The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-26 00:00:00

sib), have been produced by a ccnflict of opinion in respect
to a question in the administration of the General Govern-
ment, more remote and far less important in its b.7arings upon
that interest. . _

I have found no reason to change my own opinion as to the
expediency of adopting the system proposed, being perfectly
satisfied that there will be neither stability or safety, eith' r in
the fiscal affairs of the Government, or in the pecuniary tran.
sections of individuals and corporations, so long as a connec-
tion exists between them, which, like the past, offers such
strong inducements to make them the subjects of political
agitation. Indeed, lam more than ever convinced of the
dangers to which the free and unbiassed exercise of political
opinion—the only sure foundation and safeguard of republican
government—would be exposed by any further increase of
the already overgrown influence of corporate authorith's. I
cannot, therefore, consistently with my views of duty, ad-
vise a renewal of a connection which circumstances have
dissolved.
The discontinuance of the use of State Banks for fiscal pur-
poses ought not to be regarded as a measure of hostility to-
wards those institutions. Banks properly established and con-
ducted, are highly useful to the business of the country, and
will doubtless continue to exist in the States, so long as they
conform to their laws, and are found to be safe and beneficial.
How they should be created, what privileges they should en-
joy, under what responsibilities they should act, and to what
restrictions they should be subject, are questions which, as I
observed on a previous occasion, belong to the States to de-
cide. Upon the rights, or the exercise of them, the General
Government can have no motive to encroach. Its duty to-
wards them is well performed, when it refrains from legislating
for their special benefit, because such legislation would violate
the spirit of the Constitution, and be unjust to other interests;
when it takes no steps to impair their usefulness, but so ma-
nages its own affairs as to make it the interest of those insti-
tutions to strengthen and improve their condition for the secu-
rity and welfare of the community at large. They have no
right to insist on a connection with the Federal Government,
nor on the use of the public money for their own benefit. The
object of the measure under consideration is to avoid for the
future a compulsory connection of this kind. It proposes to
place the general Government, in regard to the essential
points of the collection, safe-keeping, and transfer of the public
money, in a situation which shall relieve it from all dependence
on the will of irresponsible individuals or corporations, to
withdraw those moneys from the uses of private trade, and
confide them :to agents constitutionally selected and controlled
by law; to abstain from improper interference with the in-
dustry of the people, and withhold inducements to improvi-
dent dealings on the part of individuals; to give stability to
the concerns of the Treasury ; to preserve the measures of
the Government from the unavoidable reproaches that flow
from such a connection, and the banks themselves from the
injurious effects of a supposed participation in the political
conflicts of the day, from which they will otherivise find it dif-
ficult to escape.
These are my views upon this important subject ; formed
after careful reflection, and with no desire but to arrive at
what is most likely to promote the public interest. They are
now, as they were before, submitted with unfeigned deference
for the opinions of others. It was hardly to be hoped that
changes so important, on a subject so interesting, could be
made without producing a serious diversity of opinion ; but so
long as those conflicting views are kept above the influence of
individual or local interests ; so long as they pursue only the
general good, and are discussed with moderation and candour,
such diversity is a benefit, not an injury. If a majority of
Congress see the public welfare in a different light; and
more especially if they should be satisfied that the measure
proposed would be acceptable to the people ; I shall look to
their wisdom to substitute such as may be more conducive to
the one, and more satisfactory to the other. In any event;
they may confidently rely on my hearty co-operation to the
fullest extent, which my views of the Constitution and my
sense of duty will permit.
It is obviously important to this branch of the public service
and to the business and quiet of the country, that the whole
subject should in some way be settled and regulated by law ;
and, if possible, at your present session. Besides the plans
above referred to, I am not aware that any one has been sug-
gested, except that of keeping the public money in the State
banks in special deposits. This plan is, to some extent, in
accordance with the practice of the Government, and with the
present arrangement of the Treasury Department, which, ex-
cept, perhaps, during the-operation of the late Deposits Act,
has always been allowed, even during the existence cf a Na-
tional Bank, to make a temporary use of the State banks, in
particular places, for the safe keeping of portions of the reve-
nue. This discretionary power might be continued, if Con-
gress deem it desirable, whatever general system be adopted.
So long as the connection is voluntary, we need perhaps an-
ticipate few of those difficulties, and little of that dependence
on the banks, which must attend every such connection when
compulsory in its nature, and when so arranged as to make
the banks a fixed part of the machinery of Government. It is
undoubtedly in the power of Congress so to regulate and
guard it as to prevent the public money from being applied to
the use, or intermingled with the affairs, of individuals. Thus
arranged, although it would not live to the Government that
entire coatrol over its own funds I desire to secure to it by
the plan I have proposed, it would, it must be admitted, in a
great degree, accomplish one of the objects which has recom-
mended that plan to my judgment—the separation of the fiscal
concerns of the Government from those of individuals or cor-
porations. With these observations I recommend the whole
matter to your dispassionate reflection ; confidently hoping
that some conclusion may be reached by your deliberations,
which, on the one hand, shall give safety and stability to the
fiscal operations of the Government, and be consistent, on the
other, with the genius of our institutions, and v.ith the inte-
rests and wishes of the great mass of our constituents.
It was my hope that nothing would occur to make necessary,
on this occasion, any allusion to the late National Bank.
There arc circumstances, however, connected with the present
state of its affairs, that bear so directly on the character of
the Government, and the welfare of the citizen, that I should
not feel myself excused in neglecting to nootwiceersthetwmo.
yearsl'he
charter which terminated its banking privileges on the 4th of
March, 1836, continued its corporate p
more, for the sole purpose of closing its affairs, with au-
thority " to use the corporate name, st)le, and capacity for
the purpose of sui's for a final settlement and liquidation of
the affairs and acts of the corporation, and for the sale and
disposition of their estate, real, personal, and mixed, but for
no other purpose, or in any other manner whatsoever." Just
before the banking privileges ceased, its effects were trans-
ferred by the Bank to a new State institution, then recently
incorporated, in trust, for the discharge of its debts, and the
settlement of its affairs. With this trustee, by authority o f
Congress, an adjustment was subsequently made of the large
interest which the Government had in the stock of the insti.
tution. The manner in which a trust, unexpectedly created
upon the Act granting the charter, and involving such gloat
public interests, has been executed, would, under any circum-
stances, be a fit subject of inquiry, but much more does it de-
serve your attention, when it embraces the redemption of
obligations to which the authority and credit of the United
States have given value. The two years allowed are now
nearly at an end.
It is well understood that the trustee has not redeemed. and
cancelled the outstanding notes of the Bank, but has re-issued,
and is actually re-issuing, since the third of March, 1836, the
notes which have been received by it to a vast amount. Ac-
cording to its own official statement, so late as the Ist of Oc-
tober last, nineteen months after the banking privileges
granted by the charter had expired, it had under its control
uncancelled notes of the late Bank of the United States to
the amount of twenty-seven millions five hundred and sixty-
one thousand eight hundred and sixty six dollars, of which six
millions one hundred and seventy-five thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one dollars were in actual circulation, one million
four hundred and sixty-eight thousand six hundred and twenty
seven dollars of state bank agencies, and three millions two
thousand three hundred and ninety dollars in transitu ; thus
showing that upwards of ten millions and a half of the notes
of the old bank were then still kept outstanding. The im-
propriety of this procedure is obvious, it being the duty of the
trustee to cancel and not to put forth the notes of an institu-
tion, whose concerns it had undertaken to 'wind up. If the
trustee has a right to re-issue these notes now, I can see no
reason why it may not continue to do so after the expiration of
the two years. As no one could have anticipated a course so
extraordinary, the prohibitory clause of the Charter above
quoted, was not accompanied by any penalty or other special
provision for enforcing it ; nor have we any general law for
the prevention of similar acts in future.
But it is in this view of the subject alone that your interpo-
sitiun is required. The United States, in settling with the
trustee for their stock, have withdrawn the funds from their
former direct liability to the creditors of the old.banks, yet
notes of the institution continue to be sent forth in its name,
and apparently upon the authority of the United States. The
transactions connected with the employment of the bills of the
old Bank are of vast extent; and should they result unfortu-
nately, the interests of individuals may be deeply compromised.
Without undertaking to decide how far, or in what form, if
any, the trustee could be made liable for notes which contain
no obligation on les part; or the old Bank, for such a; are put
in circulation after the expiration of its Chartereand without
its authority ; or the Government for indemnity, in case of
loss, the question still presses itself upon your consideration,
whether it is consistent with duty and good faith on the part
of the Government; to witness this proceeding without a single
effort to arrest it.
The Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Of-
fice, which will be laid before you by the Secretary of the
Treasury, will show how the affairs of that office have been
conducted for the past year. The disposition of the public
lands is one of the most important trusts confided to Congress.
The practicability of retaining the title and control of such
extensive domains in the General Government, and at the
same time admitting the territories embracing them into the
Federal Union, as co-equals with the original States, was
seriously doubted by many of our wisest statesmen. All feared
that they would become a source of discord, and many carried
their apprehensions so far as to see in them the seeds of a
future dissolution of the Confederacy. But happily our expe-
rience has already been sufficient to quiet, in a great degree,
all such apprehensions. The position, at one time assumed—
that the admission of new States into the Union on the suns
ooting with the original States, was incompatible with a right
of soil in the United States, and operated as a surrender there-
of, potwithstanding the terms of the compacts by which their
admission was designed to be regulated—has been wisely
abandoned.
Whether in the new or the old States, all now agree that
the right of soil to the public lands remains in the Federal Go-
vernment, and that these lands constitute a common property,
to be disposed of for the common benefit of all the States, old
and new. Acquiescence in this just principle by the people
of the new States, has naturally promoted a disposition to
adopt the most liberal policy in the sale of the public lands—
a policy which should be limited to the mere object of selling
the lands for the greatest possible sum of money, without re-