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 ON Til H 
 
 BILL LIMITING AND , DESIGNATING THE FUNDS 
 
 KECEIVABLE 
 
 FOR THE REVENUES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Delivers 1 in the Senate of tie U. S. Jan. 28, ISSr. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PiUN"! ED AT THE GLOBE OFFICE. 
 
 1837. 
 
/ 
 
 SPEECH. 
 
 Mr. WALKER said, before replying to the in¬ 
 dictment preferred by the honorable Senator from 
 Missouri, (Mr. Benton,) against the Committee on 
 Public Lands, it is proper to recur to the facts and 
 circumstances under which this controversy ori¬ 
 ginated. At an early period of the session, the 
 Senator from Ohio, (Mr. Ewing,) introduced a reso¬ 
 lution to rescind the Treasury order. This resolu¬ 
 tion was very fully discussed, and especially by the 
 Senator from Missouri, (Mr. Benton,) but Mr. W. 
 had taken no part in this discussion. 
 
 In the progress of thq debate upon the resolution 
 of the Senator from Ohio, a substitute was offered, 
 as an amendment, by the Senator from Virginia, 
 (Mr. Rives.) This substitute was advocated by 
 that Senator, as in consonance with the President’s 
 recommendation, to render the legislation of Con¬ 
 gress in the collection of the federal revenue, aux¬ 
 iliary to the suppression of all notes of a smaller 
 denomination than twenty dollars, and a conse¬ 
 quent enlargement of the circulation of gold and 
 silver. The Senator from Virginia had regarded 
 the Treasury order as a temporary measure, to 
 meet a pressing emergency, and as having in a 
 great degree performed its office. 
 
 Mr. W. had still refrained from embarking in 
 the discussion upon this question. Several Sena¬ 
 tors, however, had expressed their opinions, and 
 great difficulties appeared to be presented against 
 any satisfactory adjustment of this question. Un¬ 
 der these cireuinstances* several Senators now 
 within the sound of his voice, had proposed to him 
 (Mr. W.) to refer both resolutions to the Commit¬ 
 tee on Public Lands. To this reference, Mr. W. 
 said, he had at first objected, upon the grounds that 
 the Committee on Public Lands was engaged in 
 the laborious examination, of another question, and 
 that the subject of designating the funds receivable 
 for the public dues, belonged more appropriately 
 to the Committee on Finance. Upon further con¬ 
 sultation, however, with several Senators friendly 
 to the administration, Mr. W. had at length reluc¬ 
 tantly assented to the proposed reference, which 
 was accordingly made by the vote of the Senate, 
 including that of the Senator from Miss 
 Benton.) No other report than that 
 made, so far as Mr. W. was concerned, 
 been anticipated; for to every Senator w| 
 
 Mr. W. had conversed, l;e had expresse 
 currence in the provisions substantially 
 lution of the Senator from Virginia, (M| 
 and at the last sossion, when th 
 from Missouri (Mr. Benton) introduc 
 lution requiring payments of the pu 
 in gold and silver only, the Sen 
 
 well recollect that he (Mr. W.) had then 
 expressed his opposition to that resolution, and so 
 had a majority of the Senators now composing the 
 Committee on Public Lands. When, then, the 
 Senator from Missouri voted for ibis reference, he 
 could not justly have anticipate^ any other report 
 than that* which was made by the committee. 
 When, then, did the Senalov from Missouri vote 
 for this reference, and then denounce the commit¬ 
 tee for making the only report which he could 
 have expected, in conformity with their previously' 
 avowed opinions? Mr. W. said it became his duty, 
 as chairman of this committee, and as their organ, 
 to report a bill containing substantially the provi¬ 
 sions of the resolution of the Senator from Vir¬ 
 ginia. Again the subject had been discussed in the 
 Senate, but Mr. W. had not participated in the 
 debate, and the bill, by a large majority, was or¬ 
 dered to be engrossed for a ’third reading; and 
 now, when by the usual rules of parliamentary de¬ 
 bate, the contest might well be considered as termi¬ 
 nated, the Senator from Missouri, (Mr. Benton.) 
 before the vote on the final passage, had made a 
 very elaborate argument against the measure. To 
 all this Mr. W. would make no objection ; 
 when that Senator, having exhausted the argurmy 
 or having none to offer, had indulged in violej 
 intemperate denunciation ‘ of the Comjj 
 Public Lands, and of the report rnj 
 as their organ, Mr. W. could not 
 expression of his surprise and 
 Mr. W. said it was’ his good loi 
 npon terms of the kindest personal 
 with every Senator, and these frien 
 should not be interrupted by an_v| 
 upon his part. And now, Mr. W. sj 
 upon the whole Senate to bear witne 
 sure they all cheerfully would, that iJ 
 versy he was not the aggressor, and I 
 had been done or said by him to provol; 
 of the Senator from Missouri, unless' 
 to differ from him in opinion upon any sul 
 constituted an offence in the mind of that Sena 
 If such were the views of that gentleman, if 
 
4 
 
 fleeted upon this subject, be wrulu himself see ' predation in the price of ail property and all pro 
 nuch to regret in the course he had pursued in r e - ducts, and an immediate cessation by States and in- 
 
 uoe* 
 
 solicitous to preserve unbroken ik; rank&of Igraye of the nation*' prosp. rity, would perhaps re- 
 :u ' democratic party in this body, participating pose, the scattered fra aments of those great and 
 v an the pm pie in grateful recollection of the dir- -'glorious - institutions which give happiness to mil- 
 
 imgujsned services 
 Missouri to ft- 
 
 h 
 
 ;red bv 
 
 iae Senator from. ’• 
 
 ne. 
 
 ippine 
 
 and hones to millions more of disen- 
 
 ;e democracy of the Union, be would thralmcm from despotic power. Sir. in resistance 
 pass by-many of the remarks made by that Senator t0 the power of the Bank of the United States, in 
 
 : opposition to l:»e re-establishment of any "similar in- 
 •h.cir, ai <1 V- . st.tu.ion, the Senator from Missouri would find Mr. 
 
 on this subject. 
 
 [Mr. Runton here arose from 1 
 
 manfied, 
 
 
 much warmth, that ?.i-r. 'Walker. W . with him; but he could not enlist as a recruit in. 
 
 we - ‘ not pass by one of them. Mr. W. ashed, i this new crusade against the banks of his own,* and 
 Anatolic'? ivir. £.’erfiM. in an a: rry tone, Mot , every ether. State, in the Union. These institutions, 
 < :ifn sT. Then Mr. said he -. T-uld examine {whether for road or evil, are created by the States, 
 
 litem all, and. 
 he would end 
 
 j 71 * ■> s : 
 
 : i.1 t. . 
 
 >t c: pei;. 
 
 freedom. 
 
 that. 
 
 if the 
 
 J l. 
 
 •at cherished and sustained by them, in many cases 
 vor to return 1? w for blow, and ' owned i-\ whole or in part by the States, and 
 orator from Missouri desired, as it'; closely united with their prosperity; and what right 
 
 appeased he did, an -angry controversy with him, have we to destroy them? What right had he, an 
 in a ’ its consequences in and out of ibis House, he i humble servant of the people of Mississippi, to say 
 
 - to his own, or any other State, your State legisla¬ 
 tion :■ from bon is wrong — your State institutions, your State 
 
 could bo gratified 1 
 
 (said Mr. Wd vf 
 
 Missouri ass; iled the Committee on Public Lands, ! banks, must be annihilated, and we will legislate 
 and Hmseif, as its humble organ? He was not thei *- ere to effect this object? ’Are we the masters or 
 author of this measure, so much denounced by the'; servants of the sovereign States, that Are dare speak 
 Senator ironi .Missouri, not had he said one word : 10 them in language like this —that we dare attempt 
 upon the subject. The measure originated with. 10 prostrate here those institutions which are crea- 
 tho senator from Virginia, (Mr. Rives.) He was ! f ?d and maintained by those very States Avhich we 
 ; be author of the measure, and had been and still j represent on this floor? These may be the opinions 
 was, its able, zealous, and successful advocate, j entertained by some Senators of their duty to the 
 W fiv. then, had the Senator from Missouri assailed i Slates they represent, but they were not his (Mr. 
 mm, (Mr. TV.) and permitted the author of the | W’s) views or his opinions. Ho was sincerely de- 
 m ensure to escape unpunished? Sir, are the ar- sirous to co-operate with his- State in limiting any 
 rows which appear to be aimed bv the Senator 1 dangerous powers of the banks, in enlarging the 
 item Missouri at the humble organ of the Commit- j circulation of gold ar.d silver, and* in suppressing 
 on Public Lands, who reported this bill, in-j the small note currency, so as to avoid that explo- 
 1 to inflict a wound in another quarter? Is sion which was to be apprehended from excessive 
 r the apparent object of assault. Avhen issues of bank paper. But a total annihilation of 
 resigned as the real victim? Sir when i dl the banks of his own State, now possessing a 
 ■from Missouri, without any provoca- chartered capital of near forty millions of dollars, 
 ■thunderbolt from an unclouded sky would, Mr. W. kne\v, produce almost universal 
 [the Senate in a perfect tempest of bankruptcy, and was not, he believed, anticipated 
 ry, bursting upon his poor head like a by any one of his constituents. 
 
 |do, die. he intend to saa eep beiore the But the Senator from Missouri tells us, that this 
 
 measure of the committee is a repeal of the Con¬ 
 stitution, by authorizing the receipt of paper money 
 in revenue payments. If so, then the Constitution 
 never has had an existence; for the period cannot 
 be designated when paper money was not so re¬ 
 ceivable by the Federal Government. This species 
 of mono)' was expressly made receivable for the 
 public dues by an act of Congress, passed imme¬ 
 diately after the adoption of the Constitution, and 
 which remained in force until eighteen hundred and 
 was so received, as a matter of practice, 
 en hundred and eleven until eighteen 
 d sixteen, Avhen again, by an act of Con- 
 assed, and Avhich lias just expired, it 
 uthorized to be received during all that 
 low, although these acts have expired, 
 
 |t Avhicli is equivalent to a laAv still in 
 ssly authorizing the notes ol the specie 
 is of the States to be received in revenue 
 It is the joint resolution of eighteen 
 d sixteen, adopted by both Houses of 
 
 m another individual more obnoxious 
 ? 
 
 Mr. W.) the Senator from Missouri 
 jpealed the prayer, “ God save the 
 the Committee on Public Lands;” 
 fully believed that it the prayer of the 
 wold lie heard within these Avails, it would 
 rod save us from the wild, visionary, ruinous, 
 impracticable schemes of the Senator of Mis¬ 
 hin ri. for exclusive "old and silver rnrrpnr»v *nr! 
 
5 
 
 
 Congress, and approved by President Madison, j lions in regard to such notes, to veil: from and after 
 That joint resolution is in these, words: 'the passage of this act, the notes of no bank which 
 
 “That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he j shall issuer circulate bills or notes of a less cle- 
 hcreby is, required and directed to adopt such mea- j nominntic^tban fiv-v dollars, shall be received on 
 sures as he may deem necessary, to cause, as soon j account of the public dues; and from and after 
 as may be, all duties, taxes, debts, or suites of mo-; the thirtieth day of December, eighteen hundred 
 ney, accruing or becoming payable to the United ! and thirty-nine, the notes of no bank which shall 
 States, to be collected .and paid in the legal cur-! issue or circulate bills or notes of a less denomina- 
 rency of the United States, or Treasury notes, orjtion than ten dollars, shall be so receivable; and 
 notes of the Bank of the United States, as by law j from and after the thirtieth day of December, one 
 provided and declared, or in notes of banks which thousand eight hundred and forty-one, trie like pro- 
 are payable and paid on demand, in the said legal ; hibition shall bs extended to the notes of ail banks 
 currency of the United Stales; and that, from and i issuing bills or notes of a less denomination than 
 after the 2Clh day of February next, no such duties, twenty dollars. 
 
 taxes, debts, or sums of money, accruing or becom- “Sec. 2. And be U farther enacted , That no notes 
 mg payable to the United States as aforesaid, ought shall be received by the collectors or receivers of 
 to be collected or received otherwise than in the the public money, which the banks in which they 
 legal currency of the Unite ! States, or Treasury are to be deposited shall not, under the supervision 
 notes, or notes of the Bank of the United States, or i and control of the Secretary of-the Treasury, agree 
 in notes of banks which are payable, and paid on j to pass to the credit of the-United Stairs as cash: 
 demand, in the said legal currency of the United j Provided, That, if any deposile bank shall refuse 
 States.” i to receive and pass to the credit of the United 
 
 Commenting upon this resolution, the Senator ! Stales as cash, any notes receivable under the pro- 
 
 from Missouri in his speech of December last de¬ 
 clared: 
 
 “This is the law, continued Mr. Benton, and no¬ 
 thing can be plainer than the right of selection 
 which it gives to the Secretary of the Treasury.” 
 
 “The words of the law are clear; the practice 
 under it has been uniform and uninterrupted from 
 the date of its passage to the present day. For 
 twenty years, and under three Presidents, all the 
 
 visions of this act, which said bank in the ordinary 
 course of business receives on general deposite, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to 
 withdraw the public deposites from said bank.” 
 
 Now the principal difference between the provi¬ 
 sions of this bill and the joint resolution of 1816, 
 consists in the exclusion by the bill of notes of 
 small denominations from revenue payments. Yet 
 the Senator from Missouri would leave the resolu- 
 
 Secretaries of the Treasury have acted alike, lion of 1816 in full force, unrepealed, unmodified, 
 
 Each has made; selections, permitting the notes of 
 some specie paying banks to be received, and for¬ 
 bidding others.” 
 
 Here this joint resolution is admitted by the Se¬ 
 nator from Missouri to be u t!ie lew:,' 1 ' 1 and that the 
 practice under it has been uniform to receive the 
 notes of specie paying banks. If then to authorize 
 the reception of the notes of specie paying banks in 
 payment of the public dues, be a violation of the 
 Constitution, it is obvious, that the Constitution 
 never has had any existence, except in the golden 
 visions of the honorable Senator from Missouri. 
 Sir what more is done by the bill reported from the 
 
 and ", et objects to the measure now before us. 
 The Senator from Missouri would have remain in 
 force, a resolution of Congress, by which the Secre¬ 
 tary of the Treasury may at his discretion receive 
 for the public dues bank notes, even of one dollar, 
 ie objects to a measure by which that dis¬ 
 
 and vet 
 
 cretion is limited to the receipt of notes of higher 
 denominations. By the resolution, as it stands, 
 the Secretary of the Treasury may collect the 
 whole public revenue in bank paper; by the bill, 
 as proposed, a portion cf the public dues must be 
 collected in gold and silver; and yet the, Senator 
 from Missouri, objects, and denounces the measure 
 Committee on Public Lands, and now ordered to j as a repeal of the Constitution, by authorizing the 
 be engrossed by the Senate, than had been already j payment of the public dues in bank paper, as if it 
 accomplished by the joint resolution of eighteen j were not authorized already by the joint resolution 
 
 of 1816, which, as regards the customs, is untouch- 
 
 hundred and sixteen? This bill as thus engrossed.is 
 as follows: 
 
 “AN ACT designating and limiting the funds re¬ 
 ceivable for the revenues of the United States. 
 
 “ Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen¬ 
 tatives of the United Stales of America in Congress 
 assembled. That the Secretary of the Treasury 
 
 ed even by the Treasury order. Strange inconsis¬ 
 tency! singular delusion! But has it come to this, 
 that Congreife has surrendered an unlimited discre¬ 
 tion, as regards the funds receivable for the public 
 dues, into the hands of the Secretary of the Trea¬ 
 sury, and must'not now interfere? That, in the 
 be, and hereby is, required to adopt such | opiiijon of the Senator from Missouri, it is all right 
 measures as he may deem necessary, to ef- • that the Secretary of the Treasury should possess 
 feet a collection of the public revenue of the j the discretionary power of receiving or rejectin'-. 
 United States, whether arising from duties, taxes, 1 bank paper in payment of the public dues; of dis- 
 debts, or sales of lands, in the manner and j criminating between different individuals and ub - 
 on the principles herein provided: that is, that no ! ferent branches cf the public revenue; of puttm , 
 such duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money pay a- up and putting down, bank paper at his pit-asm e, 
 blcior lands, shall be collected or received other- j but that for, Congress to interpose and de fine or 
 wise than in the legal currency of the United States, j limit that discretion is a violation of the. Constitut¬ 
 or in notes of banks which are payable and paid . tion. That for the Secretary of the Treasury to 
 on demand in the said legal currency of the United regulate the currency at his pleasure, and put up 
 States, under the following restrictions and condi- and put down State banks and their paper, is all 
 
 4 
 
6 
 
 right; but .that for Congress to limit and define his 
 power in these, respects, is unconstitutional. The 
 Secretary of the Treasury, then, must be above 
 "Congress, and above the Constitution, ‘•possessing 
 an omnipotent, unchangeable, irreversible power on 
 this subject. Is not the Senate astounded by the 
 avowal and advocacy of such doctrines upon this 
 floor — doctrines worthy of the Polignacs of France, 
 and of the Stuarts of England, but wholly incom¬ 
 patible with the genius of our institutions, and di¬ 
 rectly contradictory, as shall be shown hereafter, to 
 ihe opinions upon this subject of cur patriot Presi¬ 
 dent. Are the American people prepared to sustain 
 these doctrines—-doctrines which are essentially mon¬ 
 archical, which take from Congress all power over 
 this subject; which deny their authority, the authority 
 ofthe representatives of the people and of the States, 
 and erect the Secretary of ihe Treasury into a dicta¬ 
 tor, whose mandates we may not control or alter? 
 Sir, if the Secretary of the Treasury may thus abo¬ 
 lish our power on this subject, and render it uncon¬ 
 stitutional for us to interfere with his orders, why 
 may not every other Secretary of every other De¬ 
 partment claim similar power and the same exemp¬ 
 tion from our control? Such doctrines are the very 
 essence of despotism, and now for the first time have 
 they been openly avowed upon this floor, and in 
 this country. Tell me not then that the Secretary 
 of the Treasury may receive or reject bank paper 
 at his pleasure; may receive it, as he now does, for 
 customs, and reject it in payment for the public 
 lands, and that it is unconstitutional for Congress 
 to regulate, define, and limit, that discretion. Stand¬ 
 ing upon the broad basis of the Constitution, he 
 would resist such doctrines, for they can only be 
 maintained by a total overthrow of free govern¬ 
 ment, and the establishment of arbitrary and des¬ 
 potic power. 
 
 But the Senator from Missouri tells us, that he 
 objects to the bill of the committee as an act of Con¬ 
 gress , when it should have been a resolution. Sir, 
 docs that Senator contend that in directions given 
 by Congress to the Secretary of the Treasury, as re¬ 
 gards the funds receivable for the public dues, there 
 is any distinction between a be it enacted , and a 
 be it resolved , by the Congress of the United States? 
 The Constitution prescribes no such- form, and re¬ 
 cognises no such distinction. It requires joint reso¬ 
 lutions, except for adjournment, as well as laws, 
 to be approved bv the President, and when this is 
 done they have the same obligatory energv in limit¬ 
 ing and directing the acts of our public agents. 
 Sir, when the Senator from Missouri urged this 
 new objection he seemed to have forgotten his 
 speech of December last, in which, when comment¬ 
 ing upon the joint resolution of 1816, he declared, 
 “this is the law;” but now that Senator would 
 have us believe that a joint resolution is not equiva¬ 
 lent to law of Congress. But if there be this dis¬ 
 tinction between a Jaw and a joint resolution, in 
 support of this p’rea of abatement, upon which the 
 Senator from Missouri now relies,it shall be shown, 
 before the close of this address, that the Senator 
 from Missouri has himself, within the last twelve 
 months, proposed laws, and amendments to laws, 
 expressly authorizing the receipt of bank paper in 
 payment of the public dues, and consequently, if 
 his own argument be true, has proposed a repeal 
 
 of the Constitution. Before, however, proceedirg 
 to this branch of the subject, let me ask, if the re¬ 
 ception of bank paper in payment of the public 
 dues be a violation of the Constitution, then not 
 only have Congress, but this administration, and 
 every one that preceeded it, uniformly violated the 
 Constitution. Down to the period of the Treasury 
 order of July last, this administration has con¬ 
 stantly received bank *p a P er in payment of the 
 federal revenue, and is still receiving it, even 
 under the Treasury order, in payment of customs. 
 The argument then of the Senator from Missouri, 
 is a bitter denunciation of the whole course of the 
 President on this subject preceding the Treasury 
 'order, and it is also a denunciation of the principles 
 of that order, ^o far as it does not exclude bank 
 paper in payment of customs. The administration 
 is now receiving bank paper in payment of cus¬ 
 toms, and no change on this subject is proposed by 
 the President; and yet the Senator from Missouri 
 tells us, that for Congress to authorize the recep¬ 
 tion of bank paper, in payment of the public dues, 
 is to repeal the Constitution. Here is conclusive 
 evidence, that the Senator from Missouri goes far 
 beyond the views of the President upon this sub¬ 
 ject. But the Senator from Missouri objects to 
 the proviso of the bill introduced by the Commit¬ 
 tee on Public Lands, authorizing the Secretary of 
 the Treasury to withdraw the deposites from any 
 bank which refuses to pass to the credit of the 
 United States as cash, the notes of such specie pay¬ 
 ing banks, receivable under this bill, as the bank 
 receives on general deposite. This provisio is a 
 wholesome restriction upon the abuse of power by 
 the deposite banks. It will curtail, and was in¬ 
 tended to curtail, the power of the deposite banks. 
 It will arrest an odious monopoly, by pre¬ 
 venting the deposite banks from making their 
 notes the only paper receivable lor the pub¬ 
 lic dues, thus rendering, for ail practical pur¬ 
 poses, the paper of these banks the only curren¬ 
 cy of the Federal Government, to the manifest in¬ 
 convenience of the people, and the severe oppres¬ 
 sion of other State banks equally as solvent as 
 these institutions. It will prevent an oligarchy of 
 deposite banks from controlling the currency, and. 
 exercising a power over the prosperity ol the coun¬ 
 try quite as despotic as that possessed by the Bank 
 of the United Stales. If we reject this proviso, we 
 shall only have disenthralled the American people 
 from the Bank of the United States, one master, to 
 substitute eighty masters, a combination ol which, 
 uncontrolled by this proviso, might hold in their 
 power the prosperity of this nation. This same 
 power was confided, in relation to the removal of 
 the deposites, to the Secretary ot the Treasury, as 
 regards the Eank of the United States, and the ex¬ 
 istence, as well as the exercise, ol this power by 
 that officer, was deemed, by the Senator irom Mis¬ 
 souri. most wise and salutary. Yet the Senator 
 from Missouri now objects to this power, and says 
 he would not entrust it even to the administration 
 of the President, or of his successor. Indeed.' The 
 Senator from Missouri would not confide to the Se¬ 
 cretary of the Treasury the necessary power to 
 remove the public moneys from any* deposite 
 bank, thus abusing its authority, and oppressing 
 the people in the contingency referred to in the 
 
i 
 
 proviso, and yet he would permit the joint 
 resolution of 1816 to remain unrepealed and 
 unmodified, by which the Secretary of the Trea¬ 
 sury might at his discretion regulate the whole 
 currency of the country, receive or reject bank 
 paper at his option, change and rechange his or¬ 
 ders upon this subject, introduce or exclude the 
 currency of gold and silver, and exercise over this 
 whole subject powers unregulated and uncontrolled. 
 Sir, the Senator from Missouri stops at the mole¬ 
 hill of this proviso, whilst he surmounts the moun¬ 
 tain which rises to our view, upon a survey of the 
 enormous powers which that Senator would en¬ 
 trust, without* any regulation, into the hands of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Mr. W. said he would now proeeed to prove 
 that the Senator from Missouri had himself origi¬ 
 nally proposed something similar to the provisions 
 of the bill which he now denounces as a violation 
 of the Constitution; and especially that he had di¬ 
 rectly proposed, by resolution as well as laws, to 
 authorize the receipt of bank paper in payment of 
 the public dues; and, until very recently, limited 
 himself to the exclusion of notes under twenty 
 dollars, as proposed by the bill of the committee. 
 And first, Mr. W. read from the journals of the 
 Sanate, under date of the 9th April, 1834, as fol¬ 
 lows : 
 
 “The following motion, submitted by Mr. Ben¬ 
 ton, was considered: 
 
 “Resolved , That a committee be appointed on the 
 part of the Senate, jointly with such committeee as 
 may be appointed on the part of the House of 
 Representatives, to consider and report to the 
 Senate and to the House respectively, what altera¬ 
 tions, if any, are necessary to be made * * * *** 
 
 3. In the joint resolution of 1816 (for the better 
 collection of the revenue;) so as to exclude all 
 bank notes under twenty dollars from Revenue 
 payments after a given period, and to make the 
 revenue system of the United States instrumental 
 in the gradual suppression of the small note circu¬ 
 lation, and the introduction of gold and silver for 
 the common currency of the country.” 
 
 Here it will be perceived that the Senator from 
 Missouri then considered the joint resolution of 
 1816 as requiring alterations by Congress, so as “to 
 exclude all bank notes under twenty dollars from 
 revenue payments after a given period.” Here 
 then was,a direct proposition, by that Senator, to do 
 precisely what is done by the bill of the committee, 
 as regards the exclusion from revenue payments 
 of notes only “under twenty dollars.” Why then 
 does the Senator now denounce what was then his 
 own project as a repeal of the Constitution? 
 
 His project then was, not as it now is, to exclude 
 all but gold and silver from revenue payments, and 
 cut loose the Federal Government from the paper 
 system, but the very reverse, namely—to authorize 
 banknotes not under twenty dollars to be received 
 in revenue payments. And, how received? Why, 
 by regulations then proposed by him, to be made 
 by Congress —by alterations of the joint resolution 
 of 1816. The honorable Senator then also pro¬ 
 posed to make “ the revenue system of the United 
 States instrumental in the gradual suppression of 
 the small note circulation, and the introduction of 
 gold and silver for the common currency of the 
 
 country.” The terms common currency , as distin¬ 
 guished from exclusive currency , are italicised in the 
 resolution of the Senator from Missouri, and the 
 suppression confined to “the small note, circula¬ 
 tion.” This suppression of “the small note circu¬ 
 lation,” of notes under twenty dollars, was to be 
 effected by the instrumentality of the revenue sys¬ 
 tem of the United States. Now is not all this pre¬ 
 cisely what is proposed in the bill of the commit¬ 
 tee? and are not that bill, and this resolution of the 
 honorable Senator, substantially the same? Since 
 this period, a great revolution appears to have 
 taken place in the opinion of the honorable Sena¬ 
 tor, both as regards questions relating to the cur¬ 
 rency and to constitutional law. Then, that Sena¬ 
 tor was* satisfied to encourage the circulation of 
 banknotes not under twenty dollars, and to receive 
 them in revenue payments. Now, nothing will 
 answer his purpose but gold and silver; and, to 
 authorize any thing else to be received in revenue 
 payments, is denounced as a repeal of the Constitu¬ 
 tion! If this doctrine be true, then the Senator 
 from Missouri stands upon the Senate journals 
 self-convicted of an attempt to repeal the Consti¬ 
 tution. 
 
 But the Senator from Missouri has embodied the 
 twenty dollar principle as connected with the fede¬ 
 ral revenue, in an act of Congress , not a resolution- 
 
 Mr. W. here read from the journals of the Senate, 
 under date of the 6th of April, 1836, as follows: 
 
 “ The Senate resumed the consideration of a bill 
 entitled “An act making appropriations for the 
 payment of the revolutionary and other pensioners, 
 &c. The following amendment, proposed by Mr. 
 Benton, being under consideration, Sec.—. And 
 be it further enacted, That no bank note of less de¬ 
 nomination than twenty dollars shall hereafter be 
 offered in payment, in any case whatsoever, ( ln 
 which money is to be paid by the United States’or 
 the Post Office Department; nor shall any bank 
 note of any denomination be so offered, unless the 
 same shall be payable and paid on demand, in gold 
 or silver coin, at the place where issued, and which 
 shall not be equivalent to specie, at the place where 
 offered, and convertible into gold or silver upon 
 the spot, at the will of the holder, and w'ithout de¬ 
 lay or lo£s to him.” 
 
 This section was, on the motion of the Senator 
 from Missouri, embodied in the act of Congress re¬ 
 ferred to, and is now the law of the land, having 
 passed both Houses of Congress, and received the 
 sanction of the President. This provision, it is 
 true, is confined to payments by the United States. 
 But if the United States, under this law, are to pay 
 out bank notes not under twenty dollars, how can 
 this be done if they are not authorized to receive 
 such notes? What could be more contradictory 
 than a bill, the first section of which should author¬ 
 ize notes not under twenty dollars to be paid by the 
 United States, and the second section of tvhich 
 should prohibit the United States from receiving in 
 payment any thing but gold and silver? How could 
 the United States, by taw, in all time.to come, pay 
 out that which by law they were debarred from re¬ 
 ceiving? The Senator from Missouri, then, has, 
 by law, connected the Federal Government with the 
 paper system. This section, adopted on the mo¬ 
 tion of the Senator from Missouri, would come in 
 
very properly as an additional clause in the bill now 
 before us; but as an additional proviso to the bill, 
 which shall be quoted hereafter, proposed by that 
 Senator, to re-establish a currency of gold and sil 
 ver for the Federal Government, it would be ridi¬ 
 culous and contradictory. 
 
 Mr. W. stated, the Senator from Missouri had 
 still further committed himself on this subject. Ke 
 had net only directly countenanced the payment of 
 the federal revenue in bank notes, but had himself 
 proposed, at the last session, the creation by Con¬ 
 gress in this District of new banks, authorized to 
 issue nojes not less than twenty dollars. Mr. W. 
 here read from the journals of the Senate, under 
 date of 4th of June, 1836, as follows: 
 
 “ The Senate resumed the consideration of the 
 bill to extend the -charters of certain banks in the 
 Disliictof Columbia.” 
 
 On motion of Mr. Benton to recommit the bill 
 with instructions—to report separate bills for the 
 incorporation of new banks, with small capitals, 
 adapted to the capacity of the District to sustain 
 specie banks, and strictly limited to the business of 
 the place; the said incorporations to contain among 
 other provision's the following principles: 4. The 
 banks to issue no notes of less denomination than 
 twenty dollars; end all notes of less denomination 
 than twenty dollars by other banks to be prohibited 
 from circulation within the District. 5. All the 
 notes and paper currency issued by said banks to 
 be paid in gold and silver; one-half of either at the 
 opt ion of the demander, the other half at the option 
 of the bank.” 
 
 Now, Mr. W. would ask, if Congress could by 
 law establish even in this District a certain number 
 of banks authorized to issue notes of a certain de¬ 
 nomination, could i! not exercise the smaller power 
 of authorizing the reception of bank notes in reve¬ 
 nue payments? Cut (Mr. W. said) be quoted this 
 to show that even at this late period the Senator 
 from Missouri was not prepared to do execution on 
 all banks and all bank paper. There were some 
 curious matters connected with these propositions of 
 the Senator from Missouri. His fifth proposition 
 required “all notes and paper currency issued by 
 said banks to be paid in gold and silver; one half 
 of either at the option of the demander, the oilier 
 half at the option of the bank;” and this same pro¬ 
 vision the honorable Senator also proposed to ap-j 
 ply to “the depo'site banks,” “in consideration of; 
 being made or continued depositories of the public 
 moneys:” Sir, the honorable Senator from Missou¬ 
 ri would have the banks pay in a currency better 
 than that required by the Constitution. By that in¬ 
 strument gold or silver is a legal tender inpayment 
 of debts, and a bank note is only an evidence of 
 a debt due by the bank to the holder of the note; 
 but the honorable Senator would require the banks 
 to pay their notes in gold and silver, one half of| 
 each metal. When a note of a thousand dollars j 
 shall be presented to a bank for redemption in spe¬ 
 cie, it is hoped the honorable Senator will net re¬ 
 quire those of less personal prowess tlfim himself, 
 to carry away five hundred dollars in silver, 
 when the bank otherwise might pay the whole 
 amount in 'gold. Such equal division of the 
 precious metals, however beautiful in theor}', would 
 be most inconvenient in practice; and if the hono¬ 
 
 rable Senator is so equally attached to gold and 
 silver as to be resolved on having a precisely equal 
 circulation of each, there is one way which, if it 
 were not presumptuous, Mr. W. could recommend 
 to his serious consideration. It was this. That 
 Senator took great delight in exhibiting a new and 
 favorite coin of his which he called billon'. Mr. 
 W. hoped he pronounced the word correctly; lie 
 was sure the Senator from Missouri did. This 
 coin was composed partly of copper, and partly of 
 silver, though not precisely one-half of each, the 
 Senator having suffered great injustice done to the 
 silver, by permiiting a great preponderance of cop¬ 
 per, a very inferior metal, not recognised by the 
 Constitution as a tender. Now’, Mr. W. would 
 suggest, that if the Senator from Missouri would 
 have coined a new species of billon, composed ot 
 gold and silver, precisely one-half of each in value, 
 would it not answer his purpose? Mr. W. would 
 not warrant that it would answer, but would only 
 suggest it to the consideration of the Senator from 
 Missouri, as a substitute for his proposed entire equa¬ 
 lization of the circulation of gold and silver, by com¬ 
 pelling the banks to redeem their notes in one-half of 
 eaehmetal, especially as these banks might not find it 
 very convenient to comply with these requisitions, 
 and as a greater quantity of one metal than of the 
 other might find its way, from time to time, out of 
 the country, and thus destroy this metallic equili¬ 
 brium of the honorable Senator. 
 
 Thus far die Senator from Missouri seemed to 
 have confined his view^s to the exclusion of notes 
 under twenty dollars in revenue payments. But 
 on the tenth of June last, he changed his position, 
 and introduced into the Senate the following bill: 
 
 A BILL to re-establish the currency of the Consti¬ 
 tution for the Federal Government. 
 
 Be io enacted by the Senate and House ,cf Represen¬ 
 tatives efthe United Stales of America in Congress as¬ 
 sembled, That bank notes and paper currency of 
 every description shall cease to be received or offer¬ 
 ed in payment, on account of the United States, 
 or of the Post Office, or in fees in the courts 
 of the Uniied States, as follows: of less denomina¬ 
 tion than twenty dollars, none after the 3d day of 
 I March. 1837; of less denomination than fifty dollars, 
 
 | none after the third day of March 1838; of less deno- 
 1 mination than one hundred dollars, none after the 
 3d day of March 1839; of less denomination than 
 five hundred dollars, none after the 3d day of March 
 1840; of less denomination than one thousand dol¬ 
 lars, none after the 3d day of March 1841; and 
 none of any denomination from and after the 3d 
 day of March 1842. 
 
 “Section 2. And be it further enacted , That any 
 derson holding an appointment under the laws of 
 the .United States, and any bank employed to keep 
 public moneys, which person or bank shall neglect, 
 evade, violate, contravene, or in any wrny elude, or 
 attempt to elude, the provisions of this act, shall be 
 guilty of-an offence against the laws; and the per¬ 
 son s r o offending shall be liable to lie dismissed from 
 the service, and the bank so offending shall, on sa¬ 
 tisfactory information, be discontinued as a deposi¬ 
 tory; of public moneys.” 
 
 And here Mr. W. would remark, that by this 
 bill, N bank notes were permitted to be received in 
 revenue payments, until the third of March, 1842. 
 
9 
 
 If then, the argues? of the Senator from Mis¬ 
 souri be correct, feat to aathorize, by act of Congress , 
 the receipt of bank notes in revenue payments, be 
 a repeal of the Constitution, this bill of the honora¬ 
 ble Senator should have been entitled a repeal of 
 the Constitution until the 3d of March. 1842. The 
 provisions of this bill were somewhat remarkable. 
 All bank notes under twenty dollars were immedi¬ 
 ately excluded—the twenty dollar notes being the 
 next greatest violators of the Constitution, were ex¬ 
 ecuted in March, 1837; those of fifty dollars in 
 March, 1838; those of one thousand dollars were 
 reprieved till March, 1841; and in Mar h, 1842, 
 execution was done on all “bank notes and paper 
 currency of every description/’ and “the currency 
 of the Constitution” was re-established. Now how 
 was this prodigious revolution to be effected? Why, 
 by dismissing from office any officer of the Govern¬ 
 ment who should receive or offer in payment any 
 thing but gold and silver, by which all were to be, 
 excluded -but converts to the metallic currency of i 
 the honorable Senator, and by discontinuing as a 
 depository of the public moneys, any bank which 
 should -commit a similar offence. Now does any 
 Senator believe, that any bank would accept the 
 deposites on such terms? That it must pay out the- 
 public moneys in nothing but gold and silver, and 
 transfer the precious metals from place to place, j 
 thousands of miles, at the will of the Government. 
 Recollect, that not only “bank notes,” but also “pa¬ 
 per currency of every description ” is excluded by! 
 this bill, and consequently bank drafts would be 1 
 as effectually refused by this bill as bank notes, j 
 Indeed the authority to receive “funds” eastern or 
 western, from any bank, constitutes one of the 
 Senator’s objections to the bill of the com-j 
 mittee. Let us suppose then that the Go-[ 
 vernment has two millions in silver at NatchesJ 
 which it desires at four different points, each 
 one thousand miles distant. Will it transport 1 
 these wagon loads of silver from point to point,; 
 
 where the money is wanted by the. Government_for 
 
 recollect the Government must have the hard mo- j 
 ney, for it is to pay out, as well as receive, nothing j 
 but this ? Is this practicable, or is there a bank in! 
 the Union that would accept the deposites on such j 
 terms as these ? The banks are to be continued by i 
 this bill as depositories of the public moneys, as 1 
 the fiscal agents of the Government, arid yet we * 
 are to reject the paper of our own agents. The' 
 amount ol the public revenue of last year was 
 forty-seven millions of dollars. Now all this we 
 are to entrust to the custody of the banks : we are 
 to trust them to the amount of forty-seven million 
 of dollars, and yet refuse to receive anv portion of 
 their paper, or, in other words, trust them for forty- 
 seven million of dollars, and refuse them credit even 
 for a twenty dollar note. We are first asked to em¬ 
 ploy the banks as fiscal agents, and then set about 
 the work of their destruction. Sir, the passage of; 
 this bill would ensure the abandoment of thei 
 deposite bank system, and as fiscal agents ice must | 
 have, it would ensure the re-establishment of a Bank! 
 of the United States, with ail its oppressive powers.' 
 And here let me ask, can any thing be more in¬ 
 consistent, as well as impracticable, than to employ 
 the Slate banks as fiscal agents, as depositories of 
 
 the public moneys, and yet reject their papeU If 
 it be unconstitutional to'receive one dollar ot the 
 publicdues in the paper of any bank, is it not 
 equally unconstitutional to make these unconstitu¬ 
 tional banks, issuing this unconstitutional currency, 
 our fiscal agents for the whole amount of our reve¬ 
 nue, by bank credits? Under our deposite bill, 
 when we confide money to a deposite bank, have 
 we not previously taken its bond to repay? And if 
 we take its bond, why not its paper? Sir, to carry 
 out the gentleman’s doctrine, he should discard the 
 deposite banks as fiscal agents, and employ hun¬ 
 dreds of separate individual agents, constantly tra¬ 
 versing the country in ail directions, with mules or 
 wagons loaded with gold and silver. Such a' sys¬ 
 tem, and to this i would come, would require an 
 army of agents greater than our whole standing ar¬ 
 my, receive, transfer, and disburse, the forty- 
 seven millions of gold and silver, the amount of 
 this year’s federal revenue. Such a system would 
 enlarge the patronage and power of the General 
 Government to an almost unlimited extent, and, if 
 successful, paralyze the State Governments by ti\e 
 destruction of State banks, State credit, and State 
 institutions. But the whole system is impracticable, 
 and it is time that the country should know that 
 such is the opinion of the whole Senate, with the 
 single exception of the Senator from Missouri 
 himself. Sir, that Senator may rally three or four 
 votes against the bill of the committee, but it will 
 be from objections to the details of the measure, and 
 not because they adopt the opinions of the Senator 
 from Missouri on this subject. If the Constitution 
 is repealed by the reception of bank notes in re¬ 
 venue payments, why did the Senator from Mis¬ 
 souri never come to the rescue till the 10th of .Tune, 
 1836, and why did he then permit the session to 
 pass by without any vote upon the measure, and 
 why has he not reintroduced it at this session. The 
 fact is, and the country should know it, that the 
 Senator from Missouri can get no vote for this bill 
 of his, except his own. Now, at this moment, he 
 may bring it forward, or at any period of the ses¬ 
 sion: we are anxious he should do so; and all we 
 ask is a vote by ayes / and noes, to show the 
 American people that the Senator from Mis¬ 
 souri stands alone on this subject. Now 
 the measure of the Senator from Missouri is 
 not only impracticable, but defeats the great 
 object of suppressing the, small note currency, 
 and enlarging the circulation of gold and silver. 
 The Federal Government, aided by its revenue, by 
 the depositories of its money, and by State legisla¬ 
 tion, might gradually suppress all banknotes under 
 twenty dollars, and gold and silver would then ne- 
 cesarily fill the vacuum, and constitute the com¬ 
 mon currenc) r of the country in the ordinary trans¬ 
 actions between the dealer and consumer. This 
 would disarm the State banks of nearly all power 
 to do evil, arrest excessive issues of bank pa¬ 
 per, substitute gold and silver- for all that great 
 portion of the circulation of banks which con¬ 
 sists of notes under twenty dollars, render and 
 preserve the banks sound and solvent, our 
 currency stable, and put an end to all appre¬ 
 hension of that explosion of the paper system with 
 which many bfelieve we are now threatened. This 
 
id 
 
 was a practical reform of the currency, and one 
 which (Mr. W. said) he was deeply solicitous to 
 see effected; but it can only be effected by the co¬ 
 operation with Congress of the State Legislatures. 
 The reform, too, must be by gradual and successive 
 steps. Therefore the bill only proposed the refusal 
 of the five dollar notes after the 30th December, 
 1839, and the refusal of the ten dollar notes after 
 the 30th December, 1841, periods when Congress 
 will be in session; and if the States will not then 
 co-operate with us in this reform, we must, as the 
 representatives of their wishes, repeal or modify 
 the measure. 
 
 But will the measure of the Senator from Mis¬ 
 souri effect any useful purpose? It holds out to 
 the State banks no inducements to suppress their 
 small note currency. It is a declaration of war 
 by this Government against the people of the 
 States, and the banks of the States. It demands 
 that, out of a gold and silver currency in circulation, 
 of twenty-eight millions, (as estimated by the Se¬ 
 cretary of the Treasury,) we should pay in this 
 currency a revenue of forty-seven millions, accord¬ 
 ing to the receipts of this year. It demands, then, 
 an impossibility, unless an explosion of the State 
 banks is created by draining them of their specie. 
 It demands that this gold and silver be, at all the 
 various points of collection or payment, at all 
 times, in sufficient quantities to make these reve¬ 
 nue payments and disbursements also. It would 
 withdraw gold and silver from general circulation, 
 and confine its use almost wholly to revenue pay¬ 
 ments'and. disbursements. It is, finally, an effort 
 on the part *?f this Government to render all the 
 notes of all the State banks uncurrent within the 
 limits of the States, and is equivalent to a demand 
 made by Congress upon the State banks to surren¬ 
 der their'charters, or upon the State Legislatures to 
 repeal them; and Mr. W. said he had never been 
 authorized by the State of Mississippi to demand, 
 in their name, a repeal or overthrow of any of 
 their State institutions. To the extent that he was 
 now willing to go, Mr. W. said he had distinctly 
 expressed himself in an address preceding his elec¬ 
 tion, in favor of the abandonment of the small note 
 currency—in favor of receiving the notes “for 
 larger amounts” “ of the solvent State banks,” for 
 “ all dues to the National Government”—in favor 
 of the enlargement of the circulation of gold and 
 silver, and against “ an exclusively metallic curren¬ 
 cy.” Mr. W. said, having been elected with the 
 open avowal of these doctrines, he hoped he stood 
 not only upon the basis of his own previously ex¬ 
 pressed views, but also upon those of his consti¬ 
 tuents, in supporting the present bill, and opposing 
 that of the Senator from Missouri. 
 
 It remains now to be shown (said Mr. W.) that 
 this bill is in perfect accordance with the policy and 
 recommendation of the President, and is similar to 
 other measures which have received his sanction. 
 In the message of December, 1834, the President 
 declared as follows: 
 
 “ The State banks are found fully adequate to 
 the performance of all services which were required 
 of the Bank of the United States, quite as promptly, 
 and with the same cheapness. 
 
 “ The attention of Congress is earnestly invited 
 U) the regulation of the deposites in the State banks 
 
 by law. Although the power now exercised by the 
 Executive Department in this behalf is only such 
 as was uniformly exerted through every administra¬ 
 tion, from the origin of the Government up to the 
 establishment of the present bank, yet it is one 
 which is susceptible of regulation by law,* and 
 therefore, ought so to be regulated. Those insti¬ 
 tutions have already shown themselves competent 
 to purchase and furnish domestic exchange for the 
 convenience of trade, at reasonable rates; and no 
 doubt is entertained that in a short period all the 
 wants of the country in bank accommodations and 
 exchange will be supplied as promptly and as 
 cheaply as they have heretofore been by the Bank 
 of the United States. If the several Stales shall be 
 induced gradually to reform their banking systems, 
 and prohibit the issue of all small notes, we shall in . 
 a few years have a currency as sound, and as little 
 liable to fluctuations, as any other commercial 
 country.” 
 
 Here are several facts and principles distinctly 
 stated by the President. First, that the State banks 
 could perform all the services required of the Bank 
 of the United States. Second that the deposites in 
 the State banks should be regulated by law, and as 
 little discretion as regards the banks left with the 
 Executive as possible. Thirdly, the recommenda¬ 
 tion to the States of a gradual suppression of the is¬ 
 sue of small notes, and the expression of the opi¬ 
 nion, that with this reform the State banks could fur¬ 
 nish a sound currency. Now all this is in exact 
 concurrency with the bill of the committee, and di¬ 
 rectly contradictory of the views of the Senator 
 from Missouri. So far from desiring the destruc¬ 
 tion of thq^tate banks, the President considered their 
 services indispensable, as depositories of the public 
 moneys, and fiscal agents. So far from opposing 
 regulations by Congress on this subject, and restric¬ 
 tions of executive power, the President distinctly- 
 recommended it. So far from desiring the estab¬ 
 lishment of an exclusive gold and silver currency, 
 and the exclusion of the notes of all State banks 
 from revenue payments, the President desired only 
 the suppression of small notes, and expressed the 
 opinion that with this reform, the State banks 
 could furnish a sound currency,' and of course safely 
 and properly receivable in revenue payments. 
 
 Again, in the message of December, 1835, the 
 President declared as follows: 
 
 “It has been seen that, without the agency of a 
 great moneyed monopoly, the revenue can be col¬ 
 lected, and conveniently and safely applied to all 
 the purposes of the public expenditure. It is also 
 ascertained that, instead of being necessarily made 
 to promote the evils of an unchecked paper system, 
 the management of the revenue can be made auxili¬ 
 ary to the reform which the Legislatures of several 
 of the States have already commenced in regard to 
 the suppression of small bills, and which has only to 
 be fostered by proper regulations on the part of Congress 
 to secure a practical return, to the extent required for 
 the security cf the currency, to Hie constitutional me¬ 
 dium. Severed from the Government as political 
 engines, and not susceptible of dangerous extension 
 and combination, the State banks will not be tempt¬ 
 ed, nor wall they have the power which we have 
 seen exercised, to divert the public funds from the 
 egitimate purposes of the Government. The col- 
 
11 
 
 
 lection and custody of the revenue being, on the 
 contrary, a source of credit to them, will increase 
 the security which the States provide for a faithful 
 execution of their trusts, by multiplying the scruti¬ 
 nies to which their operations and accounts will be 
 subjected. Thus disposed, as well from interest as 
 the.obligations of their charters, it cannot be doubted 
 that such conditions as Congress may see fit to 
 adopt respecting the deposites in these institutions, 
 with a view to the gradual disuse of the small bills, 
 will be cheerfully complied with; and that we shall 
 soon gain, in place of the Bank of the United States, 
 a practical reform in the whole paper system of the 
 country. If, by this policy, we can ultimately wit¬ 
 ness the suppression of all bank bills below twenty 
 dollars, it is apparent that gold and silver will take 
 fheir place, and become the principal circulating 
 medium in the common business of the farmers and 
 mechanics of the country.” 
 
 Here it is perfectly clear that the exclusion of the 
 , notes of the State banks from revenue payments, 
 and the establishment of an exclusive metallic 
 currency, were not contemplated by the President. 
 On the contrary, his views were limited to the gra¬ 
 dual suppression and disuse “of ail bank hills be¬ 
 low twenty dollars” as the only true practical reform 
 “ ultimately ” to be accomplished. And how did the 
 President propose accomplishing this reform? Why 
 by such regulations by Congress in the management 
 of the revenue and custody of the deposites, as 
 would prove auxiliary to State legislation in effect¬ 
 ing this object. Now is not the bill of the com¬ 
 mittee precisely in accordance with these views of 
 the President? Does not this bill propose such re¬ 
 gulations being made in the management of the 
 revenue, as will, if aided by State legislation, sup¬ 
 press the circulation of all notes below twenty dol¬ 
 lars; and the bill of the Senator from Missouri is in 
 direct opposition to this message; for by the use only 
 of gold and silver in revenue payments he aban¬ 
 dons all hope of so managing the revenue, as to 
 make it available in suppressing the small note cur¬ 
 rency. The object of the President is the disuse of 
 notes under twenty dollars, that of the Senator from 
 Missouri the disuse of every tiring but gold and 
 silver. 
 
 Nor does the Treasury order in any manner 
 contravene those principles, embodied in former 
 messages. That this order was perfectly legal and 
 constitutional; that it was in accordance with the 
 discretionary powers vested in the Secretary of the 
 Treasury by the joint resolution of 1816, Mr. W. 
 •>aid he never doubted; that the motives of the Pre¬ 
 sident in issuing this order were pure £nd patriotic 
 was beyond dispute. The measure was evidently 
 temporary, designed to repress inordinate specula¬ 
 tions in the public lands; and it is expressly declar¬ 
 ed in the President’s message to be of little import¬ 
 ance, “ if the lands were sold for immediate settle¬ 
 ment and cultivation.” That it never was design¬ 
 ed to establish the principle of excluding bank 
 notes from revenue payments, is evident from the 
 fact that payments of customs are received, as for¬ 
 merly, in bank paper. There yet remains one 
 other evidence on this subject, which is conclusive. 
 The fifth section of the act of Congress of June 
 last, regulating the deposites of the public moneys, 
 is in these words: 
 
 “ That no bank shall be selected, or continued as 
 a place of deposite of the public money, which 
 shall not redeem its notes and bills, on demand, in 
 specie; nor shall any bank be selected or continued 
 as aforesaid, which shall, after the 4th of July, 
 (1836,) issue or pay out any note or bill of a less 
 denomination than five dollars; nor shall the notes or 
 bills of any bank be received in payment of any debt 
 due to the United States which shall , after the said 
 fourth day of July , (1836,) issue any note or bill of a, 
 less •denomination than five dollars .” 
 
 Now this act passed both Houses with unprece¬ 
 dented unanimity. In the Senate it was passed 
 with but six dissenting votes, namely: Benton, 
 Black, Cuthbert, Grundy, Walker, and Wright, 
 not one of whom opposed it on account of the 5th 
 section, but, as clearly stated at the time, because ol 
 the distribution principle contained in the'thirteenth 
 section. So far as the 5th section is concerned the 
 Vote of Congress may well be considered as unani¬ 
 mous in its favor. The President also, in his last 
 message, in stating the reluctance with which he 
 signed this bill, gives as the reason the distribution 
 principle of the 13th section, but he thus distinctly 
 eulogises the provisions of this 5th section as fol¬ 
 lows: “In the acts of several of the States prohibit- 
 ing the circulation of small notes and the auxiliary 
 enactments of Congresss at the last session, forbid¬ 
 ding their reception in payment on public account, 
 the true policy of the country has been advanced, and a 
 larger proportion of the precious metals infused in 
 to our circulation.” Now the only act of the last 
 session forbidding the reception of small notes on. 
 public account, is this fifth section of this act thus 
 eulogised by the President and approved by hhn on. 
 the 23d of June last. Yet this very section is a re¬ 
 peal of the Constitution, if the bill of the committee 
 be thus truly designated by the Senator from Mis¬ 
 souri, for both are laws, not resolutions, and both 
 forbid the reception of small notes only. 
 
 Let us compare their provisions in this respect: 
 
 The fifth section of the de¬ 
 posite act declares: “ Nor 
 shall the notes or "bills of any 
 bank be received in payment 
 of any debt due to the United 
 States which shall, after the 
 said, fourth day of July, (1536) 
 issue any note or bill of a lees 
 denomination than five dol¬ 
 lars.” 
 
 The bill of the Committee de¬ 
 clares: “ from and after the 
 passage of this act, the notes 
 of no bank which shall issue or 
 circulate bills or notes of a less 
 denomination than five dollars, 
 eliia.ll be received on account 
 of the public dues;” extend¬ 
 ing the prohibition in Decem¬ 
 ber. 1841, to the notes of all 
 banks issuing bills or notes un¬ 
 der twenty dollars. 
 
 Where is the distinction in principle as regards the 
 reception of bank paper on public account between 
 the two provisions ? and the Senator from Mis¬ 
 souri, in thus denouncing the bill of the committee 
 as a repeal of the Constitution, denounces directly 
 the President of the United States. Congress, no 
 
 more than a State Legislature, can make any 
 thing but gold or silver a tender in payment of 
 debts by one citizen to another; but that Congress, 
 or a Stale Legislature, or an individual, may 
 waive their constitutional rights, and receive bank 
 
 paper or drafts in payment of any debt, is a princi¬ 
 ple of universal adoption in theory and practice, 
 and never doubted by any one until at the present 
 session by the Senator from Missouri. The dis¬ 
 tinction of the Senator in this respect was as incom¬ 
 
 prehensible to him (Mr. W.) as he believed it was 
 to every Senator, and, indeed, was discernible duly 
 
12 
 
 by the magnifying powers of a solar microscope. 
 It was a point-nc-point, which, like the logarith¬ 
 mic spiral, or asymptote of the hyperbolic curve, 
 might be forever approached without reaching ; an 
 infinitesmal, the ghost of an idea, not only without 
 length, breadth, thickness, shape, weight, or di¬ 
 mensions, but without position—a mere ima¬ 
 ginary nothing which flitted before the bewil¬ 
 dered vision of the honorable Senator, when 
 traversing, in his fitful somnambulism, that tes- 
 selated pavement of gold, silver, and billion , 
 which that Senator delighted to occupy. Sir, the 
 Senator from Missouri might have heaped moun¬ 
 tain high his piles of metal; he might have swept, 
 in his quixotic flight, over the banks of the States, 
 putting to the sword their officers, stockholders, di¬ 
 rectory, and legislative bodies by which they were 
 chartered; he might, in his reveries, have demolish¬ 
 ed their charters, and consumed their paper by the 
 fire of his eloquence; he might have transacted, in 
 fancy, with a metallic currency of twenty-eight 
 millions in circulation, an actual annual business 
 of fifteen hundred millions, and Mr. W. would not 
 have disturbed his beatific visions, nor would any 
 other Senator—for they were visions only that could 
 never be realized—but when, descending frem his 
 etherial flights, he seized upon the Committee on 
 Public Lands as criminals, arraigned them as vio¬ 
 lators of the Constitution, and prayed Heaven for 
 
 deliverance from them, Mr. W. could be silent no 
 longer. Yes, even then he would have passed 
 lightly over the ashes of the theories of the honora¬ 
 ble Senator, for, if he desired to make assaults up¬ 
 on any, it would be upon the living, and not the 
 dead, but that Senator, in the opening of his (Mr. 
 W’s) address, had rejected the olive branch which, 
 upon the urgent solicitation of mutual friends, 
 against his own judgment, he had extended to the 
 honorable Senator. The Senator from Missouri 
 had thus, in substance, declared his “voice was 
 still for war.” Be it so; but he hoped the Senate 
 would all recollect that he (Mr. W.) was not the 
 aggressor; and that whilst he trusted he never would 
 wantonly assail the feelings or reputation of any 
 Senator, he thanked God that he was not so abject 
 or degraded as to submit, with impunity, to unpro¬ 
 voked attacks or unfounded accusations from any 
 quarter. Could he thus submit, he would be unfit 
 to represent the noble, generous, and gallant peo¬ 
 ple, whose rights and interests it was his pride and 
 glory to endeavor to protect, whose honor and cha¬ 
 racter were dearer to him than life itself, and 
 should never be tarnished by any act of his as one 
 of their humble representatives upon this floor. 
 
 Note. —This bill, thus denounced by the Senator 
 from Missouri as a repeal of llie Constitution, has 
 since passed the Senate by a vote of 41 to 5, and 
 the House of Representatives, 143 to 59. 
 
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