Norwalk Gazette, Wednesday, July 15, 1840 · page 2

. conducted in a hard"-money currency 2

 

‘ .

‘fin.-4

m‘ -
It will take twice as much produce, twice as
much land, and twice as much labor to dis-
charge a debt, as it does now. VVho can es-
timate the rain and distress that would en-
sue? And upon what principle is it that
the Government is about to resort to this dis-
organizing and revolutionary project of. de-
pressing prices? Upon what ground is it
asserted that we have a redundant currency ?
Is there too much for commerce ? Is there
too much for business? Is there too muc‘h
for debtors? VVhy should we give up credit,
which has become incorporated into the very
fraine-work of our society——which is suited
to the genius of our republican institutions,
and to the wants of our young and growing
country ? Credit is the lifeblood of our
system, sending vitality and energy to the
extremities ofthe Union. It is credit which
has covered New England with villages;
which has peopled the forest of the ‘West;
which has spread our commerce over every
sea. The American history is full of the
memorials of credit, from thetiine Columbus
sought for credit through the courts ofEurope
to the present day. We cannot now dispense
with it. It is a necess-“try element in a free,
commercial, and enterprising nation. The
people ofthis country will not dispense with
it. They are too familiar with its uses and
its benefits. You are attempting to take ad-
vantage of the present disorders, to dissolve
the system; but you cannot force; upon the
people this odious liard-money policy. The
people of this country, sir, remember the
days of their former prosperity, when credit
was well regulated; when we had the most
beautiful currency on the globe; when every
department of industry flourished; "when la-
bor every where found constant employment
and ajust reward. I believe that every day’s
experience is strengthening the conviction
in the public mind, of the necessity of return-
ing to those tried paths in which we had
traveled so long and so ccessfully.

Sir, the Government ITSCII cannot dispense
with the use of credit. It is not a little re-
markable, that in the face of all the clamor
we have heard against credit and paper mon-
ey—-in the face of all the professions about a
specie currency, the Government has been
compelled, during every year of Mr. Van
Buren’s administration, to issue many inil-
lions of its own bills of credit, in the shape
of Treasury notes. It is also a fact worthy
of notice, that this very bill, which compels
the people to pay their dties to the Govern-
ment in gold and silver, contains a provision
under which the Government may pay in its
own paper. I allude, sir, to the 10th section
of the bill. By this section the Treasurer of
the United States is invested not only with
the power of making tmnsfc-rdi'afts, but with
an un‘imited power of drawing upon any of
the depositaries for the purpose of payments
on the public account. This latter power is
given in these words:

“And for the purpose of payments on the
public account, it shall be lawful for the Treas-
urer ofthe United States to draw upon any of
the said depositaries, as iie may think most cou-
diictive to the public interests, or to the couveii-
ience ofthe public creditors, or both.”

The Treasurer may draw on demand or
on time. He may draw with or without
funds. He may draw without any other lim-
itation than his own discretion, as to what is
most conducive to the public interests.-—
I-Vho does not see that, under this section,
bills of credit, in the form of drafts, may be
issued in any form, and to any amount, the
necessities or convenience of Government
may require? The only check imposed by
the bill, is contained in the 23d section, by
which another unlimited power is vested in
the Secretary of the Treasury, and it is made
to depend on his discretion how far these
drafts shall be used as currency.

I perceive that this power of drawing on
the public depositaries without funds, has al-
ready been anticipated. In the letter of the
Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a
a statement of miscellaneous claims paid at
the Treasury, 1 find the following charge:

“November 1-1, 1839.-—\Villiam B. Slaugh-
ter, Secretary of \Viskousin Teriiory; amount
paid by him to Justus D. Seelhorst, for going
and returning t'roin Green Bay, for the purpose
of collecting a draft for $6.500 on the receiver of
public moneys at Green Bay. which draft was
protested for non-paynient, $368 25.”

I have not examined, Mr. Chairman, to see
to what extent these drafs on the public depos-
itaries have been protested, or what amount
the Government has paid to political parti-
sans for making journeys with drafts, when
they ought to have sent them in the ordina-
ry channels of business. The instance to
which I have alluded will however, illus-
trate the system. _

In ordinary times, when the commerce of
the country is prosperous, the credit of Gov-
ernment paper may be sustained. But a
great public emergency that should create
the necessity of large issues of these drafts,
would, at the same time, take away the rev-
enue and resources of the Government to
pay them. Our experience in the war ofthe
Revolution, and in thelast war, should teach
us a lesson on this stibjcct. It is, however,
no part of my present purpose to discuss the
policy of issuing this kind of Gov'ernment
paper, either in its political hearings, or as a
financial measure. 1 alluded to this Nevis-
ion in the bill for another object, and that
was, to illustrate the indespensable necessity
of credit. Ifthe General Government, while
it enforces the collection of its dues in gold
and silver, cannot dispense with the use ofa
paper currency, how can the immense and
multiplied business transactions of this great

commercial and manufacturing nation be
The

I _ scheme is utterlyimpracti-cable. Why, then,

, keep up an agitation that only tends to sub-

vert confidence, and prolong our present
troubles? Why not come at once to what
you must come at last-——the adoption of some
system under which we can enjoy the just
uses of credit? \Vhy not come at once to
the only practicable system—of a converti-
ble paper -currency .’ _ ,

The present-scheme, Mr. Chairman, has
from time to time been called b-y differerit
names, supposed to be significant of its
meaning andpolicy. It was at first calleda
sub-Treasury. Bu‘. the st.b-Treasurers ab-
scondcd with the public money, and this name
was brought into disgrace. As little to be
f')'ItSf8(l as (L $‘ub-TI'ClL.S'l1-'/‘e7, had become al-
most a by-word. lts frieiids then called it
byjhe ,,_o_-9 imposino name of “ Independent

Treasury,” and sometimes “the divorce of
the Government from the banks.” Now,
sir, amid all this array of words, what is
the Treasury of the United States, and what
meaning do gentlemen attach to an Indepen-
dent Treasury? If we look into the con-
stitution we find that Congress lias the pow-
er “to lay and gollect taxes, duties, iinposts,
and excises, to pay the debts and provide for
the common defence and general welfare of
the United States.” And this is all.—
There is nothing said about a Treasury De-
partment. There is no forin prescribed in
which the public dues shall be collected or
disbursed. It is to be done in the most safe,
convenient, and beneficial manner. The
money is the money of the people, collected
of the people, and held in trust for them.—
What possible difference is there, in, this re-
spect, between the case of the General Gov-
ernment and that of a State, county, town,
trustee, or privateindividual? Suppose all
these should resolve to divorce themselves
from the banks, and set up indepcndenttreas-
uries; that they should insist upon the gold
and silver, and should carefully deposite
their receipts in vaults, in chests, and in
what are certainly the humblest form ofsiib-
treasuries, in stockings: Does any one de-
sire to see sticli -.1 narrow, distrustful, miser-
ly system as this? And why should the
Government, in a mere matter of business,
depart from the ordinary forms pursued by
all others who deal in the same business ?--
Wliy should it adopt a course, which, if all
adopted, would put an end to confidenceand
to business? 9

The great principle asserted in this bill is
this, that all and every kind of paper money
is unworthy of credit. The General Gov-
ernment is to be present in each of the great
money markets of the country, denouncing,
rejecting, and discrediting the paper curren-
cy. All the vast receipts ofthe Government,
from the sale ofthe public lands, from the cus-
toms, and from other sources, are to flow in-
to the vaults and safes of the sub-'I‘reasury
in gold and silver. The whole amount of
revenue collected in 1836 was a trifle less
than forty-nine millions. The receipts from
the sales of the public lands alone were in
that year about tweiity-five millions. VVho
will undertake to say what may be the conse-
quences of this measure in the future years
of its operat.ion? \Vlio can estimate the a-
mount of specie which it will abstract from
the banks and from commerce ? Suppose it
should happen again, as it has liappened,
that a large surplus should be accumulated
in the Treasury; or suppose the great de-
mand for domestic exchange should cause
the drafts on the depositaries to remain in
circulation; or suppose the Secretary of the
Treasury should choose to issue these drafts
in such a foi'm as that they would necessari-
ly remain in circulation; in either of these
cases what is to prevent the whole specie of
the country from being drawn into the vaults
of the sub-Treasury?

I do not wish to discuss the question, how
far this scheme will meet the wants of the
Government. This point has already been
fully considered by gentlemen who have
preceded me in the debate. I will suppose
the sub-treasurers to be honest. I will say
nothing of the expense, hazard, and iiicon-
venience of keeping and disbursing so vast
an amount of money by means of the un-
wieldy, clumsy machinery ofthis bill. I will
admit that it provides for the Government,
for its office-holders, and for the public cred-
itors. But what is to become of the States,
and the people of the States? In the collec-
tion and disbursement of the public revenue,
the General Clovernment is the great money
dealer of the country. It holds the direct con-
trol over the currency, and indirectly over
commerce and business. The question, how
this great power is to be exercised, is, there-
fore, one ofthe deepest interst to the Amer-
ican people.

Is the Government, then, to make use of

its tremendous money power to overthrow

the institutions ofthe States and establish an
exclusive metalic currency? Or is the Go-
vernment itself to be converted into a great
banking machine, not only to supply its own
necessities, but to furnish a currency to the
country? Or if, as the President suggests,
banks are to exist in some form, in what
form, and how are they to be regulated ?—
Or is the General Government to asstiine
the position, that it will simply provide for
its own necessities, and lcavethe States to all
the complicated evils of a disordered paper
currency? It seems to me, sir, that it is
time that the Administration should settle
some definite financial policy, and avow it to
the country.

We hear a greatdeal said in generalities.
We hear loud denunciations of credit—of the
credit of the States, of the credit of the banks,
and of individual credit. VVe hear a constant
cry about well-regulated banks, & about gold
and silver, and the constitutional currency;
but what precise. object is intended to be accom-
plished I am wholly unable to comprehend.
There seems to be a total want of coi.iici-
dence in the views of those who lead in the
councils of the Administration. Some are
the determined enemies of all banks, and
predict their early downfall ; while others are
in favor of well 7‘cg'ula.tc(l banks, without de-
fining how or by what means the banks are
to be reformed. 'l‘o add to the confusion,
there is everywhere the senseless clamor of
political partisans and the wild schemes of
all sorts ofexperiinenters. The consequence
is, that all confidence is at an end. No one
will invest capital or embark in business, be-
cause no one knows what is to be the end of
all this, or to what state of things we are
coming, There is an undefined terror in
the public mind. Men of business have be-
come afraid oftlieir-owii Government. Now,
sir, in the name of the people of this country,
in the name of the people I represent and for
whom 1 am authorized to speak, I ask, how
long is this state of things to continue ?—
Are we never to have any settled system
that will give a reasonable security to prop-
erty, and some sort of steadiness tci the busi-
ness movemcnts of the country? Or is this
great question to be kept involvedin the vor-
tex of party politics, and made the subject of
endless agitation .7 Sir, when the honorable
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs, soine weeks ago, undertook to excite
the attention of the l~1lou.se and of the country
to the danger of a foreign war, l_could not

help thinking that, at that very nioincn-t‘, the

_-us;

commercial interests which would be most
affected by a war, was more afraid of the ac-
tion ofits own Government than of any hos-
tile movements of England.

In the present embarrassed state of the trade
and finances of the country, the people look,
and, I think, are entitled to look, to the Gen-
eral Government to provide some practical
and efficient remedy for existing evils. The
power to furnish the remedy, if it exist any
where, resides in the General Government;
and if this power be not exercised at all, or
be not wisely exercised, those at the head
of affairs are justly responsible to the peo-
ple. _ ~-

VVhatcver theories you adopt; whatever
constitutional scruples you choose to enter-
tain; whatever form and mode you select, the
great duty rests upon this Government ofpro-
vidiiig a uniform system of trade between the
States. This is a duty which you cannot e-
vade, for it is and it must be forced upon you,
by inevitable nec.cssity. It was the necessity of
creating some power to regulate commercial
intercourse, that first brought the States to-
gethcr under one General Government;
and the whole history of the country shows,
not only the necessity of such a power, but of
its constant exercise. Hits this great con-
stitutional duty, which the General Govern-
ment owes to the States and to the people of
the States, been pcrforined? Look, sir, at
the present rates of exchange. Between
some of the States there is no exchange at
all. At this moment, the trade between the
North and South and Southwest, is not only
hindered and embarrassed, but in many in-
stances is wholly suspended. There is a
complete non-intercourse, as much so as if
the States were in a hostile attitude to each
other, and were interdictiiig intercouse by
acts of unfriendly legislation. It is in vain
we have otir magnificent rivers and lakes,
otir railroads and canals, fiiriiishing such fa-
cilities for intercommunication. W'itliout, a
safe, uniform, and suflicient currency, there
can be no activity or prosperity in the trade be-
tween the States, or in any of those branches
of industry that depend upon it. It is this
derangement of coinniercial intercourse that
has given such a shock to our whole system.
It is this which has suspended the manu-
factories and workshops of New England.
What is wanted is, to 0pCl'1lllCCl1{1DI2elS of
trade, which are now blocked up, and give
play to the industry and enterprise ofthe na-
tion. [btil this be done, how can you ex
pect that business will revive, or that the com-
plicated inachiriery of our system can have
any regularity in its movements? If some
safe and convenient channels were provided
in whi_chthc energies of the country could be
exerted, we might hope to be restored again
to our former prosperity.

When I came to Congress, at the coin-
mcncement of the present session, I was sin-
cerely desirous of learning, clearly and pre-
cisely, what were tlio views of those at the
head ofthe Government, in relation to a sub-
ject of so much interest to the people of my
State. I listened to the message of the
President with all that respect which is dtic
to a communication from the Chief Magis-
trate of the. nation. About one-half of this
message is devoted to an elaborate disserta-
tion upon our commercial cmbarrassincnts,
the currency, and the banks. The president
portrays, in glowing colors, the evils and

now laboring. Sir, the people had no occa-
sion to be informed by the president of the
distress and ruin which every where prevail-
ed. 'l‘hesc were seen and felt in every state,
in every city and village throughout the
Union. VVhat the people looked to the pre-
sident for was, not to tell them they were
sufferiiig, but to propose some remedy for
their distresses. The president dwells at
lcngtli upon the abuses of the banks, and at-
tributes all our evils to this source. VVliat,
then, is the remedy? Shall the banks be
abolished ? Shall -the paper currency be
suppressed altogether? ls this the remedy?
If the president is in favor of this policy,
why did he not avow it? But the president
says, “that, in a country so commercial as
ours, banks in some form will probably al-
ways exist.” If, then, banks are always to
exist in some form, what is that form ? In
what form are they to exist? Ifthe presi-
dent caii suggest any better form or system
than the present, why was it not proposed ?
It surely tends to no practical good to deal
in mere denunciations of the banks, and uti-
ineaning generalities about bank reforms. lt
tends to no practical good to discuss the ques-
tion which political party has done the most
“ to swell and rnadden the tides of the bank-
ing systcin.” All this may serve to agitate
and delude the public mind, but it will never
reform the system. The condition of the
country requires that this subject should be
approached with an honest purpose, and
with practical wisdom. This constant cry
about bank reforms and well-regulated banks,
means one thing or another, or nothing at
all, as is convenient to interpret it. Sir, I
do not wish to speak of the president of the
U. States in any unbecoming manner, but I
cannot resist the conviction that, in this unit-
ter, he shaped his message for popular effect;
that he surveyed the troubled elements with
the coolness of political calculation, and was
chiefly intent ,upon seizing and appropriat-
ing the means of political power. There is
something in the message to flatter the opin-
ions of all sorts of men, whose support is
courted. The hard-inoiiey politicians find
an advocate oftheir doctrines in his denunci-
ations of the banks; in his praises of what
he calls the constitutional currency; and in
this sclioiiie by which the government is
made to deal in nothing but gold and silver.
'l‘liose who are more COl'lSC1‘V11l.lVcin1,l1eir
opinions, are quieted in their fears by the
declaration that banks will pr0br.LI;Iy always
exist; while his plausible generalities "a-
bout bank reforms are designed to fill and
satisfy the popular ear. The president is in
favor of well-regulated bunks, He was once
in favor of a judicious tariff; he is now in
favor of a jitdicioios system of internal im-
provements. Whether he is in favor of the
Cumberland road is, I believe, still one of
the secrets of state. As great a secret,
sir, as the authorship of Junius. The pm.
sident of the U. States is in favor ofa judi-
cious system of banking!

I have already ad vcrted to the diversities
of opinion ciitci'tai=i-ied by those who are the
acknowledged leadeis of the A(.lmlni.stt'ation,

embarrassments under which the country is‘

both in regard to the effect of the presefi
bill, and also in regard to the financial poli-
cy that ought to be adopted. Ido not know
that it is in order for me to allude to honor-
able Senators, in the other wing of the Cap-
iiol, or to opinions there avowed during the
present session; but, if it were, I would in-
stance the Senator from South Carolina,
(Mr. Cril/roan.) the Senator from Missouri,
(Mr. Bc7_itrm,) and the Senator from Penn-
sylvania, (lllr. Bucliancm.) These greatlu-
ininaries move on this subject each in his
own separate orbit, There is a total disa-
greement among them as to fundamental
principles. The Senator from South Caro-
lina proclaims the downfall of the banks,
and is in favor of a Government paper cur-
rency. I-le avowed this policy in 1837,
when he gave in his adhesion to Mr. Van
Btiren. The Senator from Missouri has

‘such an abhorrence of all paper money that

he will not even vote for Treasury notes to
relieve the necessities of Government; while
the Senator from Pennsylvania is in favor
of what he calls well-regulated banks. He
is for a mixed currency, but would reduce
it till we have brought “our nominal to the
real standzird of prices throughout the world.”

Now, Mr. Chairman, among all these
discordant opinions, what policy is to pre-
vail? or, is the whole farce to end, as it be-
gan, in more political ‘agitation ? Sir, I
make ita ground of complaint against the
present Administration that, while the disor-
ders of the currency constitute the burden of
the messages ofthe president, and the theme
for declamation,botl‘i here and tliroughout the
country, no practical remedy has been agreed
on or even proposed for this enormous evil.
The present bill may provide a safe curren-
cy at the doors of the treasury, but it holds
out no relief to the people. It is a destruc-
tive, not a conservative measure. It is based

upon the ground that the paper currency of

the States is, and will continue to bc, un-
worthy of confidence. It denounces it, re-
jects it, dislionors it. It makes war on the
banlis by draining them of their specie and
discrediting their paper. It takts the gold
and silver out ofthe banks, locksit up in the
vaults of the Government, and disturbs or
wholly prevents its natural return, and its
natural flow in the channels of commerce.
It may be used as an engine to harrass, op-
press,or destroy the banks; but it does not
contain, nor do its friends claim that it con-
tains, any power to rcgtilate them, or to cor-
rect the disorders of the currency.

The president says that this power rests
with the States, and that he doubts not they
will apply the remedy.
opinion that he has performed his duty, by
exliorting the States to a faithful discharge
oftlicirs. Our hope, then, lies in this, that
the 26 States of this union, each having the
power of creating local corporations, and of
passing local laws, will, at the request of the
president, agree upon some system of bank-
ing, or some plan of reform, that will give
stability and uiiiforinity to the currency.-
Now without stopping to consider the difli-
cultics in the way of having any uniformity
in the local legislation of 26 separate inde-
pendent States, why, I ask, was not the pre-
sident, wlicn he made this appeal to the
States, a little more specific? Why did he
not propose something that was definite and
intelligible——soinetliing that could be under-
stood and adopted? And why, in some one of
States which ai'e in the hands ofthe friends the
of the Administration, has not some system
of banking been brought forward and adopt-
ed, which would give a practical illustration
oftheir notions of reform, and serve asa iiio-
del to all the other States? Vfhy has not
this been done in the District of Columbia,
which is so highly favored as to enjoy, not
only the direct light, but the direct legisla-
tion of the general government? If any
valuable reforms have been introduced into
state legislation, by the friends of the Admin-
istration, 1 have not heard of them. Look
through the states, do you find the currency
better regulated, or the banks in abetter con-
dition, in those states where the Administra-
tion party is in power than it is in others ?
We have had plenty of sound and fury, but
where are the evidences of any good accom-
plished? \Vhere are the practical results?
VVlicre are the monuments to testify of the
past, or inspire confidence for the future ?

The only ineasure of bank reform attempt-
ed in State legislation, by the friends of the
Administration, is the suppression of small
bills. This policy was taken tip a few years
ago, and adopted as one of the doctrines of
the party. It was then no new idea, having
long before been suggested and recommended
as a mode of infusing a greater proportion
of spccie_into the circulation. VVliat had
been proposed to be done by a gradual and
well-timed course ofaction, the party under-
took to do at once, and without regard to the
condition or wants of the currency. The
experiment was introduced into New York,
under the auspices of the Administration,
and in obedience, as was said, to suggestions
from \-Vashington. A law was passed by
the Legislature of that State proliibiting,
under severe penalties, the isstiing or pass-
ing of any banknote under the denomination
of five dollars. The consequence was, that
though the small bills of their own banks
were suppressed, the state was flooded with
small bills from other'states, which were
every where openly passed in defiance of the
penalties of the law. They were not only
used in the common transactions of business,
but were paid otit to the officers of the law
——-to judges, jurors, and members ofthe Le-
gislature. Tlielaw was opposed to the hub-
its and convenience of the people, and was
therefore disregarded. After a short trial
the operation of the law was suspended by
the Legislature of that State, in 1837, while
the Administration party were still in power;
and the next year the law itself was repeal-
ed, with the ‘general approbation of all par-
ties. Iventure to say the experiment will
not very soon be repeated inthat state. The
same thing was attempted in Connecticut,
and with a similar result. Ibelieve that in
every one of the states, where this policy is
adhered to, the banks are now in a state of
suspension. Thus has ended the small bill
experiment. With this solitary exception,
which has proved an entire failure, I am not
aware that any currency reform has been
accomplished or attempted in state legisla-
tion by the friends of the Administration. If
any friend of the Aclininistration on this floor

The president is of

can refer to any,- I will now give way for
him to do it. ,

One evil, very justly complained of, is the
improvident increase of banking capital in
the states. A word or two on this subject.
I will show when and by whom this increase
was created. From official documents, com-
municated to Congress by the secretary of
the Treasury in 1838, it appears that on the
1st of January, 1820, the whole number of
banks in the United States, including the
Bank ofthe United States, was three hundred
and eight, and the whole amount of banking
capital $137,210,611. On the lst of Janua-
ry, 1830, the whole number of banks was
three hundred and thirty, and the whole a-
mount ofcapital S14-5,102,268. On the lst
January, 1834, the whole number of banks
was five hundred and seven, and their capi-
tal $205,123,788. On the 1st of January,
1837', the whole number of banks was six
hundred and thirty-foii r, and their capital
$290,772,091. It thus appears that while the
increase of banking capital in the U. States,
from 1820, to 1830, a period often years, was
less than eight millions, the increase from
1830 to 1837 was $145,579,723. From
1830 to 1837 Maine incorporated tliirty-scv-
en banks, New I-Iampshire nine, New York
sixty-one, and Pennsylvtiiiiti seventeen; all
these States being, during that whole period,
in the hands of the friends of the Administra-
tion. The increasc of authorized banking
capital, from the 1st of December, 1836, to
lst of December, 1837, being the year im-
mediatcly succeeding Mr. Van Bui'en’s elec-
tion, was $Ol,7'7'-1,548. A large proportion
of this increase was in the States where the
Adininisti‘ation was in power, as the official
documents before me will show. Mississip-
pi alone incorporated ciglitcen millions in
that single year.

Surely the Adiiiiiiistration, when it com-
plains of the multiplication of banks, is scold-
ing at its own children. Holding the pew-
er, it has gone on in one State after anoth-
er, not only incorporating worthless banks,
but sustaining them after they have violated
their faith and forfeited their charters.

And Now. Mr. Chairman, what is our
condition, and what are our hopes for the fu-
ture? In the way we are going on, is there
any prospect ofimpi'oveiiient,oi' is tliisliill tlfc
last turn ofthe screw that will extinguish the
life and hope of the country? The Ameri-
can people, sir, have great courage, energy,
and elasticity of character, but they cannot
always struggle against such overwhelming
difliciiltics. You have gone on in a course
ofwild agitation and reckless experiment, un-
til you have ruined the commerce of the
country, and with it the revenue of the Gov-
ment—-until the Government itseli has been
compelled to falsify its own doctrines, and to
make use of the very credit it is denouncing-.
You have gone on until every branch of iii-
dtistry is cruslied—-—until the farmer is robbed
of the reward of his labor, and the mechan-
ic turned out of his employment. You
have gone on until not only the banks, but
the business of the country is in a state of
suspension.

\Vhile such is the condition ofthe people,
on the one hand, the powers of the Govern-
ment, on the other, have been constantly on-
larging. While we have reduction in eve-
ry thing else-—-reduction in the appropriations
to objects of national utility, to our harbors
and works of internal improvement—reduc-
tion in the value of propcrtyand the wages
of labor—while we have reduction in all
these, the number of Government oflicc-hold-
ers and their salaries and jiei'rji.iisitgs have
been from year to year increasing. The
public cxpenditu res have risen, within the
last ten years, from twelve to nearly forty
millions a year. So rapid, sir, has been the
growth of federal power and patronage in
this country, that the General Government,
with all its vast machinery of men and ino-
ney, can now bring an almost irresistible in-
fluence to bear on every point throughout
the Union.

In addition to all this, it is now further
proposed to divide the United States into mil-
tary districts. and to organize a national
guard of two hundred thousand men, “to be
subject to such regulations as the President
may think proper to adopt.” Ifthe Repres-
entatives of the people should hesitate to satie-
tion this monstrous project, the President can
gather from the Government of Europe the
arguments for its adoption.

It is still further proposed by this bill to sur-
render up the last remaiiiing power—the ino-
ney power. When these measures are con-
summated, what monarch on his throne
could desire to be more absolute than our
republican president? Of what value will
then be the forms of the C0l’2Sllt1]l.lOr1=? Or
of what avail the tenure of his office, when
you have given him power and influence
enough to control the popular voice .7 The
election ofa President will not then be what
it was in the better days of the republic, and
what, Itrust in God, it will yet be again.——
It will not then be the generous and sponta-
neous expression of the gratitude and affec-
tion ofthe people for great and patriotic ser-
vices rendered to the country, but it will be
the mere-formal result ofthe artificial work-
ings of Government machinery.

What was it that gave to the late Bank of
the United States its great power—--a power
dangerous, a§ we alledged, to the liberties of
the people? It was not its great capital, for
it has the same capital now that it had then.
It was the custody; and clisburscmcrzz of the
public revenues. These were the locks of
Sainson. \Vhen these were sliorn off its
strength departed. The object of General
Jackson was to break up and ilzfl-use this
great coiiccntmtczl money power. It was
on this distinct principle that he put down the
bank. It was not be_cause the bank had fail-
ed to perform its duties to the Government
or to the people, but because this great con-
cc7I.l7'(Llc(l money power, growing out’ of the
custody and disbursement of the public rev-
enue, was dangerous to the freedom of the
people. He wished, therefore, to take this
power from the national bank and divide it
among the different State institutions. How
have these views of Gen. Jackson been car-
ried out by his successor? VVhy, sir, in the
very first year of his adtninistration, and in
the first message he ever sent to Congress,
he proposed to grasp and appropriate to him-
self this trcmendoiis power, which was so
daiugerous in the hands of the bank. He
saw that, with_tliis mighty engine in his own

‘E
hand, he could wield it so as to bring all the

eciitive. . _
I take no pleasure in suspecting the mo-
tivés or denouncing the acts of the men in
power. I certainly do not desire to render
any factious opposition to the administration
of the Government: of my own country. But
when 1 see, on the one hand, the distress
and ruin that have been caused by this fatal
financial policy, and on the other, the rapid
and constantly increasing growth of Execu-
tive power, I cannot forbear to use the lan-
guage of earnest rernonstrance.

It is the nature of power to concentrate, to
fortify,itselfand to make encroachments. Our
free institutions can be preserved in their pu-
rity only by the exercise of constant,jealous,
and unceasing vigilance. These institu-
tions were the price of the blood of patriots
who have gone before us. Ours is the duty
to watch, to guard, to cherish this magnifi-
cent legacy bequeathed to us from our fath-
ers. VVe owe this to ourselves; we owe it
to the memory of the dead.

The present is as I believe, the most im
portant crisis in our affairs that has occurred
since the formation ofthe Government. ‘Va
are about to settle great principles which lie
at the foundation, not only of national pros-
perity, but of the safety of our republican
institutions. The issue is between the pow-
ers of the Government and the rights of the
people. My only hope is in that intelligent
love of freedom, in that indomitable spirit of
resistance to concentrated power, which live
and glow in the hearts ofthe American peo-
ple. My hope is in that deep conviction,
which is everywhere working in the minds of
men that there is something wrong, radically
wi'ong,in the policy and measures ofour pres-
ent l'ult‘.}'S. My trust is in that redeeming
spirit which is abroad among the people--—
in that earnest cry, which comes up to us
from every hill and from every valley, for
dcliverancc—deliverance from the thraldom
of party; deliverance from ruin; deliver-
ance froin the men in power. We must have
a change of rulers; remoiistrance has been
tried in vain ; argiiinerit has been exhausted;
no remedy rtinains but that omnipotent
reinedy—tlie ballot box. It is through this
great constitutional organ that the people
must correct the abuses and arrest the down-
ward tendencics ofthis Government.

I love, Mr Chairnian, to look out from
this Hull, where the demon of party rules
with such an iron sway, upon what is going
on in the country. I love to witness those
auspicious omens which assure me that the
day ofourdelivcrance is at hand. A mighty
revolution has begun, and it will not go back-
ward. You cannot stop it by the tricks and
contrivanccs of party; it is the generous,
unbouglit enthusiasm of the people. The
people have resolved that they will once
ll~Ol'C place a patriot at the head ofthe Gov-
criiinent; one who, by a long life of faithful
public services, has earned ii title -to their
gratitude and confidence ; one who has dc-
fcnded the soil and illustrated the history of
his country; one who, by his simplicity of

ness ofsoul, his practical wisdom, his integ-
rity of purpose, and his devotion to his coun-
try, seems desigped by Providence to be the
instrumt.-rit of redeeming the Government
from its present corruptions; of restoring it
to its former republican tone; of making it
what it was designed to be, and what it
once was—a blessing to the whole people.
And let me tell gentlemen that the more
ftirioiisly they assail the cliaractcr of Gene-
ral I-Izirrison with the shafts of a party press

asiii will a generous people rally around
this old patriot and soilder. The whole
liVest is full of the monuments of his bravery,
his wisdom, and his benevolence. And we of
the East are no strangers to the VVest; there
is a natural bond of sympathy between us.
The sons of New England are in all the vil-
lages and in all the forests of tlie\’Vr.-st. VVe
claim a common property in all that belongs
to her. 'VVe rejoice in her prosperity as in the
prosperity of our brothers and our children.
New England has. on more occasions than
one, testified her admiration ofthe great and
patriotic men of the Vt/est. \'Vo willacton
the same broad principle now. V‘v't- will go
for the constitution, for deliverance, for pros-
perity. \Ve will go for a President of the
people, and not a President of a party.

 

A Little I2tr.t'rlz:'/it.--Sti':i\vs sometimes
show which way the wind blows-——and a
little incident which occurred in this city, on
the Fourth of July, will indicate, perhaps,
ivitlimore accuracy the current which pop-
ular opiriion has taken at the present time.
than a whole volume of political essays and
orations. On the morning of the Fourth,
inst. the children belonging to the different
churches of this city, of the Baptist denom-
ination, to the number of a thousand or fifteen

Baldwin Place, where appropriate services
were performed. An excellent address, in
language adapted to the comprehension of
his auditors, was delivered by Rev. Mr Snow,
Towards the conclusion of his address, he
alluded to the different Presidents of the
United States, and spoke of the periods which
their several administrations embraced. In
-speaking of thepresent Chief Magistrate ;
he said in substance, as follows: “ Mr. Van
Buren, on the fourth of March, 1841, will!
have served four years as President of the
United states. Who will be our next Pres-
ident”—If he had been allowed to proceed
without interruption, he doubtless would
have said something to the following effect :
“Who willbe our next President, it is im-
possible to predict, as there are too promin-
ent candidates for the office, Mr. Van Burcn
and General I-larrison.” _ B.ut he was not
allowed to complete the sentence, for the
Sabbath School pupils, supposing that all
i7ilerrogato°'ry/ had been proposed with won-
derful promptitude, shouted out from every
part of the church Hmirzson !- Ilairrzsort!
Harrison! ! .' ! ,
,Thi‘s spqntaneous burst of political. en-
thusiasm from the largecollection of Sabbath.
School scholars, astonished those who had the
good fortune to be present, and some, doubt-
less thought that the children had made a-
lucky mistake, others were disposed to ques-
tion the accuracy 'of their prediction. Even-
Mr. Snow, whose readiness and tact, on
occasions of this kind are, well kno,wI.1.. was

 

elements of opposition to the feet of the Ex-

inannei's, his purity of character, his noblc- -

and party dctraction, with the more ciitliusi- -.

hundred, were assembled at the church in _