The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-29 00:00:00

will be informed of the condition of the finances. The
.slance in the Treasury on the Ist of .Lrnuary last, as
stated in tl e report of the Secretary of the `L.! easury, sub-
mitted toCongress at the extra Session,was 987, 345d01. 03c.
r eel sources,aesit,pt3s3ra9
themsolu2fnutudrottil°l.
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.t this yTeahre,
The receipts into the Treasury, during the first three
estimatediin al
i
euarter amount to 6,943,095d01. 25c. ; amounting to
30,410,167 dol. 77c. ; and making, with the balance, in
,he Treasury, on the first of January
Oc. The expenditures for the first three quarters of
year amount to 24,734,346 dol. 97c. The expendi-
ures for the fourth quarter, as estimated, will amount to
7,290,723 dol. 73c. ; thus making a total of 320050,070 dol.
70c., and leaving a deficit to be provided for, on the first
January next, of about 627,557 dol. 90c.
Of the loan of 12,000,000 dol., which was authorised
by Congress at its late session, only 5,432,726 dol. 88c.
have been negotiated. The shortness of time which it
had to run has presented no inconsiderable impediment
in the way of its being taken by capitalists at home
while the same cause would have operated with much
greater force in the foreign market. For that reason
the foreign market has not been resorted to ; and it is
no submitted whether it would not be advisable to
amend the law by making what remains undisposed of
payable at a more distant day.
Should it be necessary, in any view that Con-
gress may take of the subject, to revise the exist-
ing tariff of duties, I beg leave to say, that, in the
performance of that most delicate operation, mode-
rate counsels would seem to be the wisest. The
Government, under which it is our happiness to
live, owes its existence to the spirit of compromise
which prevailed among its framers—jarring and
discordant opinions could only have been recon-
ciled by that noble spirit of patriotism, which prompted
conciliation, and resulted in harmony. In the same
spirit the Compromise Bill, as it is commonly called, was
adopted at the session of 1833. While the people of no
portion of the Union will ever hesitate to pay all necessary
taxes for the support of Government, yet an innate repug-
nance exists to the imposition of burthens not really ne-
cessary for that object. In imposing duties, however,
for the purposes of revenue, a right to discriminate as to
the articles on which the duty shall be laid, as well as the
amount, necessarily and most properly exists. Otherwise
the Government would be placed in the condition of hav-
ing to levy the same duties upon all articles, the productive
as well as the unproductive. Theslightest duty upon some,
might have the effect of causing their importation to
cease, whereas others entering extensively into the
consumption of the country, might bear the heaviest,
without any sensible diminntion in the amount imported.
So also the Government may be justified in so discrimina-
ting, by reference to other considerations of domestic
policy connected with our manufactures. So long as
the duties shall be laid with distinct reference to the
wants of the Treasury, no well founded objection
can exist against them. It might be esteemed
desirable that no such augmentation of the taxes
should take place as would have the effect of
annulling the Land Proceeds Distribution Act of the
last session, which Act is declared to be inoperative the
moment the duties are increased beyond 20 per cent.,
the maximum rate established by the Compromise
Act. Some of the provisions of the Compromise Act,
which will go into effect on the 30th day of June next,
may, however, be found exceedingly inconvenient in
practice, under any regulations that Congress may
adopt. I refer more particularly to that relating to the
home valuation. A difference in value of the same
articles to some extent, will, necessarily, exist
at different parts ; but that is altogether insignifi-
cant, when compared with the conflicts in valua-
tion which are likely to arise from the differences
of opinion among the numerous appraisers of mer-
chandise. In many instances the estimates of value
must be conjectural, and thus as many different
rates of value may be established as there are appraisers.
These differences in valuation may also be increased by
the inclination, which, without the slightest imputation
on their honesty, may arise on the part of the appraisers
in favour of their respective ports of entry. I recommend
this whole subject to the consideration of Congress, with a
single additional remark. Certainty and permanency in
any system of governmental policy are, in all respects,
eminently desirable; but more particularly is this-true in
all that affects trade and commerce, the operations of
which depend much more on the certainty of their re-
turns, and calculations which embrace distant periods of
time, than on high bounties, or duties, which are liable
to constant fluctuations.
At your late session I invited your attention to the
condition of the currency and exchanges, and urged
the necessity of adopting such measures as were consis-
tent with the cor.stitutional competency of the Govern-
ment, in order to correct the unsoundness of the one, and
as far as practicable the inequalities of the other. No
country can be in the enjoyment of its full measure
of prosperity, without the presence of a medium of ex-
change, approximating to uniformity of value. What is
necessary as between the different nations of the earth,
is also important as between the inhabitants of different
parts of the same country • with the first the precious
metals constitute the chief medium of circulation, and
such also would be the case as to the last, but for iirven-

.ons comparatively modern, which have furnished, in
place of gold and silver, a paper circulation. I do not
propose to enter into a comparative analysis of the me-
rits of the two systems. Such belonged more properly
to the period of the introduction of the paper system.
The speculative philosopher might find inducements to
prosecute the inquiry, but his researches could only
lead him to conclude that the paper system had probably
better never have been introduced, and that society
1 inigh, have been much happier without it. The practi-
cal statesman has a very difficult task to perform. He
has to look at thing-s as they are—to take them as he
finds them, to supply deficiencies, and to prune excesses
as far as in him lies. The task of furnishing a corrective
for derangements of the paper medium with us i.w almost
inexpressibly great. The power exerted by the States
to charter banking corporations, and which, having been
carried to a great excess, has filled the country with, in
most of the States, an irredeemable paper medium, is an
evil which, in some way or other, requires a correc-
tive. The rates at • which bills of exchange are nego-
tiated between different parts of the country, furnish an
index of the value of the local substitute for gold and
silver, which is, in many parts, so far depreciated as not
to be received, except at a large discount, in payment
of debts, or in the purchase of produce. It could ear-
nestly be desired that every bank, not possessing the
means of resumption, should follow the example o the
late United States Bank of-Pennsylvania,-and go into
liquidation, rather than by refusing to do so to continue
embarrassments in the way of solvent institutions,thereby
augmenting the difficulties incident to the present condi-
tion of things. Whether this Government, with due re-
gard to the rights of the States, has any power to con-
strain the banks, either to resume specie payments, or to
force them into liquidation, is an inquiry which will not
fail to claim your consideration. In view of the great
advantages which are allowed the corporators, not
among the least of which is the authority contained
in most of their charters to make loans to three
times the amount of their capital, thereby often deriving
three times as much interest on the same amount of
money as any individual is permitted by law to receive,
no sufficient apology can be urged for a long continued
suspension of specie payments. Such suspension is pro-
ductive of the greatest detriment to the public, by ex-
pelling from circulation the precious metals, and se•
riously hazarding the success of any effort that this Go-
vernment can make to increase commercial facilities and
to advance the public interests.
This is the more to be regretted, and the indispensa-
ble necessity for a sound currency becomes the more
manifest, when we reflect on the vast amount of the
internal commerce of the country. Of this we have
no statistics, nor just data for forming adequate opinions.
But there can be no doubt, but, that the amount of trans-
portation coastwise,
by sea, and the transportation
inland by railroads an canals and b, steamboats and
other modes of cOnveyance over the surface of
our vast rivers and immense lakes, and the value of pro-
perty carried and interchanged by
these means, form a
-
general aggregate to which the foreign commerce of the
country, large as it is,' makes but a distant approach.
In the absence of any controlling power over this sub-
ject, which, by forcing a general resumption of specie
payments, would at once have
the effect of restoring a
sound medium of exchange, and would leave to the country
but little to desire,what measure of relief, fulling within the
limits of our constitutional competency, does it become
your last session,
which it proposed
this Government to adopt ? It was my painful duty at
obligations, to differ with Congress on the measures
under the weight of most solemn
approval, and which it doubt-
less regarded' as corrective of existing evils. Subsequent
reflection, and' events since occurring, have only served
in the opinions then entertained, and
to confirm me
frankly expressed.
add, that
be permitted to no scheme of govern-
mental must
by individual exertions, can be
mental policy, unaided.
available for ameliorating the present condition of things.
for my
onlmercial modes of exchange and a good currency
are
but the necessary means of commerce and inter-
course, not the direct productive sources of wealth.
Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of in-
dustry and the savings of frugality ; and nothing can be
more ill-judged than to look to facilities in borrowing,
or to a redundant circulation as the power of discharg-
ing pecuniary obligations. The country is full of re-
sources, and the people full of energy, and the great and
permanent remedy for present embarrassments must be
sought in industr), economy, the observance of good
faith, and the favourable influence of time.
In pursuance of a pledge given to you in my last mes-.
sage to Congress, which pledge I urge as an apology for
adventuring to present you the details of any plan, the
Secretary of the Treasury will be ready to submit to you.
should you require it, a plan of finance which, while it
throws around the public treasure reasonable guards for
its protection' and rests on powers acknowledged in prac-
tice to exist from the origin of the Government, will
at the same time, furnish to the country a sound paper
medium, and afford all reasonable facilities for regulating
the exchanges. When submitted, you will perceive
in it a plan amendatory of the existing laws in relation
to the Treasury Department—subordinate in all respects
to the will of Congress directly, and the will of the
people indirectly—self-sustaining, should it be found in
practice to realize its promises in theory, and repealable
at the pleasure of Congress. It proposes by effectual
restraints, and by invoking the true spirit of our institu-
tions, to separate the purse from the sword; or more pro-
perly to speak, denies any other control to the President
over the agents who may be selected to carry it into ex-
ecution, but what may be indispensably necessary to
secure the fidelity of such agents ; and, by wise regula -
tions, keeps plainly apart from each other, private an d
public funds. It - contemplates the establishment of a
Board of Control at the seat of Government, with age n-
cies at prominent commercial points, or wherever el se
Congress shall direct, for the safe keeping and disburse-
ment of the public moneys, and a substitution, at th e
option of the public creditor, of treasury notes, in lieu of
gold and silver. It proposes to limit the issuesAQ .an
amount not to exceed 15,000,000 dol., without the expre FS
sanction of the Legaiative
_power. It also authorises