[H. OF R. Mr. BRIGGS reminded the House that the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. ELMORE] had said that he had no objection to the adoption of Mr. ADAMS's amendment; and, if so, why all this waste of discussion? He hoped the gentleman would accept it as a modification. Mr. ELMORE accepted the amendment. tracts;" he had taken them in the shape in which they another to get only a part? If there was a good reason for came to the House from the State Department. He had | printing the first 10,000 copies, there was equal reason for made no interpolations or curtailments: all he wanted was that the information sought should go extensively into the possession of the American public. He had accepted the modification proposed by the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. OWENS,] and thus met any reasonable objection which could be urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts. If there was any one question in regard to which the public were deeply interested, it was this. The argument of the gentleman from Pennsylvania was out of place. His colleague had no mean, narrow, miserable design of making an issue ad hominem before the public. No: he had higher, nobler objects in view. His call looked to those great and weighty questions which were agitating the whole country, and which must ultimately come before the House for decision. Was it wrong to desire that the people should be fully informed in regard to them? and that the deep sentiment entertained by freemen on such a subject should come back in all its power, and act on their representatives on that floor? These were the objects of his colleague; and it appeared to him that, in its amended form, there ought not to be the slightest objection to this resolution. Mr. ADAMS said, the gentleman from South Carolina thinks the amendment moved by the gentleman ftom Georgia [Mr. OWENS] is identical with mine, and proposes to me to accept it. This circumstance furnishes such an example of the discriminative powers of the gentleman from South Carolina, that it is an additional warning to me to adhere to my own amendinent. He imputes to me the amendment of the gentleman from Georgia. I must disclaim it. Mr. SLADE said he was unable to discover any adequate, or at least any justifiable motive on the part of the gentleman from South Carolina in desiring to discriminate in this motion to print a particular part of this correspondence from the residue. The answer of the President corresponded to the call of the House. The House had already ordered the printing of 10,000 copies of the communication. What good motive could there now be in reprinting only a part of it? Why did gentlemen, after calling on the Executive for certain information, desire to withhold a part of it from the people? If there was a good reason for the call, why was not the whole answer to be published? Mr. S. was compelled to conclude that there must be some special reason for so extraordinary a course. It was said that the modification suggested by the gentlenian from Georgia, and accepted by the mover, included all that related to the Texian question, and what more did gentlemen want? True; but who was to determine what portions of this correspondence did relate to the question? The Clerk of the House? Mr. S. would not trust that selection with him. Was a committee to be appointed to do it? That course would be very unusual. There must be some motive for the pertinacity manifested in this matter which did not meet the eye. It might be personal towards the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS;] if so, Mr. S. would stand by him and fight for him to the last. The whole correspondence, for what he could tell, might relate to the annexation question. He knew nothing about it. This he knew: the whole correspondence, embracing the questions of boundary, of treaty, and of annexation, were all contemporaneous; and he could not tell how they might be interlocked together. He asked gentlemen to consider how the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts stood in relation to this matter; and to gratify his wishes by giving a view of the whole case. Were gentlemen desirous of sending to the people two distinct versions of the subject? Was this to be done for the pitiful saving of the money it would cost to print a few more pages? Was one of Mr. S's neighbors to get the whole correspondence, and VOL. XIV.-86 Mr. THOMPSON said he had risen to ask his colleague to accept the amendment of the gentleman from Massachusetts, and print all the papers. He had not read them himself. There was no man in whose judgment or fairness he would more confide to make the selection than his friend and colleague. But it was enough for him that the gentleman from Massachusetts, whose consistency and feelings were involved, desired the whole to be published. He would not, under such circumstances, refuse to print any thing which he (Mr. ADAMS) thought necessary to his defence, however voluminous the matter might be. Nay, more, he would not that the slightest suspicion of trick should attach to his colleague, nor any other friend of Texas. No: he would have more respect for the opinion of any one member of Congress, even although that one memher should be the gentleman from Vermont, [Mr. StadE,] and that is surely stating a strong case. Mr. T. was not a little surprised to hear the gentleman from Maryland object that it was appealing from the President to the people. Mr. T. had seen so many strange things of late, as almost to have attained the nil admirari, in politics at least. But it did sound strangely in his ear to hear a leader of the great democratic republican party object to an appeal from the Executive upon a great question to the democracy itself. It was still more strange, coming from a friend of the illustrious chief," who daily made such appeals from Congress to the people: one good turn deserves another. It was now our turn to appeal from the President to the people. The question was then taken upon the resolution, and it was agreed to without a division. EXPRESS MAIL POSTAGE. The joint resolution from the Senate requiring postages to be paid in advance on all letters sent by the express mail, was read a first and second time. Mr. ADAMS objected to the form in which the measure came to the House, contending that it ought, regularly, to be the subject of a bill, and not of a joint resolution. It was a matter of legislation, and laws were to be enacted in the form of bills and not of joint resolutions. Mr. BIDDLE said he would like to hear a satisfactory reason for the passage of this joint resolution. There had been no report on the subject from the Postmaster General, who, on the contrary, had expressly stated, in his report to Congress, that there was no need of any legislation in his Department. There would be a great deal of inconvenience in carrying the resolution into effect; and it would be attended with very vexatious results. It would not be instantly known to be the law, and meantime great embarrassments would arise. And it would familiarize the post officers with the detention of letters and prying into them, Unless there in order to ascertain from whom they came. were good and satisfactory reasons given for the adoption of this resolution, he really hoped it would not be passed. Mr. BRIGGS answered some of these objections. The letters, if dropped in, not paid, and marked express mail, would of course be forwarded by the common mail. There could be no such detention as had been alluded to. resolution, if adopted, would save a great many dollars in the payment of letter postage by persons not at all interested in what they pay for. Members of Congress, par'ticularly, suffered by the present state of things. Not many The days ago a Senator had told him that his daily postage by express mail was often larger in amount than his per diem pay. Mr. WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, moved to refer the joint resolution to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. The SPEAKER remarked that, by a rule of the House, all action by any other committees than those of the Judiciary, the Ways and Means, and Elections, had been suspended for the present session. Mr. CONNOR alluded to some of the troubles at present experienced by the mistake of people as to the extension of the franking privilege to letters by express mail, &c. He thought the revenue arising to the Department would be benefited, rather than impaired, by the adoption of this resolution. Mr. PHILLIPS hoped the subject would not be acted upon without due investigation. The adoption of the resolution would produce great embarrassment in the business arrangements of mercantile men, as to the opening of postage accounts in certain cases. If there was any necessity for acting on the subject at the present session, he thought it should be referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, even if the rule alluded to should be suspended, to permit such a reference. If not, Mr. P. was in favor of laying the resolution on the table. Mr. WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, modified his motion so as to propose a reference of the bill to a Committee of the Whole. Mr. CUSHING alluded to yet another practical difficulty in the proposed scheme. It happened frequently that the express mail started at unseasonable hours, when it would be impossible to pay the postage of letters, for the want of clerks' attendance at such hours. The object of the express mail was expedition, and this object would be defeated by the resolution; and the revenue accruing from the express mail would be materially diminished. Mr. BRIGGS was opposed to the reference to the Committee of the Whole. if refered at all, he hoped the rule would be suspended, and the reference be made to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. Mr. WILLIAMS's motion to commit it was lost. Mr. GRENNELL said the House was legislating without that sort of information on the subject which should be the basis of all legislation. No petition had come up from the people on the subject, nor any communication from the public officers. The House was legislating for itself; the principal argument in favor of the resolution under debate being the imposition of triple postage on letters received occasionally by members of Congress. The express mail had not been long enough established to have fair play, and be fully understood. It had better be tested yet fur ther. Mr G. objected to the arguments in support of the resolution. He thought the troubles that would arise from its adoption were more than enough to counterbalance those springing from the present state of things. There was no proper information on the subject, and legislation was not called for in relation to it. Mr. G. moved to postpone the further consideration of the joint resolution until the first Monday in December next. Mr. CAMBRELENG said that there was not now time to go off upon other subjects than those pertaining to the financial concerns of the country. He therefore demanded the previous question. This motion was seconded by a vote of 88 to 53, and the main question [on ordering the bill to a third reading] was carried without a division; and the joint resolution being then read a third time, was passed, and returned to the Senate. Mr. CAMBRELENG now moved for the orders of the Jay, [Oct. 10, 1837. THE SUB-TREASURY BILL; And the House went into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (Mr. SMITH, of Maine, in the chair.) Mr. PICKENS moved to take up, first, the Senate bill, for imposing additional duties as depositaries, in certain cases, on public officers. Mr. LEGARE strongly objected to taking up this bill in preference to other bills on the table, as being likely to ob struct and impede the transaction of business which it was necessary for the House at once to act upon. The House divided upon Mr. PICKENS's motion, which was carried, 100 votes to 80. The bill was then read through. Mr. PICKENS rose and said, that notwithstanding he labored under painful indisposition, yet he felt hound to present his views upon the interesting and absorbing questions connected with the bill on the table: but he could assure the committee that he would economize its time as much as possible. Sir, (said Mr. P.,) we have heard much declamation upon the distresses and embarrassinents that pervade large classes of our community, and I confess I have heard these complaints with the deepest and most profound emotions of sympathy. I trust I have felt as an American ought to feel on such an occasion. A stranger, unacquainted with our peculiar form of Government, might be led to believe, on hearing the cries for relief that have come up to us from all quarters of this land, that we had nothing to do but to speak and to proclaim peace, prosperity, and contentment, to an excited and divided community; but, sir, I am induced to believe that that Government is the freest which is the farthest removed from those individual pursuits, and those individual occupations, that belong either to sections or to classes; and that the less we interfere with those concerns, the more contented and the more prosperous will the people be. I have also been induced to believe that it is one of the peculiar features of the federal constitution, that this Government was formed principally to conduct our foreign intercourse with the nations of the earth, and to prepare us to defend ourselves from foreign invasion, and to resist foreign aggression; and that local interests and local pursuits, whether connected with commerce, manufactures, or agriculture, were almost entirely left to those territorial divisions over which separate and independent Governments hold their sway. I protest against this modern doctrine, which has been introduced so extensively into this country within the last fifteen years, and which teaches classes and sections of this community to look up to the bounties and favors of this Government with more eagerness and anxiety than do the farmers of our land, under a burning noonday sun, look for the coming shower to bless and refresh their parched and withering fields of grain. The consequence of all this is to introduce that servile dependence upon this Government which is utterly at war with the nature of our institutions and the integrity of man. Sir, I feel for the distresses of my country, and I trust I shall ever feel as I ought; but there are constitutional limitations to this Governiment that forbid the idea of carrying out those sympathies which, though they ever belong perhaps to generous natures, yet, it habitually put into practice, produce as much injustice and pressure, and not unfrequently more, than they ever avoid. Any other doctrine would substitute our poor and frail judgments in place of that interest and instinct which belong to every individual in society, and prompt him to pursue whatever is best and most suitable for his happiness and prosperity. Bu let the Govern→ ment attempt with one hand to dispense favor and bounty, and the inevitable consequence is, that the other will be stretched out but to be felt in its pressure and the burden it imposes. Such reckless and miserable policy as this would convert the Government into one great insurance office for all those who chose to engage in the mad and giddy career of speculation and extravagance, instead of waiting the slow but certain rewards of honest industry. Government has no magic power by which to create wealth or to bestow its bounty upon one class or one section, unless at the expense of others. Mr. Chairman, I am not disposed to trespass upon the attention of this committee, by discussing minutely those abstruse questions connected with currency and trade. I too well understand the sagacity of this committee, and its profound common sense, to detain them long upon those subjects. I know well, sir, that for a man to discourse here upon currency, trade, and commerce, at least if he expects to command the attention of this body, he must have a high character for experience, and be blessed also with a good old age. Yes, if he expects to entertain this House upon those abstruse questions, he must first put on the "powdered wig" and "fair top boots," and place himself on the "tripod," and talk about trade and commerce beyond the waters, and in another hemisphere, thirty or forty years ago. Such a man would be listened to as a sage, particularly if he stepped forth as the advocate of some peculiar theory, or if he ascribed the pravailing embarrassments to some foreign or remote cause, or dcclared them to be owing to causes beyond our control; to something that operated deeply upon the community, which they could neither foresee nor avert! If one were to proclaim the doctrine that our suffering and ruin have sprung from overspeculation, over-trading, or extravagance, or a combination of them all; or if he were to say that many a man had been brought to bankruptcy and poverty by dashing forth in a coach and four, with splended damask curtains, brussels carpets, and broad mirrors, upon a capital in reality of but three hundred dollars, with a credit of thirty thousand dollars, he would advance such sentiments but to call down upon his head the denunciations of the wise in this enlightened age for his folly and his madness! But while I am not disposed minutely to touch these intricate points, I cannot altogether overlook them without a passing notice. The immediate causes, sir, of our distress arise from that peculiar system of credit and currency which has, for the last five years, been enlarged so extensively both in England and in this country. In England, during the year 1836 alone, no less than two hundred joint-stock banks were created; the influence of which was deeply felt, first in that country, and then in this. Vast facilities were extended to our capitalists, while, also, they received an extension of the credit system here, connected with a peculiar juncture in our affairs during the same period. The Bank of the United States was about to wind up, or was supposed to be about to wind up, its concerns. For twenty years had that institution held a control over the currency and exchanges of the country, and hundreds, I might almost say thousands, of other institutions were created in order to supply the demand in the circulating medium which, it was supposed, would ensue upon the decease of that bank. We all know, too, (I refer to these things as matters of history,) that a war at that time was carried on against that institution; and that, for the purpose of creating counter interests in society, the deposites of this Government were placed in local institutions; and that these latter, after being made the fiscal agents of this Government, with an immense surplus, were expressly encouraged, nay more, enjoined, to enlarge their circulation. This, connected with the extended credit system in Great Britain, and the long peace which had engendered confidence, producing large investments of foreign capital in our stocks, had the effect of expanding our local currency and credits, and produced a gigantic system of speculation and enterprise never witnessed in any age or country before. I do not allude to the increased amount of mere issues alone; [II. OF R. but the bills, checks, and other substitutes for money which these banks brought into circulation. This produced a bloated system of credit, which, with the apparent prosperity of the times, seemed to expand and place unbounded means within the grasp of almost every individual member of society. He seemed to breathe a new atmosphere, and gaze alone upon the splendid fortune that glittered before his excited imagination. It This system has one remarkably peculiar feature. grows up, is fostered and nourished under free institutions. But there is another remarkable principle in it, that, after it has spread itself into all the ramifications of society, then, sir, those who depend upon it, and are deeply identified with it, (although at first springing up under free institutions,) soon become disposed to lean, for aid and support, upon any Government, no matter how despotic, rather than run the risk of a shock by reform or revolution. The slightest irregular movement of the Government must necessarily produce an electric shock in this delicate and vital credit system, which would be felt, and extend from the centre to the circumference of all society. It can only live under a free Government, as far removed from it as possible; and, if it be once brought into contact with a lawless Government, it must either fall all together, or lean upon that Government for protection and support, and become intimately identified with it. Now, I am about to refer to something which belongs to the history of this question, and which has happened within the last four or five years. To my mind, it is an example not to be disregarded, but presents a lesson of profound wisdom, which no one can reflect upon without profit. The war made upon the Bank of the United States, and the seizure of the public deposites a seizure without law-caused local institutions to spring up like mushrooms, under the fostering care of an all-powerful hand here, dispensing distinction and patronage and wealth, until all society became, as it were, dependent upon his will and movements. Let no mau be induced to create the same state of things again, when a bold and daring genius may be tempted to run the same career, and bring the property and honest industry of the country under the will and mercy of him who may give life and soul to this Federal Government. This conflict produced a tremendous shock, and even the banking system itself, the local institutions, created for the express purpose of sustaining the warfare against that overshadowing central institution, have been paralyzed, for a time at least, under its desolating effects. And here I will say, that though I ever believed in the unconstitutionality of that institution, yet those who made war upon it never could have succeeded without raising up powerful local antagonist interests. The effect of that war was felt from one end of the country to the other, and the consequence was, that sagacious capitalists in stocks, ready for any result, began to look elsewhere for safe investments; and hence it was that we find such extensive investments in real estate, to the amount of forty millions of dollars, in two years alone, in the public lands, besides upwards of one hundred millions in other real estate speculations, such as town and village property, &c. This conflict against credit, deeply affecting currency, was anticipated by capitalists, who preferred risking the loss of something in the high prices of real estate, to a probable loss of all. It was at least investing in something beyond total destruction from an arbitrary Government. Sir, when this change began, and the capitalists began to contract their credit, the banking institutions of the country also felt it incumbent upon them to contract too. And what was the result? Why, the result was exactly what we now experience. Approaching this juncture, viz. in 1836, the deposite act was passed, to be carried into effect in 1837. I was a supporter of that law, sir, but I understood it at that time, H. OF R.] Sub-Treasury Bill. as I now understand it to be, in the nature of a bill for This [Oct. 10, 1837. Yes, sir, I have heard much declamation upon that subject, Assuitur pannus." It is not pretended that this system is perfect, because you cannot present any system to the people that is so. All questions upon which a practical legislator is called to act, involve more or less a comparison of evils, and we must not adopt any measure as perfect, but as embracing the lesser evil. We must go on to perfect details after the establishment of great and vital principles. It is neither pretended, sir, that this bill involves no patronage: it certainly does to a degree. But the question is, whether this system, or that of employing the local banks as fiscal agents of the Government, contains or involves the most patronage? Now, upon that point, permit me here to say that I feel myself committed, from a deep and an anxious reflection upon the question heretofore. The question is between the power and influence of an individual, and the power and influence of an incorporated bank. To tell me that a bank which chooses to go into the politics of the Sir, under this suspension of specie payments the Go- country, with its power to extend discounts and accomvernment is found in a peculiar situation. Under the law modations to its friends, and refuse them to its enemies, has of 1816 it can receive, in payment of its dues, nothing but no more influence than an individual, is to tell me what is gold and silver, or convertible paper, or notes of the then contradicted by the daily experience of every man; even Bank of the United States; the latter clause became, how if that individual have millions of the public money in his ever, practically repealed when these institutions suspend-possession for safe-keeping. Sir, the one system winds ed specie payments, thereby making their paper inconvertible. Then, there was, in fact, under the provisions of the law, an immediate separation of the Government from the banking institutions of the country. Under the law, the Government could not take inconvertible paper, and con. vertible paper did not exist from one end of the country to the other, with the honorable exception, perhaps, of one or two banks in the State of Georgia, and a single small institution in the State of Ohio. And now, sir, the great question presented to this committee is, not whether you will separate the banks from the Government, because that is already done, but the great question is, whether and how we shall reunite the Government and the banks. Under this view of the case, we have three alternatives presented to us: The first is, to reunite ourselves, or rather the Government, with the State institutions, in the manner in which they have been connected for the last three or four years. The second is, the proposition creating a bank of the United States, a national institution to conduct the fiscal operations of this Government, and regulate the exchanges and currency of the country. The third is, the proposition on your table, sir, to separate the Government and its agents from all banks what ever. Now, sir, as to the first proposition: if we do not separate the Government from the banks in this peculiar juncture of our affairs, we never can separate them. The sys tem will be fixed upon us forever, and we compelled to run the same round we have done for the last three or four years in periodical terms, and then be in the same, or worse condition-distracted and embarrassed from one end of the country to the other. Now, Mr. Chairman, I have heard a great deal as to the comparison between the State bank system, as it is called, and the peculiar policy of separating the Government and its agents from all banks whatever. I have heard too much declamation and no little denunciation of that system, that it is the most outrageous proposition ever presented to the American people; that it is, in fact, a Treasury bank. and spreads itself into all the secret and business recesses of society. Hundreds and thousands of honorable and high-minded men have been brought to degradation and sycophaney by this tremendous and almost invisible power. I have seen them around their domestic firesides, with every thing apparently to bless and gladden the heart of man, full of sadness and gloom; while even those who were the confiding and devoted partners of their joys and their sorrows, were in doubt and ignorance as to the causes of melancholy and dejection. Sir, this system is as hidden as the air we breathe, and penetrates unseen, but, alas! not unfelt, into the most retired scenes of society. No man can tell upon what power he is depending when he looks for support, aid, and assistance from this system. No man can tell what the situation of his neighbor may be-what his obligations-his alliances and contracts, that swerve him from the path of independence and rectitude. Then how can you say that such a system as this, allied to, and dependent upon Government, has less patronage than that which makes an individual responsible for whatever public funds he may have in his custody, without the power of loaning, without the power of discounting, without the power of accommodating a friend, or refusing an enemy, unless he chooses openly to incur the odium and penalty of crime and misdemeanor? It does seem to me that the question admits of no argument so far as the question of patronage is concerned. But I have said, sir, that I felt myself somewhat committed on this subject. In 1835, a friend of mine from Virginia, (Mr. Gordon,) now not a member of this House, (and I will here take occasion to say of him, that he is a gentleman who would have done honor to Virginia in her proudest days of glory and fame,) presented the very identical proposition to this House which is embraced in the bill on your table. For that proposition, sir, I then voted. I acted from reflection, and from a conscientious conviction of the effects of that measure to bring about honesty in the Government, and secure the independence of the people. True, I was then but a very young man, and had but for a few weeks taken my seat in this House; yet, sir, I had made up my opinion from observation and reflection. And although young, yet, to use the language applied to another, I was old enough Acta parentum jam legere, et quæ sit poterit cognoscere virtus." Sir, I had formed my judgment then, and have not yielded it since. On the contrary, the experience between then and now has only tended to confirm my conviction. I desire the Clerk to read the proposition and the vote npon it. "The question recurred on the motion made by Mr. GORDON, to amend the said bill, to strike out all thereof after the enacting words, and insert : ،، That, from and after the day of . -, in the year the collectors of the public revenue, at places where the sums collected shall not exeeed the sum of dollars per annum, shall be the agents of the Treasurer to keep and disburse the same, and he subject to such rules and regulations, and give such bond and security as he sha'l prescribe for the faithful execution of their office; and shall receive, in addition to the compensation now allowed by law, per centum on the sums disbursed; so that it does not exceed the sum of dollars per annum. "Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, at all places where the amount of public revenue collected shall exceed the sum of dollars per annum, there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, receivers of the public revenue, to be agents of the Treasurer, who shall give such bond and security to keep and disburse the public revenue, and be subject to such rules and regulations as the Treasurer shall prescribe, and shall receive for their services per centum per annum on the sums disbursed: provided it does not exceed the sum of dollars per annum. "Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the day of, the whole revenue of the United States, derived from customs of lands or other sources, shall be paid in the current coins of the United States." . This received 33 votes. Mr. Chairman, it was not my desire, nor have I caused the vote upon that proposition to be read, to show the consistency or inconsistency of any honorable member of this body. My sole and entire object was to prove that the present bill was no new proposition, and that, as far as I am concerned, it is the very identical proposition upon which I then voted coolly and deliberately. I have no desire, sir, to show that there has been any contradiction on the part of any gentleman on this floor, or that there has been any change in their opinions. It is with neither of those views that I had the proposition read. I will now quote a paragraph from the speech of the mover of the proposition, made at the time, as illustrating the views under which we acted, and which too truly portrays what has really happened since, and what, I fear, we will again see, if the system be continued. Mr. GORDON said: "There is another consideration which has induced me to offer this amendment. We may all very plainly see that the contest for the Executive office is the rock on which the permanency of this republic is likely to be wrecked. And the vehemence of this contest will ever be in proportion to the Executive patronage. But for this, the office would have no allurements but for virtuous ambition; but with this concomitant, it exerts an influence which may one day prove fatal to the federal part of our system. If we do not separate the influence of the Executive from the interest of banking corporations, we shall have another controversy on the subject of banks. The political will be united with the money power; the contest must come ; it will come. You will witness a struggle in this Capitol between State banks and federal banks; and the combatants for the President's chair will be found contending in [H. OF R. different ranks of interest and influence, whilst they mar the peace of the country, and shake the pillars of the constitution. Separate them, I beseech you, representatives of the American people, if you wish to put down this fearful contest for the Presidential chair-I had almost said Presidential throne-separate, I beseech you, banking and politics. Let the banks facilitate the exchanges of commeree, and further the interest of trade; but let them, I pray you, have nothing to do with the Government. The predictions of my friend have been fulfilled to the letter. What have we seen? You brought into existence a system of State banks, connected from one end of this Confederacy to another, receiving, disbursing, and acting upon those deposites, organized and controlled by, and responsible to one man, and then brought into overwhelming conflict, as I believe, with the freedom of elections. Sir. I speak plainly. I believed then, and I now believe, that this was the true source of power for the last three years. Gentlemen may speak as they please; they may deny, and say they have never seen or felt it; but who is it that knows any thing of the operations of banks-who is it, at all acquainted with their peculiar influence, who is not irresistibly impressed with their tremendous power? Sir, I believe they did more than any thing else to elect the present President of the United States; and am I now to be called upon, and urged to re-organize such a system, and abandon the position I then assumed? The experience of the last three years strengthens my position. It may be denied, but I conscientiously believe that these institutions have controlled, more or less, not only the destinies of this Government, but the destinies of the people of this country during that period. Yes, we all know that at the last sesɛion of Congress enough was developed upon this floor to demonstrate that there was an organized system, acting through one man, giving energy to the whole, and for one and the same purpose. Yes, sir, we have seen this cordon of leagued banks, with their various interests, raising their banner from one end of the Union to the other, upon which was inscribed the infamous motto, "To the victors belong the spoils;" and calling upon their mercenary bands to gather in to the plunder of sacked cities and subjugated provinces. Again, Mr. Chairman, am I now, at this time, to change my course because others have come to me? No, sir, I maintain the very grounds I then maintained, and I ever will maintain them till my judginent and my conviction tell me they are wrong. I cannot but believe that the signal failure of these insti. tutions as fiscal agents for this Government-I cannot but believe, too, sir, that the experience of the last three years, must have convinced every one of their inefficacy, and the inexpediency and folly of their being selected again as the depositories of the Government, except with one view. And this is the reason why some gentlemen now acquiesce in their reorganization; that is, that they well know that this operation, and their teorganization, will bring us again into a state of anarchy and confusion, and force the country into the adoption of a bank of the United States. They know well, sir, that it tends to that, and they know that if these State banks are again selected as public depositories, they will be but a stepping-stone to the establishment of a bank of the United States. This, sir, is the real, the true issue. It is an issue between making the fiscal agents of the Government separate and independent from all banks, and the establishment of a bank of the United States, which inevitably must be adopted eventually, and that not at a very remote period, if you readopt now the State bank systein as the fiscal agency of the Government. As to the constitutional argument, Mr. Chairman, in reference to the establishment of a national bank, I will not trespass upon the attention of the House to discuss it |