H. OF R.] The Public Deposites. Journal of Wednesday, June 21, 1780. of legislative power will remain a warning, and not an ledgment for money received into the public treasury shall be Sir, is it to the representa-valid. example, to his successors. (6) The following extracts from the journals of the Congress tives of the people, or to the representatives of the States, that future ages will look back for the fortitude that with- of the confederation exhibit that necessity in the strongest light: stands usurpation, and for the energy that redeems the violated form of freedom? Shall the verdict of the next certury pronounce that we have vindicated the rights of the people? that we have been true to our appropriate trust? that we have shaken off the shackles of party spirit? that we have burst the bonds of idolized mortality? Or shall that crown of glory be reserved for our fellow-servants in the northern wing of this Capitol? Mr. Speaker, there stands the Muse of History* prepared to record our votes. May they be such as we shall remember with consolation at the last hour of our lives! NOTES TO MR. ADAMS'S SPEECH. Collection act of 31st July. (1) SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the duties of the respective officers, to be appointed by virtue of this act shall be as follows: It shall be the duty of the collector to receive all moneys paid for duties, and to take all bonds for securing the payment of duties. A letter of this day, from the board of war, was read, informing that a number of patriotic persons have formed a plan for the establishment of a bank, whose object is the public service; that the directors have applied to that board to represent to Congress appointed to confer with the inspectors and directors on the subthe desire of the company that a committee of this body may be ject to-morrow morning: Whereupon, Ordered, That a committee of three be appointed for the pur- Thursday, June 22, 1780. The committee appointed to confer with the inspectors and directors of the proposed bank brought in a report, which was read. The committee also laid before Congress the plan of the bank, communicated to them at the said conference; which being read, Congress thereupon came to the following resolutions: Whereas, a number of the patriotic citizens of Pennsylvania have communicated to Congress a liberal offer on their own credit, and by their own exertions, to supply and transport three millions of rations, and three hundred hogsheads of rum, for the use of the army, and have established a bank for the sole purpose of obtaindespatch: And, whereas, on the one hand, the associators, animated to this laudable exertion by a desire to relieve the public necessities, mean not to derive from it the least pecuniary advantage; so, on the other, it is just and reasonable that they should be fully reimbursed and indemnified: Therefore, (2) SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the collectors to be appointed by virtue of this act, shall respectively keep true and fair accounts of all their transactions relative to their duty asing and transporting the said supplies with greater facility and officers of the customs, in such manner and form as may be directed by the proper department or officer appointed by law to superintend the revenue of the United States; and shall, at all times, submit their books, papers, and accounts to the inspection of such persons as may be appointed for that purpose: And the collectors of the different ports shall, at all times, pay to the order of the officer who shall be authorized to direct the same, the whole of the moneys which they may respectively receive by virtue of this act. (3) SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That all duties on goods, wares, and merchandise, imported, shall be paid by the importers before a permit shall be granted for landing the same, unless the amount of such duties shall exceed fifty dollars; in which case, it shall be at the option of the party making entry to secure the same by bond, with one or more sufficient sureties, to be approved of by the collector, and made payable as followeth, to wit: For the duties upon all articles of West India produce, within four months; for the duties upon all Madeira wines, within twelve months; and for the duties upon all other goods, within six months. (4) SEC. 30. And be it further enacted, That the duties and fees, to be collected by virtue of this act, shall be received in gold and silver coin only. (5) From the act to establish the Treasury Department, 2d September, 1789. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be a Department of Treasury, in which shall be the following officers, namely: a Secretary of the Treasury, to be deemed head of the Department; a Comptroller, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Register. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit; to prepare and report estimates of the public revenue and the public expenditures; to superintend the collection of the revenue; to decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts, and making returns; and to grant, under the limitations herein established, or to be hereafter vided, all warrants for moneys to be issued from the Treasury in pursuance of appropriations by law. (See above, the 9th section of the collection law.) pro SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Treasurer to receive and keep the moneys of the United States, and to disburse the same upon warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the Comptroller, recorded by the Register, and not otherwise; he shall take receipts for all moneys paid by him; and all receipts, for moneys received by him, shall be endorsed upon warrants signed by the Secretary of the Treasury; without which warrant so signed, no acknow The beautiful statue, in the wheel of whose car is the clock, behind and over the Speaker's chair, in the attitude of recording as the hands of the clock revolve. Resolved, unanimously, That Congress entertain a high sense of the liberal offer of the said associators to raise and transport the before-mentioned supplies for the army, and do accept the same as a distinguished proof of their patriotism. Resolved, That the faith of the United States be, and the same hereby is, pledged to the subscribers to the said bank, for their effectual reimbursement and indemnity in the premises. Resolved, That the board of treasury be directed to deposite in the said bank bills of exchange in favor of the directors thereof, on the ministers of these United States, in Europe, or any of them, and in such sums as shall be thought convenient, but not to exceed in the whole £150,000 sterling; that the said bills are to be considered not only as a support of the credit of the said bank, but as an indemnity to the subscribers for all deficiencies of losses and expenses which they may sustain on account of their said engagements, and which shall not, within six months from the date thereof, be made good to them out of the public treasury; be requisite to make good the said deficiency, shall be negotiatand, in case of failure, such a proportion of the said bills as shall ed for that purpose, by the said directors, and the residue thereof returned into the treasury. Resolved, That upon representation made that the bank stands in need of occasional assistance, Congress will advance as much of their current money as can be spared from other services. Resolved, That a standing committee of Congress be appointed to confer with the officers of the said bank, as occasion may require. The members chosen, Mr. Ellsworth, Mr. Duane, and Mr. Scott. The next notice of a bank is of Saturday, May 26, 1781. Resolved, That Congress do approve of the plan for establishing a national bank in these United States, submitted to their conwill promote and support the same, by such ways and means, sideration by Mr. R. Morris, the 17th May, 1781; and that they from time to time, as may appear necessary for the institution, and consistent with the public good. That the subscribers to the bank shall be incorporated name of the "President, Directors, and Company of the Bank of agreeably to the principles and terms of the plan, under the North America," so soon as the subscription shall be filled, the directors and president chosen, and application for that purpose Resolved, That it be recommended to the several States, by made to Congress by the president and directors elected. proper laws for that purpose, to provide that no other bank or respectively, during the war. bankers shall be established, or permitted within the said States, Resolved, That the notes hereafter to be issued by the said bank, payable on demand, shall be receivable in payment of all to the United States. taxes, duties, and debts due, or that may become due or payable, APRIL 4, 1834.] The Public Deposites. [H. OF R. Resolved, That Congress will recommend to the severa! Legis-paration or disposition on their part to pay their notes in specie' latures to pass laws, making it felony, without benefit of clergy, until after the act to incorporate the new Bank of the United for any person to counterfeit bank notes, or to pass such notes States had passed. We are inclined to ascribe this principally knowing them to be counterfeit; also making it felony, without to the great difficulty of bringing the various banks in our several benefit of clergy, for any president, inspector, director, officer, or commercial cities to that concert which was indispensable. But servant of the bank to convert any of the property, money, or it cannot be concealed, that, in such a situation, the immediate credit of the said bank to his own use, or in any other way to be and apparent interest of the banks is in opposition to that of the guilty of fraud or embezzlement, as an officer or servant of the public. It is well known that the Bank of England, though bank. apparently disposed at first to resume its specie payments, found a continued suspension extremely convenient and profitable; that, during that period of twenty years, its extraordinary profits, besides raising the usual dividend from seven to ten per cent., accordingly threw obstacles in the way of the resumption. The amounted to thirteen millions of pounds sterling, and that it State banks of the United States were only inactive in that respect, and did not impede that desirable event; but they used the advantages incident to the situation in which they were placed; and to what extent their issues were generally increased has already been shown. Saturday, December 29, 1781. *An ordinance for incorporating the subscribers to the national bank. was read a first time. to. Ordered, That Monday next be assigned for a second reading The ordinance was read a second and a third time, and agreed (7) On the 9th of August, 1790, immediately before the close of the second session of the first Congress, and when the collection law had been about one year in operation, the following| order was adopted by the House of Representatives: Ordered, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to prepare and report to this House, on the second Monday of December next, such further provisions as may in his opinion be necessary for establishing the public credit. Considerations on Banking and Currency, page 47. a pro It will be found, by reference to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, of December, 1815, that his recommendation to establish a national bank was, in express terms, called "; position relating to the national circulating medium," and was exclusively founded on the necessity of restoring specie payments and the national currency. He states it as a fact incontestably Considerations on the Currency, by Albert Gallatin, page 42. proved, that the State banks could not, at that time, be successfully The capital of the State banks existing in the year 1790 employed to furnish a uniform national currency. He mentions the amounted to about $2,000,000. The former Bank of the United failure of one attempt to associate them with that view; that States was chartered in 1791, with a capital of $10,000,000. The another attempt, by their agency in circulating Treasury notes, charter was not renewed; but in January, 1811, immediately to overcome the inequalities of the exchange, has only been before its expiration, there were in the United States eighty-eight partially successful; that a plan recently proposed, with the deState banks, with a capital of $42,610,000, making then, to- sign to curtail the issues of bank notes, to fix the public configether with that of the national bank, a banking capital of near dence in the administration of the affairs of the banks, and to $53,000,000. In June, 1812, war wasde clared against England; give to each bank a legitimate share in the circulation, is not and in August and September, 1814, all the banks south and likely to receive the general sanction of the banks; and that a west of New England suspended their specie payments. recurrence to the national authority is indispensable for the restoration of a national currency. Such was the contemporaneous and deliberate opinion of the officer of the Government, who had to struggle against the difficulties of a paper currency, not only depreciated, but varying in value from day to day, and from place to place. Considerations on the Currency, page 44. The creation of new State banks, in order to fill the chasm, was a natural consequence of the dissolution of the Bank of the United States; and, as is usual under such circumstances, the expectation of great profits gave birth to a much greater number than was wanted. They were extended through the interior parts of the country, created no new capital, and withdrew that which might have been otherwise lent to Government, or as profitably employed. From the 1st of January, 1811, to the 1st of January, 1815, not less than one hundred and twenty new banks were chartered, and went into operation, with a capital of about forty, and making an addition of near $30,000,000 to the banking capital of the country. It was not till after the organization of the Bank of the United States, in the latter part of January, 1817, that delegates from the banks of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Virginia, assembled in Philadelphia, for the purpose of agreeing to a general and simultaneous resumption of specie payments. A compact, proposed by the Bank of the United States, and ratified by the Secretary of the Treasury, was the result of that convention. The State banks engaged to commence and continue specie payments, on various conditions, relative to the transfer and payment of the public balances on their books, to the Bank of the Unit Considerations on Banking and Currency, page 45. The increase of issues from forty-five and a half to sixty-ed States, and to the sum which it engaged previously to discount eight millions, or of about fifty per cent., within the first fifteen months of the suspension of specie payments, was the natural consequence of that event. for individuals, or, under certain contingencies, for the said banks; and also with the express stipulation that the Bank of the United States, upon any emergency which might menace the credit of any of the said banks, would contribute its resources to any reasonable extent in support thereof, confiding in the justice and discretion of the banks, respectively, to circumscribe their affairs within the just limits indicated by their respective capitals, as soon as the interest and convenience of the community would admit. To that compact, which was carried into complete effect, and to the importation of more than seven millions of dollars in specie from abroad, by the Bank of the United States, the community is indebted for the universal restoration of specie payments, and for their having been sustained, during the period of great difficulty, and of unexampled exportation of specie to China, which immediately ensued. Considerations on Banking and Currency, page 46. We have stated all the immediate and remote causes within our knowledge, which occurred in producing that event; and, although the effects of a longer continuance of the war cannot be conjectured, it is our deliberate opinion that the suspension might have been prevented at the time when it took place, had the former Bank of the United States been still in existence. The exaggerated increase of State banks, occasioned by the dissolution of that institution, would not have occurred. That bank would, as before, have restrained within proper bounds and checked their issues; and, through the means of its offices, it would have been in possession of the earliest symptoms of the Among the difficulties which the bank had to encounter, must approaching danger. It would have put the Treasury Depart-be reckoned the effort made to alleviate the distress which ment on its guard; both, acting in concert, would certainly have always attends the return from a depreciated to a sound curbeen able at least to retard the event. And as the treaty of peace was ratified within less than six months after the suspension took place, that catastrophe would have been altogether! avoided. rency. Considerations on Banks and Currency, page 50. The distress that took place, therefore, at that time, (1819,) We have already adverted to the unequivocal symptoms of may be clearly traced to the excessive number of State banks renewed confidence shown by the rising value of bank notes incorporated subsequently to the dissolution of the first Bank of which followed the peace. This would have greatly facilitated the United States, and to their improvident issues. Those of the an immediate resumption of specie payments, always more easy, country banks of Pennsylvania alone amounted, in November, and attended with far less evils, when the suspension has been 1816, to $4,756, 160, and had been reduced in November, 1819, of short duration. The banks did not respond to that appeal to $1,318,976. A committee of the Senate of that State, apmade by public opinion; nor is there any evidence of any pre-pointed in December, 1819, to inquire into the extent and ca iscs H. OF R.] The Public Deposites. [APRIL 7, 1834. of the present general distress, ascribe it, as we do, to the im-ment, interpose an insuperable obstacle to any voluntary arrangeprovident creation of so many banks, as will appear from the fol- ment, upon national considerations alone, for the establishment lowing extract from their report: of a national medium, through the agency of the State banks. It "At the following session, the subject was renewed with iz-is, nevertheless, with the State banks that the measures for recreased ardor; and a bill, authorizing the incorporation of forty-storing the national currency of gold and silver must originate; for, one banking institutions, with capitals amounting to upwards of until their issues of paper be reduced, their specie capitals be re$17,000,000, was passed by a large majority. The bill was also instated, and their specie operations be commenced, there will be returned by the Governor with additional objections; but two-neither room, nor employment, nor safety, for the introduction of thirds of both Houses (many members of which were pledged to the precious metals. The policy and the interest of the State their constituents to that effect,) agreeing on its passage, it be- bank must, therefore, be engaged in the great fiscal work, by all came a law on the 21st March, 1814; and thus was inflicted on the means which the Treasury can employ, or the legislative wisthe Commonwealth an evil of a more disastrous nature than has dom shall provide. ever been experienced by its citizens. Under this law thirtyseven banks, four of which were established in Philadelphia, actually went into operation." The establishment of a national bank is regarded as the best, and perhaps the only adequate resource, to relieve the country and the Government from the present embarrassments; authorized to issue notes, which will be received in all payments to the United States, the circulation of its issues will be co-extensive with the Union; and there will exist a constant demand, bearing a just proportion to the annual amount of the duties and taxes to be collected, independent of the general circulation for commercial and social purposes. A national bank will, therefore, possess means and the opportunity of supplying a circulating medium, of equal use and value in every State, and in every district of every State. [Legislative and Documentary History Considerations on Banking and Currency, page 50. We have an account of one hundred and sixty-five banks that failed between the 1st of January, 1811, and the 1st of July, 1830. The capital of one hundred and twenty-nine of these amounted to more than $24,000,000, stated to have been paid in. The whole amount may be estimated at near thirty millions, and our list may not be complete. The capital of the State banks, now existing, amounts to about one hundred and ten millions. On a total capital of one hundred and forty millions, failures have of the Bank of the United States, page 612.] a nounted to thirty, or to more than one-fifth of the whole. Considerations on Banks and Currency, page 84. (10) A resolution relative to the more effectual collection of the public revenue. The manner in which the bank checks the issues of the State Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the banks is equally simple and obvious. It consists in receiving the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the notes of all those which are solvent, and requiring payment from Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, required and ditime to time, without suffering the balance due by any to become rected to adopt such measures as he may deem necessary, to too large. Those notes on hand, taking the average of the three cause, as soon as may be, all duties, taxes, debts, or sums of moand a half last years, amount always to about a million and a half ney, accruing, or becoming payable to the United States, to be of dollars; and the balances due by the banks in account current, collected and paid in the legal currency of the United States, or (deducting balances due to some,) to about nine hundred thou-Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the United States, as by sand. We think that we may say, that, on this operation, which law provided and declared; or in notes of banks which are payrequires particular attention and vigilance, and must be carried on able and paid on demand in the said legal currency of the United with great firmness and due forbearance, depends, almost ex-States; and that, from and after the 20th day of February next, clusively, the stability of the currency of the country. (3) Extract of the reply of the Secretary of the Treasury to the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, dated 14th October, 1814. no such duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money, accruing or becoming payable to the United States as aforesaid, ought to be collected or received otherwise than in the legal currency of the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the demand in the said legal currency of the United States. (ApUnited States, or in notes of banks which are payable and paid on (11) Bank charter. The establishment of a national institution, operating upon credit, combined with capital, and regulated by prudence and good faith, is, after all, the only efficient remedy for the disor-proved April 30, 1816.) dered condition of our circulating medium. While accomplishing that object, too, there will be found, under the auspices of such Szc. 15. And be it further enacted, That, during the continuan institution, a safe depository for the public treasure, and a constant auxiliary to the public credit. But, whether the issues Treasury, the said corporation shall give the necessary facilities ance of this act, and whenever required by the Secretary of the of a paper currency proceed from the national treasury or from for transferring the public funds from place to place, within the a national bank, the acceptance of the paper in a course of pay- United States, or the territories thereof, and for distributing the meats and receipts must be forever optional with the citizens. same in payment of the public creditors, without charging comThe extremity of that day cannot be anticipated, when any hon-missions, or claiming allowance, on account of difference of exest and enlightened statesman will again venture upon the change; and shall also do and perform the several and respective desperate expedient of a tender law. duties of the Commissioners of Loans for the several States, or of any one or more of them, wherever required by law. SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That the deposites of the branches thereof may be established, shall be made in said bank or branches thereof, unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall at any time otherwise ord ander direct; in which case, the Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately lay before Congress, if in session, and if not, immediately after the commencement of the next session, the reasons of such order or direction. (12) An act in addition to the several acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments, approved May 1, 1820. It is proposed that a national bank shall be incorporated for a term of twenty years, to be established at Philadelphia, with a power to erect offices of discount and deposite elsewhere. [Le-money of the United States, in places in which the said bank and gislative and Documentary History of the United States Bank, page 481.] (9) Extract from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the state of the finances, December 6, 1815. hereafter be made by the Secretary of State, or of the Treasury, SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no contract shall or of the Department of War, or of the Navy, except under a law authorizing the same, or under an appropriation adequate to its fulfilment; and excepting, also, contracts for the subsistence and clothing of the army or navy, and contracts by the Quartermaster's Department, which may be made by the Secretaries of those Of the services rendered to the Government by some of the State banks, during the late war, and of the liberality by which some of them are actuated in their intercourse with the Treasury, justice requires an explicit acknowledgment. It is a fact, however, incontestably proved, that those institutions cannot, at this time, be successfully employed to furnish a uniform national currency. The failure of one attempt to associate them with that view has already been stated. Another attempt, by their agenoy, in circulating Treasury notes, to overcome the inequalities of the exchange, has been only partially successful. And a plan recently proposed, with the design to curtail the issues of bank notes, to fix the public confidence in the administration of the affairs of the banks, and to give to each bank a legitimate share in the circulation, is not likely to receive the general sanction of the banks. The truth is, that the charter restrictions of some of the banks, the mutual relation and dependence of the banks of the same State, and even of the banks of the different States, and the duty which the directors of each bank conceive they owe to The CHAIR announced the following as the Committheir immediate constituents, upon points of security or emolu-tee of Bank Investigation, under the 4th resolution adopt Departments. MONDAY, APRIL 7. APRIL 7, 1834.] Rhode Island Memorials-Vermont Memorials. [H. OF R. ed by the House on Friday last: Messrs. THOMAS, of intelligence and patriotism of those whose sentiments they citizens of his State, whom he denominates the workingmen of Providence. The people of the district which I have the honor to represent, sir, are all workingmen. They constitute no distinctive party, but embrace all parties; are confined to no particular class, but form every class of that community--a community where the distinction of high and low is scarcely known, and where there is, perhaps, a greater equality of fortune and condition and intelligence, than is to be found in any other portion of the United States. The poor we, indeed, have among us; but they are too deeply imbued with the intelligence which pervades that community, to be operated upon by the attempt to array them as a distinct party against their more wealthy neighbors. All such attempts they know how to detect and appreciate. They know that when the prosperity of the rich is struck down by the arm of power, they must, also, agonize under the blow. Mr. B. moved that a certain letter (or letters,) read on the last petition-day by his colleague, and which had Such is the community from whose bosom comes up been withdrawn from the files of the House, might be re-into this hall, through these resolutions, and this memostored thereto. rial, the deep tones of distress and apprehension. The The CHAIR stated that this motion could only be re-names attached to the memorial embrace men of every ceived by unanimous consent; and doubted if it would be employment and condition in that community--farmers, in order even then. The House had no power over the mechanics, merchants, manufacturers, and professional paper in question, which was a private letter. men; all moved, by a common impulse, to look to the Government for relief from the evils which one branch of it has brought upon them, and to implore that the still greater evils of a continuance of its policy may be averted. Objection was made, and the motion, requiring unanimity, was not received. Mr. PEARCE presented resolutions adopted at Providence, others at North Providence, and others adopted by the workingmen of Providence; which were severally In speaking, said Mr. S., of the memorial which I have read and laid on the table. He also wished to present the honor to present, it is proper, and perhaps not untwo communications addressed to himself, one of them important, to say that it is signed by men of all political signed, as he stated, by more than a hundred names, on the subject of the bank and the deposites. Objection being made to the reception of these papers, Mr. P. moved to suspend the rule that they might be received; but the House negatived the motion. VERMONT MEMORIALS. parties. It is due to truth, however, to state that but a small proportion of the signers are of the party usually denominated the "Jackson party;" a party, however, which is not numerous in that quarter, and, if the present policy of the Executive is to be persisted in, seems not likely to be much increased. The list of names appears to embrace a fair proportion of the other two parMr. ALLEN, of Vermont, presented a memorial from ties which divide the State. In alluding to them, it gives the county of Chittenden, in that State, remonstrating me great pleasure to say that the anti-masons of my disagainst the removal of the deposites, and praying for re-trict, and, so far as I am informed, of the State generallief. Mr. A. accompanied the presentation of this me-ly, are as deeply convinced of the injustice and impolicy morial by observations, going to show that the memorial of the executive "experiment," and as heartily desirous had been adopted and signed without regard to party dis- that the country may be relieved from it, as any portion tinction; in evidence of which he stated that the presid- of the people of Vermont. And, sir, permit me to say, ing officer of the meeting was connected with the admin- without intending to disparage any other party, that they istration, and had been a candidate for Governor at the stand in a position to give to their opinions, on this sublast election. He then went into a brief explanation of ject, great weight; inasmuch as an adherence to their the grounds taken by the memorialists, in reference principles has brought them into conflict with the leading to the principle involved in the removal of the deposites. party opposed to this administration, and has, therefore, Mr. SLADE, of Vermont, presented the proceedings left their decision, on the present question, less subject of a meeting of citizens of the county of Rutland, in that to the bias of strong party impulses. That decision, too, State, on the subject of the removal of the public depos- is known to be in opposition to the opinions, publicly exites from the Bank of the United States, together with a pressed, of a distinguished individual, who has been con memorial signed by sixteen hundred and ninety freemen nected with the anti-masonic party. The calculations, of that county, on the same subject. These papers, Mr. however, which have been made upon his influence with S. said, had been in his possession nearly two weeks, dur- that party, on this question, I am happy to believe, will ing which time the presentation of them had been delayed be entirely disappointed, at least in the State which I by the operation of the rule which restricts such present- have the honor, in part, to represent. The anti-masons ation to Mondays of each week, and the entire occupation in Vermont, and, I trust, every where, will think and act of the last Monday in the receiving of petitions from other for themselves on this subject. States. The people who thus come to this body with an exMr. S. said, it gave him great pleasure to be able to pression of their opinions, and a prayer for relief, had, up say that the meeting whose resolutions he presented, to the commencement of the fatal experiment" of the and the freemen whose names appeared upon the memorial, were justly entitled to the most respectful attention of Congress, not more from the great importance of the subject of the resolutions and memorial, than from the Executive, enjoyed a high and almost unexampled state of prosperity. Steady and profitable markets, aided by a sound and sufficiently abundant currency, had stimulated and rewarded every branch of their industry, and given 3519 H. OF R.] GALES & SEATON'S REGISTER Vermont Memorials. [APRIL 7, 1834. Wool, their cided reprehension. That reprehension they express, a rapid development to their resources. great staple, and which the memorialists Fepresent the not from any special sympathy for the bank, but from a county of Rutland to have produced to the amount of regard to those principles of common justice, which they $300,000 during the last year, had enjoyed a protection have been taught to venerate-justice which they will which had greatly increased the numbers, and improved not patiently see denied, even to the humblest individual the quality of their flocks; inducing large and increasing in the community. The injustice towards the bank they investments in that species of property, and a gradual consider to have been exceedingly aggravated, by the adaptation of agricultural improvements to its growth. obvious and inevitable exposure of the people of the And, though the adjustment of the tariff of the last session has excited apprehension as to the final condition of this important interest, the same adjustment had given assurance of present security from ruinous Auctuationsat least, so far as they might depend upon the measures of the Government. United States to the disastrous consequences which have followed its perpetration, and which they think a wise The memorialists take the liberty also to express their and prudent Executive would have foreseen and avoided. views with regard to the authorship of the act in question. They look beyond the forms of the proceeding-to It was, said Mr. S., in the midst of this prosperity, its substantial and true import. They regard it as the act and while the people were reposing in this fancied of the President, who, to effect a purpose, contemplated security, that the executive experiment was resolved by no law, and justified by no necessity, has converted The shock which the agent of Congress into his own special agent; and upon, and its execution commenced. was immediately felt in the commercial cities has gradu- thus, through the forms of a legal agency, has accomally extended into the country, and at length reached the plished what it would have been palpable usurpation for people whose resolutions and memorial I now present. him to have otherwise attempted. The assignment of They come to tell us that the "opening season of active reasons by the Secretary they, therefore, regard as a pursuits" finds them stripped of the means of prosecuting mere mockery, since those reasons are, in fact, though their ordinary enterprises, or even of fulfilling their or- they could not be in form, the reasons of the President, The memorialists consider it of the very essence of the dinary engagements. The season for remittances has given by the command of the President. arrived. The merchants, urged by the unusual pressure upon them, from the cities, are compelled, in turn, to power conferred on the Secretary of the Treasury to make unusual demands upon their debtors; and this, too, change the depository of the public moneys, that he at the moment when the general distrust and apprehen- should exercise his own discretion over the subject; that, sion produced by the suddenly forced derangement of ceasing to exercise that discretion, he ceased to be Secthe relation between the Government and the Bank of retary of the Treasury, for the purposes contemplated the United States, and, as a necessary consequence, be- in the 16th section of the bank charter, and became the tween the latter and the State institutions, has withdrawn "pliant instrument" of the President; that the power in from circulation, and locked up, the means of discharg- question, having been conferred by Congress, to whom ing those demands. Between the double operation of an the constitution commits the special guardianship of the increased demand for money and a diminished supply public treasure, can be controlled only by Congress; the people of Vermont are placed in a position in which and that the subjection of it to the control of any power other than that creating it is a palpable and glaring abthey cannot but feel, and, feeling, cannot but speak. surdity. But they do not complain merely of the existing presThe act of the President, thus performed, the people sure. They look forward to the season of the year when the sale of their great staple has usually afforded them whom I represent, said Mr. S., believe to be both an abuse the means of discharging their engagements and giving and a usurpation of power; an abuse, in removing the energy to new enterprises. They see, in almost certain Secretary of the Treasury without reason; and a usurpaprospect, a reduction of one-fourth, or one-third, of the tion, in thereby reaching and disposing of the public moformer prices of that article, and a corresponding reduc- neys, which the President could not otherwise have tion in the value of their land and labor, and the pro- touched with even a color of authority. These moneys ducts of both. Debts must, in the mean time, be paid; they regard as now practically at the absolute disposal of lawsuits, of course, multiplied; lawyers, sheriffs, and the President, to an extent enabling him to exercise a constables, fully employed; property sacrificed; credit moneyed control more dangerous to the "purity of elec tions," the "freedom of the press," and the "morals of prostrated, and families ruined. the people," than it can be pretended the Bank of the United States could ever exercise. The conduct of the bank, in the trying emergency produced by the executive threat of prostration, they consider to have been marked by a prudence and forbearance deserving of the highest commendation, and that to that prudence and forbearance the country is now indebted for exemption from universal bankruptcy. Thus suffering, and thus apprehending a continuance, if not an augmentation of suffering, the citizens whose resolutions and memorial are now presented have undertaken to look into its cause, and inquire after its remedy. They attribute the existing derangement of the currency, and business of the country, to the sudden and, as they believe, uncalled-for removal of the deposites from the Bank of the United States. They regard this The idea of a metallic currency to fill the channels of act as a flagrant violation of the national faith, pledged to continue the public moneys in that depository while it circulation, and effect the exchanges of an active, enterwas safe, and the institution continued to perform the prising, and rapidly advancing community, they consider appropriate duties of their transmission and disburse-as eminently "visionary and impracticable, and calculated These duties they understood to have been faith to mislead the public mind, and pervert the public judg fully performed, and that safety to have been unquestion- ment with regard to the true character and tendency of The memorialists, continued Mr. S., are distressed, ed and unquestionable. The use of the public moneys, the late executive measures. during the continuance of the charter, they consider, moreover, as one of "the benefits" for which the bank deeply distressed, under the operation of the paralysis paid the sum of one million five hundred thousand dol- which is gradually chilling their enterprise, withering their strength, and sinking their hopes. But they look lars to the people of the United States. ment. So far as this is to be regarded as a question between above and beyond the present pecuniary pressure. They the Government and the bank, the memorialists think see the spirit of executive encroachment breaking down they see, in this act of the Executive, an utter disregard the barriers of the constitution, spurning the restraints of of the rights of that institution, which deserves their de- law, and assuming powers which belong only to the whole |