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 WEBSTER 
 REMARKS
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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 REMARKS 
 
 TM1 IHAK* 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
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 MR. WEBSTER, 
 
 THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES, 
 
 AXD ON THE SUBJECT OF 
 
 A NATIONAL BANK 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 In the Senate of the United States, 
 
 JANUARY, 1834. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY GALES & SEATON. 
 1834.
 
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 REMARKS. 
 
 On the 20th of January, Mr. Webster presented the following resolu- 
 tions passed at a meeting in Boston: 
 
 1 . Resolved, As the sense of this meeting, that the business community of this city, 
 vicinity, and Commonwealth, are in a high state of prosperity, independently of those 
 embarrassments in the money market, consequent upon the deranged state of the finan- 
 cial and banking operations of the country. 
 
 2. Resolved, That all the great branches of industry throughout the Union have, 
 for three years past, been in a highly prosperous condition, till within the period of a 
 few months. 
 
 3. Resolved, That the products of agriculture have been unusually abundant the past 
 year; that prices at home and abroad are higher than usual, and likely to be main- 
 tained under the ordinary circumstances of the money market. 
 
 4. Resolved, That the currency, issued by the banks of this State, inasmuch as their 
 notes in circulation are not more than one-fourth of their capitals, and the securities 
 for their loans being deemed good, is in sound condition. 
 
 5. Resolved, That the currency of the Union at large is also in a safe and sound 
 state, and that any sudden and undue contraction of bank issues, which may have been 
 lately made, has principally arisen, not from over-issues of paper, but from the disturb- 
 ed state of our financial and money concerns, incident to the altered condition of the 
 National Bank. 
 
 6. Resolved, That there is the usual quantity of specie in the country, and that fo- 
 reign exchanges being greatly in our favor, there is no reason to apprehend any drain 
 of the precious metals; but, on the contrary, we may naturally look for an influx of 
 them. 
 
 7. Resolved, That the local banks now employed by Government, however well dis- 
 posed to accommodate the public, cannot, with their small capitals, limited credit, and 
 scattered resources, and, above all, their entire want of concert and unity of action, 
 afford that aid to the agricultural classes in the transmission of their products, from the 
 places of growth to the places of export and distribution, which they have heretofore 
 received from the National Bank, but which is now, in part, necessarily withdrawn 
 from them by that institution, in consequence of its change of position in regard to the 
 Government. 
 
 8. Resolved, That the evils arising from the scarcity and high price in money fall 
 with most severity on the industrious and middling classes of society, who are compel- 
 led to make sacrifices of property to provide for their daily payments, while the retired 
 capitalists are not only exempt from such a loss, but derive a benefit from the increased 
 value of money. 
 
 9. Resolved, That a continuance of the existing embarrassments in business, arising 
 from the deranged state of our money concerns, will not only check the future opera- 
 tions of the farmer, merchant, manufacturer, and mechanic, and consequently lessen 
 the employment and wages of the laborer, but will also prove extremely injurious to 
 those great and useful internal improvements, which must soon be arrested in their 
 progress, if the pressure on the money market is not relieved; and that all property 
 now in existence will become depreciated to a degree that may prove utterly ruinous 
 to a portion of the most enterprising and useful members of the community. 
 
 10. Resolved, That the amount of currency necessary to effect the ordinary payments 
 in business, though utterly insignificant compared with the wealth of the nation, yet 
 when viewed as the measure of value of every species of property, as the basis of all 
 contracts, and the medium by which the constant interchanges of property are made, 
 must be considered of immense importance; and that any sudden and undue expansion 
 or contraction of the amount required for the ordinary wants of the country, from 
 
 2f ■'"■ ■ < m
 
 whatever causes it may proceed, will necessarily tend to the most calamitous re- 
 sults. 
 
 11. Resolved, That the existing embarrassments and panic among all classes of the 
 business community, and which threaten, if not soon remedied, the most serious evils, 
 may be attributed, first, to a spirit of speculation and over-trading — the usual effects 
 of long continued prosperity; and secondly, to the transferring the collection of the 
 national revenue from the National Bank to the State banks, and thereby paralyzing, 
 in some degree, the action of that institution, by whose large capital, solid credit, and 
 extensive resources, the business operations of the whole country have been sustained 
 and promoted. 
 
 12. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, a restoration of the National Bank 
 to the relation in which it stood to the Government prior to the removal of the depo- 
 sites, and allowing the public moneys already in possession of the local banks to re- 
 main there, till required by the Government, would, in a great measure, relieve the 
 country from the embarrassments, arising from a scarcity and derangement of curren- 
 cy; and, above all, allay that distrust, agitation, and alarm, which is more difficult to 
 overcome, and more dangerous in its tendencies if not overcome, than the actual in- 
 conveniences and losses usually incident to an insufficient or deranged currency. 
 
 13. Resolved, That, whatever course may be adopted by Congress, in relation to 
 matters now in dispute between the Government and the National Bank, it is of vital 
 importance to the great interests of the nation that there should be a prompt decision, 
 so necessary for the re-establishment of that confidence, throughout the whole country, 
 which has been greatly impaired by the uncertain and unsettled state of our financial 
 and money concerns. 
 
 14. Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions have no relation to any party or politi- 
 cal purposes, beyond the direct object manifest on the face of them; that the meeting 
 comprises persons of all classes and professions, entertaining various and opposite opin- 
 ions upon the question of re-chartering the existing National Bank, or of chartering a 
 new one in lieu of it; that few of them have any pecuniary interest involved in the fate 
 of that institution; that they have met together, on this occasion, as citizens, having one 
 common end in view, and with no other purpose or desire than to aid in the re-estab- 
 lishment of that credit and confidence among all classes, so essential to our present safe- 
 ty and our future prosperity. 
 
 15. Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted, by the Chair- 
 man of this meeting, to each of the Senators and Representatives of tins State in Con- 
 gress, as expressive of the opinions and feelings of a portion of their constituents upon 
 the important matters therein referred to; and earnestly requesting them to use their 
 best exertions to effect the objects which this meeting has in view; and that they also 
 be requested to lay a copy of the same before both branches of our National Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 16. Resolved, That a committee, consisting of Henry Lee, George Bond, Jonas B. 
 Brown, Henry F. Baker, James T. Austin, George Darracott, and Charles Wells, be 
 appointed to take such other measures, in furtherance of the objects of this meeting, 
 as they shall deem proper and expedient. 
 
 CHARLES WELLS, Chairman. 
 Henry F. Baker, l Seeretarie8m 
 
 iED, 5 
 
 Benjamin T. Reed 
 
 The resolutions having been read by the Secretary of the Senate, 
 
 Mr. WEBSTER said, he wished to bear unequivocal and decided testi- 
 mony to the respectability, intelligence, and disinterestedness of the long list 
 of gentlemen, at whose instance this meeting was assembled. The meeting-, 
 said Mr. W.,- was connected iwith no party purpose whatever. It had an ob- 
 ject more sober, more cogent, more interesting to the whole community, than 
 mere party questions. The Senate will perceive, in the tone of these reso- 
 lutions, no intent to exaggerate or inflame; no disposition to get up excitement 
 or to spread alarm. I hope the restrained and serious manner, the modera- 
 tion of temper, and the exemplary candor, of these resolutions, in connexion 
 with the plain truths which they contain, will give them just weight with the 
 Senate. I assure you, sir, the members composing this meeting were neither 
 
 i
 
 5 
 
 capitalists, nor speculators, nor alarmists. They are merchants, traders, 
 mechanics, artisans, and others engaged in the active business of life. They 
 are of the muscular portion of society; and they desire to lay before Congress 
 an evil, which they feel to press sorely on their occupations, their earnings, 
 their labor, and their property; and to express their conscientious conviction 
 of the causes of that evil. If intelligence, if pure intention, if deep and wide- 
 spread connexion with business in its various branches, if thorough practical 
 knowledge and experience, if inseparable union between their own prosperity 
 and the prosperity of the whole country, authorize men to speak, and give 
 them a right to be heard, the sentiments of this meeting ought to make an 
 impression. For one, sir, I entirely concur in all their opinions. I adopt 
 their first fourteen resolutions, without alteration or qualification, as setting 
 forth truly the present state of things, stating truly its causes, and pointing to 
 the true remedy. 
 
 Mr. President, now that I am speaking, I will use the opportunity to say 
 a few words which I intended to say in the course of the morning, on the 
 coming up of the resolution which now lies on the table; but which are as 
 applicable to this occasion as to that. 
 
 An opportunity may, perhaps, be hereafter afforded me of discussing the 
 reasons given by the Secretary for the very important measure adopted by 
 him, in removing the deposites. But as I know not how near that time may 
 be, I desire, in the mean while, to make my opinions known, without reserve, 
 on the present state of the country. Without intending to discuss any thing 
 at present, I feel it my duty, nevertheless, to let my sentiments and my con- 
 victions be understood. In the first place, then, sir, I agree with those who 
 think that there is a severe pressure in the money market, and very serious 
 embarrassment felt in all branches of the national industry. I think this is not 
 local, but general — general, at least, over every part of the country where the 
 cause has yet begun to operate, and sure to become not only general, but 
 universal, as the operation of the cause shall spread. If evidence be wanted, 
 in addition to all that is told us by those who know, the high rate of interest, 
 now at 12 per cent, or higher, where it was hardly 6 last September; the 
 depression of all stocks, some ten, some twenty, some thirty per cent.; and 
 the low prices of commodities, are proofs abundantly sufficient to show the 
 existence of the pressure. But, sir, labor, that most extensive of all interests — 
 American manual labor — feels, or will feel, the shock more sensibly, far more 
 sensibly, than capital or property of any kind. Public works have stopped, 
 or must stop; great private undertakings, employing many hands, have ceased, 
 and others must cease. A great lowering of the rates of wages, as well as a 
 depreciation of property, is the inevitable consequence of causes now in full 
 operation. Serious embarrassments in all branches of business do certainly 
 exist. 
 
 I am of opinion, therefore, that there is, undoubtedly, a very severe pres- 
 sure on the community, which Congress ought to relieve if it can; and that 
 this pressure is not an instance of the ordinary re-action, or the ebbing and 
 flowing of commercial affairs; but is an extraordinary case, produced by an 
 extraordinary cause. 
 
 In the next place, sir, I agree entirely with the 11th Boston resolution, as 
 to the causes of this embarrassment. We were in a state of high prosper- 
 ity, commercial and agricultural. Every branch of business, was pushed 
 far, and the credit as well as the capital of the country employed to 
 near its utmost limits. In this state of things, some degree of overtrading
 
 doubtless took place, which, however, if nothing else had occurred, would 
 have been seasonably corrected by the ordinary and necessary operation of 
 things. But, on this palmy state of things, the late measure of the Secretary 
 fell, and has acted on it with powerful and lamentable effect. 
 
 And I think, sir, that such a cause is entirely adequate to produce the 
 effect, that it is wholly natural, and that it ought to have been foreseen that 
 it would produce exactly such consequences. Those must have looked at 
 the surface of things only, as it seems to me, who thought otherwise, and 
 who expected that such an operation could be gone through with, without 
 producing a very serious shock. 
 
 The Treasury, in a very short time, has withdrawn from the Bank 8,000,000 
 dollars, within a fraction. This call, of course, the Bank has been obliged 
 to provide for, and could not provide for without more or less inconvenience 
 to the public. The mere withdrawing of so large a sum from hands actually 
 holding and using it, and the transferring of it, through the bank collecting, and 
 through another bank loaning it, if it can loan it, into other hands, is itself an 
 operation which, if conducted suddenly, must produce considerable inconve- 
 nience. And this is all that the Secretary seems to have anticipated. But this is 
 not the one-hundredth part of the whole evil. The great evil arises from the 
 new attitude in which the Government places itself towards the Bank. Every 
 thing is now in a false position. The Government, the Bank of the United 
 States, the State banks, are all out of place. They are deranged and separated, 
 and jostling against each other. Instead of amity, reliance, and mutual suc- 
 cor, relations of jealousy, of distrust, of hostility even, are springing up be- 
 tween these parties. All act on the defensive; each looks out for itself; and 
 the public interest is crushed between the upper and the nether millstone. 
 All this should have been foreseen. It is idle to say that these evils might 
 have been prevented by the Bank, if it had exerted itself to prevent them. 
 That is a mere matter of opinion; it may be true, or it may not; but it was 
 the business of those who proposed the removal of the deposites, to ask them- 
 selves how it was probable the Bank would act, when they should attack it, 
 assail its credit, and allege the violation by it of its charter; and thus compel 
 it to take an attitude, at least, of stern defence. The community have cer- 
 tainly a right to hold those answerable, who have unnecessarily got into this 
 quarrel with the Bank, and thereby occasioned the evil, let tie conduct of 
 the Bank, in the course of the controversy, be what it may. 
 
 In my opinion, sir, the great source of the evil is the shock which the 
 measure has given to confidence in the commercial world. The credit of 
 the whole system of the currency of the country seems shaken, The State 
 banks have lost credit, and lost confidence. They have suffered vastly 
 more than the Bank of the United States itself, at which the blow was 
 aimed. 
 
 The derangement of internal exchanges is one of the most disastrous con- 
 sequences of the measure. By the origin of its charter, by its unquestioned 
 solidity, by the fact that it was at home every ichcre, and in perfect credit 
 every where, the Bank of the United States accomplished the internal ex- 
 changes of the country with vast facility, and at an unprecedented cheap 
 rate. The State banks can never perform this equally well; for the reason 
 given in the Boston resolutions, they cannot act with the same concert, the 
 same identity of purpose. Look at the prices current, and see the change 
 in the value of the notes of distant banks in the great cities. Look at the 
 depression of the stocks of the State banks, deposite banks and all. Look
 
 at what must happen the moment the Bank of the United States, in its 
 process of winding up, or to meet any other crisis, shall cease to buy do- 
 mestic bills, especially in the Southern, Southwestern, and Western markets. 
 Can any man doubt what will be the state of exchange when that takes 
 place? Or can any one doubt its necessary effect on the price of produce'? 
 The Bank has purchased bills to the amount of sixty millions a year, as ap- 
 pears by documents heretofore laid before the Senate. A great portion of 
 these, no doubt, was purchased in the South and West, against shipments of 
 the great staples of those quarters of the country. Such is the course of 
 trade. The produce of the Southwest and the South is shipped to the 
 North and the East for sale; and those who ship it draw bills on those to 
 whom it is shipped; and these bills are bought and discounted, or cashed by 
 the Bank. When the Bank shall cease to buy, as it must cease, conse- 
 quences cannot but be felt, much severer even than those now experienced. 
 This is inevitable. But, sir, I go no further into particular statements. My 
 opinion, I repeat, is, that the present distress is immediately occasioned, 
 beyond all doubt, by the removal of the deposites; and that just such con- 
 sequences might have been, and ought to have been, foreseen from that 
 measure, as we do now perceive and feel around us. 
 
 Sir, I do not believe, nevertheless, that these consequences were foreseen. 
 With such foresight, the deposites, I think, would not have been touched. 
 The measure has operated more deeply and more widely than was expect- 
 ed. We all may find proof of this, in the conversations of every hour. No 
 one, who seeks to acquaint himself with the opinions of men, in and out of 
 Congress, can doubt that, if the act were now to be done, it would receive 
 very little encouragement or support. 
 
 Being of opinion that the removal of the deposites has produced the 
 pressure, as its immediate effect, not so much by withdrawing a large sum 
 of money from circulation, as by alarming the confidence of the community, 
 by breaking in on the well-adjusted relations of the Government and the 
 Bank, I agree again with the Boston resolutions, that the natural remedy is 
 a\restoration of the relation in which the Bank has heretofore stood to Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 I agree, sir, that this question ought to be settled, and to be settled soon. 
 And yet, if it be decided that the present state of things shall exist — if it be 
 the determination of Congress to do nothing in order to put an end to the 
 unnatural, distrustful, half belligerent, present condition of the Government 
 and the Bank, I do not look for any great relief to the community, or any 
 early quieting of the public agitation. On the contrary, I expect increased 
 difficulty and increased disquiet. 
 
 The public moneys are now out of the Bank of the United States. There 
 is no law regulating their custody, or fixing their place. They are at the 
 disposal of the Secretary of the Treasury, to be kept where he pleases, as 
 he pleases, and the places of their custody to be changed as often as he 
 pleases. 
 
 Now, sir, I do not think this is a state of things in which the country is 
 likely to acquiesce. 
 
 Mr. President, the restoration of the deposites is a question distinct and 
 by itself. It does not necessarily involve any other question. It stands 
 clear of all controversy and all opinion about re-chartering the Bank, or 
 •creating any new Bank.
 
 8 
 
 But I wish, nevertheless, sir, to say a few words of a bearing somewhat 
 beyond that question. Being of opinion that the country is not likely to be 
 satisfied with the present state of things, I have looked earnestly for the 
 suggestion of some prospective measure — some system to be adopted as the 
 future policy of the country. Where aro the public moneys hereafter to 
 be kept? In what currency is the revenue hereafter to be collected'? What 
 is to take the place of the Bank in our general system? How are we 
 to preserve a uniform currency, a uniform measure of the value of pro- 
 perty and the value of labor, a uniform medium of exchange and of pay- 
 ments'? How are we to exercise that salutary control over the national 
 currency, which it was the unquestionable purpose of the constitution to 
 devolve on Congress 1 ? 
 
 These, sir, appear to me to be the momentous questions before us, and 
 which we cannot long keep out of view. In these questions every man in 
 the community, who either has a dollar, or expects to earn one, has a direct 
 interest. 
 
 Now, sir, I have heard but four suggestions, or opinions, as to what may 
 hereafter be expected or attempted. 
 
 The first is, that things will remain as they are — the Bank be suffered to 
 expire, no new Bank created, and the whole subject left under the control of 
 the Executive Department. 
 
 I have already said that I do not believe the country will ever acquiesce 
 in this. 
 
 The second suggestion is that which was made by the honorable member 
 from Virginia, [Mr. Rives.] That honorable member pledges himself to 
 bring forward a proposition, having for its object to do away with the paper 
 system altogether, and to return to an entire metallic currency. 
 
 I do not expect, sir, that the honorable member will find much support in 
 such an undertaking. A mere gold and silver currency, and the entire 
 abolition of paper, is not suited to the times. The idea has something a 
 little too antique, too Spartan in it; we might as well think of going to iron 
 at once. If such a result as the gentleman hopes for were even desirable, I 
 regard its attainment as utterly impracticable and hopeless. I lay that 
 scheme, therefore, out of my contemplation. 
 
 There is, then, sir, the rechartering of the present Bank; and, lastly, 
 there is the establishment of a new Bank. The first of these received the 
 sanction of the last Congress, but the measure was negatived by the Presi- 
 dent. The other, the creation of a new bank, has not been brought forward 
 in Congress, but it has excited attention out of doors, and has been proposed 
 in some of the State Legislatures. I observe, sir, that a proposition has 
 been submitted for consideration, by a very intelligent gentleman in the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts, recommending the establishment of a new 
 bank, with the following provisions: 
 
 " 1. The capital stock to be fifty millions of dollars. 
 "2. The stockholders of the present United States Bank to be permitted 
 " to subscribe an amount equal to the stock they now hold. 
 
 " 3. The United States to be stockholders to the same extent they now 
 " are, and to appoint the same number of directors. 
 
 "4. The subscription to the remaining fifteen millions to be distributed 
 " to the several States in proportion to federal numbers, or in some other 
 "just and equal ratio; the instalments payable either in cash or in funded 
 " stock of the State, bearing interest at five per cent.
 
 " 5. No branch of the bank to be established in any State, unless by per- 
 " mission of its Legislature. 
 
 " 6. The branches of the bank established in the several States to be 
 " liable to taxation by those States, respectively, in the same manner, and to 
 " tjie same extent only with their own banks. 
 
 " 7. Such States as may become subscribers to the stock, to have the right 
 " of appointing a certain number, not exceeding one-third, of the directors 
 " in the branch of their own S tate. 
 
 " 8. Stock not subscribed for under the foregoing provisions, to be open 
 " to subscription by individual citizens." 
 
 A project, not altogether dissimilar, has been started iii the Legislature of 
 Pennsylvania. These proceedings show, at least, a conviction of the ne- 
 cessity of some bank created by Congress. Mr. President, on this subject 
 I have no doubt whatever. I think a national bank proper and necessary. 
 I believe it to be the only practicable remedy for the evils we feel, and the 
 only effectual security against the greater evils which we fear. Not, sir, that 
 there is any magic in the name of a bank; nor that a national bank works 
 by any miracle or mystery. But looking to the state of things actually 
 existing around us — looking to the great number of State banks already 
 created, not less than three hundred and fifty, or four hundred — looking to 
 the vast amount of paper issued by those banks, and considering that, in the 
 very nature of things, this paper must be limited and local in its credit and 
 in its circulation, I confess I see nothing but a well-conducted national in- 
 stitution which is likely to afford any guard against excessive paper issues, or 
 which can furnish a sound and uniform currency to every part of the United 
 States. This, sir, is not only a question of finance, it not only respects the 
 operations of the Treasury, but it rises to the character of a high political 
 question. It respects the currency, the actual money, the measure of value 
 of all property and all labor in the United States. If we needed not a 
 dollar of money in the Treasury, it would still be our solemn and bounden 
 duty to protect this great interest. It respects the exercise of one of the 
 greatest powers, beyond all doubt, conferred on Congress by the constitution. 
 And I hardly know any thing less consistent with our public duty, and our 
 high trust, nor any thing more likely to disturb the harmonious relations of 
 the States, in all affairs of business and life, than for Congress to abandon 
 all care and control over the currency, and to throw the whole money 
 system of the country into the hands of four-and-twenty State Legis- 
 latures. 
 
 I am, then, sir, for a bank; and am fully persuaded that to that measure 
 the country must come at last. 
 
 The question, then, is between the creation of a new Bank, and the re- 
 chartering of the present Bank, with modifications. I have already refer- 
 red to the scheme for a new bank, proposed to the Legislature of Massachu- 
 setts, by Mr. White. Between such a new bank as his propositions would 
 create, and a rechartering of the present Bank, ivith modifications, there is 
 no very wide, certainly no irreconcilable difference. We can-iot, however, 
 create another Bank before March, 1836. This is one reason for preferring 
 a continuance of the present. And, treating the subject as a practical ques- 
 tion, and looking to the state of opinion, and to the probability of success, in 
 either attempt, I incline to the opinion that the true course of policy is to 
 propose a recharter of the present Bank, with modifications. 
 
 As to what these modifications should be, I would only now observe, that
 
 10 
 
 while it may well be inferred, from my known sentiments, that I should not 
 myself deem any alterations in the charter, beyond those proposed by the 
 bill of 1832, highly essential, yet it is- a case in which, I am aware, nothing 
 can be effected for the good of the country, without making some approaches 
 to unity of opinion. I think, therefore, that, in the hope of accomplishing 
 an object of so much importance, liberal concessions should be made. I lay 
 out of the case all consideration of any especial claim, or any legal right, of 
 the present stockholders to a renewal of their charter. No such right can 
 be pretended; doubtless none such is pretended. The stockholders must 
 stand like other individuals, and their interest regarded so far, and so far 
 only, as may be judged for the public good. Modifications of the present 
 charter should, I think, be proposed, such as may remove all reasonable 
 grounds of jealousy, in all quarters, whether in States, in other institutions, 
 or in individuals; such, too, as may tend to reconcile the interests of the 
 great city where the Bank is, with those of another great city; and, in short, 
 the question should be met with a sincere disposition to accomplish, by united 
 and iriendly counsels, a measure which shall allay fears, and promote confi- 
 dence, at the same time that it secures to the country a sound, creditable, 
 uniform currency, and to the Government a safe deposite for the public trea- 
 sure, and an important auxiliary in its financial operations. 
 
 I repeat, then, sir, that I am in favor of renewing the charter of the pre- 
 sent Bank, with such alterations as may be expected to meet the general 
 sense of the country. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, to avoid all unfounded inferences, I wish to say, 
 that these suggestions are to be regarded as wholly my own. They are made 
 without the knowledge of the Bank, and with no understanding or concert 
 with any of its friends. I have not understood, indeed, that the Bank itself 
 proposes to apply, at present, for a renewal of its charter. Whether it does so 
 or not, my suggestions are connected with no such or any other purpose of 
 the Bank. I take up the subject on public grounds, purely and exclusively. 
 
 And, sir, in order to repel all inferences of another sort, I wish to state, 
 with equal distinctness, that I do not undertake to speak the sentiments of 
 any individual, heretofore opposed to the Bank, or belonging to that class of 
 public men who have generally opposed it. I state my own opinion; if others 
 should concur in them, it will be only because they approve them, and will 
 not be the result of any previous concert or understanding whatever. 
 
 Finally, Mr. President, having stated my own opinions, I respectfully ask 
 those who propose to continue the discussion now going on, relative to the 
 deposites, to let the country sec their plan for the final settlement of the pre- 
 sent difficulties. If they are against the Bank, and against all banks, what 
 do they propose! That the country will not be satisfied with the present 
 state of things, seems to me certain. What state of things is to succeed it? 
 To these questions, I desire to call, earnestly, the attention of the Senate 
 and of the country. The occasion is critical, the interests at stake momen- 
 tous, and, in my judgment, Congress ought not to adjourn till it shall have 
 passed some law suitable to the exigency, and satisfactory to the country. 
 
 On the 30th day of January, Mr. Wright, of New York, presented to the 
 Senate sundry resolutions, passed by the Legislature of New York, approv- 
 ing the removal of the deposites, and disapproving of any Bank of the 
 United States. 
 
 \
 
 11 
 
 In presenting these resolutions, Mr. Wright, among other observations, 
 expressed his decided hostility to the renewal of the charter of the present 
 Bank, or the creation of any other; that he would oppose this Bank upon the 
 ground of its flagrant violations of the high trusts confided to it, but that his 
 objections were of a still deeper and graver character; that he went against 
 this Bank, and against any and every bank to be incorporated by Congress, 
 to be located any where within the twenty-four States. 
 
 He expressed a strong opinion, too, that the existing distress arose from 
 the conduct of the Bank in curtailing its loans; and that this curtailment 
 had been made with a view to extort a renewal of its charter from the fears 
 of the people. 
 
 As to what was to be done under present circumstances, in order to relieve 
 the public pressure, Mr. Wright said, that, speaking for himself only, he 
 would sustain the executive branch of the Government, by all the legal 
 means in his power, in the effort now making to substitute the State banks, 
 instead of the Bank of the United States, as the fiscal agent of the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 When Mr. Wright had concluded his remarks, Mr. Webster said, 
 
 Mr. President: I cannot consent to let the opportunity pass, without a 
 few observations upon what we have now heard. Sir, the remarks of the 
 honorable member from New York are full of the most portentous import. 
 They are words, not of cheering or consolation, but of ill-boding significa- 
 tion; and, as they spread far and wide, in their progress from the capital 
 through the country, they will carry with them, if 1 mistake not, gloom, 
 apprehension, and dismay. I consider the declarations which the honorable 
 member has now made as expressing the settled purpose of the administra- 
 tion on the great question which so much agitates the country. 
 
 [Here Mr. Wright rose, and said that he had given his opinion as an indi- 
 vidual, and that he had no authority to speak for the administration.] 
 
 Mr. Webster continued. I perfectly well understand, sir, all the gentle- 
 man's disclaimers and demurrers. He speaks, to be sure, in his own name 
 only; but, from his political connexions, his station, and his relations, I know 
 full well that he has not, on this occasion, spoken one word which has not 
 been deliberately weighed and considered, by others as well as himself. 
 
 He has announced, therefore, to the country two things clearly and intelli- 
 gibly: 
 
 First, that the present system (if system it is to be called) is to remain 
 unaltered. The public moneys are to remain as they now are, in the State 
 banks, and the whole public revenue is hereafter to be collected through the 
 agency of such banks. This is the first point. The gentleman has declared 
 his full and fixed intention to support the administration in this course, and 
 therefore it cannot be doubted that this course has been determined on by 
 the administration. No plan is to be laid before Congress; no system is to 
 be adopted by authority of law. The effect of a law would be to place the 
 public deposites beyond the power of daily change, and beyond the absolute 
 control of the Executive. But no such fixed arrangement is to take place. 
 The whole is to be left completely at the pleasure of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, who may change the public moneys from place to place, and from 
 bank to bank, as often as he pleases. 
 
 The second thing now clearly made known, and of which, indeed, there have 
 been many previous intimations, is, sir, that a great effort is to be made, or
 
 12 
 
 rather an effort already made is to be vigorously renewed and continued, to turn 
 the public complaints against the Bank instead of the Government, and to per- 
 suade the people that all their sufferings arise, not from the act of the admin- 
 istration in interfering with the public deposites, but from the conduct of the 
 Bank since that was done. It is to be asserted here, and will be the topic 
 of declamation every where, that, notwithstanding the removal of the depo- 
 sites, if the Bank had not acted wrong, there would have been no pressure or 
 distress on the country. The object, it is evident, will now be to divert 
 public attention from the conduct of the Secretary, and fix it on that of the 
 Bank. This is the second thing which is to be learned from the speech of 
 the member from New York. 
 
 The honorable member has said that new honors are to be gained by the 
 President, from the act which he is about to accomplish; that he is to bring 
 back legislation to its original limits, and to establish the great truth that 
 Congress has no power to create a national bank. 
 
 I shall not stop to argue whether Congress can charter a bank in this little 
 District, which shall operate every wh^re throughout the Union, and yet 
 cannot establish one in any of the States. The gentleman seemed to leave 
 that point, as if Congress had such a power. But all must see that if Congress 
 cannot establish a bank in one of the States, with branches in the rest, it 
 would be mere evasion to say that it might establish a bank here, with 
 branches in the several States. 
 
 Congress, it is alleged, has not the constitutional power to create a bank! 
 Sir, on what does this power rest, in the opinion of those of us who maintain it? 
 Simply on this: that it is a power which is necessary and proper for the pur- 
 pose of carrying other powers into effect. A fiscal agent — an auxiliary to 
 the Treasury — a machine — a something, is necessary for the purposes of the 
 Government; and Congress, under the general authority conferred upon it, 
 can create that fiscal agent — that machine — that something — and call it a 
 bank. This is what I contend for; but this the gentleman denies, and says 
 that it is not competent to Congress to create a fiscal agent for itself, but that 
 it may employ, as such agents, institutions not created by itself, but by others, 
 and which are beyond the control of Congress. It is admitted that the agent 
 is necessary, and that Congress has the power to employ it; but it is insisted, 
 nevertheless, that Congress cannot create it, but must take such as is or may 
 be already created. I do not agree to the soundness of this reasoning. Sup- 
 pose there were no State banks; in that case, as the gentleman admits the 
 necessity of a bank, how can he hold such discordant opinions as to assert 
 that Congress could not, in that case, create one? The agency of a bank is 
 necessary; and, because it is necessary, we may use it, provided others will 
 make a bank for us; but, if they will not, we cannot make one for ourselves, 
 however necessary. This is the proposition. 
 
 For myself, I must confess that I am too obtuse to see the distinction be- 
 tween the power of creating a bank for the use of the Government, and the 
 power of taking into its use banks already created. To make and to use, or to 
 make and to hire, must require the same power, in this case, and be either 
 both constitutional, or both equally unconstitutional; except that every con- 
 sideration of propriety, and expediency, and convenience, requires that Con- 
 gress should make a bank which will suit its own purposes, answer its own 
 ends, and be subject to its own control, rather than use other banks, which 
 were not created for any such purpose, are not suited to it, and over which 
 Congress can exercise no supervision.
 
 13 
 
 On one or two other points, sir, I wish to say a word. The gentleman differs 
 from me as to the degree of pressure on the country. lie admits that in 
 some parts there is some degree of pressure; in large cities he supposes there 
 may be distress; but asserts that every where else the pressure is limited; 
 that every where it is greatly exaggerated; and that it will soon be over. 
 This is mere matter of opinion. It is capable of no precise and absolute 
 proof or disproof. The avenues of knowledge are equally open to all. But 
 I can truly say that I differ from the gentleman on this point most materially 
 and most widely. From the information I have received during the last few 
 weeks, I have every reason to believe that the pressure is very severe, has 
 become very general, and is fast increasing; and I see no chance of its dimi- 
 nution, unless measures of relief shall be adopted by the Government. 
 
 But the gentleman has discovered, or thinks he has discovered, motives 
 for the complaints which arise on all sides. It is all but an attempt to bring 
 the administration into disfavor. This alone is the cause that the removal 
 of the deposites is so strongly censured ! Sir, the gentleman is mistaken. 
 He does not — at least I think he does not — rightly interpret the signs of the 
 times. The cause of complaint is much deeper and stronger than any mere 
 desire to produce political effect. The gentleman must be aware that, not- 
 withstanding the great vote by which the New York resolutions were carried, 
 and the support given by other proceedings to the removal of the deposites, 
 there are many as ardent friends of the President as are to be found any 
 where, who exceedingly regret and deplore the measure. Sir, on this floor 
 there has been going on, for many weeks, as interesting a debate as has been 
 witnessed for twenty years; and yet I have not heard, among all who have 
 supported the administration, a single Senator say that he approved the 
 removal of the deposites, or was glad it had taken place, until the gentleman 
 from New York spoke. I saw the gentleman from Georgia approach that 
 point, but he shunned direct contact. He complained much of the Bank; he 
 insisted, too, on the power of removal; but I did not hear him say he thought 
 it a wise act. The gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. Rives,] not now in his 
 seat, also defended the power, and has arraigned the Bank; but has he said 
 that he approved the measure of removal? I have not met with twenty in- 
 dividuals, in or out of Congress, who have expressed an approval of it, 
 among the many hundreds whose opinions I have heard — not twenty who 
 have maintained that it was a wise proceeding; but I have heard individuals 
 of ample fortune declare, nevertheless, that since it was done, they would 
 sacrifice all they possessed rather than not support it, although they wholly 
 disapproved of it. Such is the warmth of party zeal. 
 
 Sir, it is a mistake to suppose that the present agitation of the country 
 springs from mere party motives. It is a great mistake. Every body is not 
 a politician. The mind of every man in the country is not occupied with the 
 project of subverting one administration, and setting up another. The gen- 
 tleman has done great injustice to the people. I know, sir, that great injustice 
 has been done to the memorialists from Boston, whose resolutions I presented 
 some days since, some of whom are very ardent friends of the President, 
 and can have been influenced by no such motive as has been attributed to 
 them. 
 
 But, Mr. President, I think I heard yesterday something from the gentle- 
 man from Pennsylvania, indicative of an intention to direct the hostility of 
 the country against the Bank, and to ascribe to the Bank, and the Bank 
 alone, the public distress. It was the duty of the Government to have fore-
 
 14 
 
 seen the consequences of the removal of the deposites; and gentlemen have 
 no right first to attack the Bank, charge it with great offences, and thus 
 attempt to shake its credit, and then complain, when the Bank undertakes 
 to defend itself, and to avoid the great risk which must threaten it from the 
 hostility of the Government to its properly and character. The Govern- 
 ment has placed itself in an extraordinary position, both to the Bank and to 
 the country, by the removal of the deposites: and also to the currency of the 
 country. The bills of the Bank are lawful currency in all payments to 
 Government; yet we see the Executive warring on the credit of this national 
 currency. We have seen the institution assailed, which, by law, was pro- 
 vided to supply the revenue. Is not this a new course? Does the recollection 
 of the gentleman furnish any such instance'? What other institution could 
 stand against such hostility'? The Bank of England could not stand against 
 it a single hour. The Bank of France would perish at the first breath of 
 such hostility. But the Bank of the United States has sustained its credit 
 under every disadvantage, and has ample means to sustain it to the end. Its 
 credit is in no degree shaken, though its operations are necessarily curtailed. 
 What has the Bank done"? The gentleman from New York and the gentle- 
 man from Pennsylvania have alleged that it is not because of the removal of 
 the deposites that there is pressure in the country, but because of the conduct 
 of the Bank. The latter gentleman, especially, alleges that the Bank began 
 to curtail its discounts before the removal of the deposites, and at a time 
 when it was only expected, that they would be removed. Indeed ! and did 
 not the Bank, by taking this course, prove that it foresaw correctly what was 
 to take place? and, because it adopted a course of preparation, in order to 
 break the blow which was about to fall upon it, this also is to be added to 
 the grave catalogue of its offences. The Bank, it seems, has curtailed to 
 the amount of nine millions. Has she, indeed? And is not that exactly 
 the amount of deposites which the Government has withdrawn? The Bank, 
 then, has curtailed precisely so much as the Government has drawn away 
 from it. No other Bank in the world could have gone on with so small a 
 curtailment. While public confidence was diminishing all around the'Bank, 
 it only curtailed just as much as it lost by the act of the Government. The 
 Bank would be justified, even without the withdrawal of the deposites, in cur- 
 tailing its discounts gradually, and continuing to do so to the end of its 
 charter, considering the hostility manifested to its further continuance. The 
 Government has refused to recharter it. Its term of existence is approaching; 
 one of the duties which it has to perform is to make its collections; and the 
 process of collection, since it must be slow, ought to be commenced in season. 
 It is, therefore, its duty to begin its curtailments, so as .that the process may 
 be gradual. 
 
 I hope thai I have not been misunderstood in my remarks the other morn- 
 ing. The gentleman from New York has represented me as saying that it 
 is not the removal of the deposites which has caused the public distress. 
 What I said was, that, if the Government had required twice nine millions 
 for its service, the withdrawal of that amount from the Bank, without any 
 interruption of the good understanding between the Government and the 
 Bank, would not have caused this pressure and distrust. Every thing turns 
 on the circumstances under which the withdrawal is made. If public confi- 
 dence is not shaken, all is well; but, if it is, all — all is difficulty and distress. 
 And* this confidence is shaken. 
 
 It has been said by the gentleman from New York, that Government has
 
 15 
 
 no design agaiust the Bank; that it only desires to withdraw the public, depo- 
 sites. Yet, in the very paper submitted to Congress by the Executive De- 
 partment, the Bank is arraigned as unconstitutional in its very origin, and also 
 as having broken its charter, and violated its obligations — and its very existence 
 is said to be dangerous to the country ! Is not all this calculated to injure the 
 character of the Bank and to shake confidence] The Bank has its foreign con- 
 nexions, and is much engaged in the business of foreign exchanges; and what 
 will be thought at Paris and London, when the community there shall see all 
 these charges made by the Government against a Bank, in which they have 
 always reposed the highest trust] Does not this injure its reputation] Does it 
 not compel it to take a defensive attitude] The gentleman from New York 
 spoke of the power in the country to put down the Bank, and of doing as 
 our fathers did in the time of the revolution; and has called on the people to 
 rise and put down this money power, as our ancestors put down the oppres- 
 sive rule of Great Britain! All this is well calculated to produce the effect 
 which is intended; and all this, too, helps further to shake confidence — it all 
 injures tbe Bank — it all compels it to curtail more and more. 
 
 Sir, I venture to predict that the longer gentlemen pursue the experiment 
 which they have devised, of collecting the public revenue by State banks, the 
 more perfectly will they be satisfied that it cannot succeed. The gentleman 
 has suffered himself to be led away by false analogies. He says, that when 
 the present Bank expires, there will be the same laws as existed when the 
 old Bank expired. Now, would it not be the inference of every wise man, 
 that there will also be the same inconveniences as were then felt] It would be 
 useful to remember the state of things which existed when the first Bank was 
 created, in 1791; and that a high degree of convenience, which amounted to 
 political necessity, compelled Congress thus early to create a national bank. 
 Its charter expired in 1811, and the war came on the next year. The Str.te 
 banks immediately stopped payment; and, before the war had continued 
 twelve months, there was a proposition for another United States Bank; and 
 this proposal was renewed from year to year, and from session to session. 
 Who supported this proposition] The very individuals who had opposed the 
 former Bank, and who had now become convinced of the indispensable neces- 
 sity of such an institution. It has been verified, by experience, that the Bank is 
 as necessary in time of peace as in time of war; and perhaps more necessary, 
 for the purpose of facilitating the commercial operations of the country, and 
 collecting the revenue, and sustaining the currency. It has been alleged, that 
 we are to be left in the same condition as when the old Bank expired, and, 
 of course, we are to be subjected to the same inconveniences. Sir, why should 
 we thus suffer all experience to be lost upon us] For the convenience of 
 the Government and of the country there must be some bank, (at least I think 
 so;) and I should wish to hear the views of the administration as to this point. 
 The notes and bills of the Bank of the United States have heretofore been 
 circulated every where — they meet the wants of every one — they have furnished 
 a safe and most convenient currency. It is impossible for Congress to enact 
 a certain value on the paper of the State banks. They may say that these banks 
 are entitled to credit; but they cannot legislate them into the good opinion and 
 faith of the public. Credit is a thing which must take its own course. It 
 can never happen that the New York notes will be at par value in Louisiana, 
 or that the notes of the Louisiana banks will be at par value in New York. 
 In the notes of the United States Bank we have a currency of equal value 
 every where; and I say that there is not to be found, in the whole world,
 
 16 
 
 another institution whose notes spread so far and wide, with perfect credit 
 in all places. There is no instance of a bank, whose paper is spread over so 
 vast a surface of country, and is every where of such equal value. How can 
 it be, that a number of State banks, scattered over two thousand miles of 
 country, subject to twenty-four different State Legislatures and State tribu- 
 nals, without the possibility of any general concert of action, can supply the 
 place of one general bank? It cannot be. I see, sir, in the doctrines which have 
 been advanced to-day, only new distress and disaster, new insecurity, and 
 more danger to property than the country has experienced for many years; 
 because it is in vain to attempt to uphold the occupations of industry, unless 
 property is made secure; or ftf the value of labor, unless its recompense is 
 safe. But an opportunity will occur for resuming this subject hereafter. I 
 forbear from it for the present. 
 
 A word or two on one other point. It was said by me, on a former day, 
 that this immediate question of the deposites does not necessarily draw after 
 it the question of rechartering the Bank of the United States. It leaves that 
 question for future adjustment. But the present question involves high poli- 
 tical considerations, which I am not now about to discuss. If the question 
 of the removal of the deposites be not now taken into view, gentlemen will 
 be bound to vote on the resolutions of the Senator from Kentucky, as to the 
 power which has been claimed and exercised. The question, then, is not as 
 to the renewing of the charter of the Bank. But I repeat, that, however 
 gentlemen may flatter themselves, if it be not settled that the deposites are to 
 be restored, nothing will be settled; negative resolutions will not tranquillize 
 the country and give it repose. The question is before the country — all agree 
 that it must be settled by that country. I very much regret that topics are 
 mixed up with the question, which may prevent it from being submitted to the 
 calm judgment of the people. Yet, I have not lost faith in public sentiment. 
 Events are occurring, daily, which will make the people think for themselves. 
 The industrious, the enterprising, will see the danger which surrounds them, 
 and will awake. If the majority of the people shall then say there is no ne- 
 cessity for a continuance of this sound and universal currency, I will acqui- 
 esce in their judgment, because I can do no otherwise than to acquiesce. If 
 the gentleman from New York is right in his reading of the prognostics, and 
 public opinion shall settle down in the way which he desires; and if it be de- 
 termined here that the public money is to be placed at the disposal of the Exe- 
 cutive, with absolute power over the whole subject of its custody and guardi- 
 anship; and that the general currency is to be left to the control of banks 
 created by twenty-four States; then, I say, that in my judgment, one strong 
 bond of our social and political Union is severed, and one great pillar of our 
 prosperity is broken and prostrate. 
 
 Mr. T ALLM ADGE, of New York, spoke in reply to Mr. Wkbster, and de- 
 nied the constitutional power of Congress to create a bank, although he main- 
 tained the power of the Secretary to make use of the State banks. 
 
 The subject being resumed the next day, January 31 — 
 
 Mr. WEBSTER said: It is not to be denied, sir, that the financial affairs 
 of the country have come, at last, to such a state, that every man can see 
 plainly the question which is presented for the decision of Congress. We 
 have, unquestionably, before us, now, the views of the Executive, as to the 
 nature and extent of the evils alleged to exist; and its notions, also, as to the
 
 17 
 
 proper remedy for such evils. That remedy is short. It is, simply, the sys- 
 tem of administration already adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 which is nothing but this — that whenever he shall think, proper to remove the 
 public moneys from the Bank of the United States, and place them wherever 
 else he pleases, this act shall stand as the settled policy and system of the 
 country; and this system shall rest upon the authority of the Executive alone. 
 This is now to be our future policy, as I understand the grave significant 
 import of the remarks made yesterday by the gentlemen from New York, 
 and as I perceive they are generally understood, and as they are evidently un- 
 derstood by the gentleman from Mississippi, [Mr. Poindexter,] who has al- 
 luded to them on presenting his resolutions this morning. I wish, sir, to take 
 this, the earliest opportunity, of stating my opinions upon this subject; and 
 that opinion is, that the remedy proposed by the administration for the evils 
 under which the country is at this time suffering, cannot bring relief, will not 
 give satisfaction, and cannot be acquiesced in. I think the country, on the 
 other hand, will show much dissatisfaction; and that, from no motive of hos- 
 tility to the Government, from no disposition to make the currency of the 
 country turn upon political events, or to make political events turn upon the 
 question of the currency; but simply because, in my judgment, the system is 
 radically defective — totally insufficient — carrying with it little confidence of 
 the public, and none at all more than it acquires merely by the influence of 
 the name which recommends it. 
 
 I do not intend now, Mr. President, to go into a regular and formal argu- 
 ment to prove the constitutional power of Congress to establish a national 
 bank. That question has been argued a hundred times, and always settled 
 the same way. The whole history of the country, for almost forty years, 
 proves that such a power has been believed to exist. All previous Con- 
 gresses, or nearly all, have admitted or sanctioned it; the judicial tribunals, 
 Federal and State, have sanctioned it. The Supreme Court of the United 
 States has declared the constitutionality of the present Bank, after the most 
 solemn argument, without a dissenting voice on the bench. 
 
 Every successive President has, tacitly or expressedly, admitted the power. 
 The present President has done this; he has informed Congress that he could 
 furnish the plan of a bank which should conform to the constitution. In 
 objecting to the recharter of the present Bank, he objected for particular 
 reasons; and he has said that a Bank of the United States would be usefuL 
 and convenient for the people. 
 
 All this authority, I think, ought to settle the question. Both the members" 
 from New York, however, are still unsatisfied; they both deny the power of 
 Congress to establish a bank. Now, sir, I shall not argue the question at 
 this time; but I will repeat what I said yesterday. It does appear to me r 
 that the late measures of the administration prove, incontestably, and by a 
 very short course of reasoning, the constitutionality of a bank. What I said 
 yesterday, and what I say to day, is, that since the Secretary, and all who 
 agree with the Secretary, admit the necessity of the agency of some bank to 
 carry on the affairs of Government, I was at a loss to see where they could 
 find power to use a State bank, and yet find no power to create a Bank of 
 the United States. The gentleman's perception may be sharp enough to see 
 a distinction between these two cases, but it is too minute for my grasp. It 
 is not said, in terms, in the constitution, that Congress may create a bank; 
 nor is it said, in terms, that Congress may use a bank created by a State. 
 How, then, does it get authority to do either? No otherwise, certainly, than 
 2
 
 18 
 
 that it possesses power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying its 
 enumerated powers into effect. If a law were now before us for confirming 
 the arrangement of the Secretary, and adopting twenty State banks into the 
 service of the United States, as fiscal agents of the Government, where would 
 the honorable gentleman find authority for passing such a law? No where 
 but in that clause of the constitution to which I have referred; that is to say, 
 the clause which authorizes Congress to pass all laws necessary and proper 
 for carrying its granted powers into elfect. If such a law were before us, and 
 the honorable member proposed to vote for it, he would be obliged to prove 
 that the agency of a bank, is a thing both necessary and proper for carrying 
 on the Government. If he could not make this out, the law would be un- 
 constitutional. We see the Secretary admits the necessity of this bank agency; 
 the gentleman himself admits it — nay, contends for it. A bank agency is his 
 main reliance. All the hopes expressed by himself or his colleague, of being 
 able to get on with the present state of things, rest on the expected efficiency 
 of a bank agency. 
 
 A bank, then, or some bank, being admitted to be both necessary and 
 proper for carrying on the Government, and the Secretary proposing, on that 
 very ground, and no other, to employ the State banks, how does he make 
 out a distinction between passing a law for using a necessary agent, already 
 created, and a law for creating a similar agent, to be used, when created, for 
 the same purpose? If there be any distinction, as it seems to me, it is rather 
 in favor of creating a bank by the authority of Congress, with such powers, 
 and no others, as the service expected from it requires, answerable to Con- 
 gress, and always under the control of Congress, than of employing as our 
 agents banks created by other Governments, for other purposes, and over 
 which this Government has no control. 
 
 But, sir, whichever power is exercised, both spring from the same source; 
 and the power to establish a bank, on the ground that its agency is necessary 
 and proper for the ends and uses of Government, is at least as plainly con- 
 stitutional as the power to adopt banks for the same uses and objects, which 
 are already made by other Governments. Indeed, the legal act is, in both 
 cases, the same. When Congress makes a bank, it creates an agency; when 
 it adopts a State bank, it creates an agency. If there be power for one, 
 therefore, there is power for the other. 
 
 The honorable member, sir, quoted me as having said that I regarded the 
 Bank as one of the greatest bonds of the union of the States. That is not 
 exactly what I said. What I did say was, that the constitutional power 
 vested in Congress over the legal currency of the country was one of its 
 very highest powers, and that the exercise of this high power was ono of the 
 strongest bonds of the union of the States. And this I say still. Sir, the 
 gentleman did not go to the constitution. He did not tell us how he under- 
 stands it, or how he proposes to execute the great trust which it devolves on 
 Congress, in respect to the circulating medium. I can only say, sir, how I 
 understand it. 
 
 The constitution declares that Congress shall have power " to coin money, 
 regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin." And it also declares that 
 " no State shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make any thing but gold 
 and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." Congress, then, and Con- 
 gress only, can coin money, and regulate the value thereof. Now, sir, I take 
 it to be a truth, which has grown into an admitted maxim with all the best 
 writers, and the best informed public men, that those whose duty it is to pro-
 
 19 
 
 tect the community against the evils of a debased coin, are bound also to 
 protect it against the still greater evils of excessive issues of paper. 
 
 If the public require protection, says Mr. Ricardo, against bad money, 
 which might be imposed on them by an undue mixture of alloy, how much 
 more necessary is such protection, when paper money forms almost the whole 
 of the circulating medium of the country. 
 
 It is not to be doubted, sir, that the constitution intended that Congress 
 should exercise a regulating power — a power both necessary and salutary, 
 over that which should constitute the actual money of the country, whether 
 that money were coin, or the representative of coin. So it has always been 
 considered — so Mr. Madison considered it, as may be seen in his message, 
 December, 1816. He there says: 
 
 " Upon this general view of the subject, it is obvious that there is only 
 M wanting to the fiscal prosperity of the Government the restoration of a 
 " uniform medium of exchange. The resources and the faith of the nation, 
 " displayed in the system which Congress has established, insure respect and 
 "*' confidence both at home and abroad. The local accumulations of the re- 
 " venue have already enabled the Treasury to meet the public engagements 
 " in the local currency of most of the States; and it is expected that the same 
 " cause will produce the same effect throughout the Union. But for the 
 " interests of the community at large, as well as for the purposes of the Trea- 
 " sury, it is essential that the nation should possess a currency of equal value, 
 " credit, and use, wherever it may circulate. The constitution has intrusted 
 " Congress exclusively with the power of creating and regulating a currency 
 " of that description; and the measures which were taken during the last 
 " session, in execution of the power, give every promise of success. The Bank 
 " of the United States has been organized under auspices the most favorable, 
 " and cannot fail to be an important auxiliary to those measures.'''' 
 
 The State banks put forth paper as representing coin. As such represen- 
 tative, it obtains circulation — it becomes the money of the country — but its 
 amount depends on the will of four hundred different State banks, each 
 acting on its own discretion; and in the absence of every thing preventive 
 or corrective, on the part of the United. States, what security is there against 
 excessive issues, and, consequently, against depreciation? The public feels 
 that there is no security against these evils — it has learned this from expe- 
 rience; and this very feeling, this distrust of the paper of State banks, is 
 the very evil which they themselves have to encounter; and it is a very 
 serious evil. They know that confidence in them is far greater when 
 there exists a power elsewhere to prevent excess and depreciation. Such a 
 power, therefore, is friendly to their best interests. It gives confidence and 
 credit to them, one and all. Hence a vast majority of the State banks — 
 nearly all, perhaps, except those who expect to be objects of particular favor — 
 desire the continuance of a national bank, as an institution highly useful to 
 themselves. 
 
 The mode in which the operations of a national institution afford security 
 against excessive issues by local banks is not violent, coercive, or injurious. 
 On the contrary, it is gentle, salutary, and friendly. The result is brought 
 about by the natural and easy operation of things. The money of the Bank 
 of the United States, having a more wide-spread credit and character, is 
 constantly wanted for purposes of remittance. It is purchased, therefore, 
 for this purpose, and paid for in the bills of local banks; and it may be pur- 
 chased, of course, at par, or near it, if these local bills are offered in the
 
 20 
 
 neighborhood of their own banks, and these banks are in good credit. These 
 local bills then return to the bank that issued then). The result is, that 
 while the local bills will or may supply, in great part, the local circulation, 
 (not being capable, for want of more extended credit, of being remitted to 
 great distances,) their amount is thus limited to the purposes of local circula- 
 tion; and any considerable excess, beyond this, finds in due season a salutary 
 corrective. 
 
 This is one of the known benefits of the Bank. Every man of business 
 understands it, and the whole country has realized the security which this 
 course of things has produced. 
 
 But, sir, as to the question of the deposites, the honorable gentleman 
 thinks he sees, at last, the curtain raised — he sees the object of the whole 
 debate. He insists that the question of the restoration of the deposites, and 
 the question of rechartering the Bank, are the same question. It strikes me, 
 sir, as being strange, that the gentleman did not draw an exactly opposite 
 inference from his own premises. He says he sees the Northern friends of 
 the Bank, and the Southern opposers of the Bank, agreeing for the restora- 
 tion of the deposites. This is true; and does not this prove that the question 
 is a separate one? On the one question, the North and the South are 
 together; on the other, they separate: either their apprehensions are obtuse, 
 or else this very statement shows the question to be distinct. 
 
 Sir, since the gentleman has referred to the North and the South, I will 
 venture to ask him if he sees nothing important in the aspect which the 
 South presents'? On this question of the deposites, does he not behold 
 almost an entire unanimity in the South'? How many, from the Potomac to 
 the Gulf of Mexico, defend the removal'? For myself, I declare that I have 
 not heard a member of Congress from beyond the Potomac say, either in or 
 out of his seat, that he approved the measure. Can the gentleman see 
 nothing in this but proof that the deposite question and the question of re- 
 charter are the same? Sir, gentlemen must judge for themselves; but it 
 appears plain enough to me, that the President has lost more friends at the 
 South by this interference with the public deposites, than by any or all other 
 measures. 
 
 I must be allowed now, sir, to advert to a remark, in the speech of the 
 honorable member from New York, on the left of the chair, [Mr. Wright,] 
 as I find it in a morning paper. It is this: 
 
 " Be assured, sir, whatever nice distinctions may be drawn here as to the 
 " show of influence which expressions of the popular will upon such a 
 " subject are entitled to from us, it is possible for that will to assume a con- 
 " stitutional shape, which the Senate cannot misunderstand, and, understand- 
 " ing, will not unwisely resist." 
 
 [Mr. WRIGHT said, it should have been share of influence.] 
 
 Mr. WEBSTER continued. That does not alter the sense. Mr. Presi- 
 dent, I wish to keep the avenues of public opinion, from the whole country 
 to the Capitol, all open, broad and wide. I desire always to know the state 
 of that opinion, on great and important subjects. From me, that opinion 
 always has received, and always will receive, the most respectful attention 
 and consideration. And whether it be expressed by State Legislatures, 
 or by public meetings, or be collected from individual expressions, in what- 
 ever form it comes, it is always welcome. But, sir, the legislation for the 
 United States must be conducted here. The law of Congress must be 
 the will of Congress, and the proceedings of Congress its own proceedings.
 
 \ 
 
 21 
 
 I hope nothing intimidating was intondcd by this expression. [Mr. Wright 
 intimated it was not.] Then, sir, I forbear further remark. 
 
 Sir, there is one other subject on which I wish to raise my voice. There 
 is a topic, which I perceive is become the general war cry of party, on which 
 I take the liberty to warn the country against delusion. Sir, the cry is to be 
 raised, that this is a question between the poor and the rich. I know, sir, 
 it has been proclaimed that one thing was certain — that there was always a 
 hatred from the poor to the rich; and that this hatred would support the late 
 measures, and the putting down of the Bank. Sir, I will not be silent at the 
 threatening of such a detestable fraud on public opinion. If but one man, or 
 ten men, in the nation will hear my voice, I would still warn them against this 
 attempted imposition. 
 
 Mr. President, this is an eventful moment. On the great questions which 
 occupy us, we all look for some decisive movement of public opinion. As I 
 wish that movement to be free, intelligent, and unbiassed — the true mani- 
 festation of the public will — I desire to prepare the country for another 
 assault, which I perceive is about to be made on popular prejudice — another 
 attempt to obscure all distinct views of the public good — to overwhelm all 
 patriotism, and all enlightened self-interest, by loud cries against false 
 danger, and by exciting the passions of one class against another. I am not 
 mistaken in the omen — I see the magazine whence the weapons of this 
 warfare are to be drawn. I already hear the din of the hammering of arms, 
 preparatory to the combat. They may be such arms, perhaps, as reason, 
 and justice, and honest patriotism cannot resist. Every effort at resistance, 
 it is possible, may be feeble and powerless; but, for one, I shall make an 
 effort — an effort to be begun now, and to be carried on and continued, with 
 untiring zeal, till the end of the contest comes. 
 
 Sir, I see in those vehicles which carry to the people sentiments from 
 high places, plain declarations that the present controversy is but a strife 
 between one part of the community and another. I hear it boasted as the 
 unfailing security, the solid ground, never to be shaken, on which recent 
 measures rest, that the poor naturally hate the rich. I know, that under 
 the shade of the roofs of the Capitol, within the last twenty-four hours — 
 among men sent here to devise means for the public safety and the public 
 good — it has been vaunted forth, as matter of boast and triumph, that one 
 cause existed, powerful enough to support every thing, and to defend every 
 thing, and that was — the natural hatred of the poor to the rich. 
 
 Sir, I pronounce the author of such sentiments to be guilty of attempting 
 a detestable fraud on the community; a double fraud; a fraud which is to 
 cheat men out of their property, and out of the earnings of their labor, by 
 first cheating them out of their understandings. 
 
 " The natural hatred of the poor to the richF' 1 Sir, it shall not be till 
 the last moment of my existence — it shall be only when I am drawn to the 
 verge of oblivion — when I shall cease to have respect or affection for any 
 thing on earth — that I will believe the people of the United States capable of 
 being effectually deluded, cajoled, and driven about in herds, by such abom- 
 inable frauds as this. If they shall sink to that point — if they so far cease to 
 be men — thinking men, intelligent men — as to yield to such pretences and 
 such clamor, they will be slaves already; slaves to their own passions — slaves 
 to the fraud and knavery of pretended friends. They will deserve to be 
 blotted out of all the records of freedom; they ought not to dishonor the 
 cause of self-government, by attempting any longer to exercise it; they ought
 
 22 
 
 to keep their unworthy hands entirely off from the cause of republican liberty, 
 if they are capable of being the victims of artifices so shallow — of tricks so 
 stale, so threadbare, so often practised, so much worn out on serfs and 
 slaves. 
 
 " The natural hatred of the poor against the rich! " " The danger of 
 a moneyed aristocracy! " " A power as great and dangerous as that resisted 
 by the Revolution! " " A call to a new Declaration of Independence! " 
 
 Sir, I admonish the people against the objects of outcries like these. I 
 admonish every industrious laborer in the country to be on his guard against 
 such delusion. I tell him the attempt is to play off his passions against his 
 interests, and to prevail on him, in the name of liberty, to destroy all the 
 fruits of liberty; in the name of patriotism, to injure and afflict his country; 
 and, in the name of his own independence, to destroy that very independence, 
 and make him a beggar and a slave. Has he a dollar'? He is advised to do 
 that which will destroy half its value. Has he hands to labor? Let him ra- 
 ther fold them and sit still, than be pushed on, by fraud and artifice, to sup- 
 port measures which will render his labor useless and hopeless. 
 
 Sir, the very man, of all others, who has the deepest interest in a sound 
 currency, and who suffers most by mischievous legislation in money matters, 
 is the man who earns his daily bread by his daily toil. A depreciated cur- 
 rency — sudden change of prices — paper money, falling between morning and 
 noon, and falling still lower between noon and night — these things constitute 
 the very harvest-time of speculators, and of the whole race of those who are 
 at once idle and crafty; and of that other race, too, the Catalines of all 
 times, marked, so as to be known forever by one stroke of the historian's pen — 
 men greedy of other men's property, and prodigal of their oion. Capitalists, 
 too, may outlive such times. They may either prey on the earnings of labor, by 
 their cent per cent., or they may hoard. But the laboring man — what can 
 he hoard? Preying on nobody, he becomes the prey of all. His property 
 is in his hands. His reliance, his fund, his productive freehold, his all, is his 
 labor. Whether he work on his own small capital, or on another's, his living 
 is still earned by his industry; and when the money of the country becomes 
 depreciated and debased, whether it be adulterated coin or paper without 
 credit, that industry is robbed of its reward. He then labors for a country 
 whose laws cheat him out of his bread. I would say to every owner of every 
 quarter section of land in the West — I would say to every man in the East, 
 who follows his own plough, and to every mechanic, artisan, and laborer, in 
 every city in the country — I would say to every man, every where, who 
 wishes, by honest means, to gain an honest living, " Beware of wolves in 
 " sheep's clothing. Whoever attempts, under whatever popular cry, to shake 
 " the stability of the public currency, bring on distress in money matters, 
 " and drive the country into paper money, stabs your interest and your hap- 
 " piness to the heart." 
 
 The herd of hungry wolves, who live on other men's earnings, will rejoice in 
 such a state of things. A system which absorbs into their pockets the fruits 
 of other men's industry, is the very system for them. A Government that 
 produces or countenances uncertainty, fluctuations, violent risings and fallings 
 in prices, and, finally, paper money, is a Government exactly after their own 
 heart. Hence, these men are always for change. They will never let well 
 enough alone. A condition of public affairs, in which property is safe, 
 industry certain of its reward, and every man secure in his own hard-earned 
 gains, is no paradise for them. Give them just the reverse of this state of
 
 23 
 
 things: bring on change, and change after change; let it not be known to-day 
 what will be the value of property to-morrow; let no man be able to say 
 whether the money in his pockets at night will he money or worthless nigs in 
 the morning; and depress labor till double work shall earn but half a living — 
 give them this state of things, and you give them the consummation of their 
 earthly bliss. 
 
 Sir, the great interest of this great country, the producing cause of all its 
 prosperity, is labor! labor! labor! We are a laboring community. A vast 
 majority of us all live by industry and actual occupation, in some of their 
 forms. 
 
 The constitution was made to protect this industry, to give it both en- 
 couragement and security; but, above all, security. To that very end, with 
 that precise object in view, power was given to Congress over the currency, 
 and over the money system of the country. In forty years' experience, we 
 have found nothing at all adequate to the beneficial execution of this trust 
 but a well-conducted national bank. That has been tried, returned to, tried 
 again, and always found successful. If it be not the proper thing for us, let 
 it be soberly argued against; let something better be proposed; let the country 
 examine the matter coolly, and decide for itself. But whoever shall attempt 
 to carry a question of this kind by clamor, and violence, and prejudice; who- 
 ever would rouse the people by appeals, false and fraudulent appeals, to their 
 love of independence, to resist the establishment of a useful institution because 
 it is a bank, and deals in money; and who artfully urges these appeals 
 wherever he thinks there is more of honest feeling than of enlightened judg- 
 ment, means nothing but deception. And whoever has the wickedness to 
 conceive, and the hardihood to avow, a purpose to break down what has been 
 found, in forty years' experience, essential to the protection of all interests, 
 by arraying one class against another, and by acting on such a principle as 
 that the poor always hate the rich, shows himself the reckless enemy of all. 
 An enemy to his whole country, to all classes, and to every man in it, he 
 deserves to be marked especially as the poor man's curse.! 
 
 Mr. President, I feel that it becomes me to bring to the present crisis all 
 of intellect, all of diligence, all of devotion to the public good, that I possess. 
 I act, sir, in opposition to nobody. I desire rather to follow the administra- 
 tion, in a proper remedy for the present distress, than to lead. I have felt 
 so from the beginning, and I have felt so until the declaration of yesterday 
 made it certain that there is no further measure to be proposed. The ex- 
 pectation is, that the country will get on under the present state of things. 
 Being myself entirely of a different opinion, and looking for no effectual relief 
 until some other measure is adopted, I shall, nevertheless, be most happy to 
 be disappointed. But if I shall not be mistaken, if the pressure shall con- 
 tinue, and if the indications of general public sentiment shall point in that 
 direction, I shall feel it my duty, let the consequences be what they may, to 
 propose a law for altering and continuing the charter of the Bank of the 
 United States.
 
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