JAN. 2, 1834.] Removal of the Deposites. [SENATE. they are unfit for their stations; so that the bank sets itself upon others. Mr. B. denied, as he had done before, that up above the constituted authorities, judges the appoint- the board could delegate its authority to a committee. It ments which it makes, and sets them aside when not could no more authorize a committee to transact its proper agrecable to itself. Henceforth the bank must be con- business, that of making loans, than the Congress of the sulted in the choice of Government directors, in the United States could devolve the power of legislation upon choice of those who are to represent the interests of the its committees. He conceived this conduct of the board, United States; and if the President and Senate presume in devolving their own powers upon subaltern committees, to make appointments contrary to her will, they will be appointed by the president alone, to be so flagrant, that set aside and nullified. Mr. B. said there was no need of he must be excused for quoting another copious extract further testimony on this head. The fact of total, per- from the Government directors' report in relation to it. manent, and systematic exclusion of the Government di- The case was so powerfully stated by them, that it would rectors from the business of the bank was fully established. supersede the necessity of any remarks from him. He (Mr. B.) thought it, of itself, a sufficient reason for withholding all confidence from the bank in future. So thought the President and Secretary of the Treasury, and he trusted that the Senate and American people would concur in their opinion. "The committee on exchange, we observed, was appointed by the president alone, and it was evident that, organized as it was, and assuming the power it did, the directors became, in a great degree, useless; and the interests of the institution, and the money of the stockholdThe supersedeas of the board, by devolving their ers, were so far placed beyond their control. Its formapower on the committees on exchange and offices, was tion, too, was in direct opposition to the by-laws, which the next of the reasons assigned by the Secretary, which provided that the committee having the business of exwas examined by Mr. B. He remarked upon the mode of change under its care, as well as that of attending daily at appointing these committees, which was by the president the bank, 'should be selected from the board in rotaalone. Formerly there were no appointments, but the tion'-a just arrangement, acted on until within a few directors served on the committees by turns, and in rota- years, and enabling all the directors, from time to time, to tion. The present mode of appointment virtually threw participate in the action on matters which they had all all power into the hands of the president, for the power been selected to superintend. Being satisfied that this of the committee was supreme over the funds of the arrangement was altogether the proper one, both in rebank. Mr. B. then quoted a part of the examination of gard to the safe disposal of the funds of the stockholders, Mr. Biddle before the investigating committee, two years and to the legitimate performance of their duties by the ago, to show the extent of power possessed by the com- directors, we were desirous of restoring it in practice. mittee on finance. It appeared, from his testimony, that We therefore offered the following resolutions: they made loans and discounts at discretion, and were not "Whereas, it is proper that the ordinary business of even bound to report their proceedings to the board. For the board should not be transacted by a smaller number the fact that the board was superseded in its proper duties of directors than that required by the charter, and the by these committees, Mr. B. read extracts from the report business of discounts can be conveniently transacted, as of the Government directors: heretofore it has been, at the meeting of the board; therefore, the board." "Nor was it in regard to the public directors alone that the management of this institution presented serious Resolved, That the duties of the committee on excauses of objection. The whole system is one which is change shall not extend to the business of discounts; that calculated to exclude the board of directors from a proper the committee on exchange shall, after the expiration of knowledge of its situation, of the conduct of its officers, the present month, consist of three directors, residing in and of its policy as a great financial and commercial insti- Philadelphia, to be selected, as prescribed by the existing tution. The plan of transacting much of the business in by-laws, monthly, from the board, in rotation; and that the secret committees has already been referred to, in many president and cashier shall be united with them. remarkable instances; but, so far as our limited experi- "These resolutions were at once laid upon the table by ence on some of the committees has enabled us to judge, a vote of the majority, and we could not obtain their adopvery many objects, which ought to be submitted to the tion. inspection and approbation of the directors, never come "But this mode of appointment by the president alone, even before the standing committees, much less before and this assumption of power by the committee on exchange, were not merely contrary to the spirit of the charter and the letter of the by-laws. In assuming to discount notes on days intervening between the meetings of the board, and not unfrequently on days when it did meet, the committee on exchange acted in direct opposition to two recorded decisions of the board, by the last of which, no longer since than in 1830, on an application from the office at Charleston to give these same powers to a committee, the inexpediency of doing so was declared in the most explicit terms. When the application was made, it was referred to the standing committee on the offices. They reported against it without hesitation, and on general principles, applicable to the whole institution. The subject,' they say, of discounts by committees has frequently engaged the attention of the board, who have always felt and expressed great repugnance to such a practice, to which, in fact, much of the losses of the board may be ascribed. The committee on the offices still entertain that opinion, and they think that the better course to be pursued, in regard to the present suggestion, is that adopted on the 31st of October, 1823, on a similar application from the office at Boston. They accordingly recommend the adoption of the following resolution: That the president be requested to communicate to the presi Mr. B. said he could quote many other passages to prove the same thing, but the fact occurred so frequently, in almost any extract that he read, that he held it to be unnecessary to repeat them. He held it to be established that the committees, and especially the committee on exchange, was invested with full power to make loans and discounts, which was the great business which the bank had to transact, and which put it into the power of three directors, and those three selected by the president, to do what they pleased with the money of the stockholders. By the terms of the charter a board of seven directors, of whom the president, or his deputy, should be one, could alone transact business; less than that number, even six, were incompetent to do the business of the institution; but, by the course pursued, less than half the number required by the charter are invested with full power to loan the moneys of the stockholders, without limitation of time or amount. On former occasions it had been shown that they made loans for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and even for more than a million, for indefinite periods, as long even as the charter had to run, and that the loans made by it were considered to be privileged, and not to be touched by the curtailment which was now heavily falling VOL. X.-9 SENATE.] Removal of the Deposites. [JAN. 2, 1834. dent of the office at Charleston the unwillingness of this first half of the year 1831, to the enormous sum of board to adopt the plan of making discounts of notes by a $29,979 92, exceeding that of the previous year by $23,committee, that being the proper business of the board, 000, and exceeding the semi-annual expenditure of 1829 organized as such; but, in order to give every proper fa- by upwards of $26,000. The expense account itself, as cility to business, the board perceives no objection to more made up in the book which was submitted to us, containfrequent, and even daily, meetings of the board, which ed very little information relative to the particulars of this could take place for a short time at a particular hour of expenditure, and we were obliged, in order to obtain every day. To this correct decision, the reasoning of them, to resort to an inspection of the vouchers. Among which appears to us unanswerable, made nearly ten years other sums was one of $7,801, stated to be paid on orders ago, and deliberately reconsidered and renewed six years of the president, under the resolution of 11th March, afterwards, we referred. We pointed it out still standing 1831, and the orders themselves were the only vouchers on the minutes, and we asked that its principles might be of the expenditure which we found on file; some of the adhered to. All, however, was without effect. Finally, orders, to the amount of about $1,800, stated that the exthat the subject might be brought more fully to the con- penditure was for distributing General Smith's and Mr. sideration of the directors, we offered the following reso- McDuffie's reports and Mr. Gallatin's pamphlet; but the lution: rest stated, generally, that it was made under the resolution of the 11th of March, 1831. "Resolved, That the cashier be instructed to lay before the board any resolution rescinding that passed on the 2d of February, 1830, which declares the inexpediency of discounts being done by committees; and any resolution altering the rule of the by-law which directs the appointment of the committee attending at the bank, monthly, in rotation, and which, as appears by the minutes, was complied with up to 1828. "This resolution, also, was at once laid upon the table by a vote of the majority, and we could not obtain its adoption. ་ "There were also numerous bills and receipts for expenditures to individuals, among them of Gales & Seaton, $1,300 for distributing Mr. Gallatin's pamphlet of William Fry, for Garden & Thompson, $1,675 75 for five thousand copies of General Smith's and Mr. McDuffie's reports, &c.; of Jesper Harding, $440 for eleven thousand extra papers; of the American Sentinel, $124 74 for printing, folding, packing, and postages of three thousand extras; of William Fry, $1,830 27 for upwards of fifty thousand copies of the National Gazette, and supplements, "Our remonstrances, however, were not without ef- containing addresses to members of the State Legislatures, fect. They led to a determination on the part of the ma- review of Mr. Benton's speech, abstract of Mr. Gallatin's jority to give some sanction to their course, by adopting article from the American Quarterly Review, and editorinew rules, and abolishing those long in existence. A new al article on the project of a treasury bank; of James set of by-laws was prepared in accordance with the actual Wilson, $1,447 75 for twenty-five thousand copies of the practice. They were submitted to the board in the reports of Mr. McDuffie and Mr. Smith, and for twentymonth of April last. When they were under considera-five thousand copies of the address to members of the tion, we requested that the standing committees might State Legislatures, agreeably to order, and letters from be appointed from the board in rotation;' this was reject-John Sergeant, Esq.; and of Carey & Lea, $2,850 for ed, and the president was authorized himself to select the ten thousand copies of Gallatin on Banking, and two two of most importance, that on the offices and that on thousand copies of Professor Tucker's article. exchange. We then requested that the powers of the 'During the second half-year of 1831 the item of stacommittee on exchange might not be extended to the tionary and printing was $13,224 87, of which $5,010 business of discounts. This, too, was rejected. Desi- were paid on orders of the president, and stated generally rous that if these powers were thus to be exercised by a to be under the resolution of 11th of March, 1831; and committee, selected by the president, the other directors other sums were paid to individuals, as in the previous might at least be regularly informed of its proceedings, accounts, for printing and distributing documents. we then requested that they should lay before the "During the first half-year of 1832 the item of staboard at every stated meeting a statement of their proceed- tionary and printing was $12,134 16, of which $2,150 are ings, which should be read before the discounts of the stated to have been paid on orders of the president, under day were settled.' This, too, was rejected. All these the resolution of 11th of March, 1831. There are also being refused, we requested that, among the business of various individual payments, of which we notice $106 38 the day, the board might have submitted and read to it to Hunt, Tardiff, & Co., for one thousand copies of a rea report of the final proceedings of the committee,' view of Mr. Benton's speech; $200 for one thousand since the previous stated meeting. This, too, was reject- extra copies of the Saturday Courier; $1,176 to Gales & ed. In a word, the system of late years acted upon was Seaton, for twenty thousand copies of a pamphlet conformally sanctioned by a majority of the board. It is now cerning the bank,' and six thousand copies of the minoria portion of its by-laws, as before it was of its practice." ty report relative to the bank; and $1,800 to Matthew St. The surrender of the funds of the bank to its presi- Clair Clarke, for three hundred copies of Clarke & dent, to be used by him without limitation of time or Hall's Bank Book.' amount, was viewed by Mr. B. as a clear infraction of the "During the last half-year of 1832 the item of stationary charter. Had such extraordinary power been granted for and printing rose to $26,543 72, of which $6,350 are the most laudable purpose, it still would have been a stated to have been paid on orders of the president, under breach of the charter, and therefore unjustifiable; but it the resolution of 11th March, 1831. Among the specified was evident that this great surrender of funds was made charges, we observe $821 78 to Jesper Harding, for printfor an unjustifiable purpose, and thus greatly aggravated ing a review of the veto; $1,371 04 to E. Olmstead, for the offence of violating the charter. It was evidently for four thousand copies of Mr. Ewing's speech, bank docuelectioneering and political objects. The application of ments, and review of the veto; $4,106 13 to William part of the sums under the resolutions has been discov- Fry, for sixty-three thousand copies of Mr. Webster's ered by the Government directors; and, as he (Mr. B.) speech, Mr. Adams's and Mr. McDuffie's reports, and wished to carry conviction by the fairest means, he would the majority and minority reports; $295 for fourteen read what they had communicated to Congress, and rely thousand extras of the Protector,' containing bank upon evidence in preference to argument. He read as documents; $2,583 50 to Mr. Riddle, for printing and follows: distributing reports, Mr. Webster's speech, &c.; $150 12 to Mr. Finnall, for printing the speeches of Messrs. Clay, Ewing, and Smith, and Mr. Adams's report; $1,512 75 "In pursuance, it is presumed, of these resolutions, the item of stationary, and printing was increased during the JAN. 2, 1834.] Removal of the Deposites. [SENATE. to Mr. Clarke, for printing Mr. Webster's speech, Monroe, the ex-President. Mr. Burrows had been very and articles on the veto; and $2,422 65 to Mr. Hale, liberal to Mr. Monroe in his pecuniary misfortunes, and for fifty-two thousand five hundred copies of Mr. Web- he had recently received from the President of the United ster's speech. There is also a charge of $4,040 paid States particular thanks and commendations for his genon orders of the president, stating that it is for expenses in erous conduct towards a Russian ship of war. I undermeasures for protecting the bank against a run on the stood him to be a very rich merchant, of a kind and benewestern branches. volent disposition, and constantly engaged in doing acts "During the first half-year of 1833 the item of station- of liberality. In one of his visits to Philadelphia, he ary and printing was $9,093 59, of which $2,600 are said he was desirous of befriending Mr. Noah, and assiststated to have been on orders of the president, under the ing him in the purchase of a share in a newspaper, and resolution of the 11th March, 1831. There is also a he asked if the bank would discount the notes of these charge of Messrs. Gales & Seaton of $800 for printing the parties; adding that, although as a merchant he did not report of the exchange committee." wish to appear as a borrower, or to put his name on Mr. B. resumed: The bare reading of this statement paper not mercantile, yet he would at any time do so whenshows that the funds of the bank, under the direction of ever it might be necessary to secure the bank. I do not the president of the bank, have been used, and largely recollect whether he then mentioned the time which the used, in supplying the public with electioneering matter. notes would have to run. The committee, being authorized He would make no comments upon that evidence. It to discount any paper, the security of which they might needed none. It was a case in which the truth, in this approve, agreed to do them. As Mr. Burrows was going modest, unpretending form of evidence, would do its bu- out of town, I gave him the money out of my own funds; siness upon the understanding without the aid of argu- and the notes were afterwards put into my possession. ment or illustration. He would call the attention of the They remained with me a long time, as I had no occasion to Senate to the fact, that there was a material portion of use the funds; nor was it till the close of the year that my the funds used under the resolutions which were wholly attention was called to them by the circumstance that, as unaccounted for, and a knowledge of which the Govern-a new board of directors and a new committee of exment directors in vain endeavored to obtain. It seemed change would soon be appointed, the same committee to be a secret-service fund, such as the ministers of which made the loan should consummate it. I had seen crowned heads had at their disposal in the European also, in the public prints, many reproaches against the monarchies, and which was to be used for purposes bank for lending money to printers and editors, and I was which would not bear the light. A portion of the money unwilling that any loan made by the bank should seem to so used by the president of the bank-the one-fifth part be a private loan from one of its officers. Having no use of it, for the United States owned the one-fifth of the for the money, it would have been perfectly convenient stock-belonged to the people of the United States. It to let the loan remain as it was; but I thought it right that would then result in this: that while the two Houses of every thing done by the bank should always be distinctly Congress could not by law even spend a dollar of the known and avowed; and I therefore gave the notes to people's money, without specifying the object, and ac- the chairman of the committee, Mr. Thomas B. Cope, counting for the expenditure, the same people might who entered them on the books." have their money taken out of the Bank of the United Having read this statement, Mr. B. went on to say that States by the president of the institution, and applied to he was not arguing upon it now, but merely putting cirobjects unknown and unknowable to the people; un- cumstances together to make out a presumptive case, known and unknowable, in fact, to the guardians of their which would stand for a true case until those who could interests, whom they had stationed in the bank to watch clear it up should come forward and do so. Pursuing this their moneys for them. With respect to these unac-dry and unambitious course, the next circumstance which counted for sums, he (Mr. B.) could say nothing posi- he would bring into the array was the hegira of Burrows, tively; but by putting together a few dates and facts, whose flight from the marshals, during the sitting of the about which there was no dispute, a presumptive case of investigating committee, left them wholly unenlightened interference with the newspaper press will be made out, by his account of the manner in which he became possessed which possibly may not be true, but which, according to of this large sum of money for an object so remote from the rules of human evidence, must stand for true until it his usual mercantile operations, and with which he did not was shown by those in whose power it is to show the truth think it prudent to mix his name. Mr. Noah, however, that there was some mistake or error in it. The first date supplied, in some degree, the absence of Mr. Burrows; that he should refer to in this presumptive case was that and his account of the $15,000 will be the fourth circumof the resolution which clothed the president of the bank stance which he should bring together in the formation of with general power over the preparation and publication this case. It is this: "Being on terms of intimacy with of documents for the defence of the bank: it was the 11th Mr. Silas E. Burrows, I mentioned the circumstance to day of March, 1831. The next date would be that dis- him; and, believing that he possessed facilities, proposed closed in an answer to a question put by the investigating that he should loan me fifteen thousand dollars to effect committee in the spring of 1832, to the president of the the purchase, (one-half of the Courier and Enquirer,) on bank. It stands thus in the documental history of that condition that ten per centum should be paid every six committee's proceedings: "Question by Mr. Thomas: months, with interest, until the whole was liquidated. He On what day did you pay the $15,000 to Silas E. Bur- told me that his mercantile operations were extensive, and rows" "Answer by Mr. Biddle: On the 26th of March, that he could not well take that sum from his capital, but 1831." The next fact was as to the place from which that he approved of the purchase, and would apply to his this money came; and as the president of the bank had father in Connecticut for a loan to that amount. In a few given his own account of that matter, he (Mr. B.) thought days he informed me that he was going to Connecticut for it fair to give him the benefit of his own words. He would, therefore, read his account of it, as he gave it in evidence to the investigating committee. Mr. B. reads: "These notes were discounted by the exchange committee, under the resolution just referred to. They were done at the request of Mr. Silas E. Burrows, of New York. Mr. Burrows had, some time before, brought me a particular letter of introduction from an old friend, Mr. his father, and subsequently that his father had arrived in town, and invited me to meet him at his house in Bleecker street, where, after much preliminary conversation and arrangements, I gave my notes to Mr. Burrows, senior, endorsed by Mr. Webb, and a commission of two and a half per cent. to Mr. Burrows, junior, and received from Mr. Burrows, senior, his paper, which was subsequently cashed by Mr. Stewart, the father-in-law of Mr. Webb. SENATE.] Removal of the Deposites. [JAN. 2, 1834. It was not for six months after negotiating this loan that the details he had gone through would force themselves final payment was made by Mr. Burrows. Judge, there- upon the minds of all persons. In one point of view only fore, of my astonishment at having heard it suggested that would he present one of the circumstances over again to that sum in money was loaned by Mr. Biddle for my use, the Senate, and that for the purpose of showing in reality when, throughout the negotiation, the name of the United what this exchange committee was, which has so promiStates Bank was not even mentioned; and I never for anently appeared upon the scene, superseding and eclipsmoment suspected that the loan emanated from any other ing the entire board of directors. source than Mr. Enoch Burrows, of Connecticut.' The It would be observed that the arrangement for the fifth fact which Mr. B. had to arrange into this picture $15,000 took place entirely between Mr. Burrows and was, that the supposed Enoch Burrows, father to Silas, Mr. Biddle. The exchange committee was not even prewho figured as a great money-lender in this transaction, sent at the application. The whole arrangement was enwas not the real Connecticut Enoch, father of Silas, but a tered as a matter of course upon the books of the comsort of fac simile representation of the old gentleman-a mittee, when Mr. Biddle gave in the notes which had sort of John Doe or Richard Roe-who had been acquired been discounted; and other discounts were subsequently for the occasion from the streets of New York, and was dis- made in continuation of the same transaction, until $52,000 missed from the stage (when he had finished his part) were loaned, and years allowed for repaying it. In this with a present of half a crown and a glass of grog for the point of view the important conclusion will present itself trouble he had taken in sitting in dumb-show during the to the minds of all candid and impartial inquirers, that, in progress of the negotiation, and nodding his head with transferring the great business of the bank from the board pantomimic gravity, in token of assent, when the solemn prescribed by the charter to a subaltern committee named affair was concluded. Having put these five circumstances by himself, the president of the bank has, in reality, side by side, Mr. B. would crown them by a quotation constituted himself sole governor of the Bank of the Unitfrom the letter of the famous William Cobbett to Presi-ed States; receives and entertains, in his private apartdent Jackson, which had just appeared in the United ments, the application for loans which ought to be made States, and, among other things, described the manner of at the board; makes what loans he pleases-to what performing a certain operation in England. amount he pleases—upon what security he pleases-upon "There is, however, (says Mr. Cobbett) a delicacy' what terms and conditions he pleases-to what persons he in the manner of *** here, which is wholly unknown pleases-for what objects he pleases; and that the authorto your tribe of paper money ruffians. The press is as ity under which he uses this vast and irresponsible power * here as it is there; and it swallows ten thousand is an authority without limitation as to time; and, from all times the amount of * * * * * * that yours swallows; but the circumstances of its avowed origin and notorious use, the manner of * is so indirect, the source is at is an authority intended to be continued until that race of so great a distance from the reservoir, the stream mean- Presidents shall be set aside who will commit the crime of ders through so many and such covert channels, that it assaulting the bank, as President Jackson did in his meswould take a year for the most acute man in the world, sage of 1829. though invested with full powers to send for persons and Must such a bank have the further keeping of the pubpapers, to trace the ***** back from the last hand to lic moneys? Is it not enough that it has so long had the first." The sixth circumstance which Mr. B. would them for such incredible purposes? Is it not enough that group into this cluster was the fact, already proved, that it now has seven millions of the public money in its stock, the Government directors have labored in vain to obtain which it wields as it pleases? Is it not enough that the from the president of the bank and the other directors whole amount of its notes are receivable in payment of any account whatever of the application of a sum, used the public dues, and derive a credit and circulation from under the resolution of March 11th, 1831, of more than that circumstance which enables them to traverse the contwenty thousand dollars, and yet wholly ignorant of the tinent, and pass from hand to hand, without calling at the uses and persons to which it was applied, their application doors of the bank for any part of that ten millions of spefor information being constantly rejected, although it was cie which lies inactive in the vaults of the bank, while declared by Mr. Biddle, when he gave up the notes of business men are screwed to the uttermost for the last Webb and Noah to be put on the books of the bank, that dollar, and running from broker to broker to purchase he did so "because he thought it right that every thing money at any price, for any brief period that it can be done by the bank should always be distinctly known and obtained? Is not all this enough for such a bank, thus avowed." The seventh incident which Mr. B. would governed, without exacting the use of the future depoweave into this web was the circumstance of an offer of sites for the two years it has to live? pecuniary aid made to the editor of the "New York Stan- The approaching termination of the charter, Mr. B. dard," upon certain conditions, in the same month of said, was the last of the reasons for removing the depoMarch, 1831, a few days after the passage of the famous sites which he should examine, though among the first resolution of the 11th of that month, and nearly cotempo-assigned by the Secretary of the Treasury. That reason raneously with the generous assistance extended to the has been assailed in several different ways on this floor, editor of the Courier and Enquirer. The eighth and last but in each and every of these assaults a ready repulse of these collated circumstances was, that, before the loan awaited the assailant. It had been denied that the prethrough Burrows, the Courier and Enquirer abounded with cditorial articles against the Bank of the United States; after that time it abounded with like articles in favor of it. With this array of dates and facts, Mr. B. would pause, and submit it to the Senate and the American people to say if there was not a presumptive case made out against the Bank of the United States, which must stand for true, until it is cleared up by a full and public examination. sidential election was any test of public opinion upon the question of continuing the charter of the bank; and this denial had been made by the same Senator, the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. CLAY,] who exulted on the floor of the Senate on the issue of life and death joined between President Jackson and the bank, at the return of the famous veto message in July, 1832, and who quoted the re-election of President Jackson as proof that the proMr. B. said he drew to the close of what he had to say tective system was abandoned by the people, and gave on this head, namely, the surrender of the funds of the that as a reason for abandoning it himself. The fact was, bank to its president, without limitation of time or amount, that the re-election of President Jackson was full evidence for the simulated pretext of defending itself against the of the sentiments of the people against the bank. It was assaults of the President in his message of December, also full evidence of their decision in favor of the Presi1829. The pregnant reflections which would result from | dent's often declared policy on the subject of the tariff, JAN. 2, 1834.] Removal of the Deposites. [SENATE. namely, no surplus revenue; no unnecessary or uncon- its own limitation within two years of this time; and mainstitutional expenditure; reduction of the revenue to the tained that the Secretary was bound to entertain that wants of the Government; and incidental protection to opinion from the circumstances which surrounded the essential branches of national industry. The re-election question; and, entertaining the opinion, he was bound of the President was a proof incontrovertible of public to act upon it, and to take it into consideration, in decidsentiment on both heads, and much more decidedly pro- ing the great question of removing the deposites. He nounced in the case of the bank than in that of the tariff; did take it into consideration, and has presented the rebecause the bank, under the lead of its political friends, sults of that consideration to the Senate in a statement of had made up an issue between itself and the President, reasons and facts, which declamation and sarcasm have and fought him a pitched battle throughout the Union for ventured to assail, while logic and argument have kept at victory or death. This was known to every body; and a distance. The reasons of the Secretary are spread at broad denials or special pleading evasions were equally large in that admirable state paper now under consideraunavailable to obscure the fact, or obliterate its recollec- tion, which placed him at once, or rather developed his tion. Mr. B. would assume, then, that the Secretary of true position at once, among the first statesmen of his the Treasury rested and remained upon an inattackable day. Mr. B. would barely recapitulate the heads of these position, when he affirmed that the re-election of Presi- reasons, referring for amplifications and illustrations to dent Jackson was the death-warrant of the American peo- the report of the Secretary himself. ple against the federal bank. Premising that these reasons had reference to the priAnother denial from the same source was to the fact mary position, that it was necessary for the bank now to that the present bank would not be rechartered: the begin to prepare for the winding up of its concerns, he Secretary of the Treasury held the affirmative of that (Mr. B.) would recall to the recollection of the Senate proposition; the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. CLAY] the that this was the precise reason given by the bank in its negative of it. He (Mr. B.) would only say that the peo- memorial to Congress two years ago. It wanted the ple had decided in the affirmative, not only in the re- question of recharter decided, that, if denied, it might election of the President, but also in the election of mem- begin at once to prepare for the close of its concerns. bers to the present House of Representatives, about one Now, said Mr. B., if this reason was good four years behundred and sixty of whom, out of two hundred and forty, fore the expiration of the charter, it was certainly still stood before their constituents as opposed to the rechar- better two years before it. Let us then see what were ter at the time of their election; and he would not suppose the preparations which the bank had to make to be able that it would happen in the Congress of the United States, to come to a close, without a shock to the community. as it happened in the first reformed Parliament of the First, there was the amount of its notes in circulation, British empire, which assembled a year ago, that the about 18,000,000 dollars, which would have to be withlarge majority elected against the bank should evaporate drawn; and, if called in upon a sudden, and in mass, out of the crucible when put to the test of fire, and leave would leave a vacuum for some time before silver and but a small minority,—a lump of pure gold, indeed-where gold and the larger notes of other banks would fill it up. their shadowy forms had lately been embodied. He would It would take some time to get into circulation the not now anticipate such a tremendous evaporation of human 22,000,000 of hard dollars which the bank had abstractforms as this result would seem to imply, although the ed from the West, and of which it had itself shipped, or prodigy had just been witnessed in England, when three sold to others to ship, about the one-half to Europe. In hundred pledged members against the renewed charter the next place, was the depreciation of these notes in of the Bank of England suddenly dissipated into thin vapor, the hands of the distant holders; (for, on account of the like the Genii of the Sealed Casket, in the Arabian Nights, wide circulation which the universal receivability of these disappeared from the vision, and left but fifty "human notes in payment of public dues gave them, they circuforms divine" where three hundred had but that moment lated at all distances from the places of their issue;) and stood. He (Mr. B.) would take things as they now stood: as the mass of these miscalled notes consisted of branch a large, and, he trusted, an immovable majority of the drafts, to which the penalty of twelve per cent. for nonHouse of Representatives, were fresh from the people, and payment would not attach, the bank had only to refuse decidedly opposed to the renewed charter. He would also to redeem them except at the branches where they istake leave to say, that many gentlemen who stood in the sued, and immediately all these drafts, or unaccepted orattitude of self-oppugnation at the granting of the present ders, as they might be more properly called, became charter will have to appear under the double aspect of practically unconvertible in the hands of the holders, on the same individual representation, if they go for the re-account of the distance of the branch where issued; charter now. For the ground has changed under their would fall, of course, into the hands of brokers and money feet a second time. The reasons which enabled them to dealers; and the actual holders would have to take what make war upon their old principles, and abandon their they would give. In the third place, was the amount of old grounds in 1816, have now all disappeared; not one of them remains; so that, in going a second time for the existence of a bank which they once condemned, they will have to take a second departure from their original principles, and justify themselves a second time, upon a class of reasons standing in the exact relation of antipodes to those they justified upon before. debts due the bank, say 62,000,000 dollars. It is evident, if this amount of debt remained entire, to be called for in a mass at the expiration of the charter, and that when 18,000,000 of paper were retiring from circulation, that payment would be impossible; the cities of the United States, wherever a branch was established, might be put up at auction, and bid in at nominal prices, by the bank attorneys, for the benefit of the bank, as the city of Cin cinnati was put up, sold out, and bid in, about a dozen years ago. In the present, therefore, Mr. B., taking things as they were, must hold the affirmative that the Bank of the United States would not be rechartered; though he was free to admit that the maintenance of that opinion would It is evident that, with the community thus as its merlargely depend upon the issue of the present contest be- cy, it would seize the opportunity to agonize the countween the Bank of the United States and the Govern- try with suffering and distress, until their cries and prayment of the United States, for the restoration of the de- ers should extort a recharter from Congress. This it posites. could do; this, the scene enacting before our eyes Dropping his own opinions, he went to the opinion of proves it would do. But by withdrawing the depositesthe Secretary of the Treasury, expressed in his assign- not withdrawing them, but merely ceasing to put them ment of reasons, that the bank charter must expire upon in that bank--the institution would be put under the |