ed to remedy this evil-an evil which Congress had, in fact, remedied effectually before the issuing of that order. It would have been a fortunate thing if the mischief had been discovered sooner by the executive officers, and the abuse corrected before it became a subject of investigation before Congress. In Another object to be effected by this order is the putting down a paper, and putting up a gold and silver currency. This is its purpose, while its effect has been to banish almost entirely gold and silver from among us. No such thing is now to be heard of. You cannot, in the West, unless it be in towns, get a five dollar bill changed into specie in a ride of thirty miles; not that the banks do not pay specie for their notes, but the effect on the community is the same as if they did not. consequence of this order, all purchasers of land exchange their notes for gold and silver. In the town in which I reside, there is a bank well provided with resources, and within a circuit of thirty or forty miles there are six or seven more equally strong. Before the issuing of this Treasury order, the paper of these banks constituted the currency of that region of country; but, as if touched by the wand of an enchanter, that whole amount of paper has vanished from circulation: not a dollar of it is to be seen. The men who had it carried it to these banks to get gold and silver, and the banks, having reedeemed it, shut it up in their vaults, where it remains to guard their gold. There are still some notes in circulation, but they are notes on remote and inconvenient points-on distant banks in Ohio, on Western Pennsylvania, Western New York, Michigan and Virginia. Our local banks used to receive their bills as cash, and, as the course of business permitted, send them home for exchange; but now they husband their own notes, and pay them out, so that paper of this kind constitutes nearly all our circulation, and they are so mixed in small parcels on each bank that it would cost nearly half their value to send them home and cash them. This is our gold and silver currency. The amount of our produce last year was unusually great, and our supply of pork this year, consequent upon it, is very large. There is now a great demand in the Eastern cities for all we have to dispose of: our merchants are well inclined to purchase, but they cannot do it; they deal more or less in borrowed capital, and our banks dare not lend them. They have tried to get money at the East, but the Eastern banks would not loan, because their paper would immediately return upon them. Some of our adventurous men thought of a third expedient: they would go to an intermediate point in Western New York, where no trade centres, and try to get a loan there, because it would be so long before the money would make its way to the Eastern cities, and from thence return to the bank that loaned it. The plan has been tried, and I am told it has to some extent succeeded. I have myself seen bundles of notes issued in Michigan, and payable somewhere in the State of New York, making their way as welcome strangers among us; and such is the sort of currency with which we are obliged to do business; such has been the effect of tampering with the currency by individuals who know nothing of the matter. Currency is a thing which admirably regulates itself, which our merchants admirably regulate; but the hand of ignorance must not touch it. The interference of such regulators is like the effort of some rude giant to move the wheels of a machine which he does not understand: the only effect is to ruin the engine, or give it a motion directly the contrary of that which was intended. Another alleged object aimed at by the order is to check speculation. And here we find a saving provision favor of residen's within the State, and of actual settlers. Thus a discrimination is made by the Executive between different classes of American citizens, entitled [SENATE. An at to equal rights under our constitution and laws. tempt was made last winter to urge this same measure, or a part of it, upon Congress, but Congress refused its assent, and now it is forced upon the people by executive authority. No doubt it was supposed that the order would be unpopular without this exception, and would have an especially bad effect just before a presidential election. The sale was therefore so limited in point of time, as to continue just beyond the time of election, and then to cease. Can any other reason be assigned for the particular date fixed upon? There is a provision in the constitution directly in the face of this order. Those who drew up the order seemed to have been aware of it, and to have avoided employing the same words as are used in the article of the constitution. But it is not, therefore, any the less in violation of its provisions. The constitution declares that the citizens of cach of the United States shall enjoy all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several States; even the States them. selves cannot discriminate. But this order gives to the citizens of one State a privilege which the citizens of no other State are allowed to enjoy-that of paying for public land in the ordinary currency of the country. With some, this argument will have but little effect, especially as it is directed against an executive act: but it is not, therefore, the less sound. But there is another which will find more favor when that will fail. The measure is unpopular; as far as it has been felt and understood, it is decidedly unpopular. It is universally condemned throughout the West, at least as far as my acquaintance extends. The very discrimination between citizens of different States is unpopular, as it is unconstitutional and unjust. It is easy, by a familiar example, to show the effect of this branch of the order, how it works in practice, and how it will strike the minds of plain common men. Two neighbors, farmers, whose lands are separated by the boundary line between Ohio and Indiana, each have sons for whom they wish to purchase land, and they set out together on a journey into the northwest of Indiana to make their purchases. They buy side by side, and enter the land in the same office; they are both citizens of the United States, and it is the United States that sells the land. Yet one of them, he who lives on the Indiana side, is allowed to pay in the ordinary currency of the country, while the other must pay in gold and silver. Yet their fences join; they can see the smoke of each other's chimneys, and nothing separates them but an imaginary line. Our Western people cannot perceive the justice of this. They do not understand it, and they do not like it; the thing is generally unpopular. But now, sir, there is an expedient for getting rid of the effect of this order, which ordinary plain people do not think of. It is the easiest thing in the world for gentlemen who understand how to manage it. There never was any thing more happily contrived to enable those who are shrewd and experienced in business, to get a selection of the public lands, and all for paper. Suppose one of these gentlemen wishes to purchase ten thousand acres of land; he provides himself with no cart to lug about go'd and silver to make the purchase, indeed, scorns that cumbrous kind of machinery; he takes an easier road. He just goes to three times as many of the neighbors as he wants thousands of acres of land, and he promises to treat them for the mere use of their names. That, you know, costs them nothing, and so A, B, and C, bonafide residents of the State in which the land lies which he wishes to enter, authorize him, under their hand, to enter land in their names. He makes his entry, pays for it in paper, and then gets the whole transferred to himself. This gentleman carried no specie; he did nothing to help the circulation of gold and silver, and yet very snugly gets possession, himself, of all the land he wants. The Treasury order is the very thing for him, while it keeps down the plain dull man that would otherwise be his competitor. Thus genius is patronized, and a gold currency introduced. But this is not all. There is yet another way of evading the order; and it is provided for in the order itself. Any man may make a deposite of money in the Treasury of the United States, and a certificate of such deposite is receivable at the land office as so much cash. It is said, indeed, that this is according to a law of Congress. But what is the provision of that law? It is, that no man shall obtain a certificate for land till he pays the price of it into the office of a receiver, or into the Treasury of the United States. My construction of this law is, that the individual must have paid for that particular section of land, and not merely have made a general deposite of money. This, however, has been overlooked, and the ordinary course is to deposite a sum of money in one of the deposite banks; the certificate of which is sent to the Treasury, and then a Treasury certificate is issued for the same amount; and I am told that individuals have shaved honest purchasers on these certificates to the amount of fifteen or twenty per cent. It took them about a month to get this thing well into operation. But within the last two months there has been about $200,000 of this kind of specie capital created for the occasion. This is nothing but a fair sample of the practical effect of all attempts to juggle with the public money. The result always is the injury of ordinary industrious citizens, and the enriching and aggrandizing of those who are already rich, and who are keen-sighted and sagacious. It has been said, and it is a familiar answer to objections such as I have now urged, that, notwithstanding all these difficulties, the price of produce is high, and that, therefore, what has been done to the currency has been for the benefit of the country. It is true produce is high, and what is the reason? We know in this country, from the papers, the wants of all parts of our extended community, and it has happened partly owing to a failure of crops, and partly from other causes, that grain is so scarce and in very great demand east of the mountains. It is nominally high with us in the West, but not as high as it should be in proportion to other things, because our traders cannot get funds to buy with, and competition in the purchase is put down. As the causes of these high prices are not generally understood, I will briefly sketch an outline of my views on that subject. There is an impression gone abroad that the people of the United States ought, of course, to be exporters of grain. But never was there a more incorrect idea. It is against the ordinances of nature, and the whole course of human things. We never can be exporters of grain unless there be war or famine in Europe. A great part of Europe, the north part of Asia, the north coast of Africa, Egypt, and the islands in the Mediterranean are all grain-growing countries. Grain is their great commodity. England, too, is a rich grain country. All these regions of the earth will supply their own demands for bread, and are destined to do so, while a large part of their clothing will be drawn from our great South. [DEC. 14, 1836. prices. Nor is it owing to any deranged or diseased state of the currency, or of commerce; these prices, in the general, will be maintained; for the price in this country must at last be regulated by the price at which grain can be imported from the Baltic and the Black Sea. And, indeed, we at the West have reason to complain of the prices we get in comparison with those which our staples command in the Eastern cities. I have lately seen it stated that pork is selling at Montreal at $30 per barrel, and at about the same rate in Boston; while in the West we get what is equivalent to about ten or twelve dollars per barrel. [Mr. KING, of Alabama, here stated that the price was $30 in Mobile.] The price, I am sure, is decidedly too low with us. In a And now, sir, believing as I do that the Treasury order in question has been productive of all the effects I have stated, I hold that it ought to be rescinded, were it as a mere matter of policy. I am pursuaded that its rescision would soon restore the confidence of the people of the West, now so extensively impaired. We ought to prevent the improper discrimination between specie and notes payable in specie. It would enable our banks to make loans to the amount of our produce, and no more. Those institutions with us are skilful and cautious; they make no loans for the purchase of public lands, nor for any object which will prevent its speedy return. word, they refuse permanent loans of every kind. Sir, I would prevent the Secretary of the Treasury, or any other Executive officer, from making an unwarrantable discrimination between different classes of the citizens of the United States. There should be no such discrimination. We have no right to set up the public property to sale, and then say to A or B this is the price if your business is so and so, or if your politics are of this complexion; but if not, you must pay a higher price. It is against the letter as well as the spirit of the constitution. I would abolish it. It ought to be abolished. It is peculiarly oppressive on the people of the West. If there is to be a specie currency, why not try the experiment in our Eastern cities? Surely it would be more convenient there. A man in our Western region, if he selects a tract of land from the public domain, but is obliged to go away to get the money to pay for his purchase, loses his opportunity. His footsteps are tracked by the speculator or his agent, and the land is gone. If he would secure his section, he must carry his specie in his saddle-bags, and take a pistol in his hand to defend himself from robbers. Is it in this way you would compel your citizens to seek out their home upon the public domain? As soon as he finds a spot to suit him, he must carry away the specie to a land office; and whenever a large quantity accumulates there, an ox-cart, with a guard, must be employed to bring it back to the spot whence he got it. This, sir, has been all the specie currency of which we have heard so much. This is the active circulation of the precious metals. This is the way in which the Secretary makes up his statements on that subject. The money is carried one way in saddle-bags, and the other way in a cart. I would put an end to this state of things. I would try the hard money experiment, if it must be tried, on the seaboard, where it is easier to try it. As long as your land is offered at sale, it is lawful for all your citizens to buy it. You have no right to disfranchise any of them, under the plea of compelling them to get up a specie circulation. We have at the North populous cities, extensive manufactories; in addition to which, there is our immense marine, our navy, our merchantmen, our fishing vessels, all to be supplied from our own grain region. Yet we are seldom in the habit of reflecting that it is but a belt of about four or five degrees of latitude which, in this country, produces wheat advantageously. This comparatively small portion of our country is relied on to It is said by the Secretary that he does not possess the supply our whole northern continent, the West India same power over the deposite banks since the distribuislands, and South America, all of which are, in this pointting act which he did before. He succeeded, he tells of view, entirely dependent upon us. Is it astonishing that the price of wheat should be high? It is no Goyernmental arrangement. It is not the skill of any administration which has given to our farmers the existing us, in keeping down the rate of the exchanges until the passage of that law. Now, sir, there is one species of control, which, if the Secretary do not possess, Congress does, and ought to exercise it. It is said that there are several of the deposite banks who have millions of the public treasure in their vaults, and who use it, by their officers or agents, in shaving upon notes or exchanges. They take advantage of the difficulty of the times, and virtually act as brokers, thus keeping up the pressure and embarrassing the public, while they make enormous profits out of the public money. I would institute an inquiry into this matter, and if banks are guilty of practices of this kind, I would at least leave them to do it with their own money, and not with the money of the people of the United States. [SENATE. off" until the last moment. He repeated, that if the appropriations had been made in time to be used, which would have been done bad it not been for the extraordinary organization of the committees of that body, by which they were controlled by those gentlemen in favor of surpluses, the case would have been far different from what it was. There would not have been so much surplus to talk of, and there would have been no occasion for this new application of the term to an unexpended balance. It was a new idea to prevent the appropriations from being passed; and, instead of letting the money remain for two years before it could be called a surplus, as under the usage of the former law, to immediately seize upon it for distribution. Mr. BENTON observed that he should want to make some exposition of facts, which he thought would go far to invalidate the statements made respecting the previous effects of this Treasury order, and to demonstrate clearly what had been its practical and beneficial results. For this purpose he should want a little more time, in order to get the returns, and such other documentary evidence as it would be necessary for him to refer to. He should show then to the Senate, far more satisfactorily by facts, than the gentleman from Ohio had been able to do by argument, why the banks had been prevented from extending the usual accommodations to the public. While on his feet, he would say that he entirely concurred with the Senator from Ohio in his construction of the law as respected payments into the public Treasury, for the purchase of lands. It had been his opinion for sixteen or seventeen years past, that the law ought to be so construed, though it had remained but as a dead letter on the statute book, He remember-dinary business of the Senate to go on without interrup ed that some years ago a register of a land office in Missouri, construing the act as he and the Senator from Ohio did, refused to receive from a purchaser a Treasury certificate of deposite, and he (Mr. B.) was applied to by the individual to get the money returned to him. He had, however, heard it said since his arrival here, (though he did not get his information from any officer of the Government,) that as soon as the attention of the Secretary was turned to the law, he had given it the same construction that had been given to it by himself and the Senator from Ohio. We have often (said Mr. B.) had fifteen or sixteen millions of surplus in the Bank of the United States, and not one word was said about it; and if the appropriations of the last session had been made in time to be used, (and there were many, too, that had been given up by their supporters,) there would be no more surplus in the Treasury now than had frequently been in the Bank of the United States, without causing excitement or alarm. Mr. B. only rose to say that he concurred with the Senator from Ohio in his construction of the law as to Treasury certificates of deposite, and to state what he had heard, that the officers of the Government had given it the same construction. What he had further to say was, that some disposition of this resolution of the Senator from Ohio should be made, which would permit the or tion, and not to have the important bills attending the commencement of the session blocked out by a protracted debate. He wished that the resolution might be laid on the table for the present, to give him time to refer to the documents necessary to be used in reply to the Senator, and that the ordinary business of the Senate might go on. Mr. WEBSTER expressed his assent to a postponement of the discussion, but hoped it would not extend beyond the residue of the week. He knew of no subject more important, or in which the public mind seemed at this moment to take a deeper interest. The condition of the country in reference to the currency was admitted on all hands to be greatly deranged. A state of things, indeed, existed which was anomalous and un While up, he would remark, that as to this large amount of surplus on hand to distribute, which showed that there was so great a mistake on the part of those who said that there would be none, (though they said 80 with the necessary qualifications, that the appropria-precedented; for while the price of all sorts of commod tions should be made in time to be used,) yet when they In this way they might have surpluses in abundance at every session, and the whole revenue might, by keeping off the appropriations till too late to be used, be converted into surplus. It was almost incredible (Mr. B. said) to see the manner in which business was procrastinated at the last session. These few leaves, said Mr. B., (turning over a few pages of the acts,) contain every private act passed by Congress at the last session. They were Mr. Whittlesey's acts-acts sent up by the industry of one single man in the other House. Here, said Mr. B., (turning again to the volume,) are the remainder of the acts; and when you come to look at them, you will find that the appropriation bills were "staved VOL. XIII.-2 ities was unusually high, there existed at the same moment a scarcity of money. Such a state of the pecuni. ary interests of the country called for investigation, and demanded the prompt attention of Congress. Ile concluded by expressing a hope that Monday might be fixed upon for the further consideration of the resolution. Mr. EWING had no objections to such an arrangement, though he was opposed to any unnecessary delay. He said a few words in reply to some of the remarks which had fallen from Mr. GRUNDY, disclaiming all agency in retarding the appropriations for the purpose of creating a surplus, &c. but reserved himself for the fuller discussion of the subject. The resolution was then postponed to and made the order of the day for Monday. STATEMENTS OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGA TION. The joint resolution introduced some days ago by Mr. BENTON, providing for the earlier preparation of the an nual report on commerce and navigation was read a third time, and passed. When the Senate adjourned. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15. Mr. RIVES presented the credentials of RICHARD E. PARKER, Senator elect from Virginia; and SENATE.] Duty on Coal-Burning of the Post Office-Mr. Clay's Land Bill. Mr. BROWN the credentials of ROBERT STRANGE, Senator elect from North Carolina. Messrs. STRANGE and PARKER appeared, were qualified and took their seats. DUTY ON COAL. Mr. WEBSTER presented two petitions; one from John Haskell, and a great number of other persons; and the other from N. D. Snelling and others, of Boston, praying for a reduction of the duty on coal. Mr. W. said these petitions were very numerously and respectably signed, and he hoped the subject would attract the serious attention of Congress. The duty on coal, like that on salt, wheat, and wool, though not a duty on manufactured articles, was yet either originally laid, or is now continued, for purposes of protection. Indeed, coal was one of the articles first brought forward, after the establishment of this Government, as requiring and deserving protection. As these petitions, therefore, might be thought to affect a part of the general system of protection, he thought it proper to refer them to the Committee on Manufactures. Coal was a necessary of life; it was now very high, the price being nearly twice as great now, he believed, as when the duty was laid. He was of opinion that, unless this duty on coal was to be considered as a part of the general system of protec tion, it ought to be reduced, or perhaps repealed alto gether. He hoped the committee would examine the subject and bring it to the consideration of the Senate at an early day. At the present price of fuel in the larger cities, a reduction in the price of coal is most desirable, if there exist against it no insurmountable objection. The memorials were referred, as moved by Mr. WEBSTER, to the Committee on Manufactures. BURNING OF THE POST OFFICE. Mr. ROBINSON presented the following resolution, and moved its immediate consideration: Resolved, That the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the cause of the destruction by fire of the building in which were kept the General Post Office, the city post office, and the patent office. Mr. CLAY suggested whether it would not be expedient to invest the committee with power to send for persons and papers, so far as there might be any papers remaining. Mr. ROBINSON said the idea of the committee was that the proposed committee of inquiry should proceed in the duty assigned them till they should find it necessary to send for persons and papers, when they could readily ask and obtain the requisite power. The resolution was unanimously adopted. On motion of Mr. WRIGHT, so much of the Presi dent's annual message as relates to finances was referred to the Committee on Finance. After disposing of various petitions, resolutions, and bills, On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business; and, when the doors were opened, Adjourned till Monday. MONDAY, DECEMBER 19. The CHAIR presented the credentials of Mr. BUCHAN AN, elected a Senator by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, for six years from the 4th of March next. After the reception and disposal of various petitions, Mr. CALHOUN gave notice that he would, to-morrow, ask leave to introduce a bill to continue the operations of the deposite act of the last session, so as to ope [DEC. 19, 1836. rate on the excess of revenue that may be received this year. While up, Mr. C. said he would put a question to the chairman of the Committee on Finance, [Mr. WRIGHT.] He wished to be informed by that gentleman whether his motion of Thursday to refer so much of the President's message as relates to finance to the Finance Committee, included that part of the message which relates to the reduction of the revenue to the wants of the Government? Mr. WRIGHT replied that he was unable to answer the question precisely. In making his motion, he had intended to refer all parts of the message relating to finance to the Committee on Finance. He had had no consultation with his colleagues as to how far they considered that portion of the message referred to by the gentleman from South Carolina, as coming under their consideration. Whether or not they considered it as more properly belonging to the Committee on Manufactures than to the Committee on Finance, he knew not. Mr. CALHOUN said that he would then move, in order to remove all doubts on the question, that that portion of the message to which he had alluded, be referred to the Committee on Finance. He made the motion, because of its probably having a stronger bearing on the action of this body, and on political events hereafter, than any other question which might be brought before the Senate. Mr. CLAY'S LAND BILL. He Mr. CLAY, in pursuance of the notice which he had given, rose to ask leave to introduce the land bill. felt it due to the occasion to make some explanations. The operation of the bill which had heretofore several times passed the Senate, and once the House, commenced on the last of December, 1822, and was to continue five years. It provided for a distribution of the nett proceeds of the public lands during that period, upon well-known principles. But the deposite act of the last session had disposed of so large a part of the di visible fund under the land bill, that he did not think it right, in the present state of the Treasury, to give the bill-which he was about to apply for leave to introduce that retrospective character. He had accordingly, in the draught which he was going to submit, made the last day of the present month its commencement, and the last day of the year 1841 its termination. If it should pass, therefore, in this shape, the period of its duration will be the same as that prescribed in the former bills. The Senate will readily comprehend the motive for fixing the end of the year 1841, as it is at that time that the biennial reductions of ten per cent. upon the existing duties cease, according to the act of the 2d March, 1833, commonly called the compromise act, and a reduction of one half of the excess beyond twenty per cent. of any duty then remaining is to take effect. By that time, a fair experiment of the land bill will have been made, and Congress can then determine whether the proceeds of the national domain shall continue to be equitably divided, or shall be applied to the current expenses of the Government. A The bill in his hand assigns to the new State of Arkansas her just proportion of the fund, and grants to her 500,000 acres of land as proposed to other States. similar assignment and grant are not made to Michigan, because her admission into the Union is not yet complete. But when that event occurs, provision is made by which that State will receive its fair dividend. He had restored, in this draught, the provision contained in the original plan for the distribution of the public lands, which he had presented to the Senate, by which the States, in the application of the fund, are restricted to the great objects of education, internal im provement, and colonization. Such a restriction would, he believed, relieve the Legislatures of the several States from embarrassing controversies about the disposition of the fund, and would secure the application of what was common in its origin, to common benefits in its ultimate destination. But it was scarcely necessary for him to say that this provision, as well as the fate of the whole bill, depended upon the superior wisdom of the Senate and of the House. In all respects, other than those now particularly mentioned, the bill is exactly as it passed this body at the last session. The bill was read a first time, and passed to a second reading. PATENT OFFICE. Ma. RUGGLES submitted the following resolution, which was considered and agreed to: Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to examine and report the extent of the loss sustained by the burning of the Patent Office, and to consider whether any and what measures ought to be adopted to repair the loss, and to establish such evidences of property in patented inventions, as the destruction of the records and drawings may have rendered necessary for its se. curity; and to report by bill or otherwise. On motion of Mr. BENTON, the committee was appointed by the Chair, and consists of the following gentlemen: Messrs. RUGGLES, PRENTISS, STRANGE, PAKER, and BAYARD. The remaining portions of the President's annual message were appropriately referred to the variouis standing committees. Several bills were introduced and appropriately referred, as also a number of resolutions submitted for con sideration. TREASURY CIRCULAR. The Senate proceeded to the further consideration of the joint resolutions, introduced by Mr. EwING, of Ohio, in the following words, being at their second reading, as follows: Resolved, also, That it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to delegate to any person, or to any corporation, the power of directing what funds shall be receivable for customs, or for the public lands; nor shall he make any discrimination in the funds so receivable, between different individuals, or between the different branches of the public revenue." [SENATE. of the Treasury to use or employ it, it seemed to him that the whole revenues of the Government might be made receivable in paper money. Funds is the word used in the resolution, a word which had no place in our constitution, nor in our legislation, previous to the imposition of the paper system upon us, and which had no definite or legal meaning. It is a paper system phrase, and, in the jargon of that system, is understood to comprehend all sorts of paper credits and securities, and all sorts of currencies, which can be made available in the payment of debts, or in the support of credit. It is a wretched phrase to come into legislation, and ought to be substituted by something of clear and precise import. Gold and silver is the language of our constitution, and to supersede them by the word "funds," is to banish them from our financial system, and to open the Treas|ury to the inundation of paper money. In the observations which he should make upon these resolutions, Mr. B. said he should not confine himself merely to the remarks of the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. EWING,] but looking further back and all around, and having due regard to what bad preceded this motion, and which was indissolubly connected with it, he should treat the whole subject as it appeared before him, and as it had been exhibited to the public. He had especially in his eye a certain speech, delivered in Kentucky in September last, and a certain letter written in Philadelphia, in November last. Passages from each of these would be referred to at proper places; and paying due attention to these givings out, and to all the signs which had been visible for some months past in the political zodiac, he could see distinctly that two great objects were proposed to be accomplished by the instrumentality of this joint resolution: first, the condemnation of President Jackson for a violation of the laws and constitution, and the destruction of the prosperity of the country; and, secondly, the overthrow of the federal constitutional currency, and the imposition of the paper money system of the States upon the Government and people of the Union. In the first of these objects the present movement is twin brother to the famous resolution of 1833, but without its boldness; for that resolution declared its object "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, upon its face, while this one eschews specification, and &c. That the Treasury order of the 11th day of July, insidiously seeks a judgment of condemnation by inferanno Domini one thousand eight hundred and thirty-ence and argument. In the second of these objects every six, designating the funds which should be receivable in body will recognise the great design of the second branch payment for public lands, be, and the same is hereby, of the same famous resolution of 1833, which, in the resrescinded. toration of the deposites to the Bank of the United States, clearly went to the establishment of the paper system, and its supremacy over the Federal Government. The present movement, therefore, is a second edition of the old one, but a lame and impotent affair compared to that. Then, we had a magnificent panic; now, nothing but a miserable starveling! For though the letter of the President of the Bank of the United States announced, early in November, that the meeting of Congress was the time for the new distress to become intense, yet we are two weeks deep in the session, and no distress memorial, no distress deputation, no distress committees, to this hour! Nothing, in fact, in that line, but the distress speech of the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. EWING;] SO that the new panic of 1836 has all the signs of being a lean and slender affair--a mere church-mouse concern-a sort of dwarfish, impish imitation of the gigantic spectre which stalked through the land in 1833. Mr. BENTON said it was unusual to oppose joint resolutions at their second reading, but he had given notice of his intention to oppose this resolution, not for the purpose of attempting to arrest its course, but to excite attention and discussion, and to lay the foundation for a motion which he intended to make, namely, to send the subject to a committee, and to make it the duty of that committee to inquire into the operation and effects of the Treasury order proposed to be rescinded and into the conduct of the banks which affected to be crippled by it. This motion, and the scope and details of the inquiry, will be brought forward in due time. The resolution consists of two clauses, the first clear, the second ambiguous. The recision of the Treasury order, excluding paper from the land offices, was the object of the first clause; but the second was without specification, and making no allusion to the constitutioncurrency, and imposing no obligation on the Secretary That every thing might appear in its proper order, and every actor in this drama have his proper place, Mr. B. would now introduce passages from the speech and letter to which he had referred, reserving other passages for introduction in other stages of the proceedings. And first, from the speech: Mr. Clay proceeded to speak of the constant tampering with the currency, which marked the conduct of |