The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-29 00:00:00

WINDSOR-THURSDAY.

This afternoon the Queen reviewed the eight troops of
Life Guards, under the command of the Hon. Colonel Ca-
vendish, eight companies of the 2d Battalion of the Gre-
nadier Guards, under the command of Colonel Joddrel, and
two troops of the Lancers, in the Lower Park.
Her Majesty was dressed in a habit of the Windsor uni-
form, and wore a star and the ribbon of the Order of the
Garter, and a military cap. The Queen was mounted on
a beautiful grey charger, and arrived on the ground under
a guard of honour composed of' the Lancers, accompanied
by Prince Lichtenstein, who wore the uniform of an Aus-
trian General ; the Duchess of Kent ; laord Hill, in the
uniform of a General Officer ; the Marquis Conyngham and
Lord Torrington, in the Windsor uniform ; Master Caven-
dish, as Page. This handsome youth were a military uni-
form, and rode a black pony richly caparisoned ; the Hon.
Misses Murray and Cavendish, S:r George Quintin, Baron
Rusdaeb, and Lord A. Paget, all on horseback. Others of
the Royal suite followed in open carriages.
The Queen was received with the Royal salute ; after
which the regiments passed by in parade movement, and
passing through their evolutions, the whole advanced with
the Royal salute.
The Royal party then left the ground in the Fame state
they arrived.

It is impossible to do justice to the extraordinary precision
and brilliancy with which every movement was performed
by the regiments, and the commanders were each deservedly
complimented by the Queen and Lord Hill, on the unrivalled
discipline of their regiments.
Immediately on her Majesty's arrival at the Castle the
guard of honour was dismissed, and the Royal party was
for some time in the Park.

The terrace vas crowded with spectators.
The Field Officers of the regiments will have the honour
of dining with her Majesty this evening.

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Mr.
John \Veippert to bo harpist in ordinary to her Majesty.
Lord Aylmer had an interview with Lord Glenelg yes-
terday at the Colonial-office. •
Sir George Grey arrived in town yesterday from Tun-
bridge Wells. • . .

-- -
Despatches from Sir Edward Disbrowe, Minister Pleni-
potentiary at the Hague, were received yesterday at the
office of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Sir John Rae Reid transacted business yesterday at the
Colonial-office.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

CHANGES.

The Hon. William Grey for Duffryn Castle, Glame,rgan-
shire ; Sir Charles Douglas, Bart., on a tour; Mr. James
and Lady Eleanor Balfour, from Edinburgh, fur Whitting-
ham House, Dunbar; Captain Arthur Manners for Yorkshire ;
Colonel and Mrs. Monkhouse, for Bath ; Colonel and Lady
Fra►►cis Elliot, from Ramsgate, for Brighton ; Mr. Henry
Compton for the New Forest, Hampshire ; Mr.'Henry Pierre-
point, on a tour; the Hon. the Misses Monson, from Patter-
son's Hotel, fur Brighton ; John Lyon, Esq , from ditto, for
Paris ; the Duke Sforza Cerarini and Henry Calyer, Esq.,
from ditto, for Italy ; Mrs. Raine, from ditto, for Yorkshire ;
Rowland Errington, Esq., from the Clarendon Hotel, for
Eaton Houie, Lancashire.

ANit)ON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMI3ER 29, isn
THE SUN, Lt.-

UNITED STATES.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

TO ,f.LIE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS, AT THE COMJIENCE-
EOf THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH
• Fellow Citizens or the Senate and House of
Representatives,—
The Act of the 23d of June, 1836, regulating the depo-
sits of the public money, and directing the employm3l.t of
state, district, and territorial banks ; for that purpose, made it
r CONGRESS.
the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to discontinue the
use of such of them as should at any time refuse to redeem
their notes in specie, and to substitute other banks, provided
a sufficient number could be obtained, to receive the public
deposits upon the terms and conditions therein prescribed.
The General and almost simultaneous suspension of
specie payments by the banks in May last rendered the
performance
of this duty imperative, in respect to those
which had been selected under the Act ; and made it at
the same time, impracticable to employ the requisite num-
ber -of others upon the prescribed conditions. The specific
regulations established by Congress for the deposit and safe
keeping of the public monies having thus unexpectedly be-
come inoperative, I felt it to be my duty to afford you art
early opportunity for the exercise of your supervisory
powers over the subject.
I was also led to apprehend that the suspension of specie
payments, increasing the embarrassments before existing in
rho pecuniary affairs of the country, would so far diminish
the public revenue, that. the . accruing receipts into the
Treasury would not, with the reserved 5,000,000, be suffi-
cient to defray the unavoidable expenses of the Government
until the usual period for the meeting of Congress ; whilst
the authority to call upon the states for a portion of the
sums deposited with them was too restricted to enable the
department to realize a sufficient amount from that source.
These apprehensions have been justified by subsequent re-
sults, which render it certain that this deficiency will occur,
if additional means be not provided by Congress.
The difficulties experienced by the mercantile interest in

meeting their engagements induced them to apply to me
previously to the actual suspension of specie payments for
indulgence upon their bonds for duties; and all the relief
authorized by law was promptly and cheerfully granted.
The dependence of the Treasury upon the avails of these
bonds, to enable it to make the deposits with the states re-
quired by law, led me in the outset to limit this indulgence
to the Ist of September, but it has since been extended to
the Ist of o:tober, that the matter might be submitted to
your further direction.
A provision of another Act, passed about the same
time, and intended to secure a faithful compliance with the
obligations of the United States, to satisfy all demands upon
them in specie or its equivalent, prohibited the offer of any
banknote not convertible on the spot into gold or silver at
the will of the holder, and the ability of the Government,
with millions on deposit, to meet its engagements in the
manner thus required by law was rendered very doubtful by
the event to which I have referred.
Sensible that adequate proiisions for these unexpected
exigencies could only he made by Congress; convinced that
some of them would be indispensably necessary to the pub-
lie service before the regular period of your meeting ; and
desirous also to enable you to exercise at the earliest mo-
ment your full constitutional powers for the relief of the
country, I could not, with propriety, avoid subjecting you
to the inconvenience of assembling at as early a day as the
state of the popular representation would permit. lam
sure that I have done but justice to your feelings in be-
lieving that this inconvenience will be cheerfully encoun-
tered', in the hope of rendering your meeting conducive to
the flood of the country.
During the earlier stages of the revulsion through which
we have just passed much acrimonious discussion arose,
and great diversity of opinion existed as to its real causes.
This was not surprising. The operations of credit are so
diversified, and the influences which affect them so nume-
rous, and often so subtle, that even impartial and well-in-
inrrned persons are seldom found to agree in respect to
then'. To inherent difficulties were also added other ten-
dencies, $i bleb were by no means favourable to the disco-
very of truth. It was hardly to be expected that those
who disapproved the policy of the Government in relation
to the currency would, in the excited state of public feel-
ing produced by the occasion, fail to attribute to that po-
licy any extensive embarrassment in the monetary affairs
of the country. The matter thus became connected with
the passions and conflicts of party—opinions were more or
less affected by political considerations, and differences
were prolonged which might otherwise have been deter-
mined by an appeal to facts, by the exercise of reason, or
by mutual concession. It is, however, a cheering reflec-
tion, that circumstances of this nature cannot prevent a
community so intelligent as ours from ultimately arriving
at correct conclusions. Encouraged by the firm belief of
this truth, I proceed to state my-iiews, so far as may be
.pecessary to a clear understanding of the remedies I feel
.it my duty to propose, and of the reasons by which I have
been led to recommend them.
The history of trade in the United States for the last

three or four years affords the most convincing evidence
that our present condition is chiefly to be attributed to over-
action in all the departments of business—an over-action
deriving, perhaps, its first impulses from antecedent causes,
but stimulated to its destructive consequences by excessive
issues of bank paper, and by other facilities for the acqui-
sition and enlargement of credit. At the commencement
of the year 1834 the banking capital cf the United States,
including that of the national bank then existing, amounted
to .about P 00,000,000 dollars, the bank-notes then in cir-
culation to about 95,000,000 dollars, and the loans arid
discounts of the banks to 3.24,000,000 dollars. Between

that time and the Ist of January 1836, being the latest
period to which accurate accounts have been received, our
hauldng capital was increased to more than 251,000,000
Jollars, our pA[er circulation to more than 140,000,000
duller:, and the loans and discounts to more than
457,000,000. do!s. To this vast increase are to he added the

many millions of credit, acquired by means of foreign
loans, contracted by the States and state institutions, and
abot e all by the latish accommodations extended by foreign
dealers to our merchants._

The consequences of this redundancy of credit, and of the
spirit of reckless speculation engendered by it, were a fo-
reign debt contracted by our citizens, estimated in March
last at more than 30,000,000 dollars ; the extension to

traders in the interior of our country of credit for supplies,
greatly beyond the wants of the people ; the investment of
39,500,000 dollars in unproductive public lands, in the years
1835 and 1836, whilst in the preceding year the sales
amounted to only 4,500,000 ; the creation of debts to an
almost countless amount, for real estate in existing or anti-
cipated cities and villages equally unproductive, and at
prices now seen to have been greatly disproportionate to
their real value ; the expenditure of immense sums in im-
provements which in many cases have been found to be
ruinously improvident, the diversion to other pursuits of
much of the labour that should have been applied to agri-
culture, thereby contributing to the expenditure of large
sums in the importation of grain from Europe—an expen-
diture which, amounting in 1834 •.o about 250,000 dollars,
was in the first two quarters of the present year increased
to more than 2,000,000 ; and finally, without enumerating
other injurious results, the rapid growth among all classes,
and especially in our great commercial towns, of luxurious
habits, founded too often on merely fancied wealth, and
detrimental alike to the industry, the resources, and the mo-
rals of our people.

It was so impossible that such a state of things could
fora continue, that the prospect of revulsion was present to
the minds of considerate men before it actually came.
None, however, had correctly anticipated its severity. A
concurrence of circumstances, inadequate of themselves to
produce such wide-spread and calamitous embarrassments,
tended so greatly to aggravate them, that they cannot be
overlooked in considering their history. Among these may
he mentioned, as most prominent, the great loss of capital
sustained by our commercial emporium in the fire of De-
cember, 1835---a loss, the effects of which were under-
rated at the time, because postponed for a season by the
great facilities of credit then existing, the disturbing effects
in our commercial cities, of the transfer of the public monies
required by the deposit law of June, 1836, and the measures
adopted by the foreign creditors of our merchants to reduce
their debts, and to withdraw from the United States large
portions of our specie.
However unwilling. any of our citizens may heretofore
have been to assign to these causes the chief instrumentality
in producing the present state of things, the developements
subsequently made, and the actual condition of other com-
mercial countries, must, as it seems to me, dispel all remain-
ng doubts upon the subject. It has since appeared that evils,
similar to those suffered by ourselves, have been experienced
in Great Britain, on the Continent, and indeed throughout
the commercial world ; and that, in other countries as well as
in our own, they have been uniformly preceded by an undue
enlargement of the boundaries of trade, prompted as with U 3,
by unprecedented expansions of the systems of credit. A re-
ference to the amount of banking capital, and the issues of
prnaepteirlecrrwedaiyts:
dpuurtiningctiirleetil,leaatriosnlB43lGl,ricsast:titain, by banks and
will show
n augmentation of the paper currency theread lBa3sCi m,
dis-
proportioned to the real wants of trade as in the United
States. With this redundancy of the paper currency there
arose in that country also a spirit of adventurous specula
was profusely g,ivcn to projected improvements.; large don, embracing the whole range of human enterprise. Aid
in-
vestments were made in foreign stocks and loans ; credits
for goods were granted with unbounded liberality to mer-
chants in foreign countries ; and all the means of acquiring
and employing credit were put in active operation,
tended in their effems to every di-ipartmeo gf bc;smet.s, and
to ev!ir.f 91-lager the g'loe,* The re-letiort was propor-
tioned tg its
~°eTIPc to the extraordinary character 03
cveufS precOcil it, Tilq
5."4,

, vt

s .
Great Britain were subjected to the greatest difficulties, ale! niterest, and trade has seffered in t e confl se of' par-
their debtors in this country werenot only eudaenly deprived ties. A speedy termination cd t is snits o' 1. g-, low-
of accustomed and expected credits, but called upon for. ever desirable, is scarcely to be e' peeled. We ia e seen
payments, which, in the actual posture of things here,-could.' for nearly half a century that those n! o adv ( r at. a na-
only be made through a general pressure, and at the most . tional bank, by whatever motive they may be iefluenced,
ruinous sacrifices.
' constitute a portion of cur community too inmercus to
In view of these facts, it. would seem iinpossil le for sin- : allow us to hope ter an early abandonment of their fa-
cere inquirers after truth to resist the conviction that the , vourite plans. On the other hand, they must indeed form
causes of the revulsion in both countries have been substan- I an erroneous estimate of the intelligence and temper of
tially the sene. Two nations, the most commercial in the ' the American poople who suppose that they have continued
world, enjoying but recently the highest degree of apparent on slight or insufficient grounds, their persevering oppnlie
prosperity, and maintaining with each other the cloeat re- , tion to such an institution ; cr that they can be induced by
lations, are sudden!y, in a time of profound peace, and with- ' pecuniary pressure, or he any other coinhite.tien of cireurn-
out any great rational disaster, arrested in their career, and 1 stances, to surrender principles they have so long and so
plunged into a state or embarrassment and distress. In 1 inflexibly maintained.
both counties we have witnessed the same redundancy of I My own views of the suhket are Miebanged. They
paper money, and other facilities of ci edit ; the same spi:it , have been repeatedly and unreservedly announced. to my
of speculation ; the kaliv2 partial successes ; the same die I fellow-citizens, who, %sills full knowledge of
thee.., coeferred
eulties and rev, rss ; and, at length, nearly the same over- I upon me the two highest offices of the Pim ernment. On
witch-nine, catastrophe. The most material difference he- ! the last of them occasions I felt it. due to the people te
twecn the results in the two countries has only been that ! apprise them distinctly, that, in' the event of my election,
with us there has also occurred an extensive derangement in I 1 should not be able to co-operate in the re-establishment
the fiscal affairs of the Federal and State Governments, iof a national bank, To these sentiments I have now l
necastened by the suspension of specie payments by the ' to add the expression of an increased conviction thaton they Banks. re-establishment dwell a hank in ant form, whilet it worv!(1
The history of Clue causes and effects in Great Britain not accomplish the beneficial purpose pronrieed by its ad-
and the United States, is substantially the history of the 1 voentes, wouid impair the rightful supremecv of the popular
revulsion in all other commercial countries. I will, injure the character and diminish the influence of our
The present and visible effects of these circumstances on political system, and bring once more into existence a con-
the operations of the Government, and on the industry of centrated moneyed power, hostile to the spirit, and threaten-
-1
the people, point out the objects which call for your lime- ing the permanency of our republican institutions. diate attention.
Local banks have been employed
ployed for the deposit and dis-
They are to regulate by law the safe-keeping, transfer, tribution of the revenue, at all times partially, and on three
and disbursement of the public monies ;to designate the different occasions exclusively-Ist, anterior to the estn-
funds to be received and paid by the Government ;to enable blieiement of the first hank of the United States ; 9d, in the
the Treasury to meet promptly every 'demand upon it ; to interval between the termination of that institution amid Uri
preset ibe the terms of indulgence, and the mode of s, tile- charter of its successor ; and, 3d, during the limited period
went to be adopted, as well in collecting from individuals which has now so abruptly closed. The connection thus
the revenue that has accrued, as in withdrawing it from repeatedly attempted proved unsatisfactory on each succeS-
former depositories, and to devise and adopt such further sive occasion, notwithstanding the various measuees which
measures within the constitutional competency of Congress were adopted to facilitate or insure its success. On the as will be best calculated to revive the enterprise and to last occasion, in the year 1833, the emeleyrnent.of the State
promote the prosperity of the country. .- - banks was guarded especially in every way which experlence
For the deposit, transfer, and disbursement of the revenue, and caution could suggest. Personal security was required
national and state hanks have always with temporary and for safe-keeping and prompt payment of the monies to be
limited exceptions, been heretofore employed ; but, al- received, and full returns of their condition were from time
though advocates of' each system are still to be found, it is to time to be made by the depositories.
apparent that the events of the last few Mouths have greatly In the first stages the measure wns eminently successful,
augmented the desire, long existing among the people of notwithstanding the violent (*position of the Bank of the
the United States, to separate the fiscal operations of the United States, and the onceasing efforts made to overthrow Government from those of individuals or corporations. it. The selected benales performed with fidelity, and without
Again to create a national bank, as a fiscal agent, would any ernbarrzaaament to themselves or to the community,
be to disregard the popular will, twice solemnly and une- their erresagenients to the Government, anti the system pro-
quivocally expressed. On no question of domestic policy .raised to be permanently useful. But when it became neces-
is there stronger evidence that the sentiments of a large sary, under the Act of June, 1836, to withdraw from thorn
majority are deliberately fixed, and I canuot renncur with the public money, for the purpose of placing it in additional
those who think they see in recent events a proof that institutions, or of transferring it to the States, they found
those sentiments area or a reason that they should be, it in many cases invonvenieet to comply with the demands
changed.
of the Treasury, and numerous end pressing applications
Events similar in their origin and character have here- were made for indtilgence nr relief. As the instalments
tofore frequently occurred withotit producing any such under the deposit law became payable, their own ernbarraas-
change ; and the lessons of experience must be forgotten, ments, and the necessity under which they lay of curtailing
if we suppose that the present overthrow of credit would their discounts and calling in their debts increased the gene-
have been prevented by the existence of a national bank. ral distress, and contributed, with other causes, to hasten
Proneness to excessive issues has ever been the vice of the the revulsion in which at length they, in common with the
banking system—a vice as prominent in national as in state other banks, were fatally involved.
institutions. This propensity is as subservient to the ad- Under these circumstances it becomes our solemn duty vancement of private interests in the one as in the other ;to inquire whether there are not, in any connection between
and who direct them both being principally guided by the the Government reed banks of issue, evils of great magni-
same views, and influenced by the same motives, will be tude, inheeent-in its very nature, and against which no ,
equally ready to stimulate extravagance of enterprise by precautions can effectually guard.
improvidence of credit. How strikingly is this conclusion Unforeseen in the organization of the Government, and
sustained by experience ! forced on the Treasury by early necessities, the practice of
The Bank of the United States, with the vast powers employing banks was, in truth, front the beginning, more a
conferred on it by Congress, did not or could not prevent measure of emergency than of sound policy. When we
former and similar embarrassments ; nor has the still greater started into existence as a nation, in addition to the burdens
strength it has been said to possess by its present charter of the new Government, we assumed all the large but
enabled it, in the existing emergency, to check other in- honourable load of debt which was the price of our liberty ;
stitutions, or even to save itself. In Great Britain, where it but we hesitated to weigh down the infant industry of the
has been seen the same causes have been attended with the country by resorting to adequate taxation for the necessary
same effects, a national bank, possessing powers fur greater revenue. The. facilities of banks, in return for the privi-
than are asked for by the warmest advocate of such an in- leges they acquired, were prometly offered, and, perhaps,
stitution here, has also proved unable to prevent an undue too readily received, by an embarrassed Treasury.
expansion of credit, and the evils that flow from it. Nor During the long continuance of a national debt, and the
can I find any tenable ground for the re-establishment of a intervening difficulties of a foreign war, the connection was
national bank in the derangement alleged at present to continued from motives of convenience ; but these causes
exist in the domestic exchanges of the country, or in the have long since passed away. We have no emergencies
facilities it may be capable of affordine. them. Although that make banks necessary to aid the wants of the Tree-
advantages of this sort were anticipated when the first bank sury : we have no load of national debt to provide for, and
of the United States was created, they were regarded as an we have on actual deposit a large surplus. No public mute-
incidental accommodation—not one which the Federal PO.. rest, therefore, now requires the renewal of a connection
vernment was hound, or could be called upon to furnish. that circumstances have dissolved. The complete organize,
This accommodation is now, indeed, after the lapse of not tion of our Government, the abundance of our resources,
many years, demanded from it as among its first duties ; the general harmony which prevails between the different
and an omission to aid and regulate. commercial exchange states and with foreign powers-7411 enable us now to select
is treated as a ground of loud and serious. complaint.. Such the system most consistent with the Constitution, and most
results only serve to exemplify the constant desire among conducive to the public welfare. Should we, then, connect
some of our citizens to enlarge the powers of the Govern- the Treasury for a fourth time with the local banks, it can
went, and extend its control to subjects with which it only be under a conviction that past failures have arisen
should not interfere. They can never justify the creation from accidental, not inherent defects.
of an institution to promote such objects ;on the con- A danger, difficult, if not impossible to be avoided in such
Crary, they justly excite among the community a more dili- an arrangement, is made strikingly evident in the very event
gent inquiry into the character of those operations of trade by which it has now been defeated. A sudden act of the
towards which it is desired to extend such peculiar favours. hanks intrusted with the funds of the people deprives the
The various transactions which bear the name of domestic Treasury, without fault or agency of the Government, of the
exchanges differ essentially in their nature, operation., and ability to pay its creditors in the currency they have by
utility. One class of them consists Of bills of exchange law a right to demand. This circumstance no fluctuation
drawn for the purpose of transferring actual capital from ono of commerce could have produced, if the public revenue had
part of the country to another, or to anticipate the pro. been collected in the legal currency, and kept in that form .
ceeds of property actually transmitted. Bills of this by the officers of the Treasury. The citizen whose money
description are highly useful in the movements of trade, was in hank receives it back, since the suspension, at a sa-
and well deserve all the encouragement nhich can right- •crifice in its amount ; whilst he who kept it in the legal
fully be given to them. Another class is made up of bills currency of the country, and in his own possession, pursues
of exchange, not drawn to transfer actual capital, nor on without losa the current of his business. The Government,
the credit of ptoperty transmitted, but to create fictitious placed in the'situation of the former, is involved :n em-
capital, partaking at once of the character of notes dis- barrasstnents it could not have suffered had it pursued the
counted in bank, and of bank-notes in circulation, and course of the latter. These embarrassments are, more- '
swelling the magOof paper credits to a vast extent in the over, augmented by those salutary and just laws which
most objectionable manner. These bills have formed for forbid it to use a depreciated currency, and, by so doing,
the last few years a large proportion of what arc termed take from the Government the ability which individuals
the domestic exchanges of the country, serving as the means have of accommodating their transactions to such a ca-
of Usurious profit, and constituting the most unsafe and tastrophe.
precarious paper in circulation. This species of traffic, in- A system which can, in a time of profound peace, when
stead of being upheld, ought to be discountenanced by the there is a large revenue laid by, thus suddenly prevent the
Government and the people. application and the use of the money of the people in the
In transferrig its funds from place to place, the Govern- manner for the objects they have directed, cannot be wise,
ment is on the same footing with the private citizen, arid but who can think, without painful reflectien, that, under
may resort to the same legal means. It may do so through it, the same unforeseen events might have befallen us in
the medium of bills drawn by itself or purchased from the midst of a war, and taken from us, at the moment
others, and in these operations it may, in a manner un- when most wanted, the use of those very means which were
doubtedly constitutional and legitimate, facilitate and assist treasured up to promote the national welfare and guard
exchanges of individuals founded on real transactions of our national rights? To such embarrassments and to
trade. The extent to which this may be done, and the such dangers will this Government be always exposed
best means of effecting it, are entitled to the fullest con- whilst it takes the monies raised for and necessary to the
sideration. This has been bestowed by the secretary of I public service out of the hands of its own officers, and con-
the Treasury, and his views will be submitted to you in ' verts them into a mere right of action against corporations .
his report. intrusted with the possession of them. Nor can such re-
But it was not designed by the Constitution that the Go- sults be i ffectually guarded against in such a system with-
vernment should assume the management of domestic or out investing the Executive with a control over the banks
foreign exchanges. It is indeed authorized to regulate by themselves, whether state or national, that might with rea-
law the commerce between the States, and to provide a ge- son be objected to. Ours is, probably, the only Govern-
neral standard of value, or medium of exchange, in gold and went in the world that is liable in the managenient of its
silver ; but it is not its province to aid individuals in the fiscal concerns to occurrences Eke these. But this itnnai-
transfer of their funds, otherwise than through the facilities 'tient I isk is not the only danger attendant on the surreinier
afforded by the Post-office Department. As 'justly might of the public money to the custody and control of local :,
it be called on to provide for the transportation of their rner- corporations. Though the object is ,aid to the Treasury, "
chandisea These are operations of trade. They ought to be its effect may be -to introduce into the operations of the
conductell by those who are interested in them, in• the same Government influences the must subtle, founded on in-
manner that the incidental difficulties of other pursuits rare terests the moSt selfish.
encountered by other classes of citizens. Such aid • has The use by the banks for their own benefit of the money -
not been deemed necessary in other countries. Throughout deposited with them has received the sanction of the Go-
Europe, the domestic as well as the foreign exchanges are vernment from the coin reneetnent of' this connection. The
carried on by private houses, often, if not generally, with- money received from the people, instead of being kept, till
out the assistance of banks. Yet they extend throughout it is needed for their use, is, in consequence of this autho-
distinct sovereignties, and far exceed in amount the real rity, a fund on which discounts are made for the profit of
exchange's of the United States. There is no reason those who 'happen to be owners of stock in the banks se-
why our own may not be conducted in the same manner, lected as depositories. The supposed and often exaggerated
with equal cheapness and safety. Certainly this might advantages of such a boon, will always cause it to be
he accomplished, if it were favoured by those most sought for with avidity. I will not stop to consider on whom
deeply interested ; and few can doubt that their own in- the patronage incident to it is to be conferred ; whether the
terest, as well as the general welfare of the country, would selection and control be trusted to Congress or the Execu-
be promoted by leaving such a subject in the hands of tive, either will be subjected to appeals made in every form
those to whom it properly belongs. which ,the sagacity of interest can suggest. The banks,
A system founded on private interest, enterprise, and corn- under such a system, are stimulated to make the most o
petition,without the aid of time legislative grants or regulations their fortunate acquisition. The deposits are treated as anf
by law, would rapidly prosper; it would be free from the in- increase of capital. Loans and circulation are rashly aug- .
fluence of political agitation and extend the same exemption mented ; and when the public exigencies require a return,
to• trade itself ; and it would put an end to those coin- it is attended with embarrassments not provided for for fore-
',Lints of neglect, partiality, injustice, and oppression, seen. Thus, banks that thought themselves mos., fortunate
which are the unavoidable results of interference by the when the pubic funds were received find themselves most
Government in the proper concerns of individuals. All embarrassed when the season of payment suddenly arrives.
former attempts on the part of the Government to carry Unfortunately, too, the evils of the system are not limited
its legislation in this respect further than was 'designed by to the batiks. It stimulates a general rashness of enter-
tlie Constitution have in the end proved injurious and have prise, and aggravates the fluctuations of commerce and the
served only to convince the groat body of the people, more currency. This result was strikingly exhibited during the
and more, of the certain dangers of blending private interests operations of the late deposit system, and especially in the
with the operations of public business ; and there is no rca- purchase of public lands. The order which ultimately
son to suepose that a repetition of them now would be directed the payment of gold and silver in such rruichases
more successful. greatly checked, but could not altogether prevent the evil.
It cannot be concealed that there exists in our corn- Specie was indeed more difficult to be procured than the
inanity opinions and feelings
on this subject in direct , notes which the banks could themselves create at pleasure;
opposition to each other, A large portion of them, cow- but still, being obtained from them es a loan, and returned
bining great intelligence, activity, and influence, are no as a deposit, which they were again at liberty to use, it
doubt sincere in their belief that the operations of trade only passed round the circle
vs ith diminished speed. This
ought to be assisted by such a connexion ; they regard a operations could not have been performed had the fur.ds of
national ly
hank as necessary for this purpose, and they are ease Government g
ione into e Treasury to be lars-
dsinclned to every measure that does not tend, sesoner bursed, and not into banks,th to be loaned out for rege
their odiwn
or later, to the establishment of s‘l4 an institution. profit, while they were permitted to sulistiteto for it a credit
any
salutary
of
)heir liberties ;. and many of tbsep yeiosd it s. - . iscreldditestiore
The. credit bestowed on probity and• industry
..pressing these sentimen
Imp a the Ooestitetien; This colt;.: - dof merit, and an honourable incentive to
s a viola- enterprise.
donistleas, caused touch nf ,i
....on of opinion has,
further acquisition. None oppose it who love their country
. ..oe embarrassments to which the .
d its welfare. But when it is unduly encou-
raged--when it ie made to idame the public mind with th,

. ~ansaetions of the country have lately been ex-
posed, Bankiug has Income a political topic of the highest

-^t

temptations of sudden and unsubstantial wealth—when it
turns industry into paths that lead sooner or later to dis-
appointment and distress, it becomes liable to censure, and
needs correction. Far from helping probity and industry,
the ruin to which it leads falls most severely on the great
labouring classes, who are thrown suddenly out of employ-
nt, and, by the failure of magnificent schemes, never in-
tended to enrich them, are deprived in a moment of their
only resource. Abuses of credit and excesses in specula-
tion will happen in despite of the most salutary laws ; no
Government perhaps can altogether prevent them ; but
surely every Government can refrain from contributing the
stimulus that c,dls them into lif•. _ _ .

Since, therefore, experience has shown that to lend the
public money to the local banks is hazardous to the opera-
tions of the Government, at least of doubtful benefit to the
institutions themselves, and productive of disastrous de-
rangement in the business and currency of the country, is it
the part of wisdom again to renew the connexion ?
It is true that such an agency is in many respects conve-
nient to the Treasury, but it is nct indispens:lble. A
limitation of the expenses of the Government to its actual
wants, and of the revenue to those expenses, with conve-
nient means for its prompt application to the purposes for
which it was raised, are the objects which we should seek
to accomplish. The collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and
disbursement of the public money can, it is believed, be
well managed by offs ers of the Government. Its collec-
tion, and to a great extent its disbursement also, have in-
deud been hitherto conducted solely by them, neither na-
tion:ll nor state banks, when employed, being required to
do more than keep it safely when in their custody, and
transfer and pay it in such portions, and at such times, as
the Treasury shall direct. _ _ _

part of the Executive ? And is there equal room for such
supervision and publicity in a connection with banks, act-
ing, under the shield of corporate immunities, and conducted
by persons irresponsible to the Government and the people?
It is believed that a considerate and candid investigation of '
these questions will result in the conviction that the pro-
posed plan is far less liable to objection, on the score of
Executive patronage and control, than any bank agency
that has been, or can be, devised.
With these views, I leave to Congress the measures ne-
cessary to regulate in the present emergency the safe
keeping and transfer of the public monies. In the per-
formance of constitutional duty, I have stated to them
without reserve the result of my own reflections. The
subject is of great importance, and one on which we can
scarcely expect to be as united in sentiment as we are in
interest. It deserves a full and free discussion, and can-
not fail to be henefitted by a dispassionate comparison of
opinions. Well aware myself of the duty of reciprocal
concession among the co-ordinate branches of the Go-
vernment, I can promise a recsonable spirit of co-opera-
tion, so far as it can he indulged in without the surrender
of constitutional objections, which I believe to be well
founded. Any system that may he adopted should be
subjected to the fullest legal provision, so as to leave no-
thing to the Executive but what is necessary to the dis•
charge of the duties imposed on him ; and whatever plan
may he ultimately established, my own part shall be so
discharged as to give to it a fair trial, and the best prospect
of success. _ _ _ _

The character of the funds to be received and disbursed
in the transaction of the Government likewise demands your
most careful consideration.
There can be no doubt that those who framed and
adopted the Constitution, having in immediate view the
depreciated currency of the confederacy—of which 500
dollars in paper were at times, only equal to one dollar in
coin—intended to prevent the recurrence of similar evils,
so far at least as related to the transactions of the new
Government. They gave the Congregs express powers to
coin money and to regulate the value thereof, and of foreign
coin ; they refused to give it power to establish corpora-
tions—the agents, then, as now, chiefly employed to create
a paper currency ; they prohibited the States from making
anything but gold and silver .a legal tender in payment of
debts ; and the first Congress directed by positive law that
the revenue shoull be received in nothing but gold and silver.
Public exigency at the outset of the Government,without
direct legislative authority, led to the use of the banks as
fiscal aids to the Treasury. In admitted deviation from the
law, at the same period, under the same exigency, the
Secretary of the Treasury received their notes in payment"
of duties. The sole ground on which the practice, thus
commenced, was then, or has since, been justified, is the
Cf'rtain, immediate, and convenient exchange of such notes
for specie. The Government did indeed receive the in-
convertible notes of State Banks during the difficulties of
war ; and the community submitted without a murmur
to the unequal taxation and multiplied evils of which
such a course was productive. With the war, this indul-
gence ceased, and the banks were obliged again to redeem
their notes in gold and silver. The Treasury, in accord-
ance with previous practice, continued to dispense with the
currency required by the act of 1789, and took the notes
of banks in full confidence of their being paid in specie on
demand ; and Congress, to guard against the slightest vio-
lation of this principle, have declared by law, that if notes
are paid in the transactions of the Government, it must be
under such circumstances as to enable the holder to convert
them into specie without depreciation or delay.
Of my own duties under the existing laws, when the
banks suspended specie payments, I could not doubt. Di-
rections were immediately given to prevent the reception
into the Treasury of anything but gold and silver or its
equivalent ; and every practicable arrangement was made
to preserve the public faith, by similar or equivalent pay-
ments to the public creditors. The revenue from lands
had been for some time substantially so collected under the
order issued by the directions of my predecessor. The
effects of that order had been so salutary, and its forecast
in regard to the increasing insecurity of bank paper had
become so apparent, that even before the catastrophe, I had
resolved not to interfere with its operation. Congress is
now to decide whether the revenue shall continue to be
so collected or not. _ .

_ .
Surely banks are not more able than the Government to 1
secure the money in their possession against accident, vio-
lence or fraud. The assertion that they are so must assume
that a vault in a bank is stronger than a vault in the Trea-
sury, and that directors, cashiers, and clerks, not selected
by the Government, nor under its cantrol, are more worthy
of confidence than officers selected from the people, and re-
sponsible to the Government—officers bound by official
oaths and bonds for a faithful performance of their duties,
end constantly subject to the supervision of Congress.
..re difficulties of transfer, and the aid heretofore ren-
dered by hanks, have been less than is usually supposed.
The actual accounts show that by far the larger portion of
payments is made wi!".hin short or convenient distances from
the places of collection—end the whole number of warrants
issued at the Treasury in the :ear 1834—a year, the re-
sults of which will, it is believed, afro:'d a safe test for the
future—fell short of 5,000, or an average s:f less than one
daily for each state—in the city of New York t.:;!'y did not
average more than two a-day, and at the city of Washingtoe
only four.
The difficulties heretofore existing are moreover daily
lessened by an increase in the cheapness and facility of com-
munication—and it may be asserted with confidence, that
the necessary transfers, as well as the safe-keeping and dis-
bursements of the public monies, can be with safety and
convenience accomplished through the agencies of Treasury
officers. This opinion has been, in some degree, confirmed
by actual experience since the discontinuance of the banks
as fiscal agents, in May last—a period which, from the em-
barrassments in commercial intercourse, presented obstacles
as great as any that may be hereafter apprehended.
The manner of keeping the public money since that pe-
riod is fully stated in the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury ; the officer also suggests the propriety of assign-
ing by law certain additional duties to existing establish-
ments and officers, which, with the modifications and safe
guards referred to by him, will, he thinks, enable the depart-
ment to continue to perform this branch of the public ser-
vice without any material addition either to their number
or to the present expense. The extent of the business to
be transacted has already been stated, and in respect to
the amount of money with which the officers employed
would be intrusted at any one time, it appears that, as-
suming a balance of 5,000,000 to be at all times kept in
the Treasury, and the whole of it left in the hands of the
collectors and receivers, the proportion of each would not
exceed an average of 30,000 dollars ; but that, deducting
1,000,000 for the use of the Mint, and assuming the re-
maining 4,000,000 to be in the hands of one half of the
present number of officers, a supposition deemed more
likely to correspond with the fact, the sum in the hands
of each would still be less than the amount of most of the
bonds now taken from the receivers of public money. Every
apprehension, however, on the subject, either in respect to
the safety of the money or the faithful discharge of these
fiscal transactions, may, it appears to me, be effectually re-
moved by adding to the present means of the Trea-
sury the establishment by law, at a few important
points, of officers for the deposit and disbursejnent of
such portions of the public revenue as cannot, with ob-
vious safety and convenience, be left in the possession
of the collecting officers until paid over by them to the
public creditors. Neither the amounts retained in their
hands, nor those deposited in the offices, would, in an ordi-
nary condition of the revenue, be larger in most cases than
these often under the control of disbursing officers of the
army and navy, and might be made entirely safe by re-
quiring such securities, and exercising such controlling su-
pervision as Congress may by law prescribe. The principle
officers whose appointments would become necessary under
this plan, taking the largest number suggested by the
Secretary of the Treasury, would not exceed ten, nor the
additional expenses, at the same estimate, 60,000 dollars
a-year.
There can be no doubt that the obligation of those who
are intrusted with the affairs of Government, to conduct
them with as little cost to the nation ;is is consistent with
the public interest ; and it is for Congress, and ultimately
for the people, to decide whether the benefits to be derived
from keeping our fiscal concerns apart, and severing the
connexion which has hitherto existed between the Govern-
ment and banks, offer sufficient advantages to justify the
necessary expenses. If the object to be accomplished is
deemed important to the future welfare of the country, I
cannot allow myself to believe that the addition to the
public expenditure, of comparatively so small an amount
as will be necessary to effect it, will be objected to by
the people.
It will be seen by the report of the Postmaster-General,
herewith communicated, that the fiscal affairs of that de-
partment have been successfully conducted since May last
upon the principle of dealing only in the legal currency of
the United States, and that it needs no legislation to main-
tain its credit and facilitate the management of its con-
cerns ; the existing laws being, in the opinion of that
officer, ample for those objects.
Difficulties will, doubtless, he encountered for a season,
and increased services required from the public function-
aries, such as are usually incident to the commencement of
every system, but they will be greatly lessened in the pro-
gress of its operations.
The power and influence supposed to be connected with
the custody and disbursement of the public money are topics
on which the public mind is naturally, and with great pro-
priety, peculiarly sensitive. Much has been said on them,
in ref•retice to the proposed separation of the Government
from the banking institutions : and surely no one can object
to any appeals or animadversions on the subject, which are
consistent with facts, and evince a proper respect for the
intelligence of the people. Ila chief magistrate may be allowed
to speak for himself on such a point, I can truly say that to me
nothing would be more acceptable than the withdrawal from
the Executive, to the greatest practicable extent, of all
concern in the custody and disbursement of the public reve-
nue ; not that I would shrink from any responsibility cast
upon me by the duties of my office, but b.L•cause it is my
firm belief, that its capacity for usefulness is in no degree
promoted by the possession of any patronage not actually
necessary to the performance of those duties. But. under
our present form of government, the intervention of the
Executive officers in the custody and disbursement of the
public money seems to be unavoidable ; and before it can be
admitted that the influence and power of the Executive
would be increased by dispensing with the agency of banks,
the nature of that intervention in such an agency must be
carefully regarded, and a comparison must be instituted
between its extent in the two cases.
The revenue can only be collected by officers appointed by
the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The public moneys, in the first instance, must therefore, in
all cases, pass through hands selected by the Executive.
Other officers appointed in the same way, or, as in some
cases, by the President alone, must also be intrusted with
them when drawn for the purpose of disbursement. It is
thus seen that, even when banks are employed, the public
funds must twice pass through the hands of Executive offi-
cers. Besides this, the head of the Treasury department,
who also holds his office at the pleasure of the President, and
some other officers of the same department, must necessarily
be invested with more or less power in the selection, continu-
ance, and supervision of the b.umks that may be employed.
The question is then narrowed to the single point, whether,
in the ibtermediete stage between the collection and dis
tursement of the public money, the agency of banks is ne-
ceeeery to avoid a dangerous extension of the patronage
and influence of the Executive 2 But is it clear that the
connection of the Executive with powerful moneyed insti-
tutions, capable of ministering to the interests of men in
points where they are most accessible to corruption, is less
liable to abuse than his constitutional agency in the ap-
pointment and control of the few public officers required
by the proposed plan I
Will the public money, when in their hands, be necessa-
rily exposed to any improper interference on the part of the
Neecutive ? May it not be hoped that a prudent fear of
'' iti;s4iiail and disapprobation in a matter so peTi-
cs iiarly them, will deter him from any such in-
-4,7e' iterfei-eratee-eete if higher motives be found inoperative ?
1.,. I, ...oui; nikt.-.Cangeeits so, regulate, by law, the duty of those
r" .:.7-'.....l6ert,4lLcrliOject it to such supervision and publicity,
',.--::,--its ri_-proirdOt , iSp possibility of any serious abuse on the
( ~
a s

The receipts into the Treasury, of bank notes, not re-
deemed in specie on demand, will not, I presume, be sanc-
tioned. It would destroy, without the excuse of war or
public distress, that equality of imports, and identity of
commercial regulation, which lie at the foundation of our
confederacy, and would offer to each State a direct tempta-
tion to increase its foreign trade,'by depreciating the cur-
rency received for duties in its ports. Such a proceeding
would also, in a great degree, frustrate the policy so highly
cherished, of infusing into our circulation a larger pro-
portion of the precious metals—a policy, the wisdom of
which none can doubt, though there may be different
opinions as to the extent to which it should be carried. Its
results have been already too auspicious, and its success is
too closely interwoven with the future prosperity of the
country to permit us for a moment to contemplate its aban-
donment. We have seen, under its influence, our specie
augmented beyond eighty millions ; our coinage increased
so as to make that of gold amount, between August, 1834,
and December, 1836, to 10,000,000 dollars ; exceeding the
whole coinage at the Mint during the 31 previous years.
The prospect of further improvement continued without
abatement until the moment of the suspension of specie
payments.
This policy has now indeed been suddenly checked, but
is still far from being overthrown. Amidst all conflicting
theories, one position is undeniable—the precious metals
will invariably disappear when there ceases to be a necessity
for their use as a circulating medium. It was in strict ac-
cordance with this truth, that whilst, in the month of May
last, they were everywhere seen, and were current for all
ordinary purposes, they disappeared from circulation the
moment the payment of specie was refused by the banks,
and the community tacitly agreed to dispense with its em-
ployment. Their place was supplied by a currency exclu-
sively of paper, and, in many cases, of the worst descrip-
tion. Already are the hank notes now in circulation greatly
depreciated, so I they fluctuate in value between one place
and other, thus diminishing and making uncertain the worth
of property and the price of labour, and failing to sub-
serve, except at a heavy loss, the purposes of business.
With each suceeding day the metallic currency decreases ;
by some it is hoarded, in the natural fear that, once parted
with, it cannot be replaced ; while by others it is diverted
from its more legitimate uses fur the sake of gain. Should
Congress sanction this condition of things, by making ir-
redeemable paper money receivable in payment of public
dues, a temporary check to a wise and salutary policy
will, in all probability, be converted into its absolute
destruction.

It is true that bank notes actually convertible into spe-
cie may be received in payment of the revenue, without be-
ing liable to all these objections, and that such a course
may to some extent promote individual convenience,
an object always to be considered where it does not con-
flict with the principles of our Government, or the ge-
neral welfare of the country. If such notes only were re-
ceived, and always under circumstances allowing their early
presentation for payment, and if at short and fixed periods
they were converted into specie, to be kept by the officers
of the Treasury, some of the most serious obstacles to their
reception would perhaps be removed. To retain the
notes in the Treasury would be to renew, under another
form, the loans of public money to the banks, and the evils
consequent thereon.
It is, however, a mistaken impression that any large
amount of specie is required for public payments. Of the
70,000,000 or 80,000,000 now estimated to be in the coun-
try, 10,000,000 would be abundantly sufficient for that
purpose, provided an accumulation of a lame amount of re-
venue, beyond the necessary wants of the Government, be
hereafter prevented. If to these considerations be added
the ficdities which will arise from enabling the Treasury
to satisfy the public creditors by its draughts or notes re-
ceived in payment of the public dues, it may be safely as-
sumed that no motive of convenience to the citizen requires
the reception of bank paper.
To say that the refusal of paper money by the Govern-
ment introduces an unjust discrimination between the cur-
rency received by it, and that used by individuals in their
ordinary affairs, is, in my judgment, to view it in a very
erroneous light. The Constitution prohibits the states from
making anything but gold and silver a tender in payment
of debts, and thus secures to every citizen a right to de-
mand payment in the legal currency. To provide by la.v
that the Government will only receive its dues in gold and
silver, is not to confer on it any peculiar privilege, but
merely to place it on an equality with the citizen by reserv-
ing to it a right secured to him by the Constitution. It is
doubt less for this reason that the principle has been sanc-
tioned by successive laws, from the time of the first Con-
gress under the Constitution down to the last. Such pre-
cedents, never objected to, and proceeding from such
sources, afford a decisive answer to the imputation of in-
equality or injustice.
But, in fact, the measure is one of restriction, not of
favour. To forbid the public agent to receive in pay-
ment any other than a certain kind of money, is to
refuse him a discretion possessed by every citizen. It
may be left to those who have the management of their
own transactions to make their own terms, but no such dis-
cretion should be given to him who acts merely as an
agent of the people, who is to collect what the law requires,
and to pay the appropriations it makes. When bank-notes
are redeemed on demand, there is then no discrimination
in reality, for the individual who receives them may at
his option substitute the specie for them. He takes them
from convenience or choice. When they are not go re-
deemed, it will scarcely be contended that their receipt
and payment, by a public officer, should be permitted,
thoilb none deny that right to an individual ; if it viere,

the effect would be most injurious to the public, since their
officer could make none of those arrangements to meet or
guard against the depreciation which an individual is at li-
berty to do. Nor can inconvenience to the community be
alleged as an objection to such a regulation. Its object
and motive are their convenience and welfare.

If, at a moment of sin n'taneous and unexpected suspen-
sion by the banks, it adds something to the many embar-
rassments of that proceeding, yet these are far overbalanced
by its direct tendency to produce a wider circulation of
gold and silver, to increase the safety of bank paper, to
improve the general currency, and thus to prevent altoge-
ther such occurrences, and the other and far greater evils
that attend them.

It may, indeed, be questioned, whether it is not for the
interest of the banks themselves that the Government
should not receive their paper. They would be con.
ducted with more caution, and on sounder principles. By
using sp'cie only in its transactions, the Government
would create a demand for it, which would, to a great ex-
tent, prevent its exportation, and by keeping it in circula-
tion, maintain a broader and safer basis for the paper cur-
rency. That the banks would thus be rendered more sound
and the community more safe, cannot admit of a doubt.
The foregoing views, it seems to me, do but fairly carry
out the provisions of the federal Constitution in relation to
the currency, as far as relates to the public revenue. At
the time that instrument was framed, there were but three
or four banks in the United States ; and had the extension
of the banking system, and the evils growing out of it, been
forere:n, they would probably have been specially guarded
against. The same policy which led to the prohibition of
bills of credit by the States, would, doubtless, in that event
have also interdieted their issues as a currency in any other
form. The Constitution, however, contains no such prohi-
bition ; and since the States have exercised for nearly half
a century the power to regulate the business of banking, it
is not to be expected that it will be abandoned. The
whole matter is now under discussion before the proper
tribunal—the people of the States. Never before has the
public mind been so thoroughly awakened to a proper
sense of its importance ; never has the subject in all its
bearings been submitted to so searching an inquiry. It
would be distrusting the intelligence and virtue of the people
to doubt the speedy and efficient adoption of such mea-
sures of reform as the public good demands. All that can
rightfully be done by the federal government to promote the
accomplishment of that important object, will, without
doubt, be performed.
In the mean time, it is our duty to provide all the reme-
dies against a depreciated paper currency which the Con-
stitution enables us to afford. The Treasury department on
several former occasions has suggested the propriety and
importance of a uniform law concerning bankruptcies ofcor-
porations and other bankers. Through the instrumentality
of such a law a salutary check may doubtless be imposed on
the issues of paper money, and an effectual remedy given
to the citizen in a way at once equal in all parts of the
Union, and fully authorised by the Constitution.
The indulgence granted by Executive authority in the
payment of bonds for duties has been already mentioned.
Seeing that the immediate enforcement of these obligations
would subject a large and highly respectable portion of our
citizens to great sacrifices, and believing that a temporary
postponement could be made without much detriment to
other interests, and with increased certainty of ultimate
payment, I did not hesitate to comply with the request
that was made of me. The terms allowed are to the full
extent as liberal as any that are to be found in the practice
of the Executive department. It remains for Congress to
decide whether a further postponement may not with pro-
priety be allowed, and if so, their legislation upon the sub-
ject is respectfully invited.
The Report of the Secretary of the Treasury will ex-
halt the condition of these debts ; the extent and effect of
the present indulgence ; the probable result of its further
extension on the state of the Treasury, and every other fact
necessary to a full consideration of the subject. Similar in-
formation is communicated in regard to such depositories of
the public monks as are indebted to the Government, in
order that Congress may also adopt the proper measures in
regard to them.
The receipts and expenditures for the first half of the
year, and an estimate of those for the residue, will be laid
before you by the Secretary of the Treasury. In his Report
of December last, it was estimated that the current receipts
would fall short of the expenditure by about 3,000,000 dol-
lars. It will be seen that the difference will be much greater.
This is to be attributed not only to the occurrence of greater
pecuniary embarrassments in the business of the country
than those which were then predicted, and, consequently, a
greater diminution in the revenue, but also to the fact that
the appropriations exceeded by nearly 6,000,000 dollars the
amount which was asked for in the estimate then submitted.
The sum necessary for the service of the year beyond the
probable receipts, and the amount which it was intended
should be reserved in the Treasury at the commencement
of the year, will be about 6,000,000 dollars. If the whole
of the reserved balance be not at once applied to the cur-
rent expenditures, but 4,000,000 dollars be still kept in the
Treasury, as seems most expedient for the uses of the
Mint, and to meet contingencies, the sum needed will be
10,000,000 dollars.
In making this estimate, the receipts are calculated on
the supposition of some further extension of the indulgence
granted in the payment of bonds for duties, which wi!l
affect the amount of the revenue for the present year to
the extent of 2,500,000 dollars.
It is not proposed to procure the required amount by
loans or increased taxation. There are now in the Treasury
9,367,214 dollars directed by the Act of the 23J of June,
1836, to be deposited with the States in October next.
This sum, if so deposited, will be subject, under the law,
to be recalled, if needed, to defray existing appropriations ;
and as it is now evident that the whole, or the principal
part of it, will be wanted for that purpose, it appears
most proper that the deposits should be withheld. Until
the amount can be collected from the banks, Treasury
notes may be temporarily issued, to be gradually redeemed
as it is received. _ .

I am aware that this course may be productive of incon-
venience to many of the States. Relying upon the icts of
Congress which held out to them the strong probability, if
not the certainty of receiving this instalment, they have in
some instances adopted measures with which its retention
may seriously interfere. That such a condition of things
should have occurred is much to be regretted. It is not
the least among the unfortunate results of the disasters of
the times, and it is for Congress to devise a fit remedy. if there
be one. The money being indispensable to the wants of
the Treasury, it is difficult to conceive upon what principle
of justice or expediency its application to that object can be
avoided. To recall any portions of the sums already depo-
sited with the States would be more inconvenient and less
efficient. To burden the country with increased taxation
when there is in fact a large surplus revenue, would be un-
just and unwise ; to raise monies by loans under such cir-
cumstances, and thus to commence a new national debt,
would scarcely be sanctioned by the American people.
The plan proposed will be adequate to all our fiscal ope-
rations during the remainder of the year. Should it be
adopted, the Treasury, aided by the ample resources of the
country, will be able to discharge punctually every pecu-
niisry obligation. For the future all that is needed wig be
that caution and forbearance in appropriations which the
diminution of the revenue requires, and which the complete
accomplishment or great forwardness of many expensive
national undertakings renders equally consistent with pru-
dence and patriotic liberality.
The preceding suggestions and recommendations are
submitted, in the belief that their adoption by Congress
will enable the Executive department to conduct our fiscal
concerns with success so far as their management has
been committed to it. Whilst the objects and the means
fTeposi d to attain them are within the constitutional
powers, and appropriate duties, they will at the same time,
it is hoped, by their necessary operation, afford essential
aid in the transaction of individual concerns, and thus
yield relief to the people at large in a form adapted to
the nature of our Government. Those who look to the
action of this Government for specific aid to the citizen,
to relieve embarrassments arising from losses by revulsion'
in commerce and credit, lose sight of the ends for which •it
was created, and the powers with which it is clothed. It
was established to give security to us all, in our lawful and
honourable pursuits, under the lasting safeguard of Repub-
lican ies iiutions.

It was not intended to confer special favours on individuals,
or on any classes of them, to create systems of agriculture,
manufactures, or trade, or to engage in them, either sepa-
rately or in connexion with individual citizens or organized
associations, If its operation were to be directed for the
benefit of any ono class, equivalent favours must, in justice,
be extended to the rest ; and the attempt to bestow such
f tvours with an equal hand, or even to select those who
should most deserve them, would ne%er be successful. All
coinmuniii,qs are apt to look to Government for too much.
Even in our own country, where its powers and duties are
so strictly limited, we are prone to do so, especially at pe-
riods of sudden embarrassments and distress.

. _
But this ought not to be. The framers of our excellent.
Constitution, and the people who approved it with calm and
sagacious deliberation, acted at the time on a sounder prin-
ciple. They wisely judged that the loss Government inter-
feres with private pursuits, the better for the general prop,
parity. It is not its legitimate object to make men rich,
or to repair, by direct grants of money, or legislation in
favour of particular pursuits, losses not incurred in the pub-
lic service. This would be substantially to use the property
of some for the benefit of others. But its real cli4ty-,-that
duty, the performance of which makes a good Government
the most precious of human blessings—is to enact incl en.
force a system of general laws commensurate with, but not
cKae:lding, the objects of its establishment ; and to leave
every citizen an 4 every interest to reap, under its benign
protection, the rewudi of virtuer ititiustril and prudence,

TILE SUN, LONDON, FRI DAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1837.