SENATE.] Paymasters--Transfers of Public Money. Mr. PORTER said, if the people of the States of Mississippi and Alabama loved these Indians so, they ought not to permit them to pass beyond the lines of their States. He apprehended there would be nothing but "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth," on account of the dear Choctaws being removed away beyond the Missouri river; but he contended, however, that, whatever might be the state of their feelings now towards the whites, there was no certainty as to what it might be in the coming generation or a hundred years hence. Mr. WALKER replied that the people of Mississippi | and Alabama never intimated that these Choctaws were troublesome or dangerous neighbors; it was only because they occupied a valuable territory in these States, keeping the States dismembered, that they wanted them removed. Mr. WHITE's amendment was then agreed to. After being further amended, the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. PAYMASTERS. A bill to authorize the President to appoint three additional paymasters, was read a third time. Mr. BUCHANAN requested that the bill should lie until to-morrow. He had received a long letter from a friend, in whose judgment he had much confidence, against the whole system of paymasters. Mr. PRESTON, although willing to accommodate, stated that he felt himself, in this instance, acting under restraint. He referred to the state of the country, and the absolute necessity which existed for these additional paymasters. Mr. BUCHANAN reiterated his request, and said, if the bill were laid over one day, he should not be inclined to oppose it. If not, he should be obliged to put his information in the hands of a member of the House. The bill was then passed. On motion of Mr. WHITE, The Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business; after which, the Senate adjourned. THURSDAY, MAY 19. On motion of Mr. KING of Alabama, The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the disagreement of the House to the Senate's amendment to the bill authorizing the President to accept the services of volunteers for the defence of the frontiers; when, Mr. KING of Alabama moved that the Senate insist on its amendment. He looked on this amendment of the Senate as a very important one, and that without it the corps to be raised would not be an efficient one. The difficulties with the Executives of the States, with regard to the appointment of the general and field officers, would effectually prevent this corps from being so organized as to be efficient and useful. He hoped that the Senate would insist on its amendment, and that a message would be sent to the House without delay, so as to expedite the passage of this bill as much as possible. Mr. CALHOUN understood that the effect of this [MAY 19, 1836. disagreement of the House was to change the character of this volunteer force from regular soldiers to volunteer militia. The bill, in this particular, as it came from the House, might have been informally worded; but he thought the intention of that body was sufficiently expressed that this should be a volunteer militia, and not a regular force. He hoped that the Senator from Alabama would, in a spirit of conciliation, agree to add to his motion a request for a conference. Mr. C. then moved to amend the motion of Mr. KING, by adding the words, "and ask for a conference." Mr. KING of Alabama asked for a division of the question as it stood; and after a discussion, as to the points of order, between Messrs. CALHOUN and KING of Alabama, The CHAIR stated that the proper question would be, "Shall the question on the motion of the Senator from South Carolina be first put?" This question having been decided in the negative, The question was then taken on Mr. KING's motion that the Senate insist on its amendment, and decided in the affirmative. Mr. HUBBARD thought that it would expedite the passage of the bill through both Houses to have a conference with a committee of the other House. Mr. CALHOUN renewed his motion to ask for a conference; which motion was agreed to; and the committee, with the unanimous consent of the Senate, was appointed by the Chair, consisting of Messrs. CALHOUN, KING of Alabama, and BUCHANAN. TRANSFERS OF PUBLIC MONEY. The following resolution, submitted on Tuesday by Mr. EWING of Ohio, came up for consideration: Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to inform the Senate what amount of transfers of the public money has been made by his direction, since the 30th of June last, from the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati, and also from the Clinton Bank of Columbus, to banks east of the Alleghany mountains; giving the date and amount of all such transfers, and the banks from and to which they were made. And, also, that he inform the Senate what transfers are ordered from each of the above named banks, and when and to what banks they are to be made; that he also inform the Senate what amount of transfers was made to each one of the said banks in Ohio, since 30th of June last, and what amount, if any, is now ordered to each. Mr. HUBBARD moved to amend the resolution by inserting "and the Franklin Bank of Ohio," which was also a deposite bank in that State, and which was omitted in the resolution in its original form. Mr. EWING, of Ohio, explained his object in moving the resolution. He said that, about the middle of last month, a resolution had been adopted by the Senate, inquiring of the Secretary of the Treasury whether he had given to the deposite banks power to direct what currency should, and what should not, be received for the public lands; and also what amount of the public moneys had been, since the 30th of June, 1835, transferred, by his directions, from the four northwestern States and the Michigan Territory to the Eastern cities, and whether further transfers were ordered. This resolution, (said Mr. E.,) after long delay, drew forth two answers, in all occupying between twenty and thirty printed pages-a mass of matter, intricate, ill-digested, and involved, so that few persons can have the patience to read it; and most of those who do, will rise from the perusal without deriving any certain or definite notion of the meaning of the Secretary, and with few facts distinctly impressed upon the mind. This, however, is, I presume, rather the misfortune than the fault of the Secretary; it is very much in character with all his state papers. He explains upon the plainest propositions in the world, until he obscures them. Even his figures, in his financial tables, are repeated and involved, until they become nearly unintelligible. I have examined these reports with great care, and I am still at a loss to say whether the direct inquiries put to him by the Senate have, in one part or another of his report, or in all together, received an answer. If they have, those answers are to be sought after and sifted from among so much trash, that it costs more than they are worth to find them. It is as if he had owed an ounce of gold, and should pay it by delivering a wagon-load of sand, containing the ounce of gold distributed through it in dust. But I have gone through the labor (from which God preserve my friends!) of reading and examining this report; and I find that its tendency, in one most important particular, is to produce a false impression, and I, on a cursory reading, was in fact deceived by it. Hence this resolution which I have offered, to get, if possible, something in plain and direct language, such as sums and dates, which will set the matter right. [SENATE. 30th June, 1835, been transferred from eastern cities. to the West and Northwest, for public expenditure, but was still remaining on hand." And again, in page 3, he says: "The probability therefore is, that, from June, 1835, to the 23d of April, 1836, the whole amount of transfers of money collected for sales of land alone, and made from Ohio to the east of the Alleghany mountains, deducting the amount brought there by transfers from elsewhere, has been little or nothing; as the amount of transfers thence of money received from all sources, and beyond what has been transferred to Ohio during the same period, was only $45,000. This equals about 1-253d part of the amount which, during that period, has been received from the sales of land in Ohio, and still leaves in that State over one million of dollars of public deposites; and in her banks, including the agency, about two and a half millions of dollars of those deposites." And in page 11 he gives the banks from and to which the transfers have been made, without specifying amounts. Thus: "From the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati, and its agency at St. Louis; Clinton Bank, at Columbus; Bank of Michigan, and Farmers and Mechanics' Girard Bank, and Moyamensing Bank, at Philadelphia; Bank of America, Manhattan Bank, and at New York." It will be recollected that a circular of the Clinton Bank of Columbus, one of the deposite banks in Ohio, gave rise to the former resolution of inquiry. That circular informed the other banks in Ohio that none of their notes would be received in payment for public And to the Union and Franklin Banks, at Baltimore; land, except such as would agree to redeem them by drafts on some of the Atlantic cities, at thirty days' date; and giving as a reason for such a harsh requisition, that nearly all the public money which they received had necessarily to be transmitted there. This reason for the inquiry was fully developed in the remarks which I made on presenting it. It was to ascertain from the Secretary whether this constant drain of our western funds was in fact going on, whether the public money was, as fast as it was paid in for lands, transmitted by order of the Treasury to the eastern cities. The resolution further directs him to state to and from what banks such transfers have been made. In answer to this, the Secretary says, in his second report, pages 1 and 2: "All the transfers of public money, from the 30th June, 1835, to the 23d of April, 1836, derived from every source, and made from the western States specified; to any cities east of the Alleghany mountains, have been as follows: From Ohio, deducting the amount sent there within the period named, by previous transfers from Indiana and the agency in Missouri, only $45,000; (there having been transferred to Ohio $1,570,000, and from there but $1,615,000.) From Indiana, except those to the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati and its agency at St. Louis, and thence to eastern cities, $00. From Illinois, except the deposites from that State made in St. Louis, Indiana, and Michigan, and included in theirs, $00. From Missouri, except through the agency of the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati, $00. "But, from Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana, through deposites in the agency of the Commercial Bank, and transfers thence directly to the eastern cities, $200,000; and circuitously from those three States to Ohio, and thence east, about $1,015,000 more, (viz. in all, from Indiana about $470,000; from Missouri about $500,000; and from Illinois about $845,000. "From Michigan, of all deposited there, from all quarters, the sum of $2,050,000. "These sums, amounting to $3,865,000, constitute the aggregate of all the transfers from all the western and northwestern States, and the Territory named in the resolution, to any part of the East, whether consisting of money received there for lands, customs, debts due, miscellaneous sources, or money which had, before the Mechanics' Bank, Now, sir, I ask you what you would understand from this? Would you understand that nearly the whole amount paid into the Clinton Bank at Columbus, which was the principal subject of inquiry, had been transmitted, or was under order of transmission, to the favored banks in the eastern cities? Would any one believe it, who for a moment supposed that a fair, full, and true answer was intended to be given by the Secretary of the Treasury to the call of the Senate? Sir, I believe the answer to be true, not only in the letter, but the spirit. When matters which occurred in the Post Office some time since are not fresh in my mind, I am in the habit of thinking that our high public officers are above this very pitiful evasion, and even statements calculated to deceive. I supposed the report of the Secretary contained the whole truth; and, thinking so, I, on its coming in, felt bound to do him what I supposed to be justice, and to cast the blame elsewhere, of a part, at least, of the mischiefs which were brought upon the public. But a day or two ago I received information which led me to believe that I had been deceived by the report of the Secretary. In order to settle that matter, I offered this resolution, which is so framed that I think he cannot evade or slur it over. This morning, my resolution being on your table, I find in the Globe the following, which, from its professed exactness, I presume has its origin in or near the Treasury: "THE CLINTON BANK.-Some of the opposition members in both Houses of Congress, from Ohio, have most shamefully assailed this institution of their own State, because it is one of the deposite banks. "Mr. Ewing represented that only 45,000 dollars of the public money had been transferred by this bank during the past year. This had been already shown to be altogether fallacious. But, in justice to the Clinton Bank, we state, that we are informed this bank transferred, in less than one year, 495,000 dollars, and that by the 20th of next month it will have transferred 200,000 dollars more; and all without the smallest expense to the Government." SENATE.] GALES & SEATON'S REGISTER Transfers of Public Money. So much for giving too easy credence to official statements, and to the candor and fairness of executive officers. There are a few other matters set forth in this report, which I think it proper to notice. The Secretary, after stating the amount of transfers from the West to the East, says (page 7) that "this small amount of $3,500,000 has been transferred from banks and States where the excesses had become unprecedentedly great, to banks and States where there is still a deficiency for all probably just and useful fiscal objects during the current year." And in another part of the report he says that the amount of these transfers from these northwestern States have been but about one million greater than the transfers from one single city (meaning, I suppose, New York) to other parts of the Union. Now, if there have been in fact, as is stated in the Globe, (and I suppose the statement is by authority,) these large transfers made and still making from the Clinton Bank, is it true that it was because there was an excess of the public money in that bank, and in that district of country? The Clinton Bank is the only one having deposites which can use them in any manner to the advantage of the northern and eastern half of the State of Ohio, and that bank I believe has not had more at any one time than about $400,000. The banks to which the transfers have been made, within the distance of about two hundred miles on the seacoast, have about $20,000,000, and are in the receipt of nearly all the customs. They, it seems, are to hold on to all they have got and all they receive, and the transfers to them from the West are to meet and balance the transfers from them to other parts of the Union. How stands the alleged deficiency of the money in these city banks for ordinary expenditures? They have now about twenty millions, and they will probably receive from customs, within the year, twelve millions more. ed and where the necessity of these further transfers, How is this to be expendthis perpetual drain on the West, of all the money that is in it, or that is brought to it? 1468 [MAY, 19 1836. know that their effect is to distress and embarrass the people. But we have a clew to much of this matter in another part of the report. I have frequently assertlators, with enormous capital, purchase in the choicest ed upon this floor my conviction that the public deposites parcels of the public land. Now, sir, bear in mind what were made the fund with which companies of specupublic money from the Northwest to the Atlantic cities, and from those cities to the Southwest; bear in mind is said in the above paragraph respecting transfers of the this suggestion, and then examine with me the actual condition of things, and you will, I think, perceive its solution. the Treasury, either by himself or his agents, the deFirst, then, it will be perceived that the Secretary of taken, who agree to redeem their notes in eastern funds, posite banks, requires that eastern funds only shall be paid for western lands; for, if the notes of banks be it is in effect the payment of eastern funds for the lands. They alone answer the purpose; and where they are not to be had, no purchases can be made. The people in the western States cannot get those eastern funds, nor can they get specie to any extent, for it is not in from them. The public lands, then, can be purchased the country, except what is in the vaults of the banks; only by those who have the confidence of the eastern and they dare not loan in such manner as to draw it deposite banks; that is to say, the companies of speculabuying up the whole western country. tors who are formed in the eastern cities, and who are retary of the Treasury intimates, (p. 6,)--what is no doubt the fact-that nearly all the money paid for lands The Secking the fund in the deposite banks in those cities inexcomes from the eastern cities; and he is pursuing the course which will make it continue to be so. haustible, by returning the public money to them as fast He is mato take its round, and be paid and repaid for lands, at as it is paid in for lands in the West; so that it has only the pleasure of those who manage it. For example: But as a further excuse for these beavy transfers, the Manhattan Bank lends a million of dollars to a com which he himself evidently feels the injustice, the Secretary says, in pages 9 and 10 of his report: and monopolize all the fine land in the northwestern pany of land speculators, who choose to purchase up ceivable for public lands, are given to the company on part of the State of Ohio, or in the adjacent parts of Indiana and Michigan. The notes of this bank, being reare paid over by the receiver to one of the Detroit banks their loan, and by them paid into the land offices; they or to the Clinton Bank of Columbus, and by them trans "It is proper to add, further, that the prospect of an interruption of trade, if not a war with France, existed when many of these transfers were ordered, and when it was anticipated that great and unusual expenditures would, at an early day, be authorized on the seaboard; and that, since the prospect of those difficulties has dis-mitted, under an order of the Secretary of the Treasury, appeared, and the protraction and expenditures incidental to the Indian war in the South, as well as the indications of trouble on the Mexican frontier, have increased, the new transfers, become proper by new accumulations, have been mostly turned in a different direction, towards the southern quarter of the country, and rendered more easy, by following the course of much of the heavy trade down the Mississippi. For like reasons, the surplus at the South and Southwest has recently been allowed to augment more, and considerable transfers have been made thither from New York, as well as the West, and several large payments made by warrants on the New York banks in favor of the disbursing officers in the South." Now, if the prospect of a French war was indeed the cause of any of these transfers, as is intimated, why is it that, since the prospect of war has ceased, those transfers still continue to be ordered? while transfers are made from Ohio to New York, transAnd why is it that, fers are also ordered from New York to the Southwest, nstead of permitting them to take the easy current of rade down the Mississippi, where the produce of the West finds its earliest spring market? vho may profit by these circuitous transfers, but I do I know not back to the Manhattan Bank; that bank, then, can lend You see, Mr. President, how this thing works. No times their cost to the farmer, when he wants to purchase, and can get the means. But this is not all. The citizen of Ohio or Indiana, who wishes to purchase a few quarter sections, either for his own use, or to settle his sons when they shall grow to manhood, cannot enjoy any share of this credit system; for the money paid for the land goes to the eastern cities, and is in the power of none but eastern borrowers. No man in moderate circumstances anywhere can share in it. It is your men worth a million that take advantage of it. The western farmer and mechanic are driven out of the market; for the notes of the western banks will not be received for land, (so says the Secretary and his agents;) and those western banks dare not, and cannot, lend out their specie, or lend to those who will draw specie at once from their vaults. Thus this Treasury arrangement has had the effect of driving small purchasers of public land out of the field. They can get no funds to buy with. It drives all western men out of the field; for no funds that they can command will buy of the Government the land adjacent to their farms. But the agent of the New York, or Boston, or some other land company, can come in and purchase up whole counties, and give in payment-what? Not gold or silver. No, sir, notes-large handsome notes, on the Manhattan Bank, the Girard Bank, or some other bank that has about one dollar in cash in its vaults to every ten dollars that it owes. This is the game, sir, that is playing; whether it be wicked, or merely weak, in those who manage it, I am not called upon to decide. But this is our improved currency-thus it is that you destroy monopolies. These are your arrangements for the benefit of the poor man. Never was a public Treasury or the finances of a country more shamefully mismanaged. The Secretary further says, in page 13 of his report: 66 Many predict, contrary to my own anticipations, that the ease in the market, and abundance of money throughout the country generally, will continue so great and unusual, that many more millions of active capital, ranging from twenty to thirty millions, will be parted with in a similar way in the course of the present year." Was there ever a more flagrant insult upon the knowledge and understanding of an intelligent people? Many predict that the ease in the market, and the abun dance of money, will continue so great and unusual! That is to say, the abundance of money is now great and unusual; the market is now easy in all parts of the country; and many predict it will continue so. This is the meaning of the paragraph, if it were penned in sober truth. If it be a sneer at the mischiefs which have been brought upon the country, it is subject to another and a different construction. But, sir, who feels that the market is easy and money abundant in all parts of the country? None-none except the deposite banks and those who have credit with them. To them it is easy; to these land companies it is easy; for they pay nothing but paper, which can be manufactured cheap, for the finest lands that the sun ever shone on. But to the farmer, the mechanic, the merchant, the money market is not easy, but the reverse. I am one of those who, early in the present session, predicted something about the sales of the public lands for the present and future years; and what I did predict was, that, if the present deposite system continued, and if money were permitted to accumulate in the Treasury, it would continue to pass into the hands of speculators, and that there would be not less than $20,000,000 borrowed out and paid in for public lands by the favorites of those banks and of the Treasury, while men engaged in the ordinary and useful avocations of life would find embarrassment and difficulty in their pursuits, and while the Government would accumulate a mass of un [SENATE. sound and unavailable bank credits in exchange for its lands. The first quarter of the year has gone beyond the prediction; nearly six millions have been received from public lands, and it is all bank paper or bank credit. So it goes. The Secretary says he is anxious to get clear of the responsibility of managing these funds. And it is time he should do so, for he must now feel his utter incapacity to manage them; and we talk now of regulating the deposites by law, and investing the surplus money in some way so that it will be safe and useful to the country. But no such thing will be done. Nevertheless, I doubt not that a large majority of the Senate, and of the House also, individually think that it ought to be, and wish that it may be, effected. But the party-that invisible power which rules over our deliberations, as absolute in its decrees as destiny itself, does not will it, and it cannot be done. But your public money must remain where it is, and continue to be applied as it is, until certain political objects shall have been effected, and certain favored individuals shall have amassed for tunes as large as they may desire. When those political objects are accomplished, and those fortunes made-when ambition is gratified, and avarice satiated until it cries enough-perhaps when all this is done, but no sooner, the public funds will be once more placed under the protection of the law. But those are idle dreamers who believe that we shall be allowed to effect any thing this year the party will not permit it, and it cannot be done. Mr. WEBSTER said that he hoped the gentleman from Ohio was mistaken; that the matter of regulating the deposite banks would not be postponed or neglected. He hoped all information, necessary for the deliberation of Congress, would be obtained, without unnecessary delay; and that this great question, respecting the state of the public moneys in the deposite banks, might be considered and acted on. It seems to me (said Mr W.) that the delay, in bringing on this discussion and in adopting the appropriate legal measures, is most exceedingly to be regretted. Gentlemen do not appear to me to be at all sensible of the great public injury which arises from the unsettled and uncertain state of this question. It is impossible that commercial affairs can return to their accustomed course, until Congress shall have acted upon the subject, or shall adjourn, and thereby have shown that it will not act at all. I think every day of the session is, in this respect and this aspect, a positive injury to the commercial community; and yet we are past the middle of the sixth month of the session, and no real progress has been made with this great and important subject. I think it indispensable that the public mind should be quieted; that men of business should know what they have to expect; and that the deposite banks themselves may be able so to conduct their business as may be most useful to the public. Even with the best dispositions, and the wisest administration, these banks cannot act in the manner most useful to the public, while the present condition of doubt and embarrassment remains. If the land bill is not to pass, and if no distribution is to be made of the surplus revenue, then at least there ought to be just regulations adopted for the government of the deposite banks; such regulations as may give security to the public, and shall also enable the banks to meet, to a just extent, the commercial wants and exigencies of the people. If we are to depend on these banks for the custody of the public moneys, for the means of exchange, and for the accommodation of the public, then their duties ought to be described and defined; they ought to know what they may rely on, and to have no just ground for arousing public complaint, by referring to the unsettled and uncertain policy of Congress. Every man. SENATE.] Transfers of Public Money. must see that, with this great amount of money in the Treasury, the banks in which it is deposited, and which will be expected to use it for purposes of discount, have very high and important duties to perform towards the community, as well as towards the Government. They have now some reason to say that the uncertainty as to what may be done by Congress hampers their discretion, controls their judgment, and deprives them of the faculty of beneficial action. I repeat, sir, that all unnecessary delay ought to be avoided. We are on the verge of summer. We have nearly reached the day on which the Senate thought Congress might adjourn. The session cannot be much farther prolonged, without great inconvenience; and next to measures intended to defend the frontier against invasion, there is nothing more important or more urgent than this subject. I entreat gentlemen to act upon it at once, and to act decisively. Mr. HUBBARD remarked that he could not perceive the propriety of the course which had been pursued by the Senator from Ohio. He could not tell why that Senator had thought it necessary, upon the offer of the present resolution before the Senate, to go into a full consideration of the reports which had been communicated by the Secretary of the Treasury in answer to a resolution which had been previously presented to the Senate by the Senator himself. It seemed to him altogether more appropriate that the character of those reports should have been discussed when they were first transmitted to the Senate. 1472 [MAY 19, 1836. reference to these reports. Let that matter pass. He the course of his remarks, had seen fit to declare with had risen not to discuss these reports, but to reply to some general suggestions of the Senator from Ohio. sought for the same information which is called for by That gentleman had said that, by his first resolution, he information now required from the Secretary of the the present resolution; that he expected to obtain the Treasury, under his first resolution; and of consequence the Senator from Ohio, he presumed, is prepared to duty in this particular. Now, there is nothing clearer, charge upon the Secretary of the Treasury an omission of more evident, than that the first resolution offered by the resolution which is now before the Senate; and the that Senator was materially different in its terms from Secretary of the Treasury could not, under that resolu tion, without having committed the greatest violence tion-a different construction from what he did give. upon language, have given to it a different considera the Treasury had, under the first resolution, communiIt would have been passing strange if the Secretary of cated the facts-the information required by the resolu this, he would agree with the gentleman fro:n Obio, that tion now before the Senate. If the Secretary had done rity--an answer to an inquiry never made. In such a his report would have been an argument without authothe charge of making an officious, uncalled-for commucase the Secretary would have been clearly obnoxious to nication. But he hazarded nothing in saying that the Secretary of the Treasury, in communicating to the Senate his answer to the first resolution, had done all he he was authorized to do. was authorized to do, and had done nothing more than first resolution, and what were its provisions? And what is What was required by the resolution? He would subjoin a literal copy of each rerequired, and what are the provisions of the present solution; and a bare reading of them would show that no two papers were more essentially variant in their terms and requirements. There can be no mistake, no misapprehension about this matter: rected to inform the Senate what amount of moneys of "Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be dithe United States, received for public lands in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, and instructions, transferred to banks in the eastern cities the Michigan Territory, has been, in pursuance of his since the 30th June, 1855; and that he designate the banks from and to which such transfers have been transfers are now ordered, and whether any of the demade; that he also inform the Senate whether any such posite banks in the above-named States or Territory have authority to direct what money shall be received depositories." for public lands in the districts for which they are the fit to take a different course-one more consonant, unBut the Senator had seen doubtedly, to his own feelings, and more in accordance with his sense of propriety, although, from the beginning, he could not well understand the object of the Senator from Ohio in moving these resolutions. He could not see how, or in what way, the answers could, by any possibility, aid the Senate in its legislative action. He could not well perceive in what manner those resolutions were to accomplish any valuable object. But he did not oppose the adoption of the first, nor did he intend to throw any thing in the way of the adoption of the present resolution. He did on a former occasion suppose, and he could not now but believe, that the Senator from Ohio felt himself called upon, in the faithful discharge of his duty here, to elicit the information sought for by his resolutions; he would not, however, on this particular occasion, follow the example of the Senator. He could not feel himself at liberty, upon the question now before the Senate, to discuss the merits or the demerits of the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, made days ago, in answer to a resolution previously offered and previously adopted. He would not obtrude his own opinion of the e reports upon the Senate. He should pass no judgment upon these communications of the Secretary of the Treasury. He would, for himself, merely say that he entirely differed in opinion with the Senator from Ohio. the document in question a full and satisfactory answer He considered to the inquiries contained in the first resolution. He could not but regard those communications as among the able arguments of that officer, clearly and conclusively showing the reasons which have induced the action of the Department in relation to its management of the public moneys. this whole matter to the people themselves. They were He was willing, therefore, to leave entirely competent to form a correct judgment-they would do so. They would take the resolution of the Senator from Ohio; they would take the answer of the Secretary of the Treasury to that resolution; and they would determine for themselves, and in that determination he thought the Secretary might safely rely. He greatly misconceived if the Senator found himself sustained by popular sentiment in the judgment which he, inceived for public lands in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Il copy of the present resolution: "Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to inform the Senate what amount of transfers of the public money has been, by his direction, since the 30th of June last, transferred from the Commercial Bank, and also from the Franklin Bank of Cincinnati, and also Alleghany mountains; giving the date and amount of all from the Clinton Bank of Columbus, to banks east of the such transfers, and the banks from and to which they transfers are ordered from each of the above-named were made. And, also, that he inform the Senate what banks, and when and to what banks they are to be made. fers was made to each one of the said banks in Ohio That he also inform the Senate what amount of transsince the 30th of June last, and what amount, if any, is now ordered to each." The first resolution asked what amount of moneys re |