it had been repeat- ed there, that the President of the United States was the sole rep- resentative of the People of the United States. Did the Constitu- tion make him so ? Did the Constitution acknowledge any other representative of the People than the members of the other House ? But it had been found extremely convenient to those who wished to increase the President's power to give him this title. This claim of the President reminded him of a remark he heard made many years ago by a member of the House of Representatives. That gentleman had voted against the first Bank of the United States, and had changed his mind, and was about to vote for the second. If, said the gentleman, the People have given us the power to make a bank, we can do it ; and if they have not, we are the representa- tives of the People, and can take the power. And this was the doctrine applied to the President as the peculiar representative of the People. The Constitution gave him a modicum of power, and he, claiming the lion's part, took all the rest. This was the result of that overwhelming personal popularity which led men to disre- gard all the ancient maxims of the founders of this Government, and to yield up all power into the hands of one man. They could not DOW even quote the doctrines of Mr. Jefferson without being scout- ed, and they could not resist any power claimed by the Executive, however arbitrary, but must yield up every thing to him by one universal confidence, because he was the representative of the People. 72 After further remarks bj Mr. Niles, Mr. Webster observed that it was the best course, when a gen- tleman replied to another, to use his very words 36 far as his recol- lection permitted him. He had noticed, on other occasions, that the Senator from Connecticut gave his own language as that of the gentleman he was replying to, put his own construction upon it, and then replied to this man of straw. He hoped that the gentle- man would, when he quoted him in future, use his exact language, and not put into his mouth words that he did not use. The gen- tleman, in speaking of the President, used the term representative of the People, precisely in the meaning of the term as applied to a member of the House of Representatives. Now, it was impossible to believe in any idea of power pertaining to the President in this character. But he would remind the Senator that the President himself in more than one communication had claimed this character and power. It would be found in the protest that he is the only single representative of the People. Sir, this is the very essence of consolidation, and in the worst of hands. Do we not all know that the People have not one representative? Do we not know that the States are divided into congressional districts, each of which elects a representative, and that the States themselves are repre- sented by two members on that floor ? Do we not all know that it was carefully avoided by the framers of the Constitution to give him any such power at all? He admitted that the President, in refer- ence to his popularity merely, was called, with great propriety, the representative of the People ; but in other respects, he was no more so than was the President of the old Congress. There was another false doctrine that was worth noticing, and that was, that every thing that had been done by the President had been approved of by the People, because they reelected him. REMARKS IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE BILL TO AU- THORIZE THE PURCHASE, ON THE PART OF THE UNITED STATES, OF THE PRIVATE STOCK IN THE LOUISVILLE AND PORTLAND CANAL. MAY 25, 1836. Mr. Webster addressed the Senate as follows : — Mr. President : I regret the warmth with which my friend from Ohio, (Mr. Ewkng,) and my friend from Louisiana, (Mr. Porter,) have spoken on this occasion. But while I 'regret it, I can hardly say I blame it. They have expressed disappointment, and, I think, they may well feel disappointment. I confess, Sir, I feel disappointment, also. Looking to the magnitude of this object ; looking to its highly interesting character to the West ; looking to the great concern which our VVestern friends have manifested for its success, I feel, myself, not only disappointment, but, in some degree, mortification at the result of the vote which has now been taken. That vote, if jt stands, must be decisive of the success of the measure. No doubt. Sir, it is altogether vain to pass this bill, unless it con- tain such provisions as will induce the stockholders in the corpora- tion to part with their interests. In the first place, Sir, why do we hear so much reproach and denunciation against the members of this corporation? Have they not hazarded their property in an undertaking of great importance and utility to the country ? Has not Congress itself encouraged their enterprise, by taking a part of the stock on account of the Government? Are we not ourselves shareholders in this company ? Their tolls, it is said, are large ; that is true ; but, then, not only did they run all the risks usually attending such enterprises, but, even with their large tolls, all their receipts, up to this hour, by no means give an increase on their capital equal to the ordinary interest of money in that part of the country. There appears to me very great injustice in speaking of their tolls as "fines" and "penalties," and unjust impositions; or of their char- ter, as an odious monopoly. Who called it so, or who so thought of it, when it was granted to them? Who, but they, were willing to undertake the work — to advance the money, and to run the VOL. III. 10 '^ G 74 risks and chances of failure ? Who then blamed, reproached, or denounced the enterprising individuals who hazarded their money in a project to make a canal round the falls of the Ohio ? Who then spoke of their tolls as impositions, fines, and penalties ? No- body, Sir. Then, all was encouragement and cheering onward. The cry was then, Go on, run the hazard, try the experiment, let our vessels and boats have a passage round this obstruction ; make an effort to overcome this great obstacle. If you fail, the loss, indeed, will be yours; but if you succeed, all the world will agree that you ought to be fairly and fully remunerated for the risk and expenditure of capital. Sir, we are bound in all justice and fairness to respect the legal rights of these corporators. For one, I not only respect their legal ri'perime7ii." Gentlemen, you will naturally ask. Where is this to end, and what IS TO BE THE REMEDY? These are questions of momentous impor- tance ; but probably the proper moment has not come for considering this. We are yet in the midst of the whirlwind. Every man's thoughts are turned to his own immediate preservation. When the blast is over, and we have breathing-time, the country must take this subject, this all-important subject of relief for the present and security for the future, into its most serious consideration. It will undoubtedly first engage the attention and wisdom of Congress. It will call on public men, Intrusted with public affairs, to lay aside party and private preferences and prejudices, and unite in the great work of redeeming the country from this state of disaster and dis- grace. All that 1 mean, at present, to say. Gentlemen, is, that the government of the United States stands chargeable, in my opinion, with a gross dereliction from duty, in leaving the currency, of the country entirely at the mercy of others, without seeking to exercise over it any control whatever. The means of exercising this control rest in the wisdom of Congress, but the duty I hold to be impera- tive. It is a power that cannot be yielded to others with safety to itself or to them. It might as well give up the power of making peace or war to the States, and leave the twenty-six Independent sovereignties to select their own foes, raise their own troops, and conclude their own terms of peace. It might as well leave the States to impose their own duties, regulate their own terms and treaties of commerce, as to give up control over the currency in which all are interested. The present government has been in operation forty-eight years. During forty of these forty-eight years we have had a national insti- tution performing the duties of a fiscal agent to the government, and exercisin y Committee, A. W. Pitcher, ^ James E. Lewis, David L. M'Cldre, MR. MARSHALL'S ADDRESS. - Sir — The people now assembled around you, through me, the humble organ of their selection, do most sincerely and cordially welcome you to Madison. In extending to you the most liberal hospitality, they do no more, however, than they would be inclined to do towards the humblest citizen of our common country. But this public and formal manifestation of the feeling of regard which they entertain for you, is intended to do more than inform you of the simple fact that here you can find food and shelter, and partake with them of the pleasures of the social circle. If this were all, it might be communicated in a manner more acceptablc,by extending to you the hand of friendship, and kindly pointing you to the family board; but by this public parade, this assembling of the people around you, it is intended to give you that consolation, (most grateful and cheering to every true American heart,) the PeopWs approbation of your acts as a public servant. This is done, not with that abject feeling which characterizes the homage of sub- jects, but with that nobler feeling which prompts freemen to honor and esteem those who have been their country's benefactors. Prompted by such feeling, the patriots of the Revolution delighted to honor the Father of our country. He led his armies to victory, and thus wrested the liberties of his countrymen from the grasp of a tyrant; — and may we not from like impulses manifest gratitude towards those who, by the power of tlieir intel- lects, have effectually rebuked erroneous principles which were evidently undermining and endangering the very existence of our beloved Union ? Yes, sir, our country has now nothing to fear from external violence. It is a danger which the whole country can see on its first approach, and every arm will be nerved at once to repel it — it can be met at the point of the bayonet, and millions would now, as in days that are past, be ready to shed their blood in defence of their country. But, sir, in those who artfully excite the passions and prejudices of the people, and by presenting to them tlie most plausible pretexts (for their own selfish purposes) load tliem thought- lessly to abandon the sacred principles upon which our government is founded, and to reject the measures which can alone promote the prosperity of the country, in such we meet an enemy against whom the most daring bravery of the soldier is totally unavailing. The injury which is inflicted is not at first felt ^ time is required to develop it — and when developed, the closest investigation may be neces- sary to trace it to its cause ; this the people may not be able to accomplish. This enemy to the country can only be discerned by the keen eye of the Statesman, and met and conquered by the power of his intellect. And he who is successful in thus defending his country, may well be held in grate- 177 ful remembrance by his fellow-citizens. It is for such reasons, sir, that we have presented you thc^e testimonials of our approbation. Thourrh person- ally a stranixer to us, your public character, your masterly efforts in defence of the Constitution, tiie services you have rendered the West, and the prin- ciples and measures which you have so ably advocated, are known and approved, and I hope will ever be remembered by us. And although some of vour efforts have proved for the time unsuccessful, it is to be hoped they would now have a different effect When the old and established meas- ures of any o;overnment have been abandoned for new ones — simply as an experiment — and when that experiment, if it does not produce, is, to say the least, immediately followed by ruin and distress in every part of the country — may we not hope that men will at least calmly and dispassion- ately hear and weitrh the reasons wliy a different policy should be adopted? But if the people's representatives cannot be convinced of the error into which they have been led, it is high time the people themselves should arise from their slumbers — a dark cloud hangs over the land, so thick, so dark, a ray of hope can iiardly penetrate it. But shall the people gird on tiieir armor and march to battle? No, sir — it is a battle which they must fight through the ballot-box ; and perhaps they do not know against what to direct their effort ; they are almost in a state of despondency, ready to con- clude that they are driven to the verge of ruin by a kind of irresistible destinv. The cause of the evil can be discovered only by investigation ; and to their public men tliey must look for information and for wisdom to direct them. But, sir, it is not our object to relate to you our grievances, or recount the past services which you have rendered your country — we wish to cheer you on to increased efforts in urging the measures you have heretofore so zealously and ably advocated. May your success be equal to your efforts — and may happiness and prosperity attend you tlirough life. Mr. Webster replied as follows : — If, fellow-citizens, I can make myself heard by this numerous assembly, speakin<,^, as I do, in the open air, I will return to you my heartfelt thanks for the kindness you have shown me. I come ainoni; you a stranger. On the day before yesterday, I placed my foot, for the first time, in the great and growing State of Indiana. Although I have lived on terms of great intimacy and friendship with several Western gentlemen, members of Congress, among whom is your estimable townsman near me, (Governor Hendricks,) I have never before had an opportunity of seeing and forming an acquaintance for myself with my fellow-citizens of this section of the Union. I travel for this purpose. I confess that I regard with astonishment the evidences of intelligence, enterprise, and refine- ment every where exhibited around me, when I think of the short time that has elapsed since the spot where I stand was a howling wilderness. Since I entered public life, this State was unknown as a political government — all the country west of the Alleghanies, and north-west of the Ohio, constituted but one territory, entitled to a single delegate in the councils of the nation, having the right to speak, but not to vote. Since then, the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and the long strip of country known as the Ter- ritory of Wisconsin, have been carved out of it. Indiana, which VOL. III. 23 178 numbers but twenty years since the commencement of her political existence, contains a population of six hundred thousand — equal to the population of Massachusetts, a State of two hundred years dura- tion. In age she is an infant ; in strength and resources a giant. Her appearance indicates the full vigor of maturity, while, judging by the measure of her years, she is yet in the cradle. Although I reside in a part of the country most remote from you — although I have seen you spring into existence and advance with rapid strides in the march of prosperity and power, until your population has equalled that of my own State, which you far sur- pass in fertility of soil and salubrity of climate ; yet these things have excited in me no feelings of dislike, or jealousy, or envy. On the contrary, I have witnessed them with pride and pleasure, when I saw in them the growth of a member of our common country ; and with feelings warmer tlian pride, when I recollect that there are those among you who are bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh — who inherit my name and share my blood. When they came to me for my advice, before leaving their hearths and homes, I did not oppose their desires or suggest difficulties in their paths. I told them, "Go and join your destinies with those of the hardy pioneers of the West — share their hardships and partake their for- tunes — go, and God speed you ; only carry with you your own good principles, and whether the sun rises on you, or sets on you, let it warm American hearts in your bosoms." Though, as I observed, I live in a part of the country most remote from you, fellow-citizens, I have been no inattentive ob- server of your history and progress. I have heard the reports made in your Legislature, and the acts passed in pursuance thereof. I have traced on the map of your State the routes marked out for extensive turnpikes, rail-roads, and canals. I have read with pleas- ure the acts providing for their establishment and completion. I do not pretend to offer you my advice — it would perhaps be pre- sumptuous; but you wmU permit me to say, that as far as I have examined them, they are conceived in wisdom, and evince great political skill and foresight. You have commenced at the right point. To open the means of communication, by which man may, when he wishes, see the face of his friend, should be the first work of every government. We may theorize and speculate about it as we please — we may understand all the metaphysics of politics ; but if men are confined to the narrow spot they inhabit, because they have not the means of travelling when they please, they must go back to a state of barbarism. Social intercourse is the corner- stone of good government. The nation that provides no means for its improvement, has not taken the first step in civilization. Go on, then, as you have begun — prosecute your works with energy and perseverance — be not daunted by imaginary difficulties — be not 179 deterred by exaggerated calculations of their cost — go on, open your wilderness to the sun — turn up the soil — and in the wide- spread and highly-cultivated fields, the smiling villages, and the busy towns that will spring up from the bosom of the desert, you will reap a rich reward for your investment and industry. . Another of the paramount objects of government, to which I rejoice to see that you have turned your attention, is education. I speak not of college education, nor of academy education, though they are of great importance ; I speak of free school education — common school education. Among the planets in the sky of New England — the burning lights, which throw intelligence and happiness on her people — the first and most brilliant is her system of common schools. I con- gratulate myself that my first speech on entering public life was in their behalf. Education, to accomplish the ends of good govern- ment, should be universally diffused. Open the doors of the school- house to all the children in the land. Let no man have the excuse of poverty for not educating his own offspring. Place the means of education within his reach, and if they remain in ignorance, be it his own reproach. If one object of the expenditure of your rev- enue be protection against crime, you could not devise a better or cheaper means of obtaining it. Other nations spend their money in providing means for its detection and punishment, but it is for the principles of our government to provide for its never occurring. The one acts by coercion, the other by prevention. On the diffu- sion of education among the people rests the preservation and perpetuation of our free institutions. I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. The prospect of a war with any pow- erful nation is too remote to be a matter of calculation. Besides, there is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our over- throw. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of tlieir government — from their carelessness and negligence — I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that thev may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct, — that in this way they may- be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant — give them the means of detecting tlie wrong, and they will apply the remedy. The gentleman who has just addressed me in such flattering but unmerited terms, has been pleased to make kind mention of ray attention to the Constitution, and my humble efforts in its support. I claim no merit on that account. It results from my sense of its surpassing excellences, which must strike every man who atten- tively and impartially examines it. I regard it as the work of the 180 purest patriots and wisest statesmen that ever existed, aided by the smiles of a benifmant Providence — for when we regard it as a system of government growing out of the discordant opinions and confiicling interests of tliirteen independent States, it ahiiost appears a divine interposition in our behalf. I have always, with the utmost zeal and moderate abilities I possess, striven to prevent its infraction in the slightest particular. I believed if that bond of union were broken, we would never again be a united people. Where, among all the political tinkers, the constitution-makers and the constitution-menders of the day, could we find a man to make us another ? Who would even venture to propose a re-union ? Where would be the starting point, and what the plan ? I do not expect miracles to follow each other. None could be proposed that would be adopted; the hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder forever. My friend has been pleased to remember, in his address, my humble support of the Constitutional right of Congress to improve the navigation of our "reat internal rivers, and to construct roads through the different States. It is well known that my opmions on this subject are stronger than most men's. Believing that the object of the Union was to secure the general safety and promote the general welfare, and that the Constitution was designed to point out the means of accomplishing these ends, I have always been in favor of such measures as I deemed for the general benefit, under the restrictions and limitations prescribed by the Constitution itself. I supported them with my voice, and my vote, not because they were for the benefit of the West, but because they were for the benefit of the whole country. That they are local in their advan- tages, as well as in their construction, is an objection that has been and will be urged against every measure of the kind. In a country so widely extended as ours, so diversified in its interests and in the character of its people, it is impossible that the operation of any measure should affect all alike. Each has its own peculiar interest, whose advancement it seeks: we have the sea-coast, and you the noble river that flows at your feet. So it must ever be. Go to the smallest government in the world — the Republic of San Ma- rino, in Italy, possessing a territory of but ten miles square — and * you will find its citizens, separated but by a few miles, having some interests which, on account of local situation, are separate and dis- tinct. There is not on the face of the earth a plain, five miles in extent, whose inhabitants are the same in their pursuits and pleas- ures. Some will live on a creek, others near a hill, which, when any measure is proposed for the general benefit, will give rise to jarring claims and opposing interests. In such cases, it has always appeared to me that the point to be examined was, whether the principle was general ; if the principle were general, although the 181 application might be partial, I cheerfully and zealously give it nniy support. When an objection has been made to an appropriation for clearing the snags out of the Ohio river, I have answered it with the question, " Would you not vote for an appropriation to clear the Adantic Ocean of snags, were the navigation of your coast thus obstructed ? they contribute their portion of the reve- nue to fortify your sea-coast, and erect piers, and harbors, and light- houses, from which they derive a remote benefit, and why not con- tribute yours to improve the navigation of a river whose commerce enriches the whole country ? " It may be expected, fellow-citizens, that I should say something on a topic which agitates and distracts the public mind — the deranged state of the currency, and the general stagnation of busi- ness. In giving my opinions on this topic, 1 wish it to be distinctly understood, that I force them on no man. I am an independent man, speaking to independent men. I think for myself; you of course enjoy and exercise the same right. I cheerfully concede to every one the liberty of differing with me in sentiment, readily granting that he has as good a chance of being right as myself — perhaps a better. But I have some respect for my character as a public man. The present state of things has grown out of a series of measures, to which I have been in uniform opposition. In speaking of their consequences, I am doing but justice to myself in showing them in justification of my conduct. I am performing a duty to my fellow-citizens, who have a right to know the opinions of every public man. The present state of things is unparalleled in the annals of our country. The general suspension of specie payments by the banks — beginning I know not where, and ending I know not where, but comprehending the whole country — has produced wide-spread ruin and confusion through the land. To you the scene is one of apprehe/ision as yet ; to us, of deep distress. You cannot understand, my /ellow-citizens, nor can I describe it so as to enable you to understand, the embarrassment and suffering which is depressing the spirit and crushing the energies of the peo- ple of the sea-girt State of the East. You are agriculturists — you produce what you consume, and always have the means of living witliin your reach. We depend on others for their agricultural pro- ductions — 'we live by manufactures and commerce, of which credit is the life's I)lood. The destruction of credit is the destruction of our means of living. The man who cannot fulfil his daily engagements, or with whom others fail to fulfil theirs, must suffer for his daily bread. And who are those who suffer ? Not the rich, for they can generally take care of themselves. Capital is ingenious and far-sighted — ready in resources and fertile in expedients to shelter itself from impending storms. Shut it out from one source of increase, and it will find other avenues of profitable investment. p 182 It is the industrious, working part of the community — men whose hands have grown hard by holding the plough and pulling the oar — men who depend on their daily labor and their daily pay — who, when the operations of trade and commerce are checked and pal- sied, have no prospect for themselves and their families but beggary and starvation. All this has been attributed to causes as different as can be imagined ; over trading — over buying — over selling — over speculating — overproduction — terms which I acknowledge I do not very well understand. I am at a loss to conceive how a nation can become poor by overproduction — producing more than she can sell or consume. I do not see where there has been over trading, except in public lands ; for when every thing else was up to such an enormous price, and the public land tied down to one dollar and a quarter an acre, who would not have bought it if he could ? These causes could not have produced all those consequences which have produced such general lamentation. They must have proceeded from some other source. And I now request you, my iellow-citizens, to bear witness, that here, in this good city, on the banks of the Ohio, on the first day of June, 1837, beneath the bright sun that is shining upon us, I declare my conscientious con- viction that they have proceeded from the measures of the General Government in relation to the currency. I make this declaration in no spirit of enmity to its authors — I follow no man with rebukes or reproaches. To reprobate the past will not alleviate the evils of the present. It is the duty of every good citizen to contribute his strength, however feeble, to diminish the burden under which a people groans. To apply the remedy successfully, however, we must first ascertain the causes, character, and extent of the evil. Let us go back, then, to its origin. Forty-eight years have elapsed since the adoption of our Constitution. For forty years of that time we had a National Bank. Its establishment orio;lnated in the Imperious obligation Imposed on every government to furnish its people with a circulating medium for their commerce. No matter how rich the citizen may be in flocks and herds — in houses and lands — if his government does not furnish him a medium of exchange, commerce must be confined to the petty barter suggested by mutual wants and necessities, as they exist in savage life. The history of all commercial countries shows that the precious metals can constitute but a small part of this circulating medium. The extension of commerce creates a system of credit — the transmission of money from one part of the country to the other gives birth to the business of exchange. To keep the value of this medium and the rates of exchange equal and certain, was imperiously required by the necessities of the times when the Bank was established. Under the old confederacy, each of the thirteen States established 183 and regulated its own money, which passed for its full value within the State, and was useless the moment it crossed the State border. The little State of Rhode Island, for instance — (I hope no son of hers present will take offence at what I say) — so small that an Indiana man might almost cover her territory with his hand, was crowded with Banks. A man might have been rich at Providence, but before he could travel to Boston, forty miles distant, he would starve for want of money to pay for his breakfast. Had this state of things continued, some of the provisions of the Constitution would have been of no force or virtue. Of what value to Congress would have been the right to levy taxes, imposts, and duties — to regulate commerce among different States, — and of what effect or consequence the prohibition on the different States, of levying and collecting imposts, if each and every one of them had possessed the right of paying her taxes and duties in a currency of her own, which would not pass one hundred miles, perhaps, from the bank where it was issued ? The creation of the National Bank presented the surest means of remedying these evils, and accomplish- ing one of the principal objects of the Constitution — the establish- ment and maintenance of a currency whose value would be uniform in every part of the country. During the forty years it existed, we had no general suspension of specie payments, as at present. We got along well with it, and I am one of those who are disposed to let icell alone. I am content to travel along the good old turnpike on which I have journeyed before with comfort and expedition, without turning aside to try a new track. I must confess that I do not possess that soaring self-respect — that lofty confidence in my own political sagacity and foresight — which would induce me to set aside the experience of forty years, and risk the ruin of the country, for the sake of an Erperiment. To this is all the distress of the country attributable. This has caused such powerful inva- sions of bank paper, like sudden and succeeding ffights of birds of prey and passage, and the rapid disappearance of specie at its approach. You all know that bank notes have been almost as plenty as the leaves of the forest in the summer. But of what value are they to the holder, if he is compelled to pay his debts in specie ? And who can be expected to pay his debts, when the Government has withdrawn the specie from circulation ? You have not felt the evil in its full extent. It is mostly in prospect, and you are watching its approach. While you are endeavoring to guard against it, strive to prevent its future recur- rence. As you would hunt down, with hound and horn, the wolf who is making nightly havock of your flocks and herds, pursue and keep down those who would make havock in your business and property by experiments on our currency. Although the country has bowed beneath the pressure, I do not 184 fear that it will be broken down and prostrated in the dust. De- press them as it may, the energy and industry of the people will enable them to rise again. We have for a long time carried a load of bad government on our shoulders, and we are still able to bear up under it. But I do not see that, for that reason, we should be willing and eager to carry it. 1 do not see why it should prevent us from wishing to lessen it as much as possible, if not to throw it off altogether, when we know that we can get along so much easier and faster without it. While we are exerting ourselves with renewed industry and economy to recover from its blighting effects ; while we plough the land and plough the sea ; — let us hasten the return of things to their proper state, by such political measures as will best accomplish the desired end. Let us inform our public servants of our wishes, and pursue such a course as will compel them to obey us. In conclusion, my fellow-citizens, 1 return you my thanks for the patience and attention with which you have listened to me, and pray the beneficent Giver of all good, that he may keep you under the shadow of his wing, and continue to bless you with peace and prosperity. M SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, SEPTEM- BER 14, 1G37, ON THE BILL TO POSTPONE THE PAYMENT OF THE FOURTH INSTALMENT OF THE DEPOSIT TO THE STATES. Mr. Webster rose, and said that the importance of the present crisis, and the urgency of this occasion, were such as to lead him earnestly to desire that some measures of adequate relief might come from the quarter which alone had the power to effect any thing, by the majority it commanded. Much as I differ from them^ (said Mr. W.,) I would be glad to accept any measure of substantial relief which they might bring forward. I think, sir, I see such a necessity for relief as never before, within my recollection, has existed in this country ; and I regret to be obliged to say. that the measures proposed by the President, in his Message to Congress, and reiterated by the Secretary of the Treasur)', in his report to the same body, only regard one object, and are, in their tendency, only directed to one branch of partial relief. The evils, however, under which the community now suffers, (said Mr. W.,) though related, and of the same family, are yet capable of distinct consideration. In the first place, there are the wants of the Treasury, arising from the stoppage of payments and the falling off of the revenue. This Is an exigency requiring the consideration of Congress : it is an evil threatening to suspend the functions of at least one department of the Government, unless it be remedied. Another, and a greater evil, is, the prostration of credit, the interruption brought upon all business transactions, arising from the suspension of all the local banks throughout the country, with some few and trifling excep- tions. Hence have proceeded a prostration of the local currency, and a serious obstruction and difficulty thrown in the way of buying and selling. A third want is, the want of an accredited paper medium, equal to specie, having equal credit over all parts of the country, capable of serving for the payment of debts and carrying on the internal business of the country throughout and between the different and distant sections of this great Union. These three evils, though they are coexistent and cognate in their being, cannot be met by the same measures of relief: if relief is given to the one, it does not follow that you will relieve the others ; if you replenish VOL. III. 24 ^® p* 186 the Treasury, and thus bring a remedy to that evil, this brings no relief to the disordered currency. And again ; if the local currency is relieved, it does not supply the other want, namely, that of a universally accredited medium. It has, no doubt, struck the country generally that the most im- portant objection to the Message is, that it says nothing about relief to the country, directly and mainly ; the whole amount of the prop- osition it contains relates to the Government Itself; the interest of the community is treated as collateral, incidental, and contingent. So, in the communication made by the Secretary of the Treasury, the state of the currency, the condition in which the commerce and trade of the country now are, is not looked at as a prominent and material object. The Secretary's report, as well as the Message itself, exclusively regards the iiiterest of the Government, forgetting or passing by the people. The outpourings of the Secretary, which are very considerable in quantity, are under seven heads, the exact number of the seven vials of which we read ; but the contents of none of these is concocted or prepared in reference to the benefit of the community ; all the medicine is Intended for the Government Treasury, and there is none for the sickness and disease of society, except collaterally, remotely, and by-the-by. It is, however, to the credit of the President that he has given, in an unequivocal and in- telligible manner, his reasons for not recommending a plan for the relief of the country ; and they are that, according to his view, it is not within the constitutional province of Government. I confess (said Mr. W.) this declaration is to me quite astounding, and I can- not but think that, when it comes to be considered, it will produce a shock upon the whole country. This avowed disregard of the public distress, upon the ground of alleged want of power ; this exclusive concern for the Interest of Government and revenue ; this broad line of distinction, now, for the first time, drawn between the interests of the Government and the interests of the People, must certainly present a new era in our politics. For one, (said Mr. W.,) 1 consider Government as but a mere agency ; It acts not for itself, but for the country ; the whole end and design of Its being is to promote the general interests of the community. Peculiar inter- ests, selfish interests, exclusive regard for Itself, are wholly incom- patible with the objects of its institution, and convert it from its true character as an agency for the people, into a separate dominant power, with purposes and objects exclusively its own. Holding, Mr. President, opinions on tills subject, and being pre- pared to stand by and maintain them, I am certainly rejoiced at the clear shape which the question has at last assumed. Now, he that runs may read ; there are none but can see what the question is : Is there any duty incumbent on this Government to superintend the actual currency of the country ? has it any thing to do beyond the 187 regulation of the gold and silver coin? In that state of mixed cur- rency which existed when the Constitution was formed, and which has existed ever since, is it, or is it not, a part of the duty of the Government to exercise a supervisory care and concern over that which constitutes hy far the greater part of that currency? In other words, may this Government abandon to the States and to the local banks, without control or supervision, the unrestrained issue of paper for circulation, without any attempt, on its own part, to establish a paper medium which shall be equivalent to specie, and universally accredited all over the country ? Or, Mr. Presi- dent, to put the question in still other words, since this Government has the regulation of trade, not only between the United States and foreign states, but between the several States themselves, has it nevertheless no power over that which is the most important and essential agent or instrument of trade, the actual circulating medium? Now, Mr. President, on these questions, as already said, I enter- tain sentiments wholly different from those which the Message expresses. It is, (said Mr. W.,) in my view, an imperative duty imposed upon this Government by the Constitution, to exercise a super- visory care and control over all that is in the country assuming the nature of a currency, whether it be metal or whether it be paper; all the coinage of the country is placed in the power of the Federal Government ; no State, by its stamp, can give value to a brass far- thing. The power to regulate trade and commerce between the United States and foreign or Indian nations, and also between the respective States themselves, is expressly conferred by the Consti- tution upon the General Government. Now, it is clear that the power to regulate commerce between the States carries with it, not impliedly, but necessarily and directly, a full power of regulating the essential element of commerce, viz. thecurrency of the country, the money, which constitutes the life and soul of commerce. We live in an age when paper money is an essential element in all trade between the States ; its use is inseparably connected with all com- mercial transactions. That it is so, is now evident, since by the suspension of those institutions from which this kind of money emanates, all business- is comparatively at a stand. Now, sir, (said Mr. W.,) wliat I maintain is simply this, that it surely is the duty of some body to take care of the currency of the country ; it is a duty imposed upon some power in this country, as is done in every other civilized nation in the world. I repeat, sir, that it is the duty of some Government or other to supervise the currency. Surely, if we have a paper medium in the country, it ought only to exist under the sanction and supervision of the Government of the country. Now, sir, if the General Gov- ernment does not exercise this supervision, who else, I siiould like 188 to know, is to do it? Who supposes tliat it belongs to any of the State Governments, for example, to provide for or regulate the cur- rency between New Orleans and New York ? The idea has been thrown out that it is not the duty of the Gov- ernment to make provision for domestic exchanges, and the practice of other Governments has been referred to ; but, I think, in this particular a great mistake has been committed. It is certainly far otherwise in England : she provides for them most admirably, though by means not perhaps altogether in our power : she and other'nations, however, provide for them, and it is plain and obvious that if we are to have a paper medium of general credit in this country, it must be under the sanction and supervision of the Government. Such a currency is itself a proper provision for ex- changes. If there be a paper medium always equivalent to coin, and of equal credit in every part of the country, this itself becomes a most important instrument of exchange. Currency and exchange thus become united ; in providing for one. Government provides for the other. If the Government v\ill do its duty on the great subject of the currency, the mercantile and industrious classes will feel the benefit through all the operations of exchange. No doubt some modes of establishing such a currency may be more favorable to exchange than others; but by whatever mode established, such a currency must be useful to a gVeat extent. The question, therefore, comes to this, whether we are to have such a medium. I under- stand there are gentlemen who are opposed to all paper money, who would have no medium whatever in circulation but gold and silver: now this, at all events, is an intelligible proposition ; but as to those who say that there may be a paper medium, and yet that there shall be no such medium universally receivable, and of general credit, however honest the purposes of such gentlemen may be, 1 cannot perceive the sanity of such views; I cannot comprehend the utility of their intentions ; I can have no faith, sir, in any such sys- tems. Now, I would ask this plain question, whether any one imagines that all the duty of Government, in respect to the cur- rency, is comprised in merely taking care that the gold and silver coin be not debased. If this be all its duty, that duty is performed, for there is no debasement of them ; they are good and sound ; if this is all the duty of Government, ^ has done its duty ; but if Gov- ernment is bound to regulate commerce and trade, and, conse- quently, to exercise oversight and care over that which is the essen- tial element of all the transactions of commerce, then Government has done nothing. " I shall not, however, (said Mr. W.,) enter into this question to- day, nor perhaps on any early occasion ; my opinions upon it are all well known, and I leave it with great confidence to the judg- ment of the country, only expressing my strong conviction that 189 until the people do muke up their minds, and cause the result of their conclusions to be carried into effect by their representatives, there will be nothing but agitation and uncertainty, confusion and distress, in the commerce and trade of the country. I shall now (continued Mr. W.) confine myself to a few remarks on the bill before us, and not detain the Senate longer than will be strictly necessary to give a plain statement of my opinion. This measure is proposed in order to provide for the wants of the Government. I agree that this is a necessary object ; but the"" question is, whether this bill is the proper mode of making such a provision. I do not think it is, though others may think differ- ently : if this is indeed the best mode, I should wish to see it carried into execution ; for relief is wanted, both by the Treasury and by the country — but first and chiefly by the country. I do not say that, by the law providing for this deposit, the States have any fixed right to it ; I prefer to put the matter en- tirely on the footing of convenience and expediency ; and when it is considered what expectations have been raised — that this money has even been already disposed of in advance by the several States for different purposes, such as Internal Improvements, Education, and o'ther great objects — it becomes a question of expediency whetlier it would not be better to supply the wants of the Treasury by other means. Another consideration of great importance in my view is this: There are already many disturbing causes in operation, agitating the transactions of society in all the various ramifications of business and commerce. Now, I would ask, sir, is it advisable, is it wise, is it even politic, to inti'oduce, at such a time as this, another great disturbing cause, producing a reversed action, altering the destiny of this money, overthrowing contracts now entered into, disappoint- ing expectations raised, disturbing, unsettling, and deranging still more the already deranged business transactions of tl)e whole country ? I would ask, is it worth while to do this ? I think not. We are to consider that this money, according to the provisions of the existing law, is to go equally among all the States, and among all the people ; and the wants of the Treasury must be supplied, if supplies be necessary, equally by all the people. It is not a question, therefore, whether some shall have money, and others shall make good the deficienc3\ All partake in the distribution, and all w ill contribute to the su])ply. So that it is a mere question of convenience, and, in my opinion it is decidedly most convenient, on all accounts, that this instalment should follow its present destina- tion, and the necessities of the Treasury be provided for by other means. Again, if you pass this bill, what is it? It is mere hrutumful- men; of itself it will not produce any good if you do pass it. All 190 admit there is no money; therefore the bill will give no relief to the Treasury, This bill, Mr. President, will not produce to the Secre- tary one dollar; he acknow ledijes himself that at all events it will not produce him many, for he says he wants other aid, and he has applied to Congress for an issue of some millions in Treasury notes. He gets the money, therefore, just as well without this bill as with it ; the bill itself, then, is unnecessary, depriving the States of a sum which the Secretary cannot avail himself of, and which sum, not- withstanding this bill, he proposes to supply by an issue of Govern- ment notes. He calls this collateral aid to the measure of postponement ; but this evidently reverses the order of things, for the Treasury notes are his main reliance ; to them only he looks for immediate relief; and this instalment now to be withheld is (as a productive source of revenue) only subsequent and collateral to the issue of the notes. But, now, sir, what sort of notes does the Secretary propose to issue? He proposes, sir, to issue Treasury notes of small denomi- nations, down even as low as twenty dollars, not bearing interest, and redeemable at no fixed period ; they are to be received in debts due to Government, but are not otherwise to be paid until at some indefinite time there shall be a certain surplus in the Treasury be- yond what the Secretary may think its wants require. Now, sir, this is plain, authentic, statutable paper money ; it is exactly a new emission of old continental. If the Genius of the old Confedera- tion were now to rise up in the midst of us, he could not fuinish us, from the abundant stores of his recollection, with a more perfect model of paper money. It carries no interest; it has no fixed lime of payment ; it is to circulate as currency ; and it is to circulate on the credit of Government alone, with no fixed period of redemption ! If this be not paper money, pray, sir, what is it? And, sir, who expected this? Who expected that in the fifth year of the EX- PERIMENT FOR REFORMING THE CURRENCY, and bringing it to an absolute gold and silver circulation, the Treasury Department would be found recommending to us a regular emission of PAPER MONEY ? This, sir, is quite new in the history of this Government ; it belongs to that of the Confederation, which has passed away. Since 1789, although we had issued Treasury notes on sundry occasions, we had issued none like these ; that is to say, we have issued none not bearing interest, intended for circulation, and with no fixed mode of redemption. I am glad, however, Mr. President, that the committee have not adopted the Secretary's recommenda- tion, and that they have recommended the issue of Treasury notes of a description more conformable to the practice of the Gov- ernment, I think (said Mr. W.) there are ways by which the deposits 191 U'ith the States might be paid by the funds in the banks ; there arc large sums on de[)osit in some of the States, and an arrangement might be made for tlie States to receive the notes of their own banks in payment of tliis instain)cnt, while tl)e Treasury is at the same time relieved by its own measure, and all the inconvenience, disap- pointment, and disturbance which this bill will necessarily create, would be avoided. At any rate, the payment of this deposit could do no more than in some measure to increase the amount of Treasury notes necessary to be issued ; it is a question of quantity merely. Much of the instalment, 1 believe, might be paid by ju- dicious arrangements, out of those funds now in the banks, which the Secretary cannot use for other purposes, so that the whole might be provided for, by no great augmentation of the proposed amount of Treasury notes. 1 am, therefore, of opinion that this instalment should not be withheld : 1st. Because the withholding of it will produce great inconvenience to the States and to the people. 2d. Because provision may be made for paying it without any large addition to the sum which it is proposed to raise, and which, at all events, must be raised for the uses of the Treasury. In relation to the general subjects of the jMessage, there is one thing which I intended to have said, but have omitted ; it is this. We have seen the declaration of the President, in which he says that he refrains from suggesting any specific plan for the regulation of the exchanges of the country, and for relieving mercantile em- barrassments, or for interfering with the ordinary operation of foreign or domestic commerce ; and that he does this from a conviction that such measures are not within the constitutional province of the General Government ; and yet he has made a recommendation to Congress which appears to me to l)e very remarkable; and it is of a measure which he thinks may prove a salutary remedy against a depreciated paper currency. This measure is neither more nor less than a bankrupt law against corporations and other bankers. Now, INIr. President, it is certainly true that the Constitution authorizes Congress to establish uniform rules on the subject of ])ankruptcies ; but it is equally true, and abundantly manifest, that this pow er was not granted with any reference to currency ques- tions. It is a general power — a power to make uniform rules on the subject. How is it possible that sucii a power can be fairly exercised by seizing on corporations and bankers, but excluding all the other usual subjects of bankrupt laws? Besides, do such laws ordinarily extend to corporations at all ? But suppose they might be so extended, by a bankrupt law enacted for the usual purposes contemplated by such laws ; how can a law be defended which em- braces them and bankers alone ? I should like to hear what the learned gentleman at the head of the Judiciary Committee, to whom the subject is referred, has to say upon it. 192 How does the President's suggestion conform to his notions of the Constitution ? Tlie object of bankrupt laws, sir, has no relation to currency. It is simply to distribute the effects of insolvent debtors among their creditors ; and 1 must say, it strikes me that it would be a great perversion of the power conferred on Congress, to exercise it upon corporations and bankers, with the leading and pri- mary object of remedying a depreciated paper currency. And this appears the more extraordinary, inasmuch as the Presi- dent is of opinion that the general subject of the currency is not within our province. Bankruptcy, in its common and just meaning, is within our province. Currency, says the Message, is not. But we have a bankruptcy power in the Constitution, and we will use this power, not for bankruptcy, indeed, but for currency. This, I confess, sir, appears to me to be the short statement of the matter. 1 would not do the Message, or its author, any intentional injustice, nor create any apparent, where there was not a real, inconsistency ; but 1 declare, in all sincerity, that I cannot reconcile the proposed use of the bankrupt power with those opinions of the Message which respect the authority of Congress over the currency of the country. Mr. Wright having made some remarks — Mr. Webster said, in reply, if the Act of 1815 authorized the issuing of Treasury notes, no circulation was ever made of such notes as the Secretary now recommends. All Treasury notes went on the ground of a temporary loan to the Government, to be paid or funded as soon as the Treasury would allow. The member from New York '(Mr. Wright) had said that the question before the Senate was a simple proposition, whether they should borrow money to be safely kept with the States. By him, and hy others, it had also been represented as a question, whether they should borrow money to give away. Nobody, Mr. W. thought, would borrow money merely to give away, or deposit for safe-keeping. But he would put it to the honorable member, if any Government had made a contract, or excited an expectation, that a deposit would be made, and the other party had acted on the faith of this assurance, and had nearly completed their arrangements, whether it ought not to supply the means, even if it did not, at the time, possess them. And suppose it was the promise of a gift, instead of a deposit, might it not be found more just to borrow, than to defeat the expectation on which the other party had acted ? What was the object of this bill ? It was not to repeal, but to post- pone what was hereafter to be fulfilled. Such being the case, it was doubtful w hetlier it could ever be transferred to the States with more convenience than it could now from the banks. 193 During the late war there was great want of money, and a great disposition to use Treasury notes, and pass them as a medium of payment to the public creditors. But in the difficulties and em- barrassments of a foreign war, things were done, which, in a day of peace and abundance, we should be slow to do. And one thing which we should be slow to do was, to propose by law that we should pay the public creditors any thing less in value than gold and silver, on the condition that the creditors would voluntarily take it. The Secretary had said that the protested checks now in circulation were only a little depreciated below the value of specie, and argues that these notes will be as good at least as the protested checks. But suppose these notes should be depreciated only a little below the value of silver; was it proposed that they should be offered to the public creditors, if they would receive them ? What was meant when it was said that the officers of the Government may j)ay its creditors in Treasury notes, if they will voluntarily receive them? What was the alternative? Were the gold and silver held in one hand, and the Treasury notes in the other? On the contrary, it was a sort of forced payment, not as good as was required by law. All knew there was no choice. The men who labored in the streets of this city, on the public works, or who fur- nished the bricks and stones, would come for their pay, and they would be offered Treasury notes, and asked if they were willing to take them. But would there be gold and silver in the other hand ? No ; nothing but the Treasury notes, and they would be asked if they were willing to take them ; and then, if they should take them, that is called voluntary reception. Now, it is evident that in such a case the only choice is between Treasury notes, on the one hand, and something worse, or nothing at all, on the other. No man can be supposed to receive volunta- rily any thing of less value than that which he is legally entitled to. The reception of such inferior medium is always the result of force or necessity, either greater or smaller. Neither the justice nor the dignity of the Government could ever allow of such a course. If Treasury notes were offered to the public creditor, there ought to be an actual choice afforded between them and the specie. And especially, with what an aspect could this Government offer such payment, at the very moment when, with a stern countenance and iron hand, it was demanding of its creditors metallic money for every dollar of its dues ? Was it not now the law that no officer of the Government should offer the public creditor any thing less in value than specie ? Mr. W. thought, therefore, that the notes proposed by the committee were better than those recommended by the Secretary. He was in favor of that system which would put the public creditor in no such selection as between paper and nothing- VOL. III. 25 Q^ 194 In answer to Mr. Bcchanak, Mr. Webster, having obtained and examined the act of 1815^ said : The honorable member from Pennsylvania has been kind enough to say that I do not often get into difficulties in debate, and that when I do, I generally extricate myself better than I have done on the present occasion. He partakes in the supposed triumph of his friend from New York, (Mr. Wright,) in having proved me incorrect when I said that this Government had never issued such paper money as the Secretary has now recommended. Now, sir, although I am pleased to see the happiness which the gentleman enjoys, yet I believe 1 must dash it a little. Most assuredly, sir, it authorizes no such paper as is now proposed. I was persuaded it could not, as I have a pretty good recollection of the proceedings of Congress on such subjects at that time. The law of 1815 authorized the issue of two classes of Treasury notes : 1st, such as bore no interest, but which, the very hour they were issued, might be funded in a seven per cent, stock, to be re- deemed like other stocks of the Government. 2d. Treasury notes bearing an interest of five and two-fifths per cent, capable of being funded in like manner, in a six per cent, stock. These stocks were to be issued on application by any commissioner of the revenue in any State. Now, what comparison is there between either of these classes of Treasury notes and those recommended by the Secretary, which bear no interest, and for which no fixed redemption is provided ? 1 affirm again, therefore, sir, all that I have said, namely, that the notes recommended by the Treasury are regular paper issues, like the old emissions of Congress and the States before the adoption of the present Constitution, and that no precedent has been found for them, and I am sure none can be found, in the practice of this Government. I SPEECH ON THE CURRENCY, AND ON THE NEW PLAN FOR COLLECTING AND KEEPING THE PUBLIC MONEYS. DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, SEPTEMBER 28, 1837. Mr- President : 1 am opposed to the doctrines of the Message, to the bill, and to the amendment of the member from South Car- olina, [Mr. Calhoun.] In all these, I see nothing for the relief of the country ; but I do see, as I think, a question involved, the importance of which transcends all the interest of the present occasion. It is my purpose to state that question ; to present it, as well to the country as to the Senate; to show the length and breadth of it, as a question of practical politics, and in its bearing on the powers of the Government ; to exhibit its importance, and to express my own opinions in regard to it. A short recital of events and occurrences will show how this question has arisen. The Government of the United States completed the forty-eighth year of its existence, under the present constitution, on the third day of March last. During this whole period, it has felt itself bound to take proper care of the currency of the country ; and no administration has admitted this obligation more clearly or more frequently than the last. For the fulfilment of this acknowledged duty, as well as to accomplish other useful purposes, a National Bank lias been maintained for forty, out of these forty-eight years. Two institutions of this kind have been created by law ; one, commencing in 1791, and limited to twenty years, and expiring, therefore, in 1811 ; the other, commencing in 1816, with a like term of duration, and ending, therefore, in 1836. Both these institutions, each in its time, accomplished their purposes, so far as currency was concerned, to the general satisfaction of the country. But before the last bank expired, it had the misfortune to become obnoxious to the late ad- ministration. I need not, at present, speak of the causes of this hos- tility. My purpose only requires a statement of that fact, as an im- portant one in the chain of occurrences. The late President's dis- satisfaction of the bank was intimated in his first annual Message, that is to say, in 1829. But the bank stood very well with the country, the President's known and growing hostility notwithstand- 195 196 ing; and In 1832, four years before its cliarter was to expire, both Houses of Congress passed a bill for its continuance ; there being in its favor a large majority of the Senate, and a larger majority of the House of Representatives. The bill, however, was negatived by the President. In 1833, by an order of the President, the public moneys were removed from the custody of the bank, and were de- posited with certain selected State banks. This removal was ac- companied with the most confident declarations and assurances, put forth in every form, by the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, that these State banks would not only prove safe depos- itories of the public money, but that they would also furnish the country with as good a currency as it ever had enjoyed, and [)robabIy a better; and would also accomplish all that could be wished, in regard to domestic exchanges. The substitution of State banks for a national institution, for the discharge of these duties, was that operation, which has become known, and is likely to be long remembered, as the " Experiment." For some years, all was said to go on extremely well, although it seemed plain enough to a great part of the community that the sys- tem was radically vicious ; that its operations were all inconvenient, clumsy, and wholly inadequate to the proposed ends ; and that, sooner or later, there must be an explosion. The administration, however, adhered to its experiment. The more it was complained of, the louder it was praised. Its commendation was one of the standing topics of all official communications ; and in his last mes- sage, in December, 1836, the late President was more than usually emphatic upon the great success of his attempts to improve the currency, and the happy results of the experiment upon the important business of exchange. But a reverse was at hand. The ripening glories of the experiment were soon to meet a dreadful blighting. In the early part of May last, these banks all stopped payment. This event, of course, produced great distress in the country, and it produced also singular embarrassment to the administration. The present administration was then only two months old ; but it had already become formally pledged to maintain the policy of that which had gone before it. The President had avowed his purpose of treading in the footsteps of his predecessor. Here, then, was difficulty. Here was a political knot, to be either untied or cut. The experiment had failed, and failed, as it was thought, so utterly and hopelessly, that it could not be tried again. What, then, was to be done ? Committed against a Bank of the United States in the strongest manner, and the substitute, from which so much was expected, having disappointed all hopes, what was the administration to do ? Two distinct classes of duties had been performed, in times past, by the Bank of the United States ; 197 one more Immediately to the Government, the other to the com- munity. The first was the safe-keeping and the transfer, when requued, of the pubhc moneys ; the other, the supplying of a sound and convenient paper currency, of equal credit all over the country, and every where equivalent to specie, and the giving of most im- portant facilities to the operations of exchange. These objects were highly important, and their most perfect accomplishment by the experiment had been promised, from tlie first. The State banks, it was declared, could perform all these duties, and should perform them. But the " experiment " came to a dishonored end in the early part of May. The deposit banks, w ith the others, stopped pay- ment. They could not render back the deposits ; and so far from being able to furnish a general currency, or to assist exchanges, (purposes, indeed, w hich they never had fulfilled, with any success,) then- paper became immediately depreciated, even in its local circulation. What course, then, was the administration now to adopt? Why, sir, it is plain, that it had but one alternative. It must either return to the former practice of the Government, take the currency into its own hands, and maintain it, as well as provide for the safe-keeping of the public money by some institution of its own ; or else, adopting some new mode of merely keeping the public money, it must abandon all further care over currency and exchange. One of these courses became inevitable. The adminis- tration had no other choice. The State banks could be tried no more, with the opinion which the administration bow entertained of them ; and how else could any thing be done to maintain the currency? In no way, but by the establisJiment of a national institution. There was no escape from this dilemma. One course was, to go back to that which the party had so much condemned ; the other, to give up the whole duty, and leave the currency to its fate. Between these two, the administration found itself absolutely obliged to decide; and it has decided, and decided boldly. It was decided to surrender the duty, and abandon the constitution. That decision is before us, in the Message, and in the measures now under consideration. The choice has been made ; and that choice, in my opinion, raises a question of the utmost importance to the people of this country, both for the present and all future time. That question is, whether Congress has, or ought to have, ANY DUTY to PERFORM IN RELATION TO THE CURRENCY OF THE COUNTRY, BEYOND THE MERE REGULATION OF THE GOLD AND SILVER COIN. Mr. President, the honorable member from South Carolina re- marked, the other day, with great frankness and good-humor, that in the political classifications of the times, he desired to be consid- ered as nothing but an honest nullifier. That, he said, was his 198 character. I believe, sir, the country will readily concede that character to the honorable gentleman. For one, certainly, I am willing to say, that 1 believe him a very honest and a very sincere nullifier, using the term in the same sense in which he used it himself, and in which he meant to apply it to himself. And I am very much afraid, sir, that (whatever he may think of it himself) it has been under the influence of those sentiments, which belong to his character as a nullifier, that he has so readily and so zealously embraced the doctrines of the President's Message. In my opinion, the Message, the bill before us, and the honorable mem- ber's amendment, form, together, a system, a code of practical politics, the direct tendency of which is to nullify and expunge, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, by a united and mixed process of nullification and expunging, to abolish, a highly-important and useful power of the Government. It strikes down the principle upon which the Government has been administered, in regard to the subject of the currency, through its whole history; and it seeks to obliterate, or to draw black lines around, that part of the Consti- tution on which this principle of administration has rested. The system proposed, in my opinion, is not only anti-commercial, but anti-constitutional also, and anti-union, in a high degree. You will say, sir, that this is a strong way of stating an opinion. It is so. I mean to state the opinion in the strongest manner. I do not wish, indeed, at every turn, to say, of measures which I oppose, that theyeither violate or surrender the Constitution. But when, in all soberness and candor, I do so think, in all soberness and candor I must so speak ; and whether the opinion which I have now expressed be true, let the sequel decide. Now, sir. Congress has been called together in a moment of great difficulty. The characteristic of the crisis is commercial dis- tress. We are not suffering from war, or pestilence, or famine ; and it is alleged, by tl^e President and Secretary, that there is no want of revenue. Our means, it is averred, are abundant. And yet the Government is in distress, and the country is in distress ; and Congress is assembled, by a call of the President, to provide relief. The immediate and direct cause of all is, derangement of the currency and the exchanges ; commercial credit is gone, and prop- erty no longer answers the common ends and purposes of property. Government cannot use its own means, and individuals are alike unable to command their own resources. The operations, both of Government and people, are obstructed ; and they are obstructed, because the money of the country, the great instrument of com- merce and exchange, has become disordered and useless. The Government has funds ; that is to say, it has credits in the banks, but it cannot turn these credits into cash ; and individual citizens are as bad off as Government. The Government is a great creditor 199 and a great debtor. It collects and It disburses large sums. In the loss, therefore, of a proper medium of payment and receipt, Government is a sufferer. But the people are sufferers from the same causes ; and inasnmch as the whole amount of payments and receipts by the people, in their individual transactions, is many times greater than the amount of payments and receipts by Government, the aggregate of evil suffered by the people is also many times greater than that suffered by Government. Individuals have means as ample, in proportion to their wants, as Government ; but they share with Government the common calamity arising from the over- throw of the currency. The honorable member from Mississippi [Mr. Walker] has stated, or has quoted the statement from others, that while the payments and receipts of Government are twenty millions a year, the payments and receipts of individuals are two or three hundred millions. He has, I think, underrated the amount of individual payments and receipts. But even if he has not, the statement shows how little a part of the whole evil falls on Govern- ment. The great mass of suffering is on the people. Now^, sir, when we look at the Message, the bill, and the proposed amendment, their single, exclusive, and undivided object is found to be, relief to the Government. Not one single provision is adopted or recommended, with direct reference to the relief of the people. They all speak of revenue, of finance, of duties and customs, of taxes and collecdons ; and the evils which the people suffer, by the derangement of the currency and the exchanges, and the breaking up of commercial credit, instead of being put forth as prominent and leading objects of regard, are dismissed with a slight intimation, here and there, that in providing for the superior and paramount interests of Government, some incidental or collateral benefits may, perhaps, accrue to the community. But is Govern- ment, I ask, to care for nothing but itself? Is self-prcservaUon the great end of Government ? Has it no trust powers ? Does it owe no duties, but to itself? If it keeps itself in being, does it fulfil all the objects of its creation ? I think not. I think Government exists, not for its own ends, but for the public utility. It is an agency, established to promote the common good, by common coun- sels ; its chief duties are to the people ; and it seems to ine strange and preposterous, in a moment of great and general distress, that Government should confine all its deliberations to the single object of its own revenues, its own convenience, its own undisturbed administration. I cannot say, sir, that I was surprised to see this general character impressed on the face of the Message. I confess it appeared to me, when the banks stopped payment, that the administration luul con)e to a pass in which it was unavoidable that it should take some such course. But that necessity was imposed, not by the nature of 200 the crisis, but by its own commitment to the line of politics which its predecessor had adopted, and which it had pledged itself to pursue. It withdraws its care from the currency, because it has left itself no means of performing its own duties, connected with that subject. It has, voluntarily and on calculation, discarded and renounced the policy which has been approved for half a century, because it could not return to that policy w ithout admitting its own inconsistency, and violating its party pledges. This is the truth of the whole matter. Now, sir, my present purpose chiefly is, to maintain two propo- sitions — I. That it is the constitutional duty of this Government to see that a proper currency, suitable to the circumstances of the times, and to the wants of trade and business, as well as to the payment of debts due to Government, be maintained and preserved ; a cur- rency of general credit, and capable of aiding the operations of ex- change, so far as those operations may be conducted by means of the circulating medium ; and that there are duties, therefore, devolving on Congress, in relation to currency, beyond the mere regulation of the gold and silver coins. II. That the jMessage, the bill, and the proposed amendment, all, in effect, deny any such duty, disclaim all such power, and confine the constitutional obligation of Government to the mere regulation of the coins, and the care of its own revenues. I have well weighed, Mr. President, and fully considered, the first of these propositions ; to wit, that which respects the duty of this Government, in regard to the currency. I mean to stand by it. It expresses, in my judgment, a principle fully sustained by the Constitution, and by the usage of the Government, and which is of the highest practical importance. With this proposition, or this principle, I am willing to stand connected, and to share In the judg- ment which the community shall ultimately pronounce upon it. If the country shall sustain it, and be ready, in due time, to carry it into effect, by such means and instruments as the general opinion shall think best to adopt, I shall cooperate, cheerfully, in any such undertaking ; and shall look again, with confidence, to prosperity In this branch of our national concerns. On the other hand. If the country shall reject this proposition, and act on that rejection ; if it shall decide that Congress has no power, nor is under any duty, in relation to the currency, beyond the mere regulation of the coins ; then, upon that construction of the powers and duties of Congress, I am willing to acknowledge that I do not feel myself competent to render any substantial service to the public councils, on these great interests. I admit, at once, that if the currency is not to be preserved by the Government of the United States, I know not . 201 how it is to be guarded against constantly occurring disorders and derangements. Before entering into the discussion of the grounds of this propo- sition, however, allow me, sir, a few words by way of preliminary explanation. In the first place, I wish it to be observed, that I am now contending only for the general principle, and not insisting either on the constitutionality, or expediency, of any particular means, or any particular agent. 1 am not saying by what instrument or agent Congress ought to perform this duty ; I only say it is a duty, which, in some mode, and by some means, Congress is bound to perform. In the next place, let it be remembered, that I carry the absolute duty of Government, in regard to exchange, no farther than the operations of exchange may be performed by currency. No doubt, sir, a proper institution, established by Government, might, as heretofore, give other facilities to exchange, of great importance, and to a very great extent. But I intend, on this occasion, to keep clearly within the Constitution, and to assign no duty to Congress, not plainly enjoined by the provisions of that instrument, as fairly interpreted, and as heretofore understood. The President says, it is not the province of Government to aid individuals in the transfer of their funds, otherwise than by the use of the post-office ; and that it might as justly be called on to provide for the transportation of their merchandise. Now, I beg leave to say, sir, with all respect and deference, that funds are transferred from individual to individual, usually for the direct purpose of the payment and receipt of debts ; that payment and receipt are duties of currency ; that, in my opinion, currency is a thing which Government is bound to provide for and superintend ; that the case, therefore, has not the slightest resemblance to the transportation of merchandise, because the transportation of mer- chandise is carried on by ships and boats, by carts and wagons, and not by the use of currency, or of any thing else over which Govern meut has usually exclusive control. These things individuals can provide for themselves. But the transfer of funds is done by credit, and must be so done ; and some proper medium for this transfer it is the duty of Government to provide, because it belongs to cur- rency, to money, and is therefore beyond the power of individuals. The nature ofexchange,sir,is well understood by persons engaged in commerce; but as Its operations are a little out of the sight of other classes of the community, although they have all a deep and permanent interest in the subject, I may be pardoned for a word or two of general explanation. 1 speak of domestic exchanges only. We mean, then, by exchange, this same transfer of funds. We mean the making of payment in a distant place, or the receiving of payment from a distant place, by some mode of paper credits. if done by draft, order, or bill of exchange, that is one form ; if VOL. 111. 26 202 done by the transmission of bank notes, through the post-office, or otherwise, that is another form. In each, credit is used ; in the first, the credit of the parties whose names are on the bill or draft ; in the last, the credit of the bank. Every man, sir, who looks over this vast country, and contemplates the commercial connection of its various parts, must see the great importance that this exchange should be cheap and easy. To the producer and to the consumer, to the manufacturer and the planter, to the merchant, to all, in all classes, this becomes matter of moment. We may see an instance in the common articles of manufacture produced in the north, and sent to the south and west for sale and consumption. Hats, shoes, furniture, carriages, domestic hard-ware, and various other articles, the produce of those manufactories, and of those employments which are carried on without the aid of large capital, constitute a large part of this trade, as well as the fabrics of cotton and wool. Now, a state of exchange, which shall enable the producers to re- ceive payment regularly, and without loss, is indispensable to any useful prosecution of this intercourse. Derangement of currency and exchange is ruinous. The notes of local banks will not answer the purpose of remittance ; and if bills of exchange cannot be had, or can be had only at a high rate, how is payment to be received, or to be received without great loss ? This evil was severely felt, even before the suspension of specie payment by the banks ; and it will always be felt, more or less, till there is a currency of general credit and circulation through the country. But vi hen the banks suspended, it became overwhelming. All gentlemen having north- ern acquaintance, must know the existence of this evil. 1 have heard it said, that the hitherto prosperous and flourishing town of Newark has already lost a considerable part of its population by the breaking up of its business, in consequence of these commercial embarrassments. And in cases in which business is not wholly broken up, if five or six per cent., or more, is to be paid for exchange, it by so much enhances the cost to the consumer, or takes away his profit from the producer. I have mentioned these articles of com- mon product of northern labor ; but the same evil exists in all the sales of imported goods ; and it must exist, also, in the south, in the operations connected with its great staples. All the south must have, and has, constant occasion for remittance by exchange ; and no part of the country is likely to suffer more severely by its derangement. In short, there can be no satisfactory state of internal trade, when there is neither cheapness, nor promptness, nor regular- ity, nor security, in the domestic exchanges. I say again, sir, that 1 do not hold Government bound to provide bills of exchange, for purchase and sale. Nobody thinks of such a thing. If any institution established by Government can do this, as might be the case, and has been the case, so much the better. 203 But the positive obligation of Government I am content to limit to currency, and, so far as exchange is concerned, to the aid which may be afforded to exchange by currency. 1 have been informed that, a few years ago, before the charter of the late bank expired, at those seasons of the year when southern and western merchants usually visit the northern cities to make purchases, or make pay- ment for existing liabilities, that bank redeemed its notes to the amount of fifty or even a hundred tliousand dollars a day. These notes, having been issued in the west, were brought over the moun- tains, as funds to be used in the eastern cities. This was exchange ; and it was exchange through the medium of currency ; it was perfectly safe, and it cost nothing. This fact illustrates the impor- tance of a currency of universal credit, to the business of exchange. Having made these remarks, for the purpose of explaining exchange, and showing its connection with currency, I proceed to discuss the general propositions. Is it the duty, then, of this Government, to see that a currency be maintained, suited to the circumstances of the times, and to the uses of trade and commerce ? I need not, sir, on this occasion, enter historically into the well- known causes, which led to the adoption of the present Constitution. Those causes are familiar to all public men ; and among them, certainly, was this very matter of giving credit and uniformity to the money system of the country. The States possessed no system of money and circulation ; and that was among the causes of the .stagnation of commerce. Indeed, all commercial affairs were in a disjointed, deranged, and miserable state. The restoration of com- merce, the object of giving it uniformity, credit, and national character, were among the first incentives to a more perfect union of the States. We all know that the meeting at Annapolis, in 1786, sprang from a desire to attempt something which should give uniformity to the commercial operations of the several States ; and that in and with this meeting, arose the proposition for a general convention, to consider of a new constitution of government. Every where, State currencies were depreciated, and continental money was depreciated also. Debts could not be paid, and there was no value to property. From the close of the war to the time of the adoption of this Constitution, as I verily believe, the people suffered as much, except in the loss of life, from the disordered state of the currency and the prostration of commerce and business, as they suffered during the war. AH our history shows the disasters and afflictions which sprang from these sources ; and it would be waste of time to go into a detailed recital of them. For the remedy of these evils, as one of its great objects, and as great as any one, the Constitution was formed and adopted. Now, sir, by this Constitution, Congress is authorized to " coin 204 money, to regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coins ; " and all the States are prohibited from coining money, and from making any thing but gold and silver coins a tender in payment of debts. Suppose the Constitution had stopped here, it would still have established the all-important point of a uniform money system. By this provision Congress is to furnish coin, or regulate coin, for all the States, There is to be but one money-standard for the country. And the standard of value to be established by Congress is to be a currency, and not bullion merely ; because we find it is to be coin; that is, it is to be one or the other of the precious metals, bearing an authentic stamp of value, and passing therefore by tale. That is to be the standard of value. A standard of value, therefore, and a money for circulation, were thus expressly provided for. And if nothing else had been done, would it not have been a reasonable and necessary inference from this power, that Congress had authority to regulate, and must regulate and control, any and all paper, which either States or individuals might desire to put into circulation, purporting to represent this coin, and to take its place, in the uses of trade and commerce ? It is very evident that the Constitution intended something more than to pro- vide a medium for the payment of debts to Government. The object was a uniform currency for the use of the whole people, in all the transactions of life ; and it was manifestly the intent of the Constitution, that the power to maintain such a currency should be given to Congress. But it would make the system incongruous and incomplete ; it would be denying to Congress the means necessary to accomplish ends which were manifestly intended ; it would render the whole provision in a great measure nugatory, if, when Congress had established a coin for currency and circulation, it should have no power to maintain it as an actual circulation, nor to regulate or control paper emissions designed to occupy its place, and perform the same functions that it would on the coinage power alone ; and on a fair, and just, and reasonable inference from it, therefore, I should be of opinion that Congress was authorized, and was bound, to protect the community against all evils which might threaten from a deluge of currency of another kind, filling up, in point of fact, all the channels of circulation. And this opinion is not new. It has often been expressed before, and was cogently urged by Mr. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treasury, in his report in 1816. He says, " Whenever the emergency occurs, that demands a change of system, it seems necessarily to follow, that the authority, which was alone competent to establish the national coin, is alone compe- tent to create a national substitute." But the Constitution does not stop with this grant of the coinage power to Congress. It expressly prohibits the States from issuing bills of credit. What a bill of credit is, there can be no difficulty 205 in understanding, by any one acquainted with the history of the country. Tliey liad been issued, at different times, and in various forms, by the State Governments. The object of them was to create a paper circulation ; and any paper, issued on the credit of the State, and intended for circulation from hand to hand, is a bill of credit, whether made a tender for debts or not, or whether carry- ing interest or not. Is it issued with intent that it shall circulate from hand to hand, as money, and with intent that it shall so circu- late on the credit of the State ? If it is, it is a bill of credit. The States, therefore, are prohibited from issuing paper for circulation, on their own credit; and this provision furnishes ad- ditional and strong proof, that all circulation, whether of coin or paper, was intended to be subject to the regulation and control of Congress. Indeed, the very object of establishing one commerce for all the States, and one money for all the States, would otherwise be liable to be completely defeated. It has been supposed, neverthe- less, that this proliibition on the States has not restrained them from granting to individuals, or to private corporations, the power of issu- ing notes for circulation, on their own credit. This power has long been exercised, and is admitted to exist. But could it be reason- ably maintained, looking only to these two provisions, (that is to say, to the coinage power, which is vested exclusively in Congress, and to tlie proliibition on the States against issuing their own paper for circulation,) that Congress could not protect its own power, and secure to the people the full benefits intended by and for them against evils and mischiefs, if they should arise, or threaten to arise, not from paper issued by States, but from paper issued by individ- uals or private corporations ? If this be so, then the coinage power evidently fails of a great part of its intended effect ; and the evils^ intended to be prevented by the prohibitions on the States, may all arise, and become irresistible and overwhelming in another form. But the Message intimates a doubt whether this power over the coin was given to Congress to preserve the people from the evils of paper money, or only given to protect the Government itself. I cannot but think this very remarkable and very strange. The language of the President is, " There can be no doubt that those who framed and adopted the Constitution, having in immediate view the depreciated paper of the Confederacy, of which five hundred dol- lars in paper were at times equal to only one dollar in coin, intended to prevent the recurrence of similtir evils, so far at least as related to the transactions of the new Government." Where is the foundation for the qualijication here expressed ? On what clause, or construction of any clause, is it founded? Will any gentleman tell me what there is in the Constitution which led the President, or which could lead any man, to doubt whether it was the purpose of that instrument to protect the people, as well as the Government, R 206 against the overwhelming evils of paper money ? Is there a word or particle in the coinage power, or any other power, which countenances the notion that the Constitution intended that there should be one money for the Government, and another for the peo- ple ; that Government should have the means of protecting its own revenues against depreciated paper, but should be still at liberty to suffer all the evils of such paper to fall with full weight upon the people ? This is altogether a new doubt. It intimates an opinion, which, so far as it shall find those who are ready to adopt and follow it, will sap and undermine one of the most indispensable powers of the Government. The coinage power is given to Congress in general terms ; it is altogether denied to the States ; and the States are prohibited from issuing bills of credit for any purpose whatever, or of any character whatever. Can any man hesitate one moment to say that these provisions are all intended for the general good of the people ? I am therefore surprised at the language of the Mes- sage in this particular, and utterly at a loss to know what should have led to it, except the apparent and foregone conclusion and purpose, of attempting to justify Congress in the course which was about to be recommended to it, of abstaining altogether from every endeavor to improve or maintain the currency, except so far as the receipts and payments of the Government itself were concerned. I repeat, sir, that I should be obliged to any friend of the administra- tion, who would suggest to me on what ground this doubt, never expressed before, and now so solemnly and gravely intimated, is supposed to stand. Is it, indeed, uncertain, is it matter of grave and solemn doubt, whether the coinage power itself, so fully granted to Congress, and so carefully guarded by restraints upon the States, had any further object than to enable Congress to furnish a medium in which taxes might be collected ? But this power over the coinage is not the strongest, nor the broadest, ground on which to place the duty of Congress. There is another power granted to Congress, which seems to me to apply to this case, directly and irresistibly, and that is the commercial power. The Constitution declares that Congress shall have power to regulate commerce, not only with foreign nations, hut bctiveen the States. This is a full and complete grant, and must include author- ity over every thing which is part of commerce, or essential to commerce. And is not money essential to commerce ? No man, in his senses, can deny that ; and it is equally clear, that whatever paper is put forth, with intent to circulate as currency, or to be used as money, immediately affects commerce. Bank notes, in a strict and technical sense, are not, indeed, money ; but, in a general sense, and often in a legal sense, they are money. They are sub- stantially money, because they perform the functions of money. They are not, like bills of exchange or common promissory notes; 207 mere proofs or evidences of debt, but are treated as money, in the general transactions of society.) If receipts be given for them, they are given as for money. They pass under a legacy, or other form of gift, as money. And this character of bank notes was as well known and understood at the time of the adoption of the Constitution as it is now. The law, both of England and America, regarded them as money, in the sense above expressed. If Congress, then, has power to regulate commerce, it must have a control over that money, Avhatever it may be, by which commerce is actually carried om Whether that money be coin or paper, or however it has acquired the character of money or currency, if, in fact, it has become an actual agent or instrument in the performance of commercial trans- actions, it necessarily thereby becomes subject to the regulation and control of Congress. The regulation of money is not so much an inference from the commercial power conferred on Congress, as it is a part of it. Money is one of the things, without which, in modern times, we can form no practical idea of commerce. It is embraced, therefore, necessarily, in the terms of the Constitution. But, sir, as will be seen by the proposition which I have stated, I go further ; I insist that the duty of Congress is commensurate with its power ; that it has authority not only to regulate and con- trol that, which others may put forth as money and currency, but that it has the power, and is bound to perform the duty, of seeing that there is established and maintained, at all times, a currency of general credit, equivalent in value to specie, adapted to the wants of commerce and the business of the people, and suited to the existing circumstances of the country. Such a currency is an in- strument of the first necessity to commerce, according to the com- mercial system of the present age ; and commerce cannot be conducted, with full advantage, without it. It is in the power of Congress to furnish it, and it is in the power of nobody else. The States cannot supply it. That resource has often been tried, and has always failed. I am no enemy to the State banks ; they may be very useful in their spheres ; but you can no more cause them to perform the duties of a national institution, than you can turn a satellite into a primary orb. They cannot maintain a currency of equal credit all over the country. It might be tried, sir, in your State of Kentucky, or our State of Massachusetts. We may erect banks on all the securities wliich the wit of man can devise ; we ir)ay have capital, we may have funds, we may have bonds and mortgages, we may add the faith of the State, we may pile Pelion upon Ossa ; they will be State institutions after all, and will not be able to support a national circulation. This is inherent in the nature of things, and in the sentiments of men. It is in vain to argue that it ought not to be so, or to contend that one bank may be as safe as 208 another. Experience proves that it is so, and we may be assured it will remain so. Sir, mine is not the ruthless hand that shall strike at the State banks, nor mine the tongue that shall causelessly upbraid them w ith treachery or perfidy. I admit their lawful existence ; I admit their utility in the circle to which they properly belong. I only say, they cannot perform a national part in the operations of conmierce. A general and universally accredited currency, therefore, is an instrument of commerce, which is necessary to the enjoyment of its just advantages, or, in other words, which is essential to its benefi- cial regulation. Congress has power to est>>blish it, and no other power can establish it ; and therefore Congress is bound to exercise its own power. It is an absurdity, on the very face of the proposi- tion, to allege that Congress shall regulate commerce, but shall, nevertheless, abandon to others the duty of maintaining and regulating its essential means and instruments. We have in actual use a mixed currency ; the coin circulating under the authority of Congress, the paper under the authority of the States. But this paper, though it fills so great a portion of all the channels of circu- lation, is not of general and universal credit; it is made up of various local currencies, none of which has the same credit, or the same value, in all parts of the country ; and therefore these local currencies answer, but very loosely and deficiently, the purposes of general currency, and of remittance. Now, is it to be con- tended that there is no remedy for this ? Are we to agree, that the Constitution, with all its care, circumspection, and wisdom, has, nevertheless, left this great interest unprovided for ? Is our com- mercial system so lame and impotent? Are our constitutional provisions and our political institutions so radically defective? I think not, sir. They do not deserve this reproach ; and I think it may now be easily shown that, underall administrations, from General Washington's time down to the 3d of March last, the Government has felt and acknowledged its obligation, in regard to the currency, to the full extent in which I have stated it, and has constantly en- deavored to fulfil that obligation. Allow me to go back to the beginning, and trace this matter down to our times, a little in detail. In his first speech to Congress, in 1789, having just then assumed his new office, General Washington recommended no particular subjects to the consideration of Congress ; but in his speech, at the opening of the second session, he suggested the importance of a uniform currency, without distinguishing coinage from paper ; and this body, in its answer, assured him that it was a subject which should receive its attention. Recollect, sir, at that time, that there were State banks having notes in circulation, though they were verv few. The first Bank of the United States was established at 209 ihe third session of the Congress, in 1791. The bill for its creation originated in the Senate ; the debates in which were at that time not public. We have, however, the debates in the House, we have the reports of the Secretaries, and we have the law itself. Let us en- deavor to learn, from these sources,ybr what objects this institution was created, and tvhether a national currency ivas one of those objects. Certainly, sir, it must be admitted that currency was not the only object in incorporating the bank of 1791. The Government was new ; its fiscal affairs were not well arranged ; it was greatly in debt; and the political state of things at the time rendered it highly prob- able that sudden occasions for making loans would arise. That it might assist the operations of the Treasury, therefore, and that it miglit make those loans to Government, if pressing occasions should arise, were two of the purposes had in view in establishing the bank. But it is equally clear that there was a third purpose, and that re- spected commerce and currency. To furnish a currency for gen- eral circulation, and to aid exchange, xoas, demonstrably, a clear., distinct, and avowed object, in the creation of the first bank. On the 13th of December, 1790, the Secretary of the Treasury made a report to the House of Representatives, recommending a national bank. In this report, he set forth the advantages of such an institution ; one of these advantages, he says, consists " in in- creasing the quantity of circulating medium, and quickening the circulation." And he then proceeds to observe — " This last may require some illustration. When payments are to be made be- tween different places, having an intercourse of business with each other, if there happen to be no private bills at market, and there are no bank notes which have a currency in both, the consequence is, that coin must be remitted. This is attended with trouble, delay, expense, and risk. If, on the contrary, there are bank notes current in both places, the transmission of these, by the post, or any other speedy or convenient conveyance, answers the purpose ; and these again, in the alternations of demand, are frequently re- turned, very soon after, to the place whence they were first sent ; whence the transportation and retransportation of the metals are obviated, and a more convenient and a more expeditious medium of payment is substituted." Is not this clear proof, that one object, in establishing the bank, in the opinion of the Secretary, was the creation of a currency which should have general credit throughout the country, and, by means of such credit, should become a convenient and expeditious medium of exchange ? Currency, sir, currency and exchange were then, beyond all doubt, important objects, in the opinion of the pro- poser of the measure, to be accomplished by the institution. The debates which took place in the House of Representatives, confirm the same idea. Mr. Madison, who objected to the bill on constitu- VOL. III. 27 B* 210 tional grounds, admitted, nevertheless, that one of the advantages of a bank consists " in facilitating occasional remittances from differ- ent places where notes happen to circulate;" and Mr. Ames, who was one of the most distinguished friends of the measure, and who represented a commercial district, enlarged on the great benefit of the proposed institution to commerce. He insisted that the inter- course between the States could never be on a good footing, without an institution whose paper would circulate more extensively than that of any State bank ; and what he saw in the future, we have seen in the past, and feel in the present. Other gendemen, also, contended that some such institution was necessary, in order to enable Congress to regulate the commerce of the country, and, for that reason, that it would be constitutional, as being proper means for a lawful end. When the bill had passed the two Houses, the President, as we all know, asked the opinion of his cabinet upon its constitutionality. The Secretary of State and the Attorney General were against it ; the Secretary of the Treasury was in favor of it ; and among the grounds on which he placed the right of Congress to pass the law, was its adaptation to the exercise of the commercial power, conferred by the Constitution on Congress. His language is — " The institution of a bank has, also, a natural relation to the regulation of trade between the States, in so far as it is conducive to the creation of a convenient medium of exchange between them, and to the keeping up a full circulation, by preventing the frequent displace- ment of the metals in reciprocal remittances. Money is the very hinge on which commerce turns. And this does not mean merely gold and silver; many other things have served the purpose, with different degrees of utility. Paper has been extensively employed. It cannot, therefore, be admitted, with the Attorney General, that the regulation of trade between the States, as it concerns the me- dium of circulation and exchange, ought to be considered as confined to coin." " And it is," he adds, " in reference to these general rela- tions of commerce, that an establishment which furnishes facilities to circulation, and a convenient medium of exchange and alienation, is to be regarded as a regulation of trade." Nothing can be plainer, sir, than this language ; and therefore notliine statement is — " I, Asa Pickering, of Bellingham, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, residing at present in Boston, as a member of the Legislature, on oath do declare and say, That, on the third day of October now last past, I called at the office of the Pension Agent in the city of Boston, to receive a pension due to my father, Benjamin Pickering, for revolutionary services. He already had on hand a quantity of the bills of the Commonwealth Bank, and instructed me to procure other money, if possible. I called, and was requested to step into a room to make tlie necessary affidavit, for which I was charged, and paid m specie, twenty-five cents. I then received a check for sixty-three dollars, and was directed to present the check at the opposite counter. I did so, and had tendered to me a fifty dollar bill of the Commonwealth Bank, also a ten and a tliree dollar bill of the same bank. I declined receiving them, and stated that I wanted something better. I told them at least I wanted a little specie ; I should like the thirteen dollars in specie. They told me I must take that or notliing. I asked tliem for the ten or the three in specie ; both were refused. I then asked at least for the twenty- five cents in specie which I had just paid, and it was refused. I then read one of their bills to them, and asked if they would pay old revolutioners in nothing but lies. I was obliged to take their bills, contrary to my wishes and instructions. "ASA PICKERING." This, too, is a fair specimen of what will happen hereafter, when we shall have, nominally, a system of exclusive specie payments and receipts. Forty statutes could not forbid payments of bank notes more distinctly and peremptorily than the present law forbids all payments in depreciated bank notes. Yet, here it is admitted, both by the disbursing officers and by the Secretary himself, that such depreciated bank notes have been offered in payment and re- ceived ; although the very offering of them, that is, the act of pro- posing to make payments in such notes, is in the teeth of the act u* 246 of Congress. So it will be hereafter. The law will be positive that nothing but gold and silver shall be offered ; yet paper will be offered, and often taken ; and just such contests will arise as that which arises in this case ; the Govemment officers insisting that the paper was voluntarily received, and the party receiving it, on the other hand, insisting, and making oath, that he resisted the receipt of it as long as he could, and took it at last simply because he could get nothing else. I think any man must be short-sighted who does not perceive that occurrences of this sort will be constantly hap- pening under a system in which the Government uses, or pretends to use, one currency, and the People another. But, sir, there is another important matter disclosed in this re- port, to which I wish to call the attention of the Senate. It is known that during the existence of the Bank of the United States, the United States' pensions were paid by that bank, without cost or charge ; and as the bank was a safe depository, no losses happened to Government or to individuals. When the bank charter expired, Congress was called on to make some other provision for paying pensions, and the act of April 20, 1836, was passed. That act provides that, in future, " payments of pensions shall be made by such pei-sons or corpora- tions as the Secretary of War may direct, but no compensation or allowance shall be made to such persons or corporations for making such payments, without authority of lawJ^ This act was passed under that clause of the Constitution which authorizes Congress, by law, to vest the appointment of such infe- rior officers as they think proper in the Heads of Departments. Under this law the Secretary of War appointed these officers, and a list of them has been recently sent by him to the Senate. It will appear from the report from the War Department that, like other disbursing officers, they have been called on to give official bonds ; and there is no manner of doubt that, to all intents and purposes, they are officers under the Government of the United States. But now to their pay. The act of April 20, 1836, creating the office and providing for the appointing of the officer, declares, as I have already said, that no allowance or compensation shall be made to them, without authority of law. Now, Congress has passed no further law on the subject ; and yet how stands the matter of their pay ? It will be remembered that, in 1834, the President, or Secretary of War, before the bank charter expired, undertook to transfer the pension funds from the Bank of the United States to the deposit banks ; and on that occasion, those deposit banks were told, as will be seen by this report, that in consideration of the benefits j: 247 which they ivould derive from the deposits, no commission or salary would be allowed. The same course was adopted after the act of 1836 passed ; so that, from that time to the present, pension agents, appointed by the Secretary of War, get their pay by the use of the Government funds in their hands. And I find, by inquiry at the proper source, that the general rule is, to advance the necessary funds six months before they will be needed ; so that the agent has the use of the money for that period ; and when the time comes for paying it to the pen- sioners, he pays it, and immediately receives from the Treasury an advance for the next six months ; so that he has, the whole year round, the use of a sum of money equal to one half the whole annual amount of pensions paid at his office. ¥ov instance, the whole annual amount of pensions, paid at Boston, is three hundred and twenty thousand dollars, or there- abouts. One half this sum is one hundred and sixty .thousand dol- lars ; and the agent, as his compensation for paying the pensions, actually enjoys the use of this sum the whole year. Suppose the use of the money to be worth six per cent, per an- num ; the compensation thus made to the pension agent m Boston is more than nine thousand dollars. So in New Hampshire, where there are two pension agencies, one at Portsmouth, and one at Concord. At the Portsmouth agency, thirty-three thousand dollars, or thereabouts, is annually paid out. The agent, therefore, has usually on hand the one half of this sum, say fifteen thousand five hundred dollars, the interest of which would be near a thousand dollars. At the Concord pension office, the amount of annual payments is sixty-six thousand dollars. One half of this sum being usually on hand, the agent receives, for discharging the duties of his office, the use of that one half, say of thirty-three thousand dollars, which, at the rate of six per cent, per annum, amounts to nineteen hun- dred or two thousand dollars. These sums are taken from official statements, and I believe are correct ; and the other general facts are obtained from authentic sources. It w ill probably strike the Senate, in the first place, that these rates of compensation are exceedingly large, especially in these days of professed economy and reform ; and, in the next place, all will admit that this mode of making compensation is the worst in the world, as it places the funds of the Government every day at hazard. How this mode of making compensation, or this amount of compensation, can be reconciled to the words of the act of Con- gress, which declare that there shall be no compensation without authority of law, I hope some gentleman will undertake to explain. In most cases, but I believe not in all, the list will show these 248 agents are presidents of State banks; but the appointments, never- theless, are personal appointments, and the banks themselves are not responsible for the agents' fidelity. As I have already said, the agents, like other disbursing officers of Government, give bonds for the due discharge of the duties of their office. I trust, sir, tliat the Committee on Finance will see the necessity of some further legal provision on this subject. Since I am speaking on this subject, I will (said ]Mr. W.) take leave to make a remark or two on a personal matter. The Globe of Saturday, still pursuing a course of meddling with the private concerns of public men, which course, nevertheless, it admits is ex- ceedingly despicable, reiterates charges of my having had paper dis- honored at this Commonwealth Bank. The obvious object of all this, as of the former article, it is evident, is to hold out an appear- ance that I owe the bank, or have owed it in times past. I think it very likely that, by the time this statement of the Globe gets a hundred miles from Washington, it will be so amplified as to repre- sent me as an acknowledged debtor to the bank to a great amount ; and, by the time it gets over the mountains, the failure of the bank will be mainly ascribed, very possibly, to its loans to me. I repeat, therefore, that I never owed the bank a dollar, so far as I remem- ber, nor ever had^any pecuniary transaction with it whatever. The statement is, that a bill drawn by me, and accepted, was sent to the bank for collection, and not duly paid by the acceptor. It was of course returned upon the drawer, and duly paid and taken up by him. All this is very unimportant and innocent; but it is stated as if with studious design to represent me as a debtor to the bank ; whereas, in the first place, the bank had no interest in it whatever ; and, in the second place, it was duly paid by the draw- er on the acceptor's neglect. As to any acceptance of my own, sent to that bank for collection, being protested, I never heard of it, to ray knowledge. If such a thing happened, it must have been accidental, and owing to some mistake as to the day, which was seasonably corrected. Nor can it be true that any note or bill with my name on it was handed over to another bank on the failure of this Commonwealth Bank, unless it was some dead note or bill which had been already paid to tliose who were entitled to receive payment. This apparent and obvious purpose of representing me as a debtor to the bank, or as ever having been a borrower at it, is founded in sheer misrepresentation and falsehood. I perceive that the directors, or officers, of this bank have been busying themselves to help out the statements of the Globe ; yet no one of them says I ever owed the bank a dollar in the world ; they might, I think, be better employed. It has been stated pub- licly that these officers have helped themselves to loans, from their own bank, to an amount exceeding the amount of all its capital, and 249 then failed, bank and all, leaving a prodigious mass of unredeemed paper upon the hands of the Public. I know not how this may be ; but, until the charge is cleared up, one should think tliey might find better employment than in attempting to bolster up slan- derous imputations against their neighbors, and attacking people who have not the misfortune to owe them any thing. In reply to Mr. Niles, Mr. Webster remarked — The law says, in so many words, that these pension agents shall receive no compensation without provision by law ; and the Secre- tary, in making compensation, has of course done it without law. I have a right to the fact. The Secretary makes the appointments, generally, of the president or some other officer of a bank, and the appointment is entirely personal ; the bond is personal ; the bond was directly to the United States ; and this proves conclusively that the officer is an officer of the United States. No bank is named in the bond ; in those which I have seen, — and I have ob- tained the common form from the office, — I do not find that the agent is named or described as president or cashier of any bank. The appointment is simply of A B as agent for paying pensions in a certain place ; and A B gives his own bond, directly to the Uni- ted States, with sureties, for the faithful discharge of his duties. If the agent, in any case, be connected with any bank, and desire to leave the money on deposit in that bank, instead of using it himself, that is matter of arrangement between him and the bank. All this makes no difference ; it does not diminish the amount of compensation ; it does not change the nature of the office. The agent is an officer, appointed by authority of law, and acting under bonds to the United States, and receiving, as it appears by this report, a very large compensation. I have nothing to do now with the deposit system ; all 1 say is, that this kind of management ought not to go on, making, as every one must admit, a very great allowance for compensation, far loo large. And what occasion is there of hazarding all this money ? I speak, however, only of the existing state of things, as a subject which the Senate must perceive requires a remedy. There is a personal appointment of a certain officer by law ; and therefore there is in effect a personal emolu- ment to the amount which I have stated ; at least it is as large as that at Boston, and may be larger elsewhere. VOL. III. 32 REMARKS ON THE PREEMPTION BILL, MADE IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 29, 1838. The following bill to grant preemption rights to actual settlers on the public lands being on its passage, viz. : A BILL TO GRANT PREEMPTION RIGHTS TO SETTLERS ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every actual settler of the public lands, being the head of a fomily, or over twenty-one years of age, who was in possession, and a housekeeper by personal residence thereon, on or before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, shall be entitled to all the benefits and privileges of an act, entitled " An Act to grant preemption rights to settlers on the public lands," approved May twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and thirty ; and the said act is hereby re- vived and continued in force two years, Provided, That wiiere more than ono person may have settled upon and cultivated any one quarter section of land, each one of tliem shall have an equal share or interest in the said quartet section, but shall have no claim, by virtue of tiiis Act, to any other land : An I provided, always. That tliis act shall not be so construed as to give a right of preemption to any person or persons in consequence of any settlement or improvement made before the extinguishment of the Indian title to the land on which such settlement or improvement was made, or to any land spe- cially occupied or reserved for town lots, or other purposes, by authority of the United States; And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect any of the selections of public lands for the purposes of education, the use of salt springs, or for any other purpose, which may have been or may be made by any State under existing laws of the United States ; but this Act shall not be so construed as to deprive those of the benefits of this Act, who have inhabited, according to its provisions, certain fractions of the public lands within the land district of Palmyra, in the State of Missouri, which were reserved from sale in consequence of the surveys of Spanish and French grants, but are found to be without the lines of said grants. Mr. Webster rose and said, that whatever opposition might be made to this bill, in his opinion, some provision of this nature was necessary and proper, and therefore he had supported it, and he should now vote for its final passage. Although entirely indisposed (said Mr. VV.) to adopt any meas- ure which may prejudice the public interest, or trifle with this great subject, and opposed at all times to all new schemes and pro- jects, I still think the time has come when we must, from necessity, 250 251 propriety, and justice, make some provision for the existing case. We are not now at the moment when preemption rights are first to be granted ; nor can we recall die past. The state of things now actually existing must be regarded. To this our serious attention is summoned. There arc now known to be many thousands of setders on public lands, either not yet surveyed, or the surveys not yet re- turned ; or if surveyed, not yet brought into market for sale. Tlie first question naturally is, How came they there ? How did this great number of persons get on the public lands ? And to this question it may be truly answered, that they have gone on to the lands under the encouragement of previous acts of Congress. They have settled and built houses, and made improvements, in the persuasion that Congress would deal with them in the same manner as it has, in repeated instances, dealt with others. This has been the universal sentiment and expectation. Others have settled on the ])ublic lands, certainly with less encouragement from acts of Congress than these settlei-s have had, and yet have been allowed a preemption right. These settlers, therefore, have confidently looked for the same privilege. Another circumstance is fit to be mentioned. Very large pur- chases of the public land are known to have been made in 1835 and 1836. These purchases exceeded the quantity necessaiy for actual settlement ; and they were made, in many cases, in large tracts, by companies or by large single proprietors, who purchased for purposes of investment, and with a view to retain the lands until their value should be enhanced by the general settlement and im- provement of the country. These purchases would be, of course, of the best and freshest lands in the market ; that is, they would be in the most recent surveys, or, in other words, in the surveyed dis- tricts most advanced in the interior. Now, I have understood from good authority, that it has often happened in the North-west, (and of the South-west I know little,) that persons disposed to purchase and setde on the frontier have, in many instances, found themselves unable to buy to their satisfaction, either of Government or individ- uals. Government had sold the best lands to companies or to in- dividual proprietors, and these last were disposed to keep, and not to sell ; or they or their agents were either unknown, or were living in distant parts of the country, so that application to purchase could not readily be made to them. These circumstances, there can be no doubt, created a new in- centive to pass beyond the surveys set down on the public domain, and trust to Congress for a preempdon right, such as had been granted in previous instances. The result of these causes is, that setdements have become quite extensive, and the number of peo- ple very large. In that part of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi, there are supposed to be from thirty to fifty thousand 252 inhabitants. Over this region Congress has extended civil govern- ment, established courts of law, and encouraged the building of villages and towns ; and yet the country has not been brought into the market for sale, except it may be small quantities for the sites of villages and towns. In other parts of Wisconsin a similar state of things exists, especially on and near the border of Lake Michigan, where numerous settlements have been made and commercial towns erected, some of them already of considerable importance, but where the title to the land still remains in the Government. Sim- ilar cases exist in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and probably also in the South-western States. Now, (said Mr. W.,) the practical question is, What is to be done in these cases ? What are we to do with those settlers, their improvements, and the lands on which they live ? Is there any one who would propose or desire that these lands should be put up at open auction, improvements and all, and sold to the highest bidder, without any regard whatever to the interest or protection of the settlers ? For my part, I could propose no such thing, nor by any means consent to any such thing. Nor do I suppose that there could be such an auction, and that other persons could attend and bid at it freely, and overbid the actual settlers for their own settlements and improvements, without disturbance and violation of the public peace. Nor would a dollar of money, in my judgment, be realized by the Treasury by such a course of proceeding, beyond what would be received for the same lands under this law. As to the general justice of the bill, its policy, or the degree of indulgence which it holds out to those who have become settlers, it ought to be remembered — 1. That it applies only to those who have now already settled on the public lands. And I am quite willing to concur with others in carrying out the recommendations of the President's Message, by adopting such measures, for the future, as may be thought wise and reasonable, and as shall prevent the recurrence hereafter of any ne- cessity for laws like this. 2. The bill makes no donation or gratuity. It grants only a pre- emption right ; a right of previous purchase, at the price for which the greater part of the public lands has been, and now is, actually sold. 3. It gives this right only to the extent of one quarter section ; not more than a reasonable quantity for a farm, in the estimation of the inhabitants of these new and vast regions. 4. It gives the right only to heads of families, or householders, actually settled and residing on the tract. And, in my opinion, it is much in favor of this bill, that what it does grant, it grants (where the requisite proof is made) at once 253- and forever, without mischievous qualifications, and conditions sub- sequent, such as formed part of the bill of last year. It has been proposed to amend this bill, so as to limit Its benefits to native or naturalized citizens of the United States. Although I have heretofore been disposed to favor such a propo- sition, yet, on the whole, I think it ought not to pass ; because such a limitation has been altogether unknown In our general system of land sales ; and to Introduce It here, where we are acting on rights already acquired, would be both invidious and unjust. It has been proposed, also, so to amend the bill as to require that the settler, In addition to the dollar and a quarter per acre, should pay one half the actual value of the land above that sum ; this value to be ascertained by appraisers, appointed by the register of the land-ofRce. I could not agree to this amendment ; because, in the first place, we have never adopted the principle of selling lands on appraisement ; but, secondly and mainly, because, If these settlers have had any ground or reason to expect a preemption right from Congress, (which is the substantial foundation of the bill,) they have had, and now have, reason to expect It, on the same terms on which it has been granted to others. Mr. President, that there may be some undeserving persons amono; these settlers, I do not doubt. That the advantages of this 1)111 may be enjoyed, In some cases, by those who are not actual settlers, with honest, bo7ia fide purpose of permanent residence, Is very probable. But I believe the great majority of the cases to which the bill will apply will be such as ought to be relieved. I believe the bill is the readiest way of quieting these titles and pos- sessions, which the public interest requires should. In some way, be quieted without further delay. Indeed, no course Is proposed but either to pass this bill, or to bring the lands at once to public auc- tion, open to the biddings of all. This last course, I am persuaded, would result in no gain whatever to the Treasury, whilst it might be attended with serious inconveniences to the public, and would be sure to throw whole neighborhoods, villages, and counties. Into a state of much excitement, nmch perplexity, and much distress. Both for the general Interests of the country, and for the Interest and protection of the settler, I am of opinion that the bill ought to pass. In answer to Mr. Clay — Mr. Webster said that, notwithstanding the surprise which it had pleased the honorable member from Kentucky to express at his support of this bill, he should continue that support; but he did not feel It necessary to go into any elaborate defence of his vote. V •254 The bill, (said Mr. W.,) it is well ascertained, will pass the Senate by a large majority. Of its fate elsewhere, I know nothing, either certainly or probably. But, since no doubt is entertained of its passage here, I have desired, and still desire, only to say so much as may show the ground of my own opinion in its favor. Sir, the difference between the member from Kentucky and my- self, on this occasion, is plain and distinct. It is precisely this: He is altogether against the preemptive right. He is for carry- ing into operation the law, as it stands, and for giving it effect over the lands on which these settlers live, in the same way as over other public lands. He is for putting all these lands up to open auction, and selling them to the highest bidder, letting the settler take the consequence. He says there should be an auction, and a free auction ; and he argues, with that consistency and cohesion of ideas which belongs to him, that if there is to be a public auction, as he insists there ought to be, then there must be, and ought to be, a perfectly free competition ; that it should be as open to one man to bid, as another ; that no man, or men, ought to be privileged or favored ; that it is ridiculous to talk of an auction, at which one man may bid, and another may not ; or an auction, at which some bidders are told that others must have preference. He, therefore, is for a free sale, open to every body, and to be conducted in that manner which shall insure the receipts of the greatest sum of money into the Treasury. Now, 1 say at once, plainly and dis- tinctly, that this is not my object. I have other views. I wish, in the first place, to preserve the peace of the frontier ; and I wish, also, to preserve and to protect the reasonable rights of the settlers ; because I think they have rights which deserve to be protected. These are my objects. Sir, if we could order an auction here, in this city, or elsewhere, out of all possible control of the settlers, and far from all fear of any influence of theirs, and could there sell the lands they live on, and their improvements, for their utmost value, and put the proceeds of the whole into the Treasury, it would be the very last thing I should ever do. God forbid that I should make gain and profit out of the labors of these settlers, and carry that gain into the Treasury. I did not suppose any man would desire that. I did not suppose there was any one who would con- sent that the increased value of these lands, caused by the labor, the toil, and the sweat of the settlers, should be turned to the advantage of the national Treasury. Certainly, certainly, sir, I shall oppose all proceedings leading to such a result. Yet the member from Kentucky has nothing to propose, but to sell the lands at auction for the most they will bring, at a sale which he says ought to be perfectly free and open to every body, and to carry the proceeds into the Treasury, tjct the sales go on ; that is his doctrine. Let the laws take their course, he says, since we live under a Govern- 255 ment of laws. Have a sale, make It free and open, and make the most of it. Let the Government take care that every body, who wishes to bid, be as free to do so as any other ; and that no combi- nation, no privilege, no preemption, be suffered to exist. Now, sir, in my opinion, all this is what we cannot do, if we would ; and what we ought not to do, if we could. I do not believe we can have an auction, under existing circumstances, such as the gentleman insists upon. The known condition of things renders it impossible. The honorable member thinks otherwise. He will not agree, he says, that the President, with the militia and the army, cannot protect the authorities in maintaining a fair and open sale. Sir, is it discreet, is it prudent, to refer to such a recourse as that? Is it not greatly wiser, and greatly better, to remove the occasion, which may be done without injury to the Government, and in perfect consistency with the rights of others, rather than to think of such measures as have been suggested ? For one, 1 dis- claim all such policy. 1 place my support of the bill, therefore, upon the indispensable necessity of doing something ; upon the impolicy of longer delay ; upon the fair claims of the settlers to all which this bill proposes for their benefit ; and upon the impolicy, the injustice, and, I may say, the impossibility, of other courses which have been suggested. The honorable member recalls our recollection to the fact, that the Senate has refused to make any prospective measure to prevent this evil for the future. It has done so, so far as the vote on the proposed amendment went. But what then ? Because a majority is not inclined, now, to provide for the future, is that a reason why we should make no provision for the present? Sir, the true tendency of this bill will be to prevent, or to miti- gate, those scenes at the public sales, which have been so often alluded to. If you pass this bill, the settler will go to the land- office, prove his preemption right, and get his certificate. He will then have no business, so far as his homestead is concerned, at the public sales. He will be quieted in his possession, and at peace. If you do not pass it, he must attend the public sales; the whole country must be there ; every man must be present, because every man's liome is to be sold over his head : and how is it possible that much feeling and great excitement should not prevail among a large multitude assembled for such a purpose ? Business, to be conduct- ed under such circumstances, can take but one course ; and we all know what that is. This bill diminishes temptation to form com- binations, or to do any unlawful or irregular act. It is a bill of peace and repose. It is to secure men in their possessions ; to quiet them in their own homes ; to give to them that sense of secu- rity, that consciousness of safe ownership, which make men's houses and homesteads dear and valuable to them. 256 In further reply to Mr. Clay — I do not intend, Mr. President, to go further into this debate than is necessary to keep my own course clear. Other gentlemen act upon the result of their own reasoning ; I act on the result of mine, and wish to explain and defend that result, so far as it may require defence or explanation. I have placed this bill on the fair right of the settler, founded on the encouragement which Congress has held out by previous laws. I have asked whether this right of the honest, bona fide settler, is to be disregarded and sacrificed. The honorable member from Kentucky now answers that this right will be amply protected at the sale ; that nobody will bid against an honest, bona fide settler; that at the sale all these cases will be carefully sifted and examined, and justice done to each case respectively. Why, sir, this is ^ good deal inconsistent, I think, with the character of those sales, as we have heard them described. If what has been said of them be true, they are the last places, and the last occasions, for any thing to be sifted or examined. The gentleman himself has said, that at these sales it is enough to cry out " Settler's right," to prevent all interference. No, sir ; it is not at these sales that siftino; and examination are to be had. Examination can only be had at tiie land-office, before sworn officers, on sworn proofs, and according to the provisions of this bill. Such an examination as that can be had, if the officers will do their duty ; and the result will do justice to the Government, and justice to the settlers. Much has been said of the general character of these settlers. I have no extensive information, sir, on that point, and had not in- tended to say any thing upon it. But it has so happened that I have recently been in the North-west, and have met, for a short time, with many of these settlers; and, since they have been spoken of here with so much harshness, I feel bound to say that, so far as my knowledge of them goes, they do not deserve it. Un- doubtedly, sir, they are trespassers in the contemplation of law. They know that very well. They are on the public lands without title ; but then they say that the course of the Government hereto- fore has been such as to induce and encourafje them to co where they are ; and that they are ready and willing to do all that Gov- ernment has required from others in similar circumstances ; that is, to pay for the lands at the conmion price. They have the general character of frontiersmen : they are hardy, adventurous, and enter- prising. They have come from far, to establish themselves and fatnilies in new abodes in the West. They appeared to me to be industrious and laborious ; and I saw nothing in their character or conduct that should justly draw upon them expressions of con- tumely and reproach. 257 In answer to Mr. Davis — As I have the misfortune, on this occasion, to differ from my colleague, (for whom 1 entertain so much deference and so much warm regard, that it is always painful for me to differ from him,) I might naturally be supposed to be desirous of replying to his remarks at some length. At this late hour, however, I shall forego that privilege. I will confine what I have to say to two or three points. In the first place, I wish to say that I cannot concede to my col- league, and those who act with him on this occasion, the vantage- ground which he and they seem to claim. I cannot agree that they only are acting for the whole people ; and that we, who are in favor of this bill, are acting for a few only. My opinion is — and my ground is — that the interest of the whole country, as well as the just protection of the setders, requires the passage of this bill. The whole country has an interest in quieting these claims ; the bill proposes to quiet them ; and, in that respect, is for the advan- tage of the whole country. In the next place, I wish to say that I do not think it just to say of this bill, that it proposes to give away the public lands ; to exer- cise a gratuitous bounty to the settlers ; to make a mere gift of the public property to a few, at the expense of the many. The bill proposes no gift at all ; it bestows no gratuitous bounty. It grants exacdy what it proposes to grant, and that is, a right of purchase, a preemption ; the privilege of retaining the quarter section upon which each man is settled, paying for it the common price. This the bill grants, and it grants no more. My worthy colleague seems to think this bill opposed to the policy upon which we supported the land bill some sessions ago. I do not diink so. I think it quite consistent with that policy. If the land bill had passed, and w^ere now^ a law, and in full operation, I should still support this bill as the best mode of sell- ing — not giving away — but of selling, the lands to which the bill applies, and getting payment for them. If the proceeds of the public lands were to go to the States, I should still think that the true interest of the States required tliat this bill should become a law. My colleague complains, also, that the bill holds out great in- ducements to foreigners to come among us and settle on the public lands. He says it is an invitation to the nations of Europe to open their work-houses and send hither all theii- paupers. Now, sir, in all candor, is this the just character of the bill? Does it propose any change in our law in respect to foreigners ? Certainly it does not. Always a foreigner could come here ; always he could buy land at the minimum price ; always he stood on an exact footing VOL. III. 33 V* 258 of equality, in this particular, with our own citizens. And would my worthy colleague now make a difference by this bill ? If two settlers are found on the frontier, each on his own quarter section, each with a family, and each living under a roof erected by his own hands, and on the produce of fields tilled by his own labor, the one a citizen, and the other a foreigner not yet naturalized, would my colleague make a difference, and confirm the settlement of one, and break up that of the other? No, I am sure, sir, he would do no such thing. His sense of justice and his good feeling would revolt from such a course of action as quick as those of any living human being. Mr. President, there are some other remarks of my colleague to which I should have been glad to have made some answer. But I will forbear. I regret, most exceedingly, that we differ on this oc- casion. I know he desires to do justice to those settlers, and to all others ; and I cannot but persuade myself that, on further reflection, he will be of opinion that some such measure as the present ought to be adopted ; because there is no man who, to a high regard for the public interest, unites a greater sense of the justice which is due to individuals. SPEECH ON THE SUB-TREASURY BILL, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 31, 1838. " Let the Government attend to its own business, and let the people attend to theirs." " Let the Government take care that it secures a sound currency for its own use, and let it leave all tlie rest to the States and to tlie people." These ominous sentences, Mr. President, have been ringing in my ears ever since they were uttered yesterday, by the member from New York. Let the Government take care of itself, and let the people take care of themselves. Tliis is the whole principle and policy of the administration, at the present most critical mo- ment, and on this great and all-absorbing question of the currency. Sir, this is an ill-boding announcement. It has nothing of con- solation, of solace, or of hope in it. It \\ ill carry through all the classes of commerce and business nothing but more discouragement, and deeper fears. And yet it is but repetition. It is only a renewed exhibition of the same spirit, which was breathed by the message, and the bill of the last session, of which this bill is also full, and which has pervaded all the recommendations, and all the measures of Government, since May. Yet I confess that I am not, even yet, so familiar with it, so accustomed to hear such sentiments avowed, as that they cease to astonish me. I am either groping in thick and palpable dark- ness myself, in regard to the true objects of the constitution, and the duties of Congress under it, or else these principles of public policy, thus declared, are at war with our most positive and urgent obligations. The honorable member made other observations indicative of the same general tone of political feeling. Among his chosen top- ics of commendation of the bill before us, a prominent one was, to shelter the administration from that shower of imputations, as he expressed the idea, which would always beat upon it, as it beats now, when disasters should happen to the currency. Indeed ! And why should the administration, now or ever, be sheltered from that shower ? Is not currency a subject over which the pow- er and duty of Government extend ? Is not Government justly 259 260 responsible for Its condition ? Is it not, of necessity, wholly and entirely under the control and regulation of political power ? Is it not a matter, in regard to which, the people cannot, by any possi- bility, protect themselves, any more than they can, by their own individual efforts, supersede the necessity of the exercise, by Gov- ernment, of any other political power ? What can the people do for themselves to improve the currency ? Sir, the Government is jusdy answerable for the disasters of the currency, saving always those accidents which cannot at all times be foreseen or provided against. It is at least answerable for its own neglect, if it shall be guilty of it, in not exercising all its constitutional authority for the correction and restoration of the currency. Why does it, how can it, shrink from this responsibility ? Why does it retreat from its own duty ? Why does it seek, not the laurels of victory, not the reputation even of manly contest, but the poor honors of studied and eager escape? Sir, it never can escape. The common sense of all men pronounces that the Government is, and ought to be, and must be, answerable for the regulation of the currency of the country ; that it ought to abide, and must abide, the peltings of the storm of imputation, so long as it turns its back upon this mo- mentous question, and seeks to shelter itself in the safes and the vaults, the cells and the caverns, of a sub-Treasury system. But of all Governments that ever existed, the present administra- tion has least excuse for withdrawing its care from the currency, or shrinking from its just responsibility in regard to it. Its predecessor, in whose footsteps it professes to tread, has in- terfered, fatally interfered, with that subject. That interference was, and has been, the productive cause of our disasters. Did the administration disclaim power over the currency in 1833, when it removed the deposits? And what meant all its subsequent transactions, all its professions, and all its efforts, for that better currency which it promised, if in truth it did not hold itself respon- sible to the people of the United States, for a good currency ? From the very first year of the late administration to the last, there was hardly a session, if there was a single session, in which this duty of Government was not acknowledged, promises of high im- provement put forth, or loud claims of merit asserted, for benefits already conferred. It professed to erect the great temple of its glory on improvements of the currency. And, sir, the better cur- rency which has been so long promised, was not a currency for the Government, but a currency for the people. It was not for the use of revenue merely, but for the use of the whole commerce, trade, and business of the nation. And now, when the vyhole in- dustry, business, and labor of the country, is harassed and distressed, by the evils brought upon us by its own interference. Government talks with all possible coolness, of the great advantage it will be to 261 adopt a system, which shall shield itself from a thick-falling shower of imputations. It disclaims, it renounces, it abandons its duties, and then seeks an inglorious shelter in its professed want of power to relieve the people. We demand the better currency ; we insist on the fulfilment of the high and flattering promises ; and surely there never was a Government on the face of the earth, that could, with less propriety, resist the demand ; yet, we see it seek refuge in a bold, cold, and heartless denial of the competency of its own constitutional powers. It falls back from its o\\ n undertakings, and flady contradicts its own pretensions. In my opinion, it can find no refuge, where the public voice will not reach it. There can be no shelter while these times last, into which Government can retreat, wherein it can hide, and screen itself from the loud voice of the country, calling upon it to come forth to fulfil its promises ; or, at least, now that these promises are all broken, to perform its duties. The evils of a dis- ordered currency are evils which do not naturally correct or cure themselves. Nor does chance, or good luck, often relieve that community which is suffering under them. They require political remedy ; they require provis'on to be made by Government ; they demand the skilful hand of experienced statesmen. Until some just remedy be applied, they are likely to continue, with more or less of aggravation, and no man can tell when or how they will end. It is vain, therefore, quite vain, for Government to liope that it may retreat from this great duty, shield itself under a system, no way agreeing either with its powers or its ob- ligations, and thus escape reproaches, by attempting to escape re- sponsibility. Mr. President, there is fault, and failure somewhere. Either the Constitution has failed, or its administration fails. The great end of a uniform and satisfactory regulation of commerce is not an- swered, because the national currency, an indispensable instrument of that commerce, is not preserved in a sound and uniform state. Is the fault in the constitution itself? Those who affirm that it is, must show how it was, if that be so, that other administrations, in other times, have been able to give the people abundant satis- fliction in relation to the currency. I suppose it will be said, in answer to this, that the constitution has been violated ; that it was originally misconstrued ; that those who made it did not understand it; and that the sage and more enlightened politicians of our times see deeper, and judge more jusdy of the constitution, than Wash- ington and Madison. Certain it is diat they have more respect for their own sagacity than for all the wisdom of others, and all the experience of the country ; or else they find themselves, by their party politics and party commitments, cut off from all ability of ad- ministering the constitution according to former successful practice. 262 Mr. President, when I contemplate the condition of the country; when I behold this utter breaking down of the currency ; this wide-spread evil among all the industrious classes; this acknowl- edged inability of Government to pay its debts legally ; this pros- tration of commerce and manufactures; this shocking derangement of internal exchange, and the general crash of credit and confi- dence ; and when I see that three hundred representatives of the people are here assembled to consult on the public exigency ; and that, repudiating the wisdom of our predecessors, and rejecting all the lights of our own experience, nothing is proposed, for our adoption, to meet an emergency of this character, but the bill be- fore us, I confess, sir, the whole scene seems to me to be some strange illusion. I can hardly persuade myself that we are all in our waking senses. It appears like a dream — like some phantasy of the night, that the opening light of the morning usually dispels. There is so little of apparent relation of means to ends ; the measure before us has so little to promise for the relief of existing evils ; it is so alien, so outlandish, so abstracted, so remote from the causes which press down all the great public interests, that I really find it difficult to regard as real what is thus around me. Sir, some of us are strangely in error. The difference between us is so wide ; the views which we take of public affairs so oppo- site ; our opinions, both of the causes of present evils, and their appropriate remedies, so totally unlike, that one side or the other must be under the influence of some strange delusion. Darkness. thick darkness, hangs either over the supporters of this measure, or over its opponents. Time and the public judgment, I trust, will sooner or later disperse these mists, and men and measures will be seen in their true character. I think, indeed, that I see already some lifting up of the fog. The honorable member from New York has said that we have now, already existing, a mode of conducting the fiscal affairs of the country, substantially such as that will be which this bill will es- tablish. We may judge, therefore, he says, of the future by the present. A sub-Treasury system, in fact, he contends is now in operation ; and he hopes the country sees so much good in it, as to be willing to make it permanent and perpetual. The present system, he insists, must at least be admitted not to have obstructed or impeded the beneficial action of the immense resources of the country. Sir, this seems to me a most extraordi- nary declaration. The operation and energy of the resources of the country not obstructed ! The business of the community not impeded ! Why, sir, this can only be true, upon the supposition that present evils are no way attributable to the policy of Govern- ment ; that they all spring from some extraneous and independent cause. If the honorable member means that the disasters which 26S have fallen upon us arise from causes which Government cannot control, such as overtrading or speculation, and that Government 19 answerable for nothing, I can understand him, though I do not at all concur with him. But that the resources of the country- are not now in a state of great depression and stagnation, is what I had supposed none would assert. Sir, what are the resources of the country ? The first of all, doubtless, is labor. Does this meet no impediment ? Does labor find itself rewarded, as heretofore, by high prices, paid in good money ? The whole mass of industry employed in commerce and manufactures, does it meet with no obstruction, or hinderance, or discouragement ? And commerce and manufactures, in the aggregate, embracing capital as well as labor, are they, too, in a high career of success ? Is nothing of impediment or obstruction found connected with their present con- dition ? Again, sir ; among our Ameiican resources, from the very first origin of this Government, credit and confidence have held a high and foremost rank. We owe more to credit and to commercial confidence than any nation which ever existed ; and ten times more than any nation, except England. Credit and confidence have been the life of our system, and powerfully productive causes of all our prosperity. They have covered the seas with our com- merce, replenished the Treasury, paid off the national debt, excited and stimulated the manufacturing industry, encouraged labor to put forth the whole strength of its sinews, felled the forests, and multi- plied our numbers, and augmented the national wealth, so far be- yond all example as to leave us a phenomenon for older nations to look at with wonder. And this credit, and this confidence, are they now no way obstructed or impeded ? Are they now acting with their usual efficiency, and their usual success, on the concerns of society ? The honorable member refers to the exchanges. No doubt, sir, the rate of foreign exchange has nothing in it alarming ; nor has it had, if our domestic concerns had been in a proper condition. But that the internal exchanges are in a healthful condition, as the honorable member alleges, is what I can by no means admit. I look upon the derangement of the internal exchanges as the precise form in which existing evils most manifestly exhibit themselves. Why, sir, look at the rates between large cities in the neighborhood of each other. Exchange between Boston and New York, and also between Philadelphia and New York, is IJ o 2 per cent. This could never happen but from a deranged currency ; and can this be called a healthful state of domestic exchange ? I understand that the cotton crop has done much towards equal- izing exchange between New Orleans and New York ; and yet I have seen, not many days since, that in other places of the South, 264 I believe Mobile, exchange on New York was at a premium of five to ten per cent. The manufacturers of the North can say how they have found, and how they now find, the facilities of exchange. 1 do not mean, exclusively, or principally, the large manufacturers of cotton and woollen fabrics ; but the smaller manufacturers, men who, while they employ many others, still bestow their own labor on their own capital ; the shop manufacturers, such manufacturers as abound in New Jersey, Connecticut, and other parts of the North. I would ask the gentlemen from these States how these neighbors of theirs find exchanges, and the means of remittance, between them and their correspondents and purchasers in the South. The carriage- makers, the furniture-makers, the hatters, the dealers in leather, in all its branches, the dealers in domestic hardware ; I should like to hear the results of the experience of all these persons, on the state of the internal exchanges, as well as the general question, whether the industry of the country has encountered any obstacle, in the present state of the currency. Mr. President, the honorable member from New York stated correctly, that this bill has two leading objects. The first is, a separation of the revenue, and the funds of the Government, from all connection with the concerns of individuals, and of corporations; and especially a separation of these funds from all connection with any banks. The second is, a gradual change in our system of currency, to be carried on till we can accomplish the object of an exclusive specie or metallic circulation, at least in all payments to Govern- ment, and all disbursements by Government. Now, sir, I am against both these propositions, ends as well as means. I am against this separation of Government and people, as im- natural, selfish, and an abandonment of the most important politi- cal duties. I am for having but one currency, and that a good one, both for the people and the Government. I am opposed to the doctrines of the message of September, and to every thing which grows out of those doctrines. I feel as if I were on some other sphere, as if I were not at home, as if this could not be America, when 1 see schemes of public policy pro- posed, having for their object the convenience of Government only, and leaving the people to shift for themselves, in a matter which naturally and necessarily belongs, and in every other country is admitted to belong, to the solemn obligations and the undoubted power of Government. Is it America, where the Government, and men in the Government, are to be better off than the people ? Is it America, where Government is to shut its eyes, and its ears, I 265 to public complaint, and to take care only of itself? Is it Amer- ica, Mr. President, is it your coyntry, and my country, in which, at a time of (jreat public distress, when all eyes are turned to Congress, and when most men feel that substantial and practical relief can come only from Congress, that Congress, nevertheless, has nothing on earth to propose, but bolts and bars, safes and vaults, cells and hiding-places, for the better security of its own money, and nothing on earth, not a beneficent law, not even a kind word, for the people themselves ? Is it our country, in which the interest of Government has reached such an ascendency over the interest of the people, in the estimate of the representatives of the people ? Has this, sir, come to be the state of things, in the old thirteen, with the new thirteen added to them ? For one, I confess, I know not what is American, in policy, in public interest, or in public feeling, if these measures be deemed American. ' The first general aspect, or feature of the bill, the character written broadly on its front, is this abandonment of all concern for the general currency of the country. This is enough for me. It secures my opposition to the bill in all stages. Sir, this bill ought to have had a preamble. It ought to have been introduced by a recital, setting forth that, whereas the currency of the country has become totally deranged ; and whereas it has heretofore been thought the bounden duty of this Government to take proper care of that great branch of the national interest ; and whereas that opinion is erroneous, obsolete, and heretical ; and whereas, accord- ing to the tme reading of the constitution, the great duty of this Government, and its exclusive duty, so far as currency is con- cerned, is to take care of itself; and whereas, if Government can but secure a sound currency for itself, the people may very well be left to such a currency as the States, or the banks, or their own good fortune, or bad fortune, may give them ; therefore be it enacted, &c. he. &.c. The very first provision of the bill is in keeping with its general objects, and general character. It abandons all the sentiments of civilized mankind, on the subject of credit and confidence, and carries us back to the dark ages. The first that we hear, is of safes, and vaults, and cells, and cloisters. From an intellectual, it goes back to a physical age. From commerce, and credit, it re- turns to hoarding, and hiding ; from confidence, and trust, it retreats to bolts, and bars, to locks with double keys, and to pains and penalties for touching hidden treasure. It is a law for the times of the feudal system ; or a law for the heads and governors of the piratical States of Barbary. It is a measure fit for times when there is no security in law, no value in commerce, no active indus- try among mankind. Here, it is altogether out of time, and out of place. It has no sympatlij' with the general sentiments of this VOL. III. 34 w 266 age, still less has it any congeniality with our American character, any relish of our hitherto approved and successful policy, or any agreement or conformity with the general feeling of the country. The gentleman, in stating the provisions of the first section, pro- ceeds to say, lliat it is strange, that none of our laws, heretofore, has ever attempted to give to the Treasury of the United States a " local hahitation." Hence it is the object of this first section of the bill to provide and define such local habitation. A local hab- itation for the Treasury of a great commercial country, in the nine- teenth century ! Why, sir, what is the Treasury ? The existing laws call it a " Department." They say, there shall be a De- partment, with various ofiicers, and a proper assignment of their duties and functions ; and that this shall be the Department of the Treasury. It is, thus, an organized part of Government ; an im- portant and indispensable branch of the general administration, conducting the fiscal affairs of the country, and controlling subor- dinate agents. But this bill does away with all legal and political ideas, and brings this important Department down to a thing of bricks and mortar. It enacts that certain rooms, in the new building, with their safes and vaults, shall constitute the Treasury of the United States ! And this adoption of new and strange notions, and this abandonment of all old ideas, is all for the purpose of accomplish- ing the great object of separating the afilurs of the Government from the affairs of the country. The nature of the means shows the nature of the object ; both are novel, strange, untried, and un- heard of. The scheme, sir, finds no precedent, either in our own history, or the history of any other respectable nation. It is ad- mitted to be new, original, experimental ; and yet its adoption is urged upon us as confidently as if it had come down from our ancestors, and had been the cherished policy of the country in all past times. I am against it, altogether. I look not to see whether the means be adapted to the end. That end itself is what I oppose, and I oppose all the means leading to it. I oppose all attempts to make a separate currency for the Government, because I insist upon it, and shall insist upon it, until I see and feel the pillars of the con- stitution falling around me, and upon my head, that it is the duty of this Government to provide a good currency for the country, and for the people, as well as for itself. I put it to gentlemen to say, whether currency be not a part of commerce, or an indispensable agent of commerce ; and some- thing, therefore, which this Government is bound to regulate, and to take care of? Gentlemen will not meet the argument. They shun the question. We demand that the just power of the con- stitution shall be administered. We assert that Congress has power 267 to regulate commerce, and currency as a part of commerce ; we insist that the pubhc exigency, at the present moment, calls loudly for the exercise of this power, — and what do they do? They labor to convince us that the Government itself can get on very well without providing a currency for the people, and they betake themselves, therefore, to the sub-Treasury system, its unassailable walls, its iron chests, and doubly-secured doors. And having satis- fied themselves that, in this way. Government may be kept going, they are satisfied. A sound currency for Government, a safe curren- cy for revenue ; these are the only things promised, the only things proposed. But these are not the old promise. The country, the country itself, and the whole people, were promised a better currency for theirown use ; a better general currency ; a better currency for all the purposes of trade and business. This was the promise solemnly given by the Government in 1833, and so often afterwards renewed, through all successive years, down to May last. We heard nothing, all that tiuie, of a separation between Government and people. No, sir, not a word. Both were to have an improved currency. Sir, I did not believe a word of all this ; I thought it all mere pretence or empty boasting. I had no faith in these promises, not a particle. But the honorable member from New York was confident ; confi- dent then as he is now ; confident of the success of the first scheme, which was plausible, as he is confident of this, which is strange, alien, and repulsive in its whole aspect. He was then as sure of being able to furnish a currency for the country, as he is now of furnishing a currency for Government. He told us, at that time, that he believed the system adopted by the late administration was fully competent to its object. He felt no alarm for the result. He believed all the President had done, from the removal of the de- posits downwards, was constitutional and legal ; and he was de- termined to place himself by the side of the President, and desired only to stand or fall in the estimation of his constituents, as they should determine in the result ; and th<1t result has now come. As I have said, sir, I had no faith at all in all the promises of the administration, made before and at that time, and constant- ly repeated. I felt no confidence whatever in the whole project ; I deemed it rash, headstrong, and presumptuous, to the last degree. And at the risk of the charge of some offence against good taste, I will read a paragraph from some remarks of mine, in February, 1834, which sufficiently shows what my opinion and my appre- hensions then were. "I have already endeavored to warn the country against irre- deemable paper; against bank paper, when banks do not pay specie for their own notes ; against that miserable, abominable, and fraudulent policy, which attempts to give value to any paper of any bank, one single moment longer than such paper is redeemable 268 on demand in gold and silver. And I wish, most solemnly and earnestly, to repeat that warning. I sec clanger of that state of things ahead. I see imminent danger that more or fewer OF the State banks will stop specie payment. The late measure of the Secretary, and the infatuation with which it seems to be supported, tend directly and strongly to that result. Under pretence, then, of a design to return to a currency which shall be all specie, we are likely to have a currency in which there shall be no specie at all. We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper — mere paper, representing not gold nor silver ; no, sir, represcntino; nothing but broken promises, bad faith, BANKRUPT CORPORATIONS, CHEATED CREDIT- ORS, AND A RUINED PEOPLE!" And now, sir, we see the upshot of the Experiment. We see around us bankrupt corporations, and broken promises ; but we see no promises more really and emphatically broken, than all those promises of the administration, which gave us assurance of a better currency. These promises, now broken, notoriously and openly broken,'if they cannot be performed, ought at least to be acknowl- edged. The Government ought not, in common fairness and com- mon honesty, to deny its own responsibility, seek to escape from the demands of the people, and to hide itself out of the way, and beyond the reach of the process of public opinion, by retreating into this sub-Treasury system. Let it at least come forth ; let it Dear a port of honesty and candor ; let it confess its promises, if it cannot perform them; and, above all, now, even now, at this late hour, let it renounce schemes and projects, the inventions of pre- sumption, and the resorts of desperation, and let it address itself, in all good faith, to the great work of restoring the currency by approved and constitutional means. But, sir, so far is any such course from all probability of being adopted, so little ground of hope is there that this sub-Treasury system will be abandoned, that the honorable member from New York has contended and argued in his place, that the public opin- ion is more favorable to this measure now proposed, than to any other which has been suggested. He claims for it the character of a favorite with the people. He makes out this sub-Treasury plan to be quite high in popular estimation. Certainly, sir, if the honorable member thinks so, he and I see with different eyes, hear with different ears, or gather the means of opinion from very differ- ent sources. But what is the gentleman's argument ? It is this. The two Houses of Congress, he says, reflect the wishes and opinions of the people ; and with the two Houses of Congress, this system, he supposes, is more acceptable than any other. Now, sir, with the utmost respect for the two Houses of Con- gress, and all their members, I must be permitted to express a 269 doubt, and indeed a good deal more than a doubt, whether, on this subject, and at the present moment, the two Houses do exactly reflect the opinions and wishes of the people. I should not have adverted to the state of opinion here, compared with the state of public opinion in the country, if the gentleman had not founded an argument, on the supposed disposition of the two Houses, and on the fact, that they truly set forth the public opinion. But since lie has brought forward such an argument, it is proper to examine its foundation. In a general sense, undoubtedly, sir, the members of the two Houses must be understood to represent the sentiments of their constituents, the people of the United States. Their acts bind them, as their representatives, and they must be considered, in legal understanding, as conforming to the w ill of their constituents. But, owing to the manner of our organization, and to the periods and times of election, it certainly may happen, that at a particular mo- ment, and on a particular subject, opinion out doors may be one way, while opinion here is another. And how is it now, if we may judge by the usual indications ? Does the gentleman hope for no vote, in this body, for his bill, but such as shall be, in his opinion, in strict accordance with the wishes, as generally under- stood, and most recently expressed, in the State from which that vote shall come? I shall be exceedingly sorry, sir, for instance, to see a vote from Maine given for this bill. I hope I may not. But if there should be such a vote, can the gentleman say that he believes, in his con- science, it will express the wishes of a majority of the people of that State? And so of New Jersey, and one, if not more States in the West. I am quite sure that gendemen who may give their votes, will discharge their duty, according to their own enlightened judgments, and they are no way accountable to me for the manner in which they discharge it ; but when the honorable member from New York contends that this body now accurately represents the public opinion, on the sub-Treasury system, we must look at the facts. And with all possible respect for the honorable member, I must even take leave to ask him, whether, in his judgment, he him- self is truly reflecting the opinions and wishes of a majority of the people of New York, while he is proposing and supporting this bill ? Where does he find evidence of the favor of the people of that State towards this measure ? Does he find it in the city ? In the country ? In the recendy elected House of Assembly ? In the recently elected members of the Senate ? Can he name a place — can he lay a venue, for the popularity of diis measure, in the whole State of New York ? Between Montauk point and Cattaraugus, and between the mountains of Pennsylvania and the north end of lake Champlain, can he any where put his finger on w * 270 the map and say, Here is a spot where the sub-Treasury is popular ? He may find places, no doubt, though they are somewhat scarce, where his friends have been able to maintain their ascendency, notwithstanding the unpopularity of the measure ; but can he find one place, one spot of any extent, in which this measure of relief is the choice, the favorite, of a majority of the people ? Mr. President, the honorable member has long been in public life, and has witnessed, often, the changes and fluctuations of political parties and political opinions. And I will ask him what he thinks of the hurricane which swept over New York in tlie first week of last November. Did he ever know the like ? Has he before ever been called on to withstand such a whirlwind ? Or had he previously any suspicion that such an outbreak in the political elements was at hand? I am persuaded, sir, that he feared such a thing much less than I hoped for it ; and my own hopes, although I had hopes, and strong hopes, I must confess, fell far short of the actual result. And to me, Mr. President, it seems perfectly plain, that the cause of this astonishing change in public opinion is to be found, mainly, in the message of September, and the sub-Treasury bill of the last ses- sion. The message, with its anti-social, anti-commercial, anti- popular doctrines and dogmas — the message which set at naught all our own manners and usages, rejected all the teachings of ex- perience, threatened the State institutions, and, anxious only to take good care of Government, abandoned the people to their fate — the message — the message, it was, that did the great work in New York, and elsewhere. The message was that cave of Eolus, out of which the career- ing winds issued : " Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt, creberque procellis Africus ' mingling seas and skies, dispersing the most powerful polit- ical combinations, and scattering their fragments on the rocks and shores. 1 might quote the poet further, sir, " et vastos volvunt ad littora fluctus." The political deep seemed agitated, to the very bottom, and its heaving bosom moved onward and forward the " vastos fliwtiis,'" in nautical phrase, the big rollers of public opinion. The honorable member may say, or may think, that all this was but the result of a transient impulse, a feverish ebullition, a sudden surprise, or a change superficial, and apparent only, not deep and real. Sir, I cannot say, but I must confess that if the movement in New York, last fall, was not real, it looked more like reality, than any fanciful exhibition which I ever saw. If the people were not in earnest, they certainly had a very sober and earnest way of being in jest. 271 And now, sir, can the honorable member, can any man, say, that in regard to this measure, even the House of Representatives is certain, at this moment, truly to reflect the public judgment ? Though nearer to the people than ourselves, and more frequently chosen, yet it is known that the present members were elected, nearly all of them, before the appearance of the message of Sep- tember. And will the honorable member allow me to ask, whether, if a new election of members of Congress were to take place in his own State, to-morro",v, and the newly elected members should take their seats immediately, he should entertain tlie slightest ex- pectation of the passage of tliis bill through that House ? JMr. President, in 1834, the honorable member presented to the Senate, resolutions of the Legislature of New York, approving the previous course of the administration in relation to the currency. He then urged strongly, but none too strongly, the weight due to those resolutions, because, he argued, they expressed the undoubted sense of the people, as well as that of the Legislature. He said there was not, at that time, a single member in the popular branch of the Legislature, who was not in favor of those resolutions, either from the cities of Hudson, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Utica, or an almost endless number of incorporated trading towns and vil- lages, or the great city of New York itself, which he justly calls the commercial emporium of the country ; all these cities and villages being surrounded, as he most justly said, by an intelligent popula- tion ; and cities, villages, and country, altogether comprising near two millions of souls. All this was very well. It was true. The facts were with the honorable member. And althoush I most ex- ceedingly regretted and deplored that it was so, I could not deny it. And he was entitled to enjoy, and did enjoy, the whole benefit of this respectable support. But, sir, how stands the matter now ? What say these two millions of souls to the sub-Treasury? In the first ]ilace, what says the city of New York, tliat great com- mercial emporium, worthy the gentleman's commendation in 1834, and worthy of his commendation, and my commendation, and all commendation, at all times ? What sentiments, what opinions, what feelings, are proclaimed by the thousands of her merchants, traders, manufacturers, and laborers? What is the united shout of all the voices of all her classes ? What is it, but that you will put down this new-fangled sub-Treasury system, alike alien to their interests and their feelings, at once, and forever ? What is it, but that in mercy to the mercantile interest, the trading interest, the shipping interest, the manufacturing interest, the laboring class, and all classes, you will give up useless and pernicious political schemes and projects, and return to the plain, straight course of wise and wholesome legislation ? The sentiments of the city cannot be misunderstood. A thousand pens, and ten thousand tongues, and 272 a spirited press, make them all known. If we have not already yet heard enough, we shall hear more. Embarrassed, vexed, pressed, and distressed, as are her citizens at this moment, yet their resolution is not shaken, their spirit is not broken ; and, depend upon it, they will not see their commerce, their business, their pros- perity, and their happiness, all sacrificed to preposterous schemes and political empiricism, without another, and a yet more vigorous, struggle. And Hudson, and Albany, and Troy, and Schenectady, and Utica — pi'ay, sir, why may not the citizens of these cities have as much weight with the honorable member now, as they just- ly had in 1834? And does he, can he, doubt of what they think of his bill ? Ay, sir, and Rochester, and Batavla, and Buffalo, and the entire western district of the State, does the honorable member suppose that, in the whole of it, he would be able, by careful search, to do more than to find, now and then, so rare a bird, as a single approver of this system ? Mr. President, if this system must com^e, let it come. If we must bow to it, why, then, put it upon us. Do it. Do it by the power of Congress and the President. Congress and the Presi- dent have the power. But spare us, I beseech you, spare the people from the imputation, that it is done under clear proof and evidence of their own approbation. Let it not be said it is their choice. Save them, in all mercy, from that reproach. Sir, I think there is a revolution in public opinion now going on, whatever may be the opinion of the member from New York, or others. I think the fall elections prove this, and that other more recent events confirm it. I think it is a revolt against the absolute dictation of party, a revolt against coercion, on the public judg- ment ; and especially a revolt against the adoption of new mis- chievous expedients, on questions of deep public interest ; a revolt against the rash and unbridled spirit of change ; a revolution, in short, against further revolution. I hope, most sincerely, that this revolution may go on ; not, sir, for the sake of men, but for the sake of measures, and for the sake of the country. I wish it to proceed till the whole country, with an imperative unity of voice, shall call back Congress to the true policy of the Government. The honorable member from New York is of opinion, sir, that there are only three courses open to us. We must, he urges, either adopt this measure, or return to a system of deposits with the State banks, or establish a national bank. Now, sir, suppose this to be as the gentleman states, then, I say, that either of the others is better than this. 1 would prefer doing almost any thing, and I would vastly prefer doing nothing, to taking this bill. I need not conceal my own opinions. I am in favor of a na- tional institution, with such provisions and securities as Congress may think proper, to guard against danger and against abuse. But 213 the honorable member disposes of this, at once, by the declaration, that he himself can never consent to a bank, being utterly opposed to it, both on constitutional grounds and grounds of expediency. The gentleman's opinion, sir, always respected, is certainly of great weight and importance, from the public situation he occupies. But although these are his opinions, is it certain that a majority of the people of the country agree with him in this particular ? I think not. I verily believe a majority of the people of the United States are now of the opinion, that a national bank, properly con- stituted, limited, and guarded, is both constitutional and expedient, and ought now to be established. So far as I can learn, three fourths of the Western people are for it. Their representatives here can form a better judgment; but such is my opinion, upon the best information which I can obtain. The South may be more divided, or may be against a national institution ; but looking, again, to the centre, the North and the East, and comprehending the whole in one view, I believe the prevalent sentiment is such as I have stated. At the last session, great pains were taken to obtain a vote, of this and the other House, against a bank ; for the obvious purpose of placing such an institution out of the list of remedies, and so reconciling the people to the sub-Treasury scheme. Well, sir, and did those votes produce any effect ? None at all. The people did not, and do not, care a rush for them. I never have seen or heard a single man, who paid the slightest respect to those votes of ours. The honorable member, to-day, opposed as he is to a bank, has not even alluded to them. So entirely vain is it, sir, in this country, to attempt to forestall, commit, or coerce the public judgment. All those resolutions fell perfectly dead on the tables of the two Houses. We may resolve what we please, and resolve it when we please ; but if the people do not like it, at their own good pleasure they will rescind it ; and they are not likely to con- tinue their approbation long to any system of measures, however plausible, which terminates in deep disappointment of all their hopes for their own prosperity. I have said, sir, that, in preference to this bill, I would try some modification of the State bank system ; and I will cheerfully do so, although every body knows, that I always opposed that system. Still I think it less objectionable than this. Mr. President, in my opinion, the real source of the evil lies in the tone, and spirit, and general feeling, which have pervaded the administration for some years past. 1 verily believe the origin is there. That spirit, I fully believe, has been deeply anti-commercial, and of late decidedly unfriendly to the State institutions. Do the leading presses in favor of the administration speak its own sentiments? If you think they do, then look at the language and. spirit of those presses. VOL. III. 35 274 Do they not manifest an unceasing and bitter hostility to the mer- cantile classes, and to the institutions of the States ? I certainly never supposed the State banks fit agents for furnishing or regula- ting a national currency ; but I have thought them useful in their proper places. At any rate, the States had power to establish them, and have established them, and we have no right to endeavor to destroy them. How is it, then, that generally, every leading press, which supports the administration, joins in the general cry against these institutions of the States ? How is it, if it be not that a spirit hostile to these institutions has come to pervade the admm- istration itself? In my opinion, the State banks, on every ground, demand other treatment ; and the interest of the country requires that they should receive other treatment. The Government has used them, and why should it now not only desert, but abuse them ? That some of the selected banks have behaved very unworthily, is no doubt true. The best behavior is not always to be expected from pets. But that the banks, generally, deserved this unrestrained warfare upon them, at the hands of Government, I cannot believe. It ap- pears to me to be both ungrateful and unjust. The banks, sir, are now making an eflbrt, which I hope may be successful, to resume specie payments. The process of resumption works, and must work, with severity upon the country. Yet I most earnestly hope the banks may be able to accomplish the object. But in all this effort, they get no aid from Government, no succor from Government, not even a kind word from Govern- ment. They get nothing but denunciation and abuse. They work alone, and therefore the attainment of the end is the more difficult. They hope to reach that end only, or mainly, by reduction and curtailment. If, by these means, payment in specie can be re- sumed and maintained, the result will prove the existence of great solidity, both of the banks and of the mercantile classes. The Bank of England did not accomplish resumption by curtailment alone. She had the direct aid of Government. And the banks of the United States, in 1816, did not rely on curtailment alone. They had the aid of the then new-created Bank of the United States, and all the countenance, assistance, and friendly support, which the Government could give them. Still, I would not dis- courage the efforts of the banks. I trust they will succeed, and that they will resume specie payments at the earliest practicable mo- ment ; but it is, at the same time, my full conviction, that by another and a better course of public policy, the Government might most materially assist the banks to bring about resumption ; and that by Government aid, it might be brought about with infinitely less of public inconvenience and individual distress. For an easy resumption of specie payments, there is mainly 275 wanted a revival of trust, the restoration of confidence, and a har- monious action, between the Government and the moneyed insti- tutions of tlie country. But instead of efibrts to inspire trust, and create confidence, we see and hear notliing but denunciation ; in- stead of hannonious action, we find nothiuir but unrelenting hos- tility. Mr. President, you and I were in Congress, in 1816, during the time of the suspension of specie payments by the banks. What was the spirit of the Government at that time, sir? Was it hostile, acrimonious, belligerent towards the State institutions ? Did it look on them only to frown ? Did it touch them only to distress? Did It put tliem all under the scourge ? You know, sir, it was far otherwise. You know, that the Secretary of that day entered into friendly correspondence with them, and assured them that he would second their elforts for re5umj)tIon, by all the means in his power. You know, sir, that in fact, he did render most essential aid. And do you see, sir, any similar effort now ? Do you behold, In the bill before us, any thing of the spirit or the policy of Mr. Madison, on an occasion very like the present ? I\Ir. Madison was a man of such subdued self-respect, that he was willing to yield to expe- rience and to the opinion of his country ; a man, too, of so much wisdom and true patriotism, that nothing was allowed to stand be- tween him and his clear perception of the public good. Do you see, sir, any thing of this spirit — of the wisdom, of the mild, and healing, and restoring policy, of Mr. Madison, in this measure ? Another illustrious man, now numbered with the dead, was then A\ ith us, and was acting an important part, in the councils of the country. I mean Mv. Lowndes ; a man not deficient in force and genius, but still more distinguished for that large and comprehen- sive view of things which is more necessary to make great men, and is also much rarer than mere positive talent — and for an im- partial, well-balanced judgment, which kept him free from preju- dice and error, and which gave great and just influence to all his opinions. Do you see, sir, any thing of the spirit, the temper, the cool judgment, or the long-sighted policy of Mr. Lowndes, in all that is now before us ? And Mr. Crawford, then at the head of the Treasury, arduously striving to restore the finances, to rees- tablish both public and private credit, and to place the currency once more upon its safe and proper foundation ; do you see, sir, the marks of Mr. Crawford's Imnds in the measure now presented for our apjirobation ? Mr. President, I have little to say of the subordinate provisions of this bill, of the receivers-general, or of the dangerous power, given to the Secretary, of investing the public money in State stocks of his own selection. My opposition to the bill, is to the whole of it. It is general, uncompromising, and decided. I op- 276 pose all its ends, objects, and purposes ; I oppose all its means, its inventions, and its contrivances. I am opposed to the separation of Government and people ; I am opposed, now and at all times, to an exclusive metallic currency ; 1 am opposed to the spirit in which the measure originates, and to all and every emanation and ebullition of that spirit. I solemnly declare, that in thus studying our own safety, and renouncing all care over the general currency, we are, in my opinion, abandoning one of the plainest and most important of our constitutional duties. If, sir, we were, at this moment, at war with a powerful enemy, and if his fleets and ar- mies were now ravaging our shores, and it were proposed in Con- gress to take care of ourselves, to defend the Capitol, and abandon the country to its fate, it would be, certainly, a more striking, a more flagrant and daring, but in my judgment not a more clear and manifest dereliction of duty, than we commit in this open and pro- fessed abandonment of our constitutional power and constitutional duty, over the great interest of the national cun-ency. 1 mean to maintain that constitutional power, and that constitutional duty, to the last. It shall not be with my consent, that our ancient policy shall be overturned. It shall not be with my consent, that the country shall be plunged, farther and farther, into the un fathomed depths of new expedients. It shall not be without a voice of re- monstrance from me, that one great and important purpose for which this Government was framed, shall now be utterly surren- dered and abandoned forever SECOND SPEECH ON THE SUB-TREASURY BILL, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 12, 1838. Mr, President : Having at an early stage of the debate ex- pressed, in a general manner, my opposition to this bill, I must find an apology for again addressing the Senate, in the acknowl- edged importance of the measure, the novelty of its character, and the division of opinion respecting it which is known to exist in both Houses of Congress. To be able, in this state of things, to give a preponderance to that side of the question which I embrace, is, perhaps, more than I ought to hope ; but I do not feel that I have done all which my dutv demands, until I make another effort. The functions of this Government, which, in time of peace, most materially affect the happiness of the people, are those which respect commerce and revenue. The bill before us touches both these great interests. It proposes to act directly on the revenue and expenditure of Government, and it is expected to act, also, indi- lectly, on commerce and currency ; while its friends and supporters relying solely on this, altogether abstain from other measures, deemed by a great portion of Congress, and of the country, to be indispen- sably demanded by the present exigency. We have arrived, Mr. President, towards the close of a half cen- tury from the adoption of the constitution. During the progress of these years, our population has increased from three or four mil- lions to thirteen or fourteen millions ; our commerce, from little or nothing, to an export of a hundred and ninety millions, and an import of a hundred and twenty-eight and a half millions, in the year 1836. Our mercantile tonnage approaches near to two mil- lions. We have a revenue, and an expenditure, of thirty millions a year. The manufactures of the country have attained very great importance, and, up to the commencement of the derange- ment of the currency, were in a prosperous and growing state. 277 X 278 The produce of the fisheries has become vast ; and the general production of labor and capital is increasing, far beyond all exam- ple in other countries or other times, and has already reached an amount which, to those who have not investigated the subject, would seem incredible. The commerce of the United States, sir, is spread over the globe. It pursues its object in all seas, and finds its way into every port which the laws of trade do not shut against its approach. With all the disadvantages of more costly materials, and of higher wages, and often in despite of unequal and unfavorable commercial regula- tions of other States, the enterprise, vigor, and economy which dis- tinguish our navigating interest, enable it to show our flag, in competition with the most favored and the most skilful, in the various quarters of the world. In the mean time, internal acti\ity does not las nor loiter. New and useful modes of intercourse and facili- ties of transportation are established, or are m progress, every where. Public works are projected and pushed forward, in a spirit which grasps at high and vast objects, with a bold defiance of all expense. The aggregate value of the property of the country is augmented daily. A constant demand for new capital exists, al- though a debt has already been contracted in Europe, for sums advanced to States, corporations, and individuals, for purposes con- nected with internal improvement ; which debt cannot now be less than a hundred millions of dollars. Spreading over a great extent, embracing different climates, and with vast variety of products, we find an intensely excited spirit of industry and enterprise to pervade the whole country ; while its external commerce, as I have already said, sweeps over all seas. We are connected with all commercial countries, and, most of all, with that which has established and sus- tained the most stupendous system of commerce and manufactures, and which collects and disburses an incredible amount of annual revenue ; and which uses, to this end, and as means of currency and circulation, a mixed money of metal and paper. Such a mixed system, sir, has also prevailed with us, from the beginning. Gold and silver, and convertible bank paper, have always constituted our actual money. The people are used to this system. It has hitherto commanded their confidence, and fulfilled their expectations. We have had, in succession, two national banks ; each for a period of twenty years. Local or State banks have, at the same time, been in operation ; and no man of intelli- gence or candor can deny that, during these forty years, and with the operation of a national and these State institutions, the currency of the country, upon the whole, has been safe, cheap, convenient, and satisfactoiy. When the Government was established, it found convertible bank paper, issued by State banks, already in circulation ; 279 and with this circulation it did not interfere. The United States, indeed, had themselves established a bank, under the old Confed- eration, with authority to issue paper. A system of mixed circula- tion, therefore, was exactly that system which this constitution, at its adoption, found already in existence. There is not the slightest evidence of any intention, in establishing the constitution, to over- throw or abolish this system, although it certainly was the object of the constitution to abohsh bills of credit, and all paper intended for circulation, issued upon the faith of the States alone. Inasmuch as whatever then existed, of the nature of money or currency, rested on State legislation, and as it was not possible that uniformity, general credit, and general confidence. could result from local and separate acts of the States, there is evidence — I think abundant evidence — that it was the intention of the framers of the constitution to give to Congress a controlling pov.'er over the whole subject, to the end that there shoidd be, for the w hole country, a currency of uniform value. Congress has heretofore exercised this authority, and fulfilled the corresponding duties. It has maintained, for forty years out of forty-nine, a national institution, proceeding from its power, and responsible to the General Government. With inter- vals of derangement, brought about by war and other occurrences, this whole system, taken altogether, has been greatly successful in its actual operation. We have found occasion to create no differ- ence between Government and people — between money for reve- nue, and money for the general use of the country. Until the commencement of the last session. Government had manifested no disposition to look out for itself exclusively. What was good enough for the people, was good enough for Government. No condescending and gracious preference had, before that period, ever been tendered to members of Congress, over other persons having claims upon the public funds. Such a singular spectacle had never been exhibited, as an amicable, disinterested, and patriotic under- standing, between those who are to vote taxes on the people, for the purpose of replenishing the Treasury, and those who, from the Treasury, dispense the money back again among those who have claims on it. In that respect I think tlie Secretary stands alone. He is the first, so far as I know, in our long list of able heads of Departments, who has thought it a delicate and skilful touch, in financial administration, to be particularly kind and complaisant to the interest of the law-makers — those who hold the tax-laying power ; the first,w hose great deference and cordial regard for mem- bers of Congress have led him to provide for them, as the medium oi' payment and receipt, something more valuable than is provided, at the same time, for the army, the navy', the judges, the revolu- tionary pensioners, and the various classes of laborers in the pay ot Government. 280 Through our ^vhc)le history, sir, we have found a convertible paper currency, under proper control, highly useful, by its pliability to circumstances, and by its capacity of enlargement, in a reasona- ble degree, to meet the demands of a new and enterprising com- munity. As 1 have already said, sir, we owe a permanent debt of a hundred millions abroad ; and in the present abundance of money in England, and the state of demand here, this amount will probably be increased. But it must be evident to eveiy one, that so long- as, by a safe use of paper, we give some reasonable expansion to our own circulation, or at least do not unreasonably contract it, we do, to that extent, create or maintain an ability for loans among ourselves, and so far diminish the amount of annual interest paid abroad. But let me now, Mr. President, ask the attendon of the Senate to another subject, upon which, indeed, much has already been said : I mean that which is usually called the credit system. Sir, what is that system ? Why is credit a word of so much solid importance, and of so powerful charm, in the United States? Why is it that a shock has been felt through all classes and all in- terests, the fii-st moment that this credit has been disturbed ? Does its importance belong, equally, to all commercial States ? Or are there peculiarities in our condition, our habits, and modes of busi- ness, which make credit more indispensable, and mingle it more naturally, more intimately, with the life-blood of our system ? A full and philosophical answer to these inquiries, Mr. President, would demand that 1 should set forth both the ground-w ork and the structure of our social system. It would show that the wealth and prosperity of the country have as broad a foundation as its popular constitutions. Undoubtedly there are peculiarities in that system, resulting from the nature of our political institutions, from our elementary laws, and from the general character of the people. These peculiarities most unquesdonably give to credit, or to those means and those arrangements, by whatever names we call them, which are calculated to keep the whole, or by far the greater part, of the capital of the country in a state of constant activity, a de- gree of importance far exceeding what is experienced elsew here. In the old countries of Europe there is a clear and well-defined line between capital and labor ; a line which strikes through society with a horizontal sweep, leaving on one side wealth, in masses, holden by few hands, and those having litde participation in the laborious pursuits of life ; on the other, the thronging multitudes of labor, with here and there, only, an instance of such accumulation of earnings as to deserve the name of capital. This distinction, indeed, is not universal and absolute in any of the commercial States of Europe, and it grows less and less definite as commerce advances ; the effect of commerce and manufactures, as all history 281 shows, being, every where, to diffuse wealth, and not to aid its accumulation in few hands. But still the liiie is greatly more broad, marked, and visible in European nations, than in the United States. In those nations the gains of capital, and wages, or the earnings of labor, are not only distinct in idea, as elements of the science of political economy, but, to a great degree, also, distinct in fact ; and their respective claims, and merits, and modes of relative adjustment, become subjects of discussion and of public regulation. Now, sir, every body may see that that is a state of thin o;s which, does not exist with us. We have no such visible and broad distinction between capital and labor; and much of the general happiness of all classes results from this. With us, labor is every day augmenting its means by its own industry ; not in all cases, indeed, but in very many. Its savings of yesterday become its capi- tal, therefore, of to-day. On the other hand, vastly the greater portion of the property of the country exists in such small quantities that its holders cannot dispense altogether \\ ith their own personal industry ; or if, in some instances, capital be accumulated till it rises to what may be called afiluence, it is usually disintegrated and broken into particles again, in one or two generations. The abolition of the rights of primogeniture ; the descent of property of every sort to females as well as males ; the cheap and easy means by which prop- erty is transferred and conveyed ; the high price of labor ; the low price of land ; the genius of our political institutions ; in fine, every thing belonging to us, counteracts large accumulation. This is our actual system. Our politics, our constitutions, our elementary laws, our habits, all centre in this point, or tend to this result. From where I now stand, to the extremity of the northeast, vastly the greatest part of the property of the country is in the hands and ownership of those whose personal industry is employed in some form of productive labor. General competence, general education, enterprise, activity, and industry, such as never before pervaded any society, are the characteristics which distinguish the people who live, and move, and act in this state of things, such as I have described it. Now, sir, if this view be true, as I think it is, all must perceive that, in the United States, capital cannot say to labor and industry, " Stand ye yonder, while I come up hither ; " but labor and indus- try lay hold on capital, break it into parcels, use it, diffuse it widely, and, instead of leaving it to repose in its own inertness, compel it to act at once as their own stimulus and their own instiiiment. But, sir, this is not all. There is another view still more imme- diately affecting the operation and use of credit. In every wealthy community, however equally property may be divided, there will always be some property-holders who live on its income. If this property be land, they live on rent ; if it be money, they live on its VOL, III. 36 X* 28^ interest. Tlie amount of real estate held in this country on lease, Is comparatively very small, except in the cities. But there are indi- viduals and families, trustees and guardians, and various literary and charitable institutions, who have occasion to invest funds for the pur- pose of annual moneyed income. Where do they invest ? where can they invest ? The answer to these questions shows at once a mighty difference between the state of things here, and that in England. Here, these investments, to produce a moneyed income, are made in banks, insurance companies, canal and railroad corporations, and other similar institutions. Placed thus immediately in active hands, this capital, it is evident, becomes at once the basis of business ; it gives occupation, pays labor, excites enterprise, and perfomis, in short, all the functions of employed money. But, in England, in- vestments for such purposes usually take another direction. There is, in England, a vast amount of public stocks, as eight or nine hundred millions sterling of public debt actually exists, constituting, to the amount of its annual interest, a charge on the active capital and industry of the country. In the hands of individuals, portions of this debt are capital ; that is, they produce income to the proprietors, and income without labor; while, in a national point of view, it is mere debt. What was obtained for it, or that on account of which it was contracted, has been spent in the long and arduous wars, which the country has sustained, from the time of King William the Third, to our own days. There are thousands of individuals, therefore, whose fixed income arises, not from the active use of property, either in their own hands, or the hands of others, but from the interest on that part of this national charge to which they are entided. If, therefore, we use the term capital not in the sense of political economy exactly, but as implying whatever returns income to indi- viduals, we find an almost incalculable mass so circumstanced as not to be the basis of active operations. To illustrate this idea further, sir, let us suppose that, by some oc- currence, (such as is certainly never to be expected,) this debt should be paid off; suppose its holders were to receive, to-morrow, their full amounts ; what would they do with them ? Why, sir, if they were obliged to loan the one-quaiter part into the hands of the indus- trious classes, for the purposes of employment in active business ; and if this operation could be accompanied by the same intelligence and industry among the people which prevail with us, the result would do more toward raisins: the character of the laboring classes, than all reforms in Parliament, and other general political operations. It would be as if this debt had never been contracted ; as if the money had never been spent, and now remained part of the active capital of the country, widely diffused and employed in the business of hfe. But this debt, sir, has created an enormous amount of private prop- erty, upon the income of which its owners live, which does not 283 require their own active labor or that of others. We have no such debt; we have no such mode of investment; and this circumstance gives quite a different aspect and a different reahtytoour condition. Now, IMr. President, what I understand by the credit system is, that w hich thus connects labor and capital, by giving to labor the use of capital. In other words, intehigence, good character, and good morals bestow on those who have not capital, a power, a trust, a confidence, which enables them to obtain it, and to employ it usefully for themselves and others. These active men of business build their hopes of success on their attentiveness, their economy, and their integrity. A wider theatre for useful activity is under their feet, and around them, than was ever spread before the eyes of the young and enterprising generations of men, on any other spot enlightened by the sun. Before them is the ocean. Every thing in that direction in- vates them to efforts of enterprise and industry in the pursuits of com- merce and the fisheries. Around them, on all hands, are thriving and prosperous manufactures, an improving agriculture, and the daily presentation of new objects of internal improvement ; while behind them is almost half a continent of the richest land, at the cheapest prices, under healthful climates, and washed by the most magnificent rivers that on any part of the globe pay their homage to the sea. In the midst of all these glowing and glorious prospects, they are neither restrained by ignorance, nor smitten down by the penury of personal circumstances. They are not compelled to con- template, in hopelessness and despair, all the advantages thus be- stowed on their condition by Providence. Capital though they may have little or none, credit supplies its place ; not as the refuge of the prodigal and the reckless ; not as gratifying present wants with the certainty of future absolute ruin ; but as the genius of honorable trust and confidence ; as the blessing, voluntarily offered to good character and to good conduct ; as the beneficent agent, wliich as- sists honesty and enterprise in obtaining comfort and independence. Mr. President, take away this credit, and what remains? I do not ask what remains to the few, but to the many ? Take away this sys- tem of credit, and then tell me what is left for labor and industry, but mere manual toil and daily drudgery? If we adopt a system that withdraws capital from active employment, do we not diminish the rate of wages? If we curtail the general business of society, does not every laboring man find his condition grow daily worse ? In the politics of the day, sir, we hear much said about divorces ; and when we abolish credit, we shall divorce labor from capital ; and, depend on it, sir, when we divorce labor from capital, capital is hoarded, and labor starves. The declaration so often quoted, that " all who trade on bor- rowed capital ought to break," is the most aristocratic sentiment ever uttered in this country. It is a sentiment wliich, if carried out 284 by political arrangement, would condemn the great majority of mankind to the perpetual condition of mere day-laborers. It tends to take away from them all that solace and hope which arises from possessing something which they can call their own. A man loves his own ; it is fit and natural that he should do so ; and he will love his country and its institutions, if he have some stake in that coun- try, although it be but a very small part of the general mass of property. If it be but a cottage, an acre, a garden, its possession raises him, gives him self-respect, and strengthens his attachment to his native land. It is our happy condition, by the blessings of Providence, that almost every man of sound health, industrious habits, and good morals, can ordinarily attain, at least, to this degree of comfort and respectability ; and it is a result devoutly to be wished, both for its individual and its general consequences. But even to this degree of acquisition, that credit, of which I have already said so much, is highly important, since its general effect is to raise the price of wages, and render industry productive. There is no condition so low, if it be attended with industry and economy, which this credit does not benefit, as any one will find, if he will examine and follow out its operations. Such, Mr. President, being the credit system in the United States, as I understand it, I now add, tliat the banks have been the agents, and their circulation the instrument, by which the general operations of this credit have been conducted. Much of the capi- tal of the country, placed at interest, is vested in bank stock, and those who borrow, borrow at the banks ; and discounts of bills, and anticipation of payments, in all its forms, the regular and appropri- ate duty of banks, prevail universally. In the North, the banks have enabled the manufacturers of all classes to realize the proceeds of their industry at an early moment. The course has been, that the producers of commodities for South- ern consumption, having despatched their products, draw their bills. These bills are discounted at the banks, and with the proceeds other raw material is bought, and other labor paid ; and thus the general business is continued in progress. All this is well known to those who have had opportunity to be acquainted with such con- cerns. But bank credit has not been more necessary to the North than to the South. Indeed, no where has interest been higher, or the de- mand ibr capital greater, or the full benefit of credit more indispen- sable, than in the new cotton and sugar-growing States. I ask gentlemen from those States if diis be not so ? Have not the plan- tations been bought, and the necessary labor procured, to a great extent, on credit? Has not this credit been obtained at the banks? Even now do they not find credits, or advances on their crops, im- portant in enabling them to get those crops to market ? And if 285 there had been no credit — if a hard-money system had prevailed, let me ask them what would have been, at this moment, the condi- tion of things in Alabama, Louisiana, IMississippi, and Arkansas ? These States, sir. with Tennessee and the South Atlantic States, constitute the great plantation interest. That there has been a vast demand for capital to be invested in this interest, is sufficiently proved, by the high price paid for the use of money. In my opinion, sir, credit is as essential to the great export of the South, as to any other interest. The agriculture of the cotton and sugar-producing States partakes, in no inconsiderable degree, of the nature of commerce. The production and sale of one great staple only, is an operation essentially different from ordinary farming pur- suits. The exports of the South, indeed, may be considered as the aggregate result of various forms and modes of industry, carried on by various hands, and in various places, rather than as the mere product of the plantation. That product itself is local ; but its indispensable aids and means are drawn from every part of the' Union. What is it, sir, that enables Southern labor to apply itself so exclusively to the cultivation of these great articles for export ? Certainly, it is so applied, because its own necessities for provision and clothing are supplied, meanwhile, from other quarters. The South raises to sell, and not to consume ; and with the proceeds of the sales it supplies itself with whatever its own consumption demands. There are exceptions ; but this is the general truth. The hat- makers, shoe-makers, furniture-makers, and carriage-makers of the North, the spinners at Lovv^eli, and the weavers of Philadel- ])hia, are all contributors to the general product both of cotton and sugar, for export abroad ; as are the live-stock raisers of Kentucky, the grain-growing farmers and all who produce and vend provisions in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The Northern ship-owner and the mariner, who carry these products to market, are agents acting to the same end; and so are they too who, little thinking of cotton- fields, or sugar estates, are pursuing their adventurous employment in the whale fisheries, over the whole surface, and among all the islands, of the Pacific and the Indian oceans. If we take the annual cotton crop at sixty millions of dollars, we may, perhaps, find that the amount of forty-five millions is expended, either for interest on capital advanced, or for the expense of clothing and supporting- labor, or in the charges which belong to the household, the domes- tic expenditure, and education. Thus, sir, all the laborious classes are, in truth, cotton-growers and sugar-makers. Each, in its own way, and to the extent of its own productiveness, contributes to swell the magnitude of that enormous export, which was nothing at the commencement of this Govern- ment, and which now has run up to so many millions. Through all these operations the stream of credit has constantly flowed, and there 286 is not one of them that will not be checked and interrupted, em- barrassed and thwarted, if this stream be now dried up. This con- nexion of the various interests of the country with one another,forms an important and interesting topic. It is one of the natural ties of the Union. The variety of production, and mutual wants mutually sup- plied, constitute a strong bond between different States ; and long may that bond last, growing with their growth, and strengthening with their strength. But, Mr. President, that portion of our productions which takes the form of export, becomes distinct and visible ; it is prominent and striking, and is seen and wondered at by everybody. The annual returns all show it, and every day's commercial intelligence speaks of it. We gaze at it with admiration, and the world is no less ad- miring than ourselves. With other branches of industry the case is quite different. The products of these branches, being put in the train of domestic ex- chano-es, and consumed in the country, do not get into statistical tables, are not collected in masses, and are seldom presented, in the aggregate, to the public view. They are not of the character of a few large and mighty rivers, but of a thousand little streams, mean- dering through all the fields of business and of life, and refreshing and fertilizing the whole. Few of us, Mr. President, are aware of what would be the amount of the general production of the country, if it could be accurately ascertained. The Legislature of Massachusetts, under the recom- mendation of the intelligent Chief Magistrate of that State, has caused to be prepared and published a report on the condition and products of certain branches of its industry, for the year ending in April, 1837. The returns of the authorities of each city and town were made, apparently, with much care ; and the whole has been collated by the Secretary of State, and the result distinctly presented in well-arranged statistical tables. From a summary of the state- ments in these tables, I will take the liberty of selecting a few arti- cles, and of adverting to them here, as instances, or specimens, of the annual product of labor and industry in that State'. And to begin with a very necessary and important article : I find, that of boots and shoes, the value of the whole amount manufac- tured within the year exceeds fourteen millions and a half of dollars. If the amount of other articles of the same class or matenal, be added, viz : leather, saddles, trunks, harness, fee, the total will be not far from eighteen millions and a half of dollars. I will read the names of some other articles, and state the amount of annual product belonging to each : Cotton fabrics f 17,409,000 Woollen fabrics 10,399,000 287 Fisheries ---.--- 7,592,000 Books and stationary, and paper - - - 2,592,000 Soap and candles _ _ - - - 1,620,000 Nails, brads, and tacks 2,500,000 Machinery of various kinds - - - - 1,235,000 Agricultural implements _ . - - 645,000 Glass 831,000 Hats 700,000 Clothing, neckcloths, &c. - - - - 2,013,000 Wool - - 539,000 These, sir, are samples. The grand total is ninety-one million seven hundred thousand dollars. From this, however, deductions are to be made for the cost of the raw material when imported, and for certain articles enumerated under different heads. But, then, the whole statement is confined to some branches of industry only ; and to present an entire and comprehensive view, there should be added the gains of commerce within the year, the earnings of navigation, and almost the whole agricultural product of the State. The result of all, if it could be collated and exhibited together, would show that the annual product of Massachusetts capital and Massachusetts industry exceeds one hundred millions of dollars. Now, sir, Massachusetts is a small State, in extent of territory. You may mark out her dimensions seven or eight times on the map of Virginia. Yet her population is seven hundred thousand souls ; and the annual result of their laborious industry, economy, and labor, is as I have stated. Mr. President, in looking over this result, it is most gratifying to find that its great mass consists in articles equally essential and use- ful to all classes. They are not luxuries, but necessaries and com- forts. They belong to food and clothing, to household conveniences, and education. As they are more and more multiplied, the great majority of society becomes more elevated, better instructed, and happier in all respects. 1 have looked though this whole list, sir, to find what there is in it that might be fairly classed among the higlier luxuries of life ; and what do I find ? In the whole hundred millions, 1 find but one such item ; and that is an item of two or three hundred thousand dollars for "jewelry, silver, and silver-plate." This is all that belongs to luxury, in her annual product, of a hun- dred millions ; and of this, no doubt, the far greater portion was sent abroad. And yet vve hear daily, sir, of the amassing of aris- tocratic wealth, by the progress of manufactures, and the operations of the credit system ! Aristocracy, it is said, is stealing upon us, and, in the form of aggregate wealth, is watching to seize political power from the hands of the people ! We have been more than once gravely admonished that, in order to improve the times, and 288 restore a metallic currency for the benefit of the poor, the rich ought to melt down their plate ! Whatever such a melting process might find to act upon elsewhere, Mr. President, I assure you that in Massachusetts it would discover little. A few spoons, candlesticks, and other similar articles, some old family pitchers and tankards, and the silver porringers of our nurseries, would be about the whole. Sir, if there be any aristocrats in Massachusetts, the people are all aristocrats ; because I do not believe there is on earth, in a highly civilized society, a greater equality in the condition of men, than exists there. If there be a man in the State who maintains what is called an equipage, has servants in livery, or drives four horses in his coach, I am not acquainted with him. On the other hand, there are few who are not able to carry their wives and daughters to church in some decent conveyance. It is no matter of regret or sorrow to us that few are very rich ; but it is our pride and glory that few are very poor. It is our still higher pride, and our just boast, as I think, that all her citizens possess means of intelligence and education ; and that, of all her productions, she reckons among the very chiefest, those which spring from the culture of the mind and the heart. Mr. President, one of the most striking characteristics of this age is the extraordinary progress which it has witnessed in popular knowl- edge. A new and powerful impulse has been acting in the social system of late, producing this effect in a most remarkable degree. In morals, in politics, in art, in literature, there is a vast accession to the number of readers, and to the number of proficients. The present state of popular knowledge is not the result of a slow and uniform progress, proceeding through a lapse of years, with the same reo-ular decree of motion. It is evidentlv the result of some new causes, brought into powerful action, and producing their con- sequences rapidly and strikingly. What, sir, are these causes? This is not an occasion, sir, for discussing such a question at length : allow me to say, however, that the improved state of pop- ular knowledge is but the necessary result of the improved condi- tion of the great mass of the people. Knowledge is not one of our merely physical wants. Life may be sustained without it. But, in order to live, men must be fed, and clothed, and sheltered ; and in a state of things in which one's whole labor can do no more than procure clothes, food, and shelter, he can have no time nor means for mental improvement. Knowledge, therefore, is not attained, ;ind cannot be attained, till there is some degree of respite from daily manual toil, and never-ending drudgery. But whenever a less degree of labor will produce the absolute necessaries of life, then there come leisure and means, both to teach and to learn. But if this great and wonderful extension of popular knowledge be the result of an improved condition, it may, in the next place, well be asked, what are the causes which have thus suddenly pro- 289 duced that great Improvement? How Is it that the means of food, clothing, and slieltcr, are now so much more cheaply and abun- dantly procured than formerly ? Sir, the main cause I take to be the progress of scientific art, or a new extent of the application of science to art. This it is, which has so much distinguished the last half century in Europe and in America; and its effects are every- where visible, and especially among us. jNIan has found new allies and auxiliaries, in the powere of nature, and in the inventions of mechanism. The general doctrine of political economy is, that wealth consists in whatever is useful or convenient to man, and that labor is the producing cause of all this wealth. This is very true. But, then, what is labor? In the sense of political writers, and in common language, it means human industry ; but, in a philosophical view, it may receive a much more comprehensive meaning. It is not, in that view, human toil only — the mere action of thews and muscles ; but it is any active agency which, working upon the materials with which the world is supplied, brings forth products useful or con- venient to man. The materials of wealth are in the earth, in the seas, and in their natural and unaided productions. Labor obtains these materials, works upon them, and fashions them to human use. Now, it has been the object of scientific art, or of the application of science to art, to increase this active agency, to aug- ment its power, by creating millions of laborers in the fonn of au- tomatic machines, all to be diligently employed, and kept at work by the force of natural po^^■ers. To this end these natural powers, principally those of steam and falling water, are subsidized and ta- ken into human employment. Spinning machines, power-looms, and all the mechanical devices, acting, among other operatives, in the factories and work-shops, are but so many laborers. They are usually denominated \ahor-saving machines, but it would be more just to call them \ahoT-(Joi7ig machines. They are made to be ac- tive agents ; to have motion, and to produce effect ; and though without intelligence, they are guided by those laws of science, which are exact and perfect, and they produce results, therefore, in general, more accurate than the human hand is capable of produc- ing. When we look upon one of these, we behold a mute fellow- laborer, of immense power, of mathematical exactness, and ofever- durin'T and unwearied effort. And while he is thus a most skilful and productive laborer, he is a non-consumer — at least, beyond the wants of his mechanical being. He is not clamorous for food, raiment, or shelter, and makes no demands for the expenses of edu- cation. The eating and drinking, the reading and writing, and clothes-wearing world, are benefitted by the labors of these co- operatives, in the same way as if Providence had provided for their service millions of beings, like ourselves in external appearance, VOL. HI. 37 y 290 able to labor and to toil, and yet requiring little or nothing for their own consumption or subsistence ; or rather, as if Providence had created a race of giants, each of whom, demanding no more for his support and consumption than a common laborer, should yet be able to perform the work of a hundred. Now, sir, turn back to the Massachusetts tables of production, and you will see that it is these automatic allies and cooperators, and these powers of nature, thus employed and placed under human direction, which have come, with such prodigious effect, to man's aid, in the great business of procuring the means of living, of com- fort, and of wealth, and which have so swollen the products of her skilful industry. Look at these tables once more, sir, and you wiH see the effects of labor, united with and acting upon capital. Look yet again, and you will see that credit, mutual trust, prompt and punctual dealings, and commercial confidence, are all mixed up as indispensable elements in the general system. I will ask you to look yet once more, sir, and you will perceive that general competence, great equality in human condition, a de- gree of popular knowledge and intelligence, no where surpassed, if any where equalled, and the prevalence of good moral sentiment, and extraordinary general prosperity, is the result of the whole. Sir, I have done with Massachusetts. I do not praise the old " Bay State " of the Revolution ; I only present her as she is. Mr. President, such is the state of things actually existing In the country, and of which I have now given you a sample. And yet there are persons who constantly clamor against this state of things. They call it aristocracy. They beseech the poor to make war upon the rich, while, in truth, they know not who are either rich or poor. They complain of oppression, speculation, and the perni- cious influence of accumulated wealth. They cry out loudly against all banks and corporations, and all the means by w hich small capi- tals become united, in order to produce important and beneficial results. They carry on a mad hostility against all established insti- tutions. They would choke up the fountains of industry, and dry all its streams. In a country of unbounded liberty, they clamor against oppres- sion. In a country of perfect equality, they would move heaven and earth against privilege and monopoly. In a country where property is more equally divided than any where else, they rend the air with the shouting of agrarian doctrines. In a country where the wages of labor are high beyond all parallel, and where lands are cheap, and the means of living low, they would teach the laborer that he is but an oppressed slave. Sir, what can such men want ? What do they mean ? They can want nothing, sir, but to enjoy the fruits of other men's labor. They can mean nothing but disturbance and disorder ; the diffusion of corrupt principles, and the destrue- 291 tion of the moral sentiments and moral habits of society. A licen- tiousness of feeling and of action is sometimes produced by pros- perity itself. Men cannot always resist the temptation to which they are exposed by the very abundance of the bounties of Provi- dence and the very happiness of their own condition ; as the steed, full of the pasture, will, sometimes, throw himself against its en- closures, break away from its confinement, and, feeling now free from needless restraint, betake himself to the moors and barrens, where w ant, ere long, brings him to his senses, and starvation and death close his career. Having said so much, sir, on the general condition of the country, and explained what I understand by credit, I proceed to consider the present actual state of the currency. The most recent Treasury estimate, which I have seen, supposes that there are eighty millions of metallic money now in the country. This I believe, however, to be a good deal too high ; I cannot be- lieve it exceeds sixty, at most ; and supposing one-half this sum to be in the banks, thirty millions are in circulation, or in private hands. We have seven hundred banks and branches, with capitals assigned for the security of their notes and bills, amounting to two hundred and eighty millions. The amount of bank notes in actual circula- tion is supposed to be one hundred millions ; so that our whole cir- culation is about one hundred and thirty millions. The amount of debts due to the banks, or the amount of their loans and discounts, may be taken at four hundred and fifty millions. Now, sir, this very short statement exhibits at once a general out- line of our existing system of currency and credit. We see a great amount of money or property in banks, as their assigned and ap- propriate capital, and we see a great amount due to these banks. These bank debtors generally belong to the classes of active busi- ness, or are such as have taken up credits for purposes of invest- ment in lands or merchandise, looking to future proceeds as the means of repayment. If we compare this state of circulation, of bank capital and bank debt, with the same things in England, im- portant differences will not fail to strike us. The whole paper circulation of England, by the latest accounts, is twenty-eight millions sterling — made up of eighteen millions of Bank of England notes, and ten millions of the notes of private bankers, and joint-stock companies ; bullion in the bank, nine and a half millions ; debts due the Bank of England, twenty-two and a half millions. The amount of loans and discounts by private bankers and joint-stock companies is not usually stated, I believe, in the public accounts. If it bear the same proportion to their notes in circulation, as in the case of the Bank of England, it would ex- ceed twelve millions. We may, therefore, take the amount of bank debts in England to be thirty-five millions. But I suppose that, 292 of the securities held by the Bank of England, exchequer notes constitute a large part ; in other w ords, that a large part of the bank debt is due by Government. The amount of coin in actual circulation is estimated to be thirty and a half millions. The whole amount of circulation in England, metallic and ])aper, is usually stated, in round numbers, at sixty millions ; which, rating the pound sterling at ^4 80, is equal to two hundred and eighty-eight millions of dollars. It will be seen, sir, that our papercirculation is one-half less than that of England, but our bank debt is, nevertheless, much greater ; since thirty-five millions sterling amount to only one hundred and sixty- eight millions of dollars ; and this sum, too, includes the amount of exchequer bills, or Government debt in the form of such bills, which the bank holds. These facts are very material to any just compari- son of the state of things in the two countries. The whole, or nearly the whole, capital of the Bank of England is lent to Goverament, not by means of exchequer notes, but on a permanent loan. And as to the private banks and joint-stock companies, though they issue bills for circulation, they have no assigned or appropriated capital whatever. The bills circulate on the private credit of the individual banker, or of those who compose the joint-stock companies. In the United States, an amount of capital, supposed to be sufficient to sustain the credit of the paper and secure the public against loss, is provided by law in the act of incorporation for each bank, and is assigned as a trust- fund for the payment of the liabilities of the bank. And if this capital be fairly and substantially advanced, it is a proper security ; and, in most cases, no doubt, it is substantially advanced. The directors are trustees of this fund, and they are liable, both civilly and criminally, for mismanagement, embezzlement, or breach of trust. This amount of capital, thus secured, is the basis of loans and discounts ; and this is the reason why permanent, or at least long loans are not considered so inappropriate to banking operations, with us, as they are in England. With us, it is evident that the directors are agents, holding a fund intended to be loaned, and acting between lender and borrower ; and this form of loan has been found exceed- ingly convenient and useful in the country. In some States, it is greatly preferred to mortgages, though there are others in which mortgages are usual. Whether exactly con- formable to the true notion of banking, or not, the truth is, that the object and operation of our banks is to loan money ; and this is mostly on personal security. The system, no doubt, is liable to abuse in particular instances. There may be directors who will loan too freely to themselves and their friends. Gross cases of this kind have recently been detected and exposed, and, I hope, will be suitably treated ; but, considering the great number of banks, these 293 instances, I think, are remarkably few. In general, the banks have been well conducted, and are believed to be solvent and safe. We have heard much, sir, in the course of this debate, of excess in the issue of bank notes for circulation. I have no doubt, sir, that there was a very improper expansion some years ago. When President Jackson, in 1832, had negatived the bill for continuing the Bank of the United States, (which act I esteem to be the true original source of all the disorders of the currency,) a vast addition was immediately made to the number of State banks. In 1833, the public deposits were actually removed from the Bank of the United States, although its charter was not to expire till 1S38, and placed in selected State banks. And, for the purpose of showing how much better the public would be accommodated without, than with, a Bank of the United States, these banks were not only en- couraged, but admonished, to be free and liberal in loans and dis- counts, made on the strength of the public moneys, to merchants and other individuals. The circular letter from the Treasury Department, addressed to the new deposit banks, under date of 26th September, 1833, has this significant clause, which could not have been misunderstood : — "The deposits of public money will enable you to afford in- creased facilities to commerce, and to extend your accommodation to individuals ; and as the duties which are payable to the Govern- ment arise from the business and enterprise of the merchants engaged in foreign trade, it is but reasonable that they should be preferred in the additional accommodation which the public depos- its will enable your institution to give, whenever it can be done without injustice to the claims of other classes of the community." Having read this letter, sir, I ask leave to refer the Senate to the 20di section of the bill now before us. There we find that, " if any officer, charged with the safe-keeping of the public money, shall loan the same, or any portion thereof, with or without interest, such act shall be deemed an embezzlement and a high misdemeanor, and the party convicted thereof shall be sentenced to imprison- ment." Sir, what a pretty piece of consistency is here ! In 1833 the depositaries of the public money were not even left to their own desire for gain, or their wishes to accommodate others, as being sufficient incentives to lend it out : they were admonished and directed to aflbrd increased facilities to commerce, and to extend their accommodation to individuals, since the public moneys in their vaults would enable them to give such additional accommodation ! Now, sir, under this bill, any officer who shall do any one of the same things, instead of being praised, is to be punished : he is to be adjudged guilty of embezzlement and of a high misdemeanor, and is to be confined, for aught I know, in cells as dark and dismal as the vaults and safes which are to contain our metallic currency. But although I think, sir, that the acts of Government created this 294 expansion, yet I am certainly of opinion that there was a very un- due expansion created. A contraction, however, had begun ; and I am of opinion, that had it not been for the specie order of July, 183G, and for the manner in which the deposit law %\ as executed, the banks would have gone through the crisis without suspension. This is my full and firm belief. I cannot, however, discuss these points here. They were treated with very great ability, last year, by a gentleman who then occupied one of the seats of Georgia on this floor. Whomsoever he did not satisfy, I cannot convince. Still, sir, the question is, whether there was an excess in the general amount of our circulation, in May last, or whether there is now such excess. By what standard is this to be judged ? If the question be, whether there be too much paper in circulation, it may be answered, by reference to the amount of coin in the banks from which the paper issues ; because I am unquestionably of opinion — an opinion which I believe nothing can ever shake — that the true criterion by which to decide the question of excess, in a convertible paper cur- rency, is the amount of that paper, compared with the gold and silver in the banks. Such excess would not be proved, absolutely and certainly, in every case, by the mere fact of the suspension of specie payments ; because such an event might be produced by panic, or other sudden cause, having power to disturb the best-regu- lated system of paper circulation. But the immediate question now is, whether, taking the whole circulation together, both metallic and paper, there was an excess existing in May, or is an excess now existing? Is one hundred and thirty millions an excessive or un- due amount of circulation for the United States ? Seeing that one part of this circulation is coin, and the other part paper, resting upon coin, and intended to be convertible, is the whole mass more than niay be fairly judged necessary to represent the property, the trans- actions, and the business of the country ? Or, in order to sustain such an amount of circulation, and to keep that part of it which is composed of paper in a safe state, should we be obliged to attempt to draw to ourselves more than our just proportion of that metallic money, which is in the use of all the commercial nations ? These questions appear to me to be but different modes of stating the same inquiry. Upon this subject we may, perhaps, form some general idea, by comparing ourselves with others. Various things, no doubt, exist, in different places and countries, to modify, either by enlarging or diminishing, the demand for money or currency in the transactions of business ; still, the amount of trade and commerce may furnish a general element of comparison between different states or nations. The aggregate of American imports and exports in 1836 was three liundred and eighteen millions ; that of England, reckoning the 295 pound sterling at ,*f 4 SO, again, was four hundred and eighty mil- lions, as near as I can ascertain ; the currency of England being, as already stated, sixty millions sterling, or two hundred and eighty- eight millions of dollars. If we work out a result from these pro- portions, the currency of the United States, it will be found, should be one hundred and ninety nilllions, in order to be equal to that of England ; but, according to the estimates of the Treasury, it did not, even in that year, exceed one hundred and eighty millions. Our population is about equal to that of England and Wales : the amount of our mercantile tonnage, perhaps, one fifth less. But, then, we are to consider that our country is vastly wider; and our facilities of internal exchange, by means of bills of exchange, greatly less. Indeed, there are branches of our intercourse, in which remit- tances cannot be well made, except in currency. Take one ex- ample : The agricultural products of Kentucky are sold to the South ; her purchases of commodities made at the North. There can be, therefore, very little of direct exchange between her and the places of purchase and sale. The trade goes round in a circle. There- fore, while the Bank of tlie United States existed, payments were made to a vast amount in the Northland East by citizens of Ken- tucky, and of the States similarly situated, not in bills of exchange, but in the notes of the Bank. These considerations augment the demand for currency. More than all, the country is new, sir ; almost the whole of our cap- ital active; and the entire amount of property, in the aggregate, rapidly increasing. In the last three years, thirty-seven millions of acres of land have been separated from the wilderness, purchased, paid for, and become subject to private individual ownership, to transfer and sale, and all other dispositions to which other real estate is subject. It has thus become property, to be bought and sold for money ; whereas, while in the hands of Govei'nment, it called for no expenditure, formed the basis of no transactions, and created no demand for currency. Within that short period, our people have bought from Government a territory as large as the wbole of Eng- land and Wales, and, taken together, far more fertile by nature. This seems incredible, yet the returns show it. Suppose all this to have been bought at the minimum price of a dollar and a quarter per acre ; and suppose the value to be increased in the common ratio in which we know the value of land is increased, by such purchase, and by the preliminary steps and beginnings of cultiva- tion ; an immense augmentation, it will readily be perceived, is made, even in so short a time, of the aggregate of property, in nominal price, and, to a great extent, in real value also. On the whole, sir, I confess I know no standard by which I can decide that our circulation is at present in excess. I do not believe it is so. Nor was there, as I think, any depreciation in the value of 296 money, up to the moment of the suspension of specie payments by the banks, comparing our currency with the currency of other na- tions. An American paper dollar would buy a silver dollar in Eng- land, deducting only the charge of transporting a dollar across the ocean, because it commanded a silver dollar here. There may be excess, however, I admit, where there is no present depreciation, in the sense in which I now use the term. It is hardly necessary to dwell, IMr. President, on the evils of a suddenly diminished circulation. It arrests business, puts an end to it, and overwhelms all debtors, by depression and downfall of prices. And even if we reduce circulation — not suddenly, but still reduce it farther than is necessary to keep it within just and reasonable limits — we produce many mischiefs ; we augment the necessity of foreign loans ; we contract business, discourage enter- prise, slacken the activity of capital, and restrain the commercial spirit of the country. It is very important to be remembered, sir, that, in our intercourse w ith other nations, we are acting on a prin- ciple of equality ; that is to say, we do not j)rotect our own ship- ping interest by peculiar privileges ; we ask a clear field, and seek no favor. Yet the materials for ship-building are high with us, and the wages of ship-builders and seamen are high also. We have to contend against these unfavorable circumstances ; and if, in ad- dition to these, we are to suffer further by unnecessary restraints on currency, and by a cramped credit, who can tell what may be the effect? Money is abundant in England, very abundant ; the rate of interest, therefore, is low, and capital will be seeking its invest- ment wherever it can hope to find it. If we derange our own curr rency, compulsively curtail circulation, and break up credit, how are the commerce and navigation of the United States to maintain themselves against foreign competition ? Before leaving, altogether, this subject of an excessive circulation, Mr. President, I will say a few words upon a topic which, if time would permit, I should be glad to consider at more length ; I mean, sir, the proper guards and securities for a paper circulation. I have occasionally addressed the Senate on this subject before, especially in the debate on the specie circular, in December, 1S36 ; but I wish to recur to it again, because I hold it to be of the utmost impor- tance to prove, if it can be proved, to the satisfaction of the country, that a convertible paper currency may be so guarded as to be secure against probable dangers. I say. sir, a convertible paper currency ; for I lay it down as an unquestionable truth, that no paper can be made equal, and kept equal to gold and silver, but such as is con- vertible into gold and silver, on demand. But I have gone farther, and still go farther than this ; and I contend that even convertibility, though itself indispensable, is not a certain and unfailing ground of reliance. There is a liability to excessive issues of paper, even 297 while paper Is convertible at will. Of this there can be no doubt. Where, then, shall a regulator be found? What principle of pre- vention may we rely on ? Now 1 think, sir, it is too common with banks, in judging of their condition, to set off all their liabilities against all their resources. They look to the quantity of specie in their vaults, and to the notes and bills becoming payable, as means or assets ; and, with these, they expect to be able to meet their returning notes, and to answer the claims of depositors. So far as the bank is to be regarded as a mere bank of discount, all this is very well. But banks of circula- tion exercise another function. By the very act of issuing their own paper, they affect the general amount of currency. In England, the Bank of England, and in the United States, all the banks, expand or contract tlie amount of circulation, of course, as they increase or curtail the general amount of their own paper. And this renders it necessary that they should be regukited and controlled. The question, is, by what rule? To this I answer, by subjecting all banks to the rule which the most discreet of them always follow — by compelling them to maintain a certain fixed proportion between specie and circulation ; without regarding deposits on one hand, or notes payable on the other. There will always occur occasional fluctuations in trade, and a demand for specie, by one country on another, will arise. It is too much the practice, when such occurrences take place, and specie is leaving the country, for banks to issue more paper, in order to pre- vent a scarchy of money. But exactly the opposite course should be adopted, A demand for specie to go abroad should be regarded as conclusive evidence of the necessity of contracting circulation. If, indeed, in such cases, it could be certainly known that the de- mand would be of short duration, the temporary pressure might be relieved by an issue of paper to fill the place of departing specie. But this never can be known. There is no safety, therefore, but in meeting the case at the moment, and in conforming to the infalli- ble index of the exchanges. Circulating paper is thus kept always nearer to the character, and to the circumstances of that, of which it is designed to be the representative — the metallic money. This subject might be pursued, I think, and clearly illustrated ; but, for the present, I only exjjress my belief that, with experience before us, and witli the lights w hich recent discussions, both in Europe and America, hold out, a national bank might be established, with more regard to its function of regulating currency, than to its func- tion of discount, on principles, and subject to regulations, such as should render its operations extremely useful ; and I should hope that, with an example before them of plain and eminent advantage, State institutions would conform to the same rules and principles ; and that, in this way, all the advantages of convertible paper might be enjoyed, with just security against its dangers. VOL. III. 38 298 I have detained tlie Senate too long, sir, with these observations upon the state of the country, and its pecuniary system and condition. And now, when the banks have suspended payments, universally ; when the internal exchanges are all deranged, and the business of the country most seriously interrupted, the questions are — Whether the measure before us is suitable to our condition, and ? Whether it is a just and proper exercise and fulfilment of the powers and duties of Congress ? What, then, sir, will be the practical operation and effect of this measure, if it should become a law ? Like its predecessor of the last session, the bill proposes nothing for the general currency of the country ; nothing to restore ex- changes ; nothing to bring about a speedy resumption of specie payments by the banks. Its whole professed object is the collec- tion and disbursement of the public revenue. Some of its friends, indeed, say, that when it shall go into operation, it will, incident ally, produce a favorable effect on the currency, by restraining the issue of bank paper. But others press it as if its effect was to be the final overthrow of all banks, and the introduction of an exclusive metallic currency for all the uses of the country. Are we to understand, then, that it is intended, by means, of which this is the first, to rid the country of all banks, as being but so many nuisances, and to abolish all paper currency whatever? Or is it expected, on the contrary, that after this system shall be adopted for the use of Government, there will still be a pa))er cur- rency in the country for the use of the people ? And if there shall still be a paper currency, will thijt currency consist of irredeemable Government paper, or of convertible bank notes, such as have circulated heretofore ? These questions must be answered, before we can judge accurately of the operation of this bill. As to an exclusive metallic currency, sir, the Administration on this point is regularly Janus-faced. Out doors, and among the people, it shows itself " all clinquant, all in gold." There, every thing is to be hard money — no paper rags — no delusive credits — no bank monopolies — no trust in paper of any kind. But in the Treasury Department, and in the Houses of Congress, we see another aspect — a mixed appearance, partly gold and partly paper ; gold for Government, and paper for the people. The small voice which is heard here, allows the absolute necessity of paper of some sort, and to some extent; while the shouts in tlie community de- mand the destruction of all banks, and the final extermination of all paper circulation. To the people, the lion roars against paper money in all the loud- ness and terror of his natural voice ; but to members of Congress, he is more discreet; lest he should frighten them out of their wits, 299 he here restrains and modulates, and roars " as gently as any suck- ing dove, or, as it were, any nightingale." The impracticability of an exclusive metallic currency, the absurdity of attempting any such thing in a country like this, is so manifest, that nobody here undertakes to support it by any reasoning or argument. All that is said in its favor, is general denunciation of paper, boisterous out- cry against the banks, and declamation against existing institutions, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The moment any one considers it, he sees how ridiculous any such attempt would be. An exclusive metallic circulation for the second commercial country on earth, in the nineteenth century ! Sir, you might as well propose to abolish commerce altogether. The currency of England is estimated at sixty millions sterling; and it is Mr. McCulloch's calculation, that if this currency were all gold, allowing only one quarter of one per cent, for wear of metals, the annual expense, attending such a currency, would be three millions and a quarter a year, or nearly five per cent, upon the whole. With us, this charge would be much greater. The loss of capital would be more, owing to the higher rates of interest; and besides all this, is the cost of transportation, which, in a country so extensive as ours, would be vast, and not easily calculated. We should also require, proportionally, more specie than is requisite in England, because our system of exchange, by means of bills of ex- change, is, at present, and would be, under such a system as is pro- ))osed, much less perfect and convenient than that of England. Besides, the English metallic circulation is mostly gold, gold being in England the standard metal. With us, silver and gold both are made standards, at a fixed relation ; and if we should succeed to keep this relation so true as to preserve both of the precious metals among us, (which, indeed, is not very probable,) our circulation would be still more expensive and cumbrous, from the quantity of silver which it would contain. The silver in the world is estimated to be fifty times as much as the gold in amount, and consequently something more than three times in value. If both should circulate, therefore, equally, in proportion to value, the currency would be three parts silver, and one gold. Now, sir, the annual expense of such a circulation, upon the basis of Mr. McCulloch's estimate, would exceed the whole annual expenditure made for our army and our navy. Consider, sir, the amount of actual daily payments made in the country. It Is difficult to estimate it, and quite impossible to ascertain it, with any accu- racy. But we can form some notion of it, by the daily amount of payments in the banks in some of the cities. In times of prosperous business and commerce, the daily amount of payments in the banks of New York alone has been equal to eight millions. Whether we call this a tenth, a twentieth, or a fiftieth part of all the payments 300 aiid receipts made dally in the country, we see to what an aggre- gate result the whole would rise. And how is it possible that such amount of receipt and payment could be performed by an actual passing of gold and silver from hand to hand ? Such notions, sir, hardly require serious refutation. ]Mr. President, an entire metallic currency w ould necessarily cre- ate banks immediately. Where would the money be kept, or how could it be remitted ? Banks of deposit niust and would be in- stantly provided for it. Would the merchants of the cities be seen, in their daily walks of business, with servants behind them with bags of gold and kegs of silver on their wheel-barrows ? What folly is great enough to imagine this ? If there were not now a bank-note nor a bank in the country, and if there should be an exclusive spe- cie currency to-morrow morning at nine o'clock, there would be fifty banks before sunset. From necessity, there would be created at once places of deposit ; and persons having money in such depos- itories would draw checks for it, and pass these checks as money, and from one hand they would pass to another; or the depositary himself would issue certificates of deposit, and these would pass as currency. And all this would do no more than just to carry us back two or three hundred years, to the infancy of banks. We should then have done nothing but reject the experience of the most civilized nations, for some centuries, as well as all our own experi- ence, and have returned to the rude conceptions of former times. These certificates of deposit would soon be found to be often issued without any solid capital, or actual deposit. Abuses arising from this source would call for legislative interference, and the Legislature would find it necessary to restrain the issue of paper intended for circulation, by enacting that such issues should only be made on the strength of competent capital, actually provided and assigned, placed under proper regulation, and managed by persons responsible to the laws. And this would bring us again exactly to the state of things in which we now are ; that is to say, to the use of the paper of banks, estabhshed, regulated, and controlled by law. In the mean time, before this process could be carried through, half the community would be made bankrupt by the ruin of their business, and by the violent and revolutionary changes of property which the process would create. The whole class of debtors, all that live more by industry than on capital, would be overwhelmed with undistinguishing destruction. There will then, sir, be no such thing as an exclusive paper cur- rency. The country will not be guilty of the folly of attempting it. I should have felt that I had occupied too much time with such a senseless and preposterous suggestion, were it not the manifest object of partisans to press such notions upon the attention of the people, in aid of the war against the banks. 301 We shall then, sir, have paper of some sort, forming a part of our currency. What w ill that paper be ? The honorable gentleman from South Carolina, admitting that paper is necessary as a part of the currency, or circulation, has contended that that paper ought to be Government paper — Government paper, not convertible nor re- deemable, only so far as by being receivable for debts and dues to Government. ]\Iy colleague has endeavored to satisfy the Senate, that the aim of the whole system, of which he regards this bill as but part, is to establish a circulation of Government paper and a Government bank. Other gentlemen have taken the same view of it. But, as the bill itself does not profess any such purpose, I am willing to discuss it in the character in which it presents itself. I take it for what its friends say it is — a bill making further provision for collecting the revenues. We are, then, sir, still to have paper as a general medium of cir- culation ; that paper is to be the paper of banks. But Government is to be divorced from these banks, altogether. It is not to keep its funds in them, as heretofore. It is to have nothing to do with them, is not to receive their notes, but is to collect and disburse its revenues by its own means and its own officers. The receipt of the notes of specie-paying banks is to be partially allowed for some time, but it is to be gradually discontinued ; and six years hence, we are to arrive at the maturity and the perfection of the system. When that auspicious day comes. Government is to receive and to pay out gold and silver, and nothing but gold and silver. Now, Mr. President, let us anticipate this joyous epoch ; let us suppose the six years to have expired ; and let us imagine this bill, with its specie payments and all, to be in full operation at the present hour. What will that operation be ? In the first place, disregarding all question of public convenience, or the general in- terests of the people, how ^\ ill this system work as a mere mode of collecting and paying out revenue ? Let us see. Our receipts and expenditures may be estimated, each, at thirty millions a year. Those who think this estimate either too high or too low, may make the necessary allowance. Here, then, is the sum of thirty millions, to be collected and paid out every year ; and it is all to be counted, actually told over, dollar after dollar, and gold piece after gold piece ; and how many times counted ? Let us inquire into that. The importing merchant, whose ship has arrived, and who has cash duties to pay, goes to the bank for his money, and the tellers count it out : that is once. He carries it to the custom-house, pays it, and the clerks count it over : that is twice. Some days afterwards, the collector takes it out of his bags and chests, carries it to the receiver-general's office, and there it is counted again, and poured into the bags and chests of that office : z 302 that is the third time. Presently a warrant comes from the Treas- ury, in favor of some disbursing officer, and the boxes are opened, and the necessary sums counted out : this is the fourth counting. And, fifthly and lastly, the disbursing officer pays it to the persons entitled to receive it, on contracts, or for pensions, salaries, or other claims. Thirty millions of hard money are thus to be handled and told over five times in the course of the year; and if there be transfers from place to place, then, of course, it is to be counted so much oftener. Government officers, therefore, are to count over one hundred and fifty millions of dollars a year ; which, allowing three hundred working days to the year, gives five hundred thousand dollars a day. But this is not all. Once a quarter, the naval officer is to count the collector's money, and the register in the land office is to count the receiver's money. And moreover, sir, every now and then the Secretary of the Treasury is to authorize unex- pected and impromptu countings, in his discretion, and just to satisfy his own mind ! Sir. what a money-counting, tinkling, jingling generation we shall be ! All the money-changers in Solomon's temple will be as nothing to us. Our sound will go forth unto all lands. We shall all be like the king in the ditty of the nursery : " There sat the king, a coanting of his money." You will observe, sir, that these receipts and payments cannot be made in parcels, without the actual handling of each piece of coin. The marks on kegs of dollars, and the labels on bags of gold, are not to be trusted. They are a part oi credit — and all credit^ all trust, all confidence, is to be done away with. When the sur- veyor, for instance, at the custom-house, is to examine the money on hand, in possession of the collector, or receiver-general, he is, of course, to count the money. No other examination can come to any thing. He cannot tell, from external appearance, nor from the weight, whether the collector has loaned out the money, and filled the bags and boxes up with sand and lead, or not. Nor can coun- terfeit pieces be otherwise detected than by actual handling. He must open, he must examine, he must count. And so at the land offices, the mints, and elsewhere. If these officers shall have a taste for silver sounds, they are all likely to be gratified. Mr. President, in all soberness, is not this whole operation pre- posterous ? It begins by proposing to Tceep the public moneys. This, itself, in the sense the word is here used, is a perfect novelty, especially in the United States. Why 'kee'p the public moneys ; that is to say, why hoard them, why keep them out of use ? The use of money is in the exchange. It is designed to circulate, not to be hoarded. All that Government should have to do with it, is to 303 receive It to-day, that it may pay it away to-morrow. It should not receive it before it needs it ; and it should part with it as soon as it owes it. To Tccep it — that is, to detain it, to hold it back Irom general use, to hoard it — is a conception belonging to barbarous times and barbarous Governments. How would it strike us, if we should see other great commercial nations acting upon such a system ? If England, with a revenue of fifty millions sterling a year, were found to be collecting and disbursing every shilling of it in hard money, through all the ramifications of her vast expenditure, should we not think her mad ? But the system is worse here, because it with- draws just so much active capital from the uses of a country that requires capital, and is paying interest for capital wherever it can obtain it. But now, sir, allow me to examine the operation of this measure upon the general interest of commerce, and upon the general cur- rency of the country. And in this point of view, the first great question is, What amount of gold and siher will this operation subtract from the circulation of the country, and from the v^e of the bank's 1 In regard to this important inquiry., we are not without the means of forming some judgment. An official report from the Treasury, made to the other House, shows that, for the last ten years, there has been, at the end of each year, on an average, fifteen millions and four hundred thousand dollars in the Treasury. And this sum is exclusive of all that had been collected of the people, but had not yet reached the Treasury ; and also of all that had been drawn from the Treasury by disbursing officers, but which had not yet been by them paid to individuals. Adding these sums together, sir, and' the result is, that on an average for the last ten years, there have been at least twenty millions of dollars in the Treasury. I do not mean, of course, that this sum is, the whole of it, unappro- priated. I mean that this amount has in fact been in the Treasury, either not appropriated, or not called for under appropriations ; so that if this sub-treasury scheme had been in operation, in times past, of the specie in the currency, twenty millions would have been con- standy locked up in the safes and vaults. Now, sir, I do not be- lieve that, for these ten years, the whole amount of silver and gold in the country has exceeded, on the average, fifty or sixty millions. I do not believe it exceeds sixty millions at the present moment ; and if we had now the whole system in complete operation, it would lock up, and keep locked up, one full third of all the specie in the country. Locked up, I say — hoarded — rendered as useless, to all purposes of commerce and business, as if it were carried back to its native mines. Sir, is it not inconceivable that any man should fall upon such a scheme of policy as this ? Is it possible that any one can fail to see the destructive effects of such a policy on the commerce and the currency of the country ? 304 It is true, the system does not come into operation all at once. But it begins its demands for specie immediately ; it calls upon the banks, and it calls upon individuals, for their hard dollars, that they may be put away and locked up in the Treasury, at the very mo- ment when the country is suffering for ivant of more specie in the circulation, and the banks are suffering for means to enable them to resume their payments. And this, it is expected, will improve the currency, and facilitate resumption ! It has heretofore been asserted, that the general currency of the country needed to be strengthened by the introduction of more specie into the circulation. This has been insisted on for years. Let it be conceded. I have admitted it, and, indeed, contended for the proposition heretofore, and endeavored to prove it. But it must be plain to every body, that any addition of specie, in order to be useful, must either go into the circulation, as a part of that circulation, or else it must go into the banks, to enable them the better to sustain and redeem their paper. But this bill is calculated to promote neither of those ends, but exactly the reverse. It with- draws specie from the circulation and from the banks, and piles it up in useless heaps in the Treasury. It weakens the general cir- culation, by making the portion of specie, which is part of it, so much the less ; it weakens the banks, by reducing the amount of coin which supports their paper. The general evil imputed to our currency, for some years past, is, that paper has formed too great a portion of it. The operation of this measure must be to in- crease that very evil. I have admitted the evil, and have concurred in measures to remedy it. I have favored the withdrawing of small bills from circulation, to the end that specie might take their place. I discussed this policy, and supported it, as early as 1832. My colleague, who, shordy after that period, was placed in the chair of the chief magistracy of Massachusetts, pressed its consideration, at length, upon the attention of the Legislature of that State. I still think it was a right policy. Some of the States had begun to adopt it. But the measures of the Administration, and especially this proposed measure, throw this policy all aback. They undo at once all that we have been laboring. Such, and so pertinacious has been the demand of Government for specie, and such new de- mand does this bill promise to create, that the States have found themselves compelled again to issue small bills for the use of the people. It was a day of rejoicing, as we have lately seen, among the people of New York, when the Legislature of that State sus- pended the small-bill restraining law, and furnished the people with some medium for small payments, better than the miserable trash which now annoys the community. The Government, therefore, I insist, is evidently breaking down its own declared policy ; it is defeating, openly and manifestly de- feating, its own professed objects. 305 And yet, theory, imagination, presumptuous generalization, the application of military movements to questions of commerce and finance, and the abstractions of metaphysics, offer us, in such a state of things, their panacea. And what is it ? What is it? What is to cure or mitigate these evils, or what is to ward off future calam- ities ? Why, sir, the most agreeable remedy imaginable ; the kind- est, tenderest, most soothing, and solacing application in the whole world ! Nothing, sir, nothing upon earth, but a smart, delightful, perpetual, and irreconcilable warfare, between the Government of the Unhed States and the State banks ! All will be well, we are assured, when the Government and the banks become antag- onistical ! Yes, sir, " antagonistical ! " that is the word. What a stroke of policy, sir, is this ! It is as delicate a stratagem as poor old King Lear's, and a good deal like it. It proposes that we should tread lightly along, in felt or on velvet, till we get the banks within our power, and then, *' kill, kill, kill ! " Sir, we may talk as much as we please about the resumption of specie payments ; but I tell you that, with Government thus warring upon the banks, if resumption should take place, another suspension, I fear, would follow. It is not war, successful or unsuccessful, be- tween Government and the banks ; it is only peace, trust, confi- dence, that can restore the prosperity of the country. This system of perpetual annoyance to the banks, this hoarding up of money which the country demands for its own necessary uses, this bringing of the whole revenue to act, not in aid and furtherance, but in direct hinderance and embarrassment of commerce and business, is utterly irreconcilable with the public interest. We shall see no return of former times till it be abandoned — altogether abandoned. The passage of this bill will only create new alarm and new distress. People begin already to fear their own Government. They have an actual dread of those who should be their protectors and guar- dians. There are hundreds of thousands of honest and industrious men, sir, at this very moment, who would feel relieved in their cir- cumstances, who would see a better prospect of an honest livehhood, and feel more sure of the means of food and clothing for their wives and children, if they should hear that this measure had received its death. Let us, then, sir, away with it. Do we not see the world prosperous around us ? Do we not see other governments and other nations, enlightened by experience, and rejecting arrogant innova- tions and theoretic dreams, accomplishing the great ends of society ? Why, sir, why are we— why are we alone among the great com- mercial States ? Why are we to be kept on the rack and torture of these experiments? We have powers, adequate, complete powers. We need only to exercise them ; we need only to perform our constitutional duty, and we shall spread content, cheerfulness, and joy, over the whole land. VOL. III. 39 z 306 This brings me, sir, to the second inquiry. Is this measure, Mr. President, a just exercise of the powers of Congress, and does it fulfil all our duties ? Sir, I have so often discussed this pomt, 1 have so constantly m- sisted, for several years past, on the constitutional obligation of Congress to take care of the currency, that the Senate must be already tired of the speaker, if not weary of the topic ; and yet, after all, this is the great and paramount question. Until this is settled, the agitation can never be quieted. If we have not the power, we must leave the whole subject in the hands of those who have it. or in no hands ; but if we have the power, we are bound to exercise it, and every day's neglect is a violation of duty. I, therefore, again insist, that we have the power, and I again press its exercise on the two Houses of Congress. I again assert, tliat the regulation of the general currency — of the money of the country, whatever actually constitutes that money — is one of our solemn duties. The constitution confers on us, sir, the exclusive power of coin- age. This must have been done for the purpose of enabling Con- gress to establish one uniform basis for the whole money system. Congress, therefore, and Congress alone, has power over die foun- dation, the ground-work, of the currency ; and it would be strange and anomalous, having this, if it had nothing to do with the struc- ture, the edifice, to be raised on this foundation ! Convertible paper was already in circulation when the constitution was framed, and must have been expected to continue and to increase. But the circulation of paper tends to displace coin ; it may banish it alto- gether : at this very moment it has banished it. If, therefore, the power over the coin does not enable Congress to protect the coin, and to restrain any thing which would supersede it, and abolish its •use, the whole power becomes nugatory. If others may drive out the coin, and fill the country with paper which does not represent coin, of what use, I beg to know, is that exclusive power over coins and coinage which is given to Congress by the constitution ? Gentlemen on the other side admit that it is the tendency of paper circulation to expel the coin ; but then they say, that, for that very reason, they will withdraw from all connection with the gene- ral currency, and limit themselves to the single and narrow object of protecting the coin, and providing for payments to Government. This seems to me to be a very strange way of reasoning, and a very strange course of political conduct. The coinage-power was given to be used for the benefit of the whole country, and not merely to furnish a medium for the collection of revenue. The object was to secure, for the general use of the people, a sound and safe circulating medium. There can be no doubt of this intent. If any evil arises, threatening to destroy or endanger this medium or 307 this currency, our duty is to meet it, not to retreat from it ; to remedy it, not to let it alone ; we are to control and correct the mischief, not to submit to it. Wherever paper is to circulate, as subsidiary to coin, or as performing, in a greater or less degree, the function of coin, its regulation naturally belongs to the hands which hold the power over the coinage. This is an admitted maxim by all writers ; it has been admitted and acted upon, on all necessary occasions, by our own Government, throughout its whole history. Why will we now think ourselves wiser than all who have gone before us ? This conviction of what was the duty of Government led to the establishment of the bank in the administration of General Wash- ington. Mr. Madison, again, acted u))on the same conviction in 1816, and Congress entirely agreed with him. On former occa- sions, I have referred the Senate, more than once, to the clear and emphatic opinions and language of Mr. Madison, in his messages in 1815 and 18 16, and they ought to be repeated, again and again, and pressed upon the public attention. And now let me say, sir, that no man in our history has carried the doctrine farther, defended it with more ability, or acted upon it with more decision and effect, than the honorable member from South Carolina. His speech upon the Bank bill, on the 26th of February, 1816, is strong, full, and conclusive. He has heretofore said that some part of what he said on that occasion does not ap- pear in the printed speech ; but, whatever may have been left out by accident, that which is in the speech could not have got in by accident. Such accidents do not happen. A close, well-conducted, and conclusive constitutional argument, is not the result of an acci- dent or of chance ; and his argument on that occasion, as it seems to me, was perfectly conclusive. Nor could the gentleman who reported the speech, a gentleman of talent though he is, have framed such an argument, during the time occupied in preparing the report for the press. As to what is actually in the speech, therefore, there can be no mistake. The honorable gentleman, in that speech, founds the right of regulating the paper currency directly on the coinage power. " The only object," he says, " the framers of the constitution could have in view, in giving to Con- gress the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and ot foieign coin, must have been to give a steadiness and fixed value to the currency of the United States." The state of things, he insisted, existing at the time of the adoption of the constitution, afforded an argument in support of the construction. There then existed, he said, a depreciated paper currency, which could only be regulated and made uniform by giving a power, for that purpose, to the General Government. He proceeded to say, that, by a sort of under-current, the power of Congress to regulate the money of the country had caved in, and 308 upon Its ruin had sprung up those institutions which now exercised the right of making money for and in the United States. " For gold and silver (he insisted) are not the only money ; but whatever is the medium of purchase and sale ; in which bank paper alone was now employed, and had, therefore, become the money of the country." " The right of making money," he added, "an attribute of sovereign power, a sacred and important right, was exercised by two hundred and sixty banks, scattered over every part of the United States." Certainly, sir, nothing can be clearer than this language ; and, acting vigorously upon principles thus plainly laid down, he con- ducted the Bank bill through the House of Representatives. On that occasion, he was the champion of the power of Congress over the currency; and others were willing to follow his lead. But the Bank bill was not all. The honorable gendeman went much farther. The bank, it was hoped and expected, would fur- nish a good paper currency to the extent of its own issues ; but there was a vast quantity of bad paper in circulation, and it was possible that the mere influence of the bank, and the refusal to re- ceive this bad money at the Treasury, might not, both, be able to banish it entirely from the country. The honorable member meant to make clean work. He meant that neither Govemment nor people should suffer the evils of irredeemable paper. Therefore, he brought in another bill, entitled " A bill for the more effectual collection of the public revenue." By the provisions of this bill, he proposed to lay a direct stamp tax on the bills of State banks ; and all notes of non-specie-paying banks were, by this stamp, to be branded with the following words, in distinct and legible characters, at leno-th — "not a specie note." For the tax laid on such notes, there was to be no composition, no commutation ; but it was to be specifically collected, on every single bill issued, until diose who issued such bills should announce to the Secretary of the Treasury, and prove to his satisfaction, that, after a day named in the bill, all their notes would be paid in specie on demand. And now, how is it possible, sir, for the author of such a measure as this, to stand up and declare, that the power of Congress over the currency is limited to the mere regulation of the coin ? So much for our authority, as it has heretofore been admitted and ac- knowledged, under the coinage power. Nor, sir, is the other source of power, in my opinion, at all more questionable. Congress has the supreme regulation of commerce. This gives it, necessarily, a superintendence over all the interests, agencies, and instruments of commerce. The words are general, and they confer the whole power. When the end is given, all the usual means are given. Money is the chief instrument or agent of com- merce ; there can, indeed, be no commerce without it, which 309 deserves the name. Congress must, therefore, regulate it as it reg- ulates other indispensable commercial interests. If no means were to be used to this end but such as are particularly enumerated, the whole authority would be nugatory, because no means are par- ticularly enumerated. We regulate ships ; their tonnage ; their measurement ; the shipping articles ; the medicine chest ; and vari- ous other things belonging to them ; and for all this we have no au- thority but the general power to regulate commerce ; none of these, or other means or modes of regulation, are particularly and expressly pointed out. But is a ship a more important instrument of commerce than money ? We protect a policy of insurance, because it is an impor- tant instrument of ordinary commercial contract; and our laws punish with death any master of a vessel, or others, who shall com- mit a fraud on the parties to this contract by casting away a vessel. For all this we have no express authority. We infer it from the general power of regulating commerce, and we exercise the power in this case, because a policy of insurance is one of the usual instruments, or means^ of commerce. But how inconsidera- ble and unimportant is a policy of insurance, as the means or an instrumentof commerce, compared with the whole circulating paper of a country ! Sir, the power is granted to us ; and granted without any specification of means ; and therefore we may lawfully exercise all the usual means. I need not particularize these means, nor state, at present, what they are or may be. One is, no doubt, a proper regulation of receipts at the custom-houses and land-offices. But this, of itself, is not enough. Another is a national bank, which, I fully believe, would, even now, answer all desired purposes, and reinstate the currency in ninety days. These, 1 think, are the means to be first tried ; and if, notwithstanding these, irredeemable paper should overwhelm us, others must be resorted to. We have no direct authority over State banks; but we have power over the currency, and we must protect it, using, of course, always, such means, if they be found adequate, as shall be most gentle and mild. The great measure, sir, is a bank ; because a bank is not only able to restrain tiie excessive issues of State banks, but it is able also to furnish for the country a currency of universal credit, and of uniform value. This is the grand desideratum. Until such a cur- rency is established, depend on it, sir, what is necessary for the prosperity of the country can never be accomphshed. On the question of power, sir, we have a very important and striking precedent. The members of the senate, Mr. President, will recollect the contro- versy between New York and her neighbor States, fifteen or sixteen years ago, upon the exclusive right of steam navigation. New York had granted an exclusive right of such navigation over her waters 310 to Mr. Fulton and his associates ; and declared by law that no vessel propelled by steam should navigate the North River or the Sound, without license from these grantees, under penalty of confiscation. To counteract this law, the Legislature of New Jersey enacted, that if any citizen of hers should be restrained, or injured, in person or property, by any party acting under the law of New York, such citizen should have remedy in her courts, if the offender could be caught within her territory, and should be entitled to treble damages and costs. New Jersey called this act a Inio of retortion ; and justified it on the general ground of reprisals. On the other side, Connecticut took fire, and as no steam-boat could come down the Sound from New York to Connecticut, or pass up from Connecticut to New York, without a New York li- cense, she enacted a law, by which heavy penalties were imposed upon all who should presume to come into her ports and harbors, having any such license. Here, sir, was a very harmonious state of commercial intercourse ! a very promising condition of things, indeed ! You could not get from New York to New Haven by steam ; nor could you go from New York to New Jersey, without transhipment in the bay. And •now, sir, let me remind the country, that this belligerent legislation of the States concerned was justified and defended, by exactly the same arguments as those which we have heard in this debate. Every thing which has been said here, to prove that the authority to regulate commerce does not include a power to regulate currency, was said in that case, to prove that the same authority did not in- clude an exclusive power over steam-boats or other means of navi- gation. I do not know a reason, a suggestion, an idea, which has been used in this debate, or which was used in the debate in Sep- tember, to show that Congress has no power to control the cur- rency of the country, and make it uniform, which was not used in this steam-boat controversy, to prove that the authority of this Gov- ernment did not reach the matter then in dispute. Look to the forensic discussions in New York ! Look to the argument^ in the court here ! You will find it every where urged that navigation does not come within the general idea of regulating commerce ; that steam-boats are but vehicles and instruments ; tliat the power of Congress is general, and general only ; and that it does not ex- tend to agents and instmments. And what, sir, put an end to this state of things ? What stopped these seizures and confiscations ? Nothing in the world, sir, but the exercise of the constitutional power of this Government. Noth- ing in the world, but the decision of the Supreme Court, that the power of Congress to regulate commerce was paramount ; that it overruled any interfering State laws ; and that these acts of the States did interfere with acts of Congress, enacted under its clear constitutional authority. 311 As to the extent of the power of regulating commerce, allow tne to quote a single sentence from the opinion of one of the learned judges of the Supreme Court, delivered on that occasion ; a judge always distinguished for the great care with which he guarded State rights : I mean Mr. Justice Johnson. And when I have read it, sir, then say, if it does not confirm every word and syllable which I have uttered on this subject, either now or at the September ses- sion. "In the advancement of society," said the judge, "labor, transportation, intelligence, care, and various means of exchange, become commodities, and enter into commerce ; ajid the subject, the vehicle, the agent, ond these various operations, become the objects of commercial regulation^ These just sentiments prevailed. The decision of the Court quieted the dangerous controversy ; and satisfied, and I will add gratified, most highly gratified, the whole country. Sir. may we not perceive at the present moment, without being suspected of looking with eyes whose sight is sharpened by too much apprehension — may we not perceive, sir, in what is now passing around us, the possible beginnings of another controversy between States, which may be of still greater moment, and followed, unless arrested, by still more deplorable consequences? Do we see no danger, no disturbance, no contests ahead ? Sir, do we not be- hold excited commercial rivalship, evidently existing between great States and great cities ? Do we not see an emulous competition for trade, external and internal ? Do we not see the parties concerned enlarging, and proposing to enlarge, to a vast extent, their plans of currency, evidently in connection with these objects of trade and commerce ? Do we not see States themselves becoming deeply interested in great banking institutions ? Do we not know that, already, the notes and bills of some States are prohibited by law from circulating in others ? Sir, I will push these questions no farther: but I tell you that it was for exactly such a crisis as this — for this very crisis — for this identical exigency now upon us — that this constitution was framed, and this Government established. And, sir, let those who expect to get over this crisis without effort and without action, let those whose hope it is that they may be borne along on the tide of circumstances and favorable occurrences, and who repose in the denial of their own powers and their own responsibility — let all such look well to the end. For one, I intend to clear myself from all blame. I intend, this day, to free myself of the responsibility of consequences, by warn- ing you of the danger into which you are conducting our public affairs, by urging and entreating you, as I do now urge and entreat you, by invoking you, as I do invoke you, by your love of country, and your fidelity to the constitution, to abandon all untried expe- 312 dlents ; to put no trust In ingenuity and contrivance ; to have done with projects which alarm and agitate the people ; to seek no shel- ter from obligation and duty ; but with manliness, directness, and true wisdonij^'to apply to the evils of the times their proper remedy. That Providence may guide the counsels of the country to this end, before even greater disasters and calamities overtake us, is my most fervent prayer ! Mr. President, on the subject of the power of Congress, as well as on other important topics connected with the bill, the honorable gentleman from South Carolina has advanced opinions of which I feel bound to take some notice. That honorable gentleman, in his recent speech, attempted to ex- hibit a contrast between the course of conduct which I, and other gentleman who act with me, at present pursue, and that which we have heretofore followed. In presenting this contrast, he said, he intended nothing personal ; his only object was truth. To this I could not object. The occasion requires, sir, that I should now examine his opinions ; and I can truly say, with him, that I mean nothing personally injurious, and that my object, also, is truth, and nothing else. Here I might stop ; but I will even say some- thing more. It is now five and twenty years, sir, since I became acquainted with the honorable gentleman, in the House of Representatives, in which he had held a seat, I think, about a year and a half before I entered it. From that period, sir, down to the year 1824, 1 can say, with great sincerity, there was not, among my political con- temporaries, any man for whom 1 entertained a higher respect, or warmer esteem. When we first met, we \\ere both young men. I beheld in him a generous character, a liberal and comprehensive mind, engrossed by great objects, distinguished talent, and, particu- larly, great originality and vigor of thought. That he was am- bitious, I did not doubt ; but that there was any thing in his am- bition low or sordid, any thing approaching to a love of the mere loaves and fishes of office, 1 did not then believe, and do not now believe. If, from that moment down to the time I have already mentioned, I differed with him on any great constitutional question, I do not know it. But, in 1824, events well known to the Senate separated us ; and that separation remained, wide and broad, until the end of the memorable session which terminated in March, 1833. With the events of diat session, our occasions of difference had ceased ; cer- tainly for the time, and, as I sincerely hoped, forever. Before the next meeting of Congress, the public deposits had been removed from their lawful custody by the President. Respecting this exer- cise of the Executive power, the honorable gentleman and myself entertained the same opinions ; and, in regard to subsequent trans- 313 actions connected with that, and growing out of It, there was not, so far as I know, any difference of sentiment between us. We looked upon all these proceedings but as so many efforts to give to the Executive an unconstitutional control over the public moneys. We thought we saw, every where, proofs of a design to extend Executive authority, not only in derogation of the just powers of Congress, but to the danger of the public liberty. We acted to- gether, to check these designs, and to arrest the march of Execu- tive prerogative and dominion. In all this, we were but coopera- ting with many other gentlemen here, and with a large and intelli- gent portion of the whole country. The unfortunate results of these Executive interferences with the currency had made an impression on the public mind. A revolu- tion seemed in progress, and the people were coming in their strength, as we began to think, to support us and our principles. In this state of things, sir, we met here at the commencement of the September session ; but we met, not as we had done ; we met, not as we had parted. The events of May, the policy of the Presi- dent in reference to those events, the doctrines of the message of September, the principles and opinions which the honorable gentleman, both to my surprise and to my infinite regret, came for- ward then to support, rendered it quite impossible for us to act to- gether, for a single moment longer. To the leading doctrines of that message, and to the policy which it recommended, 1 felt, and still feel, a deep, conscientious, and irreconcilable opposition. The honorable gentleman supported, and still supports, both. Here, then, we part. On these questions of constitutional power and duty, and on these momentous questions of national policy, we separate. And so broad and ample is the space which divides us, and so deep does the division run, touching even the very foundations of the Government, that, considering the time of life to which we both have arrived, it is not probable that we are to meet again. I say this with unfeigned and deep regret. Believe me, sir, I would most gladly act with the honorable gentleman. If he would but come back, now, to what I consider his former principles and sentiments; if he would place himself on those constitutional doctrines which he has sustained through a long series of years ; and if, thus stand- ing, he would exert his acknowledged ability to restore the pros- jierity of the country, and put an end to the mischiefs of reckless experiments and dangerous innovation, — 1 would not only will- ingly act with him, I would act under him; I would follow him, I would support him, I would back him, at every step, to the utmost of my power and ability. Such is not to be our destiny. That destiny is, that we here part : and all I can say further is, that he carries with him the same feeling of personal kindness on my part, the same hearty good-will which have heretofore inspired me. VOL. III. 40 A A 314 There have been three principal occasions, sir, on which the honorable gentleman has expressed his opinions upon the questions now under discussion. They are, his speech of the 15th Septem- ber, his published letter of the 3d November, and his leading speech at the present session. These productions are all marked with his characteristic ability ; they are ingenious, able, condensed, and striking. They deserve an answer. To some of the observations in the speech of September, I made a reply on the day of its de- livery ; there are other parts of it, however, which require a more deliberate examination. Mr. President, the honorable gentleman declares in that speech, " that he belongs to the State Rights party ; that that party, from the beginning of the Government, has been opposed to a national bank as unconstitutional, inexpedient, and dangerous; that it has ever dreaded the union of the political and moneyed power, and the central action of the Government, to which it so strongly tends ; that the connection of the Government with the banks, whether it be with a combination of State banks, or with a national institution, will necessarily centralize the action of the system at the principal point of collection and disbursement, and at which the mother bank, or the head of the league of State banks, must be located. From that point, the whole system, through the connection with the Gov- ernment, will be enabled to control the exchanges both at home and abroad, and, with it, the commerce, foreign and domestic, in- cluding exports and imports." Now, sir, this connection between Government and the banks, to which he imputes such mischievous consequences, he describes to be " the receiving and paying away their notes as cash ; and the use of the public money, from the time of the collection to the disbursement." Sir, if I clearly comprehend the honorable gentleman, he means no more, after all, than this ; that, while the public revenues are collected, as heretofore, through the banks, they will lie in the banks between the time of collection and the time of disbursement ; that, during that period, they will be regarded as one part of the mean? of business and of discount possessed by the banks ; and that, as a greater portion of the revenue is collected in large cities than in small ones, these large cities will, of course, derive greater benefit than the small ones from these deposits in the banks. In other words, that, as the importing merchants in a great city pay more duties to Government than those in a small one, so they enjoy a correspond- ing advantage to be derived from any use which the banks may make of these moneys, while on deposit with them. Now, sir, I would be very glad to know, supposing all this to be true, what there is in it either unequal or unjust. The benefit is exactly in propor- tion to the amount of business, and to the sums paid. If individu- 315 als in large cities enjoy the incidental use of more money, it is simply because they pay more money. It is like the case of credit on duty bonds. Whoever imports goods with the benefit of giving .bond for duties, instead of making present payment, enjoys a certain benefit ; and this benefit, in a direct sense, is in proportion to the amount of goods imported — the large importer having credit for a large sum, the small importer having credit for a smaller Sum. But the advantage, the benefit, or the indulgence, or whatever we call it, is, nevertheless, entirely equal and impartial. How then does the collection of revenue through the banks ^' centralize " the action of the commercial system ? It seems to me, sir, the cause is mistaken for the effect. The greatest amount of revenue is collected in the greatest city, because it is already the greatest city ; because its local advantages, its jDopulation, its capital and enterprise, draw business towards it, constitute it a central point in commercial operations, and have made it the great- est city. It is the centralization of commerce by these just and proper causes — causes which must always exist in every country — which produces a large collection of revenue in the favored spot. The amount of capital is one very important cause, no doubt ; and leaving public moneys in the banks till wanted, allows to merchants, in places of large import, a degree of incidental benefit, in just pro- portion to the amount of capital by them employed in trade, and no more. I suppose, sir, it is the natural course of things, in every com- mercial country, that some place, or a few places, should go ahead of others in commercial importance. This must ever be so, until all places possess precisely equal natural advantages. And I suppose, too, that, instead of being mischievous, it is rather for the common good of all, that there should be some commercial empo- rium, some central point, for the exchanges of trade. Government, certainly, should not seek to produce this result by the bestowal of unequal privileges ; but surely, sir, it would be a very strange and indefensible policy which should lead the Government to withhold any portion of the capital of the country from useful employment, merely because that, if employed, while all enjoyed the benefit proportionately, all would not enjoy it with the same absolute n)atheniatical equality. So much, sir, for concentration, arising from depositing the reve- nues in banks. Let us now look to the other part of the connec- tion, viz. the receiving of bank notes for duties. How in the world does this '" centralize " the commercial system ? The whole ten- dency and effect, as it seems to me, is directly the other way. It counteracts centralization. It gives all possible advantage to local currency and local payments, and thereby encourages both imports and exports. It makes local money good every where. If 316 goods be Imported into Charleston, the duties are paid in Charleston notes. New York notes are not demanded. Nothing, certainly, can be fairer or more equal than this, and nothing more favorable to the Charleston importers. But how would that system work, which the gentleman himself proposes ? If his plan could prevail, he would have the duties collected either in specie, or in a Government paper to be issued from the Treasury. He would reject all banknotes whatever. If the gen- tleman, sir, fears centralization, I am astonished that he does not see centralization in all its terrors in diis very proposition of his own. Pray allow me to ask, sir, Where will this Government paper, in the course of its issue and circulation, naturally centre? To what points will it tend ? Certainly, most certainly, to the greatest points of collection and expenditure ; to the very heart of the metropolitan city, wherever that city may be. This is as inevitable as the fall of water or the results of attraction. If two thirds of the duties be collected in New York, it will follow of course, that two thirds of any Government paper received for duties will be there received ; and it will be more valuable there than elsewhere. The value of such paper would consist in its receivability, and nothing else. It would always tend, therefore, directly to the spot where the greatest demand should exist for it for that purpose. Is it not so at this moment with the outstanding Treasury notes ? Are they abundant in Georgia, in Mississippi, in Illinois, or in New Hampshire ? No sooner issued, than they commence dieir march toward the place where they are most valued and most in demand ; that is, to the place of the greatest public receipt. If you want concentration, sir, and enough of it — if you desire to dry up the small streams of com- merce, and fill more full the deep and already swollen great chan- nels — you will act very wisely to that end, if you keep out of the receipt of the Treasury all money but such paper as the Govern- ment may furnish, and which shall be no otherwise redeemable than in receipt for debts to Government, while at the same time you de- press the character of the local circulation. Such is the scheme of the honorable member in its probable com- mercial effect. Let us look at it in a political point of view. The honorable member says he belongs to the State-rights party ; that party professes something of an uncommon love of liberty ; an extraordinary sensibility to all its dangers ; and of those dangers, it most dreads the union of the political and money power. This we learn from the authentic declaration of the gentleman himself. And now, oh, transcendent consistency ! oh, most wonderful conformity of means and ends ! oh, exquisite mode of gratifying high desires ! behold, the honorable member proposes that the political power of the State shall take to itself the whole function of supplying the en- 317 tire paper circulation of the country, by notes or bills of its own, issued at its own discretion, to be paid out or advanced to whom- soever it pleases, in discharging the obligations of Government, bear- hig no promise to pay, and to be kept in circulation merely by being made receivable at the Treasury ! The whole circulation of the country, excepting only that which is metallic, and which must always be small, will thus be made up of mere Government paper, issued for Government purposes, and redeemable only in payment of Government debts. In other words, the entire means of carry- ing on the whole commerce of the country will be held by Govern- ment in its own hands, and made commensurate, exactly, with its own wants, purposes, and opinions ; the whole commercial business of the country being thus made a mere appendage to revenu% But, sir, in order that I may not misrepresent the honorable mem- ber, let me show you a litde more distinctly what his opinions are respecting this Government paper. Tlie honorable member says, sir, that to make this Sub-Treasury measure successful, and to secure it against reaction, some safe and stable medium of circulation, " to take the place of bank notes in the fiscal operations of the Government, ought to be issued ; " that, " in the present condition of the world, a paper currency, in some form, if not necessary, is almost indispensable, in financial and com- mercial operations of civilized and extensive communities ; " that ^'the great desideratum is to ascertain what description of paper has the requisite qualities of being free from fluctuation in value, and liability to abuse in the greatest perfection ; " that "bank notes do not possess these requisites in a degree sufficiently high for this purpose." And then he says, " I go farther. It appears to me, after bestowing the best reflection I can give the subject, that no convertible paper, that is, no paper whose credit rests upon a prom- ise to pay, is suitable for currency." "On what, then, (he asks,) ought a paper currency to rest ? " "I would say," he answers, " on demand and supply simply ; which regulate the value of every thing else — the constant demand which Government has for its necessary supplies." He then proceeds to observe, " that there might be a sound and safe paper currency, founded on the credit of Government exclusively ;" "that such paper, only to be issued to those who had claims on the Government, would, in its habitual state, be at or above par with gold and silver ; " that " nothing but experience can determine what amount, and of what denomina- tions, might be safely issued ; but that it might be safely assumed that the country would absorb an amount greatly exceeding its an- nual income. Much of its exchanges, which amount to a vast sum, as well as its banking business, would revolve about it ; and many millions would thus be kept in circulation beyond the demands of the Government." 318 By this scheme, sir, Government, in its disbursements, is not to pay money, but to issue paper. This paper is no otherwise paya- ble or redeemable than as it may be received at the Treasury. It is expected to be let out much faster than it comes in, so that many millions will be kept in circulation ; and its habitual character will be at or above par with gold and silver ! Now, sir, if there is to be found any where a more plain and obvious project of paper money, in all its deformity, I should not know where to look for it. In the first place, sir, I have suggested the complete union which It would form, if it were, in itself, practicable, between the political and the money power. The whole commerce of the country, indeed, under such a state of law, would be little more than a sort of incident to Treasury operations — rather a collateral emanation of the revenue system than a substantial and important branch of the public interest. I have referred, also, to its probable consequences upon that which the gentleman regards as so great an evil, and which he denomi- nates " the centralization of commercial action." And now I pray you to consider, Mr. President, in the next place, what an admirable contrivance this would be to secure that economy in the expenses of Government which the gentleman has so much at heart. Released from all necessity of taxation, and from the consequent responsibility to the people ; not called upon to regard at all the amount of annual income ; having an authority to cause Treasury notes to issue whenever it pleases. " In multitudes, like which the populous North Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene, or the Danau ; " what admirable restraint would be imposed on Government, how doubly sure would assurance be made for it, that all its expenditures would be strictly limited to the absolute and indispensable wants and demands of the public service ! But, sir, fortunately, very fortunately, a scheme so wild, and which would be so mischievous, is totally impracticable. It rests on an assumption for which there is not the least foundation, either in reason or experience. It takes for granted that which the histoiy of every commercial state refutes, and our own, especially, in almost every page. It supposes that irredeemable Government paper can circulate in the business of society, and be kept at par. This is an impossibility. The honorable gentleman rejects convertible bank notes, which are equivalent to specie, since they will always com- mand it, and adopts, in their stead, Government paper, with no .promise to pay, but a promise only to be received for debts and taxes ; and he puts forth the imagination, as I have said, so often and so long refuted, that this paper will be kept in circulation in the 319 country, and will be able to perform the great business of currency and exchange, even though it exist in quantities exceeding, by many millions, the demands of Government. If it be necessary, sir, at this day, to refute ideas like these, it must be because the history of all countries, our own included, is a dead letter to us. Even at the very moment in which I am speaking, the small amount of Treasury notes which has been issued by Government, hardly a fifth part of the ordinary annual revenue — though those notes bear an interest of five per cent. — though they are redeemable in cash at the Treasury, at the expira- tion of the year — and though, in the mean time, they are every where received in Government dues, are not only of less value than specie, but of less value, also, than the notes of non-specie- paying banks ; those banks whose paper is daily denounced here as '• rags, filthy rags." In my opinion, sir, the whole scheme is as visionary and impracticable as any which the genius of project ever produced. jNIr. President, toward the close of this speech of September, I find a paragraph in which several other subjects are brought to- gether, and which I must ask permission to read. Having commended the wise and noble bearing of the little State- rights party, of which he says it is his pride to be a member throughout the eventful period through which the country has passed since 1824, he adds : " In that year, as I have stated, the tariff system triumphed in the councils of the nation. We saw its disastrous political bearings ; foresaw its surpluses, and the extravagances to which it would lead ; we rallied on the election of the late President to arrest it through the influence of the executive department of the Govern- ment. In this we failed. We then fell back upon the rights and sovereignty of the States ; and, by the action of a small but gallant State, and through the potency of its interposition, we brought the system to the ground, sustained, as it was, by the opposition and the administration, and by the whole power and patronage of the Gov- ernment." Every part of this most extraordinary statement well deserves attention. In the first place, sir, here is an open and direct avowal that the main object for rallying on General Jackson's first election, was to accomplish the overthrow of the protecting policy of the country. Indeed ! Well, this is very frank. I am glad to hear the avowal made. It puts an end to all suspicions. It was, then, to overthrow protection, was it, that the honorable gentleman took so much pains to secure General Jackson's first election ? I commend his candor in now acknowledging it. But, sir, the honorable member had allies and associates in that rally ; 320 they thronged round him from all quarters, and zealously followed his lead. And pray, sir, was his object, as now avowed by himself, the joint object of all the party ? Did he tell Pennsylvania, honest, intelligent, straight-forward Pennsylvania, that such was his purpose ? And did Pennsylvania concur in it ? Pennsylvania was first and foremost in espousing the cause of General Jackson. Every body knows she is more of a tariff State than any other in the Union. Did he tell her that his purpose was to break tlie tariif entirely down ? Did he state his objects, also, to New York ? Did he state them to New Jersey? What say you, gentlemen from Penn- sylvania ? gentlemen from New York ? and gentlemen from New Jersey ? Ye who supported General Jackson's election, what say you? Was it your purpose^ also, by that election, to break down the protective policy ? Or, if it were not your purpose, did you know, nevertheless — pray let us understand that — did you know, nevertheless, that it ivas the purpose, and the main purpose, of the honorable member from Carolina? and did you, still, cooperate with him ? The present Chief Magistrate of the country was a member of this body in 18-28. He and the honorable member from Carolina were, at that time, exerting their united forces, to the utmost, in order to bring about General Jackson's election. Did they work thus zealously to- gether, for the same ultimate end and purpose; or did they mean merely to change the Government, and then each to look out for himself? Mr. Van Buren voted for the tariff bill of that year, commonly called the "bill of abominations;" but, very luckily, and in ex- tremely good season, instruclions for tlKit vole happened to come from Albany! The vote, therefore, could be given, and the mem- ber giving it could not possibly thereby give any offence to any gentleman of the State-rights party, with whom the doctrine of in- structions is so authentic. Sir, I will not do gentlemen injustice. Those who belonged to tariff States, as they are called, and who supported General Jack- son for the Presidency, did not intend thereby to overthrow the protecting policy. They only meant to make General Jackson President, and to come into power along with him ! As to ulti- mate objects, each had his own. All could agree, however, in the first step. It was difficult, certainly, to give a plausible appear- ance to a political union, among gendemen who differed so widely on the great and leading question of the times — the question of the protecting policy. But this difficulty was overcome by the oracular declaration that General Jackson was in favor of a " Ju- dicious Tariff." Here, sir, was ample room and verge enough. Who could ob- ject to a judicious tariff 1 Tariff men and Anti-tariff men, State- 321 rights men and Consolidationlsts, tliosc who had been called prodi- gals, and those who had been called radicals, all thronged and flocked together here, and with all their difference in regard to ul- timate objects, agreed to make common cause, till they should get into power. The irhosts, sir, which are fabled to cross the Styx, whatever O'^ .••II** different hopes or purposes they may have beyond it, still unite, in the present wish to get over, and therefore all hurry and huddle in- to the leaky and shattered craft of Charon, the ferryman. And this motley throng of politicians, sir, with as much difference of final object, and as little care for each other, made a boat of " Judicious Tariff," and all rushed and scrambled into it, until they filled it, near to sinking. The authority of the master was able, however, to keep them peaceable and in order, for the time, for they had the virtue of submission, and though with occasional dangers of upset- ting, he succeeded in pushing them all over with his long setting- pole. "Ipse ratem conto subigit." Well, sir, the honorable gentleman tells us that he expected, when General Jackson should be elected, to arrest the tariff system through the injimnce of the Executive Department. Here is an- other candid confession. Arrest the tariff by Executive influence ! Indeed ! Why, sir, this seems like hoping, from the first, for the use of the Veto. How, but by the Veto, could the Executive arrest the tariff acts ? And is it true, sir, that, at that early day, the honorable member was looking to the Veto, not with dread, but with hope ? Did he expect it, and did he rely upon it ? Did he make the rally of which he speaks, in order that he might choose a President who would exercise it? And did he after- wards complain of it, or does he complain of it now, only because it was ill directed — because it turned out to be a thunderbolt, which did not foil in the right place? In this rehance on Executive influence — sir, I declare I hardly can trust myself that I read or quote correctly, when I find, in what I read, or from what I quote, the honorable member from South Carolina, by his own confession, hoping or expecting to accomplish any thing by Executive influence ; yet so was it spoken, and so is it printed — in this reliance, or this hope, or expectation, founded on Executive influence, the honorable gentleman and his friends failed; and, failing in this, he says, they fell back on the sovereignty of the States, and brought the system to the ground " through the potency of interposition ; " by which he means neither more nor less than Nullification. So then, sir, according to this, that excessive fear of power which was so much cherished by the NuUifiers, was only awakened to a flame in their bosoms, when they found that they VOL. III. 41 322 could not accomplish their own ends by the Executive power of the President. I am no authorized commentator, sir, on the doctrines or theo- ries of Nullification. Non nostrum. But, if this exposition be authentic, I must say it is not calculated to diminish my opposition to the sentiments of that school. But the gentleman goes on to teU us that nullification, or inter- position, succeeded. By means of it, he says, he did bring the protective system to the ground. And so, in his published letter of November 3d, he states that " State interposition has over- thrown the protective tariff, and, with it, the American system." We are to understand, then, sir, first, that the compromise act of 1833 was forced upon Congress by State interposition, or nullification. Next, that its object and design, so far as the honorable gentle- man was concerned in it, was to break down and destroy, forever, the whole protective policy of the country. And lastly, that it has accomplished that purpose, and that the last vestige of that policy is wearing away. Now, sir, I must sfty, that, in 1833, I entertained no doubt at all that the design of the gentleman was exactly what he now states. On this point, I have not been deceived. It was not, cer- tainly, the design of all who acted with him ; but that it was his pur- pose, I knew then, as clearly as I know now, after his open avowal of it ; and this belief governed my conduct at the time, together with that of a great majority of those in both Houses of Congress, who, after the act of 1824, felt bound to carry out the provisions of that act, and to maintain them reasonably and fairly. I op- posed the compromise act with all my power. It appeared to me every way objectionable : it looked like an attempt to make a new constitution ; to introduce another fundamental law, above the power of Congress, and which should control the authority and discretion of Congress, in all time to come. This, of itself, was a conclusive objection with me; I said so then, have often said so since, and say so now. I said, then, that I, for one, shoukl not be bound by that law more than by any other law, except that, as it was a law passed on a very important and agitating subject, I should not be disposed to interfere v»'ith it, until a case of clear necessity should arise. On this principle I have acted since. When that case of necessity shall arise, however, should I be in public life, I shall concur in any alteration of that act which such necessity may require. That such an occasion may come, I more than fear. I entertain somethino; stronger than a doubt upon the possibility of maintaining the manufactures and industry of this country, upon such a system as the compromise act will leave us, when it shall have gone through its processes of reduc- tion. All this, however, I leave to the future. S23 Having had occasion, Mr. President, to speak of Nullification and the Nullificrs, I beg leave to say that I have not done so for any purpose of reproach. Certainly, sir, I see no possible connection, myself, between their principles or opinions, and the support of this measure. They, however, must speak for themselves. They may have intrusted the bearing of their standard, for aught I know, to the hands of the honorable member from South Carolina ; and I perceived last session, what I perceive now, that in his opinion there is a connection between these projects of Government and the doctrines of Nullification. I can only say, sir, that it will be marvellous to me, if that banner, though it be said to be tattered and torn, shall yet be lowered in obeisance, and laid at the footstool of Executive power. To the sustaining of that power, the passage of this bill is of the utmost importance. The Administration will regard its success as being to them, what Cromwell said the battle of Worcester was to him — " a crowning mercy." Whether gen- tlemen who have distinguished themselves so much by their extreme jealousy of this Government, shall now find it consistent with their principles to give their aid in accomplishing this consummation^ remains to be seen. The next exposition ofthe honorable gentleman's sentiments and opinions, is his letter of November 3d. This letter, sir, is a curiosity. As a paper describing political operations, and exhibiting political opinions, it is without a parallel. Its phrase is altogether military. It reads like a despatch, or a bulletin from head-quarters. It is full of attacks, assaults, and repulses. It recounts movements and counter-movements ; speaks of occupying one position, falling back upon another, and advan- cing to a third ; it has positions to cover enemies, and positions to hold allies in check. Meantime, the celerity of all these operations reminds one of the rapidity of the military actions of the king of Prussia, in the seven years' war. Yesterday, he was in the south, giving battle to the Austrian — to-day he is in Saxony, or Silesia ; instantly he is found to have traversed the electorate, and is facing the Russian and the Swede on his northern frontier. If you look for his place on the map, before you find it, he has quitted it. He is always marching, flying, falling back, wheeling, attacking, de- fending, surprising ; fighting every where, and fighting all the time. In one particular, however, the campaigns, described in this letter, differ from the manner in w hich those of the great Frederick were conducted. I think we no w hae read, in the narrative of Frede- rick's achievements, of his taking a position to cover an enemy, or a position to hold an ally in check. These refinements, in the science of tactics and of war, are of more recent discovery. Mr. President, public men must certainly be allowed to change their opinions, and their associations, whenever they see fit. No 324 one doubts this. Men may have grown wiser ; they may have attained to better and more correct views of great public subjects. It would be unfortunate, if there were any code which should oblige men, in public or private life, to adhere to opinions once en- tertained, in spite of experience and better knowledge, and against their own convictions of their erroneous character. Nevertheless, sir, it must be acknowledged, that what appears to be a sudden, as well as a great cliange, naturally produces a shock. I confess, for one, I was shocked, when the honorable gentleman, at the last session, espoused this bill of the Administration. And when I first read this letter of November, and, in the short space of a column and a half, ran through such a succession of political movements, all terminating in placing the honorable member in the ranks of our opponents, and entitling him to take his seat, as he has done, among them, if not at their head, I confess I felt still greater sur- prise. All this seemed a good deal too abrupt. Sudden move- ments of the affections, whether personal or political, are a little out of nature. Several years ago, sir, some of the wits of England wrote a mock play. Intended to ridicule the unnatural and false feeling, the scnti- mentality, of a certain German school of literature. In this play, two strangers are brought together at an inn. While they are warming themselves at the fire, and before their acquaintance is yet five minutes old, one springs up and exclaims to the other, " A sudden thought strikes me ! Let us swear an eternal friendship ! " This affectionate offer was instantly accepted, and the friendship duly sworn, unchangeable and eternal ! Now, sir, how long this eternal friendship lasted, or in what manner it ended, those who wish to know, may learn by referring to the play. But it seems to me, sir, that the honorable member has carried his political sentimentality a good deal higher than the flight of the German school ; for he appears to have fallen suddenly in love, not with strangers, but with opponents. Here we all had been, sir, contending against the progress of Executive power, and more particularly, and most strenuously, against the projects and experiments of the Administration upon the cun-ency. The honorable member stood among us, not only as an associate, but as a leader. We thought we were making some headway. The people appeared to be coming to our support and our assistance. The country had been roused ; every successive election weakening the strength of the adversary, and increasing our own. We were in this career of success carried strongly forward by the current of public opinion, and only needed to hear the cheer- ing voice of the honorable meniber, " Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ! " and we should have prostrated, forever, this anti-constitutional, anti- 325 Commercial, anti-rcpubllcan, and anti-American policy of the Ad- ministration. But, instead of these encouraging and animating accents, behold ! in the very crisis of our affairs, on the very eve of victory, the iionorable member cries out — to the enemy — not to us, his allies — but to the enemy — " Holloa ! A sudden thought strikes me ! I abandon my allies ! Now I think of it, they have always been my oppressors ! I abandon them, and now let you Old me swear an eternal friendship ! " Such a projrosition, from such a quarter, sir, was not likely to be long withstood. The other party was a little coy, but, upon the whole, nothing loath. After proper hesitation, and a litde deco- rous blushing, it owned the soft impeachment, admitted an equally- sudden sympathetic impulse on its own side ; and, since few words are wanted where hearts are already known, the honorable gentleman takes his place among his new friends, amidst greetings and ca- resses, and is already enjoying the sweets of an eternal friendship. In this letter, Mr. President, the writer says, in substance, that lie saw, at the commencement of the last session, that affairs had readied the point, when he and his friends, according to the course they should take, would reap the full harvest of their long and arduous struggle, against the encroachments and abuses of the General Government, or lose the fruits of all their labors. At that time, he says. State interposition (viz. Nullification) had overthrown the protecting tariff and the American system, and put a stop to Congressional usurpation ; that he had previously been united with the National Republicans; and that their joint attacks had brought down the power of the Executive ; but that, in joining such allies, he was not insensible to the embarrassment of his posi- tion ; that, with them, victory itself was dangerous ; and that there- fore he had been waiting for events ; that now, (that is to say, in September last,) the joint attacks of the allies had brought down Executive power ; that the Administration had become divested of power and influence, and that it had become clear that the combined attacks of the allied forces would utterly overthrow and demolish it. All this he saw. But he saw, too, as he says, that in that case the victory would enure, not to him or his cause, but to his allies and their cause. I do not mean to say that he spoke of personal victories, or alluded to personal objects, at all. He spoke of his cause. He proceeds to say, tlien, that never was there before, and never, probably, will there be again, so fair an opportunity for himself and his friends to carry out their own principles and policy, and to reap the fruits of their long and arduous struggle. These principles and this policy, sir, be it remembered, he represents, all along, as identi- fied with the principles and policy of Nullification. And he makes use of this glorious opportunity, by refusing to join his late allies in any further attack on those in power, and rallying anew the old State- BB 326 rights party to hold in check their old opponents, the National Republican party. This, he says, would enable him to prevent the complete ascendency of his allies, and to compel the Southern di- vision of the Administration party to occupy the ground of which he proposes to take possession, to wit, the ground of the old State-rights party. They will have, he says, no other alternative. Mr. President, stripped of its military language, what is the amount of all this, but that, finding the Administration weak, and likely to be overthrown, if the opposition continued with undimin- ished force, he went over to it, to join it ; to act, himself, upon nullification principles ; and to compel the Southern members of the Administration to meet him on those principles ? — in other v/ords, to make a nullification Administration, and to take such part in it as should belong to him and his friends. He confesses, sir, that in thus abandoning his allies, and taking a position to cover those in power, he perceived a shock would be created, which would require some degree of resolution and firmness. In this he was right. A shock, sir, has been created ; yet there he is. This Administration, sir, is represented as succeeding to the last, by an inheritance of principle. It professes to tread in the foot- steps of its illustrious predecessor. It adopts, generally, the sen- timents, principles, and opinions, of General Jackson — Proclama- tion and all ; and yet, though he be the very prince of Nuilifiers, and but lately regarded as the chiefest of sinners, it receives the honorable gentleman with the utmost complacency : to all appearance the delight is mutual : they find him an able leader ; he finds them complying followers. But, sir, in all this movement, he understands himself. He means to go ahead, and to take them alono. He is in the engine-car : he controls the locomotive. His hand regulates the steam, to increase or retard speed, at his own discretion. And as to the occupants of the passenger-cars, sir, they are as happy a set of gentlemen as one might desire to see, of a summer's day. They feel that they are in progress ; they hope they shall not be run off the track ; and when they reach the end of their journey, they desire to be thankful ! The arduous struggle is now all over. Its richest fruits are all reaped ; Nullification embraces the Sub-Treasuries, and oppression and usurpation will be heard of no more. On the broad surface of the country, sir, there is a spot called " the Hermitage." In that residence is an occupant very well known, and not a little remarkable both in person and character. Suppose, sir, the occupant of the Hermitage were now to open that door, enter the Senate, walk forward, and look over the Chamber to the seats on the other side. Be not frightened, gentlemen ; it is but fancy's sketch. Suppose he should thus come in among us, sir, and see into whose hands has fallen the chief support of that Administration, which 327 was, in so great a degree, appointed by himself, and which he fondly relied on to maintain the principles of his own. If gentlemen were now to see his steady military step, his erect posture, his compressed lips, his firmly-knitted brow, and his eye full of fire, I cannot help thinking, sir, they would all feel somewhat queer. There w^ould be, I imagine, not a little awkw ard moving and shifting in their seats. They would expect soon to hear the roar of the lion, even if they did not feel his paw\ I proceed, sir, to the speech of the honorable member, delivered on the 15th of February last, in w hich he announces propositions, respecting the constitutional power of Congress, which, if they can be maintained, must necessarily give a new direction to our legis- lation, and would go far towards showing the necessity of the pres- ent bill. The honorable member, sir, insists that Congress has no riffht to make general deposits of the public revenue in banks ; and he denies, too, that it can authorize the reception of any thing but gold and silver in the payment of debts and dues to the Govern- ment. These questions, sir, are questions of magnitude, certainly, and, since they have been raised, ought to be answered. They may be considered together. Allow me, in the first place, however, to clear them from some extraneous matter. The honorable member puts the first question tlius : Have we the right to make deposits in the banks, in order to bestow confidence in them, with a view to ena- ble them to resume specie payments ? And, by way of illustration, asks the further question, whether Government could constitution- ally bestow on individuals, or a private association, the same advan- tages, in order to enable ihem to pay their debts. But this I take not to be the question. The true inquiry is, May not Congress authorize the public revenue, in the intervening time between its receipt and its expenditure, to be deposited in banks, for the gene- ral purpose of safe-keeping, in the same way as individuals de- posit their own money ? And if this mode of safe-keeping be at- tended with incidental advantages, of considerable importance to the community, is not that a reason which may properly govern the discretion of Congress in the case? To benefit the banks, or to benefit the community, is, in this case, not the main object ; it is only the incident ; and as to the case put for illustration, it would not be expected of Congress, certainly, to make deposits with in- dividuals with a view, principally, of enabling such individuals to pay their debts; it might, nevertheless, be very competent to Con- gress, in some cases, and a very proper exercise of its power, to deposit money, even with individuals, in such manner as that it might be advantageous to the depositary. This incidental or con- sequential advantage results, often, from the nature of the transac- 328 tion, and Is inseparable from it. It may always be enjoyed, more or less, by any one who holds public money for disbursement. In order to the necessary exercise of any of its powers. Government doubtless may make contracts with banks or other corporations as well as with individuals. If it has occasion to buy bills of exchange, it may buy them of banks. If it has stock or Treasury notes to sell, it may sell to banks, as the Secretary of the Treasury has lately proposed. It may employ banks, therefore, at its discretion, for the keeping of the public moneys, as those moneys must be kept somewhere. It can no more need a specific grant of power in the constitution for such a purpose, than one merchant, becom- ing agent for another to receive and pay out money, would need a particular clause in his authority, enabling him to use banks for these purposes as other persons use them. No question has ever been raised in this Government about the power of Congress to authorize such deposits. Mr. Madison, in opposing the first bank charter in 1791, argued, strenuously, that a Bank of the United States was not necessary to Government as a depository of the public moneys, because, he insisted, its use could be supplied by other banks. This sufficiently shows his opinion. And in 1800, Congress made it the duty of the collectors of customs to deposit bonds for duties in the bank and its branches for collection. When the charter of the first bank expired, in 1811, almost every gentleman who opposed its renewal contended that it was not necessary for the purpose of holding deposits of revenue, be- cause State banks could answer all such purposes equally well. A strong and prevailing tone of argument runs through all the speeciies on that occasion, tending to this conclusion, viz. that Govern- ment may derive from State banks all the benefit which a Bank of the United States could render. In 1816, when the charter of the last bank was granted, it contained, as originally presented, no pro- vision for making the public deposits in the bank. The bill was probably drawn, in this particular, from the model of the first char- ter, in which no such clause was contained, without adverting to the law of 1800 ; but a section was introduced, on my motion, making it the duty of collectors to deposit the public moneys in the bank and its branches. It was this section of the law which some of us thought was violated by the removal of the deposites. The main object of the deposit bill of 1836, as we know, was to regulate deposits of the public money with the State banks ; so that, from the commencement of the government to the present time, nobody has thought of making any question of the constitu- tional power of Congress to make such arrangements. The gentleman's other proposition, and which he lays down with still more confidence and emphasis, is, that Congress cannot, con- stitutionally, authorize the receipt of bank notes, though they be - 329 notes of specie-paying banks, in payment of debts to Government ; because, he says, that would make them money ; and if we make them money, then we are bound to control and regulate that money. Most certainly, sir, I agree with the honorable member, that when bank notes become money, we are bound to control and regulate them. 1 thank him for this admission ; since it goes a great way to support that proposition, for which 1 have been con- tending. That bank notes have become money in fact, that they answer the uses of money, that, in many respects, the law treats them as money, is certain. Why, then, are we not already bound to control and regulate them ? The gentleman will say. Because we have not, ourselves, made them money. But is that any answer? If they have become money in fact, they require the same regulation, and we have the same authority to bestow it, as if they had acquired that character by any acts of our own ; because our power is general : it is to take care of the money of the coun- try, and to regulate all the great concerns of commerce. But let us see how this opinion of the honorable member stands upon the authorities in our own history. When the first bank was established, the right of Congress to create such a corporation was, as we all know, very much disputed. Large majorities, however, in both Houses, were of opinion that the right existed, and they therefore granted the charter ; and in this charter there was an express provision that the bills of the bank should be receivable in all payments to Government. Those who opposed the bank did not object to this clause : on the contrary, they went even much further; and Mr. INIadison expressly insisted that Congress might grant or refuse, to State banks, the privilege of havin'i' their notes received in revenue. In 1791, therefore, men of all parties supposed that Congress, in its discretion, might au- thorize the receipt of bank notes. The same principle was incor- porated into the bank charter of 1816: indeed it was in the bill which the gentleman himself reported ; and it passed without ob- jection from any quarter. But this is not all. Mr. President, let us look into the proceedings of the session of 1815— '16 a little more closely. At the commencement of that session, Mr. Madi- son drew our attention to the state of the currency ; by which he meant the paper currency of the country, which was then very much disordered, as tiie banks had suspended specie payment dur- ing the war, and had not resumed. Early in the progress of the session, the honorable member from South Carolina moved that this part of the message should be referred to a select committee. It was so ordered. The committee was raised, and the honorable gentleman placed at its head. As chairman of the committee, he introduced the bank bill, explained it, defended it, and carried it triumphantly through the House, having in it the provision which I have before mentioned. VOL. III. 42 BB* 330 But there Is something more. At the same session the gentle- man introduced the bill for the further collection of the revenue, to which I have already referred, and in which bill he carried the receivability of bank notes much further, and provided that notes of any hank or bankers which ivere payable and paid, on demand, in specie, might be allowed and accepted in all payments to the Uni- ted States. So that the honorable gentleman himself drew, with his own pen, tlie very first legal enactment in the histoiy of this Government, by which it was provided that the notes of State banks should be considered and treated as money at the Treasury. Still further, sir : The bill containing this provision did not pass the House ; and as I deemed some provision necessary, indispensably necessary, for the state of things then existing, I introduced, I think the very next day after the failure of the honorable gentleman's bill, three resolutions. The two first were merely declaratory, asserting that all duties, taxes, and imposts, ought to be uniform, and that the revenues of the United States ought to be collected and received in the legal currency, or in Treasury notes, or the notes of the Bank of the United States, as by law provided. These two resolutions I agreed to waive, as it was thought they were not essential, and that they might imply some degree of censure upon past transac- tions. The third resolution was in these words : " And resolved, further. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, required and directed to adopt such measures as he may deem necessary to cause, as soon as may be, all duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money accruing or becoming payable to the United States, to be collected and paid in the legal currency of the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the United States, as aforesaid ; and that from and after the 1st day of February next, no such duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money ac- cruing or becoming payable to the United States, as aforesaid, ought to be collected or received otherwise than in the legal currency of the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the United States, as aforesaid." Tlie Senate will perceive that, in this resokition of mine, there was no provision whatever for receiving bank notes, except of the Bank of the United States, according to its charter. Well, what happened thereon ? Why, sir, if you look into the National Intel- ligencer of a succeeding day, you will find it stated, that Mr. Cal- houn moved to amend Mr. Webster's resolution by " extending its provisions to the notes of all banks which should, at the time speci- fied therein, pay their notes in specie on demand." This amendment was opposed by me, as being unnecessary, m- asmuch as all such bills would be received of course, as they always had been received. The honorable member said, that, for his own part, he did not himself think it necessary ; he thought such bills 331 would continue to be received, as they had been, without any new provision ; he had offered the amendment, however, to satisfy the doubts of others; but since it was opposed, he would wididraw it, and he did withdraw it. The resolution passed the House, there- fore, exactly as I had prepared it. But in the Senate it was amended, in the manner which the honorable member had proposed in the House ; and in this amendment the House ultimately con- curred. The provision was thus incorporated into the resolution, became part of the law of the land, and so remains at this very moment. Sir, may I not now say to the honorable member, that, if the con- stitution of the country has been violated by treating bank notes as money — " Thou art the man ! " How is it possible, sir, the gentleman could so far forget his own agency in these most important transactions, as to stand up here, the other day, and with an air not only of confidence, but of defi- ance, say, " But I take a still higher ground ; I strike at the root of the mischief. I deny the right of this Government to treat bank notes as money in its fiscal transactions. On this great question I never have before committed myself, though not generally disposed to abstain from forming or expressing opinions." I will only add, sir, that this reception and payment of bank notes was expressly recognized by the act of the 14th April, 183G; by die deposit act of June of that year ; and by the bill which passed botli Houses in 1837, but which the President did neither approve nor return. In all these acts, so far as 1 know, the hon- orable member from South Carolina himself concurred. So much for authority. But now, sir, what is the principle of constiaiction upon which the gentleman relies to sustain his doctrine ? " The genius of our constitution," he says, " is opposed to the assumption of power." This is undoubtedly true; no one can deny it. But he adds, " Whatever power it gives, is expressly granted." But I think, sir, this by no means follows from the first proposi- tion, and cannot be maintained. It is doubtless true that no power is to be assumed ; but then powers may be inferred, or necessa- rily implied. It is not a question of assumption ; it is a question of fair, just, and reasonable inference. To hold that no power is granted, and no means authorized, but such as are granted or au- thorized by express words, would be to establish a doctrine that would put an end to the Government. It could not last through a single session of Congress. If such opinions had prevailed in the beginning, it never could have been put in motion, and would not have drawn its first breath. My friend, near me, froin Delaware, has gone so fully and so ably into this part of the subject, that it has become quite unnecessary for me to pursue it. Where the 332 constitution confers on Congress a general power, or imposes a general duty, all other powers necessary for the exercise of that general power, and for fulfilling that duty, are implied, so far as there is no prohihition. We act every day upon this principle, and could not carry on the Government without its aid. Under the power to coin money, we build expensive mints — fill them with officers — punish such officers for embezzlement — buy bullion — and exercise various other acts of power. The constitution says that the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in certain courts. Under this general authority, we not only establish such courts, but protect their records by penalties against forgery, and the purity of their administration by punishing perjuries. The Department of the Post-Office is another, and signal in- stance, of the extent and necessity of implied powers. The whole authority of Congress over this subject is expressed in very few words; they are merely " to establish post-offices and post-roads." Under this short and general grant, laws of Congress have been extended to a great variety of very important enactments, without the specific grant of any power whatever, as any one may see who will look over the post-office law s. In these laws, among other pro- visions, penalties are enacted against a great number of offences ; thus deducing the highest exercise of criminal jurisdiction, by rea- sonable and necessary inference, from the general authority. But 1 forbear from traversing a field already so fully explored. There are one or two other remarks, sir, in the gentleman's speech, which 1 must not entirely omit to notice. In speaking of the beneficial effects of this measure, one, he says, would be, that " the weight of the banks would be taken from the side of the tax-consumers, where it has been from the commence- ment of the Government, and placed on the side of the tax-payers. This great division of the community necessarily grows out of the fiscal action of the Government." Sir, I utterly deny that there is the least foundation, in fact, for this distinction. It is an odious distinction, calculated to inspire envy and hatred ; and being, as I think, wholly groundless, its sug- gestion, and the endeavor to maintain it, ought to be resisted and repelled. We are all tax-payers, in the United States, who use articles on which imposts are laid ; and who is there that is excused from this tax, or does not pay his proper part of it, according to his consumption ? Certainly no one. On the other hand, who are the tax-consumers ? Clearly, the army, the navy, the laborers on public works, and other persons in Government employment. But even these are not idle consumers ; they are agents of the Government and of the people. Pensioners may be considered as persons who enjoy benefit fiom the public 333 taxes of the country, without renderiui^ present service in return ; but the legal provision for them stands on the ground of previous merits, which none deny. If we had a vast national debt, the an- nual interest of which was a chai'ge upon the country, the holders of this debt mi'dit be considered as tax-consumers. But we have no such debt. If the distinction, therefore, which the gentleman states exists any where, most certainly it does not exist here. And 1 cannot but exceedingly regret that sentiments and opinions should be expressed here, having so little foundation, and yet so well cal- culated to spread prejudice and dislike, far and wide, against the Government and institutions of the country. But, sir, I have extended these remarks already to a length for which I tind no justification but in my profound conviction of the importance of this crisis in our national alFairs. We are, as it seems to me, about to rush madly from our proper spheres. We are to relinquish the perfoiTuance of our own incumbent duties ; to aban- don the exercise of essential powers, confided by the constitution to our hands, for the good of the country. This was my opinion in September — it is my opinion now. Wiiat we propose to do, and what we omit to do, are, in my judgment, likely to make a fearful, perhaps a fatal, inroad upon the unity of commerce between these States, as w ell as to embarrass and harass the employments of the people, and to prolong existing evils. Sir, whatever we may think of it now, the constitution had Its immediate origin in the conviction of the necessity for this uniformity, or identity, in commercial regulations. The whole history of the country, of every year and every month, from the close of the war of the Revolution to 17S9, proves this. Over whatever other interests it was made to extend, and whatever other blessings it now does, or hereafter may, confer on the millions of free citizens who do or shall live under its protection ; even though, in time to come, it should raise a pyraniid of power and grandeur, wliose apex should look down on the loftiest political structures of other nations and other ages, it will yet be true, that it was itself the child of pressing commercial necessity. Unity and identity of commerce among all the States was its seminal principle. It had been found absolutely impossible to excite or foster enterprise in trade, under the influence of discordant and jarring State regula- tions. The country was losing all the advantages of its position. The Revolution itself was beginning to be regarded as a doubtful blessing. The ocean before us was a barren waste. No Ameri- can canvass whitened its bosom — no keels of ours ploughed its waters. The journals of the Congress of the Confederation show, the most constant, unceasing, unwearied, but always unsuccessful appeals to the States and the people, to renovate the system, to infuse into that Confederation at once a spirit of union and a spirit 334 of activity, by conferring on Congress the power over trade. By nothing but the perception of its indispensable necessity — by notli- ing but their consciousness of suffering from its want — were the States and the people brought, and brought by siow degrees, to invest this power in a permanent and competent Government, Sir, hearken to the fervent language of the old Congress, in July, 1785, in a letter addressed to the States, prepared by Mr. Monroe, Mr. King, and other great names, now transferred from the lists of livino- men to the records which carry dou n the fame of the distin- guished dead. The proposition before them, the great object to which they so solicitously endeavored to draw the attention of the States, was this, viz. that " the United States, in Congress assem- bled, should have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade of the States, as well with foreign nations as with each odier." This, they say, is urged upon the States by every consideration of local as well as of federal policy ; and they beseech them to agree to it, if they wish to promote the strength of the Union, and to con- nect it by the strongest lies of interest and affection. This was in July, 1785. In the same spirit, and for the same end, was that most impor- tant resolution which was adopted in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the 21st day of the following January. Sir, I read the resolution entire. " Resolved, That Edmund Randolph, and others, be appointed commissioners, who, or any five of whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appoinU'd by the other States in the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, to take into consideration the trade of the United States ; to examine the relative situa- tions and trade of the said States ; to consider how far a uniform system in tlieir commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their per- manent harmony, and to report to the several States such an act relative to this great object, as, when unanimously ratified by tiiem, will enable the irnited States, in Congress assembled, effectually to provide for the same ; tliat the said commissioners shall immediately transmit to the several States copies of the preceding resolution, with a circular letter requesting their concurrence therein, and proposing a time and place for the meeting aforesaid." Here, sir, let us pause. Let us linger at the waters of this origi- nal fountain. Let us contemplate this, the first step in that series of proceedings, so full of great events to us and to the world. Not- withstanding the embarrassment and distress of the country, the recommendation of the old Congress had not been complied with. Every attempt to bring the State Legislatures into any harmony of action, or any pursuit of a common object, had signally and disas- trously fliiled. The exigency of the case called for a new move- ment — for a more direct and powerful attempt to bring the good sense and patriotism of the country into action upon the crisis. A solemn assembly was therefore proposed — a general convention of delegates from all the States. And now, sir, what was the exigency? What was this crisis ? Look at the resolution itself; S35 there Is not an idea In it but trade. Commerce ! commerce ! Is the beginning and end of it. The subject to be considered and examined was " the relative situation of the trade of the States ; " and tlie object to be obtained was the " establishment of a uniform system in their commercial regulations, as necessary to the common interest and their permanent harmony." This is all. And, sir, by the adoption of this ever-memorable resolution, the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the 21st day of January, 1786, performed the first act in the train of measures which resulted in that constitu- tion, under the authority of which you now sit in that chair, and I have now the honor of addressing the members of this body. INIr. President, I am a Northern man. I am attached to one of the States of the North, by the ties of birth and parentage ; by the tillage of paternal fields ; by education ; by the associa- tions of early life ; and by sincere gratitude for proofs of public confidence early bestowed. I am bound to another Northern State by adoption, by long residence, by all the cords of social and domestic life, and by an attachment and regard, springing from her manifestation of approbation and favor, which grapple me to her with hooks of steel. And yet, sir, with the same sincerity of respect, the same deep gratitude, the same reverence and hearty good will, with which I would pay a similar tribute to either of these States, do I here acknowledge the Com- monwealth of Virginia to be entitled to the honor of commencing the work of establishing this constitution. The honor is hers ; let her enjoy it ; let her forever wear it proudly ; there is not a brighter jewel in the tiara that adorns her brow. Let this resolution stand, illustratiniT her records, and blazoninii her name through all time ! The meeting, sir, })roposed by the resolution was holden. It took place, as all know, in Annapolis, in May of the same year ; but it was thinly attended, and its members, very wisely, adopted measures to bring about a fuller and more general convention. Their letter to the States on this occasion is full of instruction. It shows their sense of the unfortunate condition of the country. In their meditations on the subject, they saw the extent to which the commercial power must necessarily extend. The sagacity of New Jersey had led her, in agreeing to the original proposition of Vir- ginia, to enlarge the object of the appointment of commissioners, so as to embrace not only commercial regulations, but other impor- tant matters. This suggestion the commissioners adopted, because they thought, as they inform us, '• that the power of regulating trade is of such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into the general system of the Federal Government, that to give ii efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, might require a correspondent adjustment of other parts of the Federal system." Here you scC; sir, that other 336 powers, such as are now in the constitution, were expected to branch out of the necessary commercial power ; and, therefore, the letter of the commissioners concludes with recommending a general convention, " to take into consideration the ivhoh situation of the United States, and to devise such further provisions as should appear necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Govern- ment adequate to the exigencies of the Union." The result of that convention was the present constitution. And yet, in the midst of all this flood of light, respecting its original objects and purposes, and while we cannot but see the adequate powers which it confers for accomplishing these purposes, we abandon the commerce of the country, we betray its interests, we turn ourselves away from its most crying necessities. Sir, it will be a fact, stamped in deep and dark lines upon our annals ; it will be a tRith, which in all time can never'be denied or evaded, that if this constitution shall not, now and hereafter, be so admin- istered as to maintain a uniform system in all matters of trade ; if it shall not protect and regulate the commerce of the country, in all its great interests, in its foreign intercourse, in its domestic intercourse, in its navigation, in its currency, in every thing which fairly belongs to the whole idea of commerce, either as an end, an agent, or an instrument, then that constitution will have failed, utterly failed to accomplish the precise, distinct, original object, in which it had its being. In matters of trade we were no longer to be Georgians, Virginians, Pennsylvanians, or Massachusetts men. We were to have but one commerce, and that the commerce of the United States. There were not to be separate flags, waving over separate commercial systems. There was to be one flag, the e pluuibus unum ; and toward that was to be that rally of united interests and affections, which our fathers had so earnestly invoked. Mr. President, this unity of commercial regulation is, in my opinion, indispensable to the safety of the union of the States. In peace it is its strongest tie. I care not, sir, on what side, or in which of its branches, this constitutional authority may be attacked. Every successful attack upon it, made any where, weakens the whole, and renders the next assault easier and more dangerous. Any denial of its just extent is an attack upon it. We attack it, most fiercely attack it, whenever we say we will not exercise the powers which it enjoins. If the Court had yielded to the pretensions of respectable States upon the subject of steam navigation, and to the retaliatory proceedings of other States ; if retreat and excuse, and disavowal of power, had been prevailing sentiments then, in what condition, at this moment, let me ask, would the steam navigation of the country be found ? To us, sir, to us, his countrymen, — to us, who feel so much admira- 337 tion for his genius, and so much gratitude for his services, — Fulton would have lived almost in vain. State grants and State exclusions would have covered over all our waters. Sir, it is in the nature of such things, that the first violation, or the first departure from true principles, draws more important viola- tions or departures after it ; and the first surrender of just authority will be followed by others more to be deplored. If commerce be a unit, to break it in any one part, is to decree its ultimate dismem- berment in all. If there be made a first chasm, though it be small, through that the whole wild ocean will pour in, and we may then labor to throw up embankments in vain. Sir, the spirit of union is particularly liable to temptation and se- duction in moments of peace and prosperity. In war, this spirit is strengthened by a sense of common danger, and by a thousand recollections of ancient efforts and ancient glory in a common cause. But in the calms of a long peace, and the absence of all apparent causes of alarm, things near gain an ascendency over things remote. Local interests and feelings overshadow national sentiments. Our attention, our regard, and our attachment, are every moment solicited to what touches us closest, and we feel less and less the attraction of a distant orb. Such tendencies we are bound by true patriotism, and by our love of union, to resist. This is our duty; and the moment, in my judgment, has arrived when that duty is summoned to action. We hear, every day, sentiments and argu- ments which would become a meeting of envoys, employed by separate Governments, more than they become the common Legis- lature of a united country. Constant appeals are made to local interests, to geographical distinctions, and to the policy and the pride of particular States. It would sometimes appear that it was, or as if it were, a settled purpose, to convince the people that our Union is nothing but a jumble of different and discordant interests, which must, erelong, be all returned to their original state of sepa- rate existence; as if, therefore, it was of no great value while it should last, and was not likely to last long. The process of disin- tegration begins, by urging, as a fact, the existence of different interests. Sir, is not the end obvious, to which all this leads us ? Who does not see that, if convictions of this kind take possession of the public mind, our Union can hereafter be nothing, while it remains, but a connection without harmony ; a bond without affection ; a theatre for the angry contests of local feelings, local objects, and local jeal- ousies ? Even while it continues to exist in name, it may, by these means, become nothing but the mere form of a united Government. My children, and the children of those who sit around me, may meet, perhaps, in this chamber, in the next generation ; but if tendencies, now but too obvious, be not checked, they will meet as VOL. III. 43 c c 338 strangers and aliens. They will feel no sense of common interest or common country : they will cherish no common object of patriotic love. If the same Saxon language shall fall from their lips, it may be the chief proof that they belong to the same nation. Its vital principle exhausted and gone, its power of doing good terminated, now productive only of strife and contention, the Union itself must ultimately fall, dishonored and unlamented. The honorable member from Carolina himself habitually indulges in charges of usurpation and oppression against the Government of his country. He daily denounces its important measures, in the language in which our revolutionary fathers spoke of the oppres- sions of the mother country. Not merely against Executive usur- pation, either real or supposed, does he utter these sentiments, but against laws of Congress, laws passed by large majorities, laws sanctioned, for a course of years, by the people. These laws he proclaims, every hour, to be but a series of acts of oppression. He speaks of them as if it were an admitted fact, that such is their true character. This is the language which he utters, these the sentiments he expresses, to the rising generation around him. Are they sentiments and language which are likely to inspire our chil- dren with the love of union, to enlarge their patriotism, or to teach them, and to make them feel, that their destiny has made them common citizens of one great and glorious republic ? A principal object, in his late political movements, the gentleman himself tells us, was to unite the entire South; and against whom, or against what, does he wish to unite the entire South ? Is not this the very essence of local feeling and local regard ? Is it not the ac- knowledgment of a wish and object to create political strength, by uniting political opinions geographically ? While the gentleman thus wishes to unite the entire South, I pray to know, sir, if he expects me to turn toward the polar-star, and, acting on the same principle, to utter a cry of Rally ! to the whole North ? Heaven forbid ! To the day of my death, neither he nor others shall hear such a cry from me. Finally, the honorable member declares that he shall now march off, under the banner of State rights ! March off from whom ? March off from what? We have been contending for great princi- ples. We have been stmggling to maintain the liberty and to restore the prosperity of the country ; we have made these strug- gles here, in the national councils, with the old flag, the true American flag, the Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the Chamber in which we sit. He now tells us, however, that he marches off under the State-rights banner ! Let him go. I remain. I am, where I ever have been, and ever mean to be. Here, standing on the platfoim of the general constitution — a platform, broad enough, and finn enough, to 339 uphold eveiy interest of the whole country — I shall still be found. Intrusted with some part in the administration of that constitution, I intend to act in its spirit, and in the spirit of those who framed it. Yes, sir, I would act as if our fathers, who formed it for us, and who bequeathed it to us, were looking on me — as if 1 could see their venerable forms, bending down to behold us from the abodes above. I would act, too, as if the eye of posterity was gazing on me. Standing thus, as in the full gaze of our ancestors and our pos- terity, having received this inheritance from the former, to be trans- mitted to the latter, and feeling that, if I am born for any good, in my day and generation, it is for the good of the whole country, no local policy, or local feeling, no temporary impulse, shall induce me to yield my foothold on the Constitution and the Union. I move off under no banner not known to the whole American peo- ple, and to their constitution and laws. No, sir ; these walls, these colunms From their firm base as soon as I." 1 came into public life, sir, in the service of the United States. On that broad altar, my earliest, and all my public vows, have been made. I propose to serve no other master. So far as de- pends on any agency of mine, they shall continue united States ; united in interest and in affection ; united in every thing in regard to which the constitution has decreed their union; united in war, for the conuuon defence, the common renown, and the common glory; and united, compacted, knit firmly together in peace, for the com- mon prosperity and happiness of ourselves and our children. SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ANSWER TO MR. CALHOUN, MARCH 22, 1838. On Thursday, the 22d of March, Mr. Calhodn spoke at length in answer to Mr. Webster's Speech of March 12. When he had concluded, Mr. Webster immediately rose, and addressed the Senate as follows : — Mr. President : I came rather late to the Senate this morning, and happening to meet a friend on the avenue, I was admonished by him to hasten my steps, as " the war was to be carried into Africa," and I was expected to be annihilated. I lost no time in following the advice, sir, since it would be awkward for one to be annihilated without knowing any thing about it. Well, sir, the war has been brought into Africa. The honorable member has made an expedition into regions as remote from the subject of this debate as the orb of Jupiter from that of our earth. He has spoken of the tariff, of slavery, and of the late war. Of all this I do not complain. On the contrary, if it be his pleasure to allude to all, or any of these topics, for any purpose whatever, I am ready at all times to hear him. Sir, this carrying the war into Africa, which has become so com- mon a phrase among us, is, indeed, imitating a great example ; but it is an example which is not always followed by success. In the first place, sir, every man, though he be a man of talent and genius, is not a Scipio ; and in the next place, as I recollect this part of Roman and Carthaginian history, — the gentleman may be more accurate, — but as I recollect it, when Scipio resolved upon carry- ing the war into Africa, Hannibal was not at home. Now, sir, I am very little like Hannibal, but I am at home ; and when Scipio Africanus South Carolinaensis brings the war into my territories, I shall not leave their defence to Asdrubal, nor Syphax, nor any body else. I meet him on the shore, at his landing, and propose but one contest. " Concurritur ; Aut cita mors, aut victoria Iseta." ') Mr. President, 1 had made up my mind that if the honorable gentleman should confine himself to a reply, in the ordinary way, I 340 341 vould not say another syllable. But he has not done so. He has gone off into topics quite remote from all connection with reve- nue, commerce, finance, or sub-treasuries, and invites to a discussion which, however uninteresting to the public at the present moment, is too personal to be declined by me. He says, sir, that I had undertaken to compare my political character and conduct with his. Far from it. I attempted no such thing. I compared the gentleman's political opinions at different times with one another, and expressed decided opposition to those which he now holds. And I did, certainly, advert to the general tone and drift of the gentleman's sentiments and expres- sions, for some years past, in their bearing on the Union, with such remarks as I thought they deserved ; but I instituted no comparison between him and myself. He may institute one, if he pleases, and when he pleases. Seeking nothing of this kind, I avoid nothing. Let it be remembered, that the gentleman began the debate, by attempting to exhibit a contrast between the present opinions and conduct of my friends and myself, and our recent opinions and conduct. Here is the first charge of inconsistency ; let the public judge, whether he has made it good. He says, sir, that on several questions I have taken different sides, at different times : let him show it. If he shows any change of opinion, I shall be called on to give a reason, and to account for it. I leave it to the country to say whether, as yet, he has shown any such thing. But, sir, before attempting that, he has something else to say. He had prepared, it seems, to draw comparisons himself. He had intended to say something, if time had allowed, upon our respective opinions and conduct in regard to the war. If time had allowed ! Sir, time does allow — time must allow. A general remark of that kind ought not to be, cannot be, left to produce its effect, when that effect is obviously intended to be unfavorable. Why did the gentleman allude to my votes, or my opinions, respecting the war, at all, unless he had something to say ? Does he wish to leave an undefined impression that something was done, or something said, by me, not now capable of defence or justification ? somediing not reconcilable with true patriotism ? He means that, or nothing. And now, sir, let him bring the matter forth : let him take the responsi- bility of the accusation : let him state his facts. I am here to an- swer : I am here, this day, to answer. Now is the time, and now the hour. I think we read, sir, that one of the good spirits would not biing against the arch enemy of mankind a railing accusation ; and what is railing, but general reproach — an imputation, without fact, time, or circumstance ? Sir, I call for particulars. The gentleman knows my whole conduct well : indeed, the journals show it all, from the moment I came into Congress till the peace. If I have done, then, sir, any thing unpatriotic — any thing which, as far as CO* 342 • love to country goes, will not bear comparison with his, or any man's conduct — let it now be stated. Give me the fact, the time, the manner. He speaks of the war ; that which we call the late war, though it is now twenty-five years since it terminated. He would leave an impression that I opposed it. How ? I was not in Congress when war was declared, nor in public life, any where. I was pursuing my profession, keeping company with judges and jurors, and plaintiffs and defendants. If I had been in Congress, and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the honorable gendeman's speeches, for all I can say, I might have concurred with him. But I was not in public life. I never had been, for a single hour; and was in no situation, therefore, to oppose or to support the declara- tion of war. I am speaking to the fact, sir ; and if the gentleman has any fact, let us know it. Well, sir, I came into Congress during the war. I found it waged, and raging. And what did I do here to oppose it ? Look to the journals. Let the honorable gentleman tax his memory. Bring up any thing, if there be any thing to bring up — not showing error of opinion, but showing want of loyalty or fidelity to the country. I did not agree to all that was proposed, nor did the honorable member. I did not approve of every measure, nor did he. The war had been preceded by the restrictive system, and the embargo. As a private individual, I certainly did not think well of these measures. It appeared to me the embargo annoyed our- selves as much as our enemies, while it destroyed the business, and cramped the spirits, of the people. In this opinion I may have been right or wrong, but the gentle- man was himself of the same opinion. He told us, the other day, as a proof of his independence of party, on great questions, that he differed with his friends on the subject of the embargo. He was decidedly and unalterably opposed to it. It furnishes, in his judgment, therefore, no imputation either on my patriotism, or the soundness of my political opinions, that I was opposed to it also. I mean opposed in opinion ; for I was not in Congress, and had nothing to do with the act creating the embargo. And as to opposition to measures for carrying on the war, after I came into Congress, I again say, let the gentleman specify — let him lay his finger on any thing, calling for an answer, and he shall have an answer. Mr. President, you were yourself in the House during a consid- erable part of this time. The honorable gentleman may make a witness of you. He may make a witness of any body else. He may be his own witness. Give us but some fact, some charge, something capable in itself either of being proved or disproved. Prove any thing, state any thing, not consistent with honorable and 343 patriotic conduct, and I am ready to answer it. Sir, I am glad this subject lias been alluded to, in a manner which justifies me in taking public notice of it ; because I am well aware that, for ten years past, infinite pains have been taken to find something, in the range of these topics, which might create prejudice against me in the country. The journals have all been pored over, and the reports ransacked, and scraps of paragraphs and half sentences have been collected, put together in the falsest manner, and then made to flare out, as if there had been some discovery. But all this failed. The next resort was to supposed correspondence. My letters were sought for, to learn if, in the confidence of private friendship, I had never said any thing which an enemy could make use of. With this view, the vicinity of my former residence has been searched, as with a lighted candle. New Hampshire has been explored, from the mouth of the Merrimack to the White Hills. In one instance a gentleman had left the State, gone five hundred miles off, and died. His papers were examined — a letter was found, and I have understood it was brought to Washington — a conclave was held to consider it, and the result was, that if there was nothing else against Mr. Webster, the matter had better be let alone. Sir, 1 hope to make every body of that opinion who brings against me a charge of want of patriotism. Errors of opinion can be found, doubtless, on many subjects ; but as conduct flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know that no act of my life has had its origin in the want of ardent love of country. Sir, when 1 came to Congress, I found the honorable gentleman a leading member of the House of Representatives. Well, sir, in what did we differ ? One of the first measures of magnitude, after I came here, was Mr. Dallas's proposition for a bank. It was a war measure. It was urged as being absolutely necessary to enable Government to carry on the war. Government wanted revenue — such a bank, it was hoped, would furnish it ; and on that account it was most warmly pressed and urged on Congress. You remember all this, JNIr. President. You remember how much some persons supposed the success of the war and the salvation of the country depended on carrying that measure. Yet the honorable member from South Carolina opposed this bill. He now takes to hiuiself a good deal of merit — none too much, but still a good deal of merit, for having defeated it. Well, sir, I agreed with him. It was a mere paper bank — a mere machine for fabricating irredeemable paper. It was a new form for paper money ; and instead of benefiting the country, I thought it would plunge it deeper and deeper in difficulty. I made a speech on the subject : it has often been quoted. There it is ; let whoever pleases, read and examine it. I am not proud of it, for any ability it exhibits ; on the other hand, I am not ashamed of it, for the spirit which 344 it manifests. But, sir, I say again, that the gentleman himself took tlie lead, against this measure — tliis darling measure of the Ad- ministration. I followed him ; if 1 was seduced into error, or into unjustifiable opposition, there sits my seducer. What, sir, were other leading sentiments, or leading measures of that day ? On what other subjects did men differ ? The gentle- man has adverted to one, and that a most important one ; I mean the navy. He says, and says truly, that at the commencement of the war the navy was unpopular. It was unpopular with his friends, who then controlled the politics of the country. But he says he differed with his friends ; in this respect, he resisted party influence, and party connection, and was the friend and advocate of the navy. Sir, I commend him for it. He showed his wisdom. Tliat gallant little navy soon fought itself into favor, and showed that no man, who had placed reliance on it, had been disaj)pointed. Well, sir, in all this, I was exactly of the same opinion as the honorable gentleman. Sir, I do not know when my opinion of the importance of a naval force to the United States had its origin. I can give no date to my present sentiments on this subject, because I never entertained different sentiments. 1 remember, sir, that immediately after com- ing into my profession, at a period when the navy was most unpopular, when it was called by all sorts of hard names, and designated by many coarse epithets, on one of those occasions, on which young men address their neighbors, I ventured to put forth a boy's hand in defence of the navy. 1 insisted on its importance, its adaptation to our circumstances, and to our national character ; and its indispensable necessity, if we intended to maintain and extend our commerce. These opinions and sentiments I brought into Congress ; and, so far as I remember, it was the first, or among the first times, in which I presumed to speak on the topics of the day, that I attempted to urge on the House a greater attention to the naval service. There were divers modes of prosecuting the war. On these modes, or on the degree of attention and expense which should be bestowed on each, different men held different opinions. I confess I looked with most hope to the results of naval warfare, and therefore I invoked Government to invigorate and strengthen that arm of the national defence. I invoked it to seek its enemy upon the seas — to go where every auspicious indication pointed, and where the whole heart and soul of the country would go with it. Sir, we were at war with the greatest maritime Power on earth. England had gained an ascendency on the seas over the whole combined Powers of Europe. She had been at war twenty years. She had tried her fortunes on the continent, but generally with no success. At one time the whole continent had closed against 345 her. A long line of armed exterior, an unbroken hostile array, frowned upon her from the gulf of Archangel, round the promon- tory of Spain and Portugal, to the foot of the boot of Italy. There was not a port which an English ship could enter. Every where on the land the genius of her great enemy had triumphed. He had defeated armies, crushed coalitions, and overturned thrones ; but, like the fabled giant, he was unconquerable only while he touched the land. On the ocean, he was powerless. That field of fame was his adversary's, and her meteor flag was streaming in triumph all over it. To her maritime ascendency England owed every thing, and we were now at war with her. One of the most charming of her poets had said of her, that " Her march is o'er the mountain wave, Her home is on the deep." Now, sir, since we were at war with her, I was for intercepting this march ; I was for calling upon her, and paying our respects to her at home ; I was for giving her to know that we, too, had a right of way over the seas, and that our marine officers and our sailors were not entire strangers on the bosom of the deep ; I was for doing something more with our navy, than to keep it on our shores, for the protection of our own coasts and own harbors ; I was for giving play to its gallant and burning spirit ; for allowing it to go forth upon the seas, and to encounter, on an open and an equal field, whatever the proudest or the bravest of the enemy could brino asainst it. I knew the character of its officers and the spirit of its seamen ; ajid I knew that, in their hands, though the flag of the country might go down to the bottom, while they went with it, yet that it could never be dishonored or disgraced. Since she was our enemy — and a most powerful enemy — I was for touching her, if we could, in the very apple of her eye; for reaching the highest feather in her cap ; for clutching at the very brightest jewel in her crown. There seemed to me to be a peculiar propriety in all this, as the war was undertaken for the redress of maritime injuries alone. It was a war declared for free trade and sailors' rights. The ocean, therefore, was the proper theatre for deciding this controversy with our enemy, and on that theatre my ardent wish was, that our own power should be con- centrated to the utmost. So much, sir, for the war, and for my conduct and opinions as connected with it. And, as I do not mean to recur to this subject often, nor ever, unless indispensably necessary, I repeat the demand for any charge, any accusation, any allegation whatever, that throws me behind the honorable gentleman, or behind any oUier man, in honor, in fidelity, in devoted love to tliat country in which I was VOL. III. 44 346 born, which has honored me, and which I serve. I, who seldom deal in defiance, now, here, in my place, boldly defy the honorable member to put his insinuation in the form of a charge, and to sup- port that charge by any proof whatever. The gentleman has adverted to the subject of slavery. On this subject, he says, 1 have not proved myself a friend to the South. Why, sir, the only proof is, tliat 1 did not vote for his resolutions. Sir, this is a very grave matter; it is a subject very exciting and inflammable. I take, of course, all the responsibility belonging to my opinions ; but 1 desire these opinions to be understood, and fairly stated. If I am to be regarded as an enemy to the South, because I could not support the gentlemen's resolutions, be it so. I cannot purchase favor, from any quarter, by the sacrifice of clear and conscientious convictions. The principal resolution declared that Congress had plighted its faith not to interfere either with slavery or the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Now, sir, this is quite a new idea. I never heard it advanced until this session. I have heard gentlemen contend, that no such power was in the constitution ; but the notion, that though the con- stitution contained the power, yet that Congress had plighted its faith not to exercise such a power, is an entire novelty, so far as I know. I must say, sir, it appeared to me little else than an attempt to put a prohibition into the constitution, because there was none there already. For this supposed plighting of the public faith, or the faith of Congress, I saw no ground, either in the history of the Government, or in any one fact, or in any argument. I therefore could not vote for the proposition. Sir, it is now several years since 1 took care to make my opinion known, that this Government has, constitutionally, nothing to do with slavery, as it exists in the States. That opinion is entirely unchanged. I stand steadily by the resolution of the House of Representatives, adopted, after much consideration, at the com- mencement of the Government — which was, that Congress have no authority to interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them, within any of the States ; it remaining with the several States alone to provide any regulations therein, which humanity and true policy may require. This, in my opinion, is the constitution, and the law. I feel bound by it. I have quoted the resolution often. It expresses the judgment of men of all parts of the country, deliberately formed, in a cool time ; and it expresses my judgment, and I shall adhere to it. But this has nothing to do with the other constitutional question ; that is to say, the mere constitutional question, whether Congress has the power to regulate slavery and the slave trade, in the District of Columbia. On such a question, sir, when I am asked what the constitution is, or whether any power granted by it has been compromised 347 away ; or, Indeed, could be compromised away — I must express my honest opinion, and always shall express it, if I say any thing, notwithstanding it may not meet concurrence either in the South, or the North, or the East, or the West. I cannot express by my vote what I do not believe. He has chosen to bring that subject into this debate, with which it has no concern, but he may make the most of it, if he thinks he can produce unfavorable impressions on the South, from my negative to his fifth resolution. As to the rest of them, they were commonplaces, generally, or abstractions ; in regard to which, one may well not feel himself called on to vote at all. And now, sir, in regard to the tariff. That is a long chapter, but I am quite ready to go over it with the honorable member. He charges me with inconsistency. That may depend on deci- ding what inconsistency is, in respect to such subjects, and how it is to be proved. I will state the facts, for I have them in my mind somewhat more fully than the honorable member has himself presented them. Let us begin at the beginning. In 1816, I voted against the tariff law, which then passed. In 1824, 1 again voted against the tariff law, which was then proposed, and which passed. A majority of New England votes, in 1824, was against the tariff system. The bill received but one vote from Massachu- setts ; but it passed. The policy was established ; New England acquiesced in it, conformed her business and pursuits to it ; em- barked her capital, and employed her labor, in manufactures ; and I certainly admit that, from that time, I have felt bound to support interests thus called into being, and into importance, by the settled policy of the Government. I have stated this often here, and often elsewhere. The ground is defensible, and I maintain it. As to the resolutions adopted in Boston, in 1820, and which resolutions he has caused to be read, and which he says he presumes I prepared, I have no recollection of having drawn the resolutions, and do not believe I did. But I was at the meeting, and addressed the meeting, and what I said on that occasion has been produced here, and read in the Senate years ago. The resolutions, sir, were opposed to the commencing of a hii^h tariff policy. I was opposed to it, and sjjoke against it — the city of Boston was opposed to it — the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts was opposed to it. Remember, sir, that this was in 1820. This opposition continued till 1824. The votes all show this. But in 1824, the question was decided ; the Government entered upon the policy ; it invited men to embark their i)roperty and their means of living in it. Individuals have done this to a great extent ; and, therefore, I say, so long as the manufactures shall need reason- able and just protection from Government, I shall be disposed to give it to them. What is there, sir, in all this, for the gentleman 348 to complain of? Would he have us always oppose the policy, adopted by the country, on a great question ? Would he have minorities never submit to the will of majorities ? I remember to have said, sir, at the meeting in Faneuil Hall, that protection appeared to be regarded as incidental to revenue, and that the incident could not be carried fairly above the principal : in other words, that duties ought not to be laid for the mere object of protection. I believe that was substantially correct. 1 believe that if the power of protection be inferred only from the revenue power, the protection could only be incidental. But I have said in this place before, and I repeat now, that Mr. Madison's publication, after that period, and his declaration that the convention did intend to grant the power of protection, undei the commercial clause, placed the subject in a new and a clear light. I will add, sir, that a paper drawn up by Dr. Franklin, and read by him to a circle of friends in Philadelphia, on the eve of the assembling of the convention, respecting the powers which the proposed new Government ought to possess, shows, perfectly plainly, that in regulating commerce, it was expected Congress would adopt a course which should protect the manufactures of the North. He certainly went into the convention himself under that conviction. Well, sir, and now what does the gentleman make out against me in relation to the tariff? What laurels does he gather in this part of Africa ? I opposed the 'policy of the tariff, until it had become the settled and established policy of the country. I have never questioned the constitutional power of Congress to grant protection, except so far as the remark goes, made in Faneuil Hall, which remark respects only the length to which protection might properly be carried, so far as the power is derived from the author- ity to lay duties on imports. But the policy being established, and a great part of the country having placed vast interests at stake in it, 1 have not disturbed it ; on the contrary, I have insisted that it ought not to be disturbed. If there be inconsistency in all this, the gentleman is at liberty to blazon it forth ; let him see what he can make of it. Here, sir, I cease to speak of myself; and respectfully ask pardon of the Senate for having so long detained it, upon any thing so unimportant as what relates merely to my own public conduct and opinions. Sir, the honorable member is pleased to suppose that our spleen is excited, because he has interfered to snatch from us a victory over the Administration. If he means by this any personal disap- pointment, I shall not think it worth while to make a remark upon It. If he means a disappointment at his quitting us while we were endeavoring to arrest the present policy of the Administration, li 349 why, then, I admit, sir, that T, for one, felt that disappointment deeply. It is the policy of the Administration, its principles, and its measures, which I oppose. It is not persons, hut things ; not men, hut measures. I do wish most fervently to put an end to this anti-commercial policy ; and if the overthrow of the policy shall be followed by the political defeat of its authors, why, sir, it is a result which I shall endeavor to meet with equanimity. Sir, as to the honorable member's rescuing tlie victory from us, or as to his ability to sustain the Administration in this policy, there may be a drachm of a scruple about that. I trust the citadel will yet be stormed, and carried, by the force of public opinion, and that no Hector will be able to defend its walls. . But now, sir, I must advert to a declaration of the honorable member, which- I confess, did surprise me. The honorable mem- ber says, that, personally, he and myself have been on friendly terms, but tliat we always differed on great constitutional questions ! Sir, this is astounding. And yet I was partly prepared for it ; for I sat here the other day, and held my breath, while the honorable gentleman declared and repeated, that he always belonged to the State-rights party ! And he means, by what he has declared to- day, that he has always given to the constitution a construction more limited, better guarded, less favorable to the extension of the powers of this Government, than that which I have given to it. He has always interpreted it according to the strict doctrine of the school of State rights ! Sir, if the honorable member ever belonged, until very lately, to the State-rights party, the connection was very much like a secret marriage. And never was secret better kept. Not only were the espousals not acknowledged, but all suspicion Avas avoided. There was no known familiarity, or even kindness between them. On the contrary, they acted like parties who were not at all fond of each other's company. Sir, is there a man, in my hearing, among all the gentlemen now surrounding us, many of whom, of both Houses, have been here many years, and know the .gentleman and myself, perfectly ; is there one, who ever heard, supposed, or dreamed, that the honor- able member belonged to the State-rights party before the year 1825? Can any such connection be proved upon him — can he prove it upon himself, before that time ? Sir, I will show you, before I resume my seat, that it was not until after the gentleman took his seat, in the chair which you now occupy, that any pubhc manifestation, or intimation, was ever given by him, of his having embraced the peculiar doctrines of the State- rights party. The truth is, sir, the honorable gentleman had acted a very important and useful part during the war. But the war terminated. Toward the close of the session of 1814-15, we received the DD 350 news of peace. Tlils closed the 13th Congress. In the fall of 1815, the 14th Congress assembled. It was full of ability, and the honorable orentleman stood hiojh among its distinguished mem- bers. He remained in the House, sir, through the whole of that Congress ; and now, sir, it is easy to be shown, that during those two years, the honorable gendeman took a decided lead, in all those great measures, which he has since so often denounced, as unconstitutional and oppressive — the bank, the tariff, and internal improvements. The war being terminated, the gentleman's mind turned itself toward internal administration and improvement. He surveyed the whole country, contemplated its resources, saw what it was capable of becoming, and held a political faith, not so narrow and contracted, as to restrain him from useful and efficient action. He was, therefore, at once, a full length ahead of all others, in measures, which were national, and which required a broad and liberal construction of the constitution. This is historic truth. Of his agency in the bank, and other measures connected with the currency, I have already spoken, and I do not understand him to deny any thing I have said, in that particular. Indeed, I have said nothing capable of denial. Now allow me a few words upon the tariff. The tariff of 1816 was distinctly a South Carolina measure. Look at the votes, and you will see it. It was a tariff, for the benefit of South Carolina interests, and carried tln'ough Congress by South Carolina votes, and South Carolina influence. Even the minimum, sir, the so- rauch-reproached, the abominable minimum, that subject of angry indignation and wrathful rhetoric, is of Southern origin, and has a South Carolina parentage. Sir, the contest on that occasion was, chiefly, between the cotton- growers at home, and the importers of cotton fabrics from India. These India fabrics were made from the cotton of that country. The people of this country were using cotton fabrics, not made of American cotton, and, so far, they were diminishing the demand for such cotton. The importation of India cottons was then very large, and this bill was designed to put an end to it, and, with the help of the minimum, it did put an end to it. The cotton manu- factures of the North were then in their infancy. They had some friends in Congress, but if I recollect, the majority of Massachusetts members, and of New England members, were against this cotton tariff of 1816. I remember well, that the main debate was, be- tween the importers of India cottons, in the North, and the cotton- gi'owers of the South. The gentleman cannot deny the truth of this or any part of it. Boston opposed this tariff, and Salem op- posed it, warmly and vigorously. But the honorable member supported it, and the law passed. And now be it always remembered, sir, that that act passed on the professed ground of 551 protection ; that it had in it the minimum principle, and that the honorable member and other leading gentlemen from his own State, supported it, voted for it, and carried it through Congress. And now, sir, we come to the doctrine of internal improvement — that other usurpation, that other oppression, which has come so near to justifying violent abruption of the Government, and scat- tering the fragments of the Union to the four winds. Have the gentleman's State-rights opinions always kept him aloof from such unhallowed infringements of the constitution ? He says he always differed with me on constitutional questions. How was it in this, most important, particular ? Has he here stood on the ramparts, brandishing his glittering sword against assailants, and holding out a banner of defiance? Sir — sir — sir — it is an indisputable truth, that he is himself the man — the ipse that first brought forward, in Congress, a scheme of general internal improvement, at the ex- pense, and under the authority of this Government. He, sir, is the very man, the ipsissimus ipse, who, considerately, and on a settled system, began these unconstitutional measures, if they be uncon- stitutional. And now for the proof. The act incorporating the Bank of the United States was passed in April, 1816. For the privileges of the charter, the proprietors of the bank were to pay to Government a bonus, as it was called, of one million five hundred thousand dollars, in certain instalments. Government also took seven millions in the stock of the bank. Early in the next session of Congress — that is, in December, 1816 — the honorable member moved, in the House of Representatives, that a connnittee be appointed to consider the propriety of setting apart this bonus, and also the dividends on the stock belonging to the United States, as a permanent fund for internal improvement. The committee was appointed, and the honorable member was made its chairman. He thus originated the plan, and took the lead in its execution. Shortly afterwards, he reported a bill carrying out the objects for which the committee had been appointed. This bill provided that the dividends on the seven millions of bank stock belonging to Government, and also the whole of the bonus, should be permanently pledged, as a fund for constructing roads and canals ; and that this fund should be subject to such specific ap- propriations as Congress might thereafter make. This was the bill ; and this was the first project ever brought forward, in Congress, for a system of internal improvenients. The bill goes the whole doctrine, at a single jump. The Cumberland road, it is true, was already in progress ; and for that the gentleman had also voted. But there were, and are now, peculiarities about that particular expenditure, which sometimes satisfy scrupulous consciences ; but this bill of the gentleman's, without equivocation or savmg clause — without if, or and, or but — occupied the whole 352 ground at once, and announced internal improvement as one of the objects of this Government, on a grand and systematic plan. The bill, sir, seemed, indeed, too strong. It was thought, by persons not esteemed extremely jealous of State rights, to evince, never- theless, too little regard to the will of the States. Several gentle- men opposed the measure, in that shape, on that account; and among them Colonel Pickering, then one of the representatives from Massachusetts. Even Timothy Pickering could not quite sanction, nor concur in, the honorable gentleman's doctrines, to their full extent, although he favored the measure in its general character. He, therefore, prepared an amendment, as a substitute ; and his substitute provided for two very important things not em- braced in the original bill : — First, that the proportion of the fund to be expended in each State, respectively, should be in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. Second, that the money should be applied in constructing such roads, canals, &ic., in the several States, as Congress might direct, toith the assent of the State. This, sir, was Timothy Pickering's amendment of the honorable gentleman's bill. And now, sir, how did the honorable gentleman, who has always belonged to the State-rights party, how did he treat this amendment, or this substitute ? Which way, do you think, his State-rights doctrine led him ? Why, sir, I will tell you. He immediately rose, and moved to strike out the words " with the assent of the State /" Here is the journal under my hand, sir ; and here is the gentleman's motion. And certainly, sir, it will be ad- mitted, that this motion was not of a nature to intimate that he had become wedded to State rights. But the words were not stricken out. The motion did not prevail. Mr. Pickering's substitute was adopted, and the bill passed the House in that form. Iri Committee of the Whole on this bill, sir, the honorable mem- ber made a very able speech, both on the policy of internal im- provements, and the power of Congress over the subject. These points were fully argued by him. He spoke of the importance of the system ; the vast good it would produce, and its favorable effect on the union of the States. " Let us, then," said he, " bind the republic together, with a perfect system of roads and canals. Let us conquer space. It is thus the most distant parts of the republic will be brought within a few days' travel of the centre ; it is thus that a citizen of the West will read the news of Boston still moist from the press." But on the power of Congress to make internal improvements ; ay, sir, on the power of Congress, hear him ! What were then his rules of construction and interpretation ? How did he at that time read and understand the constitution ? Why, sir, he said that " he 353 was no advocate for refined arguments on the constitution. Tlie instrument was not intended as a thesis for the logician to exercise his ingenuity on. It ought to be construed with plain good sense." This is all very just, I think, sir ; and he said much more. He quoted many instances of laws, passed, as he contended, on similar principles, and then added, that " he introduced these instances to prove the uniform sense of Congress, and of the country, (for they had not been objected to,) as to our powers ; and surely," said he, " they furnish better evidence of the true interpretation of the con- stitution, than the most refined and subtile arguments." Here you see, Mr. President, how little original I am. You have heard me, again and again, contending in my place here for the stability of that which has been long settled ; you have heard me, till I dare say you have been tired, insisting that the sense of Congress, so often expressed, and the sense of the country, so fully known, and so firmly established, ought to be regarded as having decided, finally, certain constitutional questions. You see now, sir, what authority I have for this mode of argument. But while the scholar is learning, the teacher renounces. Will he apply his old doctrine, now — I sincerely wish he would — to the question of the bank, to the question of the receiving of bank notes by Govern- ment, to the power of Congress over the paper currency ? Will he, sir, will he admit that these ought to be regarded as decided, by the settled sense of Congress and of the country ? Oh ! no. Far otherwise. From these rules of judgment, and from the influ- ence of all considerations of this practical nature, the honorable member now takes these questions with him into the upper heights of metaphysics, into the regions of those refinements, and subtile ar- guments, which he rejected, with so much decision, in 1817, as ap- pears by this speech. He quits his old ground of common sense, experience, and the general understanding of the country, for a flight among theories and ethereal abstractions. And now, sir, let me ask, when did the honorable member relin- quish these early opinions and principles of his ? When did he make known his adhesion to the doctrines of the State-rights party ? We have been speaking of transactions in 1816 and 1817. What the gentleman's opinions then were, we have seen. But when did he announce himself a State-rights man ? I have already said, sir, that nobody knew of his claiming that character until after the com- mencement of 1825; and I have said so, because I have before me an address of his to his neighbors at Abbeville, in May of that year, in which he recounts, very properly, the principal incidents in his career, as a member of Congress, and as head of a Department ; and in which he says that, as a member of Congress, he had given his zealous efforts in favor of a restoration of specie currency ; of a due protection of those manufactures which had taken root during VOL. IIL. 45 DD* 354 the war, and, finally, of a system for connecting the various parts of the country hy a judicious system of internal improvement. And he adds, that it afterwards became his duty, as a member of the Administration, to aid in sustaining, against the boldest as- saults, those very measures, which, as a member of Congress, he had contributed to establish. And now, sir, since the honorable gentleman says he differed from me on constitutional questions, will he be pleased to say what constitutional opinion I have ever expressed, for which I have not his express audiorlty ? Is it on the bank power ? the tariff power ? the power of internal improvement ? I have shown his votes, his speeches, and his conduct, on all these subjects, up to the time when General Jackson became a candidate for the Presidency. From that time, sir, I know we have differed ; but If there was any difference before that time, I call upon him to point it out — what was the occasion, what the question, and what the difference ? And if, before that period, sir, by any speech, any vote, any public pro- ceeding, or by any other mode of announcement whatever, he gave the world to know that he belonged to the State-rights party, I hope he will now be kind enough to produce it, or to refer to it, or to tell us where we may look for it. Sir, I will pursue this topic no farther. I would not have pur- sued it so far — I would not have entered upon It at all — had It not been for the astonishment I felt, mingled, I confess, with something of warmer feeling, when the honorable gentleman declared that he had always differed from me on constitutional questions. Sir, the honorable member read a quotation or two from a speech of mine in 1816, on the currency or bank question. With what in- tent, or to what end ? What inconsistency does he show ? Speak- ing of the legal currency of the country, that is, the coin, I then said it was in a good state. Was not that true ? I was speaking of the legal currency ; of that which the law made a tender. And how is that inconsistent with any thing said by me now, or ever said by me ? I declared then, he says, that the framers of this Government were hard-money men. Certainly they were. But are not the friends of a convertible paper hard-money men, in every practical and sensible meaning of the term ? Did I, in that speech, or any other, insist on excluding all convertible paper from the uses of so- ciety ? Most assuredly I did not. I never quite so far lost my wits, I think. There is but a single sentence in that speech which 1 should qualify if I were to deliver it again — and that the honor- able member has not noticed. It is a paragraph respecting the power of Congress over the circulation of State banks, which might perhaps need explanation or correction. Understanding It as ap- plicable to the case then before Congress, all the rest is perfectly 355 accordant with my present opinions. It is well known that I never doubted the power of Congress to create a bank ; that I was always in favor of a bank, constituted on proper principles ; that I voted for the bank bill of 1815; and that I opposed that of 1816 only on account of one or two of its provisions, which I and others hoped to be able to strike out. I am a hard-money man, and always have been, and always shall be. But I know the great use of such bank paper as is convertible into hard money, on demand ; which may be called specie paper, and which is equivalent to specie in value, and much more convenient and useful for common purposes. On the other hand, I abhor all irredeemable paper ; all old-fash- ioned paper money ; all deceptive promises ; every thing, indeed, in the shape of paper issued for circulation, whether by Government or individuals, which may not be turned into gold and silver at the will of the holder. But, sir, I have insisted that Government is bound to protect and regulate the means of commerce, to see that there is a sound cur- rency for the use of the people. The honorable gentleman asks. What then is the limit ? Must Congress also furnish all means of commerce ? Must it furnish weights and scales and steelyards ? Most undoubtedly, sir, it must regulate weights and measures, and it does so. But the answer to the general question is very obvious. Government must furnish all that which none but Government can furnish. Government must do that for individuals which individuals cannot do for themselves. That is the very end of Government. Why else have we a Government ? And can individuals make a currency? Can indi- viduals regulate money ? The distinction is as broad and plain as the Pennsylvania avenue. No man can mistake it, or well blunder out of it. The gentleman asks if Government must furnish for the people ships, and boats, and wagons. Certainly not. The gentleman here only recites the President's message of September. These things, and all such things, the people can furnish for them- selves ; but they cannot make a currency ; they cannot, individu- ally, decide what shall be the money of the country. That, every body knows, is one of the prerogatives, and one of the duties, of Government ; and a duty which 1 think we are most unwisely and improperly neglecting. We may as well leave the people to make war and to make peace, each man for himself, as to leave to indi- viduals the regulation of commerce and currency. Mr. President, there are other remarks of the gendeman of which I might take notice. But, should I do so, I could only repeat what I have already said, either now or heretofore. I shall, there- fore, not now allude to them. My principal purpose, in what I have said, has been, first, to defend myself — that was my first object ; and next, as the hon- 356 orable member has attempted to take to himself the character of a strict constructionist, and a State-rights man, and on that basis to show a difference, not favorable to me, between his constitutional opinions and my own, heretofore, it has been my intention to show that the power to create a bank, the power to regulate the cur- rency by other and direct means, the power to lay a protecting tariff, and the power of internal improvement, in its broadest sense, are all powers which the honorable gentleman himself has supported, has acted on, and in the exercise of which, indeed, he has taken a distinguished lead in the councils of Congress. If this has been done, my purpose is answered. I do not wish to prolong the discussion, nor to spin it out into a colloquy. If the honorable member has any thing new to bring forward ; if he has any charge to make — any proof, or any specification ; if he has any thing to advance against ray opinions or my conduct, my honor or patriotism, I am still at home. I am here. If not, then, so far as I am concerned, this discussion will here terminate. I will say a few words, before I resume my seat, on the motion now pending. That motion is, to strike out the specie-paying part of the bill. I have a suspicion, sir, that the motion will prevail. If it should, it will leave a great vacuum; and how shall that vacuum be filled ? The part proposed to be struck out, is that which requires all debts to Government to be paid in specie. It makes a good pro- vision for Government, and for public men, through all classes. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his letter, at the last session, was still more watchful of the interests of the holders of office. He assured us, bad as the times were, and notwitiistanding the floods of bad paper which deluged the country, members of Congress should get gold and silver. In my opinion, sir, this is beginning the use of good money, in payments, at the wrong end of the list. If there be bad money in the country, I think that Secretaries and other executive officers, and especially members of Congress, should be the last to receive any good money ; because they have the power, if they will do their duty, and exercise the power, of making the money of the country good for all. I think, sir, it was a leading feature in Mr. Burke's flunous bill for economical reform, that he provided, first of all, for those who are least able to secure themselves. Every body else was to be well paid all they were entitled to, before the ministers of the Crown, and other political characters, should have any thing. This seems to me very right. But we have a prece- dent, sir, in our own country, more directly to the purpose ; and as that which we now hope to strike out is the part of the bill furnished, or proposed originally by the honorable member from South Carolina, it will naturally devolve on him to supply its place. I 357 wish therefore to draw his particular attention to this precedent, which I am now about to produce. Most members of the Senate will remember, that, before the establishment of this Government, and before, or about the time, that tlic territory which now constitutes tlie State of Tennessee was ceded to Congress, the iniiabitants of the eastern part of that terri- tory established a government for themselves, and called it the State of Franklin. They adopted a very good constitution, divided into the usual branches of legislative, executive, and judicial power. They laid and collected taxes, and performed other usual acts of legislation. They had, for the present, it is true, no maritime pos- sessions, yet they followed the common forms in constituting high officers ; and their governor was not only captain-general and com- mander-in-chief, but admiral also, so that the navy might have a commander when there should be a navy. Well, sir, the currency in this State of Franklin became very much deranged. Specie was scarce, and equally scarce were the notes of specie-paying banks. But the legislature did not propose any divorce of government and people ; they did not seek to establish two currencies, one for men in office, and one for the rest of the community. They were content with neighbor's fare. It became necessary to pass what we should call, now-a-days, the civil-list appropriation-bill. They passed such a bill ; and when we shall have made a void in the bill now before us, by striking out specie payments, for Government, I recommend to its friends to fill the gap, by inserting, if not the same provisions as were in the law of the State of Franklin, at least something in the same spirit. Tlie preamble of that law, sir, begins by reciting, that the col- lection of taxes, in specie, had become very oppressive to the good people of the commonwealth, for the want of a circulating medi- um. A parallel case to ours, sir, exactly. It reches further, sir, that it is the duty of the legislature to hear, at all times, the prayer of their constituents, and apply as speedy a remedy as lies in their power. These sentiments are very just, sir, and I sincerely wish there was a thorough disposition here, to adopt the like. Acting under the influence of these sound opinions, sir, the legis- lature of Franklin passed a law, for the support of the civil list, which, as it is short, I will beg permission to read. " Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of Franklin, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That, from the first day of January, A. D. 1789, the salaries of the civil officers of this commonwealth be as follow, to wit. " His excellency the governor, per annum, one thousand deer- skins ; his honor, the chief justice, five hundred do. do ; the attorney general, five hundred do. do. ; secretary to his excellency the gov- 358 emor, five hundred raccoon do. ; the treasurer of the State, four hundred and fifty otter do. ; each county clerk, three hundred beaver do. ; clerk of the house of commons, two hundred raccoon do. ; members of assembly, per diem, three do. do. ; justice's fee for signing a warrant, one muskrat do. ; to the constable, for serving a warrant, one mink do. " Enacted into a law this 18th day of October, 1788, under the great seal of the State. " Witness his excellency, Sue. " Governor, captain-general, command er-in-chief, and admiral in and over said State.'' This, sir, is the law, the spirit of which I commend to gentlemen. [ will not speak of the appropriateness of these several allowances for the civil list. But the example is good, and I am of opinion, that until Congress shall perform its duty, by seeing that the coun- try enjoys a good currency, the same medium which the people are obliged to use, whether it be skins or rags, is good enough for its own members. SPEECH AT FANEUIL HALL, JULY 24, 1838. On the return of Mr. Webster from the session in which lie had signalized himself by the dehvery of the two masterly speeches next preceding this, a large number of his fellow-citizens of Boston could not be restrained from manifesting tlieir sense of his extraordinary efforts, in exhibiting the true character of the odious sub-Treasury project, and in procuring its ultimate rejection by Congress. A public dinner was accordingly offered him, and was accepted. More than fif- teen hundred persons attended it, every ticket having been eagerly taken as soon as issued. Faneuil Hall could hold no more. Governor Everett presided at the tables, and the spirit of the occasion cannot be better conveyed than by in- serting the brilliant and beautiful remarks with which he introduced Mr. Web- ster to the assembly : — "And now, fellow-citizens," said he, "I rise to discharg-e the most pleas- ing part of my duty, which I fear you will tliink I have too long postponed ; the duty which devolves on me, as the organ of your feelings toward our distinguished guest, the senior Senator of the Commonwealth. And yet, fel- low-citizens, I appeal to you, that I have approached tliis duty, tlirough the succession of ideas which most naturally conducts our minds and hearts to tlie grateful topic. I have proposed to you, our Country and its Prosperity. Vv'^ho among the great men, his contemporaries, has more widely surveyed and comprehended the various interests of all its parts ? I have proposed, the Union of the States. What public man is there living, whose political course has been more steadily coasecrated to its perpetuity ? I have pro- posed to you, the Constitution. And who of our statesmen, from the time of the framers, has more profoundly investigated, more clearly expounded, more powerfully vindicated and sustained it.' But these topics I may pass over. They are matters which have been long familiar to you ; they need not any comment from me. " The events of the last year, and of the last session of Congress, and the present state of the country, invite our attention more particularly to the re- cent efforts of our distinguished guest on the subject of the cuRRENcr. I know not but some persons may think that undue importance has been at- tached to the questions which have divided parties on this subject; that these questions are not so vital to liberty as they have been represented. But such an opinion would be erroneous. Undoubtedly there are countries — not free ones — in which money questions, as connected with the govern- ment, are of minor consequence. In China, in Turkey, in Persia, 1 presume they are very little discussed. In these countries, the great question is, whether a man's head, at night., will be found in the same pleasing and con- venient proximity to his shoulders, that it was in the morning ; and this is a kind of previous question, which, if decided against him, cuts of!' all others. Under those arbitrary governments of Europe where the prince takes what ho pleases, and when he pleases, it is of very little moment where he deposits 359 360 it, on its way from the pockets of the people to his own. But it was remarked by Edmund Burke, more than seventy years ago, that in England, (and a fortiori in the United States, that is, under constitutional governments,) the great struggles for liberty had been almost always money questions, and on this ground he excused the Americans for the stand they took in opposition to a paltry tax. But, most certainly, the money question, as it has been agi- tated among us, is vastly more important, more intimately connected with constitutional liberty, than that which brought on the revolution. The ques- tion with our fathers was one of a small tax, ours of the entire currency. Theirs concerned three pence per pound on tea, illegally levied ; ours, the entire currency illegally disposed of — tlie entire medium of circulation de- ranged, and for a period annihilated — the whole business of the country, in all its great branches, brought under the control of the Treasury. The noble stand, therefore, taken by our distinguished Senator in this controversy, has been upon points which concern the dearest interests of the people, and the elemental principles of the government. " In fact, I know not that a policy can be imagined more at war with the true character of the Government, than that which he has been called to combat. The past and present Administrations, relying too confidently on tlie popular delusions which brought them into office, have systematically defeated one of the great original objects for which the Union was framed — that of a uniform medium of Commerce. Nor has the manner of their policy been less objectionable than its design. They have crowded experiment upon experiment, with tlie fatal recklessness of the rash engineer who urges the fires in his furnaces till some noble steamer bursts in an awful explosion. Our Senators and Representatives, and their associates, could they have for- gotten that a revered Constitution and a beloved Country were the chief vic- tims, might well have folded their arms, and left the authors of the calamity to extricate themselves, as best they might, from the ruin. But not thus have they understood their duty ; and we have seen them with admiration, in tlie last days of the session, gallantly putting out m the life-boat of the Con- stitution, with an eye of fire at the top, and an arm of iron at the helm, to cruise about on the boiling waters, and pick up all that is left undestroyed. When I have seen the adherents of the Administration rejecting, so far as they ventured, the salutary measures proposed or supported by our distin- guished guest and his associates, for the restoration of the currency and the recfitablishment of the public credit, and clinging to all that events have spared of their discredited measures, they have seemed to me to resemble the sun-stricken victims of a moody madness, who, instead of thankfully embracing the proffered relief, would prefer to float about on the weltering waters, clinging to the broken planks, the shivered splinters, of their explod- ed policy — sure as they are, at the very best, if they reach solid ground, to do so beneath the overwhelming surge of popular indignation. " I shoidd take up a great deal more time than belongs to me, did I attempt even to sketch tlie distinguished services of our friend and guest, in this con- stitutional warfare. They are impressed on your memories, on your hearts. In the thickest of the conflict, his plume, like that of Henry the Fourth of France, discerned from afar, has pointed out the spot where, to use his own language, "the blows fall thickest and hardest;" and there he has been found, with the banner of the Union above his head, and the flaming cim- eter of the Constitution in his hand. If the public mind has been tiiorough- ly awakened to the inconsistency of tlie government policy with the genius of our institutions, if to the experience we have all had of the pernicious operation of this policy, there has been added a clear understanding of the false principles, as well of constitutional law as of political economy on which it rests, how much of this is not fairly to be ascribed to the efforts of our distinguished guest — efforts never stinted in or out of Congress — repeated 3G1 m every form which can persuade the judgfinent or influence the conduct of men — never less than cosjent, eloquent, irrefutable; but in the last session of Congres-!, perhaps more than ever before, jjrand, masterly, and overwhelm- ing. It has indeed been a rare, I had almost said a sublime spectacle, to see him, unsupported by a majority in cither House — opposed by the entire influence of the t,rovernment — di-nounced, by the Administration press, from one end of the Union to the other, yet carryiii"^ resolution after resolution against the administration — carrying them alike against the old guard and the new recruits, and in spite of their abrupt and ill-compacted alliance — compelling them, in spite of themselves, to afll:)rd some relief to the country. "These arc the services, fellow-citizens, for which you this day tender your thanks to yo\ir distinguished guest. These are tlie services for which, sir, on behalf of my fellow-citizens, I thank you; for which they thank you themselves. Behold, sir, how tliey rise to pay you a manly homage. The armies of Napoleon could not coerce it, the wealth of the Indies could not buy it; but it is freely, joyously paid, by fifteen hundred freemen, to the man of their affections. They thank you for having stood by them in these dark times — at all timos. They thank you, because they think they are beginning to feel the fruit of your exertions, in the daily round of their pur- suits. They ascribe it in no small degree to you, that the iron grasp of tlie government policy has been relaxed; that its bolts and chains, relics of a barbarous a^-e, have been shivered as soon as forged, and before they were riveted on the necks of the people. They thank you for having stood by the Constitution, in which their all of human hope for themselves and their children is enshrined- They thank you as one of themselves; and because they know that your affections are with tlie people from which you sprung. They thank you because you have at all times shown, that, as the Whig blood of the revolution circles in your veins, the Whig principles of the revolution are imprinted on your heart. They thank you for the entire man- liness of your course ; that you have never joined the treacherous cry of "the hatred of the poor against the rich" — a cry raised by artful men, who think to flatter the people, while in reality they are waging war against the people's business, the people's prosperity, and the people's Constitution. They are willing that this day's offering should be remembered, when all this mighty multitude shall have passed from the sUige. When tliat day shall have arrived. History will have written your name on one of her bright- est pages ; Fame will have encircled your bust with her greenest laurels ; hilt neither History nor Fame will have paid you a troer, heartier tribute, than that which now, beneath the arches of this venerable hall, in the ap- proving presence of these images of our canonized fatlicrs, is now tendered you by this great company of your fellow-citizens. " I give you, gentlemen, " Daniel Wkbster — The Statesman and the Man ; whose name is engraven alike on the pillars of the Constitution and tlic hearts of his fellow-citizens. He is worthy of that place in the Councds of the Nation, which he fills in the affections ot the People." Mr. Webster then rose, amid repeated cheerings, and addressed the meeting nearly as follows : — Gentlemen: I shall be happy indeed if the state of my health and the condition of my voice shall enable me to express, in a few words, my deep and heartfelt gratitude for this expression of your approbation. If public life has its cares and its trials, it has occasionally its consolations also. Among these, one of the VOL. III. 46 E E 'ii 362 greatest, and the chief, is the approbation of those whom we have honestly endeavored to serve. This cup of consolation you have now administered — full — crowned — abundantly overflowing. It is my chief desire at this time, in a few spontaneous and affec- tionate words, to render you the thanks of a grateful heart. When I lately received your invitation in New York, nothing was farther from my thoughts or expectations, than that I should meet such an assembly as I now behold in Boston. But I was willing to believe that it was not meant merely as a compliment, which it was expected would be declined, but that it was in truth your wish, at the close of the labors of a long session of Congress, that I should meet you in this place, that we might mingle our mutual congratulations, and that we might enjoy to- gether one happy, social hour. The President of this assembly has spoken of the late session as having been not only long, but arduous ; and, in some respects, it does deserve to be so regarded. I may indeed say that, in an ex- perience of twenty years of public life, I have never yet encoun- tered labors or anxieties such as this session brought with it. With a short intermission in the autumn, — so short as not to al- low the more distant members to visit their homes, we have been in continual session from the early part of September to the ninth of July — a period of ten months. And on our part, during this whole time, we have been contending in minorities against majorities ; majorities, indeed, not to be relied on, for all measures, as the event has proved ; but still acknowledged and avowed majorities, profess- ing general attachment and support to the measures, and to the men, of the Administration. My own object, and that of those with whom I have had the honor to act, has been steady and uni- form. That object was, to resist new theories, new schemes, new and dangerous projects, until time could be gained for their consid- eration by the people. This was our great purpose, and its accom- plishment required no slight effort. It was the commencement of a new Congress. The organization of the two Houses showed clear and decisive Administration majorities. The Administration itself was new, and had come into its fresh power, with something of the popularity of that which preceded it. It was no child's play, therefore, to resist, successfully, its leading measures, for so long a period as should allow time for an effectual appeal to the people, pressed, as those measures were, with the utmost zeal and assiduity. The President of the day has alluded, in a very flattering man- ner, to my own exertions and efforts, made at different times, in connection with the leading topics. But I claim no particular mer- its for myself. In what I have done, I have only acted with others. I have acted, especially, with my most estimable, able, and excel- lent colleague, and with the experienced and distinguished men 563 10 fomi the Delegation of Massachusetts in the House of Repie jntatives — a Delegation of which any State might be justly proud. Ve have acted together, as men holding, in almost all cases, com- mon opinions, and laboring for a common end. It gives me great .■•leasure to have the honor of seeing so many of the Representa- ves of the State in Congress here to-day ; but I must not be pre- tfented, even by their presence, from bearing my humble but hearty ostimony to the fidelity and ability with which they have, in this arduous struggle, performed tlieir public duties. The crisis has, in- ieed, demanded the efforts of all ; and we of Massachusetts, while hope we have done our duty, have done it only in concurrence with other Whigs, whose zeal, ability, and exertions, can never be too much commended. This is not an occasion in which it is fit or practicable to discuss, very minutely, and at length, the questions which have been chief- ly agitated during this long and laborious session of Congress. Yet, so important is the great and general question, which, for the last twelve or fifteen months, has been presented to the consideration of the Legislature, that I deem it proper^ on this, and on all occasions, to state, at the risk of some repetition, perhaps, what is the nature of that important question, and briefly to advert to some of the cir- cumstances in which it had its origin. Whatever subordinate questions may have been raised touching a sub-Treasury, or a Constitutional Treasury, or a Treasury in one, or in another, or in yet a third form, I take the question, the plain, the paramount, the practical question, to be this, viz.: whether it be among the powers and the duties of Congress to take any further care of the national currency than to regulate the coinage of gold and silver. That question lies at the foundation of all. Other questions, however multiplied or varied, have but grown out of that. If Government is bound to take care that there is a good cur- rency, for all the Country, then, of course, it will have a good cur- rency for itself, and need take no especial pains to provide for itself any tiling peculiar. But if, on the other hand, Government is at liberty to abandon the general currency to its fate, without concern, and without remorse, then, from necessity, it must take care of it- self; amidst the general wreck of currency and credit, it must have places of resort and a system of shelter ; it must have a currency of Its own, and modes of payment and disbursement peculiar to itself. It must burrow and hide itself in sub-Treasury vaults : scorning credit, and having trust in nobody, it must grasp metallic money, and act as if nothing represented, or could represent, property, vhich could not be counted, paid piece by piece, or weighed in the jales, and made to ring upon the table ; or it must resort to Spe- al Deposits in Banks, even in those Banks whose conduct has 364 been so loudly denounced as flagitious and criminal, treacherous to the Government, and fraudulent towards the People. All these schemes and contrivances are but the consequences of the general doctrine which the Administration has advanced, and attempted to recommend to the Country ; that is, that Congress has nothing to do with the currency, beyond the mere matter of coinage, except to provide for itself. How such a notion should come to be entertained, at this day, may well be a matter of wonder for the wise ; since it is a truth capable of the clearest demonsu-ation, that from the first day of the existence of the Constitution, from the moment when a practical Administration of Government drew a first breath under its provisions, the superintendence and care over the currency of the country have been admitted to be among the clear and un- questioned powers and duties of Congress. This was the opinion in Washington's time, and his administration acted upon it, vig- orously and successfully. And in Mr. Madison's time, when the peculiar circumstances of the Country again brought up tlie subject, and gave it new importance, it was held to be the exclu- sive, or at least the paramount and unquestioned right of Congress to take care of the currency ; to restore it when depreciated ; to see that there was a sound, convertible paper circulation, suited to the circumstances of the country, and having equal value, and the same credit, in all parts of it. This was Mr. Madison's judgment. He acted upon it ; and both Houses of Congress concurred with him. But if we now quote Mr. Madison's sentiments, we get no reply at all. We may read his Messages of 1815 and 1816 as often as we please. No man answers them, and yet the party of the Administration acts upon directly opposite principles. Now, what has brought about this state of things ? What has caused this attempt, now made, at the end of half a century, to change a great principle of administration, and to surrender a most important power of the Government? Gentlemen, it has been a crisis of party, not of the Country, which has given birth to these new sentiments. The tortuous windings of party policy have con- ducted us, and nothing else could well have conducted us, to such a point. Nothing but party pledges, nothing but courses of pohti- cal conduct, entered upon for party purposes, and pursued, from ne- cessary regard to personal and party consistency, could so far have pushed the Government out of its clear and well-trodden path of Constitutional duty. From General Washington's Presidency to the last hour of the late President's, both the Government and the Country have supposed Congress to be clothed with the general duty of protecting the currency, either as an inference from the coinage power, or from the obvious and incontestable truth, that the regulation of the currency is naturally and plainly a branch of the commercial power. General Jackson himself was behind no one 365 of his predecessors in asserting this power, and in acknowledging the corresponding duty. We all know that his very first complaint against the late Bank of the United States was, that It had not ful- filled the expectation of the Country, hy furnishing for the use of the People a sound and uniform currency. There were many persons, certainly, who did not agree with him in his opinions re- specting the Bank and the effects of its agency on the country ; but it was expressly on the ground of this alleged failure of the Bank, that he undertook what was called the great reform. There are those, again, who think that, of this attempted reform, he made a very poor and sorry business ; but still the truth is, that he under- took this reform, for the very professed and avowed purpose, that he might fulfil better than it had been yet fulfilled, the duty of Government in furnishing the people with a good currency. The President thought that the currency, in 1832 and 1833, was not good enough ; that the People had a right to expect a better ; and to meet this expectation, he began, what he himself called his Ex- periment. He said the currency was not so sound, and so uniform, as it was the duty of Government to make it ; and he therefore un- dertook to give us a currency more sound and more uniform. And now, Gendemen, let us recur, shortly, to what followed ; for there we shall find the origin of the present Constitutional notions and dogmas. Let us see what has changed the Constitution, in this particular. In 1S33, the public Deposits were removed, by an act of the President himself, from the Bank of the United States, and placed in certain State Banks, under regulations prescribed by the Execu- tive alone. This was the Experiment. The utmost confidence, indeed, — an arrogant and intolerant confidence, — was entertained and expressed of its success ; and all were regarded as blind bigots to a National Bank, who doubted. And when the Experiment was put into operation, it was proclaimed that its success was found to be complete. Down to the very close of General Jackson's Adminis- tration, we heard of nothing but the wonderful success of the Ex- periment. It was declared, from the highest official sources, that the State Banks, used as Banks of Deposit, had not only shown themselves perfectlj^ competent to fulfil the duties of fiscal agents to Government, but also that they had sustained the currency, and fa- cilitated the great business of Internal Exchanges, with the most sin- gular and gratifying success, and better than the same thing had been done before. In all this glow and fervor of self-commenda- tion, the late Administration went out of office, having bequeathed the Experiment, with all its blushing honors and rising glories, to its successor. But a frost, a nipping frost, was at hand. Two months after General Jackson had retired, the banks suspended specie pay- ments, Deposit Banks and allj a universal embarrassment smote EE* 366 down the business and industry of the Country ; the Treasury was left without a dollar, and the biilliant glory of the Experiment dis- appeared in gloom and thick darkness! And now, Gentlemen, came die change of sentiments ; now came the new reading of the Constitution. A National Bank had already been declared by the party to be unconstitutional, the State Bank system had failed, and what more could be done ? What other plan was to be devised ? How could the duty of Government over the currency be now per- formed ? The Administration had decried a National Bank, and it now felt bound to denounce all State institutions ; and what, there- fore, could it do ? The whole party had laid out its entire strength, in an effort to render the late Bank of the United States, and any Bank of the United States, unpopular and odious. It had pro- nounced all such institutions to be dangerous, anti-republican, and monarchical. It had, especially, declared a National Bank to be plainly and clearly unconstitutional. Now, Gentlemen, I have noth- ing to say of the diffidence and modesty of men, who, without hesitation or blushing, set up their own favorhe opinions, on a ques- tion of this kind, against the judgment of the Government and the judgment of the Country, maintained for fifty years. I will only remark, that if we were to find men acting thus, in their own affairs, if we should find them disposing of their own interests, or making arrangements for their own property, in contempt of rules which they knew the Legislative and the Judicial authorities had all sanc- tioned for half a century, we should be very likely to think them out of their heads. Yet this ground had been taken against the late Bank, and against all National Banks ; and it could not be surren- dered without apparent and gross inconsistency. What, then. I ask again, was the Administration to do ? You may say, it should have retracted its error, it should have seen the necessity of a Na- tional Institution, and yielded to the general judgment of the Country. But that would have required an effort of candor and magnanim- ity, of which all men are not capable. Besides, there were open, solemn, public pledges in the way. This commitment of die par- ty against a National Bank, and the disastrous results of its Experi- ment on the State Institutions, brought the party into the dilemma, from which it seemed to have no escape, but in shifting off, alto- gether, the duty of taking care of the currency. I was at Wheel- ing, in Virginia, in May of last year, when the Banks suspended payment ; and at the risk of some imputation of bad taste, I will refer to observations of mine, made then, to the citizens of that town, and published, in regard to the questions which that event would necessarily bring before the Country. I saw, at once, that we were at the commencement of a new era, and that a controversy must arise, which would greatly excite the community. 367 No sooner had the Slate Banks suspended, and among the rest those which were depositories of the Government, than a cry of fraud and treachery was raised against them, with no hetter reason, perhaps, than existed for that loud, and boisterous, and boastful confidence, with which the late Administration had spoken of their capacity of usefulness, and had assured the Country that its Ex- periment could not fail. But whether the suspension by the Banks was a matter of necessity with them, or not, the Administration, af- ter it had happened, seeing itself now shut out from the use of all Banks, by its own declared opinions, and the results of its own pol- icy, and seeing no means at hand for making another attempt at reforming the currency, turned a short corner, and in all due form abandoned the whole duty. From the time of the Veto to the Bank Charter, in 1832, the Administration had been like a man who had voluntarily abandoned a safe bottom, on deep waters, and, having in vain sought to support himself by laying hold on one and another piece of floating timber, chooses rather to go down, than to seek safety in returning to what he has abandoned. Seeing that it had deprived itself of the common means of regu- lating the currency, it now denied its obligation to do so ; declared it had nothing to do with the currency beyond coinage ; that it would take care of the revenues of Government, and, as for the rest, the People must look out for themselves. This decision thus evi- dently grew out of party necessity. Having deprived themselves of the ordinary and Constitutional means of performing their duty, they sought to avoid the responsibility by declaring that there was no such duty to perform. They have looked further into the Con- stitution, and examined it by daylight and by moonlight, and can- not find any such duty or obligation. Though General Jackson saw it, very plainly, during the whole course of his Presidency, it has now vanished, and the new Commentators can nowhere dis- cern a vestige of it. The present Administration, indeed, stood pledged to tread in the steps of its predecessor ; but here was one foot-print which it could not, or would not, occupy, or one stride too long for it to take. The Message, I had almost said the fatal Mes- sage, communicated to Congress in September, contained a formal, disavowal, by the Administration, of all power under the Constitu- tion to regulate the general actual currency of the Country. The President says, in that Message, that if he refrains from sug- gesting to Congress any specific plan for regulating the exchanges, relieving mercantile embarrassments, or interfering with the ordinary operations of foreign or domestic Commerce, it is from the conviction that such measures are not within the Constitutional provision of Government. How this could all be said, when the Constitution expressly gives to Congress the power to regulate Commerce, both foreign and do- 368 mestlc, I cannot conceive. But the Constitution was not to be tri- fled with, and the People are not to be trifled with. The Country, 1 believe, by a great majority, is of opinion tliat this duty does be- long to Government, and ought to be exercised. All the new Ex- pounders have not been able to erase this general power over Com- merce, and all that belongs to Commerce. Tiieir fate, in this re- spect, is like that of him in ancient story. While endeavoring to tear up, and rend asunder the Constitution, its strong fibres have re- coiled, and caught them in the cleft. They experience " Milo's fearful end — Wedged in the timber which they strove to rend." Gentlemen, this Constitutional power can never be suiTcndered. We may as well give up the whole Commercial power at once, and throw every thing connected with it back upon the States. If Con- gress surrender the power, to whom shall it pass, or where shall it be lodged ? Shall it be left to six-and-twenty different Legislatures ? To eight hundred or a thousand unconnected Banks ? No, Gen- tlemen, to allow that authority to be surrendered, would be to aban- don the vessel of State, without pilot or helm, and to suffer her to roll; darkling, down the current of her fate. For the sake of avoiding all misapprehensions, on this most im- portant subject, I wish to state my own opinion, clearly, and in few words. I have never said, that it is an indispensable duty, in Con- gress, under all circumstances, to establish a National Bank. No such duty, certainly, is created by the Constitution, in express terms. I do not say ivhat particular measures are enjoined by the Consti- tution, in this respect. Congress has its discretion, and is left to its own judgment, as to the means most proper to be employed. But I say the general duty does exist. I maintain diat Congress is bound to take care, by some proper means, to secure a good currency for the People ; and that, while this duty remains unperformed, one great object of the Constitution is not attained. If we are to have as many different currencies as there are States, and these currencies are to be liable to perpetual fluctuation, it would be lolly to say that we had reached that secu- rity and uniformity in Commercial regulation, which we know it was the purpose of the Constitution to establish. The Banks may all resume to-morrow — I hope they will; but how much will this resumption accomplish ? It will doubtless af- ford good local currencies ; but will it give the Country any proper and safe paper currency, of equal and universal value ? Certainly it cannot, and will not. Will it bring back, for any length of time, exchanges to the state they were in, when there was a National Currency in existence? Certainly, in my opinion, it will not. We 369 may heap gold bags upon gold bags., we may create what securities, in the constitution of local Banks, we please, but we cannot give to any such Bank a character that shall insure the receipts of its notes, with equal readiness, every where throughout the valley of the INIississippi, and from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence. Nothing can accomplish this, but an institution which is National in its character. The People desire to see, in their currency, the marks of this nationality. They like to see the spread Eagle, and where they see that they have confidence. Who, if he will look at the present state of things, is not wise enough to see, that there is much and deep cause for fear, in regard to the future, unless the Government will take the subject of curren- cy under its own control, as it ought to do. For one, I think I see trouble ahead, and 1 look for effectual prevention and remedy only to a just exercise of the powers of Congress. I look not wadiout apprehension upon the creation of numerous and powerful State In- stitutions, full of competition and rivalry, and under no common control. I look for other and often-repeated expansions of paper circulation, inflations of trade, and general excess ; and then, again, for other violent ebbinij-s of the swollen flood, endin"' in other sus- pensions. I see no steadiness, no security, till the Government of the United States shall fulfil its constitutional duty. I shall be dis- appointed, certainly, if, for any length of time, the benefits of a sound and uniform convertible paper currency can be enjoyed, while the whole subject is left to six-and-twenty States, and to eight hundred local Banks, all anxious for the use of money, and the use of credit, in the highest degree. As I have already said, these sub-Treasury schemes are but con- trivances for getting away from a disagreeable duty. And, after all, there are scarcely any two of the friends of the Administration, \\ ho can agree upon the same sub-Treasury scheme. Each has a plan of his own. One man requires that all Banks shall be discard- ed, and nothing but gold and silver shall be received for revenue. Another will exclaim, "That won't do — that's not my thunder." Another would prohibit all the small notes, and another would ban- ish all the large ones. Another is for a special deposit scheme — for making the banks sub-Treasuries and depositories — for making suh-Treasuries of tlie broken, rotten, treacherous Banks! — for tak- ing bank notes, tying them up with red strings, depositing them in the vaults, — and paying them out again. It has been the proposition of the Administration, to separate the money of the Government from the money of the People ; to secure a good medium of payments, for the use of the Treasury, in collecting and disbursing revenue, and to take no care of the gen- eral circulation of the Country. This is the sum of its policy. Looking upon this whole scheme but as an abandonment of VOL. III. 47 370 clear Constitutional obligation, I have opposed it, in every form in which it has been presented. My object, as I have already said, and that of those with whom I acted, has been to prevent the sanc- tion of all or any of these new projects, by authority of law, until another Congress should be elected, which might express the will of the People, formed after the present state of things arose. In this object we have succeeded. If we have done little positive good, we have at least prevented the introduction and estahlish- ment of new theories, and new contrivances, and we have preserved the Constitution, in this respect, entire. No surrender or aban- donment of important powers is, as yet, endorsed on the parchment of that Instrument. No new clause is appended to it, making its provisions a mere 7ion obstante to Executive discretion. It has been snatched from the furnace — from this furnace of party conten- tion, heated seven times hotter than it has been wont to be heated, — the Constitution has been rescued, and we may hold it up to tiie People, this day, and tell them that even the smell of the fire is not upon it. But now, Gentlemen, a stronger arm must be put forth. A mightier guardianship must now interfere. Time has been gained for public discussion, and consideration, and the great result is now with the People. That they will ultimately decide right, I have the fullest confidence. Party attachment, and party patronage, it is true, may do much to delay the results of general opinion, but they cannot long resist the convictions of a whole People. It is most certain that, up to the present hour, this new policy has been most unfavorably received. State after State has fallen off from the ranks of the Administration, on account of its promulgation, and of the persevering attempt to raise upon it a system of legal, practical administration. The Message of September completed the list of causes necessary to produce a popular revolution in sen- timent in Maine, Ohio, New Jersey, and New York. Since the proposition was renewed, at the late session, we have witnessed a similar revolution in Connecticut and Louisiana, and very impor- tant changes, perhaps equivalent to revolutions, in the strength of parties in other States. There is little reason to doubt, if all the Electors of the Country could be polled to-day, that a great and decisive majority would be found against all this strange policy. Yet, Gentlemen, I do not consider the question, by any means, as decided. The policy is not abandoned. It is to be persisted in. Its friends look for a reaction in public opinion. I think I under- stand their hopes and expectations. They rely on this reaction. Every thing is to be accomplished by reaction. A month ago, this reaction was looked for to show itself in Louisiana. Altogether disappointed in that quarter, the friends of the policy now stretch their hopes to the other extremity of the Union, and look for it in 371 Maine. In my opinion, Gentlemen, there can be no reaction ■which can reconcile the people of this Country to the policy at present | ursued. There must, in my opinion, be a change. If the Administration will not change its course, it must be changed itself. But I repeat, that the decision now lies with the People ; and in that decision, when it shall be fairly pronounced, I shall cheerfully acquiesce. We ought to address ourselves, on this great and vital question, to the whole People, to the candid and intelligent of all parties. We should exhibit its magnitude ; its essential consequence to the Con- stitution ; and its infinite superiority to all ordinary strifes of party. We may well and truly say, that it is a new question ; that the great mass of the People, of any party, is not committed on it ; and it is our duty to invoke all true patriots, all who wish for the well- being of the Government and the Country, to resist these Experi- ments upon the Constitution, and this wild and strange departure from our hitherto approved and successful policy. At the same time, Gentlemen, while we thus invoke aid from all quarters, we must not suffer ourselves to be deceived. We must yield to no expedients, to no schemes and projects, unknown to the Constitution, and alien to our own history and our habits. We are to be saved, if saved at all, in the Constitution, not out of it. None can aid us, none can aid the Country, by any thing in the na- ture of mere political project, or any devices supply the place of regu- lar Constitutional administration. Any man who, in the present cri- sis of affairs, shall set up his own ingenuity, or follow his own whim and caprice, instead of looking to the Constitution itself, for relief and safety, will exhibit the foolhardiness of the person, exhibited in one of the old Mysteries which undertook to represent the flood, who had ascended to the top of the highest eminence he could reach, and when, even there, the swelling waters bad reached to his chin, told Noah to get along with his old craft, for he did not think there would be much of a storm, after all. It was to prevent, or to remedy, such a state of things as now exists, that the Constitution was formed and adopted. The time when there is a disordered cun-ency, and a distracted commerce, is the very time when its agency is required ; and I hope those who wish for a restoration of general prosperity, will look steadily to the light which the Constitution sheds on the path of duty. As to you and me, Fellow-Citizens, our course is not doubtful. However others may decide, we hold on to the Constitution, and to all its powers, as they have been authentically expounded, and practically and successfully experienced, for a long period. Our interests, our habits, our affections, all bind us to the principles of our Union as our leading and guiding star. Gentlemen^ I cannot resume my seat without expressing, again, 372 rny sense of gratitude for your generous appreciation of my services. I have the pleasure to know tliat this occasion originated with the Boston Mechanics, a body always distinguished, always honored, always patriotic, from the first dawn of the Revolution to the present time. Who is here, whose father has not told him — there are some here old enough to know it themselves — that they were Boston Mechanics whose blood reddened State Street, on the mem- orable fifth of March. And as the tendencies of the Revolution went forward, and times grew more and more critical, it was the Boston Mechanics who composed, to a great extent, the crowds which frequented the Old Whig Head Quarters in Union Street, assembled, as occasion required Patriots to come together, in the Old South, or filled to suffocation this Immortal Cradle of Ameri- can Liberty. When Independence was achieved, their course was alike intelli- gent, wise, and patriotic. They saw, as quick and as fully as any men in the Country, the infirmities of the Old Confederation, and discerned the means by which they might be remedied. From the first, they were ardent and zealous friends of the present Constitu- tion. They saw the necessity of united councils, and common reg- ulations, for all the States, in matters of trade and commerce. They saw, what indeed is obvious enough, that their interest was completely involved with that of the Mercantile class, and other classes ; and that nothing but one general, uniform system of com- merce, trade, and imports, could possibly give to the business and industry of the Country vigor and prosperity. When the Conven- tion for acting on the Constitution sat in this city, and the result of its deliberations was doubtful, the Mechanics assembled at the Green Dragon, and passed the most firm and spirited Resolutions in favor of the Constitution; and when these Resolutions were presented to the Boston Delegation, by a Committee of which Colonel Revere was Chairman, they were asked by one of the members, how many Mechanics were at the meeting ; to which Colonel Revere answered, " More than there are stars in heaven." With Statesman-like sagacity, they foresaw the advantages of a United Government. They celebrated, dierefore, the adoption of the Constitution, by rejoicings and festivals, such, perhaps, as have not since been witnessed. Emblematic representations, long pro- cessions of all the trades, and whatever else might contribute to the joyous demonstration of gratified patriotism, distinguished the occa- sion. Gentlemen, I can say with great truth, that an occasion intended to manifest respect to me, could have originated no where with more satisfaction to myself than with the Mechanics of Boston. I am bound to make my acknowledgments to other classes of citizens who assemble here to join with the Mechanics in the 373 purpose of this meeting. 1 see with pleasure the successors and followers of the Mathers, of Clarke, and of Cooper ; and I am grati- fied, also, by the presence of those of my own profession in whose immediate presence and society so we shall knock away the foundation stone. And this bill will strike it out. If this bill shall pass, every endorser, who shall not take previ- ous security, will see that, in case of failure, he can no longer be protected, or preferred, but must come in for his sl^are, and his share only, with other creditors. And this is right. For one, I have always thought that, if any difference were to be made, en- dorsers should be paid last, because they come in as volunteers — they profess to run a risk. They are not giving credit in the com- mon way, as other persons do, who sell on trust, in the ordinary way of business, and in order to earn their livelihood ; but they assume a voluntary responsibility. And why should they be pre- ferred to the grocer, the tailor, or the butcher, who has only dealt in the common way of his trade, and has not volunteered to give any trust or credit whatever? Well, Sir, will not endorsement stay its hand when this bill shall have taken away all power of preference ? Will not men hesitate, more than they now do, about lending their names, when they find that, in case of failure, they must come in for neighbor's fare, with all other creditors? I think they will. And, Sir, if there be less of endorsement, there will be less of fictitious credit, and less of over-trading. Every man's business will be brouglit down so much the nearer to his own property, his own capital, and his own means. And, if every trading man's business be brought down to some nearer proportion to his own capital, and his own means, does not this diminish the probability of his failure? Certainly it does; and, therefore, whoever deals with him, and trusts him, is not so likely to lose his debt. There will be more general security in giving credits. And, therefore, I say that, if you take away the power and practice of preference, you affect, to some extent, false credit and over-trading ; and, by these means, you give a security to the creditor, even in the crea- tion of his debt; and this is one advantage, to the whole class of creditors, to be expected from this bill. It is a general advantage, and its precise amount cannot be stated ; but it is a clear advantage, nev( riheless. Eut there is a second, and a still greater advantage. Mr President, allow me to ask, What is that feature — the capital feature — which we most often see, in the insolvencies which take place among the trading classes ? What is tliat which there is the more frequent occasion to regret and to reprehend ? Is it not that the party has gone on too long ? Is it not that, after he knew him- self to be really insolvent, — that is, after he knew he had not prop- erty enough left to pay his debts, — instead of stopping, and winding up his concerns, he has ventured still deeper, and made his ultimate case thereby still more desperate ? Under the present state of law, 464 this happens quite too often. I am afraid it would be found, on inquiry, that failures are generally worse in this country than else- where ; that is to say, that generally the amount of assets is less in proportion to the amount of debts. And, in my opinion, the present state of the law encourages and produces this result. For, Sir, let me ask, What will a man natural- ly do, who has been unfortunate, and has sustained such losses as to bring his property below his debts, while this is known to himself, and not known to others ? If he stops and surrenders, however honestly and fairly, he cannot be sure of a discharge, and the un- paid balance may keep him a pauper for life. On the other hand, he sees that another voyage, another speculation, some new turn of fortune, may possibly relieve him, and bring him out a man of property. On one side, poverty for life is his only prospect, and only desti- ny, so far at least as the law allows him any ground of hope ; and on the other, there is some chance of escape. Now, Sir, I will ask any sensible man, if a state of law could be devised more likely to encourage headlong enterprise and rash speculation ? Can you place a man in a condition where he will be more likely to throw himself upon desperate chances, and to plunge deeper and deeper ? We are not without experience on this point, and much instruc- tion may be gathered from one memorable instance. The great fire in New York is supposed to have destroyed property to the amount of twenty or twenty-five millions of dollars, in houses, ware- houses, and merchandise. But nobody failed. This is a fact full of admonition. I pray attention to it. Nobody failed, notwith- standing this immense loss of property ; and what was the reason ? No one doubts that hundreds were rendered deeply insolvent by this so extensive calamity. Why, then, did they not stop ? The answer is, that the extent of their losses was, in many cases, known only to themselves, and they concealed their own true condition. And they had strong motives so to do. If they announced them- selves insolvent, and stopped, nothing was before them and their famihes, for their whole lives, but poverty and distress. On the oth- er hand, there was a possibility of hope that, if they could maintain their credit, they might, by extreme exertion and extreme good for- tune, extricate tliemselves. On the strength of that hope, slight as it was, they buoyed themselves up, and tried to stem the current which was carrying them, notwithstanding all their struggles, to utter and desperate bankruptcy. They paid exorbitant interest for money ; they suffered themselves to be jewed in every dark alley m the city ; they sacrificed every thing to maintain their credit, and, in the end, when every thing else was gone, credit went also. And when they finally failed, where was the fund for dividend to cred- itors ? Why, Sir, it had gone to the pocket of the capitalist ; it had 465 been devoured by the voracity of usury. I know of one instance in which a merchant paid more tlian fifty thousand dolhu's, extra and uiiUuvliil interest, for the purpose of upholding his credit, and failed after all. And there are well-authenticated cases of payment of still larger sums. Boundless extras and cool exorbitancy were thus suffered to eat up what belonged to creditors. Now, Sir, would it not have been better for all parties, and for the public, that these unfortunate persons should have stopped payment the morning after the fire, assigned all that was left of their proper- ty, and received a discharge? And this, be assured, many of them would have done, if the law had provided that by so doing they might have obtained that discharge. But there was no such legal provision ; they had no hope on that side, but from the consent of all their creditors, and they believed that all would not consent; and therefore there was no way left to them but to keep on, wading into deeper water at every step, and stopping at last with nothing to divide save among endorsers. ^Ir. President, we hear it frequently said that all honest debtors may always obtain discharges from their creditors upon an honest assignment of their effects. This is the language of the memorial of the Board of Trade, and this is the language, especially, of the letter to the honorable member from New York, which has been read. Sir, such is not my opinion, nor the fruit of my experience. I believe that creditors are generally humane and just ; but there will be some, always, or often, who are selfish, unjust, or indiffer- ent. There will be some, often, who will not conipound. The man, therefore, who would stop, since he knows he is insolvent, if he could be sure of a discharge, cannot be sure of it. He may be as honest as possible ; he may strip himself of the last farthing ; but yet he cannot promise himself any release. It is notorious that some creditors will and do hold on ; and as to the debtor, this is as decisive as if all did so. Now, Sir, this bill proposes an object to a man whose circum- stances have become insolvent, and makes that object sure. It tells him, by way of inducing him to stop in season, and before he has wasted his property, that, by assigning, and acting honestly in all things, he shall have a discharge; that no unreasonable creditor shalf be able to prevent it; and with this certainty before him, he will stop in season, or, at least, is much more likely to stop in sea- son, than he is at present. This, then, Sir, is the second benefit which this bill confers on creditors. And who will deny that it is a clear and a great benefit? It holds out a strong inducement to debtors to stop in season, and to distribute their property honestly, while they have yet property to distribute, and before they have wasted it all in useless sacrifices to retrieve their affairs. VOL. III. 59 fl 466 But there is a third henefit which this bill confers on creditors. It lakes away the power and the motive of concealment. Under the present state of things, the motives of an insolvent man lead in the opposite direction of his duties. Every thing is brought to bear against his honesty and integrity. He has every temptation to con- ceal his property ; and there are many ways in which he may con- ceal it. If he surrenders all, he cannot be discharged, and, there- fore, will be in no condition to earn any thing more. He may, therefore, not choose to surrender, and may set his creditors at defi- ance. I have heard of an instance, in which a man failed for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and he showed assets to the amount of eighty thousand, and there was no reason to suppose that he had any more, or had acted dishonestly in any way. He offered to give all up for a discharge ; but while most of his creditors were willing to discharge him on such a surrender, some were not. A year afterwards, he renewed his offer of giving up all, but his prop- erly had by this time become diminished by ten thousand dollars, so that he had but seventy thousand to offer ; and the obstinate creditors of last year were now wilhng to take what was then offered, but would not take less ; and so the process of offer and refusal went on ; and the last I heard of the case, this proceeding was likely to result in the creditors' getting nothing, and the debtor's becoming a beggar. If there be not many cases exactly like this, or quite so strong in all their circumstances, there are still very many which much resemble it; and this bill will put an end to them all. Sir, the great power by which the debtor is to be moved to act honestly and fairly, is his hope of a discharge. This is to him every thing. Hardly any earthly object, in his view, can be great- er. It is this which is to reinstate him in a condition of effort and action. Creditors can obtain a benefit, by means of this, far supe- rior to any good which they can ever get by holding on to his future earnings. Generally, this last right is good for nothing lo tne mass of creditors, though sometimes an individual may profit oy it. In some cases, it is true, where the amount of debt is small, the bankrupt will struggle hard to earn the means of payment, that he may afterwards work for himself. But if the amount be large, he will make no such effort. He will not work altogether for his cred- itors. Not only will he not do that, but, as I have already said, he is under strong temptation to retain and conceal what he already possesses. I need not say of what evil consequence all this is. I need not say what ill-will naturally grows up between debtors and creditors standing in this relation. The creditor thinks his debtor unjust and roguish ; the debtor regards his creditor as remorseless and cruel ; and mutual reproaches and deep bitterness of feeling are often the result. How much better, Sir, — how much better, every 467 ^vay, — that the law, by its timely interference, should give the debt- or's property to whom it belongs, and set him free to begin a new career of industry and usefulness ! And in the fourth place, Sir, this bill gives the creditors an equal distribution of the debtor's effects. In the present state of things, a bankrupt may pay one creditor all, and another nothing ; and he who gets nothing may, perhaps, fail himself, when, if he could have received his just proportion, he might have been saved. The great interest of the mass of creditors is, that the debtor's effects shall be equally divided among them all. At present, there is no security for such equal division, and tiiis hill proposes to give that security. And I repeat, that if any thing ever comes of the power of a cred- itor to hold on upon his debt, in the hope of getting something out of the future earnings of a notoriously insolvent debtor, it is usually not the mass of creditors, but only some one of them who gets any thing ; and that one, very likely, may be he who deserves least. These, Mr. President, are the securities, the new securities, the important securities, which this bill furnishes to the creditors. If there be nothing in them, let that be shown ; but until it is shown, let it not be said that there is nothing in this bill for the creditors' benefit. And, Mr. President, these provisions belong to the voluntary as well as the involuntary parts of the bill. The real reciprocity, the real equivalent, must be looked for in the provisions made for con- ducting the proceedings, and not in the source in which the proceed- ings originate. Suppose creditors to have ever so full a power of declaring their debtors bankrupts; this would not avail them, unless proper provisions were made for a full assignment and fair distribu- tion of the property. On the other hand, if such provisions be made, the creditor is secured, although the proceedings originate with the debtor himself. It may be wise, or it may be unwise, to retain the coercive clauses ; but, whether retained or not, they do not constitute the true equiv- alent or reciprocal benefit of the creditor. The real state of the case stands thus : The benefit of a debtor consists in obtaining a dis- charge ; this he shall have, but, in order to obtain it, he shall give the creditors the benefit of a full and honest surrender of all his property ; he shall show, if a merchant, that he has kept proper and regular books of account ; it must not appear that there has been any false swearing on his part, or the concealment of any part of his property ; or that he has admitted any false or fictitious debt against his estate; or that he has applied any tmst money to his own use ; or that he has paid any debt by w ay of preferring one creditor to another, in contemplation of bankruptcy. And the Senate, if they see fit, may insert that the consent of creditors should be necessary to his discharge, though, for one, I should never consent 468 to that, without reserving a right to the debtor to summon dissenting creditors to appear before the proper tribunal, and show some just reason for withholding their assent. I have now, Sir, gone through with all that I proposed to say upon the voluntary part of this bill. My undertaking was, to show that that part of the bill does, by itself, and of and in itself alone, contain provisions of the highest importance to creditors, and the security of creditors ; and, on the various points which I have no- ticed, I am ready to meet any gentleman who may choose to con- test the matter. The opinions which I have expressed I hold with confidence, and am willing to defend them, and to submit them to the judgment of all men of experience. My second general proposition was, that, whether it it were ad- visable, on the whole, or not, to retain the compulsory part, yet that part did not give any important addition to the security of cred- itors ; and tliat, therefore, it was not of great consequence whether it be retained or not. In the first place, let us remember that the form of proceeding is the same, after its commencement, whether it be begun by the debtor or his creditor. If there be any benefit to the creditor at all in the compulsory part, it must be in the mere power of de- claring his debtor a bankrupt under certain circumstances, and of making him, willing or unwilling, go through the bankrupt process. Now, the difficulty is, that, though this power might sometimes be beneficial to the creditor, yet it is next to impossible so to describe the circumstances which shall constitute a just occasion for the exercise of the power, as not to leave it still, in a great measure, a voluntary matter with the debtor, when he will subject himself to the provisions of the law. This has been found the difficulty in all systems ; and most bankruptcies are, therefore, now substantially voluntary. Those acts w^iich are, in this bill, called acts of bank- ruptcy, and which, if committed, shall enable a creditor to sue out a commission against his debtor, are, nearly all of them, voluntary acts, which the debtor may perform or not, at his pleasure, and which, of course, he will not perform, if he wishes to avoid the process of bankruptcy. These acts, as stated in the bill, are, secretly departing from the State, with intent to defraud his creditors ; fraudulently procuring himself to be arrested, or his lands and goods attached or taken in execution ; removing or concealing his goods, to prevent their being levied upon or taken by legal process; making any fraudulent con- veyance of his lands or goods ; lying in jail twenty days for want of bail, or escaping from jail, or not giving security according to law, when his lands or effects shall be attached by process. Most of these acts an insolvent may avoid the commission of, if he choose, especially as there are now few instances of imprison- 469 ment for debt. The acts of bankruptcy, according to the British statute, are very much hke those in this bill. But a trader may declare himself insolvent, and thereupon a commission may issue against him ; and that is supposed to be now the common course. Creditors will seldom, if ever, use this power. A creditor, desirous of proceeding against his debtor for |)ayment or security, naturally acts for himself alone. He arrests his person, attaches his proper- ty, if the law allows that to be done, or gets security for his own debt the best way he can, leaving others to look out for themselves. Concert among creditors, in such cases, is not necessary, and is uncommon ; and a single creditor, acting for himself only, is much more likely to take other means for the security of his debt than that of putting his debtor into bankruptcy. Nevertheless, 1 admit there are possible cases in which the power might be useful. I admit it would be well if creditors could sometimes stop the career of their debtors ; and, if the honorable member from New York, or any other gentleman, can frame a clause for that purpose, at once efficient and safe, I shall vote for it. Even as these clauses now stand, I should prefer to have them in the bill ; my original proposition having been, as is well known, that there should be both compulsory and voluntary bankruptcy ; and I vote now to strike the provision out, only because others, I find, object to it, and be- cause 1 do not think it of any great importance. I proceed. Sir, to take some notice of the remarks of the honor- able member from New York ; and what I have first to say is, that his speech appeared to me to be a speech against the whole bill, rather than a speech in favor of retaining the compulsory clause. He pointed out the evils that might arise from the volun- tary part of the bill ; but every one of them might arise, too, under the ot|icr part. He spoke of the hardship to creditors in New York, — that they should be obliged to take notice of the insol- vency of their debtors in the Western States, and to go thither to prove their debts, or resist the discharge. But this hardship, cer- tainly, is no greater when the Western debtor declares himself bankrupt, than when he commits an act of bankruptcy, on which some Western creditor sues out a commission afjainst him. All the other inconveniences, dangers, or hardships to creditors, which the honorable gendeman enumerated, were, in like manner, as far as I recollect, as likely to arise when a creditor puts the debtor into bankruptcy, as when he puts himself in. The gentle- man's argument, therefore, is an argument against the whole bill. He thinks Eastern creditors of Western debtors will be endangered, because State Legislatures, in Slates where debtors live, as well as commissioners, assignees, &lc., will have all their sympathies on the side of the debtors. Why, Sir, State Legislatures will have nothing to do with the matter, under this bill ; and as to the rest, how is it NN 470 now? Are not creditors, now in tne power of local administra- tions, affected, in all respects, by these same sympathies ? Are there no instances, indeed, and is there no danger of laws staying process, embarrassing remedies, or otherwise interrupting the regu- lar course of legal collection ? For my own part, I cannot doubt that a New York merchant, learning that his debtor in the South or West was in insolvent or failing circumstances, would prefer that his affairs should be settled in bankruptcy, in the courts of the United States, much sooner than he should settle them himself, paying whom he pleased, and disposing of his property according to his own will, or under the administration of the insolvent laws of the State. The gentleman seemed to fear that, if Western traders may make themselves bankrupts, New York merchants will be shy of them, and that Western credit will be impaired or checked. Perhaps there would be no great harm if this should be so. A little more caution might not be unprofitable ; but the answer to all such sug- gestions is, that the bill applies only to cases of insolvents, actual, real insolvents ; and, when traders are actually insolvent, the sooner it is known the better, nine times out of ten. Nor do I feel any alarm for our mercantile credit abroad, which has awakened the fears of the gentleman. What can foreign merchants suppose better for them than such an administration of the effects of debtors here, as that, if there be foreign creditors, they shall be sure of a just and equal dividend, without preference either to creditors at home or endorsers? It is not long since, in some of the States, — I hope it is not so any where now, — that creditors within the State had preference over creditors out of it. And, if we look to other countries, do we find that well-administered systems of bankruptcy enfeeble or impair mercantile credit ? Is it so in regard to England, or to France ? The honorable member feels alarm, too, lest the banks should be great sufferers under the operation of this bill. He is apprehensive that, if it shall pass, very many debtors of the banks will become bankrupts, pay other creditors, more or less, and pay the banks nothing. Sir, this is not according to my observation. Bank debts are usually preferred debts, because they are debts secured by endorsement. But, by mentioning the case of the banks, the gen- tleman has suggested ideas which I have long entertained, and which I am glad of this opportunity to express briefly, though I shall not dwell on them. Sir, a great part of the credit of the country is bank credit. A great part of all endorsement and suretiship is bank endorsement and bank suretiship. I do not speak particularly of the great cities ; I speak of the country generally. Now, endorsement, as 1 have already said, rests on the idea of preference. And, if we 471 take away preference, do we not diminish bank endorsement and bank accommodation ? And do we not, in this way, act directly on the quantity of bank paper issued for circulation ? Do we not keep the issues of paper nearer to the real wants of society ? This view of the case might be pressed and amplified. There is much in it, if I am not mistaken. For the present, I only suggest it ; but he who shall consider the subject longest, and deepest, will be most thoroughly convinced that, in this respect, as well as others, the abolition of preference to endorsers will act beneficially to the public. The immediate motion before the Senate, Mr. President, does not justify a further extension of my observations on this part of the case. My object has been to prove that this bill is not one-sided, is not a bill for debtors only, but is, what it ought to be, a bill making just, honest, and reasonable provisions for the distribution of the effects of insolvents among their creditors ; and that the vol- untary part of the bill alone secures all these principal objects, because, in the great and overruling motive of obtaining a discharge, it holds out an object to debtors, who know themselves to be insol- vent, to stop, to stop seasonably, to assign honestly, and to conform, in good faith, to all the provisions intended for the security of their creditors. SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE GREAT MASS-MEETING AT SARATOGA, NEW YORK, AUGUST 19, 1840. We are, my friends, in the midst of a great movement of tlie people. That a revolution in public sentiment on some important questions of public policy has begun, and is in progress, it is vain to attempt to conceal, and folly to deny. What will be the extent of this revolution — what its immediate effects upon political men and political measures — what ultimate influence it may have on the integrity of the Constitution, and the permanent prosperity of the country, remains to be seen. Meantime, no one can deny that an extraordinary excitement exists in the country, such as has not been witnessed for more than half a century — not local, nor con- fined to any two or three, or ten States, but pervading the whole, from North to South, and from East to West, with equal force and intensity. For an effect so general, a cause of equal extent must exist. No cause, local or partial, can produce consequences so general and universal. In some parts of the country, indeed, local causes may in some degree add to the flame; but no local cause, nor any number of local causes, can account for the general excited state of the public mind. In portions of the country devoted to agriculture and manufac- tures, we hear complaints of want of market and of low prices. Yet there are other portions of the country which are consumers, and not producers, of food and manufactures ; and, as purchasers, they should, it would seem, be satisfied with the low prices of which the sellers complain ; but in these portions, too, of the country, there is dissatisfiction and discontent. Every where, there is complaining and a desire for change. There are those who think this excitement among the people transitory and evanescent. I am not of that opinion. So far as I can judge, attention to public affairs among the people of the Uni- ted States has increased, is increasing, and is not likely to be di- minished ; and this not in one part of the country, but all over it. This certainly is the fact, if we may judge from recent information. The breeze of popular excitement is blowing every where. It fans the air in Alabama and the Carolinas ; and I am of opinion, that 472 473 when it shall cross the Potomac, and range along the northern AUe- ghanies, it will grow stronger and stronger, until, mingling with the gales of the Empire State, and the mountain blasts of New Eng- land, it will blow a perfect hurricane. There are those, again, who think these vast popular meetings are got up by effort ; but I say that no effort could get them up, and no effort can keep them down. There must, then, be some general cause that animates the whole country. What is that cause ? It is upon this point I propose to give my opinion to-day. 1 have no design to offend the feelings of any, but 1 mean in per- fect plainness to express my views to the vast multitude assembled around. I know there are among them many who from first to last supported General Jackson. I know there are many who, if con- science and patriotism had permitted, would support his successor; and I should ill repay the attention with which they may honor me by any reviling or denunciation. Again, I come to play no part of oratory before you. If there have been times and occasions in my life when I might be supposed anxious to exhibit myself in such a light, that period has passed, and this is not one of the occasions. I come to dictate and prescribe to no man. If my experience, not now short, in the affairs of government, entitle my opinions to any respect, those opinions are at the service of my fellow-citizens. What I shall state as facts, I hold myself and my character respon- sible for ; what I shall state as opinions, all are alike at liberty to reject or to receive. I ask such consideration for them only as the fairness and sincerity with which they are uttered may claim. What, then, has excited the whole land, from Maine to Georgia, and gives us assurance that while we are meeting here in New York in such vast numbers, other like meetings are holding through- out all the States ? That this cause must be general, is certain, for it agitates the whole country, and not parts only. When that fluid in the human system indispensable to life becomes disordered, corrupted, or obstructed in its circulation, not the head or the heart alone suffers, but the whole body — head, heart, and hand, all the members, and all the extremities — is af- fected with debility, paralysis, numbness, and death. The analogy between the human system and the social and political system, is complete ; and what the life-blood is to the former, circulation, money, cuiTency, is to the latter ; and if that be disordered or cor- rupted, paralysis must fall on the system. The original, leading, main cause, then, of all our difficulties and disasters, is the disordered state of the circulation. This is, per- haps, not a perfectly obvious truth ; and yet it is one susceptible of easy demonstration. In order to explain this the more readily, I wish to bring your minds to the consideration of the internal con- dition, and the vast domestic trade, of the United States. Our VOL, HI. 60 i^N* 474 country is not a small province or canton, but an empire, extending over a large and diversified surface, with a population of various conditions and pursuits. It is in this variety that consists its pros- perity ; for the different parts become useful one to the other, not by identity, but by difference, of production, and thus each by in- terchange contributes to the interest of the other. Hence, our in- ternal trade — that which carries on this exchange of the products and industry of the difTerent portions of the United States — is one of our most important, I had almost said, the most important inter- est. Its operations are easy and silent, not always perceptible, but diffusing health and life throughout the system by the intercourse thus promoted from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from State to State. Let me explain this a little in detail. You are here in a grain- growing State. Your interest, then, is to have consumers, not growers of grain. The hands that, in that broad belt which stretches across the countiy, in which grain best succeeds, grow wheat, are interested to find mouths elsewhere to consume what they raise. The manufacturers of the North and East need the grain of the Middle States, and the cotton of the South, and these in turn buy the manufactures of the East. Nor is this solely matter of interest, but is in some degree brought about by the regulations of foreign governments. Our manufactures find no sale in Europe ; and much of our grain is, under ordinary circumstances, excluded from its markets. In France it is never admitted, and in England contingently and uncertainly only, and in a manner to tantalize rather than gratify the American husbandman. The internal trade, moreover, moves as it were in a circle, and not directly : the great imports of the country are made in New York, whence they pass to the South and to the West ; but our exports are not mainly from New York, but from the South : the main imports, then, are made at one corner of the Union, and the exports from another. The same thing is true of other branches of trade. The produce of Ohio, much of it, descends the river to New Orleans ; but Ohio is supplied with foreign commodities and domestic fabrics mainly through the New York Canals, the Lakes, and the Ohio Canal. The live stock of Kentucky goes to the Carolinas ; but Kentucky buys nothing there, but transmits the money to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and in those cities procures what she wants, to be sent to her across the Al- leghanies. This circuit of trade, in a country of such great extent as ours, demands, more than in any country under heaven, a uniform cur- rency for the whole people ; that what is money in Carolina shall be so elsewhere ; that what the Kentucky drover receives, what the planter of Alabama sells for, what the laborer in New York 475 gets in pay for his work, and carries home to support his family, shall be of ascertained and unifonn value. This is not the time nor the occasion for an essay or dissertation on money ; but I mean distinctly to express the opinion, that until the General Government shall take in hand the cuiTency of the country, until that Government- shall devise some means — I say not what — of raising the whole currency to the level of gold and silver, there can be no prosperity. Let us retrace briefly the history of the currency question in this country — a most important branch of the commercial question. I appeal to all who have studied the history of the times, and of the Constitution, whether our fathers, in fran)ing the Constitution which should unite us in common rights and a common glory, had not also, among their chief objects, to provide a uniform system of commerce, including a uniform system of cuirency, for the whole countr}\ I especially invite the ingenuous youth of the country to go back to the history of those times, and particularly to the Virginia resolutions of 17S6, and to the proceedings of the con- vention at Annapolis — and they will there find the prevailing argument for forming a General Government, was, to secure a uniform system of commerce, of custom-house duties, and a general regulation of the trade, external and internal, of the whole country. It was no longer to be the commerce of New York, or of Massa- chusetts, but of the United States, to be carried on under that star- spangled banner, which was to bear, and into every sea, the glorious motto E Pluribus Unum. This being a chief and cherished object, when the first Congress under the Constitution assembled in New York, General Wash- ington, in his speech, naturally drew its attention to the necessity of a uniform currency, looking, probably, at that time, to the mint first established in Philadelphia, to provide that currency. What I wish to say is, that the difference in the currencies of the several States, and the want of a uniform system, both of com- merce and currency, being among the chief inconveniences to be remedied by the establishment of the Constitution, the subject very naturally and properly attracted the early attention of the President, at the first session of the first Congress. At the second session, the United States Bank was established. Without detaining you by quoting papers or speeches of that day, I will simply refer any one, curious to inquire, to the oftlcial doc- uments of the time, and to the contemporaneous expressions of pub- lic opinion on the leading measures of that day, for proof that, while one object of incorporating a National Bank was, that it might occasionally make loans to Government, and take charge of the disbursement of its revenues, another object, quite as prominent and important, was to furnish a circulation — a paper circulation 476 — founded on national resources, that should be current all over the country. General Washington had the sagacity to see, what, indeed, minds less sagacious than his could not fail to perceive, that the confidence reposed in the United States under the Consti- tution, would impart to whatever came from Congress more au- thority and value, than could attach to any thing emanating from any single State. The assumption by Congress of the State debts illustrates this remark ; for the moment the United States became bound for those debts, and proceeded to fund them, they rose enoi-mously and rapidly in value. General Washington and his advisers saw that a mixed cur- rency, if the paper had the mark of the Union, and bore on it the spread eagle, would command universal confidence throughout the country ; and the result proved the wisdom of their foresight. From the incorporation of the Bank to the expiration of its charter, embracing a period of great commercial and political vicissitudes, the currency of that Bank was never objected to : it, indeed, surpassed the hopes and equalled the desires of every body. The charter expired in 1811 — how, or why, or from what state of parties, it is not my purpose to discuss — but the charter was not renewed. War with England was declared in June, 1812. Im- mediately upon the declaration of war, all the Banks south of New England stopped payment, and those of New England ceased to issue. notes; and thus, in fact, the specie paying in those States, amounted to little or nothing. At the close of the war, the con- dition of the currency, which had become very much deranged, not improving, Mr. Madison presented the subject to Congress. In his messages, both in 1814 and 1815, he dwelt earnestly on the subject; and in 1816 the second Bank of the United States was incorporated, and went at once into operation. At its outset, owing possibly to mismanagement — perhaps unavoidably — the Bank met with heavy losses ; but it fulfilled its functions in pro- viding a currency for the whole country ; and, neither during the eight yeai-s of President Monroe's administration, nor the four years of President Adams's, were any complaints on that score heard. And now I desire to call attention to a particular fact. There were several candidates for the Presidency to succeed Mr. Monroe — General Jackson, Mr. Adams, Mr. Crawford, and Mr. Clay. None of them received a sufficient number of votes from the electors to be chosen President. General Jackson received the largest number of any ; but the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adantis President. From that moment a fierce opposition was commenced against Mr. Adams's administration. I do not propose to discuss the character or conduct of this op- position. The fact of its existence is all that I have to do with 477 now, and to remind you that, from the inauguration, in March, 1825, to March, 18-29, an opposition, diritinguisiicd for its remark- ahie abihty, perseverance, and ukimate success, was carried on uudcr the name and flag of General Jackson. All other candidates had disappeared. General Jackson was the sole opponent ; and four years of active, angry political contro- versy ensued — during which, every topic of complaint that could be dragged into the vortex, was dragged in; and yet — I beg special attention to this fact — not once, during this four years' controversy, did General Jackson himself, or any press in his interest, or any of his friends in Congress or elsewhere, raise a single voice against the condition of the currency, or propose any change therein. Of the hundreds here, possibly, who supported Jackson, not one dreamed that he was elected to put down es- tablished institutions, and overthrow the currency of the country. Who, among all those that, in the honest convictions of their hearts, cried, Hurrah for Jackson ! believed, or expected, or desired, that he would interfere with the Bank of the United States, or destroy the circulating medium of the country. [Here there arose a cry from the crowd, " None ! none! "] 1 stand here upon the fact, and defy contradiction from any quarter, that there v^as no complaint, then, any where, of the Bank. There never was, before, a country of equal extent, where exchanges and circulation were carried on so cheaply, so conveniently, and so securely. General Jackson was inaugurated in IMarch, 1829, and pronounced an address upon that occasion, which I heard, as I did the oath he look to support the Constitution. In that address were enumerated various objects, -requiring, as he said. Reform ; but among them was not the IBank of the United States, nor the currency. This was in March, 1829. In December, 1829, General Jackson came out with the declaration (than which, none I have ever heard surprised me more) that " the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States might be well questioned," and that it had failed to furnish a sound and uniform currency to the country. What produced this change of views ? Down to March of the same year, nothing of this sort was indicated or threatened. What, then, induced the change? [A voice from the crowd said, "Martiti Van Burcn.'''] If that be so, [immediately rejoined Mr. Webster,] it was the production of mighty consequences by a cause not at all proportioned. I will state, in connection with, and in elucidation of, this subject, certain transactions, which constitute one of those contingences in human affairs, in which casual circumstances, act- ing upon the peculiar temper and character of a man of very de- cided temper and character, affect the fate of nations. A move- ment was made in the summer of 1829, in order to effect a change in certain officers of the Branch of the Bank of the United States 478 in Portsmouth, N. H. Mr. Woodbury, then a Senator from New Hampshire, transmitted to the President of the Bank at Philadel- phia, a request, purporting to proceed from merchants and men of business of all parties, asking the removal of the President of that Branch, not on political grounds, but as acceptable and advantage- ous to the business community. At the same time, Mr. Woodbury addressed a letter to the then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Ing- ham, suggesting that his Department should, on political grounds, obtain from the Mother Bank the > removal of the Branch Presi- dent. This letter was transmitted to the President of the Mother Bank, and reached him about the same time as the other; so that, looking upon this picture and upon that, upon one letter that urged the removal on political grounds, and on the other that denied that poHtical considerations entered into the matter at all, he concluded to let things remain as they were. Appeals were then artfully made to the President of the United States. His feelings were en- listed, and it is well known that, when he had an object in view, his character was to go ahead. I mean to speak no evil nor dis- respect of General Jackson. He has passed off the stage to his retirement at the Hermitage, which it would be as well, perhaps, that friends should not disturb, and where I sincerely wish he may, in tranquillity, pass the residue of his days. But General Jackson's character was imperious — he took the back track never; and however his friends might differ, or whether they concurred or dis- sented, they were fain always to submit. General Jackson then put forth the pretension that appointments by the Bank should have regard to the wishes of the Treasury ; the matter was for- mally submitted to the Directors of the Bank, and they as formally determined that the Treasury could not rightfully or properly have any thing to say in the matter. A long and somewhat angry cor- respondence ensued ; for General Jackson found, in the President of the Bank, a man who had something of a spice of his own quality. The result was, that the Bank resisted, and refused the required acquiescence in the dictations of the Treasury. This happened in the summer and autumn of 1829, and in De- cember we had the message, in which, for the first time, the Bank was arraigned and denounced. Then came the application of the Bank for re-incorporation, the passage of a bill for that purpose through both Houses, and the President's Veto on it. The Bank of the United States being thus put down, a multitude of new State Banks sprang up : and next came a law, adopting some of these as Deposit Banks. Now, what I have to say in regard to General Jackson in this matter, is this : he said he could establish a better currency ; and, whether successful or not in this, it is at least to be said in his favor and praise, that he never did renounce the obligation of the Federal Government to take care of the 479 currency — paper as well as metallic — of the people. It was in furtherance of this duty, which he felt called on to discharge, of " providing a better currency," that he recommended the exclusion of small bills. Why? Because, as it was argued, it would improve the general mixed currency of the country ; and, although he did not, as distinctly as Mr. Madison, admit and urge the duty of the Federal Government to provide a currency for the people, he never renounced if, but, on the contrary, in his message of December, 1835, holds this explicit language: — "By the use of the State Banks, which do not derive their charters from the General Government, and are not controlled by its authority, it is ascer- tained that the moneys of the United States can be collected and distributed without loss or inconvenience, and that all the wants of the community, in relation to exchange atul currency, are s^tpplied as well as they have ever been before." — [Message, Dec. 2, 1835.] It is not here a question whether these Banks did, or not, effect the purpose which General Jackson takes so much praise to him- self of accomplishing through their agency — that of supplying the country with as good a currency as it ever enjoyed. But why, if this was not a duty of the Federal Government, is it mentioned at all ? In his last message, in December, 1836, reviewing the benefits ! of his experiments on the cun'ency, he thus speaks: — " At tJie time of the removal of the deposit!, it was alleged by the advo- cates of the Bank of the United States, that the State Banks, whatever might be the regulations of the Treasury Department, could not make tlie transfers required by the Government, or negotiate the domestic exchanges of the country. It is now well ascertained that the real domcMic exchanges per- formed through discounts by the United States Bank and its twenty-five Branches, were one third less than those of the Deposit Banks for an equal period of time ; and if a compaiison be instituted between the arnounis of ser- vices rendered by these institutions, on the broader basis which has been used by tlie advocates of the United States Bank^ in estinutting what they consider the domestic exchanges, the resvlt will be still more favorable to the Deposit Banlis." Here we have the distinct assertion, that, through the State Banks, he had accomplished more in establishing a good currency and easy exchanges, than had been done by the Bank of the United States. However this fact may be, all this, I say, amounts to ac- knowledgment of the duty of the General Government, and as a natural consequence of the power to coin money and regulate commerce, to take a supervision over that paper currency which is to supply the place of coin. I contend for this truth, that, down to the end of General Jack- son's administration, no administration of this country had turned their back upon this power ; and I now proceed to show, by ex- tracts from Mr. Van Buren's letter to Sherrod Williams, to which, 480 Since he has largely referred to it lately, there can be no unfitness in my referring, that he, too, admitted the obligation of supplying a uniform currency and convenient medium of exchange, which he thought could be effected by the State Deposit Banks. " Sincerely believing, for the reasons which have just been stated, that the public funds may be as safely and conveniently transmitted from one portion of the Union to another ; that domestic exchange can be as suc- cessfully and as cheaply eftected, and the currency be rendered at least as sound, under the existinor system, as those objects could be accomplished by means of a National Bank, I would not seek a remedy for the evils to which you allude, should they unfortunately occur, through such a medium, even if the constitutional objections were not in the way." — [Aug. 8, 1836.] He denies not the duty of superintending the currency, but thinks the Deposit Banks of the States, under the control of Con- gress, can effect the purpose. This letter was written when Mr. Van Buren was a candidate for the Presidency. Two months only after General Jackson had retired, and when his vigorous hand was no longer there to uphold it, the league of State Banks fell, and crumbled into atoms ; and when Mr. Van Buren had been only two months President, he convoked a special session of Congress for the ensuing September. The country was in wide-spread confusion — paralyzed in its commerce — its cur- rency utterly deranged. What was to be done ? What would Mr. Van Buren recommend ? He could not go back to the Bank of the United States, for he had committed himself against its con- stitutionality ; nor could he, witli any great prospect of success, undertake to reconstruct the league of Deposit Banks ; for it had recently failed, and the country had lost confidence in it. What, then, was to be done ? He could go neither backward nor forward. What did he do ? I mean not to speak disrespectfully, but I say, he — escaped! Afraid to touch the fragments of the broken Banks — unable to touch the Unhed States Bank — he folded up his arms, and said, — The Government has nothing to do with provi- ding a currency for the people. That I may do him no wrong, I will read his own language. His predecessors had all said. We will not turn our backs upon this duty of Government to provide a uni- form currency ; his language is. We ivill turn our backs on this duty. He proposes nothing for the country, nothing for the relief of commerce, or the regulation of exchanges, but simply the means of getting money into the Treasury without loss. From Mr. Fan Bureri's First Message. "It is not the province of Government to aid mdividuals in the transfer of their funds, otherwise than through the facilities of the Post Office De- 481 partment. As justly might it be called on to provide for tlie transportation of tlieir merchandise." **##**«## "If, therefore, I refrain from suggesting to Congress any specific plan for regulating the exchanges or the currency — relieving mercantile em- barrassments — or interfering with the ordinary operations of foreign or domestic commerce, it is from a conviction that sucji are not within the constitutional province of the General Government, and that their adoption would not promote the real and permanent welfare of those they might be designed to aid." I put it to you, my friends, if this is a statesman's argu- ment. You can transport your merchandise yourselves; you can build ships, and make your own wagons ; but can you make a currency ? Can you say what shall be money, and what shall not be money ? and determine its value here and elsewhere ? Why, it would be as reasonable to say, the people may make war for themselves, and peace for themselves, as to say that they may exercise this other not less exclusive attribute of sovereignty, of making a currency for themselves. He insists that Congress has no power to regulate currency or exchanges — none to mitigate the embarrassments of the country — none to relieve its prostrate in- dustry — and even if the power did exist, it would be unwise, in his opinion, to exercise it! These are the doctrines of the President's first message ; and I have no opinion of it now, that I did not then entertain, and then express. I desire not to appear wise after the event — 1 am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, and yet I declare that when I heard the declarations of this message, and reflected on its conse- quences, I saw, or thought I saw, all of suffering, loss, and evil, that is now before us. Let us compare this declaration with that of one now numbered with the mighty dead — of one who has left behind a reputation excelled by that of no other man, as understanding thoroughly the Constitution — of one born and cradled with it, taking part in its inception, and closing his public career by administering its high- est office — I need not name James Madison. In his message to Congress, in December, 1815, — when the war had closed, and the country was laboring under the disordered currency of that period, — the President thus spoke : — " ft is essential to every modification of the finances, that the benefits of a uniform national currency should be restored to the conununity. The absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a temporary evil ; hvt until they can a^ain he rerulercd the freneral medmm of exchanme ; and while his rich neighbor, who could, and did, is made richer by these very causes, he, the honest and industrious me- chanic, is crushed to the earth ; and yet, we are told, this is a sys- tem for promoting the interests of the poor 1 Tiiis leads me naturally to the great subject of American labor, which has hardly been considered or discussed as carefully as it deserves. What is American labor? It is best described by say- ing, it is not European labor. Nine tenths of the whole labor of this country is performed by those who cultivate the land they or their fathers own, or who, in their workshops, employ some little capital of their own, and mix it up with their manual toil. No such thing exists in other countries. Look at the different de- partments of industry, whether agricultural, manufacturing, or mechanical, and you will find, almost in all, the laborers mix up some little capital with the work of their hands. The laborer of the United States is the United States : strike out the laborers of the United States, including therein all who in some way or other belong to the industrious and working classes, and you reduce the population of the United States from sixteen millions to one mil- lion. The American laborer is expected to have a comfortable home, decent, though frugal living, and to be able to clothe and educate his cliildren, to qualify them to take part, as all are called to do, in the political affairs and government of their country. Can this be said of any European laborer ? Does he take any share in the government of his country, or feel it an obligation to educate his children ? In most parts of Europe, nine tenths of the laborers have no interest in the soil they cultivate, nor in the fabrics they produce ; no hope, under any circumstances, of rising them- selves, or of raising their children, above the condition of a day laborer at wages, and only know the government under which they live, by the sense of its burdens, which they have no voice in miti- gating. To compare such a state of labor with the labor of this country, or reason from that to ours, is preposterous. And yet the doctrine now is, not of individuals only, but of the administration, that the wao-es of American labor must be brought down to the level of those of Europe. I have said this is not the doctrine of a few individuals ; and on that head I think injustice has been done to a Senator from Penn- sylvania, who has been made to bear a large share of the respon- sibility of suggesting such a policy. If I mistake not, the same idea is thrown out in the President's message at the commence- ment of the last session, and in the Treasury Report. Hear what Mr, Woodbury says : — " Should the States not speedily suspend more of their undertakings which are unproductive, but, by new loans, or otherwise, find means to em- 489 ploy armies of laborers in consumintr rather than raisinjr crops, and should prices tliiis continue in unny ciisrs to he unnaturally inflated, as they have been of late years, in \hn face of a contractintj currency, the effect of it on our financi's wouM be still in')re to lesson exports, and, consequently, the prosperity and revenue of our foreign trade." He is for turning off from the public works these " armies of la- borers," who consume without producing crops, and thus bring down prices, both of crops and labor. Diminish the mouths that consume, and multiply the arms that produce, and you have the Treasury prescription for mitigating distress and raising prices! How would that operate in this great State ? You have, perhaps, some fifteen thousand men employed on your public works — works of the kind that the Secretary calls " unproductive ; " and, even with such a demand as they must j)roduce for provisions, prices are very low. The Secretary's remedy is to set them to raise pro- visions themselves, and thus augment the supply, while they di- minish the demand. In this way, the wages of labor are to be reduced, as well as the prices of agricultural productions. But this is not all. I have in my hand an extract from a speech in the House of Representatives of a zealous supporter, as it appears, of the administration, who maintains that, other things being reduced in proportion, you may reduce the wages of labor, widiout evil consequences. And where does he seek this example ? On the shores of the Mediterranean. He fixes upon Corsica and Sardinia. But what is the Corsican laborer, that he should be the model upon wliich American labor is to be formed ? Does he know any thing himself? Has he any education, or does he give any to his chil- dren ? Has he a home, a freehold, and the comforts of life around him? No : with a crust of bread and a handful of olives, his daily wants are satisfied. And yet, from such a state of society, the la- borer of New^ England, the laborer of the United States, is to be taught submission to low wages. The extract before me states that the wages of Corsica are, " For the male laborer, 24 cents a day ; , And the female do. 11 cents do." — both, I presume, finding their own food. And the honorable gen- tleman argues that, owing to the greater cheapness of other articles, this is relatively as much as the American laborer gets ; and he illustrates the fact by this bill of clothing for a Corsican laborer: — "Jacket, lasting 24 months , 8 francs ; Cap, do. 24 do. 2 do. Waistcoat, do. 36 do. 4 do. Pantaloons, do. 18 do. 5 do. Shirt, do. 12 do. 3 do. Pair of shoes, do. 6 do. 6 do. ,. III. 62 28 francs." 490 Eight francs are equal to one dollar and sixty cents, and five francs to one dollar. Now, what say you, my friends? What will the farmer of New York, of Pennsylvania, and New England, say to the idea of walking on Sunday to church, at the head of his fam- ily, in his jacket two years old? What will the young man say, when, his work ended, he desires to visit the families of his neigh- bors, to the one pair of pantaloons, not quite two years old, indeed, but, as the farmers say of a colt, " coming two next grass," and which, for eighteen months, have every day done yeoman's service? Away with it all ! Away with this plan for humbling and degrading the free, intelligent, well-educated, and well-paid laborer of the United States to the level of the almost brutal laborer of Europe! There is not much danger that schemes and doctrines such as these shall find favor with the people. They understand their own interest too well for that. Gentlemen, I am a farmer, on the sea- shore, and have, of course, occasion to employ some degree of agi-i- cultural labor. I am sometimes also rowed out to sea, being, like other New England men, fond of occasionally catching a fish, and finding health and recreation, in warm weather, from the air of the ocean. For the few months during which I am able to enjoy this retreat from labor, public or professional, I do not often trouble my neighbors, or tiiey me, whh conversation on politics. It happened, however, about three weeks ago, that, on such an excursion as I have mentioned, with one man only with me, I mentioned this doc- trine of the reduction of prices, and asked him his oiiinion of it. He said he did not like it. I replied, " The wages of labor, it is true, are reduced ; but then flour and beef, and perhaps clothing, all of which you buy, are reduced also. What, then, can be your objections? " " Why," said he, " it is true that flour is now low ; but then it is an article that may rise suddenly, by means of a scanty crop in England, or at home ; and, if it sliould rise from five dollars to ten, I do not know for certain that it would fetch the price of my labor up with it. But while wages are high, then I am safe ; and if produce chances to fall, so much the better for me. But there is another thing. I have but one thing to sell — that is, my labor ; but I must buy many things — not only flour, and meat, and clothing, but also some articles that come from other countries — a little sugar, a little coffee, a little tea, a little of the common spices, and such like. Now, I do not see how these foreign articles will be brought down by reducing wages at home ; and before the price is brought down of the only thing I have to sell, I want to be sure that the prices will fall, also, not of a part, but of all the things which I must buy." Now, gentlemen, though he will be astonished, Ov amused, that I should tell the story before such a vast and respectable assemblage as this, I will place tliis argument of Seth Peterson, sometimes farm- 491 er and sometimes fisherman on the coast of Massachusetts, stated to me while pulling an oar with each hand, and with the sleeves of his red shirt rolled up above his elbows, against the arguments, the theories, and the speeches, of the administration and all its friends, in or out of Congress, and take the verdict of the country, and of the civilized world, whether he has not the best side of the question. Since I have adverted to this conversation, gentlemen, allow me to say that this neighbor of mine is a man fifty years of age, one of several sons of a poor man; that by bis labor he has obtained some (ew acres, his own unencumbered freehold ; has a comfortable dwelling,^ and plenty of the poor man's blessings. Of these, I have known six, decently and cleanly clad, each with the book, the slate, and the map, proper to its age, all going at the same time daily to enjoy the blessing of that which is the great glory of New England, the common free school. Who can contemplate this, and thousands of other cases like it, not as pictures, but as common facts, without feeling how much our free institutions, and the policy hitherto pursued, have done for the comfort and happiness of the great mass of our citizens? Where in Europe, where in any part of the world out of our own country, shall we find labor thus re- warded, and the general condition of the people so good ? No- where ; nowhere ! Away, then, with the injustice and the folly of reducing the cost of productions with us to what is called the com- mon standard of the world ! Away, then, away at once and forev- er, with the miserable policy, which would bring the condition of a laborer in the United States to that of a laborer in Russia or Swe- den, in France or Germany, in Italy or Corsica! Instead of fol- lowing these examples, let us hold up our own, which all nations inay well envy, and which, unhappily, in most parts of the earth, it is easier to envy than to imitatp. But it is the cry and effort of the times to stimulate those who are called poor against those who are called rich ; and yet, among those who urge this cry, and seek to profit by it, there is betrayed sometimes an occasional sneer at whatever savors of humble life. Witness the reproach against a candidate now before the people for their highest honors, that a log cabin, with plenty of hard cider, is good enough for him ! It appears to some persons, that a great deal too much use is made of the symbol of the log cabin. No man of sense supposes, certainly, that the having lived in a log cabin is any further ])roof of qualification for the Presidency, than as it creates a presumption that any one who, from humble; condition, or under unfavorable cir- cumstances, has been able to attract a considerable degree of public attention, is possessed of reputable qualities, moral and intellectual. But it is to be remembered, that this matter of the log cabin 492 originated, not with the friends of the Whig candidate, but with liis enemies. Soon after his nomination at Harrisburg, a writer for one of the leading administration papers spoke of his "log cabin," and his use of "hard cider," by way of sneer and reproach. As might have been expected, (for pretenders are generally false,) this taunt at humble life proceeded from the party which claims for itself the character of the purest democracy. The whole party appeared to enjoy it, or, at least, they countenanced it by silent acquiescence ; for I do not know that, to this day, any eminent individual, or any leading newspaper attached to the administration, has rebuked this scornful jeering at the supposed humble condition or circumstances in life, past or present, of a worthy man and a war-worn soldier. But it touched a tender point in the public feeling. It naturally roused indignation. What was intended as reproach, was immedi- ately seized on as merit. "Be it so ! Be it so!" was the in- stant burst of the public voice. " Let him be the log cabin candi- date. What you say in scorn, we will shout with all our lungs. From this day forward, we have our cry of rally ; and we shall see whether he, who has dwelt in one of the rude abodes of the West, may not become the best house in the country ! " All this is natural, and springs from sources of just feeling. Oth- er things, gentlemen, have had a similar origin. We all know that the term "Whig" was bestowed in derision, two hundred years ago, on those who were thought too fond of liberty ; and our na- tional air of "Yankee Doodle" was composed by British officers, in ridicule of the American troops. Yet, erelong, the last of the British armies laid down its arms at Yorktown, while this same air was playing in the ears of officers and men. Gentlemen, it is only shallow-minded pretenders, who either make distinguished origin matter of personal merit, or obscure origin matter of personal re- proach. Taunt and scoffing at the humble condition of early life, affect nobody in this country, but those who are foolish enough to indulge in them, and they are generally sufficiently punished by public rebuke. A man who is not ashamed of himself, needs not be ashamed of his early condition. Gentlemen, it did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin ; but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log cabin, raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early as that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney, and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the touchins: narratives and incidents, which minde with all I know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none of those 493 who inhabited it are now amonij the livincr ; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in affectionate veneration for him who reared it, and defended it a<:ainst savat:;e violence and destruc- tion, cherished all die domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, throngh the fire and blood of a seven years' revolutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve his country, and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, niay my name and the name of my posterity be blotted forever from the memory of mankind I [Mr. Webster then reviewed the expenditures of the Government; but just at the last moment we find, with regret, that the sheet containing this portion of tlie speech has been mislaid or lost. We supply, therefore, from memory, a very brief, and, we are aware, a very inadequate outline of the argument.] The expenditures of this administradon have been eminently wasteful and extravagant. Over and above the ordinary revenue of the country, Mr. V^an Buren has spent more than tiveyity millions that reached the Tj-easury from other sources. I specify — Reserved under the Deposit Act, 6,000,000 Fourth Instalment of Surplus, kept back, 9,000,000 Payment by the Bank of United States on its Bonds, 5,000,000 ^20,000,000 But even this has been found insufficient for the prodigality of the administration : and we had not been long assembled in Con- gress before a demand was made upon it, notwithstanding the flattering representations of the Message and the Treasury Report, for authority to issue five millions more of Treasury notes ; and this, we were assured, if Congress would only keep within the estimates submitted by the Departments, would be ample. Con- gress did keep within the estimates ; and yet, before we broke up, intimations came from the Treasury that they must have authority to borrow, or issue Treasury notes for four and a half millions more ! This time, even the friends of the administration demurred, and, finally, refused to grant this new aid ; and what then was the alternative ? Why, after having voted appropriations for the various branches of the public service, all within the estimates, and all of which, they were told, were indispensable, Congress con- ferred on the President, by a special section, authority to withhold these appropriations from such objects as he pleased, and out of certain classes, to select, at his discretion, those upon which money should be expended. Entire auUiority was thus given to the President over all these expenditures, in evasion, as it seems to me, of that provision of the Constitution forbidding all expenditure, except by virtue of ap|)ropriations — which, if it mean any thing, must mean the specification of distinct sums for distinct purposes. p p 494 In this way, then, it is proposed to keep back from indispensable works, or works declared by the administration to be indispensable, four and a half millions, which are, nevertheless, appropriated, and which, with five millions of Treasury notes already issued, will constitute a debt of from nine to ten miUions. So, then, when General Harrison shall succeed, in March next, to the Presidential chair, all that he will inherit from his prede- cessors — besides their brilliant example — will be these Treasury vaults and safes, without a dollar in them, and a debt of ten millions of dollars. The whole revenue policy of this administration has been founded in error. While the Treasury is becoming poorer and poorer, articles of luxury are admitted free of duty. Look at the Custom House returns — 20,000,000 dollars worth of silks imported in one year, free of duty, and other articles of luxury in propor- tion, that should be made to contribute to the revenue. We have, in my judgment, imported excessively ; and yet the President urges it as an objection to works of public improvement, to railroads and canals, that they diminish our importations, and thereby interfere with the comforts of the people. His messaii"e says — " Our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the burdens entailed upon them by the false system that has been operatinor on their sanguine, energetic, and industrious character ; nor to the means necessary to extricate themselves from these embarrassments. The weight which presses upon a large portion of the people, and the States, is an enormous debt, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt of our States, corporations, and men of business, can scarcely be less than two hundred millions of dollars, requiring more than ten millions of dollars a year to pay the in- terest. Tills sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country, and must of necessity cut off imports to that extent, or plunge the country more deeply in debt from year to year. It is easy to see that the increase of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on the exports to pay the interest, and to the same extent diminish the imports ; and in proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt, and the consequent in- crease of interest, must be the decrease of tlie import trade. In lieu of the comforts which it now brings us, we might have one gigantic banking institution, and splendid, but in many instances profitless, railroads and canals, absorbing, to a great extent, in interest upon the capital borrowed to construct them, the surplus fruits of national industry for years to come, and securing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the labors of their hands might otherwise have secured." What are these comforts that we are to get so much more of, if we will only stop our railroads and canals ? Foreign goods, loss of employment at home, European wages, and lastly, direct taxation. One of the gentlemen of the South, of that nullifying State Rights party that has absorbed the administration, or been absorbed by it, comes boldly out with the declaration that the period is arrived for a direct tax on land; and, holding up this idea, others 495 have said, that it will bring the North to the grindstone. We shall see, before this contest is over, who will be the parties ground, and who the grinders. It is, however, but just to add that, thus far, this is only an expression of individual opinion, and I do not charge it to be otherwise. I had proposed to say something of the militia bill ; but it is already so late that I must forego this topic. [" No, no! Go on, go on ! " — from the crowd.] [Mr. Webster resumed, and briefly analyzed the bill. Owing, however, to the lateness of the hour, he did not go largely into the discussion. He did not, he said, mean to charge Mr. Van Biiren with any purpose to play the part of a CsBsar or a Cromwell ; but ho did say that, in his judgment, the plan, as recom- mended by tiie President in his message, and of which the annual report of the Secretary of War, accompanying the message, developed the leading features, would, if carried into operation, be expensive, burdensome, in deroga- tion of the Constitution, and dangerous to our liberties. Mr. W. referred rapidly to the President's recent letter to some gentleman in Virginia, endeav- oring to exculpate himself for the recommendation in the message, by endeavor- ing to show a difference between the plan then so strongly commended, and that submitted in detail, some months afterwards, by the Secretary of War, to Congress. Mr. W. pronounced this attempt wholly unsatisfactory. Mr. W. then went on to say — ] I have now frankly stated my opinions as to the nature of the present excitement, and have answered the question I propounded as to the causes of the revolution in public sentiment now in progress. Will this revolution succeed ? Does it move the masses, or is it an ebullition merely on the surface? And who is it that opposes the change which seems to be going forward ? [Here some one in the crowd cried out, " None, hardly, but the office-holders, o])pose it." Mr. AVebster continued — ] I hear one say that the office-holders oppose it ; and that is true. If they were quiet, in my opinion, a change would take place almost by common consent. I have heard of an anecdote, perhaps hardly suited to the sobriety and dignity of this occasion, but which confirms the answer which my friend in the crowd has given to my question. It happened to a farmer's .son, that his load of hay was blown over by a sudden gust, on an exposed plain. Those near him, seeing him manifest a degree of distress, which such an accident would not usually occa- sion, asked him the reason ; he said he should not take on so much about it, only father was under the load. I think it very probable, gentlemen, that there are many now very active and zealous friends, who would not care much whether the wagon of the administration were blown over or not, if it were not for the fear that father, or son, or uncle, or brother, might be found under the load. Indeed, it is remarkable how frequently the fire of patriotism glows in the breasts of the holders of office. A thousand favored contractors 496 shake with horrid fear, lest the proposed change should put the interests of the public in great danger. Ten thousand Post Oirices, moved by the same apprehension, join in the cry of alarm, while a perfect earthquake of disinterested remonstrance proceeds from the Custom Houses. Patronage and favoritism tremble and quake, through every limb and every nerve, lest the people should be found in favor of a change, which might endanger the liberties of the country, or at least break down its present eminent and dis- tinguished prosperity, by abandoning the measures, so wise, so beneficent, so successful, and so popular, which the present ad- ministration has pursued ! Fellow-citizens, we have all sober and important duties to per- form. I have not addressed you, to-day, for the purpose of joining in a premature note of triumph, or raising a shout for anticipated victories. We are in the controversy, not through it. It is our duty to spare no pains to circulate information, and to spread the truth far and wide. Let us persuade those who differ from us, if we can, to hear both sides. Let us remind them that we are all embarked together, with a common interest and a common fate. And let us, without rebuke or unkindness, beseech them to consider what the good of the whole requires, — what is best for them and for us. There are two causes which keep back thousands of honest men from joining those who wish for a change. The first of these is the fear of reproach from former associates, and the pain which party denunciation is capable of inflicting. But, surely, the manliness of the American character is superior to this ! Surely, no American citizen will feel himself chained to the wheels of any party, nor bound to follow it, against his conscience, and his sense of the interest of the country. Resolution and de- cision ought to dissipate such restraints, and to leave men free at once to act upon their own convictions. Unless this can be done, party has entailed upon us a miserable slavery, by compelling us to act against our consciences, on questions of the greatest im- portance. The other cause is the constant cry that the party of the ad- ministration is the true democratic party, or the more popular party in the Government and in the country. The falsity of this claim has not been sufficiently exposed. It should have been met, and should be now met, not only by denial, but by proof If they mean the new democracy — the cry against credit, against industry, against labor, against man's right to leave his own earnings to his own children — why, then, doubtless, they are right ; all this sort of democracy is theirs. But if by democracy they mean a con- scientious and stern adherence to the true popular principles of the Constitution and the Government, then I think they have very litde claim to it. Is the augmentation of Executive power a democratic 497 principle? Is the separation of the currency of Government from the currency of the people a democratic principle ? Is the imbodying a large military force, in time of peace, a democratic principle ? Let us entreat honest men not to take names for things, nor pretences for proofs. If democracy, in any constitutional sense, belongs to our adversaries, let them show their title and produce their evidence. Let the question be examined ; and let not intel- ligent and well-meaning citizens be kept to the support of measures which in their hearts and consciences tiiey disapprove, because their authors put foitli such loud claims to the sole possession of regard for the people. Fellow-citizens of the County of Saratoga : In taking leave of you, I cannot but remind you how distingulsh.ed a place your county occupies in the history of the country. I cannot be igno- rant, that in the midst of you are many, at this moment, who saw in this neighborhood the triumph of republican arms in the sur- render of General Burgoyne. I cannot doubt that a fervent spirit of patriotism burns in their breasts, and in the breasts of their children. They helped to save their country amidst the storms of war ; they will help to save it, I am fully persuaded, in the present severe civil crisis. Fellow-citizens, I verily believe it is true, that, of all that are left to us from the Revolution, nine tenths are with us, in the existing contest. If there be living a revolutionary officer, or soldier, who has joined in the attacks upon General Harrison's military character, I have not met with him. It is not, therefore, in the County of Saratoga, that a cause sustained by such means is likely to prevail. Fellow-citizens, the great question is now before the country. If, with the experience of the past, the American people think proper to confirm power in the hands which now hold it, and thereby sanction the leading policy of the administration, it will be your duty and mine to bow, with submission, to the public w^ill ; but, for myself, I shall not believe It possible for me to be of service to the country. In any department of public life. I shall look on, with no less love of country than ever, but with fearful forebodings of what may be near at hand. But, fellow-citizens, I do not at all expect that result. I fully believe the change is coming. If we all do our duty, we shall restore the Government to Its former policy, and the country to Its former prosperity. And let us here, to-day, fellow-citizens, with full resolution and patriotic purpose of heart, give and take pledges that, until this great controversy be ended, our time, our talents, our efforts, are all due, and shall all be faithfully given, to our COUNTRY. VOL, III. 63 p p * DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND PURPOSES ADOPTED BY A GENERAL CONVEN- TION OF THE WHIGS OF NEW ENGLAND, AT BUNKER HILL, ON THE TENTH OF SEPTEMBER, 1840. PREPARED BY MR. WEBSTER, AND SIGNED BY HIM AS PRESIDENT OF THE CONVENTION. When men pause from their ordinary occupations, and assemble in great numbers, a proper respect for the judgment of the country, and of the age, requires that they should clearly set forth the grave causes which have brought them together, and the purposes which they seek to promote. Feeling the force of this obligation, fifty thousand of the free electors of the New England States, honored also by the presence of like free electors from nearly every other State in the Union, having assembled on Bunker Hill, on this 10th day of September, 1840, proceed to set forth a declaration of their principles, and of the occasion and objects of their meeting. In the first place, we declare our unalterable attachment to that Public Liberty, the purchase of so much blood and treasure, in the acquisition of which the field whereon we stand obtained early and imperishable renown. Bunker Hill is not a spot on which we shall forget the principles of our Fathers, or suffer any thing to quench within our own bosoms the love of freedom which we have in- herited from them. In the next place, we declare our warm and hearty devotion to tbe Constitution of the country, and to that Union of the States which it has so happily cemented, and so long and so prosperously preserved. We call ourselves by no local names, we recognize no geographical divisions, while we give utterance to our sentiments on high constitutional and political subjects. We are Americans, citizens of the United States, knowing no other country, and desir- ing to be distinguished by no other appellation. We believe the Constitution, while administered wisely and in its proper spirit, to be capable of protecting all parts of the country, securing all inter- ests, and perpetuating a National Brotherhood among all the States. We believe that to foment local jealousies, to attempt to prove the existence of opposite interests between one part of the country and another, and thus to disseminate feelings of distrust and alienation, while it is in contemptuous disregard of the counsels of the great 498 J 499 Father of his country, Is but one form, in whicli irregular ambition, destitute of all true patriotism, and a love of power, reckless of the means of its gratification, exhibit their unsubdued and burning desire. We believe, too, that party spirit, however natural or unavoid- able it may be in free Republics, yet when it gains such an ascen- dency in men's minds, as leads them to substitute party for country, to seek no ends but party ends, no approbation but party approba- tion, and to fear no reproach or contumely, so that there be no party dissatisfaction, not only alloys the true enjoyment of such institu- tions, but weakens, every day, the foundations on which they stand. We are in favor of the liberty of speech and of the press ; \vc are friends of free discussion ; we espouse the cause of popular education; we believe in man's capacity for self-government; we desire to see the freest and widest dissemination of knowledge and of truth ; and we believe, especially, in the benign influence of religious feeling, and moral instruction, on the social as well as on the individual happiness of man. Holding these general sentiments and opinions, we have come together to declare that, under the present administration of the General Government, a course of measures has been adopted and pursued. In our judgments, disastrous to the best interests of tlie country, threatening the accumulation of still greater evils, utterly hostile to the ti ue spirit of the Constitution and to the principles of civil liberty, and calling upon all men of honest purpose, disinter- ested patriotism, and unbiased intelligence, to put forth their utmost constitutional efforts in order to effect a change. General Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States, and took the oaths and his seat on the 4th of March, 1829; and we readily admit that, under his administration, certain portions of the public affairs were conducted with ability. But we have to lament that he was not proof against the insinuations and influ- ences of evil counsellors, or perhaps against his own passions, when inoved and excited. Hence, in one most important branch of the public Interest, in that essential part of commercial regulation which respects the money, the currency, the circulation, and the internal exchanges, of the country, accidental occurrences, acting on his characteristic love of rule, and uneasiness under opposition, led him to depart from all that was expected from him, and to enter upon measures which plunged both him and the country in greater and greater difficulties at every step, so that, in this respect, his whole course of administration was but a series of ill-fated experi- ments, and of projects framed in disregard of prudence and prece- dent, and bursting in rapid succession ; the final explosion taking place a few months after his retirement from office. General Jackson was not elected with any desire or expectation, 500 on the part of any of his supporters, that he would interfere with the currency of the country. We affirm this as the truth of history. It is incapahle of refutation or denial. It is as certain as that the American Revolution was not undertaken to destroy the rights of property, or overthrow the obligation of morals. But, unhappily, he became involved in a controversy with the then existiug Bank of the United States. He manifested a desire — • how originating, or by whom inspired, is innnaterial — to exercise a political influence over that institution, and to cause that institution to exercise, in turn, a political influence over the community. Pub- lished documents prove this, as plainly as they prove any other act of his administration. In this desire he was resisted, thwarted, and finally defeated. But what he could not govern, he supposed he could destroy ; and the event showed that he did not overrate his popularity and his power. He pursued the Bank to the death, and achieved his triumph by the Veto of 1832. The accustomed means of maintaining a sound and uniform currency, for the use of the whole country, having been thus trampled down and destroyed, recourse was had to those new modes of experimental administra- tion, to which we have already adverted, and \\hich terminated so disastrously, both for the reputation of his administration and for the welfare of the country. But General Jackson did not deny his constitutional obligations, nor seek to escape from their force. He never professedly aban- doned all care over the general currency. His whole conduct shows that he admitted, throughout, the duty of the General Government to maintain a supervision over the currency of the country, both metallic and paper, for the general good and use of the people; and he congratulated both himself and the nation, that, by the measures adopted by him, the currency and the exchanges of the country were placed on a better footing than they ever had been under the operation of a Bank of die United States. This confidence in his own experiments, we know, proved most illusory. But the fre- quency with which he repeated this and similar declarations estab- lishes, incontestably, his own sense of the duty of Government. In all the measures of General Jackson upon the currency, the present Chief Magistrate is known to have concurred. Like him, he was opposed to the Bank of the United States; like him, he was in Aivor of the State Deposit Banks ; and, like him, he insisted that, by the aid of such banks, the Administration had accomplished all that could be desired, on the great subjects of the currency and the exchange. But the catastrophe of May, 1837, produced a new crisis, by overthrowing the last in the series of experiments, and creating an absolute necessity, either of returning to that policy of the Govern- ment which General Jackson had repudiated, or of renouncing 501 altogetlier the constitutional duty which it had been the obiect of tliat ])olicy to peiibrni. The huier branch of the ahernative was adopted. Refuge was sought in escape. A duty, up to that moment admitted by all, was suddenly denied, and the fearful resolution announced, that Government would hereafter provide for its own revenues, and that for the rest, the people niust take care of themselves. Assembled here, to-day, and feeling, in common witli the whole country, the evil consequences of these principles and these meas- ures, we utter against them all, from first to last, our deep and solemn disapprobation and remonstrance. We condemn the early departure of General Jackson from that line of policy which he was expected to pursue. We deplore the temper which led him to his original quarrel with the Bank. We deplore the headstrong spirit which instigated him to pursue that institution to its destruction. We deplore the timidity of some, the acquiescence of others, and the subserviency of all of his party, which enabled him to carry its whole, unbroken phalanx to the support of measures, and the accomplishment of purposes, whicli we know to have been against the wishes, the remonstrances, and the consciences, of many of the most respectable and intelligent. We deplore his abandoinnent of those means for assuring a good currency, which had been success- fully tried for forty years ; liis rash experiments with great interests ; and the perseverance with which he persisted in them, when men of different temperament must have been satisfied of their useless- ness and impotence. But General Jackson's administration, authority, and influence, are now historical. They belong to the past, while we have to do, to-day, with the serious evils, and the still more alarming portents, of the present. We remonstrate, therefore, most earnestly and em- phatically, against the policy upon this subject of the present Admin- istration. We protest against the truth of its principles. We deny the propriety and justice of its measures. We are constrained to have too litde respect for its objects, and we desire to rouse the country, so far as we can, to the evils which oppress and the dan'i^ers that surround us. We insist that the present Administration has consulted its own party ends, and the preservation of its own power, to the manifest neglect of great objects of public interest. We think there is no liberality, no political comprehension, no just or enlarged policy, in its leading measures. We look upon its abandonment of the cur- rency as fatal ; and we regard its system of sub-Treasuries as but a poor device to avoid a high obligation, or as the first in a new series of ruthless experiments. We believe its professions in favor of a hard-money currency to be insincere ; because we do not believe that any person, of common information and ordinary understanding, 502 can suppose that the use of paper, as a circulating medium, will be discontinued, even if such discontinuance were desirable, unless the Government shall break down the acknowledged authoriiy of the State Governments to establish Banks. We believe the clamor against State Banks, State Bonds, and Slate Credits, to liave been raised by the friends of the Administration to divert public attention from its own mismanagement, and to throw on otiiers the conse- quence of its own conduct. We heard nothing of all this in the early part of General Jackson's administration, nor until his meas- ures had brought the currency of the country into the utmost dis- order. We know that, in times past, the present Chief Magistrate has, of all men, had most to do with the systems of State Banks, the most foith in their usefulness, and no very severely chastened desire to profit by their influence. We believe that the purpose of exercising a money influence over the community has never departed from the Administration. What it could not accomplish by an attempt to bend the Bank of the United States to its pur- poses, we believe it has sought, and now seeks, to effect by its project of the sub-Treasury. We believe that, in order to maintain the principles upon which the system of the sub-Treasury is founded, the friends of the Administration have been led to espouse opinions destructive of the internal commerce of the country, paralyzing to its whole industry, tending to sink its labor, both in price and in character, to the degraded standard of the uninformed, the ignorant, the suffering labor of the worst parts of Europe. Led by the same necessity, or pushing the same principles still farther, and with a kind of revolutionary rapidity, we have seen the rights of property not only assailed, but denied ; the boldest agrarian notions put fortli ; the power of transmission from father to son openly denounced; the right of one to participate in the earnings of another, to the rejec- tion of the natural claims of his own children, asserted as a funda- mental principle of the new Democracy ; — and all this by those who are in the pay of Government, receiving large salaries, and whose offices would be nearly sinecures, but for the labor performed in the attempt to give currency to these principles and these opinions. We believe that the general tone of the measures of the Adminis- tration, the manner in which it confers favors, its apparent prefer- ence for partisans of extreme opinions, and the readiness with which it bestows its confidence on the boldest and most violent, are producing serious injuries upon the political morals and general sentiments of the country. We believe that to this cause is fairly to be attributed the most lamentable change which has taken place in the temper, the sobriety, and the wisdom, with which the high public counsels have been hitherto conducted. We look with alarm to the existing state of things, in this respect ; and we would most earnestly, and with all our hearts, as well for the honor of the coun- 603 try, as for its interests, beseech all good men to unite with us in an attempt to brin^^ back the deliberative age of the Government — to restore to tiie collected bodies of the People's Representatives that self-respect, decorum, and dignity, without which the business of legislation can make no regular progress, and is always in danger either of accomplishing notbing, or of reaching its ends by unjusti- fiable and violent means. We believe the conduct of the Administration respecting the public revenue to be highly reprehensible. It has expended twenty millions, previously accumulated, besides all the accruing income, since it came into power ; and there seems at this moment to be no doubt that it will leave to its successors a public debt of from five to ten millions of dollars. It has shrunk from its proper responsi- bilities. With t!ie immediate prospect of an empty treasury, it has yet not had the manliness to recommend to Congress any adequate provision. It has constantly spoken of the excess of receipts over expenditures, until this excess has finally manifested itself in an absolute necessity for loans, and in a power conferred on the Presi- dent, altogether new, and in our judgment hostile to the whole spirit of the Constitution, to meet the event of want of resources by with- holding, out of certain classes of appropriations made by Congress, such as he chooses to think may be best spared. It lives by shifts and contrivances, by shallow artifices and delusive names, by what it calls '•facilities," and the " excliange of Treasury notes for specie ;" while, in truth, it has been fast contracting a public debt, in the midst of all its boasting, without daring to lay the plain and naked truth of the case before the people. ^Ve protest against the conduct of the House of Representatives in the case of the New Jersey election. This is not a local, but a general question. In the Union of the States, on whatever link the blow of injustice or usurpation tails, it is felt, and ought to be felt, through the whole chain. The cause of New Jersey is the cause of every State, and every State is therefore bound to vindicate it. That the reiiular commission, or certificate of return, signed by the chief magistrate of the State, according to the provisions of law, entitles those who produce it to be sworn in as members of Con- gress, to vote in the organization of the House, and to hold their seats until their right be disturbed by regular petition and proof, is a proposition of constitutional law, of such universal extent and uni- versal acknowledgment, that it cannot be strengthened by argument or by analogy. There is nothing clearer, and nothing better settled. No legislative body could ever be organized without the adoption of this principle. Yet, in the case of the New Jersey members, it Avas entirely disregarded. And it is of awful portent that on such a question, — a question in its nature strictly judicial, — the domination of party should lead men thus flagrantly to violate first principles. V 504 It is the first step that costs. After this open disregard of the ele- mentary mles of law and justice, it should create no surprise that, pending the labors of a Committee especially appointed to ascertain who were duly elected, a set of men calling themselves Representa- tives of the people of New Jersey, who had no certificates from the chief magistrate of the State, or according to the laws of the State, were voted into tlicir seats, under silence imposed by the previous question, and afterwards gave their votes for the passage of the sub- Treasury law. We call most solemnly upon all who, with us, be- lieve that these proceedings alike invade the rights of the States, and dishonor the cause of popular government and free institutions, to supply an efficient and decisive remedy, by the unsparing applica- tion of the elective franchise. We protest against the plan of the Administration respecting the training and disciplining of the militia. The President now admits it to be unconstitutional ; and it is plainly so, on the face of it, for the training of the militia is by the Constitution expressly reserved to the States. If it were not unconstitutional, it would yet be unnecessary, burdensome, entailing enormous expense, and placing dangerous powers in Executive hands. It belongs to the prolific family of Executive projects, and it is a consolation to find that at least one of its projects has been so scorched by public rebuke and reprobation, that no man raises his hand or opens his mouth in its favor. It was during the progress of the late Administration, and under the well-known auspices of the present Chief Magistrate, that the declaration was made in the Senate, that, in regard to public office, the spoils of victory belonged to the conquerors ; thus boldly pro- claiming, as the creed of the party, that political contests are right- fully struggles for office and emolument. We protest against doctrines which thus regard offices as created for the sake of incumbents, and stimulate the basest passions to the pursuit of high public trusts. We protest against the repeated instances of disregarding judicial decisions, by officers of Government, and others enjoying its coun- tenance ; thus setting up Executive interpretation over the solemn adjudications of courts and juries, and showing marked disrespect for the usual and constitutional interpretation and execution of the laws. This misgovernment and maladministration would have been the more tolerable, if it had not been committed, in most instances, in direct contradiction to the warmest professions and the most solemn assurances. Promises of a better currency, for example, have ended in the destruction of all national and uniform currency : assurances of the strictest economy have been but preludes to the most waste- ful excess ; even the Florida war has been conducted under loud 505 pretences of severe frugality ; and the most open, unblushing, and notorious interference with State elections has been systematically practised by the paid agents of an Administration, which, in the full ireshness of its oath of office, declared that one of its leading objects should be, to accomplish that task of reform, which ynrticidurly required the correction of those abuses, tchich brought the patron- age of the federal government into conjlict with the freedom of elections. In the teeth of this solemn assurance, it has been proved that United States officei-s have been assessed, in sums bearing pro- portion to the whole amount they receive from the treasury, for the purpose of supporting their partisans even in State and mu- nicipal elections. VVhatever, in short, has been most professed, has been least practised ; and it seems to have been taken for granted that the American people would be satisfied with pretence, and a full-toned assurance of patriotic purpose. The history of the last twelve years has been but the history of broken promises and disappointed hopes. At every successive period of this history, an enchanting, rose-colored futurity has been spread out before the people, espe- cially in regard to the great concerns of revenue, finance, and currency. But these colors have faded, as the object has been approached. Prospects of abundant revenue have resulted in the necessity of borrowing ; the brilliant hopes of a better currency end in general derangement, stagnation, and distress ; and while the whole country is roused to an unprecedented excitement by the pressure of the times, every state paper from the Cabinet at Washington comes forth fraught with congratulations on that happy state of things w^hich the judicious policy of the Administration is alleged to have brought about ! Judged by the tone of these papers, every present movement of the people is quite unreasonable; and all attempts at change, only so many ungrateful returns for the wise and successful administration of public affairs ! There is yet another subject of complaint to which we feel bound to advert, by our veneration for the illustrious dead, by our respect for truth, by our love for the honor of our country, and by our own wounded pride as American citizens. We feel that the country has been dishonored, and we desire to free ourselves from all imputation of acquiescence in the parricidal act. The late President, in a com- munication to Congress, more than intimates that some of the earli- est and most important measures of Washington's administration were the offspring of personal motives and private interests. His successor has repeated and extended this accusation, and given to it, we are compelled to say, a greater degree of ofFensiveness and grossness. No man, with an American heart in his bosom, can endure this without feeling the deepest humiliation, as well as the most burning VOL. III. 64 ht choose to buy! " But now, after all this, these same gentlemen, overreaching the whole intervening period, and going back to the beginning, reproach and criminate the States, from the very outset, for contracting the engagements to which the Government itself incited them. I do not say that this was an assumption of the State debts, but it certainly 521 was holding them up to Europe and the world as worthy of confi- dence, so long as it suited the purposes of the Administration so to do. And very pretty purposes it would have answered in view of the coming election, had they succeeded in their object, and the Secretary of the Treasury been vested with unlimited discretion to purchase State bonds at his pleasure. Suppose such a power now existed, and Mr. Woodbury, conscientious and scrupulous as he is known to be, was asked by us of Massachusetts, for instance, or had lately been asked by our good sister of Maine, to vest money in State bonds ; how do you tliink the money would have been applied ? No doubt it would have been given freely to the patriotic States, but as carefully withheld from tliose not deemed vvordiy of that title. l^or this declaration, that the Whigs in Congress are in favor of the assumption of the State debts by the General Government, there exists not one p^article of proof, nor the least possible foundation. I do not myself know a single man in Congress, who holds the opinion that the General Government has any more right to pay the debts of a State, than it has to pay the debts of a private individual. Congress might as well undertake to pay the debts of John Jacob Astor, as of the State of New York. I exempt, however, from these remarks, the distribution among the States of the proceeds of the public lands, and their application to pay the debts of the States, should the States choose so to apply the money. But I say there is no foundation whatever for such a plan of assumption as Mr. Ben- ton and Mr. Grundy have so zealously declaimed against in the United States Senate. You have all heard in the public papers (and it is one of the most despicable of all the inventions of the enemy) that transactions took place, in which I had a part, the object of which was to per- suade Congress to assume the State obligations, and that I went to England for the worthy purpose of furthering such a design. Now, as I am among you this day, as among my friends, I will tell you all about it. I left this country in May, 1839. At that time 1 had neither read nor heard from living man of any such design. I went to England, and I must be permitted to say that it was a most gloomy time, so far as American securities in general, and the State debts in particular, were concerned. But 1 declare to you on my honor, that no European banker or foreign holder of State securities ever suggested to me, in the remotest manner, the least notion of the assumption of tlie State debts by the General Government. Once, indeed, I did hear the idea started by an American citizen ; but I immediately told him that such a thing was wholly unconstitutional, and never could be effected, unless the people should adopt a new constitution. It was quite natural that 1 should be applied to in reference to the State VOL. III. 66 RR* 522 debts. The State to which I belong had sent out some stock to England to be sold, and so, I believe, had the State of New York. We heard, continually, the most gloomy accounts from the United States; and, in fact, this very thing was, to use a common expres- sion, a great damper to my enjoyment while abroad. People fre- quently applied to me to know what security there was, tlrat the American debts would be finally paid, and the interest, in the mean time, regularly discharged. I told them they might rely on the plighted faith of the States, and their ability to redeem their obliga- tions. Nobody asked me whether there could be a United States guaranty to that effect, nor did I suggest such an idea to any one. Gentlemen came to me to ask about the Massachusetts bonds. They liked the offer of five per cent, interest very inuch, as this was high for an English capitalist ; but they wanted to know what assurance I could give that the investment would be a safe one. 1 went to my trunk, and took out an abstract of the official return of the amount of the productive labor of Massachusetts. I put this into the hand of one of those inquirers, and told him to take it home and study it. He did so, and in two days returned, and invested forty thousand pounds sterling in Massachusetts stock. Others came, and made similar inquiries as to New lork securities. I gave them a copy of the very able and admirable Report made by your townsman, Mr. Ruggles, in 1838, and they came back satisfied. But to none did I suggest, or in the remotest manner hint, that they could look to the United States to secure the debt. I endeavored to uphold the credit of all the States. I remembered that they were all my countrymen, and I stated facts in relation to each, as favor- ably as truth would allow. And what happened then? Gentle- men, it is fit that you should know that there exists a certain clique in London, who are animated by an unextinguishable hate of American credit. You may set it down as a fact that it is their daily, their incessant, vocation, to endeavor to impair the credit of every one of the States, and to represent the purchase of their bonds as an unwise and dangerous investment of money. On this sub- ject their ferocity knows no mitigation : it is deaf to all justice, and proof against all reason. The more you show them it is wrong, the more tenacity of purpose do they exhibit. That part of the public press over which they have control is furnished, I am ashamed to say, with matter drawn from publications which originated in this city, and the object of which is to prove, that State bonds are so much waste paper, the State having no right to issue any such obligations, their holders being, therefore, utterly destitute of any security. And these miserable and contemptible speculations are put into the papers of the largest circulation in Europe, and en- forced by all the aid they can derive from editorial sanction. It was under circumstances like these that a large banking house in 523 London put to me, as a lawyer, the professional question, whether tlie States were empowered to issue evidences of debt payable by the State. I answered that, for this purpose, they were as com- pletely sovereign as any state in Europe ; that they had a Public Faith to pledge, and did pledge it. This entire correspondence was published, (though you might as well get any Administration editor in this country to take hold of a pair of hot tongs as to insert it In his columns,) in the face of those who have been shouting in all quarters, that I had a personal agency In bringing about an assumption of State debts by the General Government. It so happened, that, in the latter part of October, the house of Barings issued a Circular to foreign houses on this subject, which Circular I never saw till I arrived in America. In this paper they speak of such an assumption or guaranty ; but as it went to foreign houses, I never saw, nor did I hear of It till last December, when I heard, at the same time, of the proceedings of Mr. Benton. But I here wish again to repeat, that during the whole time I was in Europe, no English banker or foreign bond-holder ever suggested an Idea of such an assumption. The first I heard of it was from an American citizen there, and not again till my return to this country. 1 have said that, owing to the bad news which was constantly received from this country, the pleasure of my visit was much diminished. I will now say that, during the whole time of my absence, I had the lowest hopes, as to the political state of the country, which I ever indulged. I saw the fatal workings of the experiment, and I saw that nothing wiser or better was in the mind of the Administration. And though I knew that a vast majority of my countrymen were opposed to the existing policy, yet 1 did not see them sufficiently roused, nor had I confidence that they would ever come to that cordial union In relation to any one candidate for the Presidency, which would enable them, as a party, to take the field with any rational hope of success. Such were the gloomy feelings wiilch possessed my mind, when I first learned the result of the Harrlsburgh Convention. But when I saw a nomination which, thou'i-h unwelcome at first to many, I thought the best that could possibly have been made, and learned that It was fast gaining the approbation of all who thought with me ; and above all, when I beheld the warm en- thusiasm and the heartfelt union which soon animated their ranks, and concentrated their movements, I then began to entertain a con- fidence that the hour of deliverance was at hand, and that my long- suffering country would yet relieve herself from the disastrous con- dition to which she had been reduced. After a brief pause, Mr. Webster said, I hope, Gendemen, you will not be alarmed, if I take from my notes one more paper. I win detain you but a few moments in briefly expressing the opin- 524 Ions I entertain In regard to the sub-Treasury. It appears to me to be a scheme entirely new to our history, and foreign to our habits, and to be the last of a series of baffled experiments, into which the representatives of the people have been lashed and fatigued by the continued exercise of executive power, through four mortal sessions of Congress. I will say a word or two in relation to the system under the vari- ous aspects in which its friends have supported it. What are the arguments in its favor? The leading argument was that of safety to the Government. This was a plan to keep the public money where rogues could not run away with it. Now, I think there is a way to prevent that, which would be much more effectual ; and that is, not to trust rogues with the keeping of the public money. But as to the notion of better vaults, and more secure, is it not the most ridiculous of all humbugs ? I do not know in which of the bank vaults around me the receiver-general keeps his funds. If they are in a vault different from that which belongs to the bank, I will venture to say it is no better and no safer. It is said, however, that by this means Government is to keep its own money. What does this mean ? Who is that Government? Who is that individual " I," who is to keep our money in his own pocket ? Is not Government a mere collection of agencies ? Is not every dollar it possesses in trust with somebody ? It may be put in vaults under a key, but tlie key is given to somebody to keep. Government is not a person with pockets. The only question is, whetlier the Government agents under the sub-Treasury are any safer than the Government agents before it was adopted ? Mr. Wright, indeed, has assured us that the agents under the sub-Treasury are made responsible to the people. But how ? In what respect ? The receiver-general gives bonds, but how is he more responsible on that account than the collector in another street, who, like him, receives the public money, and like him gives bonds for its safe keeping? It is just the same thing. One of these officers is just as far from the people, and just as near to the people, as the other. How, then, is the receiver-general more directly responsible ? There is not a particle of truth or reason in the whole matter. If the vaults are not better, is the security better ? I have no manner of doubt that the receiver- general in this city is a highly respectable man ; but where is the proof that the Government money is any safer in his vault than in the bank where he has his office ? Suppose Mr. Allen had a private office of his own at a distance from the bank, and should give the same bonds he now does for the safe keeping of all moneys intrusted to him ; how many of you would deposit your private funds in his office, rather than in a bank having half a million or a million of dollars capital, under the government of directors whose own fortunes I 525 were dcposiled In its vaults? Try the experiment, and see how many would resort to Mr. Allen, and how many to the hanks. So far froai being safer, 1 maintain, on the contrary, that this sub- Treasur)- scheme jeopards the puhlic money, because it multiplies the hands through which it is to pass, and thereby multiplies the chances of corruption, or of loss. Your collector, Mr. Hoyt, receives the money on duty bonds. He holds it sujjject to the draft or order of the Secretary of the Treasury, or else is to pay it over to Mr. Allen. If Mr. Hoyt were dishonest, nnight he not have shared the money before the receiver-general could get at it ? The scheme doubles the chances of loss by doubling the hands which are to keep the money. But this scheme is to encourage the circulation of specie ! I cer- tainly shall not detain you on a matter with which you are more funlliar than I am ; but let me ask you a few questions. By one clause of the sub-Treasury law, one fourth of all the duties bonded is to be paid in specie, and the residue according to the resolution of 1816. Now, I want to know one thing ; if one of you has a custom-house bond to pay, you go to the collector with a certified check, purporting to be payable in specie, for one fourth of the amount, and another check, in conunon form, for the other three fourths. Does not the collector receive these checks ? That is the question I ask you. (Loud cries of " Yes ! " " Yes ! " " He does ! " " He does ! ") Well, then, is not all that part of the law, which requires the payment of one fourth in specie, a mere sham ? If you go to him with a draft, and demand specie, he will, no doubt, give it to you, if you request it ; but if not, he gives you good notes. ^Vhere, then, is all this marching and countermarching of specie, which was to gladden our eyes? Is it not all humbug? What does the collector do with the money when he gets it? Does he not deposit it in a bank of a very unsavory name ? I do not certainly know, but I believe he deposits it in the Bank of the United States. He afterwards pays it over to the receiver-general, and gives him all the specie he wants ; and yet, after all, there is no general use of specie in the matter. They speak about a divorce between Bank and State; and what does it amount to ? I ask you, Is not the great amount of Govern- ment funds at this moment in safe keeping in some bank ? I believe it is. Then there is no separation. The Government gives the money to individuals to keep, and diey, like sensible men, put it into bank. Is this separation ? If any change is made in the con- nection, it is to render it more close ; and, like other illicit connec- tions, the closer it is, the more secret it is kept. It is called the " Independent Treasury," and some of its friends have called it " a second Declaration of Independence." Independ- ence 1 how ? of what ? It is dependent on individuals, who imme- 526 diately go to the bank ; and is it to be tolerated that there should be this outcry about the use of specie, when here, you, in the heart of the commercial community, see and know that there is no such thing ? But though at present this is all sham, yet that power to demand specie, which the law contains, when its requirements shall cover the whole revenue of the Government, and when that revenue shall be large, may, in its exercise, become a most dangerous instrument. When Government shall have, in the banks of this city, twelve to fifteen millions of dollars on deposit, as it has had, it will be in the power of the Government to break down, at its pleasure, one, if not all of these institutions. And when you go to the West, where the money is received for the public lands, every specie-paying bank in the country may, at the mere pleasure of the Government, be compelled to shut up its doors. — But this Independent Treas- ury is to be independent of the banks! Well, if the sub-Treasury law is to be called the second Declaration of Independence, then there is a third Declaration of Independence, and that is the Treas- ury note law. How marvellously free does that make us of banks ! While two millions of these notes, bearing interest, are deposited there, — and there, — and there, — in all these banks around me 1 Deposited ? How deposited ? They are sold — and how sold ? They are deposited in these banks, carrying interest, while the bank gives the Government authority to draw for money as it shall need. Now, I say the bank may make, not a very unreasonable, but a very reasonable, amount, by the interest in these notes, before it is called on to pay out any of its own money. One of these accounts between bank and Government was examined by a friend of mine ; I had not myself time to look at it. The bank received Treasury notes bearing interest : it passed these to the credit of Government, at the nominal amount : the Government was then to draw for money as it wanted it ; and, on that single transaction, the bank realized between eighty and a hundred thousand dollars in interest. Now, this is what I call a third Declaration of Independence 1 You know, by the Secretary's Report, that the Government has already issued nearly the whole of the five millions authorized by Congress. Two millions lie in the banks, drawing interest, the banks paying Government drafts as they come in. And this is setting up for independence of the banks ! Again, the fashion now is, since Mr. Calhoun has forced the Administration to insert in the law the specie clause, for Govern- ment to discredit the use of bank paper whenever it can. That is the general tone of the Government communications. They avow such to be their object, and I believe them. But who can tell the consequence of discrediting bank paper, if our revenues should ever agaift become what they have been in times past ? It is a power 627 by which Government can break the solvent banks, but can never make the insolvent return to their duty. But, then, it is said, all this cannot be any great matter, because Mv. VVricrht tells us, that, in ordinary times, five millions of dollars will perform all the operations of receipt and expenditure. Now, that proposition depends upon Mr. Wright's estimate of what the expenditure will be. Does he expect to reduce it to the standard of Mr. Adams's administration, once denounced as so extravagant ? Does he expect to reduce the thirty-nine millions to thirteen mil- lions ? or will he go below that ? He does not tell us. For my own part, I believe five, or five and a half, millions would be a moiety ot the average amount of specie in all the banks in the city. You can judge for yourselves what must be the effect of withdraw- ing one half of all the specie in these banks, and of locking it up in the suh-Treasury vaults. But how does all this stand widi Mr. Writjht's main argument ? He says that the great object to be efi'ected by the sub-Treasury law, is to prevent fluctuations, by preventing the banks from dis- counting upon the public money ; but if five millions of dollars only are needed for the ordinary Treasury operations, can such a sum as this have produced all the fluctuations in the commercial community ? Surely not. In his printed speech, he says that the chief practical difference produced by the law is, that the money is now kept by Mr. Allen, which used to be kept by the Bank of America. But is that all ? What, then, becomes of the specie clause ? I suppose he Icnows that was all a sham. Gentlemen, I will not detain you longer on the practical opera- tion of this sub-Treasury scheme. So far as relates to the receipts and disbursements of the public treasure, you know better than I. A great part of these operations take place in your own city. But permit me now to go, for a moment, into the political objection to this sub-Treasury scheme ; I mean its utter omission of all concern with the general currency of the country. This objection is car- dinal and decisive. It is this which has roused the country, and which is to decide the fate of the present Administration. But the question is so general, it has so long been before the country, and so frequently discussed in all quarters, that I will not farther extend my remarks in regard to it. 1 believe that the mind of the people is now thoroughly awakened, and that the day rapidly approaches when their final judgment will be pronounced. There is yet one topic on which I must detain you for only a moment, and I will then relieve you. We have the good fortune, under the blessing of a benign Providence, to live in a country which we are proud of for many things — for its independence, for its public liberty, for its free institutions, for its public spirit, for its enlightened patriotism ; but we are proud also, — and it is among 528 those things we should be the most proud of, — we are proud of its pubHc justice, of its sound faith, of its substantially correct morals in the administration of the Government, and the general conduct of the country, since she took her place among the nations of the world. But among the events which most threaten our character and standing, and which so grossly attach on these moral principles that have hitherto distinguished us, are certain sentiments which have been broached among us, and, I am sorry to say, have more supporters than they ought, because they strike at tlie very foundation of the social system. I do not speak especially of those which have been promulgated by some person in my own State, but of others which go yet deeper into our political condition. 1 refer to the doctrine that one generation of men, acting under the Constitution, cannot bind another generation who are to be their successors; on which ground it is held, among other things, that State bonds are not obligatory. What ! one generation cannot bind another ? Where is the line of separation ? It changes hourly. The American community to-day is not the same with the American community to-morrow. The community in which I began this day to address you, is not the same as it is at this moment. How abhorrent is such a doctrine to those great tiuths, which teach us that, though individuals flourish and decay, states are im- mortal — that political communities are ever young, ever green, ever flourishing, ever identical ! The individuals who compose them may change, as the atoms of our bodies change, but the political com- munity still exists in its aggregate capacity, as do our bodies in their natural ; with this only difference — that we know that our natural frames must soon dissolve, and return to their original dust ; but, for our country, she yet lives — she ever dwells on our hearts — and it will, even at that solemn moment, go up as our last aspiration to Heaven, that she may be immortal. SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE CAPITOL SQUARE DURIING THE WHIG CON- VENTIOxN AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, OCTOB^.R 5, 1840 Virginians : The wisdom of our fathers has established for us a Constitution of government which enables me to appear here to-day, and to address you as my fellow-citizens ; and half a century of experience has shown how useful to our common interest, how conducive to our common renown and glory, is that Constitution by wliich we have been united. I desire to pay due honor to those illustrious men who made us — the children of those who fell at Bunker Hill and Yorktown — members of the same political family, tied together by the same common destiny, and awaiting the same common prosperity, or common adversity, in all time to come. It is the extraordinary nature of the times, united with a long-cherished desire to visit Virginia, which has occasioned me the pleasure I enjoy of being in the midst of you all to-day. I have come more for the purpose of seeing and hearing you than of speaking to you myself. [ have come to mingle myself among you ; to listen to the words of }our wise and patriotic men ; that I may improve my own patri- otic feeling by communication with the chivalrous spirits of this Ancient Dominion. But, inasmuch as there are, or may be, some questions of national policy, or of constitutional power, on which you and I differ, there are some amiable persons who are so very considerate of your reputation, and of my reputation, as to signify that they esteem it a great breach of propriety that you should invite me to come here, or that I should accept your invitation. Let us hope that these amiable persons will allay their fears. If there be any question or questions on which you and I differ in opinion, those questions are not to be the topics of discussion to-day. No! We are not quite soft enough for that. While in the presence of a common enemy, who is armed to the teeth against us both, and putting forth as many hands as Briareus to destroy what we think it most important to preserve, does he imagine that, at such a moment, we shall be carrying on our. family controversies? — that we are going to give ourselves those blows which are due to him ? No ! Regarding him as the enemy of our country, we mean to pursue him till we bring him to capitulation VOL. III. 67 ^ s s 530 or to flight ; and when we have done that, if there are any dif- ferences of opinion among us, we will try to settle them ourselves, without his advice or assistance ; and we will settle them in a spirit of conciliation and mutual kindness. If we do differ in any of our views, we must settle that difference, not in a spirit of exaspera- tion, but with moderation — with forbearance — in a spirit of amity and brotherhood. It is an era in my life to find myself on the soil of Virginia address- ing such an assemblage as is now before me : I feel it to be such : I deeply feel the responsibility of the part which has this day been thrown upon me. But, although it is the first time I have addressed an assembly of my fellow-citizens upon the soil of Virginia, I hope I am not altogether unacquainted with the history, character, and sentiments of this venerable State. The topics which now are agi- tating the country, and which have brought us all here to-day, have no relation whatever with those in which I differ from the opinions she has ever entertained. The orrlevances and the mlsgovernment which have roused the country, pertain to that class of subjects which especially and peculiarly belong to Virginia, and have from the very beginning of our history. I know something of the com- munity amidst which I stand — its distinguished and ardent attach- ment to civil liberty, and its habit for political disquisition. I know that the landholders of Virginia are competent, from their education and their leisure, to discuss political questions in their elements, and to look at Government in its tendencies, as well as in the measures it may at present pursue. There is a sleepless suspicion, a vigilant jealousy of power, especially of Executive power, which for three quarters of a century has marked the character of the people of the Old Dominion ; and if I have any right conception of the evils of the time, or of the true objection to the measures of the present Admin- istration, it is, that they are of such a kind as to expose them, in an especial manner, to that sleepless jealousy, that stern republican scrutiny, that acute and astute inspection, which have distinguished the present as they have all preceding generations of men in this ancient Commonwealth. Allowing this to be so, let me present to you my own view of the present aspect of our public affairs. In my opinion, a decisive majority of all the People of the United States has been, for several years past, opposed to the policy of the existing Administration. I shall assume this in what I have further to say, because I believe it to be true ; and I believe that events are on the wing, and will soon take place, which will proclaim the truth of that position, and will show a vote of three fourths of the votes of the electoral colleges in favor of a change of men. Taking this, for the present, as the true state of political feeling and opinion, I next call your attention to the fact of the very extraordinary excite- ment, agitation, and I had almost said commotion, which marks the 531 present moment throughout every part of the land. Why are these vast assemblages every where congregated? Why, for example, am I here, five hundred miles from my own place of residence, to address such an assembly of Virginians on political subjects ? And why does every day, in every State, witness something of a similar kind ? Has this ever been the case before ? Certainly not in our time, and once only in the time of our fathei-s. There are some present here who witnessed, and there are others who have learned from the lips of their parents, the state of feeling which existed in 1774 and 1775, before the resort to arms was had to effect the objects of the Revo- lution. I speak now of the time when Patrick Henry, standing, as we now do, in the open air, was addressing the Virginians of that day, while, at the same moment, James Otis and his associates were making the same rousing appeal to the People of Massachusetts. From that time to this there has been nothing in any degree resem- bling what we now behold. This general earnestness, this universal concern of all men in relation to public affairs, is now witnessed for the first time since the Revolution. Do not men abandon their fields in the midst of seed-time — do they not leave their vari- ous occupations, as you have now done — to attend to matters which they deem more important? And is it not so through all classes of our citizens all over the whole land ? Now, the important question I wish to put is this, — and I put it as a question fit for the mind of the statesmen of Virginia, — 1 propose it, with all respect, to the deep deliberation and reflection of every patriotic man through- out the country ; — it is this : If it be true that a majority of the Peo- ple of the United States has, for some years, been opposed in sentiment to the policy of the present Administration, why is it NECESSARY that thcse extraordinary efforts should be put forth to turn that Administration out of power, and to put better men in their places ? We inhabit a free country ; — every office of public trust is in our own hands, at the disposal of the People's own suf- frages ; all public concerns are controlled and managed by them, at their own pleasure ; and the trust has always been to the ballot- box, as an effectual means to keep die Government at all times in conformity with the public will. How, then, has it happened that, with all this, such extraordinary efforts have been necessary to put out a particular Administration ? Why has it not been done by the silent power of the elective franchise ? Why has not the Govern- ment been changed both in its policy and in the men who administer it? I desire, from the free, the thinking men of Virginia, an answer to that question. When the elections are every where showing that a large majority of the People is opposed in sentiment to the ex- isting Administration, 1 desire them to tell me how that Administra- tion has held its place and pursued its own peculiar system of measures so long ? 632 My answer to my own question is this : In my judgment, it has come to be true, in the actual working of our system of Govern- ment, that the Executive power has increased its influence and its patronage to such a degree that it may counteract the will of a ma- jority of the People, and continue to do so until that majority has not only become very large, but till it has united in its objects and in its candidate, and, by a strenuous^ effort, is enabled to turn the Administration out of power. I believe that the patronage of the Executive in our Government has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished. I believe that it does enable the incum- bents to resist the public will, until the country is roused to a high and simultaneous efibrt, and the imperative mandate of the public voice dismisses the unfaithful servants from their places. The cita- del of the Administration can only be carried by general storm. Now, I ask, can it be supposed that this Government can go on long in a course of successful operation, if no change can be pro- duced without such an effort as that in which the People of this country are now engaged ? I put it to the old-fashioned Republi- cans of Virginia. I ask them, whether it can be supposed that this fl'ee Republican Government of ours can last for half a century longer, if its Administration cannot be changed without such an excitement, — 1 may say such a civil revolution, — as is now in prog- ress, and, I trust, is near its completion ? I present this case as the greatest and strongest of all proofs that Executive power in this country has increased, and is dangerous to liberty. If this be so, then I ask, What are the causes which have given and have augmented this force of Executive power ? The disci- ples of the ancient school of Virginia long entertained the opinion that there was great danger of encroachment by the General Gov- ernment on the just rights of the States ; but they were also alarmed at the possibility of an undue augmentation of the Executive power. It becomes us, at a crisis like the present, to recur to first principles — to go back to our early history, and to see how the question actually stands. You all well know that, in the formation of a Constitution for the government of this country, the great difficulty its framers encountered was with regard to the Executive power. It was easy to establish a House of Representatives, and a second branch of the Government in the form of a Senate, for it was a very obvious thing to say that the States should be represented in one House of Congress as the People were represented in the other. But the great and perplexing ques- tion was, how to limit and regulate the Executive power in such a manner, that, while it should be sufficiently strong and effective for the purposes of Government, it should not be able to endanger civil liberty. Our fathers had seen and felt the inconvenience, during 633 the Revolutionary War, of a weak Executive in Government. The country had suffered much from that cause. There was not any unity of purpose or efficiency of action in its Executive power. As the country had just emerged from one war, and might be plunged into another, they were looking intently to such a Constitution as should secure an efficient Executive. Perhaps it remains to be seen whether, in this respect, they had not better have given less power to this branch, and taken all the inconvenience arising from the want of it, rather than to hazard the granting of so much as might prove dangerous not only to the other departments of Government, but to the safety and freedom of the country at large. Because, in the first place, it is the Executive which confers all the favors of a Government. It has the patronage in its hands, and if we look at the augmentation of patronage which has taken place in this country, we shall see that in the course of things, and to answer the purposes of men, this patronage has greatly increased. We shall find the expenditures for office have been augmented. We shall find that this is true of the Civil and Diplomatic Depart- ments — we shall find it is true of all the Departments ; of the Post- Office, and especially of the Commercial Department. Thus, to take an instance from one of our great commercial cities : In the custom-house at New York, the number of officers has, in twelve years, increased threefold, and the whole expense, of course, in the same proportion. Then there is the power of removal — a power which, in some instances, has been exercised most remorselessly. By whatever party it is wielded, unless it be called for by the actual exigencies of the public service, Virginia, more than any State of the Union, has ever rejected, disowned, disavowed, the practice of removal for opinion's sake. I do honor to Virginia in this respect. That power has been far less practised in Virginia than in certain Stales where the Spoils' doctrine is known to be more popular. But this power of removal, sanctioned as it is by time, does exist, and I have seen it exercised, in every part of the country where public opinion tolerated it, with a most unsparing hand. I will now say, however, that which I admit to be very presump- tuoifc, because it is said notwithstanding the illustrious authority of one of the greatest of your great men — a man better acquainted with the Constitution of the United States than any other man — a man who saw it in its cradle — who held it in his arms, as one may say, in its infancy — who presented and recommended it to the American people, and who saw it adopted very much under the force of his own reasoning and the weight of his own reputation — who lived long enough to see it prosperous, to enjoy its highest hon- ors — and who at last went down to the grave among ten thousand blessings, for which, morning and evening, he had thanked God ; — SB* 534 I mean James Madison. Yet even from this great and good man, whom I hold to be chief among the just interpreters of the Constitution, I am constrained, however presumptuous it may be considered, to differ in relation to one of his interpretations of that instrument. I refer to the opinion expressed by him, that the power of removal from office does exist in the Constitution as an inde- pendent power in the hands of the President, without the consent of the Senate. I wish he had taken a different view of it. I do not say that he was wrong ; that in me would be too hazardous. I advert to this here, to show that 1 am not now for the first time preaching against the danger of an increase of Executive power ; for when the subject was in discussion before Congress, in 1835, I expressed there the same opinions which I have now uttered, and which have been only the more confirmed by recent experience. The power of removal places the hopes and fears, the living, the daily bread of men, at the disposal of the Executive, and does, thereby, produce a vast mass of Executive influence and control. Then, again, from the very nature of things, the Executive power acts constantly ; it is always in being — always in the citadel and on the lookout ; and it has, besides, entire unity of purpose. They who are in, have but one object, which is to keep all others out ; while those who are not in office, and who desire a change, have a variety of difTerent objects, as they are to be found in different parts of the country. One complains of one thing, another of another ; and, ordinarily, there is no strict unity of object, nor agreement on candidates, nor concert of action ; and therefoi-e it is that those wielding power within the citadel are able to keep the others out, though they may be more numerous. Hence we have seen an 'Administration, though in a minority, yet by the continued exercise of power, able to bring over a majority of the People's Representa- tives to the support of such a measure as the sub-Treasury, which, when it was first proposed, received but little favor in any part of the country. Again ; though it may appear comparatively inconsiderable, yet, when we are looking at the means by which the Executive power has risen to its present threatening height, we must not ovedook the power of — I will not say a pensioned — but of a patronized press. Of all things in a popular Government, a Government Press is the most to be dreaded. The press furnishes the only usual means of public address ; and if Government, by supporting, comes to control it, then they take to themselves, at the public expense, the great channel of all communication to the People. Unless France be an exception, where the minister regulariy demands so many thousand francs for the management of the public press, I know of no Govern- ment in the worid where the press is avowedly patronized to the same extent as it is in this country. Have not you, men of Virginia, ^ 535 been mortified to witness the importance which is attached, at Wash- ington, to the election of a Public Printer? — to observe the i^reat anxiety and solicitude which even your own friends have been obliged to exercise to keep that appointment out of the hands of Executive power ? One of the first things which, in my opinion, ought to be done, is, when a new Administration shall come in, to separate the Government Press from the politics of the country. 1 don't want the Government printer to preach politics to the People ; because 1 know beforehand what politics he will preach — it will all be one lo Triumjjhe from the beginning of the first page to the end of the last paragraph. I am for cutting off tliis power from the Executive. Give the People fair play. I say. Give the People fair play. If they think the Government is in error, or that better men may be found to administer it, give them a chance to turn the present men out, and put better men in ; but don't let them be compelled to give their money to pay a man to persuade them not to change the Government. Well, there are still other modes by which Executive power is established and confirmed. The first thing it seeks to do is to draw strict lines of party distinction, and then to appeal to the party feel- ings of men. This is a topic which might lead me very far into an mquiry as to the causes which have overturned all popular Govern- ments. It is the nature of men to be credulous and confiding toward their friends. If there exists in the country a powerful party, and if the head of that party be the head of the Government, and, avowing himself the head of that party, gives thanks for the public honors he has received, not to the country, but to his party, then we can see the causes in operation, which, according to tliu well-known character and tendencies of man, lead us to give undue trust and confidence to party favorites. Why, Gentlemen, kings and queens of old, and probably in modern times, have had their favorites, and they have given them unbounded trust. Well, there are sometimes among the people persons who are no wiser than kings and queens, who have favorites also, and give to those favorites the same blind tmst and confidence. Hence it is very difficult — nay, sometimes im- possible — to convince a party that the man at Its head exercises an undue amount of power. They say, "He is our friend ; the more power he wields, the better for us, because he will wield it for our benefit." There are two sorts of Republicans in the world : one is a very good sort ; the other, I think, quite indifferent. The latter care not what power persons in office possess, if they have the elec- tion of those persons. They are quite willing their favorites should exercise all power, and are perfectly content with the tendencies of Government to an elective despotism, \i ihey may choose the man at the head of it, and more especially If they have a chance of being chosen themselves. That is one sort of Republicanism. But that 536 is not our American liberty ; that is not the Republicanism of the United States, and especially of the State of Virginia. Virginians do not rush out into that extravagant confidence in men ; they are for restraining power by law ; they are for hedging in and strictly guarding all who exercise it. They look upon all who are in office as limited agents, and will not repose too much trust in any. That is American Republicanism. What was it that Thomas Jefferson said with so much emphasis ? " Have we found angels in the form of men to govern us?" However it might have been then, we of this day may answer, No, no. We have found them at least like others, " a little lower than the angels." In the same spirit he has said, an elective despotism is not the Government we fought for. And that is true. Our fathers fouiiht for a limited Government — a Government hedged all round with securities — or, as 1 heard a distinguished son of Virginia say, one fenced in with ten rails and a top rider. Gentlemen, a distinguished lover of liberty of our own time, in another hemisphere, said, with apparent paradox, that the quantity of liberty in any country is exactly equal to the quantity of restraint ; because, if Government is restrained from putting its hand upon you, to that extent you are free; and all regular liberty consists in putting restraints upon Government and individuals, so that they shall not interfere with your freedom of action and purpose. You may easily simplify Government ; shallow thinkers talk of a simple Government ; Turkey is the simplest Government in the world. But if you wish to secure entire personal liberty, you must multiply restraints upon the Government, so that it cannot go farther than the public good requires. Then you may be free, and not other- wise. Another great power by which Executive influence augments itself, especially when the man who wields it stands at the head of a party, consists in the use of names. Mirabeau said that words are things ; and so they are. But 1 beHeve that they are often fraudulent things, though always possessed of real power. The faculty of taking to ourselves a popular name, and giving an un- popular name to an adversary, is a faculty of very great concern in politics. I put it to you, Gentlemen, whether, for the last month or two, the whole power of this Government has not consisted chiefly in the discharge of a shower of hard names. Have you, for a month past, heard any man defend the sub-Treasury ? Have you seen any man, during that time, burn his fingers by taking hold of Mr. Poin- sett's Militia project? Their whole resort has been to pour out upon us a tide of denunciation as aristocrats, aristocrats ; taking to themselves, the meanwhile, the well-deserved designation of true Democrats. How cheering, how delightful, that a man, independ- ent of any regard to his own character or worth, may thus range _^ 537 himself under a banner the most acceptable of all others to his iellow-Citizens ! It is with false patriotism as with base money ; all relies on tiie stamp. It does not w ish to be wei^died ; it hates tiie scales ; it is thrown into horrors at the crucible ; it must all go by tale ; it holds out tlie King's head, with his name and superscrip- tion, and, if challenged, replies, Do you not see the stamp on my forehead? I belong to the Democratic family — make me current. But we live in an age too enlightened to be gulled by this business of stamping ; we have learned to inquire into the true nature and value of things. Democracy most surely is not a term of reproach, but of respect. Oiu" Government is a Constitutional, Democratic Republican Government; and if they mean that only, there is none will dispute that they are good Democrats. But if they set up quaiihcations and distinctions, — if tliere are genera and species, — it may require twenty political Linnasuses to say to which classifica- tion they belong. There is another contrivance for the increase of Executive pow- er, which is utterly abhorrent to all true patriots, and against wliich, in an especial manner, General Washington has left us his farewell injunction ; 1 mean the constant recurrence to local difierences, prejudices, and jealousies. That is the great bane and curse of this lovely country of ours. That country extends over a vast territory ; hence there are few from among us in Massachusetts who enjoy the advantage of a personal intercourse with our friends in Virginia, and but few of you who visit us in Massachusetts : the South is still more remote ; the difference wdiich exists in habits and pursuits between us, enables the enemy to sow tares by exciting local prejudices on botli sides. Sentiments are mutually ascribed to us which neither ever entertained. By this means a party press is enabled to destroy that generous spirit of brotherhood which should exist between us. All [latriotic men ought carefully to guard them- selves aiiainst the effects of arts like these. And here 1 am brought to advert, for one moment, to what I con- stantly see in all the Administration papers, from Baltimore south. It is one perpetual outcry, admonishing the People of the South that their own State Governments, and the property they hold under them, are not secure if they admit a Northern man to any consider- able share in the administration of the General Government. You all know that that is the universal cry. Now, I have spoken my sentiments in the neighborhood of Virginia, though not actually within the State, in June last, and again in the heart of Massachu- setts in July, so that it is not now that I proclaim them for the first time. But further ; ten yeare ago, when obliged to speak on this same subject, I uttered the same sentiment in regard to slavery, and to the absence of all power in Congress to interfere, in any manner whatever, with that subject. 1 shall ask some friend connected VOL. III. 68 538 with the press to circulate in Virginia what I said on this subject in the Senate of the United Slates in January, 1830.* 1 have nothing * The following is the passage to which Mr. Webster referred : — Extract froia Mr. Webster's Speech in Reply to Mr. Hayne, January 21, 1CJ30. " At the very first Congress, petitions on the subject of slavery were presented, if I mistake not, from ditierent States. The Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery took a lead, and laid before Congress a memorial, praymg Congress to promote the abolition by such powers as it possessed. This memo- rial was referred, in the House of Representatives, to a select committee, consist- ing of Mr. Foster of New Hampshire, Mr. Gerry of Massachusetts, Mr. Hunt- ingdon of Connecticut, Mr. Lawrence of New York, Mr. Dickinson- of New Jersey, Mr. Hartley of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Parker of Virginia — all of tliem, Sir, as you will observe. Northern men but the last. This committee made a report, which was committed to a committee of the whole House, and there con- sidered and discussed on several days ; and, being amended, although without material alteration, it was made to express three distinct propositions on tlie sub- ject of slavery and the slave trade — First, in the words of the Constitution, that Congress cannot, prior to the year 1S08, prohibit the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States then existing should think proper to admit ; second, that Congress had authority to restrain the citizens of the United States from carrying on the African slave trade for the purpose of supplying foreign countries. On this proposition, our early laws against those who engage in that traffic are founded. The third proposition, and that wiiich bears on the present question, was expressed in the following terms : — " ' Resolved, That Congress have no authority to interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them in any of the States, it remaining with the several States alone to provide rules and regulations therein which humanity and true policy may require.' " This resolution received the sanction of the House of Representatives so early as March, 1790. And now, Sir, the honorable gentleman will allow me to remind him that not only were the select committee who reported the resolution, with a single exception, all Northern men, but also, that, of the members then composing the House of Representatives, a large majority, I believe nearly two thirds, were Northern men also. " The House agreed to insert these resolutions in its journal ; and from that day to this it has never been maintained or contended that Congress had any au- thority to regulate or interfere with the condition of slaves in the several States. No Northern gentleman, to my knowledge, has moved any such question in either House of Congress. "The fears of the South — whatever fears they might have entertained — were allayed and quieted by this early decision, and so remained until they were excited afresh, without cause, but for collateral and indirect purposes. When it became necessary, or was thought so by some political persons, to find an unvary- ing ground for the exclusion of Northern men from confidence and from lead in the affairs of the Republic, then, and not till then, the cry was raised, and the feelings industriously excited, that the influence of Northern men in the public counsels would endanger the relation of master and slave. " For myself, I claim no other merit than that this gross and enormous injustice toward the whole North has not wrought upon me to change my opinions or my political conduct. I hope I am above violating my principles even under the smart of injury and false imputations. Unjust suspicion and undeserved re- proach, whatever pain I may experience from them, will not induce me, 1 trust, nevertheless, to overstep the limits of constitutional duty, or to encroach on the rights of others. The domestic slavery of the South I leave where I find it — in the hands of their own Governments. It is their affair, not mine. " I go for the Constitution as it is, and for the Union as it is ; but I am resolved not to submit in silence to accusations, either against myself individually, or against the North, wholly unfounded and unjust; accusations which impute to lui a disposition to evade the constitutional compact, and to extend the power of 539 to add to or to subtract from what I then said. I commend it to youf attention, or rather I desire you to look at it. I hold that Congress is absolutely precluded from interfering in any manner, direct or indirect, with this, as with any other of the institutions of the States. (The cheering was here loud and long continued, and a voice from the crowd exclaimed, " We wish this could be heard from Mary- land to Louisiana, and we desire that the seniin-ient just expressed may be repeated. Repeat, repeat!") Well, I repeat it — pro- claim it on the wings of all the winds — tell it to all your friends — (cries of" We will ! We will ! ") — tell it, I say, that standing here in the Capitol of Virginia, beneath an October sun, in the midst of this assemblage, before the entire country, and upon all the responsi- bility which belongs to me, I say that there is no power, direct or indirect, in Congress or the General Government, to interfere in the slightest degree with the institutions of the South. And now, said JNIr. Webster, I ask you only to do me one favor, I ask you to carry that paper home ; read it ; read it to your neighbors ; and when you hear the cry, " Shall Mr. Webster, the Abolitionist, be allowed to profane the soil of Virginia ? " that you will tell them that, in connection with the doctrine in that speech, I hold that there are two governments over us, each possessing its own distinct authority, with which the other may not interfere. 1 may differ from you in some things, but I will here say that, as to the doctrines of State Rights, as held by Mr. Madison in his last days, I do not know that we differ at all ; yet I am one, and among the foremost, to hold that it is indispensable to the prosperity of these Governments to preserve, and that he is no true friend to either who does not labor to preserve, a true distinction between both. We may not all see the line which divides them alike ; but all honest men know that there is a line, and they all fear to go either on the one or the other side of it. It is this balance between the General and the State Governments which has preserved the coun- try in unexampled prosperity for fifty years ; and the destruction of this just balance will be the destruction of our Government, What I believe to be the doctiine of State Rights, I hold as firmly as any man. Do I not belong to a State ? and, may I not say, to a Slate which has done something to give herself renown, and to her thfi Government over the internal laws and domestic conditi >n of the States. All such accusations, wherever and wlienever made, — all insin lations of the ex- istence of any such purpose, — I know and feel to be groundless and injurious. And we must confide in Southern gentlemen themselves; we must trust to those whose inten-rity of heart and magnanimity of feeling will lead them to a desire to maintain and disseminate truth, and who possess the means of its diffusion with the Southern public ; and we must leave it to them to disabuse that public of its prejudices. But in the mean time, for my own part, I shall continue to act justly, whether those towards whom that justice is exercised receive it with caudoi or with contumely." 540 sons some little share of participated distinction ? I say again, that the upholding of State Rights, on the one hand, and of the just powers of Congress, upon the other, is equally indispensable to the preservation of our free Republican Government. And now, Gentlemen, permit me to address to you a few words in regard to those measures of the General Government which have caused the existing excitement throughout the country. I will pass rapidly over them. I need not argue to you Democrats the question of the sub-Treasury, and I suppose it is hardly necessary to speak to you of Mr. Poinsett's militia bill. Into which of your mountains has not its discussion penetrated ? Up which of all your winding- streams has not its echo floated ? I am sure he must be very tired of it himself. Remember always that the great principle of the Constitution on that subject is, that the militia is the militia of the States, a\d not of the General Government ; and being thus the militia of the States, there is no part of the Constitution worded with greater care, and with a more scrupulous jealousy, than that which grants and limits the power of Congress over it. Does it say that Congress may make use of the militia as it pleases? — that it may call them out for drill and discipline under its own pay ? No such thing. The terms used are the most precise and particular: *' Congress may provide for calling out the militia to execute the laws, to suppress insurrection, and to repel invasion." These three cases are specified, and these are all. Call out the militia to drill them ? to discipline them ? to march the militia of Virginia to Wheeling to be drilled ? Why, such a thing never entered into the head of any man — never, never. What is not very usual in the Constitution, after this specific enumeration of powers, it adds a negative in those golden words, reserving to the States the appointment of officers and the training of the militia. That's it. Read tliis clause, and then read in Mr. Poinsett's project that the militia are to be trained by the President ! Look on this picture, and on that. I do Virginia no more than justice when I say that she first laid hold upon this monstrous project, and has continued to denounce it, till she has made its author's heart sick ; and she don't mean to pardon it even now. As to the sub-Treasury, the subject is worn out. The topic is almost as empty of new ideas as the Treasury itself is of money. I had, the other day, the honor to address an assem- blage of the merchants of New York. 1 asked them, among other things, whether this eternal cry about a separation of Bank and State was not all mockery and humbug ; and thou- sands of merchants, intimately acquainted with the whole subject, cried, " Yes, yes ; it is ! " The fact unquestionably is, that the funds of the Government are just as much in the custody of the banks at this moment as they ever were ; yet at the same time I 541 believe that, under that law, there does exist, whenever the revenues of the country shall be uncoininonly large, a power to stop at j)leas- sure all the solvent banks in the coniaiuaity. Such is the opinion every where held by the best informed men in the commercial parts of the country. There is another expedient to augment Executive power quite novel in its character. I refer to the power conferred upon the President to select from among the appropriations of Congress such as he may suppose the state of the Treasury most to justify, and to give or withhold the public money accordingly. This is certainly a marvellously Democratic doctrine. Do you not remember the emphasis with which Mr. Jefferson expressed himself on the subject of specific appropriations ? The law, as it now stands, requires them to be specific. If Congress, for instance, appropriate so many dollars for the building of ships, no part of the money may be ap- plied to the pay of sailors or marines. This is the common rule. But how has this subject been treated in regard to those objects over which this Presidential discretion extends ? The appropria- tions are specific still ; but then a specific power is given to the President to dispense with the restriction ; and thus one specific is set against the otber. Let this process be carried but one step farther, and, although there may be a variety of appropriations made by Congress, yet, inasmuch as we have entire trust and confidence in the Executive discretion, that the President will make the proper selections from among them, therefore we may enact, or say it shall be enacted, that what little money there may at any time be found in the Treasury, the President may expend very much according to his own pleasure. There is one other topic I must not omit. I am now endeavor- ing to prove that, of all men on the face of the earth, you of Vir- ginia, tlie descendants and disciples of some of the greatest men of the Revolution, are most called to repudiate and to condemn the doctrines of this Administration. I call upon you to apply to this Administration all that body of political truth which you have learned from Henry, from Jeffei-son, from Madison, from Wythe, and that whole constellation of Revolutionary worthies, of whom you are justly proud, and under this light to examine and to say whedier this present only Democratic Administration are the favor- ers of civil liberty and of State Rights, or the reverse. And, in furtherance of this design, I call your attention to the conduct of the President, of the Executive Departments, and of the Senate of the United States, in regard to the right and practice of the States to contract debts for their own purposes. Has it occurred to you what a deadly blow they have struck at the just authority and rights of the States? Let us follow this matter out a little. In the palmy times of the Treasury, when it was not only full but overflowing TT 542 with the public money, the States, to a very considerable extent, engaged in works of internal improvement, and, in consequence of doing so, had occasion to borrow money. We all know that money can be had on much cheaper terms on the other continent than on this: hence the bonds of the States went abroad, and absorbed capital in Europe; and so long as their credit was unassailed and remained sound, this was accomplished, for the most part, at very reasonable rates. During this process, and while a number of the States had thus their State securities in the foreign market, the President of the United States, in his opening Message to Congress at the commencement of the last session, comes out with a series of the most discouraging and most disparaging remarks on the credit of all the States. He tells Congress that the States will repent what they have done, and that they will find it difficult to pay the debts they have contracted ; and this official lann;uage of the Chief Magistrate to the Legislature goes out into the very market where these State bonds are held for sale. Then comes his Secretary, JNIr. Wood- bury, with a report in the same strain, giving it as his opinion that the States have gone too far in this assumption of liabilities. But the thing does not stop here. Mr. Benton brings forward a resolu- tion in the Senate declaring that the General Government ought not to assume these debts of the States : that resolution is sent to a committee, and that committee make a report upon the subject as long as yonder bridge, (though not, I believe, as much travelled or as often gone over,) the whole object and tendency of which is to dis- parage the credit of the States ; and then Mr. Grundy makes a speech upon it. What had Mr. Benton or Mr. Grundy to do with the matter ? W^ere they called on to guaranty the debts of Vir- ginia or of Maryland ? Yet the effect very naturally and in- evitably was, to depress the value of State securities in the foreign market. I was in Europe last summer. Massachusetts had her bonds in that market : and what did I see ? The most miserable, pitiful, execrable lucubrations taken from the Administration press in New York, endeavoring to prove that the States had not sover- eignty enough to contract debts. These wretched productions de- clared that the bonds issued by the States of this Union were all void ; that they were no better than waste paper ; and exhorted European capitalists not to touch one of them. These articles, coming, as they did, from this side the water, were all seized on with avidity, and put into circulation in the leading journals all over Europe : at the same time, the Administration press in this country, unrebuked by the Government, put forth arguments going to show that Virginia has no authority to contract a debt in the name and on the credit of the Commonwealth ; that Massachusetts is so com- pletely shorn of every particle of sovereignty whatever, that she can issue no public security of any kind on which to borrow money I 543 And this is the doctrine of State Rights ! Well, Gentlemen, I was called on to meet this question, and I told those who put to me the inquiry, that the States of the American Union were, in this respect, just as sovereign as any of their states in Europe. I held a corre- spondence on the subject, which was published at large ; and for that — yes, for defending State Rights before the face of all Europe — I have been denounced as one who wants the General Government to assume the debts of the States — as one who has conspired to buy up British Whigs with foreign gold! All this, however, has not ruffled my temper. I have seen it all with composure. But I confess there is one thing which has disturbed the serenity of my mind. It is what appears to be a studied attempt, on the part of this whole Administration, including its head, to fix a spot upon the good name of the eariy founders of our Constitution. Read the letter of the President to some of his friends in Kentucky — to what he calls '• the entire Democracy of Kentucky." (I should like much to know^ what constitutes the Democracy of a State.) These good friends of the President write to him that the entire Democracy of the State is with him, and he writes back how hap- py he is to hear that such is the fact. The State comes to the vote, and two thirds of the People of the State are found to be against him; yet still he clasps to his breast, with exultation, the '■' entire Democracy of Kentucky ! " And so it will be a month hence. General Harrison will have been elected by a simultaneous rush of the free voters of the whole Union ; yet Mr. Van Buren will still insist that he has in his favor " the entire Democ- racy " of the country. Be this as it may, he does, in that letter, ascribe to President Washington, in 1791, and to Mr. Madison, in 1816, corrupt motives for their public conduct. I may forgive this, but I shall not forget it. I ask you to read that letter, and one other written on a similar occasion ; and then, if it comes in your way, I ask you to pei-use an address put forth by the Administration members of the New York Legislature. What do you think they say ? You, countrymen of Jefferson and of INIadi- son, of Henry, of Wythe, of the Lees, and a host of kindred spirits of the same order, — you, who inherit the soil and the principles of those men who shed their blood for our national independence, — what do you think they say of your fathers and of my fathers ? Why, that, in all their efforts and sacrifices in that great struggle, they meant, not independence, not civil liberty, not the establish- ment of a Republican Government, but merely to transfer the Throne from England to America, and to be themselves Peers and Nobles around it ! Does it not disturb the blood of Virginians to hear language like this? I do say that this attempt to scorch the fair, unsullied reputation of our ancestors ; but no, no, — they cannot scorch it ; it will go through a hotter furnace than any 544 their detraction can kindle, and even the smell of fire shall not be upon their garments. Yet it does raise one's indignation to see men, certainly not the greatest of all benefactors of tlieir country, thus attempt to blight the fame of men both then and ever since uni- versally adujitted to have been among her greatest and her best of friends. While speaking of the attacks of this Administration on State Rights, I should not do my duty if I omitted to notice the outrage recently perpetrated on the most sacred rights of the State and People of New Jersey. By the Constitution of the United States, New Jersey, like the other States, is entided to have a certain quota of Representatives in Congress ; and she chooses them on general ticket or in districts, as she thinks fit. The right to have a specific number of Representatives is a State Right under the Constitution. Under the constitutional guaranty of this right, New Jersey sends up to the House of Representatives her proper number of men. Now, 1 say that, by universal principles, although Congress be the judge, in the last resort, of the election return and qualification of her own members, those who bring in their hand the prescribed evi- dence of their election, by the people of any State, are entitled to take their seats upon the floor of that House, and to hold them until disturbed by proof preferred on petition. That this is so, must be apparent from the fact that those members who voted them out of their seats possessed no better or other means of proving their own right to sit and to vote on that question, than that held by any one of those whom they excluded. Were there other States situated precisely in this respect as New Jersey, would it not be as fair for the New Jersey members to vote these Representatives out of the Representative Hall as it was for them to vote hers out ? 1 think it is Virginia law — it is at least plantation law, that is to say, the law of common sense, and that is very good law — that, until the House is organized, he who has the evidence of his return as a Representative elected by the people of his district, is enthled to take his seat. But the Representatives of New Jersey, with this evidence in their hand, were voted out of their seats ; their com- petitors, while the evidence was still under examination, were voted in, and immediately gave their complacent votes for the sub-Treas- ury bill. Gendemen, I cannot forget where I am. I cannot forget how often you have heard these subjects discussed by far abler hands than mine. I will not further dwell upon these topics. The time has come when the public mind is nearly made up, and is very shordy about to settle these questions, together with the prosperity of the country for many years to come. I am only desirous of keeping myself to the line of remark with which I commenced. I say, then, that the enemy has been driven to his last citadel. He takes to himself 545 a popular name, while beneath its cover he fires all manner of abuse upon his adversaries. That seems to be his only remaining; mode of warfare. If you ask him what arc his pretensions to the honors and confidence of the country, his answer is, " I am a Democrat." But are you not in love with Mr. Poinsett's bill ? The answer still is, " I am a Democrat, and support all tlie measures of this Demo- cratic Administration." But do you approve of the turning out of the members from New Jersey ? " O yes, because the w ords are written on our banner, (words actually placed on one of the Ad- ministration flags in a procession in the interior of New York,) ' The Democraaj scorns the Broad Seal of Neiv Jersey,'' " My friends, I only desire that the professions and principles of this Aclministration may be examined. We are coming to those times when mere professions can no longer deceive. Virginia has once been deceived by them ; but that day is past ; the times are coming — they are, I trust, just at hand — when that distinguished son of Vir- ginia, that eminent and patriotic citizen who has been put in nom- ination for the Chief Executive office under this Government, will be elected by the unbought, unconstrained suffrages of his country- men. To that event 1 look forward with as much certainty as to the duration of his life. ]My acquaintance with the feelings and sentiments of the North has been extensive ; and I believe that, from Pennsylvania east, New Jersey, New York, and the whole of New England, with the solitary exception, probably, of New Hampshire, — I say, I have not a doubt that the whole of this part of the country will go for the election of William Henry Harrison for the Presidency. Of my native State of New Hampshire I shall always speak with respect. I believe that the very foundations of her granite hills begin to shake ; indeed, my only fear for her is, that she will come into the great family of iier sister States only when her aid is no longer needed, and therefore too late for her own reputation. Fellow-citizens : We are on a great march to the triumphant vic- tory of the principles of liberty over Executive power. If we do not accomplish it now, the future, I own, appears to me full of dark- ness and of doubt. If the American People shall sanction the course and the principles of this Administration, I, for one, though I have been thought hitherto of rather a sanguine temperament, shall begin not a little to despair of the Republic. But I will not despair of it. The public mind is aroused ; men are beginning to think for themselves ; and, when they do this, they are not far from a right decision. There is now an attempt on the part of the Ad- ministration, who seem beginning, at length, to fear for the perpetuity of their power, to excite a feeling of acrimony and bitterness among neighbors. Have you not seen this, particularly of late, in the Ad- ministration papers ? Be above it. Tell your neighbors that we are VOL, III. 69 T T * 546 all embarked in one cause, and that we must sink or swim together. Invite them, not in a taunting, but in a generous and a temperate spirit, to come forth and argue the great questions of the day, and to see if they can give good and solid reasons why there should not be a change. Yes, a change. I said \shen I was in Baltimore, in May last, and 1 repeat it here, the cry, the universal cry, is for a change. However well many may think of the motives and designs of the existing Administration, they see that it has not succeeded in securing the well-being of the country, and they are for a change. Let us revile nobody ; let us repel nobody. They desire but light ; let us give it to them. Let us discuss with moder- ation and coolness the great topics of public policy, and endeavor to bring all men of American heart and feehng into what 1 sincerely believe to be the true American cause. How shall I — O, how shall I — express to you my sense of the obligation which rests upon this generation to preserve from destruction our free and happy republican institutions ? Who shall spread fatal dissensions among us ? Are we not together under one common Government, to ob- tain which the blood of your fathers and of mine was poured out together in the same hard-fought fields? Nay, does imagination itself, in its highest flight, suggest any thing in the form of political institutions for which you would exchange these dearly-bought con- stitutions of our own ? For my part, having now arrived at that, period of life when men begin to reflect upon the past, I love to draw around me in thought those pure and glorious spirits who achieved our Revolution, and established our forms of Govern- ment. I cannot find a deeper or more fervent sentiment in my heart than that these precious institutions and liberties which we enjoy may be transmitted unimpaired to the latest posterity ; that they may terminate only with the termination of all tilings eartWy, — when the world itself shall terminate — " When, wrapped in flames, the realms of ether glow, And Heaven's last thunders shake the world below." REMARKS TO THE LADIES OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, OCTOBER 5, 1840, Mr. Webster addressed the Virginia Convention, at Richmond, on the 5th of October. During his short visit to the city, several friends called on him, of coarse ; but he was unable to return their visits, or to pay his respects to their families, for want of time. It was suggested that the ladies who might desire to do so should assemble in the " Log Cabin," and that he should there pay his re- spects to them. The meeting was large, and the building quite full. On being introduced to them, in a few appropriate remarks, by Mr. Lyons, Mr. Webster addressed them in the following speech : — Ladies : T am very sure I owe the pleasure I now enjoy to your kind disposition which has given me the opportunity to present my thanks and my respects to you thus collectively, since the short- ness of my stay in the city does not allow me the happiness of call- ing upon those, severally and individually, from members of whose families I have received kindness and notice. And, in the first place, I wish to express to you my deep and hearty thanks, as I have endeavored to do to your fathers, your husbands, and your brothers, for the unbounded hospitality I have received ever since I came among you. This is registered, I assure you, on a grateful heart, in characters of an enduring nature. The rough contests of the political world are not suited to the dignity and the delicacy of your sex ; but you possess the intelligence to know how much of that happiness which you are entitled to hope for, both for your- selves and for your children, depends on the right administration of Government, and a proper tone of public morals. That is a subject on which the moral perceptions of woman are both quicker and juster than those of the other sex. I do not speak of that adminis- tration of Government whose object is merely the protection of in- dustry, the preservation of civil liberty, and the securing to enterprise its due reward. I speak of Government in a somewhait higher point of view ; I speak of it in regard to its influence on the morals and sentiments of the community. We live in an age distini{uished for great benevolent exertion, m which the affluent are consecrating the means they possess to the endowment of colleges and academies, to the building of churches, to the support of religion and religious 547 ^ 548 worship, to the encouragement of schools, lyceums, and athenaeums, and other means of general popular instruction. This is all well ; it is admirahle ; it augurs well for the prospects of ensuing generations. But I have sometimes thought that, amidst all this activity and zeal of the ffood and the benevolent, the influence of Government, on the morals and on the religious feelings of the community, is apt to be overlooked or underrated. I speak, of course, of its indirect influ- ence, of the power of its example, and the general tone which it inspires. A popular Government, in all these respects, is a most powerful institution ; more powerful, as it has sometimes appeared to me, than the influence of most other human institutions put together, either for good or for evil, according to its character. Its example, its tone, whether of respect or disrespect to moral obligation, is most important to human happiness ; it is among those things which most affect the political morals of mankind, and their general morals also. I advert to this, because there has been put forth, in modern times, the false maxim that there is one morality for politics, and another morality for other things ; that, in their political conduct to their opponents, men may say and do that which they would never think of sayinir or doinw in the personal relations of private life. There has been openly announced a sentiment, which 1 consider as the very concrete of false morality, which declares that " all is fair in politics." If a man speaks falsely or calumniously of his neighbor, and is reproached for the offence, the ready excuse is this : " It was in relation to public and political matters ; I cherished no personal ill-will whatever against that individual, but quite the contrary ; 1 spoke of my adversary merely as a political man." In my opinion, the day is coming when falsehood will stand for falsehood, and cal- umny will be treated as a breach of the commandment, whether it be committed politically or in the concerns of private life. It is by the promulgation of sound morals in the community, and, more especially, by the training and instruction of the young, that woman performs her part towards the preservation of a free Govern- ment. It is generally admitted that public liberty, the perpetuity of a free constitution, rests on the virtue and intelligence of the community which enjoys it. How is that virtue to be inspired, and how is that intelligence to be communicated ? Bonaparte once asked Madame de Stael in what manner he could most promote the happiness of France. Her reply is full of political wisdom. She said, " Instruct the mothers of the French people." Mothers are, indeed, the affectionate and effective teachers of the human race. The mother begins her process of training with the infant in her arms. It is she who directs, so to speak, its first mental and spiritual pulsations. She conducts it along the impressible years of childhood and youth, and hopes to deliver it to the rough con- 549 tests and tumultuous scenes of life, armed by those good principles which her ehlld has received from nuUerual care and love. If we draw within the circle of our contemplation the mothers of a civilized nation, what do we see ? We behold so many artificers working, not on fi-ail and perishable matter, but on the immortal mind, moulding and fashioning bemgs who are to exist forever. We applaud the artist whose skill and genius present the mimic man upon the canvass ; we admire and celebrate the sculptor who works out that same image in enduring marble ; but how insignifi- cant are these achievements, though the highest and the fairest in all the departments of art, in comparison with the great vocation of human mothers ! They work, no' upon the canvass that shall fail, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit, which is to last forever, and which is to bear, for good or evil, tliroughout its duration, the impress of a mother's plastic hand. I have already expressed the opinion, which all allow to be cor- rect, that our security for the duration of the free institutions which bless our country depends upon the habits of virtue and the preva- lence of knowledge and of education. Knowledge does not com- prise all which is contained in the larger term of education. The feelings are to be disciplined ; the passions are to be restrained ; true and worthy motives are to be inspired ; a profound religious feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality inculcated, under all cir- cumstances. All this is comprised in education. Mothers who are faithful to this great duty will tell their children that neither in political nor in any other concerns of life can man ever withdraw himself from the perpetual obligations of conscience and of duty ; that in every act, whether public or private, he incurs a just respon- sibility ; and that in no condition is he warranted in trifling with important rights and obligations. They will impress upon their children the truth, that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty, of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform ; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote ; that every free elector is a trustee, as well for others as himself; and that every man and every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own. It is in the incul- cation of high and pure morals, such as these, that, in a free Re- public, woman performs her sacred duty, and fulfils her destiny. The French, as you know, are remarkable for their fondness for sententious phrases, in which much meaning is condensed into a small space. I noticed lately, on the title-page of one of the books of popular instruction in France, this motto : '* Pour instruction on the heads of the people! you owe them that baptisn)." And, cer- tainly, if there be any duty which may be described by a reference to that great institute of religion, — a duty approaching it in impor- tance, perhaps next to it in obligation, — it is this. 550 I know you hardly expect me to address you on the popular political topics of the day. You read enough, you hear quite enough, on those subjects. You expect me only to meet you, and to tender my profound thanks for this marked proof of your regard, and will kindly receive the assurances with which I tender to you, on parting, my affectionate respects and best wishes. REMARKS UPON THAT PART OF THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGt WHICH RE- LATES TO THE REVENUE AND FINANCES, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, DECEMBER IG AND 17, 1840. The motion submitted by Mr. Wright, on Monday, 14th inst., proposing to refer so much of the President's Message as relates to the Finances, to the Com- mittee on Finance, coming up for consideration — Mr. Webster rose, and addressed the Senate nearly as follows : — Mr. President : It has not been without great reluctance that I have risen to offer any remarks on the Message of the President, es- pecially at this early period of the session. I have no wish to cause, or to witness, a prolonged, and angry, and exciting discussion on the topics it contains. The Message is, mainly, devoted to an elaborate and plausible defence of the course of the existing Administration ; it dwells on the subjects which have been so long discussed among us — on banks and banking, on the excess of commerce and spec- ulation, on the State debts, and the dangers arising from them, on the sub-Treasury, as it has been called, or the Independent Treas- ury, as others have denominated it. I propose now to deal with none of these points. So far as they may be supposed to affect the merits or character of the Administration, tliey have, as 1 un- derstand it, been passed upon by the country ; and I have no dis- l)osiiion to reargue any of them. Nor do I wish to enter upon an iiu]uiry as to what, in relation to all these things, is supposed to have been approved or disapproved by the people of the United States, by their decision in the late election. It appears, however, thus far, to be the disposition of the nation to change the Administration of the Government. All I purpose at this time to do is, to present some remarks on the subject of the finances, speaking on the pres- ent state of things only, without recurring to the past, or speculating as to the future. Yet 1 suppose that some proper forecast, some disposition to provide for what is before us, naturally mixes itself up, in a greater or less degree, with all inquiries of this sort. In this view, I shall submit a few thoughts upon the Message of the President ; but I deem it necessary to preface what I shall say with some few preliminary remarks. 551 552 And, first, I will say a word or two on the question whether or not unfounded or erroneous impressions are communicated to the people by that document, in several respects. In this point of view I first notice what the President says in the eighth page. He there represents it as the great distinctive principle — the grand difference in the characters of our public men — that of one class of them it has been the constant object to create and to maintain a public debt, and with another to prevent and to discharge it. This I consider as an unfounded imputation on those who have conducted the Gov- ernment of this country. The President says " he has deemed this brief summary of our fiscal affairs necessar}' to the due performance of a duty specially enjoined upon him by the Constitution. It will serve also to ilhistrate more fully the principles by which he has been guided in reference to two contested points in our public pol- icy, which were earliest in their development, and have been more important in their consequences than any that have arisen under our system of government : he alludes to a national debt and a National Bank." About a National Bank I have nothing at present to say ; but here it is officially announced to us that it has been a great con- tested question in the country whether there shall or shall not be a national debt, as if there were public men who wished a national debt, to be created and perpetuated for-its own sake ! Now, I sub- mit it to the Senate, whether there has ever existed in the country any party, at any time, which avowed itself in favor of a national debt, ])er se, as a thing desirable ? Does the history of the past debts contracted by the Government lay the least foundation for any such assertion ? The first national debt we have had was the loan negotiated in Holland, by John x\dams. None, I presume, ever doubted the policy of such a loan, in the then existing circum- stances of the country. Then there came the debt contracted for the pay of the Revolutionary army, by the Continental Congress, or rather by the country through that Congress. Next were the debts incurred during the war by the States, for the purpose of car- rying on the war. Provision was made for discharging these debts as the cost of our Revolution : can any body object to a debt like this ? Of the same character were the loans made by Government to carry on the late war with Great Britain. These are the princi- pal national debts we have ever contracted, and I cannot but think it singularly unfortunate that what looks so much like an imputation on those who authorized these loans should come from die head of an Administration which, so far as I know, is the first that has ever commenced a national debt in a time of profound peace. And now to proceed to the actual state of the finances. The Message, though it does not call the obligations of the Gov- ernment a national debt, but, on the contrary, speaks in the strong- est terms against a national debt, yet admits that there are Treasury 553 notes outstanding, and bearing interest, to the amount of four and a half millions ; and 1 see, connected with this, other important and leading truths, very necessary to be considered by those who would look out beforehand that they may provide for the future. Of these, the first in importance is, that the expenditures of the Government during the term of the present Administration have greatly exceeded its income. I shall not now argue the question whether these expenditures have been reasonable or unreasonable, necessary or unnecessary. I am looking at the facts in a financial view, purely — and I say that during the last four years the public exptnditure has exceeded the public income at the rate 0/ seven MILLIONS OF DOLLARS PER ANNUM. This is easily demonstrated. At the commencement of the first year of this presidential term, in January, 1837, there was in the Treasury a balance of six mil- lions of dollars, which was reserved from distribution by what has usually been called the Deposit Act. The intention of Congress was to reserve five millions only ; but, in consequence of an uncer- tainty which attended the mode of effecting this result, the Secre- tary, in his calculations, wishing to be, at least, on the safe side, it turned out that the sum actually reserved was six millions. Here, then, was this amount in the Treasury on the first of January, 1837. Events occurred during that year which induced Congress to mod- ify the deposit act, so as to bring back again into the Treasury the fourth instalment of the sum to be deposited with the States, which amounted to nine millions. I find, further, from the communica- tions of the Secretary of the Treasury now submitted to the Senate, tliat, for the stock for the United States in the Bank of the United States for which bonds had been given to the Treasury by the Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania, which bonds are now paid, there have been received eight millions. Now, Sir, these are all items of a preexisting fund, no part of which has accrued since Jan- uary, 1837. To these I may add the outstanding Treasury notes running on interest, (four and a half millions ;) and the whole forms an aggre- gate of twenty-seven and a half miUioris of dollars of surplus, in addition to the current revenue, which have been expended in three and a hatfov four years — excepting, of course, what may remain in the Treasury at the end of that term. Here, then, has the Gov- ernment been expending money at the rate of nearly eight millions per annum beyond its income. What state of things is that ? Sup- pose it should go on. Does not every man see that we have a vast debt immediately before us ? But is this all ? — is this all ? I am inclined to think that, in one respect at least, it is not all. The Treasury, I think, has not duly distinguished, in reference to one important branch of its administra- tion, between Treasury funds proper, and a trust fund, set apart by VOL. III. 70 u u 554 treaty stipulation, to be invested for the benefit of certain Indian tribes. I say the Treasury has taken, as belonging to the Govern- ment, that which properly belongs to a trust fund which the Gov- ernment engaged to invest in permanent stocks for the benefit of certain Indian tribes. This makes it necessary to look a little into these trust funds. By our treaty with the Chickasaws, the proceeds of the sales of the lands ceded to the United States by that tribe, were to be invested in permanent stocks, for the use of the mem- bers of that tribe. At the date of the last communication which 1 find, from the Treasury, the amount received on these sales was ^•2,498,000 06. Bonds had been purchased to the amount of {^'1,994,141 03; but as some of these bonds were purchased at rates above par, the sums vested in them amounted to !^ 2,028,678 54. This would leave a balance of ^369,000 uninvested at that time ; and the Secretary informs us that the portion of it which had been received from the land offices had been " mixed up in the general fund." Here, then, is one item of trust money — money not our own — which has been mixed up with our own money, and received as part of the available funds of the Treasury. The stocks pur- chased for the Chickasaws appear to be as follows: — M'umber cf Bonds. 125 Ten. 12.5 do. 65 do. 1 do. f)5 Ala. fiSO do. 500 do. SIX) do. 161 Ind. 41 do. 3 Ohio 1 Md. 1 do. I do. 1 do. Interest, where payable. Philadelphia, . . . do. . . . Treasurer's office,Ten. do. do, do. Phcpnix Biink, N. Y. . do. do. do. . Union Bank, N.Orleans Commercial Bank, do. New York Baltimore, do. . do. . do. . Interest, when payable. 1st January and July, do. do. . 25th January and July, do. do. 1st Monday May and Nov. do. do. do. 1st Monday June and Dec do. do. do. Ist January and 1st July, 8th February and August, do. do. do. do. 1st January, and quarterly, Times re- deemable. 1848. 1853. 1861. 1852. 1865. 1866. 1857. 1856. Kate pr. ct. Ad libitum . 1849. . . 1844. . . 1870. . Amount of Stock for Chickasaws, Jim'vt of each $1,000 1,000 35,000 15,000 50,000 Total. $125,000 no 125,000 00 65,000 00 1,666 66 65,000 00 250,000 00 500,000 00 500,000 00 161,000 00 41,000 00 • 100,000 00 30,091 80 13,000 00 11,233 00 6,149 57 $1,994,141 03 As a matter of account and book-keeping, this might be thought correct, or it might not ; but I think it would have been better to keep a separate account for funds thus held in trust, as every private individual does, who is made a trustee for the interests of others. If the facts are as I have gathered from the report submitted to Con- gress, here are three or four hundred thousand dollars of the trust fund not invested, and which remain yet to be invested for the ben- efit of these Indian tribes. As to the rates at which these bonds \yere purchased, I find it stated that one "lot" of Alabama bonds 555 was taken, March 31, 1836, at 4i per cent, premium; others, immediately after, at 4 ; others, in May, at 3i ; and others, in March, 1837, at 1 per cent. off. Tennessee bonds were purchased at par; Ohio bonds at lljV advance ; part of tlie Maryland bonds at S per cent, off, part at I per cent, off, and part at \A^^ advance. So much for the investment under the treaty with the Chicka- saws. But we have other treaties presenting a more important case. We have treaties with eight tribes of Indians, by which treaties the United States stipulated to invest the amounts agreed to be paid for the lands ceded by them in State stocks. Take, for example, the stipulation in the treaty with the Sioux of the Mississippi. The article of the treaty is in these words : — "Art. 2. In consideration of the cession contained in the preceding arti- cle, the United States agree to the following stipulations on tlieir part: First, to invest the sum of $300,000 in such safe and profitable State stocks as the President may direct, and to pay to the chiefs and braves as aforesaid, annu- ally, forever, an income of not less than five per cent, thereon." The stipulations in the other treaties are substantially the same. The whole amount thus agreed to be invested for the eicrht tribes, 'by treaties, mostly entered into in the years 1837 and 1838, is $'2,530,100. This appears from the following statement, which I find in the documents: — Statement exhibiting the Amount of Interest appropriated by Congress to pay the following Tnbes, in lieu of investing the Sums, provided by the Treaties, in Stocks. M'ames of Tribes. Ottawas and Chippewas, . Osages, Del a wares, Siou.x of Mississippi, . . Sacs and Foxes of Mississippi, Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, . Winnebagoes, Creeks, lowas, Amount provide ed by Treaties to be invested in safe Stocks. $200,000 69,120 Annual Inter est appropria ted by Con gress. $12,000 3,456 46,080 2,304 300,000 15,000 200,000 10,000 157,400 7,870 1,100,000 55,000 350,000 17,500 157,500 7,875 $2,580,100 $131,005 Treaties. Resolution of the Sen- ate. Resolution of the Sen- ate, Jan. 19, 1838. Treaty, 1832. Treaty, Sept 29, 1837. Treaty, Oct. 21, 1837. Treaty, Oct. 21, 1837. Treaty, Nov. 1, 1887. Treatv, Nov.23,183a. Treaty, 1837. Now, Sir, not one dollar of all this has been invested. The very- statement which I have quoted shows this. That statement declares that, instead of investing this large sum, according to contract, the United States pays interest upon it, as upon a debt. 556 We are Indebted, therefore, to these Indians in the whole amount we agreed to pay for these lands, which have been transferred to us, surveyed, put in market, and large portions of which, I suppose, have, ere this, been disposed of. We promised to invest the pro- ceeds for their benefit — which has not been done. Instead of asking for money wherewith to purchase these stocks, the Treasury has been contented to ask for the amount of interest only, holdinor the United States debtors to the Indians, whereby a debt, to all intents and purposes, to the whole amount of this trust fund, is created, and is to be added to the amount of debt due by the Government. I do not say it must be paid to-day, or to-morrow ; but it is an outstanding debt. The Government is under an un- discharged treaty obligation to raise the money, and with it to buy stock for the benefit of the Indians. In addition to all this, there will be found, I have no doubt, a heavy amount of outstanding debts due for public works, expenses growing out of army operations in Florida, indemnities for Indian spoliations in the South and West, and springing from a variety of otiier sources. Now, Sir, I agree with all that is said in the Message as to the great impolicy, in time of peace, of commencing a public debt ; but it seems to me rather extraordinary and inappropriate in the President to admonish others against such a measure, with all these facts immediately before him. In principle, there is no diflerence, as to the creation of a public debt, whether it be by issuing stocky redeemable after a certain period, or by issuing Treasury notes, which are renewable, and constantly renewed ; and, if there be any difference in point of expediency, none can entertain any great doubt which of the two forms is best. Treasury notes are certain- ly not the cheaper of the two. Now, we find the existence of this public debt as early as the existence of the present Administration itself. It began at the called session, in September, 1837. From the dale of the first Treasury note bill, in October, 1837, there has been no moment in which the Government has not been in debt for borrowed money. The Sec- retary says it is not expected that the Treasury notes now out can be paid off earlier than in March, 1842. In whatever soft words he chooses to invest the matter, the sum and substance is this — that there must be a new issue of Treasury notes before the Gov- ernment can be freed from embarrassment. I must confess that it seems to me that the scope and tendency of the remarks in the Message are to produce an erroneous impres- sion. Here is a series of very strong sentiments against a public debt, — against beginning a public debt, — and all said in face of a debt already begun, — existing now, and under such circumstances as to create the fear that it will turn out to be a very large one. 557 We know that these various outstanding charges cannot, or, at least, will not, be brought together, and presented in one aggregate sum, for some months to come. Is it intended by this document to forestall public opinion, so as, when it shall appear that there is a public debt, to give to it a date posterior to the 4th of March next? I hope not. I do not impute such a design. So far, however, as I am concerned, I shall take special good care to prevent any such result. I shall certainly recommend that there be a new set of books opened ; that there be what merchants call " a rest ; " that what is collected prior to March, 1841, and what is expended prior to March, 1841, stand against each other; so that, if there shall appear a balance in favor of this Administration, it may be stated; and, if the result shall be that the Administration is left in debt, let that debt appear, and let it be denominated " The debt of 1841," and which it will be the duty of Congress to provide for. In one or two other respects, the Message is calculated to create quite an erroneous impression. In the 5th page, the President speaks on the subject of the Treasury notes in as mitigated a tone as possible, and tells us, first, that " this small amount still outstand- ing " is " composed of such as are not yet due." I suppose we all knew that. And then he adds that they are " less by twenty-three millions than the United States have on deposit with the States." I ask the Senate, and I would, if I could, ask the President, whether he means to recommend to Congress to withdraw the deposits now in the hands of the States, in order to discharge this debt on Treas- ury notes? Do the Administration look to these deposits as a fund out of which to discharge any of the debts of the Treasury? I find no recommendation of such a measure. Why, then, were these two things connected ? There is nothing in the fact that the amount of Treasury notes is less by twenty-three millions than the amount deposited with the States, unless the President means to recommend that the latter sum shall be looked to as a means of discharging the former. Does he mean merely to inform Congress that twenty-three are less than twenty-eight? If not, why are the two thus placed in juxtaposition, and their amounts compared? The Secretary of the Treasury treats the matter in much the same way. He speaks of the deposits with the States as of funds in the Treasury. Look at his report. In stating the resources of the Treasury, he mentions the twenty-eight millions on deposit with the States. What can be the purpose of such a statement ? When a Secretary of the Treasury presents to the world a statement of the means of his Department, it is universally supposed that his statement is confined to what either exists in the Treasury, or is likely to accrue under the operation of existing laws. But this deposit with the States is no more under the control of the Treas- ury than any other money in the country. He knows full well that uu* 558 an act of Congress is as necessary to his disposal of any part of that sum, as it is to augment tlie rate of duties at the custom-house. The Treasury can no more use the deposits with the States, than it can lay a direct tax. What can be the purpose — the fair pur- pose — of presenting sums as funds in the Treasury, when they are not in the Treasury ? Or what can be the fair purpose of referring to a fund as a means of payment, when it cannot be touched, unless the President means to recommend to Congress to recall the depos- its made with the States ? That Congress can do, and so it can augment the rate of duties; but, till it does, those deposits are no more means in the Treasury than if they belonged to another na- tion. The day, I hope, will come, — I have long desired it, — when we shall see plain fact plainly stated ; when the reports of our fiscal officers will deal less in guesses at the future, and will no longer use forms and phrases, I will not say which are designed to mislead or to mystify, but the result of which is to mislead the na- tion, by mystifying the subject. I said that though the honorable Secretary pretty clearly intimates that we must resort to a new issue of Treasury notes, yet the result of all is, that, if Congress wish to avoid the necessity either of in- creasing the duties, or of issuing new Treasury notes, he has a re- source ready for them., viz., to reduce their appropriations below even his own estimates. This is much like what he told us last year; and yet, when we did reduce our appropriations wi'hin even his estimates, still the Treasury is in want of money. One other remark is suggested by what the President says to us on the 6th page of his Message. He tells us that it is possible to avoid the " creation of a permanent debt by the General Govern- ment," and then goes on to observe, " But, to accomplish so desira- ble an object, two things are indispensable ; first, that the action of the Federal Government be kept within the bounds prescribed by its founders." Now, I did suppose that this duty of keeping the action of the Federal Government within the bounds of the Con- stitution was absolute ; that it was not affected by times, circum- stances, or condition, but was always peremptory and mandatory. What is the inference to be drawn from the President's language? If the Treasury is empty, you must keep within the Constitution. And what if it is full ? Are you to break its bounds ? to transcend the Constitution? I had always thought we should neither be tempted to this by an overflowing Treasury, nor deterred, by an empty one, from taking such a course as the exigencies of the country might require, to fulfil our own duties. The duty of keep- ing within our constitutional limits is an absolute duty, existing at all times, and in all conditions of things. If the Treasury be full to overflowing, we are still to undertake nothing, to expend money for nothing, which is not fairly within our power. And, if the 569 Treasuiy be empty, and the public service demand expenditures, such as it is our province to make, we are to replenish the Treasury. There is also an important omission in the Message, to which I would call the notice of the Senate and of the country. The President says the revenue has fallen off two and a half millions of dollars under two biennial reductions of the rate of duties at the custom-houses under the law of 1833. Be it so. But do we not all know that there is before us, within a year, a much greater " relinquishment," (if that is the term to be applied to it,) and, within a year and a half more, another and the last of these reductions ? Do we not see, then, from the present existence of a large debt, and from this further reduction of duties, (that is, if nothing shall be done to change the law as it now stands,) that a case is presented which will call for the deliberation and wisdom of Congress, and that some effort will be required to relieve the country? But here is no reco endation at all on the subject of revenue. No increase is recommended of the duties on articles of luxury, such as wines and silks, nor any other way suggested of providing for the discharge of the existing debt. Now, the result of the whole is, that the experience of the President has shown that the revenue of the country is not equal to its expenditure ; that the Government is spending seven millions a year beyond its income ; and that we are in the process of running right into the jaws of debt. And yet there is not one practical recommendation as to the reduction of the debt, or its extinguishment ; but the Message con- tents itself with general and ardent recommendations not to create a debt. I know not what will be done to meet the deficiency of the next quarter. I suppose the Secretary's recommendation to issue Treas- ury notes will be followed. 1 should, myself, have greatly preferred a tax on wines and silks. It is obvious that, if this, or something like it, is not done, the time approaches, and is not far off, when provision must be made by another Congress. 1 have thus stated my views of this portion of the Message. I think it leads to what may render an extra session necessary — a result I greatly deprecate on many accounts, especially on account of the great expenditure with which it will unavoidably be attended. 1 hope, therefore, that those who now have the power in their hands will make such reasonable and adequate provision for the public exigency as may render the occurrence of an extra session unnecessary. Mr. Wright havinjr spoken in answer to Mr. Webster's remarks of the day before, Mr. Webster replied, to the following effect : — ]\Ir. Webster said he should detain the Senate but a short time in answer to some of the honoralle member's remarks, as he had 560 really not met the argument of Mr. W. yesterday. To begin with the subject of Indian treaties. The honorable member had said that the fund arising from the sale of the Chickasaw lands had all been invested to within some forty or fifty thousand dollars. He (Mr. W.) had founded what he had said in relation to this fund on the returns furnished to the Senate, — and, according to that docu- m.ent, the balance uninvested amounted to ^'360,000, — but had added that he had heard that ,'^'90,000 had been invested since the date of the returns. Mr. W. had made no complaint of the mode in which this fund had been invested, so far as it had been invested ; and, if the whole of it had been invested, so much the better. But, in regard to the two and a half millions of the fund belonging to the Winnebagoes and other tribes, and which, according to the treaty, was to be invested for the benefit of those tribes, he asked of the Senate whether Mr. Wright had fairly met the force of the argument he had advanced, (if it had any force to be met.) He had not complained of the treaty, nor had he charged the Admin- istration with any extravagance or want of providence in entering into it ; that was not the point ; the point was, that this amount constituted a debt, for the payment of which it was incumbent on the Government to provide ; and that, as such, it ought to be kept before the view of Congress, whereas it had been kept entirely out of sight. That was his point. The honorable member admitted that it was a debt, but contended that it was not to be reckoned as a portion of the public national debt. If, by this, the honorable member meant to say that this amount formed no part of the debt arising from borrowed money, unquestionably he was right ; but still it was a national debt ; the nation owed this money ; and it entered necessarily, as one important item or element, into a state- ment of the financial condition of the Government. The honora- ble member had asked. If this were so, why such a statement ought not, in like manner, to include the Indian annuities. They were included, in effect. Did not the annual report from the Depart- ment always state the amount of those annuities as part of the ex- penditures for which Congress was to provide ? Are they not always in the estimates ? So the member asked why the pensions were not to be included. The same answer might be made. The amount of that expenditure, also, was annually laid before Congress, and it was provided for as other demands on the Government. He had not complained of this amount of two and a half millions of Indian debt; he himself had never opposed these treaties. All he had contended for was, that, as an amount to be provided for, it was as much a part of the public debt as if it had consisted of bor- rowed money ; it was a demand which Congress was bound to meet. In any general view, therefore, of the liabilities of the Government, was there one element of those liabilities which could with more truth and justice be inserted than this ? 561 He (Mr. W.) had said that he commended the argument of the President in opposition to a national debt ; and he should be quite unwilling to have it supposed that any thing he said could be wrested (he did not charge that it had been intentionally so wrested) to lavor the idea of a public debt at all. But he must still insist that the language employed by the President on the 8th page of his Message did refer to past political contests in this country, and did hold out the idea that, from the beginning of the Government, in the political contests which had agitated the country, there had been some men or some parties who were in favor of the creation and continuance of a public debt, as part of their policy ; and this he (Mr. W.) had denied. The idea in the Message was, not that there were certain great interests in the country which were always, from the nature of things, in favor of such a debt, on account of the advantages derivable from it to themselves, as the honorable member has argued to-day. If the President had stated this, as it had now been stated in the speech of the honorable member, no- body could have taken any exception to it. But that was not Avhat the Message did say. The point of objection was, that the Message charged this fondness for a national debt upon some one of the parties which had engaged in the past political strifes of the country, and had represented it as a broad and general ground of distinction between parties ; that one was the advocate of a national debt, as of itself a good, and the other the opponent of the exist- ence of a debt. This he regarded as an imputation wholly un- founded ; and it was on this ground that he had objected to that portion of the Executive communication. No facts in our history warranted the allegation. It was mere assumption. 3Ir. W. proceeded to say that he had, when before up, omitted one important item, in stating the amount of expenditures, under the existing Administration, beyond the accruing revenue, which ought to be brought to the public view. If he (Mr. W.) was in error, the honorable member would put him right. In March, 1836, a law had passed, postponing the payment of certain revenue bonds, in consequence of the great fire at New^ York, for three, four, and five years. The great mass of these postponed bonds had fallen due, and had been received into the Treasury, since the present Administration had come into power. The total amount was about six millions of dollars. This being so, then the whole amount of expenditure, over and abovq the accruing revenue, would amount to thirty-four millions, or thereabouts, and would thus give an annual excess of expenditures over receipts of eight and a half millions a year; and he insisted, again, that, looking at the matter in a purely financial view, — looking at the comparative proportion of liabilities, and of means to discharge them, when the President found an excess of the former continuing for four years, at the rate VOL. m. 71 662 of eight and a half millions per annum, and did not particularize any one branch of expenditure in which a considerable practical deduction could be made, (unless so far as it might take place in the pension H=t, by the gradual decease of the pensioners,) — and when he proposed no new measure as a means of replenishing the exhausted Treasury, — the question for Congress and for the nation to consider was, whether this was a course safe to be pursued in relation to our fiscal concerns. Was it wise, provident, and states- manlike? There was another point in which (Mr. W. said) the honorable member from New York had entirely misapprehended him. He (Mr. Wright) had said that Mr. W. appeared to desire to avoid, as a critical and delicate subject, the question of the tariff; or, rather, had complained that this Administration had not taken it up. Now, he (Mr. W.) had not said a word about the tariff, fur- ther than to state that another great reduction was immediately ap- proaching in the rate of duties, of which the Message took no notice whatever; while it did not fail to refer to two reductions which had heretofore taken place. What he (Mr. W.) had said on the subject of imposing new duties for revenue, had reference solely to silks and ivinc.s. This had been a delicate point with him at no lime. He had, for a long period, been always desirous to lay such a duty on silks and wines ; and it did appear to him the strangest thing imaginable, — the strangest phase of the existing sj'Stem of revenue, — that we should import so many millions of dollars' worth of silks and wines entirely free of duty, at the very time when the Government had been compelled, by temporary loans, to keep itself in constant debt for four years past. So far from considering this as a matter of any delicacy, had the Senate the constitutional power of originating revenue bills, the very first thing he should move, in his place, would be to lay a tax on both- these articles of luxury. Were Mr. W. to draw an inference from the speech of the hon- orable member, it would be that it rather seemed to be his own opinion, and certainly seemed also to be that of the President, that it would be wiser to withdraw the whole or a part of the money deposited with the States, than to lay taxes on silks and wines. In this opinion Mr. W. did not at all concur. If the question were between such a withdrawal and the imposition of such a tax, he should, without hesitation, say, lay the tax, and leave the money with the States where it is. He was greatly mistaken if such a preference did not meet the public approbation. He was for taxing this enormous amount of twenty or thirty millions of foreign products imported in a single year, and all consumed in the country, and consumed, as articles of luxury, by the rich alone, and for leaving the deposits in possession of the States with whom they had been placed. 563 Mr. W. said he believed he liad now noticed so much of the honorable Senator's speech as required a reply ; and he would re- sume his seat with again repeating that it had been no part of his purpose to ascribe either extravagance, or the opposite virtue, to the Administration in the purchase of Indian lands, or other trans- actions. That was not his object, or his point, on this occasion. He only wished to present a true financial view of the condition of our affairs, and to show that our national debt was much greater and more serious than a hasty reader of the President's Message might be led, from its perusal, to conclude; and, however warmly it admonished the country against a national debt, yet these admo- nitions were all uttered at a moment when a national debt had already been begun, and begun in time of peace. /f V, VI "^S 10 ,* jj fs^ C- . ^_ ,0 ^^°^ - •'^ "^«. elf 'o • * t ^^^^^ O l'^ oO-.*_"^C " '-!«'. <^ *''' =^^9^' q*. *.,,•* ^0 • • 4^^ "^.•lilV* t ^^^^' • \'^ ••* .V*' - *>* <-^^ K'^'fif^y^^ '^- .- %^ *'^ A^ 'O. ' " " ^■v ^■^U O, *,, ^:^, *' ..T* ./V '0>'=.' >" .. jPv\ jP-?:. =*•-.•*/ v^-y V'^v°' V ^- '-.To' o " • ♦ .' ^y :« * ^'^^ A -^^0^