its object the selection of additional banks for the deposite and keeping of the public money. It was manifestly the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury "to select, as soon as may be practicable, and employ as the depositories of the money of the United States," such new banks as may be located at adjacent or convenient to the points or places at which the revenues may be collected or disbursed, requiring him, at all events, to select at least one bank in each State and Territory, if one can be found willing to be employed as a depository of the public money; and the act requires that the Secretary of the Treas. ury shall not suffer to remain in any deposite bank an amount of the public moneys more than three fourths of the amount of its capital stock actually paid, for a longer time than may be necessary to make the transfers, for purposes of equalisation; and in the event of too great an accumulation of deposites in any bank, such transfers shall be made to the nearest deposite banks which are considered safe and secure." Such were some of the provisions of the bill regulating merely the deposites of the public money in the deposite banks. The Secretary was then obliged, as soon as practicable, to select in the different States the additional deposite banks made necessary. He was not at liberty to postpone or to delay this service. The act was imperative; for the great and leading argument urged in favor of this bill was, that such an accumulation of the public money at particular points, and in particular banks, was exposing to hazard the public funds; and he was, therefore, in the most explicit manner, required "not to suffer a greater amount of the public money than a sum equal to three fourths of the capital of any deposite bank to remain in such deposite bank, but at once to remove such excess to other places of deposite, for the purpose of qualisation." The duty enjoined upon the Secretary, under these provisions of the deposite bill, was clear and explicit, and that duty was promptly met and faithfully performed. The banks were selected with as little delay as pos. sible; and the document now on the table will show how early these transfers were made for the purpose of equalisation, and to prevent any bank retaining in deposite, of the public money, an amount beyond three fourths of its capital, "for any longer time than was necessary.' So much for the charge made against the Secretary at the time for neglecting to execute the deposite bill. [DEC. 27, 1836. the act to regulate the deposites of the public money," which provides "that nothing in the act to which this is a supplement shall be so construed as to prevent the Secretary of the Treasury from making transfers from banks in one State or Territory, to banks in another State or Territory, whenever such transfers may be required, in order to prevent large and inconvenient accu. mulations in particular places, or in order to produce a due equality and just proportion, according to the provisions of said act." The Secretary was bound, then, according to the plain English of these two acts, without delay, to set himself about removing from one set of banks, which then held of the public money an amount beyond three fourths of their capital, about eighteen and one third millions of dollars, and to deposite this in various other banks in the different States; and to this may be added twenty-two millions, collected since the passage of the bill. All this was to be done independent of those provisions of the act which required that the surplus in the Treasury on the 1st of January, above five millions, should be deposited with the several States. The money, on the passage of the deposite bill, which was on deposite in banks in the city of New York, could not be left in that city, because the money then there, and what was there collecting monthly from imports, would make an aggregate exceeding three fourths of their whole banking capital. There was in deposite in that city, on the 23d of June last, about thirteen millions; there is collected ordinarily from customs, about one and a quarter million each month. Their whole banking capital does not, it is believed, exceed eighteen millions. The Secretary, then, could not, without a direct violation of his duty, have suffered this amount of money there to remain, even if every banking company in that city had been willing to have been employed as a depository. I have stated that the Secretary found it necessary, in the discharge of his duty, to remove about eighteen and one third millions of dollars. This very operation is cause enough for the pressure which exists in our great com. mercial cities. No one at all acquainted with business, but must admit that every dollar of this money had been loaned by one set of banks to their customers, and the process of transferring made it necessary to collect from those customers, for those banks, in order that it might be removed to another set of banks. This was a real and important money transaction. It was not an affair which could have ordinarily been done without an actual col lection of the money from the debtors of the deposite banks. By the deposite bill itself, the banks which held the public money were required to pay interest on all over one fourth of the money in deposite; and it must, then, have been fairly presumed that the money of the Government which had been placed in the deposite banks was out on loan. The fact was so; and, as I have before said, the very process of collecting from one set of customers at one set of banks, and paying over to an other, furnishes cause enough for the prevailing pres sure. But when the money began to be moved, after the ad ditional deposite banks had been selected, and after due notice had been given to those banks which then held in deposite, of the public money, an amount beyond three fourths of their capital, that they must prepare to make the requisite transfers, then, forsooth, a universal hue and cry was raised against the Secretary, for making any removal of any portion of the public mones, until the 1st day of January; alleging that it was arbitrary and oppressive on the part of the Secretary, not required by the letter or by the spirit of the act; and that such an unreasonable proceeding would produce unnecessary distress among the banks, and the unavoidable ruin of thousands of our mercantile community. Thus blowing both hot and cold: blaming the Secretary for his pretended acts of omission, and for his real acts of commission. Under the provisions of the act to which I have referred, the Secretary doubted whether he should have the power, before the 1st day of January, 1837, to remove from particular points in any one State where there should be accumulated a great excess of the pub-moved at once, but only as needed to pay warrants? lic money to any place beyond the limits of such State; and so settled was the public mind as to the course to be pursued in such a case, and so decided was the public sentiment, that no sooner were those doubts known to exist, than Congress passed the act "supplementary to Who does not recollect the complaint made by the Bank of the United States in 1833, for the removal of the deposites from that institution, less by one half in amount than changed places under the late act of Congress? Who does not recollect the pretended distress and ruin which was alleged to be the consequence of that act of removal, when even the actual amount then taken from the Bank of the United States was not re Where there were great excesses of the public money in any State, as in New York, Louisiana, and Mississippi, it was expected that the Secretary would at once remove such excesses to other States having little or none of the public money. While those States had millions upon DEC. 27, 1836.] Treasury Circular. [SENATE. lands in Indiana. The nearest deposite banks to Indiana are those in Ohio. The banks in Indiana, and they are all employed, have now an excess beyond the propor tion of that State of nearly a million. The Secretary was bound to make transfers, from time to time, from those banks, and hence it accounts for some of the transfers to, and deposite in, Ohio. $700,000 Upon the basis of depositing thirty-seven millions with North Carolina 250,000 700,000 250,000 460,000 1,080,000 1,600,000 1,200,000 400,000 800,000 1,580,000 millions, New Jersey and Delaware had none; and be yond all question it was this sentiment which produced the supplemental act. It was then the bounden duty of the Secretary to take from those points where it had accumulated too much, and to put the money where there was a deficiency. He would have been false to bis duty, he would have failed to have answered public expectation, if he had not done this. He was bound to make these transfers and these changes as gradual and as easy, and in a way to produce is little sudden fluctuation as possible. To make them, he was under an imperious obligation. But the deposite bili has other important provisions, imposing other and different duties and obligations upon the Secretary of the Treasury. He was required to make an equalisation of the public mo. ney among the States, and to collect and to pay over to the States (with the exception of five millions) what should be in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1837. He was, in truth, to prepare to apportion among the States nearly forty millions of dollars; and on the 1st of January he was to deposite one fourth of the sum with the States, in proportion to their representation in both Houses of Congress; and the whole surplus then in the Treasury was to be transferred on or before the 1st day of October from the deposite banks, and placed with the several States; and this part of the duty of the Secretary has been commenced and prosecuted with as little The Secretary has begun gradually, proceeded gradembarrassment as possible to the commercial and mer-ually, and will accomplish gradually, the deposites cantile community. The distribution has not yet all among the States. The whole cannot be completed taken place; far different. From what has been said, until the 1st of October, 1837; more than half will here and elsewhere, one would naturally infer that have to be done after the 1st of January. the Secretary of the Treasury had actually removed to the several States their respective proportions of the surplus which would be in the Treasury on the 1st of January next. Let us for a moment see how this matter is. There is now in New York an excess of six millions; and when Congress adjourned, New York had in deposite nearly thirteen millions. Upon the basis of dividing among the States thirty-seven millions, she would be entitled to retain only a little over five millions. She has now in deposite, as appears from the last returns, eleven millions and six hundred thousand dollars. New York, then, has not been depleted. The collections there made for customs have very nearly kept pace with the transfers which have been ordered from that city. There is now an excess in Massachusetts of over a milon; she has received $300,000 more than she had when the bill passed, and she then had $300,000 more than her share of thirty-seven millions. In Louisiana there I have said that Ohio and Indiana have now an excess. VOL. XIII-10 And that Rhode Island, Delaware, Illinois, Arkansas, Maryland, Kentucky, are also deficient, which deficiencies make an aggregate of more than ten millions; and at the same time, of the five millions left in the Treasury, not less than three and a half would ordinarily be required in the States above named. It has been said, by way of objection to the course of the Secretary of the Treasury, that all this should have been done by keeping the whole money in the great commercial cities until wanted. That officer would have been faithless in the performance of his public duty had he so done. The deposite bill was passed to remove such great accumulations of the public money to places of greater security. This was an argument repeatedly urged in favor of the bill. It was alleged that so great had been the accumulation at particular points, that the public money in some of the deposite banks was insecure. It was matter of constant complaint, that immense amounts were in New York and Bostor, giving to them great and exclusive privileges in the use of the Government funds. It was contended that the money should be carried home to the respective States in just proportions, and there deposited, -for the use of the people from whom it was collected and to whom it belonged. And I again repeat that the Secretary was bound to make the transfers with all reasonable despatch. He has done it; and in doing this he has done but his duty.. And when the present excitement shall have passed away, and men shall consult their reason more, and their passions less, I hazard nothing in saying that the deliberate judgment of the community will be, that, in the execution of the deposite bill, the Secretary has done no more than his duty. These transfers from the great depots, from our commercial cities, could not fail to produce disorder and embarrassment in exchanges, and pressure in the money market, among business men. It was anticipated. I well recollect, on my way home in July last, that the very consequences which have taken place were then represented as effects which must result from the execu tion of the deposite bill. It was said that it could not be otherwise; that the commercial cities which had received the money, and which had loaned the money, would be obliged to collect the money for other places, and thus a sensible embarrassment would be thereby unavo dable. But is that of itself any reason why Delaware and Tennessee, Kentucky and New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont, should not have their portion SENATE.] Treasury Circular. [DEC. 27, 1836. of the public money, as well as New York, Louisiana, ordinary, this violent pecuniary pressure in our cities. It Massachusetts, and M ssissippi? It was far better for the merchants themselves to part with the money by degrees, to commence before January. It has been said (with a view of showing that an unnecessary pressure has arisen from the manner of executing the deposite bill) that the United States Bank paid the national debt without any distress. That is by no means a parallel case: but even that was not done without some time and indulgence being extended to that institution. That debt was paid as it was due, in the great cities, and not in the interior. But portions of it have been just as well paid by the deposite banks since 1833, as by the Bank of the United States prior to 1833. But the two cases are unlike. Deposites with the States are not to be paid to creditors in our great cities, but to States at a distance, and in the interior; and hence the cause of the existing pressure and derangement. But the main, the moving, the original cause of all the pecuniary distress which has occurred, may be traced to the excessive surplus in the Treasury. It was the fact that our Government had thirty or forty millions of dollars unemployed in the deposite banks, not requied to meet the necessary wants of the Government; it was this great accumulation of money, this enormous amount of unappropriated funds, that induced speculation and over-trading. The national debt had been fully discharged. The compromise act led to the belief that the tariff would remain undisturbed; that of course the receipts from customs and from lands would greatly exceed the public expenditures. This state of unexampled and unprecedented national prosperity, these extraordinary resources of the country, bave produced one of the most extraordinary revolutions in the business of the country which has taken place since the close of the Revolution. has been said that the pressure is not as great as is represented. I know it to be most severe. When the best notes in our cities are sold at a discount, and sold so as to yield an interest of two, three, and even four per cent. per month; let no one say that the pressure is mere pretence. It is an awful and cruel reality. It is but the effect of our own policy. If we had left in the pockets of the people the money not wanted for the ordinary uses of the Government, if we had prevented the accumulation of such an enormous surplus, if we had been compelled annually to contract loans to meet current expenditures, business would not have been diverted from its accustomed channels, wild speculation would not have stalked through our land, and the present pressure and distress would not have been felt. We should, Mr. President, now unite in preventing the repetition of the evil, by removing its cause. The surplus found in your Treasury was the original cause of the present pressure. It was our acts of the last session which were auxiliary in bringing about the present state of things. I know that it is very convenient to make the organs of Congress (while faithfully, but fo bearingly, executing the laws) scapegoats, not only for the effects of those laws, but for all the improvidence, rashness, over-trading, and speculation, of Europe as well as of America., I have nothing further to add, in answer to the charge made against the Secretary, for the course pursued by him in the execution of the deposite bill. I should not have troubled the Senate with any remarks, bad I not wished to avail maself of this opportunity to speak of that measure. I gave my vote in favor of that bill, and I have reason to believe that that vote has received the decided sanction of the yeomanry of New Hampshire. The bill passed both Houses of Congress by unexampled majorities, and yet the minority in the Senate, as well as in the House of Representatives, comprise some of our most distinguished statesmen and purest patriots. The bill, as it passed, was most emphatically and most truly nothing more nor less than a bill for the regulation, deposite, and safe keeping of the common treasure of the whole country. There is no room for doubt, with respect to the character of that measure. The thirteenth section of that bill, among other things, provides that the States receiving their proportion of the surplus shall pledge their faith to pay the said moneys, and every part thereof, from time to time, whenever the same shall be required by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of defraying any wants of the public Treasury." Whatever may be the practical operation of this measure, it was regarded at the time in no other light than a bill to regulate the local banks, having the public money in deposite, and to transfer from those banks portions of the common fund to places of greater security, the respective treasuries of the several States. I cannot beIn addition to this, the course pursued by some of the lieve that among those then belonging to the Senate, banks themselves has contributed to bring about the pres- who gave to this bill their support, there was a single inent state of things. The means of those institutions have dividual of the number, who would for a moment counbeen employed, not as usual, in the transaction of the tenance the idea of taxing, directly or indirectly, the peoregular business of our mercantile community, but in ple for the purpose of distributing money to the people. the shaving of notes, exchanges, and stocks. The seven I never could have yielded my assent to any such prinor eight millions of the money of the Government now ciple; and, in voting for the deposite bill, no Senator in the Bank of the United States, it may be presumed, could believe that he was thereby yielding his assent to bas been in active use in that way. To these may be any such doctrine. I hold it to be subversive of the very added the great pressure now existing in the money foundation upon which rests our representative Govern market of England, which has produced its effects here. ment. Such a principle is opposed to the best and puIn my judgment, these have been among the causes rest feelings of patriotism; to the letter, the spirit, the which have aided in producing the present state of things. genius, of our free institutions. I never could have given It is to be hoped that it will only be temporary; it is to my vote for this bill as a distribution bill. This characbe hoped that the crisis has already passed; that the good ter has been most unjustly given to this measure here sense, the high intelligence, the pure patriotism of our and elsewhere. The Senator from Mississippi is mistacommercial and mercantile community, will be able to ken if he supposes that it is so understood by the great bring to a speedy end this unexampled, this most extra-body of the people of the States. The legislative act of Within the last eighteen months the capital of the country has, to a certain extent, taken a new direction. It has changed hands; it is no longer under the control of our commercial and mercantile community, a community which is now more severely and intensely suffering from the pressure than any other class. I say that it was the surplus in the Treasury, it was the amount of unemployed public money, which has brought this evil upon us; which has induced every species of speculation; which bas quickened the zeal, animated the spirit, and put in requisition all the active energies of the adventu rer. The history of the times shows that there have been most unprecedented speculations and over-trading. Speculations not in the public lands only, but in stocks, in banks, in railroads, in canals, in lots, in every thing that the wit of man could devise. This mania for speculation has pervaded our whole country; it has reached the villages of New England; and but few individuals have entirely escaped from its influence. New Hampshire shows most clearly the sentiments of that State with reference to this measure. She has voted to receive her portion of the money; but the legislation of that State has most sacredly guarded the principal as rightfully belonging to the United States; that while she considers herself justly entitled to the benefi cial use of her portion of the surplus, so long as it shall remain uncalled for, she holds the principal to be of right the property of the General Government. It is true that New Hampshire by her act will deposite her share of the fund among the several towns of that State for safe keeping. But the State possesses the power, by her distress warrants, to enforce collection at any time, against any town which should neglect or refuse to pay when demanded; and the pending act subjects the town to indictment, in case any part of the principal of the money therein deposited should be used for any purpose; and the court are required to impose on such a town a fine equal to the part of the principal thus appropriated, and to issue execution against any such town, to be levied and collected in the usual mode. Thus had his own State managed in relation to this matter; and gentlemen may be assured that whenever occasion shall demand that any portion of this money should be returned to the national Treasury, for the use of the General Government, that State will promptly and properly comply with such a demand. [SENATE. funds, and to preserve the public domain for the legiti mate benefit of the General Government, then we shall not fail to rejoice at their adoption. Mr. HUBBARD having concluded his remarks, Mr. EWING, of Ohio, inquired whether he was to understand Mr. H. as including in his argument of justification the discrimination made in the order between citizens of different States of the Union, requiring of one class to pay gold and silver, and permitting the other to pay in the ordinary currency? Mr. HUBBARD replied that he had not turned his attention to that point, considering it as having been sufficiently met in the able speech of the Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON.] Mr. MORRIS obtained the floor for to-morrow; and WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28. UNEXPENDED APPROPRIATIONS. After disposing of the usual morning business, Mr. BENTON rose to move the printing of the document from the Treasury Department, which had been called for on his motion, and had come in a few days ago. It was a document showing the unexpended balances of appropriations which would remain in the Treasury on the 1st day of January next, the amount of each balance, the object to which it was applicable, and the date of the law by which the appropriation was made. It was the amplification and substantiation of that part of the President's message at the commencement of the session, in which he said that these unex I did not consider that, when I gave my vote in favor of that bill, I was in effect making a donation to the several States. My purpose was merely to add to the places of deposite. To give to the States the use of a portion of the public money, instead of confining the use exclusively to the banks. It was not my purpose longer to leave all the public funds in the deposite banks, which were under the exclusive control of the Government.pended balances were estimated at $14,636,062, exceed. I knew full well that it was the earnest wish of the head | ing by $9,636,062 the amount which will be left in the of the Treasury Department to be relieved from the re- deposite banks, and which are outstanding appropriasponsibility, the care and control of the public treasure; tions, to be met by reimbursements from the States, if whatever might be said of the desire of this administra- the revenue fell short of meeting them; and that this tion to exercise an unlimited dominion over the public large amount unexpended was the effect of the lateness purse, the Secretary of the Treasury himself was extreme- of the period at which the appropriations had been ly solicitous to be delivered from that particular charge. made. This fourteen and a half millions has been called In voting for this bill, I gave in no assent to the policy of a surplus, for which the Government has no use; and it a systematic distribution-nothing could have been fur- would seem that some States, acting on this idea, were ther from my mind. The money was on hand, and no for treating the deposite act as a distribution law, and regulation of the tariff could have any effect upon the using the money deposited with them, as if the Govern accumulation then in the Treasury; no public or private ment in reality had no use for it. Nothing (he said) appropriations, necessarily called for, could exhaust the could be more erroneous than this idea. This fourteen fund. The question was, what shall be done with it? and a half millions were not a surplus, but appropriated How can it be disposed of until the same shall be required? money--appropriated too late to be used this year, but The question was answered-wisely, judiciously, and remaining applicable to its objects, under the act of properly answered-by the passage of the deposite bill. 1795, for two full years after the year in which the apThe question now is, what can be done to prevent any propriation was made. The document contains a defurther surplus? It is an important question-it should tailed statement of each object, and in the list would be be well considered. For one, I would desire, in some found objects belonging to every branch of the public way or other, to bring down the revenue to a point be- service; and every State would find some objects near low the ordinary wants of the Government. I am one of and dear to itself, and for which the State had been those who believe that an economical expenditure of the long soliciting. Among these objects, were the branch public money can only be attained by being absolutely re- mints in the South and in New Orleans, the customquired, year following year, to devise ways and means houses in Boston and New York, the Treasury and to meet current expenses. It would be far better, for Patent Offices in this city, many fortifications, roads, and the peace and prosperity of the nation, to be obliged to block-houses, west of Missouri and Arkansas, half a borrow annually, rather than be obliged to tax our inge- dozen Indian tribes, and among them the Cherokee nuity how to dispose of surpluses. Our expenditure treaty, on which alone the balance was $4,245,000. This should never be forced to absorb our means. But means latter was a good specimen of the whole of these delayed should be forced to meet our expenditure. appropriations, and illustrated the manner practised at the last session to create an unavoidable surplus. First, the ratification of the treaty was kept off to the last possible moment, and then all possible exertions made to defeat it; then the appropriation law under the treaty was kept off to the last possible moment, and then all possible efforts made to defeat it. Finally, on the 2d day of July, the appropriation passed; and then Mr. I have said, Mr. President, all that I wish to say upon the deposite bill of the last session, and upon the man. ner of its execution. And if the effects of this measure, and of the specie circular, shall be to check the spirit of speculation which is abroad in the land, to confine trade, Commercial and mercantile enterprise, within their proper limits; if the effects shall be to render secure the public John Ross, a true coadjutor of the surplus party, went home to prevent the Indians from receiving the money; and succeeded; and so saved this four millions and a quarter for distribution, as a part of that unavoidable surplus for which the States are told, and even Georgia herself is told, the Federal Government has no use! Now, there was some use for this four and a quarter millions. The United States would have to raise it otherwise, if she did not get it back from the States; for the compact with Georgia, made thirty-four years ago, and by which the United States obtained Alabama and Missi-sippi, will have to be carried into effect. And so of every object mentioned in the document. There were above two hundred of these objects, and money would have to be provided for carrying each of them into effect; for they were not of a nature to be abandoned; and this head of mine, (said Mr. B., putting his finger to his forehead,) this head of mine, as belonging to a member of the Finance Committee, was now occupied with this subject, and was considering how far duties could be reduced, and how far they would have to be kept up, and what tax otherwise unnecessary must be retained to supply the place of these fourteen and a half millions, if the deposite act is perverted by any of the States into a distribution law. Now, he wanted this fact carried home to the people of the States in such form that it could not be disputed. He would therefore move to have this document printed, and five copies sent to the Governor of each State, ten copies sent to each branch of the State Legislatures, and 1,000 extra copies be sup. plied to the Senate for its distribution. [DEC. 28, 1836. last session. He could scarcely believe that the committee reported against the bill on such grounds. With the denunciations of the President himself against the corrupting influence of a large surplus in the Treasury, and his declarations that the worst disposition that could be made of it was to let it remain in the deposite banks, he did suppose that the committee could not contemplate either result. He could not believe but that, from courtesy, the chairman would make such a report as would put the Senate in possession of the grounds on which the committee objected to the bill. Mr. WRIGHT replied, that this was not a more distinct call than he had had on different occasions from the gentleman from South Carolina, for explanations in regard to subjects which had come under the consideration of the committee of which he (Mr. W.) was an humble member. It would save the Senate some time, if subjects were debated when they were under consideration before the Senate, and not incidentally and collaterally. For his own part, he should be willing to answer any questions, after a subject should have been before the committee, and come up for debate, in the best manner he was able. But he should not hold himself bound, at the call of any Senator, to enter upon a debate on the merits of any proposition not before the body, although it may have been reported upon by the committee. When the honorable Senator's bill should come before the Senate, then he would hold himself bound, as a member of the committee, to state the reasons which governed their acts, but not now, upon a question of printing a document that had no relation to the subject; and he hoped that he should not be consid ered by the Senator, and the Senate, as wanting in courtesy in not complying with the request made of him; for he had made it a rule of action to treat questions, independent in their character, at separate and distinct periods. This practice he had endeavored to carry out as far as possible, and he should do so now; and wheth er the course of the committee should be approved or disapproved, he hoped it might be decided when the bill came up, and not in an incidental manner. Mr. CALHOUN said, that although he very much regretted that they were not to have a detailed report, yet he must be permitted to say that he thought the course of the committee a very unusual one. A bill of acknowl dent's message and report of the Secretary of the Treas. ury, together with the course of the Senate last session, was, after a full debate, referred to the Committee on Finance, because that committee was particularly constituted to advise on the subjects to which it related; yet that committee treated it as one of the most insignificant questions, and despatched it without a written report. This all might be very right, but it certainly was very extraordinary and unusual. Mr. CALHOUN rose to make a very few remarks on the very extraordinary motion of the Senator from Missouri, and to ask for the yeas and nays on the question. The sending out this paper in the manner proposed would make an erroneous impression on the minds of those to whom it would be sent, and would be an unusual departure from the ordinary practice of the Senate. Did not every Senator know that there was a large amount left in the Treasury, say five millions of dollars, by the deposite law of the last session, for the purpose of meeting these balances? Did not every Senator know that, by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, there were three millions of dollars of these appropria. tions that would not be wanted, and were therefore transferred to the surplus fund in pursuance of a stand-edged importance, if he might judge from the Presi ing law? And was there not, besides, a large sum in the hands of the disbursing officers of the Government? He knew (Mr. C. said) that every exertion would be made in order to defeat the deposite bill at this session. knew well that the battle was yet to be fought a battle in which the people would be on one side, and the office-holders and office-seekers on the other. While up, he would refer to the Committee on Finance, and make one remark in reference to the report of that committee on the bill introduced by him a few days since, and, much against his wishes, referred to them. They had reported against the bill, and it was not strange that they should do so, because a majority of that committee were three out of the six who voted against the deposite bill at the last session. But what he complained of was, that they had reported it without one single word of explanation; the chairman simply saying that he was instructed by the committee to move for its indefinite postponement. He would now ask the chairman on what grounds he had reported against this bill? Was it because the committee were satisfied that there would not be a surplus? If so, (said Mr. C.,) let us know it. I shall be glad to hear that such was their reason, because it is a debatable proposition. Was it because they would not have the surplus deposited with the States? If this was the case, it was directly contrary to the known | sense of that body, expressed almost unanimously at the He had been there several years, both as presiding officer and as a member of the body, and he must say that this was the first time he had ever known a question to be put to the chairman of a committee, which he refused to answer. As a representative of one of the States of this Union, he must say that he had a right to an answer. The bill had gone to the committee, had received its disapprobation, and the committee ought to let them know the grounds on which they objected to it. If there was no surplus, let us (said Mr. C.) hear the committee say so. If there was one, then, said he, let us hear what objections the committee have to depos. iting it with the States. He made no complaints, but he must say that the course of the committee was very extraordinary. Mr. HUBBARD remarked that he was at all times in favor of giving to the people all the information which could be communicated to them, either through their |