OFFICE BANK UNITED STATES,
Washington, April 11, 1834.

DEAR SIR: I send, herewith, the notes and checks on your bank, and shall do so every morning; as in the present state of things, balances must not be permitted to accumulate. Whatever you can send me on the North will be acceptable. If we continue to take the notes of your bank, and, indeed, of all banks, they must be redeemed daily.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
RICHARD SMITH, Cashier.

WM. A. BRADLEY, Esq., President. The paper also stated, that on the officers bringing down this money, and demanding payment, it was deposited, by agreement, in the Bank of the Metropolis, where it was shortly paid. After commenting at some length on the report and statements furnished by the committee, Mr. B. said he would oppose the recharter

[SENATE.

of these banks by all the means known to parliamentary proceedings; and gave notice that he would, at a proper stage of the business, move to recommit the bill with instructions to bring in a bill to wind up the affairs of these banks, and to charter a new bank or banks, with the necessary restrictions, and with small capital, suited to the capacity of the District.

Mr. NILES also addressed the Senate in opposition to the bill.

Mr. KENT said: Mr. President, I wish to make a few remarks in relation to the bill under discussion, before

the question upon its passage shall be decided.

That the Senator from Missouri entertained opinions upon the subject of banking peculiar to himself I was aware, and that he would urge them with his usual ability I never doubted; but I was not prepared to hear him denounce institutions en masse that so little deserved it as, I believe, the banks within this District do. It is well known to the Senate that all the banks in this District were rechartered in one bill in 1817, and that their charters will expire, and that abruptly, on the 1st day of October next, unless they shall be renewed again during the present session.

and rigid "investigation into the conduct of the banks, and the condition of the currency issued by them, unanimously determined to report the bill before you, with fully justify the committee in framing such a bill; and if the report and documents that accompanied it, which I was surprised at the Senator's denunciations of those banks, I was still more so at his attempting to found his opinions upon what these documents contained. Sir, after the most careful scrutiny into the condition of these institutions, I have no hesitation in stating that they will bear a favorable comparison with any of the banks that can be found in the States.

The Committee for the District, after the most careful

Let us look at the return made by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 7th of January, 1836; let us see then their condition, and it has been improved since. I will take them in the order in which they are presented in that report. On that day there were in the

Notes in circulation. Specic funds. Mechanics' Bank, Georgetown, $73,070 00 $65,932 46 Union Bank of Georgetown,

Bank of the Metropolis,

Bank of Washington,

91,970 00

102,571 40

Patriotic Bank of Washington, 129,855 86 Farmers' Bank of Alexandria, 113,242 50 Bank of Potomac, Alexandria, 151,659 54

150,090 28 59,907 28 86,283 98

All I have to ask of the Senate, Mr. President, is, that they will examine carefully the documents I have referred to, and the report made by the committee, and I shall feel no apprehension about what their decision will be; they will come to the same conclusion that the committee have, especially when they recollect that within a few months past the Bank of the United States has closed its branch here.

Let the Senator take the deposite banks, and they cannot make a better exhibit than the Secretary of the Treasury has returned to us of the banks of this District; and I do not mean to disparage the deposite banks, for I believe that they, as well as the banks gen. erally throughout the country, are in a good condition, with some exceptions, and that the deposite banks will be able to pay over to the Government the amount of public money deposited with them in a reasonable time.

Why do I say that the banks generally are in a sound condition? Sir, I found my opinions upon an official document communicated by the Secretary of the Treasury, relating to State banks and banking companies, dated the 5th of January, 1836. In this communication

he informs us that the whole number of banks in the States and Territories was five hundred and fifty-eight, having a capital of two hundred and thirty-one millions two hundred and fifty thousand three hundred and thirtyseven dollars, with a circulation of one hundred and three million six hundred and ninety-two thousand four hundred and ninety-five dollars, sustained by specie in their vaults amounting to forty-three million nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-five dollars. Sir, the amount of specie possessed by the banks in proportion to their circulation was never greater, that I recollect. In 1830, when the condition of the banks and the currency was as sound as it ever had been, and every body satisfied with it, the banks had a circulation of sixty-one million three hundred and twenty-three thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight dollars, sustained by a specie basis of twenty-two million one hundred and fourteen thousand nine hundred and seventeen dollars. Thus, sir, this official exhibit makes the condition of the banks better at this time than they have ever been before; and if the currency is not as good, it proceeds from some other cause than the want of specie to meet their cash liabilities. It may be from a want of confidence, produced by various causes, which I shall not now detain the Senate to enumerate, and which must be obvious to them.

Sir, the banks in the State of Maryland, from their last general returns, are very strong; they were never in a sounder condition; and the public deposites, I presume, could be paid at any moment; and in this District the amount of public money is not greater than the demands of the Government would absorb in the course of the year. The heavy deposites of the public money are elsewhere.

The Senator from Missouri has stated that no exertion was made by the District banks to resist the pressure that existed in April, 1834. The documents before the Senate exhibit conclusive exidence that every effort was made which a sudden and unexpected call admitted of. By referring to the documents before me, I find that one of them, with a capital of about one hundred and twen ty-five thousand dollars, paid out in cash and cash means, one hundred and ninety thousand dollars in twenty days preceding the 17th of April; but the Senator complains that one of the officers of those banks invited a meeting of a committee from all the banks, for the purpose of deciding on what was to be done to meet the severe and unexpected pressure with which they were beset. Why, sir, there was nothing novel in this-we have high authority for it.

In New York, where the pressure was very great, and strong apprehensions were entertained that the banks could not resist the pressure, a committee was appointed, consisting of twenty-four individuals of high standing in the city, at the head of which was Albert Gallatin, a host in himself on such an occasion, who, in their report, state that the eighteen banks in the city, from which they had complete returns, were liable, exclusive of what was due to banks out of the city, for $15,500,000, and the aggregate amount of specie in their vaults was $1,652,000. This, the committee state, was all-sufficient in ordinary times. At this time, these eighteen banks have nearly five times that amount of specie.

[JUEE 3, 1836.

providing a heavy loan to the banks, and no portion of which was ever accepted.

The forbearance of the Bank of the United States, and the act of the Legislature, restored confidence; credit was reinstated; the business men were relieved; and the relief given to New York, the great centre of commerce and of moneyed transactions in our country, soon extended itself over the United States, and the pressure ceased. It is confidence alone which sustains banks. None of them, that has any circulation, can suddenly meet their engagements should the whole of their debts be demanded at once.

A very little aid to the District banks would have relieved them: a fourth part of what was given to other places by the Secretary of the Treasury, almost without solicitation, would have saved those from the mortification of suspending specie payments that were obliged to do so.

ents.

I have stated, Mr. President, that the committee were unanimously of the opinion that the condition of the banks in this District was good; that the currency was as sound as that to be found in any section of the country; and all I ask of the Senate is to examine the documents laid before them, and act towards the people of this District as they would towards their own constituThe charter of every bank expires on the first Monday in October next, and Congress alone can renew them, and continue to the District its circulating medium. But recently the branch of the United States Bank here has been withdrawn from them, leaving a heavy debt to be collected, which, together with the sudden winding up of all their banks, must overwhelm them.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, defended the report of the committee, and contended that it was fully borne out by the most ample testimony. The committee, he said, had made a strict and laborious investigation, and after a most rigid scrutiny into the affairs of these banks, and collecting a great mass of evidence, they were able unanimously to agree in recommending their recharter. The committee was satisfied of the perfect solvency of these banks, and their ability to comply with their engagements, and that at the time of their stoppage there was a most unprecedented run on them. He must say that he was not altogether satisfied that the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank had made sufficient efforts to avoid stopping, though he acknowledged there was a most unexampled run on them; but with regard to the other banks, there could be no doubt but the most strenuous efforts in their power were made without effect to sus tain their credit; the directors even giving their private obligations for this purpose. The committee had instituted the strictest investigations for the purpose of ferreting out any abuses that might exist; and he must say that the books and papers were freely opened to their inspection by the officers of the bank, and that there was nothing but what was satisfactorily explained. With respect to the bill before them, he must say to the Senator from Connecticut, [Mr. NILES,] that it contained every thing he required. The capitals of these banks was to consist of specie, or what was equivalent to specie.

Mr. BENTON submitted a motion, in writing, to lay the bill on the table, to give the Senators an oppor tunity of examining the statements of the affairs of the banks whose conduct had been investigated, and which were then exhibited in the Senate for the first time. This motion was lost.

After some further remarks from Messrs. BENTON and KENT,

Mr. WRIGHT, from the select committee to which was referred the bill to regulate the deposites of the public moneys, made a report thereon, accompanied by a new bill, as a substitute for the old bill and amend

ments.

Mr. W. said, to correct some misapprehensions that might grow out of a paragraph in one of the morn ing papers, that this bill was the agreement of a majority of the committee, and not of the whole of them, some parts of the bill were agreed on unanimously, but the most important part of it was the report of a majority only.

The bill and amendments were then ordered to be printed.

THE GLOBE NEWSPAPER.

Mr. WEBSTER said he did not often trouble the Senate with any thing personal to himself, but a friend had pointed out to him a paragraph in the Globe of this morning, which was so flagitiously false, and which so directly affected his conduct as the head of an important committee of the Senate, that he thought it due even to the Senate itself to refute the calumny. The paragraph is in these words:

"It is a most remarkable thing that, while the opposition in the Senate every day parade before the public the seven millions in the stock of the Bank of the United States as a part of the surplus in the Treasury, they so contrive it that not a dollar of it can reach the Treasury. Judge White, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Webster, are ever and anon pointing to the seven millions of bank stock as a fund for distribution, while Mr. Webster, as chairman of the Committee on Finance, holds back for months, from the action of the Senate, the bills passed by the House of Representatives to provide against the notorious conversion by Biddle of the means of the old bank to the purposes of the new."

Now, sir, (said Mr. W.,) the journals show that neither I nor the committeee have held back any thing from the action of the Senate. All bills in any way respecting the late Bank of the United States, which have been referred to the committee, have been reported to the Senate long ago, and are now on the list of orders, to be taken up in their turn. If this libeller had not been willing even to traduce and injure friends, rather than to lose an opportunity of injuring opponents, he would have remembered that a majority of the members of the Committee on Finance are supporters and friends of the administration. I am happy to bear my humble testimony to the diligence and promptitude with which these gentlemen discharge their duties, and every body knows that it is in their power at any time to report any measure they may choose to report, or to call up any business which they may desire to call up. The bill to which the foregoing paragraph refers, was referred to the committee April 14, and was reported by the committee, without any amendment, April 21, as appears by the Secretary's minutes, endorsed on the bill: "Act repealing the 14th section of the act to incorporate the Bank of the United States. April 14, read twice, and referred to the Committe on Finance. April 21, reported without amendment."

I will only add, sir, that this is not the first time that I have been obliged to take notice of statements in this paper respecting my conduct as chairman of the committee, which were in direct contradiction of the printed journal of our proceedings, and of its own diurnal report of them.

On motion of Mr. KENT, the bill to recharter the

[SENATE.

District banks was reinstated in its place as the special order.

The Senate then adjourned.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4.

LIBRARY OF COUNT BOURTOULIN.

The resolution authorizing the Joint Library Committee to contract for the purchase of the Library of the late Count Bourtoulin of Florence, was rejected: Ayes 16, noes 17.

At a subsequent period, Mr. CLAY, who voted with the majority, moved a reconsideration of the vote; which was agreed to, and the resolution was laid on the table.

CONVENTION WITH SPAIN.

Mr. CLAY, from the committee of conference appointed on the subject of the bill to carry into effect the convention between the United States and Spain, made a report recommending to the two House so to modify the bill as to appoint one commissioner instead of three commissioners, to execute the duties, and to reduce the time allowed for the performance of the duties from eighteen months to one year.

Mr. CLAY having explained the amendments, The report of the committee of conference was concurred in.

DISTRICT BANKS.

The bill to extend the charters of certain banks in the District of Columbia, was taken up as the order of the day.

Mr. BENTON addressed the Senate at considerable length in opposition to the bill; after which he moved to recommit the bill, with the following instructions:

To report a bill to wind up the affairs of all the banks now existing in the District of Columbia, and to allow them to use their corporate name and facilities for two years for that purpose.

To report separate bills for the incorporation of new banks, with small capitals, adapted to the capacity of the District to sustain specie banks, and strictly limited to the business of the place; the said incorporations to contain, among other provisions, the following principles:

1. The capital to consist of gold and silver, one half of each; stock, stock notes, notes of other banks, and every thing but gold and silver to be excluded from the capital.

2. The banks to pay no bonus, but the stock to be subject to taxation, like any other property in the District. The notes issued by the banks to be subject to taxation, by stamp duties or otherwise.

3. Every stockholder to be liable to the creditors of the bank in his person and property, for the debts of the institution, to the amount of his stock, in the event of the failure of the bank to pay gold and silver; with summary proces for the recovery; and all alienations of stock to avoid this liability, to be void.

4. The banks to issue no notes of less denomination than twenty dollars, and all notes of less denomination than twenty dollars, issued by other banks, to be prohibited from circulation within the District.

5. All the notes and paper currency issued by said banks to be paid in gold and silver; one half of either, at the option of the demander, the other half at the option of the bank.

6. The banks to own no real estate except for their immediate accommodation.

7. To deal in nothing but gold and silver bullion, and in foreign and domestic bills of exchange. The charters

to be forfeited for buying or selling any coin made current by the laws of the United States.

8. The charters to be limited to moderate terms of years, and to expire at different periods from each other.

9. The charters to be alterable, amendable, and repealable, at the will of Congress; and not renewable under any terms whatever.

After some remarks from Messrs. SOUTHARD and WALKER, in favor of the bill, and in opposition to the motion,

Mr. BENTON asked that the question be taken first on the motion to recommit the bill; which was agreed to, and the question was decided in the negative: Yeas 10, nays 28, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Ewing of Illinois, King of Georgia, Niles, Rives, Robinson, Shepley, Wall, White, Wright-10.

NAYS--Messrs. Black, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Leigh, Moore, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster-28.

Mr. BENTON moved to strike out the name of the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank, of Georgetown; which motion was decided in the negative: Yeas 9, nays 27, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Ewing of Illinois, King of Georgia, Niles, Robinson, Shepley, Wall, White, Wright-9.

NAYS-Messrs. Black, Buchanan, Clay, Crittenden, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Leigh, Moore, Naudain, Nicholas, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster--27.

Mr. BENTON moved to strike out the name of the Commercial Bank of Washington, to be formed by the union of the Bank of Washington and the Patriotic Bank of Washington; which motion was rejected: Yeas 10, nays 27, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Ewing of Illinois, King of Georgia, Niles, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Wall, White, Wright--10.

NAYS--Messrs. Black, Buchanan, Clay, Crittenden, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Moore, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster--27.

Mr. BENTON moved to strike out one of the two descriptions of capital provided for in the bill, included in the words, "and property equivalent to specie;" which motion was rejected: Yeas 11, nays 27, as fol. lows:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Black, Ewing of Illinois, King of Georgia, Niles, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Wall, White, Wright—11.

NAYS-Messrs. Buchanan, Clay, Crittenden, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Leigh, Moore, Naudain, Nicholas, Prentiss, Porter, Preston, Rives, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster-27.

Mr. BENTON moved to strike out the other description of capital described in the words, "funds equivalent to specie," which motion was also rejected: Yeas 9, nays 28, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Ewing of Illinois, King of Georgia, Niles, Robinson, Shepley, Wall, White, Wright--9.

NAYS--Messrs. Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden,

[JUNE 6, 1836.

Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Leigh, Moore, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster--28.

The bill was then ordered to be engrossed for a third reading: Yeas 30, nays 9, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Black, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay, Crit. tenden, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Leigh, Moore, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster-30.

NAYS--Messrs. Benton, King of Georgia, Niles, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Wall, White, Wright-9. The Senate then adjourned.

MONDAY, JUNE 6.

PRE-EMPTION CLAIMS.

The bill to extend the time for receiving the proof of certain pre-emption claims under the act of the 19th of June, 1834, was taken up, as in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, moved that this bill be indefinitely postponed.

Mr. WALKER asked for the yeas and nays; which were ordered.

It was contended that this bill gave an improper encouragement to squatters on the public lands, and that they are too numerous already. On the other side, it was insisted that the settlers on the public lands were a most meritorious class, and deserving of the countenance of the Government. It was stated by Mr. EWING, of Ohio, that the speculators had fallen upon the practice of putting families on lands previous to the surveys, that they might be prepared and qualified to obtain rights of pre-emption; in one case, in Illinois, about forty families were thus disposed of. The Senators who participated in the discussion were, Mr. WALKER, Mr. BLACK, Mr. EWING of Ohio, Mr. PORTER, Mr. MOORE, Mr. CRITTENDEN, Mr. KING of Alabama, and Mr. KING of Georgia.

The question was then taken on the motion of indefinite postponement, and decided as follows:

YEAS--Messrs. Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Kent, King of Georgia, Knight, Leigh, Naudain, Prentiss, Preston, Robbins, Swift, Southard, Tomlinson, Webster--18.

NAYS--Messrs. Benton, Black, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Grundy, Hendricks, Hubdard, King of Alabama, Linn, Moore, Morris, Nicholas, Niles, Porter, Rives, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Tallmadge, Walker, White, Wright-22.

The question being on the amendment reported by the Committee on Private Land Claims,

Mr. CRITTENDEN moved various amendments; which were agreed to.

The bill was further amended, on motion of Mr. KING, of Georgia; by introducing a provision that the act shall not extend to any lands the Indian title to which had not been extinguished on the 1st of January, 1832.

Mr. EWING of Ohio, moved to amend, by adding a proviso that all assignments be void; which was agreed

to.

Mr. PORTER moved to amend, by inserting a clause that no witness should be allowed to give evidence in more than one claim; which was agreed to.

The amendment was then agreed to as amended, and the bill, as amended, was reported to the Senate.