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

LONDON :
TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1837

The President of the United States' Message to
Congress, delivered on the sth inst., will be found in
our columns of this day. Though superabounding in
words, and in details too trivial for the occasion, it is
simple, explicit, straight-forward, and consistent ; and
so far alike worthy of the Government and people of
the United States. But unfortunately President VAN
BuREN's opinions upon the currency question remain
unehangcd. His hostility to National Banks is unabated,
notwithstanding the fatal experience America has had of
the folly of trying to establish a metallic currency. His
grand scheme is " to separate the fiscal concerns of the
Government from those of individuals and corporations"

—the meaning of which is, that he wants to abstract the
taxes from forming and• part of the productive capital

of the people. He would have the taxes paid in
precious metals, to be carefully locked up in the Go-
vernment vaults, till required to defray the charges of
the Executive. Like President JACKSON, he is
haunted with a dread of Bank influence, which his
fears assure him must prove fatal to the hide-
pendeace of the Republic. This influence he ima-
gines kill be neutralized, if not destroyed, by
keeping about forty millions of dollars of the current
money of the States out of circulation He is not,

however so strongly wedded to his pet plan as his dis•
tinguished predecessor. He does not threaten the
exercise of the Veto ; but, on the contrary, promises a
qualified submission to the will of the national repre-
sentatives. The following extract from the Message,
which embraces all that is important on the currency
question, will be read with interest :
I have found no reason to change my own opinion as to the
expediency adopting the system proposed, being perfectly
satisfied that there will be neither stability or safety, either in
the fiscal affairs of the Government, or in the pecuniary trans-
actions 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 agi-
tation. Indeed, I am more than ever convinced of the dan-
gers to which the free and unbiassed exercise of political opi-
nion—the only sure foundation and safeguard of Republican
Government—would be exposed by any further increase of
the already overgrown influence of corporate authorities. I
cannot, therefore, consistently with my views of duty, advise
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
towards those institutions. Banks properly established and
conducted 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 responsibility 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 their 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 vio-
late the spirit of the Constitution, and be unjust to other inte-
rests ; when it takes no steps to impair their usefulness, but
to manage its own affairs as to make it the interest of those
institutions to strengthen and improve their condition for the
security 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 tile
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 from all dependence
on the will of irresponsible individuals or corporations, to
withdraw those monies 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 inju-
rious effects of a supposed participation in the political con-
flicts of the day, from which they will find it otherwise diffi-
cult to escape.
These are my views upon this important subject—formed
after caraful 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 is 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 indi-
vidual or local interests, so long as they pursue only the ge-
neral 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 wis-
dom to substitute such as may be more conducive to the one,
and more satisfactory to the other. In any even.. they may con-
fidently rely on my hearty co-operation to the fullest extent,
which my views of the Constitution and my sense of duty will
permit.
The substance of all this is, that N. VAN BUREN