MR. WEBS’fER’S
SECOND SPEECH

VON

THE SUB--TREASURY BILL.’

“ , DELIVERED MARCH”12,»1838."

season.

Mr. _Pnes1or«:rrr: Having at an early stage of therdebate‘ expressed, in a general manjner, 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 pt’ its character, and the division of opinion respect-
ing it which is known ‘to exist in both Houses of Congress. . i

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 tohope; but I do not feel that I have done all which
my duty dezimands, until I make anotlier eIl‘ort.

The functions of this Government which, in time of peace, most materially affect the happia ,

ness of the People, are those which respect commerce and revenue. The bill beforelus tou‘che-it
both these great interests. It proposes to act directly on. the revenue and expenditure of Govern-
ment, and ll: 18 expected to act,also, indirectly, on commerce and currency; while its fr~1endsand

supporters alt.o,g,rether abstainfrorn otlierineasures, deemed by a great portion of Congress and

ofthe country to be indispensably demanded by the present cxigency.

We have arrived, Mr. President, towards the close of a half century from the adoption of the
Constitution. During the progress of these years, our population has increased from three or
four millions to thirteen or fourtecln millions; our commerce, from little or nothing, to an export
of a hundred and ninety millions, and an import ct’ a hundred and twenty»-eight and a half mile
lions, inthe year 1836. Our mercantile tonnage approaches near to two millions. We have ‘a
revenue, and an expenditure, of thirty millions a year. A The manufactures otthecoumtry have
attained very great imlportarrce, and,‘up to the commencement of the derarigenrerit of the cur-

rency, were in a prosperous and growing state. The produce of the fisheries has become vast ;‘ ‘

and the general production of the labor and capital of the country is increasing far beyond all
examplein other countries, or other times, and has ‘already reached an arnount which, to those
who have not investigated the subject, would seem incredible. , - l p ‘

The commerce ofthe United States, sir, is spread over the globe. Itpursucs itslobjecte-in all
seas, and finds its way into every port which the laws of trade do not shut against its approach.
Witll all the disadvantages of more costly rnalcrials, and of liigrlier we es, and often in despite
of unequal and unfavorable connnercial regulations of other States,t1e enterprise, vigor, and
economy which dist.inguisl1 our navigating; interest, enable it to show ourlflag,inoon1petitlon with
the most favored andwtho most skilful, in the various quarters of the world. In the mean time,
internal activity does not lag nor loiter. New and useful modes of intercourse and facilities
oftraneportatiou are established, or are in progress, everywlrere. Public works are projected
and pushed foiwardin at spirit, which grasps at high and vast objects, with a bold defiance of all
expense, The aggrrrgale value pofthe lropcrty of the country is augniented daily. A constant
demand for new capital exists, althoug 1 a debt has already been contracted 11'] Europe, for some
advancedto States, corporations and individuals, for purposes connected with internal improve-—
ment; which debt cannot novvibe less than ahundrc-rd millions of dollars. Sprcaclir'1g_ over a great
extent, ernbr'acin,¢_; different climates, and with vast variety of products, we lind__an intensely ex-
cited spiritlof industry and enterprise to pervade the whole country; while its external commerce,
as I have already said, sweeps over all seas. W'e are connected with all commercial countries,
and, most of all, with that which has established and sustained the most stupendous system of
commerce and manufactures, and vvhiclr collects and disburseeanincredible amount of‘ annual
revenue; and vyhichjusee, to thisend, and as means of currency and circulation, a mixed money
Ofmetal and pa ‘or. it   to l G G l l ‘ l _ _ 1 _r l

Such a mixe system, sir, has also prevailed with us, from the begmnrn v. Gold and silver
and convertible bank paper,_l1ave always constituted our actual money. "I he I_’eople are used
to this system. It has. hitherto commanded their confidence, and fulfilled theireicpectatrons.
lWe have had, inflsucccssion, two national banks; each for a period of l twenty years. Local or

Statebanks have, at the same time, been in operation ;and no man oi'intelligence or candor can t

deny that, during these fortyyears, and with the operation of in national and these State, institue
times, the currency of the country‘, upon tbew,hole,rl1as been safe, cheap, convenient, and satin-*-;

.factory.. When the Government was established, it found convertible bank paper, issued by

State banks-,r already in circulation ; and with this circulation it ‘did not inter.t'ere., _ThefUn;it_ed
Statercindecd, had themselves estacplrslrcdla l)ank,hu11dpr the old Cor1£etlp1rapon,tw1tl1riautlploppltyr
to issue ppaper. A. system of rnixe circu ation, t ererore; was exact y ta eye emvv to is
Constitlution ,7 at its adoption, found already in existence. There ‘fi’1'10Hh9 $l1g!'1vet erldence of

any intention, in estahjlishing the Constitution,“to overthrovv or abolish this system, although-r G

.it_certai:n1y was the olijeetj, of ; the COnStll.Lll‘.l0n“.tOl abolisli bills of credit, andalll paper l1)i,t°‘.l'1<lt(“t1.' 
fcrclrcula‘tion, issued_lup,on the faith of the States alone. Inasmuch as whatever then existed;

“ llIifllth’cllnature of money or’currency, rested on State legislation ; and as itlwas not possible tltatlt

iunifornrity, general credit, and general confidence could result from local _an'd separaterractsfiof that

4:

States, there is evidence--—I think abundant evidence-———that it was the intention of the framers of
the Constitution to give toCongress a controlling power over the whole subject, to the end that
there should be, for the whole 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 intervals of deranigement, brought aboutby war and other occur-
rences, this Whole system, taken altogether, has been greatly successful in its actual operation.
We have found "occasion to create no dit‘ference.between Government and People————between mo-
ncyfor revenue, 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, disinterest ed,_and patriotic understa1iding,between those who are
to vote taxes on the People, for the purpose of replenishing the Treasury, and those vvho,,frorn
the ‘Treasury, dispense the money back again auionp; those who have claims on it. In that
respect I think the 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 admin-
istration, to be particularly kind and complaisant to the interest of the law-rnakers,—--those who
hold the tax-laying power; the first whose great deference and cordial regard for rnenobers of
Congress have led him to provide for them, as the medium of payment and receipt, something
more valuable than is provided, at the same time, for the army, the navy, the jr.dges,tlio Revolu-
tionarypensionors, and the various classesoff laborers in the pay of Goverinuiont.

_ Through our pprwhol history, sir, vveiliavctfound a convertib_le paper curroncy,lunder proper
controhhighly useful, by itspliability_ to circumstances, and by its capacity of enlargement, in a
reasonable degree, to, meet the demands of a new and enterprising community. As lhavealreatly
said, sir, we owe a permanent debtof a hundred millions abroad ; and in the present abuutlance
of money «in England, and the state of demand here, this amount will probably be increased.
But it must be evident to every one, that,so long as, by a safe use of paper, we give some rea-
sonable expansion to our own circulation, or at least do not unreasonably contractit, 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. , ' ' 7

But let me now, Mr. President, ask the attention of the Senate to another subject, upon
which, indeed, much has already been said: I mean that which is usually called the cnnnrr
svsrx-3M. ‘ ‘I ~ ' . i . . . l  . .

_ Sir, what is that system '2, Why islpcreclitla wordof so much solid importance, and of so pow-
erful char-rn,. inthe Unlitcd States  Wliy is it that a shock. has been feltlfthrough alltclasses
andiall intereists, the first moment that. this.credit has .b,cen. dilsturbedl .-Does its importance
belong, 'equ.ally,, to allpoorutnercial States}! Or are there peculiaritie7s_.in our condit1on,'our
habits, and modes of business, which make credit more indispensable, and mingle it more natué

rally,, more intimately, with the life—blood of our system ,’l—  g . p r .

‘ A full and philosophical ansvrcr to these inquir'es, ,Mr., President, would demand that I
should set forth both the ground—wo1-It and the structure of our social system. It would show
that the wealth and prosperity of the country‘ have as liroadl a foundation as its popular con?-
stitutions, Undoubtedly there are peculiarities inthat system, resurlting from the natureof our
political institutions, from our elementary laws, and from, the general character of the People.
These peculiarities most unquestionably give to ‘credit, _ or to t those rneansand those arrange-
rnents, by whatever names we call them, which are calculatedltor keep the whole, or by far
the greater part, of the capital of the country in a state of conlstantfactivity, a degree of im-
portance far exceeding what is experienced elsewhere. ' if i . l ‘\ , , ' l

. In the old countries, of Europe ‘there is a clear and,well-de_fined1line,, between capital and
labor: a line which strikesthrough society with a horizontal sweep, leaving on one side xvelaltht,
in masses, holden by few hands, and those having little participation in the laborious pursuits
of life; on the other, the thronging multitudes of labor, with here and there, only, an instance
of suchyyaccurnrulatpion of earnings as to deserve the name of capital. This dilsrtilnctioln, indeed,

l- r isynot univers_al and . absolute in any of the commercial States of. Europe, and pitgtrowis loss and

less jdetinitek asrcommerce, advances; the effect of commerce and manufactures, as all history
shows, ltbeilng, everyvvhere, to diffuse vvealth,.and not to aid its accumulation infevvlhands.  But
still. tl1eline,_is greatly more broad, marked, and visible in European nations, than in the United
States; 5 In those nations, the gains of capital, and wages,_or the earnings 'of“.labor,‘ are not only

-distinct infidea, as elements of the science of ,political.economy', ,but,zto aygreat degree, also, dis-

tinct in fact; and their respective claims, and; merits, and modes of relative adjustrnent, becorne

lysubjectls ,o_f7”diisc,;ussion -and of public regulation. Now, sir, every bodylmay see that that is a
. state of thingsflwluoh does n}ot,_.exis't with us. , We have no such visible and broad distinction

* between capital ja,nd;,_labotr; . andimuch of the general -happiness.io,f_,all7;cl_asses , results from this. ,

.With,us, labor is ‘every. _day augmentinglits means by,.its own industfry; not in a.ll_cases, indeed,
butgirr very many».  Itsjsavings of ytosterdayl become its “capital,,‘theref'ore,[of?to—ldaytIl"  the
otherhancl, vastly thegt-eater portion of the property of the country fexistsin such small quanti-
ties that its holders canuotptrdispenfse, altogether 7With_thlei'rovvln personal industry; orif, in some
instances, capitall be accumulated till itrisesito_vrhat may be called afliuenclé‘, it is usually dis-
integrated and broken, into 2 particles tagain, icons or two lgenerationsg l The abolition of the

.l,

5

iittightsl,lofrlprimegenitttrel; the desclentrof -property of every sort to females as Well  males; the-
clieapvanld easy means by which property is transferred and conveyed; the high, price, of labor;
the low price of land 5 the genius of our political institutions; in fine, every thing belonging to

a~us,»counteracts large accumulation. This is our actual system. Our politics, our Cionstitutions, I

court 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, vastlyl the greatest part ol'“th_e property of the

‘Wécountry is in the hands and ownership of those whose personal industry is employed in some

.-form of productive labor. . Greneral competence, general, education, enterprise, activity, and in»
»dustry, 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. v 

Notiv, air, if this view be true, as I think its is, all must perccifire tpat in thehlllnitepi Etatps,
«capital cannot so to labor and industr , “ ,tanc.l e yonder, "w ile come u it 181‘; ut, a-
bet and industry lray hold on capital, bieirk it into gar-eels, use it, dilfuse it wildely, and, instead
wof leaving it to repose in its own inertness, compel it to act at once as their own stimulus and
[their own instrument. w r ,

,B,ut,»sir‘, this is not all. There is another view still more immediately allecting the operation
and use of credit. In every wealthy community, however equally property may bedivided,
pperelwill always _lfretsp)me prope1;tEy-liclilders vv_lt1o_lit:ve op Itt‘§Flll1COlIIe. lit‘ tfhis piropeptiyble kind,
at e we on ran -1 1 ernoner ie we on 1 s1n'c:res'. re amoun o rea es a e e 1 11’).
tlridr country on‘ lease, is coznpaiialtivelir very small, except in the cities. But there are individuals
and t"amilies, trustees and guardians, and various literary and charitable institutions, who have
occasion to invest funds for the purpose or‘ annual moneyed income. Wlie1'e do they invest'l
where can they invest? The answer to these questions shows at once a nii,q,'l11.y ,iill'erence
‘between the state of things here, and that in England. I-Icre, thcseinvestmcnts, to produce
amonoyed income, are made in banks, insurance companies, canal and railroad corporations, and
Vgtlier similar institutions. Placed thus immediately in active hand1s,ltl1is capital, it is evidontéi
A ccornes at once the basis -of business; it wives occupation, pays aror, excites enterprise, an
performs, in short, all the ‘functions ot'empld’ycd money- But, in England, investments for such
purposps usually take anoither direction. ,'I"‘here is, in I}-Erifglantl, anvast arnountof public stoclps,
as eig it or nine huudre ‘ millions sterlin of‘ public ext actua y exists, constituting, to tie
amount of its annual. interest, a charge ongthc 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
yppavrietors, and income without labor; while, in a national point of view, it is more debt.

list 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

Tliird, to our own days. There are thousands of individuals, tlicrefore, 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 entitled. If, ‘therefore,
we use thcterm capital not in the sense of political economy exactly, but as implying whatever
ueturns income to individuals, we find an ,alrnostincalculable mass so circumstanced as not to be
the basis of active operations. a r ; , . -

To illustrate this idea further-, sir, let us suppose that, by some occurrence, (such as is cer-
tainly never to be cxpected,) this debt. should be paid oil‘ ; suppose its holders were to receive,
.to-morrow, their full amounts; what would they do with them 2 ‘Why, sir, if they were obliged
to loan the one—quarter partinto the hands of the industrious classes, for the purposes of employ-
ment in active business; and if this operation cculdbe accompanied by the same izitelligence
and industry among the people which prevail with us, the result would do more toward rais-
ing; the character of the laboring classes, than all reforms in Parliament, and other general po~
.lit1calIoperations. It would be asiif‘ this debt had never been contractetl; as if the money had
never been spent, and now remained part of. the active capital of the country, employed in the
business of life. But this debt, air, has created an enormous amount of private property, upon
the income of which its owners live, which does not require their own, active labor or that or
others. We have no such debt; we have no such mode l of investment ; I and this circumstance
gives quite a dilferent aspect and a different reality to our condition. a I

Now, Mr. President, what Iunderstand by the credit system is, that which thus connects labor
and capital, by givingto _labor the use of capital. In other words, intelligence, good character,
and good morals bestow on those who have not ca ital, a power, a trust, a confidence, which
enables them to obtain it, and to employ it usefully tor themselves and others.‘ These active then
of business build their hopes of success on their attentiveness, their economy, and their integrity.
A wide-r theatre for useful activity is under their feet, and around them, than was ever spread
;lJ0fore_, the eyes of the young and enterprising generations of men, on any other spot enlighten-
.-ed ~by,_thc~sun. I ‘Before them is the ocean. Every thing in , tliatdirection invites them to efforts
of enterpriseaud industry in the pursuits of commerce and the fisheries. Around them, on all
-hands, are thriving and prosperous manufactures ;, an improving agriculture,and the daily present-
:~3.l}IOn‘ or new -objects of iriternal improvement: while behind them is almost half a continent of

I ,thc_richestlland atthc cheapest prices, under healthful climates, and washed by the most ma -

vcnificentl rivers that on anypart of the globe pay their homage to the sea. In the midst of a 1.
these glowing and ‘glorious, ‘prospects, they are neither restrained by ignorance, nor smitten, down

by theppenury of personal ,circumstances., They are not compelled to "contemplate, inphope»,-I
 .,.lessness«and despair, all the advantages thus .bestowed on theirconditron by Providencte.’

.;.:lCa.pll;D.l,lJl10U,gl1 they;mayhave little or none, casnrr supplies its place; not as the refuge of’

,6

the prodigal and the reckless ; not as gratifying present wants with the certainty of future abso-~

: lute “ruin; but'as tliej gcniusl of honorable trust and confidenceupas ‘the ‘hl'essi“ng,l voluintajrily
offered“ to good character" and to ‘good conduct; as the beiieficentialgent‘, which assists honesty and

enterprise in obtaining comfort‘ and ’ind'epenldenc‘e. or «

l Mr. President, take away thiscredit, and what remains’! ‘Ido not ask what remains to the
few, but -to the many’! WTake, away this system of credit, andthen“ tell melwliat‘ is left for
labor and industry, but more rnanual toil and daily drudgery -'2 Ifwe adoptuasystemtliat with-
draws capitaliifroxn active employment,‘ do we not diminish the rate of wagcs‘l~_lf-we curtail the
gen‘erali business of society, does not every laboring;-man find his conditiotagrow daily worse '2 In
the politics of theday, sir, we hearmuchsaid about divorces ; and when we’-attollisli credit, we
shall divorce labor ‘fromcapital; -and, depend on it, sir, when we divorce labor from capital,
capital is hoarded,*and labor starves. ‘The declaration so ol’ten_quoted, thatV“.all who trade
on borrowed capital ought to break,” is the most aristocratic sentiment ever uttered in this coun-
try.) ” It isga sentiment which, if carried out by political arrangeznent, would nondetnn the great
majority of mankind to the perpetual condition of mere daydaborers. It goes to take away
from them all thatsolace and hope which arises from possessing; something which they ‘can call

l 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 it, although it be but a very s_mal.l 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 country. It is our ‘happy con--
dition, by the blessings of Providence, that almost every man of sound health, industrious half>-
its, and good morals, can ordinarily attain, at least, to this degree of comfort and respectability 5,
and it is a result devoutly)to*be wished, both forits individual and its ,general consequences.

But even to this degree of acquisition, that credit, of" l which I have alreaclypsaidi so much,
(as its general effect is to raise the priceof wages, and render industry producti‘ve,)_ is highly inn»-
portant. There is no condition so low, if it he attended. with industry t and economy, which
this credit does not benefit, as any one will find, ifhe will examine andiollow outits 'o;'*erations.

Such, Mr. President, being; the ‘credit system in the United States, as I understand it, I now
add that the banks have been the agents and their circulatisntithe instrument, by which the gene-
ral operations of this credit have been conducted. Much of‘ the capital ‘of thocountry, placed
at interest, is vested in bank stock, and thosewho borrow, borrow at the banks: and discounts

of bills,and anticipations of payments in all its forms, the rtagular and appropriate duty ofibanlts,

prevail universally. i p
In the North, the banks have enabled, the manufacturers of all classes, to realize the. proceeds

of their industry at an early 1noxn_ent.l The course has been, that the producers of com tnoditios
for; Southern consumption, having idespatched their products,.d'raw their bills. These ‘ bills
are i;liscounted,at the bankstgandi with the proceeds other raw material -is bought, and other la-

ibor paid ;=.alnd thus the general business is continued in prop,tless.i i All this is well known to

those who have had opportuinitylto be acquainted] with such concerns. 4   i  i i
, But hanlt. credit has not been mores. necesisiary to the North than to the South. Indeed
nowhere has interest been l1ig;lier,or‘theldetnantl for capital greater,Vor”lthe full henefit of’ credit
more indispensable, than in they new cotton and sugar-gro.wing States. I asltgcntlemen from
those States if this beinotso is i Have not theplantations beenl,,bought, and tilliefnecessairy labor
procured, to a great extent, on credit '2 r Elas not thisfcredit been obtaincdat the banks 1 i Even
now do they not find credits, or advances on their crops, important in7enah'Iing them to get
those crops to market’! And if there had been no credit--‘--if*a hard-nioney system had" prevail;

" ed, let me ask them what would "have been, at this moment, the ‘condition i of things, in Am.

barna, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas’! These State's',s‘ir, with Tennessee and the South
Atlantic States, constitute the great plantation‘ interest.’ i'Thiat_tl1ere has lieen‘ a. vast demand
for capital to be invested in this interest islysuliiciently proved by: ithehigh price‘ paidvforithense
,3f';~,-game, i’ l ’  ; l“ ‘l   », l ‘i -:
In inyyopinion, sir, credit is as essential to the great export of‘ the South, as to any other in-
terest. '1‘ he agriculture of the cotton and sugar—producing States partakes, in «no irxconsiderable
degree, of the nature of commerce. The product and salejof one great stop’-le_ ‘onl,y,C“i,s undone.-
ration essentially different from ordinaryfarining pursuits‘? The exports‘ot' the South,‘ind~e‘ed,
mafy lie, considered. as the aggregate lresuilt ofvarious lforms anld.iWm_odes ofr- ‘in‘dti’*si;ry,%*car"ried‘

‘on hylvariaous hands, and in “various places, rather than as thernere product oflt’hc..ipla.ntatio17i.

Thyatlprfoduct itself is local; but its indispensable aildsandimeanis are drawn from everyppnfit

loflthellnion. Whatis it, sir, that enables Southefrn labor to apply l itselflso‘ ex-tilufsivfély t‘oth‘e

cultiv’ation"of' these ‘greati articles ,for_export;’2‘ Certainly, ‘itris so applied, becéause its low’ni7n,a..
_cessities‘l‘or provrs'1ofu_andlclolthiniggahre. supplied‘, meanwhile, from‘ other‘ quarters. The South
raises “to selflf, and not to consume ,; and WI,l.l1,‘l.-l10l,,,l'}51‘0cEE!(l5 ofthe sa*l.‘es°;, it ‘sojpplies itself» with

“whjatevyer it,s,fown eonsvurnption.'de,mands. p\There arerexcepti'on‘s?_;".,huttliils isdlie general ;t1~uu1,
. 'Tli.te- hat-métllfirsg shoe-nrmkers, furniture-miakers," and ciarriageéniiiaksersli*of.the I_\iort*h‘*,“the spin-

ln‘a;~s.f; L;:weli,.an‘dft11e, ‘<w,‘eav~ersi ati~‘,1?hilfade1lph‘ia,arekall c:onitr,iib=utors:,.t.o the general product
_'cot_t£i1’l‘ ’aI!£lff§US?{?a'.l<i5lf“iéxpntli ihhroadpllgt as are lthflf"‘live~"stOcl3f. jrailsiers. of i‘Kenitut*ky,,%$tiie
,c:rai’h7,<irowing farrners, andhallj who ' prodju cc and .,v«e'rIjdVprovisions; Tin Indiana",7Olliilo9‘a‘ntl:.‘Illlinois.
The lJNl(5I‘i,.l‘le_1‘l_'l’lSl1l.p-Qwlhtelf;,fl,I't(l" thef-imariner, who carry‘”t 1ese;products to inarltet, are agents
a,ct_ii1gitnithte'j_same end ;Ca*ntl‘ so are they too “who, ‘little'iithinkini,t_>;‘ of ”cotton4filel,ds, .or.sugVa'1i estates,
are pui-snintgythleiri ai.lyenturo,us; er_rtp1roy.niet1t riliftihelwhiaileii .'ifish“e'ri'cs, over?thet'wholel.‘lst1ri'acel,’and
amongialll the‘isl‘ands,,»viof tl.',l¢jPhC§lfit},aI1Cl\ll1lt%t,ll:t15tll£’tt'i l‘oceans.“‘“_,If wetake the annual lcott,oln'acrop..

7

at sixit_vmill=iionsiof' clollors, womay, perhiapé, find that thoamount of forty-five millions is ex»;
. ended,“eithei' for interostfi on‘ capital ‘advanced, or for the expo-rise of clotliing and ‘ supporting

o.bo_r, or; in tho oliorgcsl which belong to the household, thoedluciation of families, and to tho 0 0

doniesticexpenditure of the proprietor. . 1 . 0

Thus, sir, all the la‘b,o:fious clliasscs “are, in truth,‘cotton‘-growers land sugzir-makers. Each in
-its own wo.y, and tojthe, e‘xt‘ont of itsfown productivene;-as, contributes to.sWell the rno.gnitude of
that enormous ox port, ;whi,ch, wins nothing at the commoncenocnt of’ this Government, and ‘which
now hosirun up to so many millions. Through all these operations th,c,stroo.m of credit has

constantly flowed, and there is not one of them that will not be checked and inteirnpted, emhar-.0
1‘£.‘t£-Setl, and thwarted, it‘ this stream be now dried up. This connexion of the various interests, ,l

of the country with one another forms an important and interesting topic, It is one of the
natural tiei-tot’ thoUnionl. The variety of production, ondmutuol wants mutually supplied,
‘constitute a strong bond between diliorerit States; and long may that bond last, growing
with their growth, on,di,strloi1gtl1cnir1g with their strength.

But, Mr. President, that portion of our productions which takes _i.l-‘if! form of export, ‘becomes,

distinct and visihl’o- it is imminent and titrllilnfi‘ and is soon and wondered at ll over bod . ;
,7 to? J

The annual, returns, o.ll_ohow it, and every doy’s commercial intelligence spooks of it. We

gone ‘at it with admiration, and the, world is no loss adrxiirizig than ourselves. ,
'With other branches of” Industry the case its quite d1l'l"orent.. The products oi’ these branches,
looingr put in the train of tloniootic oxcl1o1'rgost, and consumed in the country, do not got into stas-

’tiStIi(tall tables, are notlcolloctcd in rnaosos, and are sol.dom prcsonted, in the aggregate, to the i

uhlic viow. Tllvy are not of tho character oi'a fow latrgo and noiglity rivers, but of 0. thousand
ittle streams, moancloriiig through all the iiolds oi" lmoineso and of life, and refreshing and for»
tilizing the whole. ,0, , ,

Fow of‘ us, Mr. Prcoidont, are aware of‘ what ‘would he the amount of the general production
of tho cot1ntry,,il' it could be accurately tt.<f:cc1'tzti11ck.l. ' Tho Legislature of Massoclinsotto, under
tho rcconikrriondzition or the intelligent Cl1iof'l.\dogistroto of that State, liao caused to be prepared
and puhiiohodt ti report on the condition ond products of certain bronoliazo of its industry, for.
tho yoar entiing in April, 1837. The retiutno of tho aut.l1oritios of coch city and town were
nmdo, apparently, with much care; and tho wl1olo,ho.s boon collated by the Secrotury of Stato,
mod the result. iliotiiictly prosontod in we l—a,rro.nged statistical ’tal.»lcs. From to summaryof the
ototornorxto in than-o to.bios,I will take the.,lihorty of oeloctingt at how articles, and of advorting.
gt thorn horo,‘o:+s instances, or spooimens,,of the annual product of labor and "industry in that

tote. , 0 ' 0 ‘ 0 0 0 0 0 l \

And to begin with tt very riocossztry and iniportont article. Ifind, that of boots and 0 shoes,
tho v:ilucol'tho whole aniount,n1ztnufaotu1~od within the your exceodsyfourtoen millionsond a
hall‘ of dolloro, If the amount of‘ other articles of the some class, or niotorial, be added, viz-
lo.fri(t]ho.lr, saddles, trunks", l'1al‘l‘t0S$, &c., the totolfwilll bo not for from eighteen millions; and at half
0 olor‘o.,,l‘ to 0 ,  it   _ .,

I will rigid tho ,nia'mooil,of1ooznelotl1or ‘o’rt.,iclos,Ia'ml state». the amount of annual product bolong-
ring to one ‘: 0 0 ‘ 0 0 0 ' 0 ,

Cotton fabrics r 0 0 - l ;- l l- —-i 0 0 ~ * V — ;- 0 - - $’a17,409,i000
Woollori fabrics . - , 0 0 -is ‘ -t s - 1 - -, 0 - i -- 10,399,000
Fishcrics l-0 - '- 0 0- i--- i  - - I '- - l - 07,592,000
Books and stationery, and paper 0 -0 - -~ I - ' - , t 0- 2,592,000
Soap and conzdlox-so , ; 0 - , ,- - - -l - 0 - -, 1,620,000 A
»N:iils,bra.ds, o.nd,tccks . , - - 0- 0 - -- -.  2,500,000 r
M,ac,l1,io,cry of various kinds t - - l ,- r ‘t - -- - 1,235,000 7
Agricultural implements t \ -— — . -; i -- -» 0-. ' - 645,000
1 Glass -~, -— i -« l ~ 0 i-, - 4- 0 - - -4 831,000
E Hats,  0-0.  ,-  0 -r ‘' ~ ‘I - - * fil‘ l 0-,, i -* - 1-it - l ?700,0O0V
Olothingntockclothc, cu-.0  ~ A -V l  . l - l 4 - r i -» l to ~ 2,013,000
ool « -i ' V/W‘ - -- - - - - 0 - - -i 539,000

Those, sir, ore’,sti’nipI,cs.i‘_i,, ,,h¢lg_ra‘.na ltoto.l,is lnioctyeonelmillion scvonihundrod tlioosond dol-»
la.r:e§;,. From this, however, deductions are tobe inadc forltho costdof the raw material when im-»
portoil, "and for certain oiticlesonumeratod under d,1ll'erent'ha,ads.t ,But, then, thewhole stato-

 l$§:‘&0l1ll,fi€'(.l to some ,brttnchcs, of industry only; a,nd,itol,_prc$cnt an ontirc and comprehon-0  0
sivo’viow,,tl1cre‘,ahouldbo added the Agoinls of commerce ,wtthm ithoi.yeo'1', the earnings of -

navi,«gat‘ioti,, and‘ nltmostithé wholof i_agric,u,l,tnra'l prodoctoof the State. ,

Tho rll','fiSl,llL of l o.l,l,if" ,,cou,1o_be, collated and cxlii_bitod,i?,together, would show that lthconnuttl Q.
product ofliMo3aztchr1s,ctlts‘ capital a,nd,l\1as_.sa,cl1osetts industry cxceods one hund-ted, nnillionc of V

doIloLr§,,‘l hollow, isixf, Moosachuoctttl  :2-., ,sn1a.l1 State, in_,entc:,nt of telrritory, You may mark out
her, dimonoionstsevcn or _ct,ght tunes on the map of, ,V"1rg1'n1_i3be,,l Yet her population isocvon hun-

,drotl’t,hoiis:é,trrd soul‘; ; and tltcannual result of‘ their laborious industry, economy, and labor, is

£\.SIll’1t£‘l7t3ll3iEit€‘Cli,, “ 0

 _,1f'rosi_dont, in,lookingo‘vor,‘thia’result, itis moot gratifying» to,fi_rl_d$ that its fglrlootlmoos con»-0,  0
o1stg,in‘,orticlcs, cqua.l,ly_csslent,1al, and useful to ‘all .classos. 0 _,Tl1cy are hot,lu:turios, but nacesgag, l

riot:,“ltin'd“,cii§t§r1,fo’:‘ts;l ¢fI,'h,cy,licl'ong to ifooil ‘aodclotbing, to household_conveni,enc;iec,_ and eciiicat

tion;*‘As‘_th‘oy .or‘o morc’ztiiil ‘moire‘mol,ti;glio<l,‘.iheii'i root rnaiority of socictghocomes nuoro.lelovotcd,i.lit;

bett4ifliii’s‘troh’ctcd,l5tiht.l””hop|:iili:é in'ilall”i‘cépeiitsIl iIi mic-looked‘ throng iolivvholo list, sir, to find

8_

lwhat there is in it that might be fairly classed among the higher luxuries of life ; and vvliat-t.
do I find? In the whole hundred srnillions, I 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 hundred millions; and of this, no doub_t, the far
greater portion was sent abroad. And yet We hear daily, ‘.511’, of the ‘ainassing of aristocratic.
wealth, by theprogress of manu~f'a_ctures, and the operations of the credit system! .Ar_1stocracy,,
it is said, is stealing upon us, and, in the form of aggregate wealth, IS watching to seize politi—-
cal power from the hands of the People! We have been more than once gravely admonished’

that,‘ in order to improve the times, and restore a metallic currency for the benefit of the poor,,

the rich ought "to melt down their plate ! Whatever sucha melting process might find to act
upon elsewhere, Mr. President, I assure you that in Massachusetts itwould discover little. A.

few spoons, candlesticks, and other similar articles, some old family pitchers and tankards, and’. l '

the silver porringers of our nurseries, would be about the whole.
Sir, if there be any aristocrats :in Massachusetts, the Peopleare 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. Ifthere‘ be a man in the State who maintains what is called an equip-

age, 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 conv.ey-
mice. It is no matter of regret or sorrow to us that few are very rich 3 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.intellic»euce' and education; andthat, of all her productions, she»

reckons, arnongfthe very chiefest, tlloselywhich lspring friorn the culture of the mind and the.

cart. , - . r - .
Mr, President, one of the most striking characteristics of this age ” is the eixtraordinary pro-p
grass which it has witnessed in popular knowledge. A new and .powerful impulse has been
actingin the social system of late, producing this etTeot in a striking degree. ‘ l

d In morals, in politics, in art, in literature, thereis a vast accession to the nuznberof readers,

and to the number of proficients. The present state of popular knowledge is not the, result of" L
a slow, and uniform progress, proceeding through a lapse of years, with the same regular do ree of _

motion. ,Itis’evidently"the result of some new causes, brought into powerful action, an pro

ducing their consequences 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, how---

ever, that the improved statelof popular knowledge is but the necessary result of the im proved

condition of the great mass of the People. Knowledge is not one of our merely physical wants.

l 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’sl ‘whole’ labor can do no more than. tprocurei»
clothes, food, and shelter,fl1e can have no time nor means for mental ‘ir.uprovement.'j . Know».
ledge, thcrefore,..is not attained, and cannot be attained, till there is some rdegree of respite from...

daily manual toil, and never ending drudgery. But whenever a less degree of labor will ‘prod uce

the absolute necessaries of life, then there comeleisure and means, both to teach and to learn-

Butif 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 sud-r
denly produced that great improvement 2- How is it that the means of food, clothing, and she1~
ter, are new so much more cheaply and abundantly 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.

lThis-it is, which has "so much distinguished .. the last half century in Europeand in Amerlcaf;_
and its efiects are everywhere visible, and especially among us. Man has found new «allies and -'

auxiliaries in the powers 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

0

meaning. it is not, in that view, human l201l only»---the more action of thaws and muscles; but.
any-active agency which, working upon the materials with'which.the world is supplied,
' . brings forth products useful orpconvenient to ‘ man. The materials of wealth are iinpthe earth,

in the seasyand in their natural and unaided productions. l Labor oybtains them, works upon

them, and“ fashionsrthenl to ‘human use." Now, it has been the object of scientific. art,jor[of the l

application oi‘-Vscience to art, to increase this active agency, to augment it5,lp<§Wer,i.,byi, creating

rmillionsligof laborers in;the form of automatic machines, all to; be diligently“.employed, arldlkyeptpat i ‘
work by the force of natural powers. To this end these natural,povvers,§ri_'ncipally those of’ ,

steam and falling water, are supbsidized and taken into human ,employrnTent; ‘ ,}} inning machines,

l power-loon:is,’a‘ud*, all the ‘mechanical devices, lacti_ng,l among other goperatives, in the tactories and 
. l en.omtnated' labor¢sa.ving_machines,,p 

workshops, are“<jbut,soK rnany”_l'a'b,orers.r? They are-. usually’

but it Would be°mr0re,,jus«t' ltoycall yl’them‘lab.ort-doing machine”  They are made to be active

vagenftsc; _,to have “moot-ion, arid to prodluoe. ”eli’e'ct,;, ‘ands though without intelligence, ‘ they_;,airel
guided bythoselaws of soienc'e,:w:hich are exact"and _perl'}'e*ot,‘ and they produceresulpts, , ‘

ea

harfiforea l

in general, more accurateppthanthehuman hand is capable of 2 producing. Wllien welofok . upon» ll
one of these, we behold, a rnutjefelllow~labo_r"er, ,[off,,ixnmense,power,of .ma,themati,cal exactness,,,. r
and or evier~—dur1ng~ and l1l‘l1‘Wl’.'&l‘lEl1(.ljel‘ll0It, “,Andlwihilre he is thus a mostl_skilf'ul“andlrproductive r

"laborer, he is a none-consu1ner+~++at the 7least.,~beyornd”wants (of hisrmechanicapl being. TI-Ele is not  l

clamorous for food,jrain1ent,“oi:shelter,'"andgrriakesplno demands for the gexpanses of education,

T have now ,
l state of‘ timings. They call it aristocracy.

9

‘The eating and dri-nking,-the reading and writing and clothes-wearing world, are benefited by
<-the labors of these co-operatives, in the same Way as if Providence had provided for their service
1_.n1llxons oi‘ beings, like ourselves in external appearance, able to labor and to toil, and yet 1'equir-
rng httle or nothing for their own consumption or subsistence; or rather, as it‘ Providence
had created a race of giants, each of wlrom, 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 or production, and you will see that it is those
automatic allies and co-operators, and these powers ot'l.‘~lature, thus employed and placedunder
human direction, which have come, with such prodigious effect, to man’s aid, in the great busi-
ness of‘ procuring the means ofliving, of‘ comfort, and of wealth, and which have so swollen
the products. of‘ her skilful industry. Look! at these tables once more, sir, and you will see the
‘effects of labor, reunited with and acting upon capital. Look. yet again, andlyouwill see that
credit, mutual trust, prompt and punctual dealings, and commercial confidence, are all mixed
up as indispensable elements in the pgeneral system. i
and you will perceive that general competence, great equality in human condition, a degree of
popular knowledge and intelli,<_n;enco, nowhere surpassed, if anywhere equalled, and the preva-
lence of good moral sentiment, and extraordinary ,g;ene1'al prosperity, is the result of the whole.
311‘, I have done with Massachusetts. I do not praise the old “ Bay State” ofthc Revolution;
'1 only present her as she is. V -
Mr. Jresident, such is the state of ytirinpgs actually existing in the country, and of which I
given you a sample. And yet there are persons who constantly clamor against this
They beseech the poor to make war upon the rich,
while, in truth, tl‘1ey know not who are either ri~:.=l1 or poor. They complain of oppression, specu-—
lation, and the pernlciousintluoncc of accumulated wealth. They cry out loudly against all
banks and corporations, and all the means by which small capitals become united, in order to
produce important and beneficial results. They carry on a mad hostility a,oainst all establish-
ed institutions. They would choltc up the lbuntaius of industry, and dry all its strearns. In a
‘country of unl>ound..;-cl liberty, they clamor agg;air'1st: oppression. In a country of‘ perfect equality,
they would move heaven and earth apaixist: privilege and monopoly. In a country where prop-
erty is more equally divided thananywhore else, they rend the air with the shouting of‘ agrarian
doctrines. In a country where the '.vm3-es of‘ labor are l1i,r__»;l1 beyond all parallel, and where
“lands are cheap, and the means of liv1x‘1,:,; 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 noth-

ling, sir, but to enjoy the fruits of other men’s labor. Tlrey can mean nothing, but disturb-

-lance and disorder: the diffusion of corrupt principles, and the destruction of the moral senti-
ments and moral habits of society. A licentiousness of‘ feeling and of action is sometimes produced
by prosperity itself‘. Men cannot always resist the temptation to which they are exposed by
the very abundance of the bounties of Providence and the very happiness of their own condition ;
as the steed, full of the pasture, will, sometimes, throw himself’ apgaiust its enclosures, break
away from its noniineutcrlt, and, feeling new free from nccrlless rcstrsaint, betake himself to
the moors and barrens, whore want, one long, brings} him to his senses, and starvation and death
“close hisicareern ‘ l ,, T

‘Having; said so much, sir, onthe general condition of the country, and explained what I

qunderstand 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 mil»-

* lions of metallic money now in the country. This I believe, however, to be a good deal‘ too

high; I cannot believe it crrccecls sixty, at most; and supposing one—hali' "this sum to be in the
baults, thirty millions are in circulation, or in private hands. We have seven hundred banks

 and branches,‘ with capitals"assi,gncd ibrthe security of their notes and bills, amounting to two
at a hundred and eighty millions. The amount of bank notes in actual circulation is supposed to

be one hundred rnillionsg‘ so that ourrwhole circulation is about one hundred and thirty mil-
lions. 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. . T V

l ,"Now, sir, gtliis very short statement exl1ibits.latlonc,e a general outline of our existing system
of currency and credit. < "Weliseela great amount of money‘ or property in banks,‘ as their
assigned and appropriate a capital, and we see a great amount due to these banks. These bank

 debtors generally belong to the classes ofactivedbusinless, orare such as have taken up credits for
l purposes of investment in lands or merchandise, looking to tuture proceeds as the means of re-

payment, If we compare, this state of circulation, of bank capital and bank debt, with the some

t tlrings in England,«im'portant riillerences will not fail to strike us.

The whole paper circulation of England, by the latest accounts, is twenty-ei,c_,r_l1t millions
~sterling—+~—rnade up of eighteen millions of Bankpof England notes, andlten mtlhons of the
notes of private bankers andjoint-stoclr. companies 3* bullion in the bank, nine and a half’ mil»
lions; debts due the Bank of England, twcnty~two and a halt"millions.r The amount of loans
and discounts by ‘private bankers, and joint-stock companies is not usually stated, I.bcl1eve,1n
thepublic accounts. If it bear the same proportion to their notes in oirculatron, as in the case
riot‘ the Bank of England, it would exceed twelve “millions. We may, therefore, take the
amount of bank debts in Englandlto be tl1irt.y~fi‘velmillions. But I suppose that,-of the securt-

5, ties 'he1d~‘b_y the Baokliof England, exchequer notes constitute a large part ; in other words, that.

a. large part of the bank debt is dueby the Government. The amount of coin in actual circula-

i  +i~'tipu.jis.lestimaited to be ‘thirty alnda half .millio'_ns. The whole amount of circulation in England,

I will ask you to look yet once more,i-sir, T

l I V 10

metallic and paper. is usually stated, in round numbers, at sixytyhmillionsg which,,ratingAthe

’ pound sterling at $34 i80,‘,is equalyto two hundred and eighty-eight millions of'dollars.l

It will be seen, sir, that our paper circulation is one—half less than that ofiE_ng_zIand, ‘but our

 bank debt is, nevertheless, much greater; since thirty-five millions sterling amount to only
i one hundred and sixty-eight millions. of dollars; and th1s,surn,too, includes the amount of

exchequer bills,,or Government debt in the format‘ suchihills, which. the hanlt holds.- ,Th_ese
facts are very material to any just comparison of the state of tliings, in the two countries.
The whole, or nearly the whole capital of the Bankof England, 15 lent to Governme_nt_., not by
means of exchequer notes, but on a perinanentloan; And as to the pi-ivpate l.)ttrlliSlt1n("i_]O1nt-St(:J(:l{
c0t1'l'pal'lieS,'ti10Ug'l1 they issue bills for circnlationpthey l1‘ave'no.assigned or appropriated capital
whatever. The bills circulate on the private credit. of the individual banker, or ofthose who
compose the _joint-stock companies. In the United States, an arnount oi: capital, l2~:[l,[lpOSt'3‘(l.t0 be
sufficient to sustain the credit of the paper and secure the pul>l1cp.a,ga1nst loss, is provided by
law, in the act of incorporation for each bank‘, and is assigned as a trust~f'und for the payment of
the liabilities ofthe ‘bank. And ifthis capital be fairly and sulrstantiallyl advanced, itis a proper
security; and in most cases no doubt it is substantially advanced, The (lirectors are trustcrcs
ofthis fund, and they are liable, both. civilly and criminally, for nlismanagcrnent, ycnzbezzletnent,
or breach oftrust.  ‘ y  g p

This amount of capital, thus secured, is the basis of loans and discounts; and this islthe
reason why permanent, or at least lonpg, loans are not considered so inappropriate to banking
operations, with us, as they are in Etlj;{l:lnd'.‘ Vvitli us, it is evident that the directors are agems,
holdirig a fund intended to be loaned, and acting lietwecn lender and borrower; and this form
ofloan has heen found exceedingly convenient and u':jsel'ul in the country. I i t

A , In some States, it is ,<,_:;reatly prat‘orred',to rnort.u,ragos, ,t,hough{thereflareothers iniwhicli

mcortigages fare usual. l"W',l1ether exactly conforrnalile‘ to the true’ notion ofj lml-1l$’.in,I_1j, or not, the
truth is, that the object and operation‘ or’ our banks‘ is to loan money"; and this ismostly on per»
sonal security,~ The systeni, noydouht, is liable to abuse, in particular instances. There may
be directors who will loan too freely to thernselves and their friends, ,C-tress cases of this

i kind have recently been detected and exposed, and,'I,,hope, Will be suitably treated ; hut, consid-
er1n,g' the great number of banks, these instances, I think, are reniarltably few. In general, the

banks have been well conducted, and are believed to be solvent and safe. ,

We have hr-ard much, sir, in the course of this debate, of excess in the issue ofbank notes
for circulation. I have no doubt, sir, that there was a very improperexpansion some years
agro, ‘When Presitleiit Jackson, in 1832, had neg-r:.titrcd the bill for continuing the Bank of the
United States, (which act I esteem as the true ori,gina.l source of all the disorders of the cur-
rency,) a vast addition was irnniediatelyllmade to the number of State'hanlis. In 1833, the

a" public deposites were actually remoyed from the B”ank"o..f the United Statos,and placed in select’.
, ed State banks. And, for the purpose of showimgyyhow much lxettcr thell?l;Ihlic" would he

 accornn‘iodated without, than with, an Bankyot‘ the United States, theseibanks were not only

encouraged, butadnicnished, to be free and liberal in loans and discountrymado on thestrength
ofthe p,ul‘-lit: nmncys, to moi-charits and other individuals. The circular letter from the ,'I‘reas-
ury Departnient, addressed to the new deposits hanlrs, under date or September 26, 1833, has
this signilicant clause, which could not have been misunderstood:

“Tho depositos of public money will crralnlcvyou to atlf'ord increased !’acilit.ics to commerce, and to ex»-
tend your accornmociation to individuals; and as the duties which are payable to the Qa'rc.:vernrncnt arise

from the l.ms.<izicss and rmterprise of the merchants engaged‘ in f'orcign trade, it is hut rcascirmhle that

they should he preferred in the additional accommodation which the public doposites will enable yourim

p stitutiin to give, whenever it can be done withou‘tinjustice to the claims ofotlier classes ofthe cornrx1ufnity.”"

yb f:l:{8.VlI'1g‘ 1'e'a1tll this lcttefr, in-, hI ask leave to 1f~E:fe1'thp1 Senate tolthcle 20th section of the bill now
e ore us. zero we in t at, “if any 0 cer, c ar,ed wit: tile safe-lteeiin of the ulilic
money, shall loan the same, or any portion thereof, witéh or without int;erest,1sucgh act shpall be
deemed an embezzlement and a high misdemeanor, and the party convicted thereof shall be
sentenced to imprisonment.” Sir, What a prettyypiece of consistency is here! In r1833, the
Llepositories 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 aclutonished and
directed to afford increased ti1ci.Iitics to commerce, and to extenclyi their accnmuiodation to indivi-“*

 _duals,since the public moneys in their vaults would enable them to give such’ additional accom.»
,,§noilatio,i*i3,! ,l;‘low, air, under title hill, anyofficer who shall do any one of the some things,
\ antstead def-being praised, is to be punished: he is to he adjudged p;uilty of embezzlement, and

of a hiigh misdemeanor, and is to be confined, for aught I,-know,in cells as dark, ahd,,d,iamal' as
the vaults and sa:’e_,a which are to contain our,mc,talIi-c currency, But, althoughlil thiulnsir, that
the acts of Goverenicnt created this expansi_on,yet Iamlcertainlyiot’ iopinioynl’ that there was a.
very undue, expansion created; A contraction, howevenhad begun; tandsliamytifr opinion, that

i ‘had it nottbecn:fo_r, the specie order of July, 1836, and for the manneriinlwhichlthe, deposilelaw-
was execnted,lt¢hlel_ba;nlts would have glonethrough the crisis withoutysluspension. ,n',I‘,hisfi's-my

rail and firm. belliegfr, Iicarmot, however, discuss the,se,points there. j;T,h,ey were itrteateclyvith

- Veryiygreat al1i1ity,llast'ye,ar,-by ta ge'ntlexna.ln wh,o,thexii;occupierl one ofthe seats of Georgia on tlrristi 

ifloor; ,'i»Vhomsoevt-hr fheyjdid not satisfy, I ca.nn'ot co_nvince.;iiiifitill, ,si«r,.:the questionlis, wh,gt»‘h"er

thero,,vv€as_an excess in the general ainountyoflour circulationj,t in,May,last,~orj whetl1erll't‘hhIre,*be‘
now suchtexcess. l l i l l i ‘ r r l A l l 

By watiaaadara is tliis:toi_l>ejud_gei<l inguaaon”te,‘whata ram 1,, am can paper

. 11

iin‘1"'cirou+l,atiou, itimayfbe ansvveredd ‘ by reference to the amountlof “coin in the banks, from which

the paper issues; becausel amiunquestionably, of opinion—---an‘ opinion which I believe nothing
can,;ever- Sllalflilrr--tllat the true, criterion by which to decide, the question of’ excess, in a convertik
bla f.papcr,c,urrency,, is the amount of that paper, coruparedrwith the gold and silver in the banks.
Such excess would not be provedwabsolutely and certainly, in every case, by the mere fact of tho
suspensionof specita payments ; because such an event mightbe produced by panic, orother
sudden cause, having pow.er.to disturb the best regulated systcrnof paper circulation. But-the
immediate question now is, whether, taking the whole circulation together, both metallic and
paper, there was an excess existingin May, or is an icxcess now existing? Is one hundred and
thirty millions an excessive or undue amount of circulation for the,United States’! Seeing that
one part jo,t'tl1is,circL,1lation, is coin, and the other part "paper, resting upon coin, and intended to be
convertible, is the whole, mass more than maybe fairly judored necessary to represent the property,
tlictransactions, and the business of the country’! , Or, in order to sustain such an amount of
ci,r'culatio,n*,rand to keep that part of it which is composed of paper in a safe state, should vvolbe
olrligcd to attempt to draw to ourselves more than our just proportion of that metallic money,
which is in tiheusc of all the commercial nations? These questions appear to me to be but
different modes of stating the same inquiry. , I o ' ,

Upon this subject we may, perhaps‘, form some general idea, by comparing ourselves with
others._ Various things, no d,oubt,cxist, in different places and countries, to modify, either by
Gfloldlfglflg or diminishing, the ,don_'iand for money or currency in the transactions of business;
still the amount of trade and commerce may furnish .a general element of comparison betwccn

cliilbrent States or nations. The aggregate offlrncrican imports and exports in 1836,was three .

hundred and oightecn millions; that of England, reckoning the pound sterling at $4 80, again,
was four hundred and ciglity millions, as near as I can ascertain; tho currency of England
boing, as already stated, sixty millions slcrling, or two hundred and ci,r;hty—ciglit millions of
dollars. I If we work. out a rcsult from thcsc proportions, the currcncy ofthc United States, it
wilolha found, should be-one hundred and ninoty millions, in order to be equal to that of England;
lruhaccording to tho os_t_'irnates,ol' the Treasury, it did not, even in that year, exceed one hun-
drcdand ciglrty ,mil,lio‘ns.  ‘ l r ‘ , W

, Our population is about equal to that of England and Wales. The amount of‘ our mercantile

tonnage, perhaps, one-lill.l1 loss‘. But then we are to consider that our country is vastly wider;

and ourofaciliticsoffintcrnral cxclrarigc, by means of bills of orclxangc, grcat.ly less. Indeed,
thorn are brarrchcsroiioouro intercourse, in which rcniittanccs cannot be well maria, except in con-
rcnray, _ Take rone,cxa,_inp3c: Tho apgriculturall products of Kentucky are sold to the South ghcr
purchases of‘ commodities madcat the North. Thorn can bc, therefore, very little of‘ direct ox’-

chango lictwecn liar and the places of purchase and sale. The trads goes. round in a_ circle,

Thcrc£'oro, while tho Bank ct‘ thcUnitcd Statcs existed, payments were made to a vast amount

in the North and East by citizens of.li.'.cnt.ucky, and of the States similarly situated, not in bills_

of cxchangc, but in the notes of the Bank.

,'I‘hc,sc considerationsaugrncnt the demand for currancy. ‘ c More than all, the country is.nc_vv,,

sir; almost thcicntirc amountgof our calrital,activa ;, and the whole amount of property, in the
aggregate, rapidly "increasing. In tho lasttlrreo years tltirtyaevcniniillions of acrossof land have
boon saparatcd from, tho wili'lcrr'ioss, purchascd,paid for,and become subject to private individual
«own,ership, to .traus,t'cr, and sale, and all other rlispositionsi to vvhichotncr real restate is subject.
«It, has thus bccomc; property, to be bought and 'soldjt'or money; whereas, While, invthe hands of’
Govcrnimcnt, it called for TlO,r(?3K[lElfl(llll1l‘(’;,,fOl'I1let1 the basis of no t.ransactions,- and creatcdono
demand for currency. Within that short period our people have boup,rht from Government a,
tcrritory as large as tho Wltolo of England and Walcs,_ and,taltcn 1 tmgcther, far more fertile by
Nature.. -This scams incredible, yet the returns show it. Suppose all this toilhave boon bought’
at. the minimum price of a dollar and a quarter per acre ; and suppose. the value to be increased»
in,tl1c,courmon ratio in which we knowthevaluc of landis increased, by such purclraso, and by
the prelirninarysteps and beginnings of cultivation gfan imrnense augmentation, it will readily
bc , erceived,,is mods,,ovanvin.sojsl1ort «ta, time, ofthc aggregate. of property,, in nominal price,
rant l, rtorraigraat extent,‘in;rs.a,lr.,val,uc,also. ,V  , I  f I  I  I I I    o  I I 
On‘ thewhols, 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. N or was there, as I think, any depreciation
in the value’ of money, u_p to the moment of the suspension of specie payments by the banks,
comparing our currency with the currency of other nations. An Arncrican paper dollar would
buy a silver dollar in Englancl, dcductiug only the charge of transporting a. dollar across the
ocean, because it rcomntandod a silver dollar here. There may be excess, however, Iadmxt,
where_thore is no present depreciation, in the sense in which I now use thegtcrm. _  ofl ; '
_It is hardly ncccssary, to dwell, Mr. President, on the evils of a suddenly depreciated circu-

Vlation. ,uItV;arrosts business, puts an and to it, and overwhelms all rlabtors, by depression and

dowtiialllof prices. And oven it‘ we reduce circulzrtiornms-not suddenly, but still roduce it farther
thanis necessary to hoop itvvithinrjust and rcasonablc limits-——~we produce many, omrschrofsg we

augnirnt the necessity of f'oreign,loans; we contract business, discourage antcrprise,,slackon the ,

activity, of capital, and lrcstrain the commercial spirit of the country. It is very important to be

,rcm,cr'x1,l)tarod, s,ir,that.,in our l.ini‘.t7:l‘C,QlIll‘S£9, with other lnations,_wc are actin,<.v;;oon,a principloof

reqjuality ;, ,t,h;fi,_1; is to 3&5-Z,,,,‘W£i, do not protect our oiw,n.shipping interest by pecnliaproprivilagcs,; we’
ask aiclcar,l,lie,ld,,;; snd,.'sssl,t;.n,o;:favor, , _Yct,j thcrnatcrials for shi{.>—l_>,u1,l,z‘l1,r,x;,<,;g-,',. aI’l,‘(3il‘lI,g_3fl1_wtl,h,_«,us,,,ttntI‘~Q

the wages of ship—-builders and scanien are high also. W's have to contend against these, unfa-k

12.

., a I u c \\ W
“vorable circumstances; and if, in addition to these, we are to suffer further by unnecessary re-7

“mints on currency, and by a crampedcredit, who;_can tell what may be the effect’! _IMoney is.
abundant "in England, very abundant; therratc of interest, therefore, is low, and capital will be-
seeking itsinvestment wherever it can hope to _find it. If we de-range our own cur:re_ncy“,Icom—-
pulsively curtail circulation, and break up credit, how are tl_ie copomerce and navigation of the
United States to maintain themselves ag,rain‘st foreign competition ._ _ r _ I
Before leaving, altogether, this subject of an excessive circulation, Mr. President, I will say‘,
9. few words upon a topic Which, if time would permit, I should be glad to consider at more
length; I ‘mean, sir, the proper ,c_,rua_rds and securitiesfor a_pape_r circulation. I I have occasionally
laddressedi the Senate on _this Sl]l3]€‘Cl3 before,_respecially in theudebate on the specie circular, in
December, 1836; but I wish to recur to it again, because I hold it to be of theutmost importance‘
-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 our-,~
rency: for I lay it down as an unquestionable trlith, that no paper can be made equal, and kept
equal to gold and silver, but such as is convertibleinto gold and silver, on cleinanil. But, l_have
gone farther, and still go farther than this ; and I contend that even C0l'1Vel‘l.lbll1‘l,y,. though itself’
indispensable, is not a certain and unfailing ground of reliance. There is a liability to exces-I
sive issues of paper, even while paper is convertible at Will. Of this, there canbel no plloubt.
Where then shall, a reovolator be found '4 VVhat principle of prevention may we re y on -. i r
Now, I think, sir, it Is too common with banks, in judging,“ of their conditionI, to set off all"
their liabilities against all their resources. They look to the quantity of specie in their vaults,
and to thenotes and bills becoiniiig payable, as means or assets; and, with these, they eistpect

 to be able to meet their returning notes, and toanswer the claims of depositors. So far as the p

bankis to be regarded'as:a more bank of disoouhltr, all thisis very well. I But banks of cifrcula-1
tionl exerciser another function. “By the very Iactoi‘ issuing their own paper, they a*tl'ect the
amount of currency. In England, the Bank “of. IlEnglaiic.l,i and in the rUnIited States, all the
banks, expand or lcontraIctI the amount of circulat.ion,'of course, as they increaseor curtail the
general amount of their own paper. And this renders it necessary that they should beregulat-s
ed and controlled. I The question is, by what role’! To this I answer, by subjecting all banks
to the rule winch the most discreet of them alwfays follow--by coinpcllinp; them tojmaintain a
certain fixed proportion between specie and circulation; without regarding depositcs on one hand,
or notes payable on the otlier. , * ‘- r - I r I I in  I i
There will always occur occasional fluctuations in trade, and a dernand for specie by one coun-«»‘
try on anotherwill 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. prevent a scarcity of ‘
money. But exactly the opposite course should be adopted. .A.“(I(31‘Il‘£t1’ltI for s ecie_ to go abroad

' should be regarded as conclusive evidence of the necessity of contracting: circus ation. If, indeed,

in such cases, it could be certainly known that the demand would be of short duration, the ,
temporary pressure might be relieved by an issue of paper to fill the place of departing specie. I
But this never can be known. There is no safety, therefore, but in meeting the case at the-‘
moment, and in conf'ormin,r_r to the infallible index of the exchanges. Circulating paper is thus
kept always nearer to the cliaracter, 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 express my belief that, with experience before us, and
with the lights which 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
function ofdiscount, onrprinciples, and subject to regulations, such as should render its opera-I,
tioifs extremely useful; and I should hope that, with an example before them of plain and erni—
nent advantage, State institutions would conform to the same rules and principles; and that, in
this way, all the advantages of ,COl'l‘V61‘l.ll)I6 paper might be enjoyed, with just security against
its dan ers. I r I r
I huge detained the Senate too long, sir, with these observations upon the state of the counw
try, and its pecuniary system and condition. r_ I I t » I
And~now, when the banks have suspended payments, universally; when the internal ex-I»
changes are all deranged, and the business of the country most seriously interrupted, the ques«
tions are»-~ V ~
“Whether tliemeasure before us is suitable to our condition’! and, I I t H , p I I
"Whether“ it is a just and proper exercise andtfulfilrnent of the powers and duties of Congress 1 
I Vlflghat, then, sir,‘will~be the practical toperationand effect of this nieasure,if it should rbecomera ” r

Like its predecessor of p the last session, the‘I’bill proposes nothing»; for the generalcurrencyoflfll it

the country; nothing to restore exclianges; nothing to brir1pfabouIt a speedy rzesumptiion of;spe~IIg
cie payments by the banks. Its Whole professed objectis . the collection aridIrdisb1irsem,entr of’ the

public revenue; Some of its friends, indeed, say, that when it shall-goIinto operation,git will, '* r

«incidentally, ,prod_uce a favorable effect on the currency, by resItrai,ni_ng tho5issuelIof. banklpaperr. 
But others press it as if its reflect was to be thei,finalIoverthrowCofr a.l1IjIbaInks, and the introduce to ,

tionrlof an exclusive :mete;l1ic currencyfor allthe uses 01 the country i

p Are twee-,toIunderstandl,,then, that it _isllinten'ded,r by mIeans“, of;  thiIslrjisI"the first, to rid,,the~i’Ii~
 country rot‘. all banks,.as being but so inany nuisances, and to abolish all paper currency whtatever‘? 

“Gris ‘it ‘expected, on the contrary, ‘tliatafterr this -syrs‘teInrI'slrall b[e,lIIadopted for the,.us[eII‘of‘*
*Gr‘_oyernment,.t, if,~Ier.ewi1l,still be a paper currency int tire;cotintryIi'or»the» use osfpthfe ,l‘_?eopler,ll’§rII?i  by pr ‘

13

And if there shall‘ stillibe a paper currency, will that currency consist of irrcdeemahle« Grove
ernment, paper, or of convertible bank notes, suclhashave circulated heretofore’! These ques-
trons must , is answered, before we can judge accurately ot'_tlie,operation of thishill. V . _
' As to an exclusive metallic currency, sir, the Admiiiistration on this point is regularly I anus-
faced; Out doors, and among the People, it shows itself “ all cl-iriqirant, all in gold.” ,‘There~,'i
everything is to be hard money-.—no paper rags-7»-—no delusivelcredits-—-no bank rnonopolies---no
trust in paper of any --kind. But in the Treasury Departinent,and.in the Houses of Congress,
we see another aspect--—-«a mixed appearance, partly gold and partly paper; gold for Governinent,
and paper for the People. Thesinall voice which is heard here, allows the absolute necessity of

paper offsomc sort, and to some extent. But the shouts in the cominunitydeinand tlieldestructipon A

of all banks, and the final exterinination of all paper circulation. . i  , i

To the People, the lionroars against paper money in all the loudness and terror of his natural
voice; but to Members of‘ Congress, he’ is more discreet; lest he should frighten them out oftlieir
Wits, he here restrains and modulates, and roars “ as gently as any sucking, dove, or, as it,were,
any iii,glitiiigale.” The iinpracticahility of an exclusive metallic currency, the absurdity of at-_-
tciiiptinpg any such thing in a country like this, are so manifest, that riohody here undertakes to
support it by any reasoning or ar,i_-gunicnt. All that is said in its favor, is general denunciation
of paper, goiieral outcry agaiiiist the banks, and declaiiiation against existing institutions, full
of sound and fury, sigriifyiiig iiotliiiig. _ i ,

V, The inotnent any one considers it, he sees how ridiculous any such. attempt would be. An ex-
clusive rnctallic circulation for the second COI1’1l‘i,1,e1'Cl8.l, country on earth, in the nineteenth ccn-
tury ll Sir, you niiglit-as well propose to abolish C0l11l‘1'.tGl‘t.'.e alto,getl‘ier. .. i l V

The ciirroncy ot‘Eiip;la.iitl  estiniatcd at sixty millions stcrliiig: and it is Mr. l\/li'.Ciilloch’s
calculation, that it‘ this currency were all gold, allowinp; only oiic—quartcr of‘ one per cent. for wear
of nietals, the annual expense, atteiidiiig such a currency, would be three niillioris and a quarter
a year, or nearly five per cent. upon the whole. Wltl’1 us, this charge WC)l1lLl,l)c,m1.li.C'.ll greater.
The loss of capital would he more, owing to the liiglier rates of interest; and l.)t’fi-'il(.ltZtS all this, is
the cost ct" transportation, which, in a country so extensive as ours, would be vast, and not
easily calculated. We should also require, proportionally, inure specie than is requisite in Eiig-—
land, because our systoitii ot” oxclianpgc, by means of bills of excliange, is, at preseiit, and would
be, under such a system as is proposed, much less perfect and conveiiierit than that of England.
Besides, this Eiurlish metallic circulatioii is mostly go1d,gold beinglin England the standard
iiietal. ,'With us, silver and gold both are made stai:ii.lards,'at a fixed relation; and if we should
succeed to keep this relation so true as to preserve both of the precious metals ainong us, (which,
indeed, is not very probahlc,) our circulation would he still more expensive aiidcunibrous, from
the quantity of silver which it would contain. The silver in tlieworld is estiiriated to be fifty
thrice as inuch as the gold in ariiount, and consequently sornotliing more than three times in value.
It'hotli should circulate, tlicrefore, equally, in proportion to ivalue,,the currency would be as
much as three parts silver, and one gold. . i ‘ i i i , ,

Now, air, the annual expense of such acirculaticn, upon the basis of Mr. McCulloch’s estia
units, would exceed the whole annual expenditure inadotor our army and our navy. Consider, sir,
the ,ZtlI'I‘1‘t)t1t’.l_l3 of actual daily payments rnade in the country- It isditlicult to estiiiiate it, and nits
iinpossililolto ascertain l.l'.,.,W1l2l1ittl”1y,ItGt5l.lI‘tJ,Cy‘. r But we-can t'ori:n some notion of it, by the pally
amotint of payments in the banks some ol’ the cities; In times cl". rosperousl business and
conirnorce, the daily ariiount of payments in the banks of New York a oiielias, been equal to
eight millions. Wlietlier we call this it tenth, a twentieth, or a fiftiethipart of all the payments
and receipts made daily in the country, we see to what an aggregate result the whole would rise.
And how is it possible that such amount of receipt aridpayniient could be performed. by an actual
piassing ofigold and silver from hand to hand’?  i l i L , i ' .  .

Such notions, sir, hardlyi require serious refutation. i ii ,

Mr. President, an entire metallic currency would necessarily create banks iinrnediately. Where

 could  remitted’! Banks ofjlldeposite, must and would be

  

,. i . I ’ ' i ,,t__he cities be seen in their dail walks of
businsa “'1”? 5"?"”i"l Elli? hi“ioinlig’ine this’! Ii"i1eré‘“Cu=*‘*'‘‘*‘°'"“““”“““"i'”' “   y l i
'VtS1Z'hat  1: fhereg 5h0.,,1a be an exclusive rgeciepcugggéggy glare would be created at
t 6 00“ i _  4 -« b-foreisunset. ruin n , 1. ~ . .h,;.c1i_5 for

.. d be fifty banks 9 _ . _ ,1 tones would draw c ,
e’clocl~.., there woul _ , lwing money in such 81305‘ V! 2 i th. - or the
~ - do ositcrand persons ‘ti. , p p p ,1 th would pass to arm or, ‘ ,
once plilfieir Of. P. t ’ ' ~ and from. one ham 93’ q i , An,
-  . t. is hecks as 111011533?» it  . ~ . ~ would pass as currency. V,
1i,, and ptlsu these I: . , . ._ .,. ,,_,_, of deposits andthese , h -,,.,.,-,_,,,,,y
. , ..-. _ r 1d issue certi icac . ’. v h h ndi-ed years tote 
aepositary liiinsolf won , , . ~ us back two ort rec u : ‘ Rjlmd

. . than _]l1Sl'. to carry, _ . ~ . ‘ ienco of the most. ci _i, ’
all ‘31115 Wwld do no mom i 1 nothincr but reject the exper , ‘ , i h J9 con.
hould then have (OW *’ ' i dhave returned to t e ru 
of banks. , Wes . . is ,,,,e11as all our own experience, an _ p , _ . fl, ,,,,,,m,d

- .. . it i - » * l ' ‘ iound to beothrl.
nations, for sums ceimmes’ at ' t»* of deposits Would 50°“ be. “ . l 1 ll for

. , _ V . Those ccrtifica <3?’ . -- f 1-ins source wouli ca
captions of forlxlflr lllnflfiill actual d6l5°3lt9- Abuses arising ‘ mm   the issue of Pill”!
t Wl‘1l1"“ti““.y S°h.d wpm ’ at l ' laturewouldfii1c1‘itI1€06SSMY *0 “"~‘““m " ‘i tthiof com-

logislative iritcrlcrcii_ce, apdetgipmlprpgiphat Such issue Bhauld only be made on the strong

int‘ended for circulati.on, y _dc‘1 mi asgiflnea placed under proper mg“

potent capital, actually PW“ “L 3”" 3 1,55 woiildibringus again exactly , V
l3‘3i'S°nS Wgpomible to the laws. Ail the! use of the paper of banks, cstalilished
. _ p i_' "f,Qga,’y' O ,,.i » l l
which we um” W392 that 13 — 1 r ~ recess cou
coniiiiieai~r ia'w"I\ In theme“ W W" ““"’ P      

to thesaiie oi? thi11t§5m
regulated, and

l

'“,;;3;;:,rzi*sc:rsiag—mwnne._ms~

lation, and mafiaged W"

Id be carried through: 11¢‘-if iii“ l°°m". 

14

niun=ity“would-‘helmade bankrupt hythe“ -ruin of their business, and by the violent and revolution-
ary**clh"anges 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 undistiragluisliing destruction.‘
" 'Dhere~will it-hen, sir,‘be no such thing as an exclusive paper currency. The country will not
he-guilty ofthelfollyi of-iattempting it.‘ ~ 4 i I V

*~I“ishould, have felt that Iliad occupied too much time with such a senseless and preposterous
sh‘ggestion,twere‘it not them-anifest 0bject,ol' partisans to press such notions upon the attention
of the --People, in aid of the war against theibanks. ' i _ i l

d We shall then, sir, have paper of some sort, forming a part of our currency. Whatl will that
paper he '2 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 pa»
p‘er—-Governmentv pa-pest, not convertible nor redeemable, only so far as by being receivable for

dehtsfand dues to Government. My 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. lOther gentlemen have taken the same view of" it.
But, as the bililitself‘ does not profess any such purpose, I am willing to discuss it in the char-—
acter in which it_ presents‘ itsel~f. I take it for what its friends say it is-~—a bill making further
provision for collecting the revenues. i i i ' i l, l
VVe are, then, sir, still to have paper as a general medium of circulation; that paper-is to be the
aper of banks; butGovernment is to ho divorced from these banks, altogether. his not to keep
ltslfunds in them, as heretofore. It is to have nothing to do with them, but is to collect and dis-
burse its revenues by its own means, and its own officers. V t ' i _
' The receipt ofthe notes of”spcci,e--playing banks is it-ohe 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. Wlien that. auspicious day comes, Government is to‘ receive and to pay
oultzéoldand silver, and nothi'11g'liut gold and silver. , iv i, l ,
ow, ‘Mr. President,’ let us anticipate this 'oyous epoch; let us suppose the six years to have
expired; and let usviniagine this bill, withiits specie ayments and all, to be in full operation at
the present hour. VV'hat will that operation be '2 « n the first place, idisregarrling all question
of public convenience, or the is general interests of the People, how will this system work as a
mere mode of collecting and payingiout revenue’? Let us see. ‘
* ,-Our receipts and expenditures maybe 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 collectedand paid out every year; and it is all to be counted,
actually told over, dollar after dollar, and gold piece after gold piece"; andliofw many times
counted 2 Let usinquire into that. The importing merchant, whose ship has arrived, and who
has cash duitiestoiipay, llgoesito the bank for his money, and theteller counts it out: that is once.
Elie carries it to tliecustiom--house, pays it, and the clerks count it over: that is twice. A Some
days afterwards, the collector takes it out of his bags and cl1csts,‘carries it to the receiverigencn
ul’s ‘oflice, and there it is counted again, andipoured into the bags and cliostslof that oflice: that
isnthe third time. Presently a warrant comes from the Treasury, in favor of some disbursing
offi‘cer,, and the boxesare opened, and the necessary suniscounted out: this is the fourth count-
ing. A-nd, fifthly and lastly, the disbursilng ofiioer pays it to thepersons entitled to receive it,
on contracts, or for pensions, salaries, or other claims. Thirty millions of hard money are thus
to hehiandlcd and told ovorfive times in the course of the year; and if there he transt’ers from
place-lto place, then, of course, it is to be counted so much oftenler. Government oflicers, there-
fore; are to count overone hundred and fifty millions of dollars a year; Whlcli, allowing three

hirnclred working days in the year, gives five hundred thousand dollars ajday. But this is not

all. Once a quarter, the naval officer is to count the collector’s money, and the register in the
land oflice Is to count the receivcr’s mono . ‘And moreover S1!‘ ever i now and then the Score-
. . t . 3’ = = 3’. . . .
fury of ‘the Treasury Istoauthorxzc unexpected and i7np7'0”i‘l_g9Zu countmgs,1n his discretion, and
_;‘u’st~ to satisfy his own mind !‘ ‘ U _ r, _, l
. 6 Shana” b _ ,.,....,_,...,, -‘run m: as no nos to us. Our ., p
A   p  V ,e mm the ],,,,,,,. In the dmy Ofthe-énuwepry; sound w1.l go iorth unto all lands.
      , ncalllltcropspat tltci,king,daicoxrn1ing oflris mQnE3,L’’‘‘ ,,
aaraiihviiliiibierve’ Sirldthdat ”]eS.ed'rl‘3'i9llli3i‘inl3 P0» ment ii i  I  d I A
  rat“ . rims 0<f~€*fiCh..piece;of"coin. or ‘y ’ ‘E °“"““°“l"’ mm In narcelawitlmut the

,..,,,~.-.:u»l\u.‘h.i.(I11 W0     

gO,dMmppnotppfbpbaj,,tr_u,$ted“ Thy qr? gphc marks on liege of dollars, and the labels on bags of \

1&0 ,bo'.dor‘ie'a‘   i _ t r ‘W i3ilC7"§‘3Ci5l5*“*~E1I‘1Ll all ' i v  i
rfiepmonéy,m'vl;Li:3:,;:1g:?m:§;2;1;ntl:)t; ts1urveylcI>r.l flwpinstance, at 1dhis1id'~ii~!lfdi1:i*I-iduidmeincai is
1; ~emO,,,ey'ii,,-Nopibéthare   __  ‘J6’ colector,lorlreg.,,,i.,,,,,. W, lit,‘  i :2“ , ermmmo
 “ .   i 359-7l]'.llnal1OnCal1'C0t " ti o .;  a tin em, 161% Ofcourso tocount"
_earance,nor flromthle Wei   me‘ Ginny thmm i Hi’ * ' l i i -
1 I ‘  _ , ..  balm ppth.  p , ‘ ,.,._, .,,.cannottell from extern l -
ags and boxes“ orwith  [.7  , r leooollector, has loaned out till * ’ i » ‘l “P
.th“a«f;',by ,,,.,,,,,, hghii. ;5*.1,.,I1<, and lead: ornot. Nor l A .- , i  p, _ 16 money,’ and filled the
—  ‘H    t  g * can ,0-Ounlorfeit placrgg be other‘ ‘i v .,
Om¢i93,i:tl1e mints    muivt ,°99i’i=}*«h,e ml1St iexamine thiietnustii ~l   l A i Wwme detained
all  keiy to  gri..ti%é£ls§Wh-iii" _i  if ibis? offlicerspi slmltlpil hairdo a,tnStd(ili1?:j1v£2g.:£d:i  land .
P."<i5’i‘al"»1”l5: in alls',soli'e.r"nt§t.§g ‘jsin,,g,til,-.i,,,7l,-i V1, is I  i or  i *    l  t  ii  i'»YVa‘i£i
.:o.i.t..b-eglnil:bY,‘P1"0P‘>Sl.!*3gttjo-  }  lilte;.9Iimii‘°.i"€l5T3P0$iéfl1‘0us72"
tzsed,,1s‘a perfeotinovelryg eS,,,,,,,»,:my ,§.mfJ:fh1s,"_:;i.;alfli(.,»,/, ,

i he  Word is h  ‘
the public rnonieya  tgjia-up ~55

1 15

‘lo ,5”-Ya'?Vh)T; h0m'd tliemr why keepdheml. 0l1l2»0l’illlSe“’l The use : of? 'rnoney~-is. in the exchange.
It is dc_s1gnedt0. €3i1f.<311Ll>ate,.not to be lioitrdcd. All that Ciovernrnenut should have to do wit.h.it, is
to recenfe it.to«day, thatit may pay it away to~morrow.. it should not receive it, beiore it needs
it; and it should part with it as soon -as it owesit. To keep it—-that is, to detain it,»to.ho1'd it
‘back from general use, to heard it, is a conception .beloz1,gingtobarberous times and§b:arharous
Governments. How would it strilte us, if we should see other great conaniercial:n»ations.aeting
upon such alsystem it if England, vwitharevenue offifty millions sterling a year,»were founidato
be collecting and disbursing everyshilling of it inhard, money, through all the ramifications of’

her vast expenditure, should we not think her mad‘? But the system is worse l1ere,,‘ueca.use it

pwithdraws just «soltnuch. activecapital from the “ uses of a country thatrequires. capital, and is
, paying interest‘ forcapital wherever ittcan,obtain it. « . r 1 t . , l ‘ ,
But now, sir, allow me to examine the operation of this measure uponthe general interest: of
commerce, and upon the generalcurrency of the couzrtry. And in ~ this point of view tsheliirst
. great question is, What amount of gold amd silver trill tilts operation subtract.‘ frame-the «mu-
lcttion of the country, and from the use of‘; the bonfire ? t , '  r l ’
in regard to this important inquiry we are not withoutthe meanslof forming some judgment.
An otlicial report front 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
tliousantl dollars in the Treasury. And this sum is exclusive of allthat had been collected of
the People, buthud not yet reached the Treasury; and also ofall that had been drawn. from

tlituTreasury,hy.disbursing oiIiccrs,lbut which had not yet been by them paid to individuals. .

Adding these sums.to,g§etl1el1‘, air, and the result is, that on an aTver2-re for the last ten years,
there have been at least twenty millions otdollars in the Treasury.‘ Ido not mean,of course,
that this sum is, the whole ofit, unappropriatcd. 1 mean that this amonnthasin fact been in
the 'I‘reasut'-y, either notiappropriatetl, or not called for under asppropriations; so thatil’ this sub-
treasurysclticme hadbeen in operation, intimcs past, of the ‘specie in the currency, twenty mil-
lions would have been constantly locked up in the safes and vaults. Now, sir, I do not believe
tliufit, for these ten years, the whole amount of silver and gold in the country has exceeded, on
the u.veru.ge, fifty or sixty millions. . I do not believe it exceeds sixty millions at the present mo-
t merit; and if we had now thewhole 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 coininerce and business, as if it were carried back to its native
mines. ~ Sir, is it not inconceivable that any man should lull upon such a scheme of policy as
this’! Is it possihlo that any onecan fail to see the destructive effects of such a policy on the
commerce and thecnrrency ofvthe country ’l, l t ’ l .  i . « t i
It is true the system tloesnot come into operation all at once.  But it begins. its deznandsx for
specie immct.li:.1tely; it calls upon the banks, and it calls upon i.ndividua1s,i'or their hard dol-
lure, that they may be put away and locked up in the Treasury, at the very moment when the
country is su_[]"cri7z,g,r for want o/".'m.o7‘c specie in the. ct'rculation, and‘ the bonito are sufilermg for
tm-eo7t.e¥ta enable them to 7'cs'tt'me tltci-2: poyuzente. And this, it is expected, will improve I the cu1'~
rcnc , endlfacilitate resumption! ; l l . . t V t V  t 
It has tllielretofore been asserted,‘ that the gcneralcurrency of the. country needed to be strength-
ened, hy theIintro.duction ofqtnore specie into the circulation. This has heen insisted on,for
years. Let it he conceded. ' I have admitted lt,;an.d,indecd, contended for the proposition here-
tofore, and endeavored to.;pro‘v.e it. But it must be plain to every. body, that any additiontrof
specie, in order to he useful, must either go into the circu1:atio.n, asapart of that circulation, i or
else it must go into thehanlts, to enable them the bettertto sustain and redeem» theirpaper.
a duct this bill is calculated _to-promote neither of these ends, but exactlyxsthe reverse. It withdraws
xspcoie from the uirculatilonl and fronotlie banks, andtlipiles it up in useless heaps in the 'I‘reasu~
ry. It weake.ns.tl1elgeneral [circulution,Cby rnaki.ug the portion of specie, which is part of it, so
-‘eunuch the less; itwweukpensp tliel.-lianks, J by retlucixigalthe amount of coin which supports their
.tnir(:ulati.ou._. i :sThe wgeneral ev_il' imputed to our currency, .fori«some years past, is, that paper has a
deformed too great a portion of it." t'I‘lh=eioperation;-of ztliismeasure must be to increase that ‘very
evil. ‘ iI1h.a.v.e.adznittedathe evils, and .l1a.ve‘ concurred in’measures?to<reInady_,'it." .Inha~ve~-lfiavened
the withdrlawing of small bills from ci.rcull:ationt,. to the endrthatl speciernight takevtheir place. .
I discussedsthisL-policy, and supported it, asearly as 1832. My colleague, who,tshortly atter
that period, wasplaced in the chair.of_ the chief magist'racy of Massachusetts, pressed its‘ccn-
asideration, at length, upon gtheattcution of the Legislature of that State. Isull think it was
. ta. riglit policy.’ Some o‘t‘~t:he» States: hadtbegun toadopt it. ‘But, the measures of the‘Ad,m1n-
. istration, and especially this proposed. measure, throw, thispolicy all aback. They undoat
once all that we liavisibeen laboring. Suoh,.and so? pertinacious has been the demand of Gov-
ernment for specie, and such inewdemand. docsthis lbillsprotnise to create, that the States
i t have found themselves compelled; again to issuesmall billsfor the use of the People. is It was
i in day of rcj-oicirtg, as we have lately ‘secn,l amonguthe People of ew York, when tl1e=_Le,q,isl-a-
ture oftliat State lsuspcnded the small-hill restrainitnpg. law, and furnislied the Pen le with some
med-ilutn for small pavznents, better than the miserable trash, which now annoys t ecornmunity.

II

The Grovernuient; therefore, I insist, is evidently breaking down its own declared policy 3 it is;

;vde.feating,l openly and manifestly dei'eating, its own.proi'essed object's. t

, Anti yet, theory, imagination, presumptuous genteralizat1on,t_he applicationtlof: milita41'ylrn.oue~
ments to questions of commerce and nuance, andtthelabstrecttolnst of tmetaphysics, offer. us,«,_,1n

I,~..;.suol11;e., state of things, their panacea. ..A.ndtw.hatfis it? What is it? What. is tD_u‘C'Q1't3 on

16

‘remedy imaginable; theakindest, tenderest, most soothing, and solacing applicationin the
«whole world! Nothing, sir, nothing upon earth, but a smart, delightful, perpetual; and in-
‘reconcileable’ warfare, between the Government of the United Statesland the State banks!
. All will be well, we are assured, when the Government and the banks become antagonistical!
Yes, sir,“a11ta.gonistical!” that is the word. What a stroke of policy, sir, is this! It is as
delicate a strhtagem as poor old King Lear’s, and a good deal like it. It proposes that we should

. tread lightly along,‘ in felt» or on velvetfrtillrrwe get the banks within ourlpower, and then, “ kill,

mitigate these evils, or what is to Ward of future calamities?» "Why, sir, the most agreeable

1 “kill, kill r’

 ,xcoin;,ibutl:fther1 they say, that, ‘for that very reason, they on

Sir, we may talk as much as we please about the resumption of specie payrnents, 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, between
Government and the banks; it is only peace, trust, confidence, that can restore the prosperity of
thecountry. This system of perpetual annoyance to the banks, this lroarding up of money which
the country demands for its own necessary uses, this bringing of the whole revenue to act,

a not in aid and furtherance, but in direct hindrance and embarrassment of commerce and busi-
ness, is utterly irreconcileable with the public interest. We shall see no return of l’ormer times
till it be abandoned-a-altogether abandoned. The passagerof this bill will create new alarm and
new distress. \ r _. T - C ’

People begin already to fear their own Giovernrnent- They lrave an actual dread of those

. who should be their protectors and guardians. There are hundreds of thousands of honest
and industrious men, sir, at this very. moment, who would feel relieved in their circumstances,

, who would see al)ette1"p1‘ospcctol' an honest livelihood, and feel more cvsureof the rneansjof

food audclothing for theirwives andfchildren, if they should hlearthat, tliis.rneasuretl1ad.

«received its death, Let us, then, sir, away with it. a Do we not‘. see the worldprosperous around

. us?‘ Do weanot see other Govyernments we and other nations, enlightened by experience, and

, rejecting arrogant innovations and theoretic dreams, accomplislring; the great ends of society '2-

_ ,Wl1y, sir, whyare we, why are we alone among the:.«great commercial States"? Why

. arewe 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 perforrn our constitu~
tional duty, and we shall spread content, cheerfulness, and joy, over the whole land.

‘This lvrirrgs me, sir, to the second inquiry. r

Is this measure, Mr. President, a just exercise of the powers of Congress, and does it fulfil
all our duties '2  “ l ‘ ~ , '

Sir, I have so often discussed this point, I have so constantly insisted, for several years past,
on the constitutional obligation of Congress to take careof 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 uieted. ‘ If we have not
the.power,.,we must leave the whole subject in the hands ofthlose who aveit,‘ 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 lhavethe power, and I again press its exercise on

r the two Houses of Congress. I again assert, that the regulation of‘ the general currency--—-oi‘ the
e 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 coinage. This must have been

done for the purpose of enablirig Congress to establish one uniform basis for the whole money
; system. Con,¢___>:ress, therefore, and Con,gress alone, has power over the foundation, the ground-
work, of‘ the currency; and it would be ~stran,g};e and anomalous, having this, it’ it had nothing
. to do with the structure, the edifice, to be raised on this foundation! Convertible paper was
i already in circulation when the Constitution was framed, and imusthave' been expected to con-
. tinue- and to increase. But the circulation of paper tends to dis lace coin; it may banish it
altogether ,: at this very moment it has banished it’. If, tlrerefore, t e power over the coin does
not enable Congress to proteo-t.the coin, and to restrain any thing vvhic 1 would supcrsetlerit, and
, abolish its use, the whole power becomes nugratory. , If others may drive out the coin, and fill
the a country with paper which does not represent coin, of‘ whatuse, I beg to know, is that ex-

\I «elusive power over coins and coinage which is given . to Congress by the Constitution’!
 - Gentlemen on theotherrside adrnitrtbatit is the tendenc of paper circulation toetxtpelrthe
llvvithdraw from all icounerrionii with

5'

ate it the genjekralrr currency, and lirnitlthemlselives to the single and wnarrowobject of protecting, the coin,

vi and proviirliugfor spayrrients to Governmcrrt; This seems to me tobe at very s‘tran,ge~,l,iwayrlolf reas- ..

onin, , ,”and a verytarsitrangre course of political conduct. The coinage~pow,er,,was-griuen,to  used
 fori“t, ebeneflt of’ the whole couutry,rand not merely to furnish a‘ modicum*for"*th~eV!coIlection of
to revenue. ‘ it The object was to secure, for the general use of - the People, resound and saf'e«<circu-
r lating medium. I There can be no doubt of this intent. If any evil arises,threateningrto destroy
 or endanger this medium or this lcurrency,rour duty" is totmeet it,‘ nrotttollretreat‘ from it; to ram-

C edy it, not to ilet it alonerglvweararertolcontrol,.aud.correct the mischietiinot torsubniit toit; "Wherever

.. paper is to«.circt1lutc,.as subsidiary, to coin, or as ,performing,l rafigreaterl or less, d_egree,,the
l function of coin, its’-deregulation naturally belongs to the rlrajnelsilWjh'ich hold the power overfr the

coinage. , This is an " admitted ulaxim, by all writerer; ritihfas" "been=ll-adrnritted andractetl upon, on
-. all necessary occasious‘,?by.i our-¢oW.I1» Government, thro;ugh.o.ut its -whole lristory.‘ C W»hY3f-iwill We

r

 now thinkfourselves. wiser thanall. wrmhave gone *before “list. L ~

 r  This conviction of T whatlwas2'Ithe?i.gluty,rlofGorernmeintu led toiritlie estp,blishment'o£thebauk

17

in the Administration of General W"ashington. Mr. Madison, again, acted upon the same con-
viction in 1816, and Congress entirely agreed with him. On former occasions, 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 1816, 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 hascarried the doctrine farther, defended
it with more ability, or acted upon it with more decision and effect, than the honorable mem-
ber from South Carolina. His speech upon the bank bill, on the 26th of February, 1816, is
lstrong, Full, and conclusive. He has l1eI‘t3tOll)I'0 said. that some part of what he said on that
occasion does not appear in the printed speech; but, vvhatever may have been left out by acci-
dcnt, that vvhich‘ 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
accident or of chance; and his argument on that occasion, as it seems to me, was perfectly
conclusive. He {bands the right ofregulatingg 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
Emngress the power to corn money, 1'egulate the value thereof’, and of’ foreigrr coin, must have
been to give a steadiness and fixed value to the currency of the United States,” The state of
tl1in,c-;s, he insisted, existi.ng; at the time of’ the adoption oi‘ the Constitution, aflbrded an argument
in _support ol’ the construction. There then existed, he said, a depreciated paper currency,
vvlnch could only be ]'(‘gUiCtCC(l and made uniform by glving a power, for that purpose, to the
General Government.

Pile proceeded to say that, by a sort of under-current, the povver of Ciingress to regulate the
money of the country had caved in, and upon its ruin had sprung up those institutions which
now exercised the rigl..1.t; of 1'l1t1l\2.ll1,£__}; money for and in the United States. “ For gold and silver
(ho .insist.ed) are not the only money; but VVl'1tLi.'O\'t"_‘.l' is the medium of purchase and sale; in
vvhich banlt paper alone was now e.mpl.oyed, and had, therefore, become the money of the
country.” “ "I‘he rip;ht ot’ lil"l.'.tl(.ll‘)g money,” he added , “ an attribute ofsovereign power, a sacred
and important right, was exercised by two hundred and sixty banks, scattered over every part of
the United St:i.tes.”

Certainly, sir, nothin,q can be clearer than this lan,r_g'ua,:ro; and, acting vipgorously upon princi-
ples thus plainly laid down, he conducted the Bank bill, tliirough the House of‘ Reprcscnta»
tivcs. On that occasion, he was the champion of the power of Congress over the currency, and
others were willing to follow his lead.

f_l;3’»uttl1z:;~.l3anlt liill was not all. The honorable geritlcnran went much farther. The bank,
it was hoped and cetpected, would furnish a good paper currency to the extent of’ its own issues;
but there was a vast quantity of bad paper in circulation, anal it was possible that the mere
influence of the bank, and the refusal to receive this had money at the Treasury, rnight not,
both, be able to banish it entirely from the country. The honorable member meant to make
clean work. He. meant that neither Gi'0V(31'llI"I1£3l1l2 nor People should sutTer the evils of irre-
deomable paper. Therefore, he brought in another bill, entitled “ A bill for the more effectual
collection ot"the public revenue.” By the provisions of this bill, he proposed to lay a direct
stamp tar: on the bills of‘ State banks; and all notes_ot‘ nonrspecie-paying banlts were, by this
stamp, to be branded with the following; words, in distinct and legible characters, at length-———-
“ Noir A81’!-}t"Jll§I\It”)'1‘E." For the tar; laid on such notes, there was to be no composition, no
coinrnntation ; but it was to be sperilically collected, on every single bill issued, until those who
issued such bills should announce to the Secretary of the Treasury, and prove to his satisfac-
tion, 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 2 So much for our authority, as it has l1eretof'ore been admitted and acknovvledged, 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 superintend-

»-ence 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 isxthe chiefinstrmnent or agent of commerce; there can, indeed, be no comrnerce with-
out it, which deserves the name. C0n,gre.ss must, therefore, regulate it as it regulates other
indispensable commercial interests. If no means were to be used to this end butsuch as are
particularly enumerated, the whole authority would be nugatory, because no means are particu-

larly enumerated. We regulate ships; their tonnage; their measurement; the shipping arti~ -

cles ; the medicine chest; and various other things belonging to them ; and for all this we have

no authority but the general power to regulate commerce; none of these, or other means or

modes of regtilation are particularly and expressly pointed out. _
But is a ship a more important instrument of commerce than money ‘i We protect a policy

. of insurance, because it is an important instrument of ordinary commercial contract; and our

laws punish with death any master of a vessel, or others, who shall commit a fraud on the
parties to this contract by casting away avessel. For all this we have no express authorrty.
We infer it from the general power of i'egulati1rg commerce, and we exercise the power In this
case, because a policy of insurance is one of the usual instruments, or means, of commerce.

u

(But how inconsiderablc and unimportant is a policy of insurance, as the means or an instru-

ment of commerce, compared with the whole circulating paper of a country’!

18

1 _Si;-, tl_1e;p,ower,is granted _ to us; and granted withoout any spccificetionl of means; un;d;~.'therefo’re

, lwenma ,' lawfull exercise all the usuulxneans. - I need not partic.ulurize these means, nor state
, “Y 2

at rpresyenot, what theyyare, orrnny‘ be. One is, no doubt, it propertregulution of reccivptc-at the
custom houses and lendsofiices. But this, of itself", IS not eritiugli. ,,Another.1e,a national
bank, which, I fully believe, Would, even now, answer all desired uurpooses, and reinstauerthe
currency in ,ninety days. 'I‘hese, I think, are the means to he first tried ; and if, notwithstand-

, ing these, irredcenizrble pape‘r,el1ould overwhelm us, others must be resorted to. -We have no
, directjmrthority over State hunks; but we have power over the currency, and we must; protect it,
, _u=.sing, of couree,: ul.ways,such utu-:-ens, ll.‘ theybe ‘found edequute, as shall be most gentle and mild.

u

;'I‘he great measure, S11‘, IS it bunk; because a hszrrli is not only able to reetruin the excessive

"issues of State hawks, but it is able also to furnisli for the country at currency of universal credit,
and of uniform value. This is the grand deslderutum. Until such ucurrency is established,

Idepend on it, sir, What is necessary for the prosperity of the country (2ttl1rl.H'~.WEll.’ be accomplislied.

on ,1},-, ‘quegition of power, sir, we have at very important and striking precedent.
The members of the Senate, Mr. President, will recollect the controversy between New York

find‘ her neiurlibor States, fifteen or sixteen yeure ago, upon theexclueive r,i,o,l1t, of, steam riav1‘g‘u~

tion. . New York had granted an exclusive right ofsuch l1tltVlg:,ll.l0n over herwuters to Mr. Ful-
ton and his ess'oei-macs; and declared, lay low, that no veeeel propellecl lay eteerri rsllould navigate
the North river or the Sound, vvithout. license from three .greritcee, curler penult.y of cordiucetion.

To courrtemct‘ this law, the Legielat.ure of New Jeremy enacted, that if any citizen others
should be restrained, or injured, in person or property, by on y party acting; under the law of
New York, such citizen should liztve remedy in her courts, if the ol:l'e;uder could be cuuglit within
her territory,,zrnd should be errtitledyrto treble do1nog,esl,cud meta. New,,Jcreey.cullcdythienct

in. Zeta, of‘3reto‘2~,t£on ,- ztrrdojrustifieclr item the gcneml ground‘ of*z'cp-r%is-:tls.l , ,

On the Iotliereide, Con_ncetic,ut took fire,‘ andcs no,etee_,u1bout could come"doW11:thcSo1:lud

C from New York. to Connecticut, or price up from .Ct'rnnccticIut ;to'Ncw Yor'k,lw-lthout, a.New

York zamzse, "she er'm.cted a law, by »which,hezrv'y perlaltiec were iznpoeed upon all who ehould

i ,presume to come into her ports arid harbors, itazufng om,y.s‘ucit ll7ccn.se.

I-Icre, sir, was it very hurrnonioue state ofcoinrnerciztl intercourse l at very prornieing condition.

'ofthings, indeed! .You could notget from New York to New .l~'"Iuven by stecrn; nor could

you go from New York to New Je-rsey, without transhipznent in the boy. And now, sir, let me
_remind the country, that this belligerent legislation of the States concerned wcejuet,ilie<ll and
defended, liy exactly the same l5I.l‘glJl‘ll6"I'li..'i’: as those which vwe have heard in this debate. Every
thing which has been sold heie, to prove that the authority to regulate coxnmercetlciee not include
:1 power to regulate currency, was said in that case, to prove that the uczncouthoifity did not
include an exclusive power over St(ilCl.Il]l‘r0Etif5 or other Il"lt-3a.l'1S of r1ztvi,«,§ati.r;n. I do not know a
reason, a suggestion, an idea, which has tween used in this debcte, or which was cursed in the
debate in September, to eliow that Congress has no power to control the currency of theccuntry

undeznzayke it ‘uniform, which was not uracil in this etenmhoat centroverrsy, to prove ,.thrtt».the

authority of this Governnient did mt rea.ch the mutter them in dispute. Look l:ot‘thol'orcneic C
discussion in New York! Look to the urgugnerit in the court here! You will find it every
where urged that ncwzigcmfon does not come within the general idea of regu,lrlting corrirnerce;
Vthut ',S'lZCO.l1‘ll)OZItlI$5 are but vehicles and instruments; that the power of‘ Corxgrese is general, and
general only ;.and that it does not extend to agents and inet.rur:nerlte.

And what, sir, put on end to this state of tl'iinge 'l— Wllut etepped these eeizureeund conliecuu

, tione’! N othing in the world, sir, but the exercise of the Cunel.ituti0rl.n1 power of thie,~Govern-

ment. Nothing in the world, but the decision of l,l1,t3ii‘3lIllIl1‘(.’l'Il1€. Court that the power of ‘C,ongl;1'.ese
to regulate commerce vvue pura.mount;, that it overruled any 1,nte.rl'ering State laws; ztncltthut

t_hese acts ofthe States did interfere with acts of Congress enacted under its clear conetitu-
,l'.l0l1£tlltt11l.l1Orit_‘{. ,

As to the extent of the powerof regulating commerce, allow me to quote at single sentence
from the 0"plrl1lmul"0ne,0f the learned iudges ol‘ the Suprerne Ccurt,del1vered‘ on that occaeion ;

,a..judgcla1Wcy.~s dietinguislied for the great care with whichhe guarded State rights: I mean

Mrrluerice Jolinson, And when I have read it, air, then eat ,if' it does not confirm every
word rind, syllable which I have uttered on this subject, either now, or at the September session.

,},,,._“‘,.It,i the cdvarrceir-re'nt of ,eocicty,” said the "ridge, ,“la.bor, trcncyportution intelligence,,;care,ro ,
.,,u,ud,l-tmrlorgertneane of exchenge,,be,come commo mess, cud enter into commerce; cnctthe mbyiect,
‘ ,i,7?«!-to tl?fill!'«Ii':_l]zt«,,.,,,é;It,6 ,_agpttl?, and these oafliotts opercttiorze, became the pbjccts tgfccmmercirtlr rcg<,trLe,lian;"

‘Them just,sentimentsrprevulled. The decision of the court quieted the den,g;eroucJ‘_co,n-

, troverjs'y;l and sa.t.isfiell,,,end I will uddgrutified, rnoet higltly gretifierl, the wl1oIlel»lcountry.~?  -

Sir: may lW°.,-IL1.ut perceive at the present moment, without being suspected rofiilooking with eyes i
swhose vS1gl1«ti1;8‘ sharpened by tooymuch.opprelieneion---rnuy we not perceive, sir, in what is new a
casing aroundus, the poseilwl.eil>cginnix1g,-e of mother contrcverey betweenrS:3tatee,_ which may

ll,-,,‘*‘?,.0f Still gT¢,€ll3i‘5;,1“l,l,'f10lI§l&Ill3,t,tllld.fi3ll0W£iLl,tif not arrected,gby etioll rnoredenlorchle conscqulences ‘l’
 it 9 Welyseey rrotd;M1ger,_:no?disturba.nce,,no co-nttesyts ahead? 1! S,ir,do” we not” liehhlc.l excited: com-

iomréitiel riva,lship,veuid;ently existing between greet ,St_e,tee end gr~eul2*citriceU?T lDo;We l'10l.‘,:‘l3el3
 ii¢tel}1ou,e, Competition for itraLde,,ljlc,::ternal and interricllttl Do we not eeertlie parties cloncerncd
orenlergmggrad proposinggtc:?enl1:a.r,e,e,~ to, at vast rertent, their pleura? “‘of.,cvurrency, evidently ~:in«.con~
,Y1*§‘«!i10l'1 llwlmfifllfisfi Objectsfiof. lmdle,¢andL;cotnu'rercc'l ' Do we nrrteeea States themeel‘vee»beco«eeiin»g .
deeply interested in great-;l)_anlt—i.l1,g§liuetityutionel Do ,we*not know that, already,tlielsucitcmnd
bl“-5 Of Wine Statesc-re pr0h1bited,,h?y.ila.w,lromt‘-circulutingin others”? i   t  it

19‘

IS_ir,I will push these Iquestions no farther: but I tell you that it was for exactly such it
Ic_risisI as Ithis---for this very crisis-4-for this identical exigency now upon uIs---thatIt.liisI C,onstiItu-
ti'oIh wits Iframed, and this G‘r'overnmenIt established." And, sir, let those who expect to get over
this crisis without,Ie£'lI'ort and without action, let those whose hope it is that they may be borne
aloni,g"dn, the tideof circurnstanccs and favoralile, occurrences, and who repose in tIhe'deInial of
their own powers and their own 'rcsponsibility--let. all such look well to the end. ‘I I

For one, Iintend to clear mysélfIi"roI1n all blame. ‘II intend, this day, to free myself of the
re'sponsibilityIof‘ consequences, by warning you of the danger into which you are conducting
our public aliairs, byIurging and entrcating you, as I do now urge and entreat you, by invoking
,1Y“'l1, as I do invoke you,.hy.your love of cIouIIntry, and your fide‘lIit.Iy to the Constitution, to
abandon allunt.ried expedients; to put no trust in ingenuity and contrivance; to have done
with projects which alarm and agitate the People ; to seek no shelter from obliggatioii‘ and duty;
but with manliness, directness, and true wisdom, 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! j ‘ 

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 bonndto take some notice. I l , i

That honorable gcentleniaii, in his recent speech, attempted to exhibit a contrast between the
course of conduct which I, and other gentlornen who act with me, at present pursue, and that
which we have heretofore follovveil. In preserIn.inI,o; 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,,vvith him, that I mean Inothingi
personally injurious, and that my object, also, is truth, and nothing else. Here I niiIgl1t stop;
but I will even say soinritliing more. I

It is now five and twenty years, sir, since I became acquainted with the honorable gentleman,
in the House ofileprescntativcs, in which he had held a seat, I think, about a year and a
halt" before I entered it. From that period, sir, down to the year 18%, I can say, with great
sincerity, there was not, among my political contemporaries, any man for whom I entertained
a higher respect, or warmer esteem. Wlien we first met, we were both young men. I beheld
in him a generous character, it liberal t‘t.l't(I comprehensive mind, engrossed by great, objects,
distiriguished talent, and, particularly, gm-.a’t Iorigrinality and vigor ‘of thought. That he was
ambitious, I did not doubt; but that there was any tliingin his ambition low onsordid, any
thiiig_;approaIchiIn,g too love of the more loaves and fishes of ofiice,-I did not thenbolieve, and
do not now believe.  If, from that momIent down to the time Ihave already mentionetd, I dir‘l'ered
with him on any great constitutional question, I do not know it. . II  I . I I I I * g i I

But, in 18%, events well knovvnto the Senate separated I us; and that separation :remai,ned,l‘I'
Wide and broad, until the end of the nneinorahle session which terminated in March,I*1833.
With the events of that session, our occasions of did'ercnceI had ceased; certainly for the time,

and, as Isincorely hoped, foreve'r.I Before the next rncetinp; of Congress’, the public doposites, ~

had been reinovetl from’ their lawful custody by the I-’resiclen‘t. Respectiilnp; this e:rercise'ot' the ,
Executive power, the honorable gentleman and myself‘ entertained the some‘ opinions; _an‘d, in
regordltoi subsequent t‘ran,sactions connected with that, and gro_wiIngI‘ out -of’ it,’ there was not,
so far as I know, any clifference of sentiment between us-. IWe looked upon all these‘ proceed-I
ings but as so many efIl‘orts”to give to the Executiveau unconstitutional control over the public I
moneys. We II10lIlQ"lii: we ‘saw, every where, arose of a design to extend‘ Executive authIority,_.
not only in derogation of the just powers of ongress,I but Itothe danger of the public liberty.
Wo’actIed together, to check these dIeIsigns,Iand to arrest the march of Executive prerogativeand
doininion. In all thie,Ivve were but co-operIatin,__ with many other genItlemen here, and with a
largfe and iintelligent portion of the whole country. I I I I

he Iuntortnnate results of these “Executive interferenceswith the currency had made an
impression on the public mind. A revolutionjscemed in progressaand the People were coming
in their strength," as we lieganf to ftiiink, IiJ0 .SllIppOl.‘l'.I us and our principles. I

I ‘I “In this state ‘of tl1IiIhIgfs, sir, we ririethere atIt=hIe cornmencementl of the Septernbersession: but I

We met, not aevve hadidtme; we met, not as we had parted. The eventsof May, the policy of
the l?residenItI in Irefcii-cnceIto those events,the d‘octrines of the Message of September, tlie‘prin—
ciples and opinions which the honoral~II.le gentleman, both to my surprise and t'o my infinite regret,
Iconic forWardIthen tottsupport, rendered it quite impossible for us to act‘ together, for a single
noIInrnent longer; To the leading doctrines of that Message, and to the policy which _it recorn-—

IIrn‘ended, Ifelt, and still l'eelI,Ia I‘deep,‘IconsIcientio'us, aInIdIirreIconcilaIIble opposition. The honorable?

ge1it.leman'sur-portcii, arid still; supports, ‘both. Here, then, we part._ On tliese questionsyof
constitutional power and duty, and on these momentous qyuestrons of national policy, we separate.
And so broad and ample is the space which divides us, and so deep does the division run, touch-

'inI,<:'IevIehI the very foundations of‘ the Goverlnment, that, considering the time of‘. life to which we 

'hotIhI l'_1aveI arrivecl, it is not probable that wears to meet again. I saythis with unfeigiied and

IdeIe'p,renret. ,IBel#ieve me, sir, I wi>uildI most gladly act with the honorable genthéman. If’ he

would but comefhacl_:, now, to vvhIat.I consider his t'orrner’I principles and .sent.irnentsII,*, if he vifould
plIace‘,‘hiIrns‘eli' on thos”eI constituItion.al doctrines which he has sustained througii a long series of

yearIs*; and if, thus st‘ziIniiiii,i;,r, he would exerthis achnovvledged aliilit.y,toirestorc»the ,iprosperityIIofI.

the country, and« put attend to-Ithe‘ mischiefs-‘of’ reckless‘ ex‘p’erirnIe‘n,ts, a.n(iI‘II(]tii'lfi‘t‘i.'l)t1S inriIo’tzi;4I‘

tion,----I. would not oIri‘l’37‘ vtlillingly"Iact wit]; I-iirn, I would act" under hitiii‘;  wIoi;ildiI fiolloivv-7hii‘r1,.

20*

I would support liim,.I would back him, at every step, to the utmost of my power and ability.
Such is not tosbe our destiny. That destiny is, thatiwe 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

.,men¢ia_l, emporium, some central point,’ for the exclian es of trade, Groverunient, certainly,.

goodv-will which have heretofore inspired me. - , . i , ~
There have been threeprincipal occasions, sir,_on which the honorable gentleman has express-

ed his opinions upon the questions now under discussion. They are, his speechof the 15th Sep--

tember, his published letter of“ the 3d November, and his leading s eech at the present session.
These productions il1‘6.all~1I1a.1‘lieLl.Wltl1 his characteristic ability; t eyvare ingenious, able, con-~
densed, and striking. They deserve an answer. To some of the observations in the speech of

September, I made a reply on the day ofits deliver gthere areother parts of it, however, which

re mm a more deliberate examination. ;

r. President, the honorable geiitleinan declares in that speech, F‘ 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 unconstitutio_nal, inexpedient, and dangerous; that it has ever dreaded the
union of the political and moneyed power, and the central action of the Grovcrnnierit, to which
it so strongly tends; that the connexion 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 vvliole
system, through the connexion with the Government, will be enabled to control the exclianges
botliat home and abroad, and, with it, the commerce, ltbreign and domestic, including exports and
im orts.” T

llllotv, sir, this connexion between Gov'e1'ii‘:neiit and the baiiks, to which he iiriputes such rnis--

chievous conse uences, .he_doscribes to be ‘F the receiving and paying away thcirynotcs ascash ;.

and the use of t a public money from the time of the collection: to the disburseuieiit.” i _
Sir, if i I clearly comprehend the honorable gentlenian, he means no more, after all, tliaii this:
that, while the public revenues are collected, as lieretofore, through the banks, they will he in the

banks betweenthe time of collection and tlietime of disbursement; that, during that period, they

will be regarded as one part of the ntieansof business and of discount possessed by the banks;,
and that, as a greater portion of the revenueiiis collected in large cities than in small cries, tlicse
large cities will, of course,derive greateigbenefit than the small ones from these dcposites in the
banks. Inother words, that, as the iilznpor.tinp; rnerchants in a great city pay more duties to Gov-
ernment than those in a small one, so they enjoy an advantage tobe derived from any use which
‘the. banks may make of these moneys, while on deposits with them. Now, sir, I would be very
glad to know, supposing all this to be true, what there is infit either unequal or un'ust’l The
benefit‘ is exactly in proportion to the amount of business, and to the sums paid. I individuals
in large cities enjoy theincidental 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 bcnelit of giving
bond forduties, 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 l‘iavirig" credit .

for a large sum, the small importer liavirig; credit for a smaller sum. But the advantage, the hem
efit, or the indulgence", or whatever we call it, is,lnev_ertlieless, 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 population, its capital and enterprise, draw business towards it, constitute
it a central point in commercial operations, and have made it the greatest city. , It is the central»
ization of commerce by these just and proper causes---causes which must always exist in every
country--~which produces a lar e collection of reveniieiin the favored spot. The amount of capital
is one very important cause, no oubt; and leaving public moneys in the banks till wanted, allows
to merchants, in places of large him ort, a degree of incidental benefit, in just proportion to the
amount of capital bythem employs in trade, and no more. -

I suppose, sir, it is the natural course of things in every commercial country, that soirie’place,.

or a few places, should go ahead of‘ others in commercial business importance. This must ever r.

be so until all places possess precisely equal naturalad vantages. And I suppose, too, that, instead»
of being rnischievous, it is rather for the common good of all, thattliere should be some corn-

lluot;;ys,eel:.to produce this result,

a wouldjbe a,iv.;ery: strange and indefensiblcpolicy which shouldileadvthe Goverinuient. to. withhold

any portionIf"oftlhecapital ofgtlie country from useful employment, merely because thiat,;i,l employ.-

ed, While all enjoyed the benefit proportionately, alliwouldi not enjoy it with thol same, absolute.

mathematicalpequality.  p i y , - h .  p v .  p p      r
So inu.ch,.s1fr,,.for concentration, arising from depositing the revenues inibaniksg. Lethe new

"look to~_the other ;part.of the conneitiovri, viz..the receiving of bank notesiifor. duties. ' How in the

 World does this“:luelntrallizel’ thef,’co’:n_me1*cia,l system? T

y  ,_ _ y p e whole tendenicyand elI'ect, as it seems:
toepfle, IS. directly the otherfway. It counteractscentralization.5 It giv,es':a1,l possible advantage to
loclailacurryency andiiiilocalfpaynients, and thereby eiicouragesbothiirnports and exports.  It tends
110 malaesliocal Itloniey goo;:l;‘every,w?h.ere,. . all‘ goods be iimported:;intojuCharleston, the duties are»

yvthe bestowal o unequal privileges; but sure1y,\_slr, it i

paid in{(’3harleston‘notes. i . New Yorli‘ notes, are not dernandjed. q  otliing, certainly, can betairer.

01f.,l;t101'€ijB‘q«;l1*i'ii.lt,l1t3,I1 this,,antl,nothih flruore favorableto the Charleston. importers, . i ,
_ 31,1‘ h0WfVV_“.O111,d.t,ha-tn 5,'S75l3‘9m‘WD1‘i,[, which the gentleau himself proposes 7:!-

M

21,,

It his plan could prevail, he would have the duties collectedeiither in specie, or in a,Govern-V
rnent paperto be issued from the Treasury. He would i reject all bank notes wl_1atever._, If the
gentleman, sir, tears, centralization, I am astonishedlthat he does not see centralization in all its

terrors in this very proposition of his own. Pray allotvrne to ask, sir, ‘where will this Govern» ,
rnent paper,‘ 1n the course of its issue and circulation, naturally centre?‘ To what points will it,

tend’! Certainly, rnostlcertainly,to. the greatest points of collection and expe,ndit_ure; to the very
heart of; the metropolitan city, wherever that city may be. . This is as inevitable as the fall off

water or the results of attraction. = If two-thirds of the duties be collected in New York, it vvill v "i

follow, of course, that tvvo-thirds of any Government paper received for ‘duties will be there re-
ceived ; and it will he more valuable there than elsewhere. The value of such paper would con-
sist in its receivability, and nothing else. It would always tend, therefore, directly to theispot
vvherepthe 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 I-Iatrtpslrirei No sooner issued than they commence their march toward the -place where»
theyare 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---ir"you desire to dry up the small streams of com-
merce, and fill more full the deep and already swollen great channels, you will act very wisely
to that end, if you keep out of‘ the receipt of the Treasury all moneybut such paper as the Gov-
ernment noay furnish, and which shall be no otherwise redeemable than in receipt for debts to-
Govcrrunont, while at the sametirne you depress the character of the local circulation.

Such is the sc’home_oi' the honorable member in its probable commercial efl"ect. Let us look at
it ina political point ofvictv. i p v .  t t t . l l

The honorable member says he belon;.,rs- to the ,State-rights party; tlrattparty professes some-

"tlrinp; of an uncommon love of liberty; an extraordinary sensibility to all itsdangers; and of

those ,dttnge1's, it most dreads the union ol’ the ‘political and money power. This we learn from
the authentic declaration of the gentleman hiznselt". And now, oh,transcendent consistency ! oh,
most vvondorful conlbrrnity of means and ends! oh, exquisite mode of gratifying high desires !
behold, the honorable member proposes that the political power of the State shall taketo itself the.
whole function of’ supplying; the entire paper circulation of the country, by notes or bills of its
own, issued at its own discretion, to be paid out or advanced to whomsoever it pleases, in discharg-
ing the olvliazttions of Government, ,l;)t7’tt.r'll'lg' no promise to pay, and to be kept in circulation
merely by l..u;-.ing,_r, made receivable atthe ‘Treasury l by The whole circulation of the country, ex-at
caption onlythat vvhich is metallic, and which must.alw-aye be small, will thus be made up of

mere Giovcrnlrrent parent, issued for Caiovernment purposes, and redeemable only in .. payment of ‘
Government debts. nether. Words, the entire means of carrying on the whole commerce of they
“ country will be held by Grovernment in its own hands, and made commensurate, exactly, cw-1tl1 its

own wants, purposes, and opinions; the whole commercial business of the country being. thus.
made a more a.ppentlage to revenue. . , V  l i ,
But, air, in order that I may not misrepresent the honorable member, let me show you a little»-
more distinctly what his opinions are respecting this Government paper. l . . l
The honorable member says, air, that to make this sub-Treasury measure successful, andto
secure it aggainst reaction, some safe and stable medium of circulation, “ to take the place ofibank
notes in the fiscal operations of the Govorornent, ought to be issued ;” that, p“ in the present con»
dition of thevvorld, a papericlurrency, in some form, if not necessary, is almost . indispensable, in

financial and commercial, operations of civilized and extensive communities;” that “lthe“great‘l~

(lesideratum 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 degreesufiicientljsi high‘ for this purpose/_’ And then he says, “I go _
fartlrer. Itappears tome, afterllbeetowing tliebest reflectronl canlgrve the SlJll1)j'€3Cl.', that no c_on- .

vertible paper, that is, nopaper whose credit rests upon a ,pr-omispe to pm, is suitable for curren-
cy.”  “‘ on what, then, (he asks,) oucrht a paper~cur:re’ncy to rest '2” “.1 would say,” he answers,
“" on demand and supply simply: wt ich regulate. the value of’ every thing else—-the constant"

demand which Giovernmgent has for its necessary supplies.” , ‘Hethen proceeds to observe, “ that 

tliere rnicrht be a‘ sound and safe paiperlculrrency, founded on the credit of Government exclusive-

ly.” . “ 'l‘hats.uch =paper, only tovbe issued to those who had claims on theGovernment, would,
in its habitual state, he at or,above“par with gold and silver‘>;” that“ nothing but iexperience can ,

deterrnine what amount, and of vvhatdenominations, might be safely issued; but that it might
be safely assumed thatthe country would absorb an amount greatly exceeding its annual income.

’1\/loch of its exchyangles, wliichtamo_un”t to a vast sum, aswell as itsbanking business, would
revolve about it; and many millions would thus be ltept in circulation, beyond the demands of i

the Government.” to W , — _ . n _  p p _

By this scherne, sir, Government, In 1ts_,d1sbursements, 1slno.t_to pay money, but to issue pa-
per. This paper is no otherwise payable or redeemable, than as ll‘. may received at the Trees-
ury. It is etxpectedto 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 anywhere a more plain and obvious project , of paper money, in all its de-A
forniity, I shouldnot know whereto look for it. ' t

In the first place,sir,V I have suggested the complete union which it would form, if it were, i 

in itself‘, practicable, between the political and the money power.

The wholefcomrnerce of the country, indeed, under such a stateof law, would be little inure’  

thana sort of incident to Treasury operations---rathe'r a collateral emanation of the revenuevg.

es

syhtéfii, than a substantial and important brianch of the public interest. I have referred,
also, to its probable consequences, iuponpthat vvhlch the gentleman regards as so great an
evil., and which the denominates ‘‘ the centralization ofcomnoercial action.” ,

, And now I pray you to consider, Mr. President, in thenext place, what an aclm_rrable con—
tfivance this would be to secure that-‘economy in the expenses of Grovernnrent tvhnchthe gen-
tleman has so much at heart. Released from all necessity of taxat.1on,_and trom the consequent
responsibility to] the Pcteople; not Toalled upon tto regard oat Zltli, the amount of annual mcome;
having’ anaut onty 0 cause reasuryrno es to Issue waenever ll‘. p cases,

i i “ In multitudes, like which they populous North

Poured never from her firozen loins, to pass

Rhone,o1' the Danni) ;” p ,
what admirable restra1nt"wo_uld be ituposenl on Grovernment, hcvv doubly sure would assn~
rance be made forit, that all 1193 ef§oend1t\§lres.tvonld‘lro strictly limited to the absolute and ur-
dispensable wants and deruant s o t is pu 1c service . ‘ . _ t

But, sir, fortunately, very fortunately, ta spheme_so w1ld,and winch vvould he so mischievous,
is totally impracticable. It rests on an assumpt1on,,f‘or _Wll10h theirs is not the least founda-
tion, ‘either in reason or experten.ce. , It takes for 9;r-anted that Wlllcll the history of‘ ‘every com-
mercial state refutes, andour {JWIL ‘3‘3Pf3WJ«11,}’: 11} i1'llll°5”‘3V‘1’,rY Patl9- o It 5lll>P0$E‘#=‘5 ptlmt irrctlecm~
able Grovernment paper can circulate in the business of" soc1ety,and be kept atpar. This is an
impossibility. The honorable gentleman regents convertible bank notes, which are equivalent
to specie, since they will alwayscommand 1t, and adopts, In their stead, Government paper, with
not promise to pay, but a promise only to berecerved for debts and‘ taxes; and he puts forth
the imagination, asfl have said_,,so often andso long refuted, that this paper will be lrefptlin, air.
cul’atiou'ih rtl1e“*cou_ntry, and twill be able; to perform the great ‘business crfcurreney and e:xcl1an,c;o,
even rthlouvh it exist in tuantttres exceeding, by many millions, the demands of‘ Government.

_ .-. , Cl. , . . . , ‘ r y ,

It'1tbe,nec_essary, $11‘, at this day, to refute ideas like these, li.,I1"ll]$Ntll)e because they history
of , all countrtes, our own Included, IS‘ a deadoletter tons. Even at the very moment in which I
am speaking, the small amount of Treasury notes Whlclt has‘ been Issued by (§‘rovernment,~hardly
a fifth part of the ordinary annual ‘revenue---though those, notes hear an interest of hvc per
cent.t-m-though they are redeemable In cash at the Treasury, at _the exp1rat.1on of the year-—-
and though, inothe mean ttrne, 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-payingbanks ;

' 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.
Mr. President, tovvard the close of‘_th1s speech of Se tember,I find a paragraph in which
several other subjects are brought together, lan;d_wh1cl1 must ask pernoission to read.

, Having commended the wise and noble bearrngof the little State~r1gl1ts party, of vvhich he
says” it is his-pride to be a member, throughout the eventful period through which thecountry
has passe-dsince 1l‘3':?/l,,,he adds: , , r«» t l

“ In thatyoar,  I have stated, the tahrifl’ system triumphed in tllecouncils ‘of the nation. We saw
its disastrous political bearings; forcsaxv its surpluses, and the cxtruvngancics to which it would
lead; we rallied on the election of the late President to arrest it.throup;h the influence of the lilxecutive
Delpartmentof the Government. In tltils we failed. We then fell back upon the rights and sovereignty
of the “States; and, by the action of asrnall but gpllantState, and t.lrrou,e;l1 the potency of its interposi-
tion, we brought the system to the ground, sustained, as it was, by the Opposition and the Administre.-
tion, and by the whole power and patronage of the Government.”  t t ,

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
Gi_ene:al'Jachso‘n’s first election,_was to accomplish the overthrow of the iprotecting policy of the
country. Indeed! Well, this is very frank. Iam glad to hear the ravowal made. It. puts
an ‘i end to all suspicions. ‘ _ _

It was, then, to overthrow protectmn,_was it, that the honorable gentleman took so much
pains to secure, Gen.Jackson’s first election’! I commend his candor, irinovv acknowledging

it. But, sir, the honorable member had allies and associates in_that rally. They thronged,

rounil him from all quarters, and followed his lead. And pray, 811‘, was his object, as now

avowed by luirnself, the joint ‘object of_‘ , all the party '2 , Did__l‘sc tell Pennsylvania, honest, i.nl-,-»_
telll'igent,.straight-forward Pennsy_lvan1a,ttha.t such ,Wash1s purpose’! And did Pennrsylvania .

concur 1ri”it'i  ,
Evert body iknovvs she is more of a tariff State than any other in the Union. Did he tellher
that is our use was to briiak the tariff‘ entirely down’! Did he state his iiohjeots,lalso,, to
I\T,evv York‘ A Did be state them, to New Jersey in _What say you, ,gentlemen.., from Pennsylva~

nia,”-gentlemenrlfrom.New .York, and gcutleuren from New Jersey’!  who supported

rG'r‘en.i”Ja'ckson’s,e1ection,_whatfsay your? "Was, it your 'plurpo”lse,,also,_by ,that.election,,toibreak

i  ,,do.vsfnthe,protectivepolicy 'l, 01', if it “were, not your purp,os_e, did yo,u‘,iknowl,, nevertheless-«pray
«let us unlderstand that~e—-d,id,“you know, nevertheless, that it was the purpose, and thernain pur«—

pose, of the h'on“orable member ifrorn Carolina’! and did yout,rstilll,3co-operate with him»?

Pennsyilvania was rfirstiand f'or'em,ost in espousingthe cause of General... :Jackso,n;' ,

,‘,',l7he presentilCihief all/Iiagistrate of,‘ the ,country, wastaovtrrmlembrerof this body in718‘:28.. I-Isl

an.d”*thle" honoaablelmembercfromlQarclina.were,. at ;t,hat_time, =erterrting_z;l their united forces, to

I ltl-regutmostpintr ordexj,§_to..lbiring,alqoutflren. Jacltsonisyelection;g Didi they ‘work. thus,aea_lonsly,.‘to—

v onnnnm..n,.n.n ,,,M,-
. rnri1jent,‘‘anfl then each to look out 'forh1rnself i o

.. MI e +

,ir,.,rae»sa;me. uliiintaie. "end ‘and’ '2  or didr.,ithey rnean, nterelyptotlchangc },tl,1e]C,5'rov»-,

1

23

I

I Mr» Vi-ttniB_urtt.n voted for the tarifl’ bill of‘ tylratt year, con1_rnonly,;calle.d. the l‘‘1Jill.ol'fil).om-

. inationsg” but, very luckily, and in extremely good season, i'n..S‘l7'uct_t'o2rz,.9,l'<>r that votehitppened

to come from Albany! The vote, therefore, could be given, and the member giving itcould
not possibly thereby give any offence to any gentleman. of the State-rights party, with Whom
the doctrine of’ instructions is sotauthentic. .. I r  I
Sir, I will not do gentlemen i_nj,ustice.i Thosevrho belonged to tariff States, as they arecalied,
and who supported General Jacltson fin‘ the Presidency, did not intend there-by to overthrow
the protecting policy. They only mcantto make General Jackson President, -and to come
Into power alon,o; with him ! As to ultimate objects, each had his own. All could agree, how-

ever, in the firststep. it was diflit-ult, certainly, to give a plausible appearance to at political

union, among ,t_rent,len1en who difl‘ered so widely, on the great and leading question ofthe times-----

the question of the protectin,tr policy. But this diliiculty was overcome by the oracular decla-

ration that General Jackson was in l‘o.\‘()I' of‘ a “ 3L'Dxetous TARIFF.” ,
TEILEG, sir, W3SKl1)ple room andsverge enough. Who could object to ‘a ,,j2tCZ‘IlCi02£8 tariff?
, art‘ men an ~nti-tartt’l‘men, late-riuhts men and Consolidationists those who hadibeen
called prodigals, and those who had lJ(‘l?I'l called radicals, all tbrongedjand flocked together
here, and with all their tlitierenee in regard to ultimate objects, agreed to make common
cttuse, till they slrouldget into power.

The gltosts, sir, which are t"ab1ed to cross the Styx, whatever different hopes or purposes
they natty hate bra-yond_it, still unite, in the present wish to get over, and theretbre all hurry

anal hutldlc into the leaky and sltattercd craft. ot'C‘~haron,tl1e t'erryman. And this motley throne;

of‘ yoliticiatts, air, with as much tlillli:-renoei of final object, and  little care for each other,
mat e a boat of“ Judieious Tariff,” and all rushed and scrambled into it, until they filled it, near
to Sllllilllg. The authority of the master was able, however, to\ keep them peaceahlerand in
order, for the time, for they had the virtue of‘ sttluriission, and though with occasional dangers
of l]‘j‘)l3(".l.l.ll"l,l,_‘_,_‘,ll(3‘&*5l1£2Ct3‘0(,ltV;l in puslting there all over with his long setting;—pole.

“ IP31; ratern conto £-3ul)i,¢.;'it." A

'Wt3ll, air, the honorable ,o;entlernan tells us that he expected, when Gen. Jackson should be
olected, to arrest the tartll’ system t/l.‘7‘()’lt,§,’}l Z/to’ ‘577_fl‘21.I:7?Cc oftltc .E'.7l.‘c2t"l;t«li”l.’6 De;17o7‘l7ne'nt. Here is

_anoth<:+r eamlid confession. Arrest the “‘t.aritT by Ext-t:ut_ive influence! yrlndeetlll Why,tsir,

this St‘tT'tl”lS like hopin,t_§, -trorn tlluylllrst, for the use of the Veto. How, but by thelVe-to, could the
Executive arrest the tarllfnote ’l And is it true, sir,,that,.at that early day, the honorable mem-

ber was l.ookin,c_r, to the Vote, not with tlread, but with hope 'l_ Did he expect it, and did "he rely

upon it'll lDid"he tn~ake the rally ot"fvvhiel’1 helpspeaksl, in order that he might choose a President

; who would exercise it? And did he e.l't.erwai‘d_scomplain ofit, or does he cemplainofit now,

only hiecutilse it was ill~tlirecte7d-—-becauselit turned out to be a thunderbolt, which did not fall in
the ripgltt place 'l I ‘ y A I ~ ’ I

In tbisreliance on Executive. influenee——-sir, I declare I hardly can trust myself that I, read or
quote correctly, when I find, in What I read, or front what I quote, the honorable member from
South (fnrolina, by his own confession, hoping or expecting‘ _to accomplish any thin by E.xccu--I

tive influence; yet: so, was it spolten, and so is it printed-win this reliance, or this ope, or ex» I
’ peetatmn, founcletl on Ii'.xec:utt,ve tttlluenoe, the laonorable gentleman and his friends failed; and,
I.

1

'tlllt'J,£,!'llIl_tl’l1‘i3, he says, they fell back on the soyvtereignty of. thle,States,'and brought the system
to the ground “ tltrnutrrlt the potency of interposition ;’t’ by which he‘? means neither more nor less

, than nullilicat.ion. Eilo then,-air, aoeor<.lingto this, thatexcossive fear ofpower which was so touch
I cherished by the N ullifiers, was only awakened to a flame in their bosorns, when they found that

they could, not aecotrnplish their ownends by the Executive power of the:I"resident. I
I am no authorized.commentator,sir, on the doctrines or the-ortestof nulhfic_att.on. Non nos-
mm. But, if this exposition be authejnt1c,_I rzuust say it is not calculated to diminish rnyoppo-

[sition to thellsentirnents of that. school.

But the gentleman goes on totell us that nullifioatiou, or interposition, succeeded. By means
of it, he says, he did bring the p‘roteeti've system to the ground. , And so, in his publishedletter
of Noveml:_)er,,3cl,, he states that“ State interposition , has .overthrovvn the protective tariff, and,
withit, the American systeim.” ‘ I I I y ' l , -* I t . ; I t I I" t

We are to understand, then, sir, first,‘ that the oomprorniset act of -1833 was forced t1pon,Con---
gross by Statelinterposition, or nullitication. I I ‘‘

Next, that its object and design, solar astthe honorable gentleman was concerned in it, was
to break down and des_tr°oy,‘t'orever, the whole protective policy of the country. ‘V

And lastly, that it ‘h.ttsf aceornp1isl3.ed that purpose, and that thevlast vestige of thattpolicy is

wearing awity. ‘ _ , , y l . . l  ., .
Now, sir, I must say, that in I833, I en.tertainetl no don ht at all thatthe design of the gentleman
was ertactly what he new states. On this point, I have not been deceived- It was not, certainly,

the designof all who acted with him ;, but, that it was his purpose, I knew then, as clearly as I

know now, after hisopen avow,al_of'.it g and this belief governed my conduct at the time, together

with that of Te. great majority of t hose in both Htiuses of Congress, who, after the act ot'.1,8%4,
felt, bound to carry. out thcyprorvisiolns of that_aet,iand tornaintain then: reasonably and fairly,

I opponent the compromise act vt-ith all my pbtver. Itappeared to me every way objectionable; I

it lookledtlike an attempt to mal~;e a new Condtitution ;, to introduce another fhltdamental law‘,

above theipower or ConVnres_s, and which shouldlcontrol theauthority and discretion of C_ongr,ess,,~

ilnttll tithe tolcome‘. '1‘his, of itselfiwas a conclusive objection ,with- me; I said so. theh,,._ha.tYer

x V and laid at the f'ootstoolo1" Executive power.

~~ithisI"pla?y,.;two strangers are broughttogether at an inn.

I I the other, “ A'sudden thought strikes me !

those who Wish to know, may learn by referring to the play.  , .

,  f, I But it scores to mod, sir, that theIhonIorable rnembcr.ha;s carried his political scntirncntality a
91;" ; good ‘deal higher than the flight of the 4Cv‘rerznanischo.ol ; forlic appears. tofifhave fallensuddcnlyl in
Il*“"iove,Ino't withlst'rfangers,.I butvrilthopponents‘. I II I l I I  ‘ I I I

 

24

often said so since, and say so now. I said, then, that I, for one, should not be bound by that
law more than by any other law, except that, as itwas a_laW passed on a very important and
iagitating subject, I should not be disposed, to interfere with it, until a case of clear necessity
should arise. On this principle I have acted since. VVhen that case of necessity shall arise,

. however, should I he in public life, I shall concur in any alteration of that act, which such ne-
cessity may require. That such an occasion may come, Imore than fear.  entertain something
stronger than a doubt upon the possibility of maintainingg the Inanufhctures and industry ofthis
~co'Iuntry, upon such a system as the compromise actywill leave us, when it shall have ,g;one
'>throu,gl1 its processes of reduction. All this, however, I leave to the future.

Hatrinp: had occasion, Mr. President, to speak of Nullification and the Nulliiiers, I ling leave
to say, that I have not done so for any purpose of reproach. Certainly, sir, lsee no possible
connexion, myself, between their principles or opinions, and the support of this measure. They,
however, must speak for themselves. They may have intrustred the beariIng of their standard,

for ought I know, to the hands of the honorable l1‘l£*.I11l.l€11‘ from South Carolina; and I perceived‘

last session, what I perceive now,that inhis opinion there is a connexion between these projects
of Government and the doctrines of nulliiication. I can only say, sir, that it will be marvellous
to me if t.hat haniiér, though it be said to be tattered and torn,lshall yet be lowered. in obcieance,
’ To the sustaininooi" that power, the passage ct‘
this bill is of the utmost’ importance. The Administration will regard its success as being‘ to

«them, what Crornwell said the battle of ‘Worcesterwas to him-——“ a c1'ownin<,r, mercy.” "Whe-

ther gentleman,‘ who have distinguished theniselvcs so much by their extreme jealousy cl‘ this
Governinent, shall now find it consistent with their principles to give their aid in ttCC()lTlIlpl‘1t~5lllIl,g’

.. -this consunnnation, remains to be seen. I

«The. next or: position of the,l1Ionoi-able.gentleni.an’s. scntiinents and opinions is his letter or No-
I'~'t'r.e111l)erl3d.I  I III I I p‘ " up I
This letter, sir, is a curiosity. As a paper, describirxpg political moveznents, and exhiliitimg po-
litical opinions, it is ‘without a parallel. Its, phrase is altogether military. It reads like a dIespatoh,
or a bulletin from headquarters. It is full of attacks, assaults, andrepulses. I It recounts r.novc-
ments and counter—1novernents; speaks of occupying one position, falliIIng back upon another, and
advancing to a third; it has positions to cover enemies, and positions to hold allies in check.
Meantime, the cclerity of all these operations reminds one of the rapidity of the military ac-
tions of the King of Prussia, in the seven years’ war. Yesterday he was in the South, giving
battle to the Austrian---to-clay he is in Saxony, or Silesia; instantly he is found to have travers-
ed the Electorate, and is facing the Russian and the Swede on his northern ilrontier. If you
look for his place on the map, before you find it he has quitted it. Isle is always m£1.rCl'lll“lg, idly»-
tingz, falling back, VVl1Bl3lil'ltT, at.tackir1g,ldcfending, surprisin ; lighting every where, and liglitirip;
all the time. In one part.1culIar,‘however, the campaigns, iiescribcd in this letter, dillhr i"rotn the
manner in which those of the great Frederick were conducted. , I think, we nowhere read in
"theInarrat.ive of Fredericlrfis achievements, of his taking a position to cover an enemy, or apposi-—“
‘tion to hold an ally in check. These refinements, in the science of tactics and of war, are
of more recent discovery. I I I I I

Mr. Paesident, public men rattst certainlybe allowed to chan,o;c their opinions, and their asso- .

ciations, whenever they see fit. INo one Idoubts this. Men may have grown wiser, they may

have attained to better and more correct views of great public subjects. It would be utnfortunatc,

if there were any code which should olilige men, inpublicor privateIlitb, to Iadliierc to opinions

‘once entertained, in spite of experience and better knowledge, and agairzst their own convictions
of their erroneous character. N everthelcss, sir, it must he acknowledged, that what appears to

be a sudden, as well as a great cliange, naturally produces a shock. I confess, for one, I was

I shocked, when the honorable gentleman, at the last session, espoused this bill of the Adminis-
tration. And when I first read this letter of November, and, in the short space of a co'lumn_and
a half, ran through such a succession of political movements, all ll(3‘:I‘I”llll’ltZttll'lI,¢3,'ll’1‘plil.Clrlglll=l€i honor~

able rnernber in‘ the ranks of our opponents, and entitling him to take his seat, as he has done,
amon,:; them, if not at their head, I confess I felt still greater surprise. All this seemed a ,<_;ood
deal too abrupt. Sudden movements of the allhctions, whether personal or political, are a ljittle
out of nature. I

by Several years ago, sir, some of the wits of England wrote a mock play, into.nded to ridicule

. Lth*$.unnatural andfalse feeling, the eenttmentalih ,of a certain Gfrerinan schoolof' literat.urc.tIt “In

, "While they aroIwarrnin,r:,. thcrnselves
re, andI~blefore.their acquaintance is yet five minutes old, one sprints up and cxclairns to
up , p _ Let us swear an eternal frltIlI'lt..£-lllipiii  . l" I
I'.I‘lns.ali-'ectionatc offer was instantly accepted, and the friendship duly sworn, nnchangroalilci
I and et‘ernIal’Ilg Now, sir, how long this eternal friendship lasted, or in what manner it ended,

, at the 

i

‘I I - I“'fT,IiZ. erewe a11IIlrad?I l:lIeen:,;sir, contendng agar {st the progress of ‘Executivclpower, and more par»

ricu1ar1y..ana 1nostl1strenuously,fLagainst the

y _ _, R p p p , o''ects and experi.ments of’ the Arlministration
uponI11>1,Ie Gill‘?-'el1CY-3 ITIh”e honorable member stool

among 'us,5not only as an a_Issociate,I buvtl as a

V’ lealdélfi  thougllt unaware‘ Iymlakingsorne headlway. I jTh.c "People appeared to be coming to

 "cur suppertland our assistfanceI.' “The cIountryIIhaIdilIb.een roused ; every IIsIuccessive eloTctionlweak~

Q

 “
wa1lr_forwar‘d,, and look over the Chamber to the seats on the other side. Be not.frigh_tensd; 

25

ening the strength of the adversary, and increasing our own. We werein this career of success-
carried strongl.y forward by the current of public opinion, and only needed to hear the cheering’
Voice of the honorable member, . V, y , _ ‘  , t t

l “ Once more unto the breach, dear friencls, once more I”

and we should have prostrated, forever, this anti—constitutional,anthconimercial, anti»-republican,.
and anti-Arnerican policy of the Administration. But, instead of these encouraging and ani-
mating accents, behold l in the very crisis of our affairs, on the very eve of victory, the honor-
able ineuiber cries out-—.-to the enemy—not to us, his allies—but to the eneiiiy--—-“ Holloal A
sudden thought strikes me it I abandon my allies! Now I think of it, they have always been
niypppressors !  abandon them, and now let you and me swear an eternal friendshyip 1” y ,

‘oucli a proposition, 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 little

decorous blushing, it owned the soft impeachment, admitted an equally-sudden sympathetic iin—- pi

pulse on its own side; and, since few words are wanted where hearts are already known, the
honorable _9;eritleinai'i takes his place among his new friends, amidst greetiiigs and caresses, and
is already enjoyiiip; the sweets of an eternal friendship." , .
fltr; tlilis letter, Mr. President, the writer says, in substance, that he saw, at the coniinenceinent
the atmiisso $1 Ot‘l.;il':11: :l,liil];.3.\(.?1r:?VE)l1i1tlLl]lttIct(,lllCt(1l1 ‘tl[l(3n},)(;.)ll1i, Jvvtliep‘llie_ apd his flilfllilglta, according Ito
_ _ p  V ., i'L.ap c it narvcs o‘ . ieir orig ant ar nous stiug_g e,
pfizairiptl the oiicrozicliiimnts and abuses of the Greneral C-rovernn:ient, or lose the fruitsot all
‘ eir aiors. .
t  tlltfltt ll.llIlj§, lic_say's, State ii'it:-.1rpo;-iitioii (viz. Nullification) had overthrown the protecting
art" ant tic .- nicrimn s stein an out 1 stcn to Czuwreisional l1SU1T‘JB.l2iOI1' that h h d re-
Viously been united witliytlio iiiitioiiixl P:epiiblicans-: 0:1Llbi»i1£ttl.l16‘ll’ jdint atfaclis lltfd iii-oupght
down the power of the Exec‘utive; but that, in joiiiing such allies, he was not insensible to
the 0l1Tll)Ct1'1'ttSSt"l)(3l1i. ol'_ his position ; that, with tlieni, victory itself was dZtl'l,£.‘,10I‘(")l.1S; and that.tliere-
tore he had been‘ waiti.ng for events; that now, (that is to say, in Soptoinber last,) the joint
attacks ol the allies had iii'ciup;lit down Executive power; that the Adrninistration had become
<.liv,este<_.l oi 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 liesaw. ,
too, as he says, that in that case the victory would enuro, not to liiuior his cause, but to his
allies and their caiise. __I do not mean to say that he spoke of personal victories,or alluded to
p€3rtiOl'ittll0ll_]t3ctS, at all. He spoke ofliis cause. g ‘l y _ . y i .
flee proceeds to say, then, that. never was there before, and never, probably, will there be again,
so fair an o.pportuni_ty ‘tier li1n’isell’ and his irierids to carry put their-‘oiv'n pr22i2.ci;olee cii2cZ'i7oolxi'c"_i,/,
and to reap the fruits oi their long and arduous struggle. ‘ I hose principles and tliis policy, sir,

be it reuiornbered, he represents, all iiloiig, as identified with the tzirinoiples and policy of nullifl- ,'

cation. .A.l‘l(.l ho inalies use of this .£Zlt)1'l0LlS opportuiiity, by refusing to join his late allies inany
fI.ll‘iZl"J.i3l' attack on those in power, rallying anew the old $tate~riglits party to hold in check their
old loppoiients, tho Natiornd Ilepublicaii party. This, he says, would enable him to Pieventltlie
complete ascendancy of his allies, and to compel. the Soutlierii division ofathe Administration
party to occupy the ground of which he proposes. to take possessioii, to wit, the ground of the
old Statyo--riglits party. Tliey will have, he says, noother alteriiative. t L

Mr. I’residoiit, stripped of its military laiigiiage, ‘what isthe ainount of all this, but that, find-

" ing the Administration weak, and-likely to be overthrown, if the Opposition continued with un-

diiiiinished force, he Went over to it, to join it; to act, ‘himself, upon ri'ullifi~eation principles;

_ and to compel the Southern members of the Adniinistration to meet him on those principles ’i——-

in other words, to make a nullification Administration, and to take such part in it as should be-
long ; to him and l1:lSl'll'i£t1'llI'lS. I-Io 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
}’€ti1tl1BX‘0h€t«is. V ,, _i . .  y . _

This Aduiinistration, sir, is represented as succeeding to the last, byan inheritance of princi-

lple. ,It professes to tread inthe footsteps or its illustrious,.predecessor.” It adopts, generally,
the sentiriients, principles, and opinions, ot"[Greneral. J ackson--~Pi-aclamation a7’l.d,Ctll:', and yet, 

though he be the very prince of Nullifiers, and butlately regarded as the chiefest of sinners, it

receives the honorable, gentleman Withtlie, utmost complacency; to all appearance the delight is. .

mutual; they -find, hint” an. ableleader, heTfim.ls,?tlieni complying followers. But, sir, in all this.
movement, he understands_.liirns,elf. I-Ele means toga ahead,.and' to take them along. He is in
the engine-car ;,he controls the locomotive. , His lianil regulates the,steani,,to increase or retard
speed, at his own discretion. And asto tbevoccupants of the passenger-cars, sir, they areas happy

, a set of gentlernen as one might desire to see, of a siimuier’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 la
The arduous struggle is now, all over. . ,
the suit»-Treasuries, and oppression and usurpation will be heard of no more.

On the ,broad.sui'faceof the country, sir, there is a spot called “‘ the Hermitage.” In that «

residence, is an occuparit very well known, and not a little remarkable both inperson and cliarac-r
Suppose, sir,“t e occupant of the l:Iermitage were now to open that door, enter tlie.Senate,

But he saw, ,

and firrlnness. In this he was right. . A shock, sir, has been created;

Its iricliest fruits are all reapecl ; Nullification einbraces »

in whichthe announces ‘propositions, respecting

‘ so1'nsw’here. l

imisaacsnl=;iri‘ siaestnv page avgreat r

26 ~

gentlemen, it is but fo.ncyT’s sketch.“ S'uppose‘he sh,ou‘ld_T thuscome in among us, sir, and see into
whose hands has fallen the chief support of that Adm1n1stra_t1on, 1 _ _ ,
appointed by Thiznself, and which he londly relied on to maintain the principles or his own.
entlemen were now to see his steady military stop, his erect _posture,,h1s compressed lips, his
firanly knitted brow, and his eyefull of‘ fire, Icannot help tlimkrng, sir, they would all l'eel,some--,
what queer. There wouldbo, I itnagiine, not a little awkward moving, and shif'tinp;1n their
seats} They wou‘ltl“e;c'poct soonto hear the roar of thelion, even if they did not feel his paw.

I’ proceed, sir, to the speech of the lionorable member, deli.veTrod on the 15th of February last,
the CO11é:5C.1l.ul-ll0[1fl.l,}lC)W<t‘.1' of Congress, which, if
they.-can be maintainetl, must necessarily give a new direction to our legislation, and would go
far towards showrngthe necessity of the present bill. _ _

The honorable :ne;i‘1ber,T ‘sir,-insists that Corigress has no right to make geiieral deposites of the
public revenue in banks; and he denies, too, thatit can authorize the reception of any thing but
gold and silver in the payment of debts and dues to the,G‘rovernmont. T t _

Thesequcstions, sir, are questions of 1"t1a,g3ituge, oertpirilyfilpp, since l'..lT1(2ylllz}Vt‘. belch ratilsed,
ourrht to be answered. Fhev may‘ be consi ere l.0gf.‘.l;"l(£!'. ow me to tie ‘irst p ace, ow-
ever,, to clear them from some extraneous matter. The honorable member puts the first _question
thusz‘ Have we the right to ‘make dTeposit.es in the banlts, in order to bestow confide-:nce in them,
with a View to ‘enablethein to resume specie payments '2 And, by way of‘ 1_ll‘pst.rat.x‘on,‘ asksitlie
further question‘, "Whether Governrnent could consututxonally bestow on 1ndiv1tlu_a.ls,or.a private
association,‘ the some advantages, in order to enable 2’./Lam to pay tlieir debts ’l But this I talfe
not to he the question. Tl1et:r_ue inquiry is, May _not Corigress author2z_o the p_ublic revenue, in
the intervening; time between its receipt and ttsexpendiiure, to be depositctlin banks, for the"
general‘ purpose, of lsafe+keepTi‘ng, in the same way as individuals‘ deposits their own money’!
And if this mode, of salfeekeepingg be atltended with inoitlental aclvantapges, of ,(!C)l’}STlLlt‘.’I.‘:‘;tl;llB ipiportv
auce‘ tojthe c‘omn1unity‘,,is notithat a reason vvhleh may properly govern the_d1scret1on ol Con-
gress in theVcase ’l“ To“ benefit the banks, or to benefit the comrnt_1nit‘.y, is, in this case, not the
main object; it is only the incident; and as to the case put for xlltistration, ll. vvould not be
expected of Congress, certainly, to make deposites with individuals with a view, principally, of
enablirrg such individuals to pay their debts: it might, ncvertlleless, be very competent to
Congress, in some cases, and a very proper exercise ofits power, to deposits iru.srn:-y, even with
individuals, in such ‘manner as that it miglit be advantageous to the tlopositary. This incidental
or consequential advantage results, often, from the nature of the transaction, and is inseparable
from it. It may always be enjoyed,‘ more or less, by any one, who holds public money it)1'(llt-i-
bursement ‘T In order to the necessary exercise of’ anyof its powers,‘ Governt:nent.<l‘oubtloss may
maloecontracts with banks or other corporations as well. as with lI‘1(.lilIltlLl23.ll3. , It it has occasion
to buy bills of exchange, it may buy them of‘ banks. , Ifit‘ has stuck or Trensttry notes to sell, it

If

maysell to banks,vas_ the Se‘cretary“of the Treasury has lately proposed. ,
tho‘réfore,at, its discretion‘, for the keeping of the public moneys, as those moneys must be kept
It can ‘notmom need a‘spec1fic,,z:,rant of ‘power in the Constitution for such a pt:lI'~
p:>sTe»",,_th'an one merchant, becoming agent. for another to receive and pay out money, would need
a particular clause inhis authority, enabling him to use banks for those purposes as other persons
use thetT:u.l No question has ever been raised in this Government about the power ol'Congress
to authorize such deposites. Mr. Majdisonl, in opposing the first bank charter in 1791, arguetl,
strenuously, that a Bank of the United States vvasnoTtnccessary to Ci(.‘)V(:':1'nm(3Dl‘; as a depository
of the public‘ tnoneys, because, heinsisted, its use could be supplied by other banks. This suflis
cient'lTy;shoTWs his opinion.
to “do osite builds for duties‘ in the bank and its branclies for collection. ,
= hlenthe, charter of the first bank expired, in 1811, almost every gentleman who
ren'ewal’contendedl that it was not necessary for the purpose of lioldinp; deposites of revenue, bes-
cai1Ts'e'StatTe‘ ‘bTanl'tTs could answer all such purposes equally well. A_stron‘_ and prevailing; tone of

argument runTs“TTthrough aTl‘lithe speecheson that occasion, tending‘ to this conclusion, viz: tliatj 1

Government 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 ori-
ginTallyT"*presen‘t’etl, no provisiontbr Tmaking‘ the publio,d.,eTposires in t T
trTIitho’ut-‘adverlting"‘,to the‘T1avéit~o‘fi 18001; beta ‘sTTectio,o‘ ‘iw,a,sintrotluced,, on my irpotion,

I

cohltaii‘iT,iT
  ‘l .
wasjit   , slot?'‘?the;’,;laivii"wiliich’soirii‘éiTol‘‘‘us tphdugght was violated‘ bythze reiriTo$i;al,‘ot‘,,ftliit;-doéxii
posites.“T‘The‘>‘mTain*7object‘off the‘*de"posTit‘e'bill of ‘lT836,"as*vvTe k,jn,ovv',T ivvasT'toT '3 '

 
   

‘ »

§

or,<congrsssts:mntusuur arraavgamtlits.

arse gtent1emati*,e;<ut%hIer,'fpropo~s;ititnl,ii~ and f vvihiehhé ‘lays aoi‘aa1‘,w,:lsT1 ’fs‘tl‘l1,T adir*,¢bnfidén‘¢t, 

I

emphasis, is, that ,Co,n.g,t;ess,,cannot,a constitutionaTlly,t. authb _ze theWriedeiptjl‘bfT,Tl5;fi3T1lklT!1iOlcS ,it11'Q1J,gl1lTT T

l i : ‘“

thW,*"Wlfi:O"t-駓T0if ’$}5€i¢ii€¥5pojrT’inlgTT'  pTa1y,mTenit ‘ iT‘o‘t'ftl,t?.albts’ to T  ll *b‘acapg¢,, , pef says , 3 , r
’ hOund‘t0;¢0introl an , t l i

that w:oatdi,,.‘make,,them,lmslasy;
re-gTulat.‘e*‘ that mloneyi 
notes’ ‘becottie: “money , we “ are‘Ti’

‘atnd’ if] We To nT'1akeT tlhéin 'r’ri‘oneyT, ‘then i  a “T

ltai<y1,i‘snj;,,1l,agme‘wiit,h‘i,the, hoagsatT,xt

F1
(3

    
  
  

 

 _'that, W h on bank,

 

'1‘ list: ‘bank Tno‘tTe<si¢   beeorht‘  win“ tliat tnéy*i'aas"wer~ii“ths‘ uses‘ Tofi in oney, thTat*,‘ in‘ many

which was,Tin so great a degree, T

i It may e1riplToybariTl<s, _

And in 1800, Congress made‘ it the duty ofthc collectorsof customs T

opposed its ‘

y , p, y y y  y , my e,_banl<_._, The bill was prob-3,,
ablTy*:draW’n,‘i‘n“this particular, from'T“the model‘ of the first charter, [in ‘vvhTT,ich_no;,sucl1 t:lttTuso  

   “1‘,;o,t‘colIe‘ctTors,to¢ dTepTo;sitei't‘Th‘e’Tpublio mToTneysT in‘ the bank and its‘,T,brapiu_bes,ljT Ill‘) ,


arses*ipro1se6n‘rr*+v~itn‘ihsses bards; so thrit.‘flfr9niih‘e °f¢,lniI1en‘cé‘ti1¢,¥li:95l,1¢LT.,,§i9llf¢1'“m¢“§i,'Ii,
_ to 'itheT- ‘preséiitgtint»u. i nobody;f has T‘ >th“ou'Tght‘ of T Tmal';i‘ng‘i ‘any’ quyestioh of, the _T“con’stift‘ti‘t1o1ial power T‘

:is=ontmi, i ‘      to-an‘1r  tender
jto“,*stil1iport‘t“l?t at‘,°p1Tf'ol*‘[5osi,titiTri,,ffor“yyvhiohi I have‘ been‘ ¢,Qnt,er,},clin _

_-27

respects, the law treats them has money, is certain. Why, tl1en,‘ar;e,,weA,,,niot, ,rgl,r,en(,l,y,,hou,nd to

control and’ ié;ghlefté‘glii5ie‘iii"? " iThet‘gent_l_enian* will say, beoa,use”we ‘hiayve, not, l‘oursel,ves, lmade

then1l’mon'éy'.” :+Butlis"that e.n=y”ahsiv’er’! "If"‘they havei‘tebe¢omile money in feet, theyl’req,tiire
the some regulation, and we have the same authority to bestow it,”as"llif‘they‘hadxecquired
that character by any acts of our ‘own to because our 'power'ie ‘general; it is to take ‘care oflthe
money;of' -the country, and to regulate -all the greaticenoernsof commerce. ‘ l   

’ But let us see tlmlwlthis opinion of the .l1onor”abllel Ineniber stands upon the authorities in on‘: i

own history.

Wlien the first bank was established, the right of Congresstohcreate such a corporation was, i

aetwel all know, very much disputed. lLa'r,o;e majorities‘, however, in both,I*1ouses,wcr‘e of
opinion that the right existed, and they therefore granted the charter; and linthislcharterl there
was an express provision that the hills of the bank sliould be receivable in all payments to "Gov-
ernment. 'I'hose who opposed the bank did not object to this clause: onthe contrary, they
wont even much‘ farther; and'Mr. Madison expressly insisted that Congress might gram ori"re--
ftise,‘ to State banks, the px'ivilege of having their notes received in revenue. ‘In 1791, therefore,
men of all part1.:s supposed that Chcngreee, in its discretion; mightauthorize the receipt, of

bank notes. The same lprinc.iole- was incorporated into the bank charter of 1816:, ii1deed,lit ‘

was in title bill which the ,o;entli-~nian himself reported; and it passed without objection from any
quzrrter.‘ But this is not all. Mr. President, let us look into the prcicecdiiigs of: the session of
1€:i1e-«it», a little more cloetaly. At the commencement of that session, Mr. Madison drew our

ixttention to the state of the currency’; by which he meant the paper currency of the c.ountry,

which was then very much i disordered, as the banks had suspended specie payment during the
war, and had not reeutned. Early in the progress of the session, the lionornhlc member from
»"3outh Carolina moved that this port of the message should he referred to a select ooimrnittee.
It was so ordered. The committee was raised. and the honorable gentlemen placed at its

‘head. Ae oliairman of the committee, he introduced the Bank hill, explained it, defended it, and

finned. l

But there ievsomething more. At the stone session the gentleman introduced the hill for the
further c_ollect1on of the revenue, to which I have already referred, and in which hill he
carrietl l.i1t?«l‘t‘.t3ttlVttirlllly of bank notes much further, and provided that notes of any’ bionic or

carried it triumphantly tlil'ol:igl1 the ii.o11ee. having in it the provision which I have het'oremen-

bmrlret:-e ‘it?/tpir:/L were payable mid yactfid, on ciemrmd, in specie, ~rni_.ght be ollowed and ' accepted, in i
‘all pcryrnertte to Mt! United t'S'tct.tce. So that the honorable goritleman himself drew, with hie

ovsiri pen, ltlielvery liret .l-egtatl enactment in the hist,ory of this Goverririient, by which it was pro-
vided that the notes of State hanlto should he considered and treated as money at the Treesury.
Still further, air. The bill containing this provision did not pose the House; and as I do-med
some provieion rzoeoseary, indisponsalily no-oeeeary, for the state of tliings then cxlisting, Iin-
trodoeed, Ihthinlc the very next day after the failure of the lionorchlc gt-ntIeman’e bill, three
lroeolutione. The two first were inoroly tloolarntory, asecrting t.h:it alll'd‘ut1os, taxes, and imposte,
0tigl'tt to be uniform, and that tl'1r:rovcnuos oi‘ the U1iit§od Steteslllooglit to be collected and
rooeivodin the lrrgtll ctirroncv, or in Treasury notoe or the notes of, the Bank of the Uriited

States, on by law provided. ’I‘hoec two resolutions agreotl to waive,=as it woe. thought they '
were not (?St+lt‘3l'il.iil.l, and that they rriig-lit imply some degree of censure upon ,pe‘_et,‘ trdnsnctions.

'I‘he third resolution with in those worde: ,

“ And resolved, /i.u'the-r, rum the tiocrtztary cf‘ the Treasury he, and he hereby ie,‘req.uirod,lan_ti
directed to adopt ouch moaaxireo, no he may deem neceeeary to cause, as soon as they, be, ellfdutiee,,
taxes, ttltrlm-3, or .~:.:uxne ol” rnorwy accruing or hcottxiiiing poyalrlo to the United States, to be oo,llle,o'ted cht_1
paid in tho l{.‘§..",'ill oorxcnoy of the Uoitool titatcs, or Treasury notce,or notes ofpthe ,Bank'ol‘ tire United
Staten, an al’oro~sairl; and that limxn and after the 1st doy or Ii‘ebi~uarv next, nopsucli duties, taxes, debts,
oreurrret of ooooey accruing orhecoirring paxiyohlo tolthe United Stlatos as eforesziid, ought to be collected
or received umlierwiso tlterilin the legel ourrenoy ofthle ~Unit:e'd States, or Treasury notes, or notes ‘of the
Bank ot’the United Sl0.tl2£i,”t1t~‘.lt1fi)I'O£it1ltl.”l l  i‘ l t V. in * l A  .

l The Senatewill, perceive that, in this resolution of lmine,tl1erewas‘no proyision Wh‘ii°V3ri°F
receiving phonic notoe, except of the Bank of the Unitedfltates‘, atqordinghtol its charter. Wioll,

’e

"what ivhappeneid thfereoni or *'Wl'i‘y, “air, if’ yolul look’ pinto? the"'Nrttionel Inttellli enceriliof la ‘Slice-or

ceédingllt ey;you will find. it eta1etl,lthatlMr. Ci?{iiiiQl1n:\1'niQiied tu“aniend‘M,r.ll , ' ;é,b§ter’s rs«e,~,§<,>l_Iu~
tion by’ “”e:rtem1ing;‘ tie’ lprotfieilons to the notes ofoll, blan/icsl,w(tich_ ,sltottl,d,, chat‘ the mat, spegtfigd
omen, pay’thhirrtctteohitt‘spccicplori tldtn,tt;rtd.”l it , ' l '  _ . l   . i
Thi5.1‘1i1<“¥m1'1'l‘3Y¥iW‘i*W‘l5l’Ctl9¢“'z‘?ii*i‘1T917 it time dllefeetedip W 1* :w‘aB"<r‘enev£efl’ and ‘ml’? PW‘
‘veiled-. -I,t3:iNfee inoorporated,intolthefrehoiluti,on,,iheo‘rtttie *pert1oflthe“1&,W 0fi?h3.1?‘“$1i,and ,5°_1f9_r
mains at this veryIiooinei‘it.,,_t I Sii-,‘,'rrmy I not inqw_sayl~ to’ti:te hoii,*o_rehl¢_r1g1pmb’Br, ti‘1_‘ai‘- If the C097
‘sliiutiorwvf the levnntrr haillilben violatesllbyt treeingrbanls. more   are e°eer*- The“ ar*.tthr

tuner l l ‘V

 is it poseihle, l*eir,,,the -gentleniainllcouldfsoll far forget 11,35 °i.W¥1i%’en;CY in these m'°3i,.ii’3 .037?‘ i

it  V»... "P V t. .._l«~«z  ~ t : < '  ‘ " 3 ‘ ‘ "" "  “.4 
tant,l‘tra_ri§shotiovrrs, as to eterrdpup ,hero, the other day, and with en, air not only of lccnfidence but

. x

“or d”eiittii‘oe",‘l  “‘ Buti talte‘a’ still hif,t:hier,igroulndl;‘ Iil§trik”é ‘at.’ the rootfof the niischieflt then)’

tliolhrrfilifii "of? G«er*eyomon,tl to ltreat han,lt_ notes no rrloney  its fiséialit'ranse.ctior‘i,s)’ Uh this great

, riiiéstiéh T5iWWL‘herejih5et«"te*=°fIimi?aite%* gtlioejehd he? lateral 13?" dhP?tii!i. ii9.”4‘EW'-tttltiiiii
tbrmine oriextoressiririelooxntolrvs7’ 3 l   l  l  ‘ l

 will o'n'l§itl’ti’dll, eir,  tho» ”recapticn_ zmfd lreimmit °iben‘k notes, w,asetprecslslr ree.oeni,a§d

‘ l

bwi':iiW%tp«f };1I3;3(ij; =\l*i.Ll=’1}? ref,-T 9;‘ ¥¢,i:’é‘;i¥i€‘i‘iVlihi 9-bi:ui§’i‘?i"t;i_'fi‘,~: l A

'28

‘passed both Houses in 1837,but which the President ‘did neither appr.ove nor return. . In all
these acts, so far as I know, the honorable member from South Carolina himself’ concurred.

» , So much for authority. a i . ' . . I A _ ,
But now, sir, what is the principle of construction upon which the gentleman relies to sustain
his doctrine? “The genius of our “Constitution,” he says, “is opposed to the assumption of
power.” This isundoubtedly true: no oneican deny it. But he adds, “Whatever powerit
‘gives, is expressly granted.” a l’ s _  .. l _ _ E

But I think, sir, this by no means follows from the first proposition, and cannot be maintained.

-It is doubtless true that no power is to be assumed; but then powers may be inferred,'or neces--

sarily 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 .‘!.T311l-94
or authorized 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 begiiining, it never could have been put in motion, and would not have drawn
‘its first breath. lvlyifriendi near me, from ,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. VVlicre the Con-
stitution clonfers on Congress a general power, orimposes a general, duty, all other powers neces-
sary for the exercise of that general power, and for fulfillingthat duty, are ir_ripli,ed,so far as
there is no prohibition. We act every day upon this principle, and could not carry on the Gov-
ernment witliout its aid. Under the power to coin money, We build expensive mintsf—-fill them
"with of.'ficers—punish such ofliccrs for ernbezzleirierit-—-buy bullion-——and exercise various other
acts of‘ power. , , y _ ,
The Cronstitution 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
juries. ‘ . i l y _
The Department of the PostOffice is another, and signal instance, of the extent and necessity

. V ecordslby penalties against forgery, and the purity of their adniiiij.strat.ion ‘by punisliing per-

of implied powers. The whole authority of Congress over this subject is expressed in very few‘

‘Words; they are merely “ to establish post otlices and post roads.” Under this short and general
grant, laws of Congress have been extended to a great variety of very important enactments, with-
out the specific grant of anypower whatever, as any one may see who will look over the post

oflice laws. In these laws, among other provisions, penalties are enacted against it great. number i

of offences; thus deducing the highest exercise of criminal jurisdiction, by reasonalile and neces-
sary; inference, from the general authority. But I forbear from traversing a field already so fully
exp cred. _ r . i i  i
,_ There are one or two other rernai-ks, sir, in the gentleman’s speech, which I must not entirely
omit to notice. ' p l , U _ . p j r X i,

In speaking of the beneficial effects of this measure, one, he says, would be, that.“ the weight
-ofthe banks would be taken from the side of the z!ct.r~consu«me7-s, where. it has been, from the com-
mencenient of the Grovernment, and placed on the side of the I5a:z:-79ayers. This great division of
the community necessarily grows out of the fiscal action of the G‘rovernnient.”

Sir, I utterly deny that there is the least foundation, in fact, 'f'or_this distinction. It is an odious
distinction, calculated to inspire envy and hatred ; and being, as I think, wholly crroundlcss, its
suggestion, and the endeavor to maintain it, ought to be resisted, and repelled. c 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’! Cert-

. tainly noone. , .
On the other hand, who are the tax—consun1ers'l Clearly, the Army, the Navy, the laborers
on public works, and other persons in Government employment. But even those are not idle cou-
surners; they are agents of the Governnient and of the People. Pensioners rnay be considered
as persons who enjoy benefit from the public taxes of the country, without rendering 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 annual interest of which was a chargeupon the
, country," the holders of this debt might be considered as tax-consumers. But we have no such

debt. It‘ the distinction, ‘therefore, which the gentleman states, exists any where,.rnost certainly
, itjdocs not exist here. And I cannot but exceedingly regret that sentiments and o iinions rshiould
i  “he'll-expressed here, having so little foundation, and yet. so well calculated to sprea prejudice and

 and wide, against‘the"G‘rovernment and institutions of the couiitry. '

,, . .“ -..

it  iBuit,; siilrlbihlplllrve ed, tended these“ remarks already toa length for which I find no ustifieation,b.u,t

in mypprofp*u,nd;”;coaviationof the importanceof this crisis in our national atl'ai,r:,s,..1  are, as it
iseemswtc ‘mail about toru_sh madly freinour proper spheres. "We. are to reliuquishi the 1perforni--

8.110605 Ourown incumbent duties; to abandon the exercise of essential powers, confided. byrthe ,

,- ,_(3onstitu_tic_iin‘i;to‘ oi1ri,hands,,«for the. good of f theicountry. This was my opinion in, Septemberwit
. is my‘cpinion,,now... ,.What we propose to do,and what we omit ytodo, are, in my judgment, likely,

U i  {to_lmakela: feiarful,,jpié;r'haps e; fata1,i7nnroad upon the unity oflcommercelbetween those States, as t

r U  as to eml)e’rr:ass"and, harass.the»empl‘oyrnents of the People, and tolprolong. existing evils. _ _
,j  Whatfivel‘ W6i‘g3§1?~VJ think or it now,~the}jConstitiition had._,itsfimmedia‘te origin in the coir?
’V1°t1*0I’l Of the necessity 'f'or’this?7uniforinity ioridentity,j in corrirnercial_regulations. U, _ f  l U ~
_, 1.T_lw;Wh91,ehistory.of];the;..country,. ofgevery year and ,every ,moI'1th, from the close of l the War
,*°‘f;fl-‘-B RBVOIIHJIOD ,t0,1789,; prtWe:s,thi.s.! lOpverrjwhateveriother interelstsyit was lrnade tofiezxtend, and
whatever other blessingslit” now does,.lori.hereafter inay,~confer on the millions of free citizens who

29

"do or shall live under its protection l;i even though, in timeto come,it should raise a pyramid of

power and grancleur, wlroseapex 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 ne-
cessity. Unity and identity of commerce among all the States was its seminal principle. It had
been found absolutely impossible toiexcite or foster enterprise in trade, under the influence of dis-
cordant and jarring State regulations. The country was losing all the advantages of its position’.

The Revolution itselfwas beginning to be regarded as a doubtful blessing. The ocean before us
was a barren waste. No American canvass whitenedits bosorn~—-—no heels of ours ploughed 1ts§

waters. The journals of the Congress of the Coniicderation shovv the most constant, unceasing,

lunwearied, 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 of activity, by conferring A

on Congress the povvcrover trade. By nothing but the perception of its indispensable necessity
‘-—-by nothin but their consciousness of suffering from its want, were the States and the People
brought, an brought by slow degrees, to invest this power, in a permanent and competent Gov-
ernment. r t ,
Sir, heat-ken to the fervent laupguage of the old Congress, in J uly,’l7El5, in a letter addressed to

the States, prepared by Mr.”Monroe, Mr. King, and other great names, new transferred from the .

lists of living men, to the records which carry down the fame of the dislinsruished dead. C The
proposition before them, the great Ol7Jf.’CtS to which they so solicitously en savored to draw the

att.ent.ion of the States, was this, viz: that “ the United States, in Congress assembled, should

have the sole t1.t’ltl exclusive riglit ot'regulati11g the trade of the States, as well with foreign nations
as with each other.” Tliis, they say, is urged upon the States by every consideration of local
as Well as of lbderal policy; and they beseech them to agree to it, if , they wish topromotelthe
strcn,o;t'l1 of the Union, and to connect it by the strongest ties cfintcrest and afi‘ect‘ion. This was
in July, 1.7295. .

In the some s nirit, and for the same end, was that most important resolution which was adopted
in the House of Dtzlegutcs of Virginia, on the 21st day of the following January. Sir, I read
the resolution entire. . r ,

‘‘I1?csol‘z.>ccZ, ’l."hut Iiitlllxllllltl liandolph, and others, be appointed comtnissionors, who, or any five of
whom, shall ,rncct. such commissioners as ntuy be appointed by the other States in the Union, at a time
and place to be ugrootl on, to take into consicloration the trade of the United States; to examine the rcla-
tive situo.tious and trade. of the said States; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial
regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent liarmony, and to ‘report to
the several Siltotcs such an act relative to this grroot olwject, as, when unanimously ratified by tliem, will

enable the United States, in Corigrcss assernblod, ell"ect;ually to provide for the some t: that the said comm ,

missioners shall immediately transmit to the t~5(3N;3l't1l Siltutas copies of the preceding; resolution, with tea cir-»
‘CldltlI;’l(.ll.tQ.l‘ 1'oc:piestiog their concurrence therein, and proposing a time and place for the meeting afore-
said. * ' v o '
lfilcro, sir, let us pause. Lot ustlirxgor at the waters of this original fountain. Let us contem-
xlatc this, the first step, in that series ot'proccediu,qs, so full of great eventsto us andto the World.
otvvitlistanding the cmlaarrassrnent and distress ofthe country, the recommcndationof the old
Congress had not been coniplied with. Every attempt to bring the State Legislatures into any
‘harmony of action, or any pursuit of a common ot>ject.,harclsigt1a1,ly and disastrously failed. The
lexigency of the case called for a new tuovctnont; fora more tlirect andpowerful attempt to bring
the p;ood sense and patriotism oftlie country into action upon the crisis. .  solemn assembly was
therefore proposed--—-a general convention of delegates from all the States; And now, sir, What
was the exigency ’l What was this crisis?‘ Look at thclresolutio-no itself‘; there isnot an idea
in it but trade. Commerce! commerce! - is the beginning and end of it. The subject to be con-—
siderod and exercised was “ the relative situation of the trade of the States ;” and the objectto
be obtained was the “ ostablishmentl of a uniforrn systexnin their commercial recrulations, as neces-
saryto the common‘ interest and their pertnanent :harmony'.” This is all. An , sir, by the adop-
tion of this over~memorabIe resolution, the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the ':21st day of
.Tarxuary,‘1'78ti, performed the first act in thetrainl of measuprespwhichrcsulted in that Constitu-
tiomlundcr the authority ofwhich ydu no-welt in that chair,and I have now the honor of address-

.inpMthe rncrnbers of this body. l t l l
rl

President,;I am a Northern man. i I am attached to one of the States of the North, by the

ties of birth and parentage, education,and the associations of early life; and by sincere grati-
tude for proofs of public confidence early bestowed. lam bound to another. Northern State by 
adoption, by long residence, by all the cords of social and domestic life, and by an attachment

and re rard, springingifrolm her nianifestatiionof approbation and favor, which grapple me to
her Witihhooks of steel. And yet, sir,‘with the same sincerity of- respect, the same deep grati-
tude, the satnevreverence, and hearty good will, with which I would pay ‘a similarfitribute to either
of these State-s,*do I here acknowledgerthe Cotnimonwealth ot‘~Virginia to be entttled to the hon-
or ofcornmencing T the work of establishing this Constitution. The honor is here ;, let her enjoy
it; let her forever wear it proudly; there is nota brighterr jewel in the tiara that adorns her
brow. ‘ Let this resolution stand, illustrating her records,Vand blazoning her name through all

time I

The meeting, sir, proposed by the resolution was holden. It took place, as all know,in_An-- , l
napolis, in May ‘of the same year; but it was thinly attended, and its members, very wisely, T _
adopted measures to bring. about a fuller and more general convention. Their letter‘ to the g

States on this occasion is full "of instruction. It shows their sense of the unfortunatclcondi-

~ fact lof;_d.ifi*ereutl :into,rest,‘.s.X, l l
w  ‘Sir, tsnot thcend obviiolups, , A _
v Ofrthislkind take-possession of the public mind, our Union can hereafter be notliiri,9:,i wliile;1t,rer

ltion ofthge, country. In their meditations on the subject, they saw, the extent to whicli, t,he,c;o,z_gn-

gmercial poLwer_rnustnece_ssar1ly ex__ter}d~_ Thveeagacxtv of Ncgwllersey had led her, in egrvei.a,g
to the original proposition of Virginia, to enlarge the oigcct of the appointment of commis-
sioners, so as to einbraco not only commercial regulations, but other riznportartt matters. This
suggestion the commissioners adopted, ,because_they thought, 3,5 they inf'orm_ us, “that the
power of regulating trade IS of such cornpreliensive extent, and will enter sofar into the general
system of the Federal Government, that to give It ofiicacy, and to obviate questions and dou,b,ts
concerning itsprecise nature and limits, might require a correspondent adjustment of other
,par,tsol'thelFed,eral system.” Here you, see,,sir, that other powers, such as are now in. the
Constitution, were expected to branch out of the necessary coxrnnercial power; and, therefore,
the letter of’ the _co1nrnissioners concludes with recoinmendinga general convention, “to take
into consideration the -whole situation of the United States, and to drviso such l'urther provisions
as should appear necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequatcto

the exigencies of’ the Union.”

The result of that convention was the present Constitution.
flood of light, respecting its orirrinal objects and purposes, and with all the adequate powers
which it con-l'crs, we abandontlie commerce of the country, we betray its interests, we turn
oursolivcs away fronh its most crying, necessities. Sir, it will bee. fact, stamped in deep and dark
lines upon our annals ; it will be a truth, which in all time can never be denied or evaded, that
ifthis Constitution shall not, now and hereafter, be so administered as to maintain a uniform
system in all matters of trade; if it shall not protect and regtilate 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. vvliich fairly belongs to the whole , idea of commerce, either as an
end, anpagepnt, or an instrument, then that ,Cous,tit.,ution will have l'ailcd, utterly failed to accom-
plish the precise, (.'lita'ill'1lL'll, original object, in which it had itslheingt. ” p i . r
 I3 rnatters of trade, we were no loxigeir to be Georgians, Virginians, Pennsylvanians, or Mas-
sachusetts rnen. 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 co.mmercial,systcms. There
was to he one flag, the 1: 1=L'umnUs UNUM; and toward that was to be that rallyofunitcd interests

l and affections, which our fathers had ‘so earnestly invoked.

, Mr. President, this unity ofcommeroial regulation is, in my opinion, indispensable to the safety
of the union of the States themselves. In peace it 15 its strongest lie. I care not, sir, on what
side, or in which of its branches, it may he attacked. Every successful attack upon it, madepiauy-

where, weakens the whole, and ‘renders thencxt assault easier and more dangerous. Any

denial ofits just power is an, attack upon it. We attack it, most fiercely attack it,lwheuevcr,w.e
say we will not exercise the powers which it enjoins. It‘ the Court had yielded to . the proton-
sions of respectable States upon the subject of steam naviizatioii, and tothe retaliatory p1'occ-ediugs
of other States; if retreat and excuse, and disavow-al 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, air, to us, his countrymen, to us, wholfoel so much admiration tbr hisgcnius,
and so much gratitude for his services, Fulton would havelived almost in vain. i Stair grarits and
State exclusimis would have covered over all our waters. i v

' 'h n an

Sir,» it isin the nature of such things,that the hrst violation, or the lirst departure from true _prin-
ciples, draws more important violations or departures after it ; and the lirst surrender ofjust author.»-
ity will be followed by others more to he deplored; If commerce. be a unit, tohreak it in any one
part, is.to decree its ultimate dismcmbermont in all. If‘ there he made a first chasn1,though it he

small,_through thatfthe whole wild ocean will pour in, and we may then throw up,ernbanh~ments

i invain.

~_.Sir,,tl1e spirit of union is particularly liable to temptation and seduction, in moments of peace
artdrr prosperity. Inwar, this spirit is strengthened by a sense of com,mon.darx er, and by a thou»-
sand recollections of ancient efforts and ancient, glory in a common cause. « Int to calms ofa long
peace, andthe absence of all apparent causes of alarm, things near gain an ascendancy over things
remote. Local intorestsand feelings, overshadow national sentirnenls. Our attention, our. re:
gard, and ourtattachment, are e.ery moment solicited to whattouches us closest, and we feel less
and less the attractionlof a distant orb. Such tendencies, we are bound by true patriotism, and
by our love of union, toresist. Thisis our duty; and the moment, in my juclgment, has arrived

when thatgduty issuznruoned toaction. We hear, every day, sentimentsland argu1nen_ts,,.which
r~~w:ouid.,,becomet: a meetiugofrenvroye, ernployed by separate Governments, more than they become

l:holoornnannl,Leg,islature of a united country. \ Constant appeals. are madeto local i,ntor.eate,_to
_eogra'p,hicalj distinctions, andto the policyand the pride, of, particular State-.3, Itrwoupld, acme.
timea appoarr that itwas, or as if it were, a settled purpose to convince the People that ourlrnion

is, nothingbut,ajumble,.of,difl‘erent,audldisccrdant intercsts,.which must, arelor1g,~be,a11r;etur>n~ ,

edto -theilroyriginnl stateof sop,ara.t,e,existencc; as it‘, therefore, it was of no? great value whileit
should ,lalst,ttau.d,rwrasnotelikely to last lone‘. in The process of dlisintegration heginmby, urging the

to  al,l'Tth,islcad.sl us in Wlho,v,,does  |$,aQ‘t‘h"'~d'.tJ“if ¢0lnV,l0l-i0l.1,l?

m,ainsr,;.bu,t_ a.’ connetci,on,,withtout ,harrnony,; _a bond ‘without,,a,rftfe,oti,onl; a- tlieatrer for theangry
co.ntes.ts,jof rllocaltl fee;lli,ogs, local soihjectisl, and,,local_jealousios2‘.r Eplven whilenit continues to ;e3tist,,
inljnamorivt,-'1nay,, by those: meanrs_,ibe,co,rnel ;rro,thing: butathe, merezlform of a united.l-Goptverlmnent.
My children, and thxa c'hii~1dren of [those who; sit; _aro,und, me, may;,mt~et, Pefphlhpfiz in this Chamber,

And yet, in the midst of all this ,

31

in the next generation; but if tendencies, now but too obvious, be not checked, they will meet as
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 ofstriie and contention, and
no llonger sustained by a sense of common interest, the Union itself must ultimately fall, dishon-
ored and unlarnented. . ‘

The honorable member from Carolina. himself‘, habitual-ly 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 oppressions of the

mother country, Not merely against Executive usurpation, either real or supposed, does heutter
these sentiments, but against laws of Congress, laws passed by large majorities, lavvssanctioned,
for a course ofyears, 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
children 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 ;S‘oz.ct/L; and ago.inst whom, or against. what, does he wish to unite the entire South '2' Is
not this the very essence of local feelinp; and local regard} Is it not the acknovvledgzrnent of a
wish and object, to create political strength, by utiiting political opinions geograpliicallyi ‘While
tlrclbgontltimiin thus wishes to unite the entire South, I pray to knovv, sir, if he expects me to turn
toward the polar-star, and, acting on the same prinoi pl c, toutte-r a cry of Rally! tothe whole North?
Heaven forbid ! To the day of,‘ my death, neither he nor others shall hear such a cry from me.
Finally, tlio honorable member declares that he shall now march off, under the banner of State
Ripglitsl March oil‘ from whom’! March oil‘ from What’! ‘We have been contending for great
principles. "We have been strtiggling to maintain the liberty and to restore the prosperity of the

country; we have made these st.rt1ggle:s hero, in the national councils, with the old flag, t-he ’

true Ainericm hag, the Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the Chanilier in which
We sit. ,I~Ie now tells us, however, that he marches off under the State-rights banner !

Let him go. I remain. I act, Where I ever have been, and ever mean to be. Here, stand-
ing on. the platlizrrn of the eueral Constitution-—a platform, broad enough, and firm enough,
to uphold every interest of’ tie whole country---I shal still be found. "Intrusted with some part
in thcyadmiuistration of that Constitution, Iintend to act in its it hit, and in the spirit of those
who framed it." Yes, sir, Iwould act as ifour ththers, who forms. it torus, and Who bequeathed
it to us, were looking on rnc--as if I could see their venerablelforrns, bending down to behold us,
from the abodes above. I would act, too, as if the eye of posterity waspazing on me. .

Standing thus, as in the full gaze of‘ our ancestors, and our posterity, having received this
inheritance from the former, to be transmitted to the latter, and feeling, that it‘ 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 People, and to their
Constitution and laws. No, sir, these walls, these columns V

- l tcfl
‘ i From their firm base as soon as I.” y

I came into public life, sir, in the service of the United States. On that broad altar my ear»
liest, and all my public vows, havebeen made. I propose to serve no other master. éo far as
depends on -any agency of mine, they shall continue united States; united in interest and in
alfectionl; united in eve_1'y"thino' in regard to which the Constitution has decreed their union;
united in war, for the common efence, the common renown, and the common glory; and united,
compacted, knit firmly together in peace, for the common prosperity and happiness of ourselves
and our children. i l ' ' l - '

A

Digitization information for the
Daniel Webster Pamphlet Project

University Libraries

University of Missouri——Columbia

Local identifier

web000

Digitization work performed by the
University of Missouri Library Systems Office

Capture information

Date captured
Scanner manufacturer
Scanner model
Optical resolution
Color settings

File types

Source information

Format
Content type
Derivatives — Access copy
Compression
Editing software
Editing characteristics

Resolution
Color

File types
Notes

2004-2005
Minolta
PS7000
600 dpi
Unknown
tiff

Pamphlets
Text with some images

Uncompressed
Adobe Photoshop

600 dpi

Bitonal; images
grayscale

tiff

Pages cropped and
brightened

Blank pages removed

Property marks
removed