Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-03-20

country, considered the purchase ofpub-
| lie land at the minimum price so advan-
tageeus to the purchasers, and so inu-
rious to the public interest, that he felt
Ii his duty to recommend to Congress an
augmentation of the price. In conse-
qnence OF which, an immense quantity
otpuolic land wasimmediately purchased
with the firm belief that the measure re-
commended by the President would be
adopted.
At length, however, those splendid
and bevitching visions began to disap-
pear. The paper in circulation no
longer supported by the exigencies of
the government, began to lose its credit
and much Of it ceased to answer the pur-
poses OF circulating medium; to sup
ply the want of which, was one of the
most powerful arguments for the esta-
bllsllment of the Bank of the United
STATES, whose operations soon annihilated
many OF the local bani.e, and crippled
and proetreted the balance to the meal
culable injury of those who had been in
duced to rely upon them, by the credit
| ShNi uiiNhNy WIN IL INC & OCCf Hnt Uf ~
Seyhad given to their notes. And thus,
| alter using those banks for the Payment
q us de6t8--and seduclng our fellow
citizens 10 rely upon them for the pay
OF theirs, the government became inslru-
mental in accelerating the overthrow
and ruin of those institutions, to which
they had prime ipally exposed themselves
by the very loans which they had made
TO the government.
The Bank OF the United States was,
however, relied upon as the great polti-
cal panacea, that was to restore to health
tul vigor, our expiring prosperity. Wise
tnen commended, and good ones sincerely
believed, that ii would etf'ectuaily rene
| dy evils that were in themselves incura-
bic; and which nothing but time, with
theutmost industry, prudence, and econo-
my, could even alleviate. But, if it has
not verified all the predictions of its
enemies, it has certainly SO far disap
pointed the hopes, expectations, and
promises OF its most reasonable and in
telhgent friends; for, Notwithstanding
all the promised anelioration of our con-
| dition by this expedient, it has most UNI
questionably aggravated the distress and
enbarrassments of the whole western
country at least; by prematuroly de-
stroying, with rash and inconsiderate
hostility, the local currency, without
substituting any adequate medium in its
place.
! The circulating medium of the union
was soon reduced from one hundred and
ten, 10 iory-five millions OF dollars, OF
which residue the western country
neither did nor could participate, in pro-
portion either 10 its numbers or lis wants,
as must be evident from The immense
sums which have been drawn from it on
account Of public lands; from the ba-
lance of trade, as proved by the rate OF
exchange having been constantly against
II, and from the disproportionate en-
pcnditure OF public money in the Allan
tic states.
Money, therefore, with us, become
scarce, and, within the last ,w cars, has
almost entirely disappeared. No sound
currency remains E"ery species OF
property has lost its value. The pro.
ducts eli agriculture have ceased to re-
ward the labor employed in growing
them. Commerce languishes. Our
manufactures have gone to decay; and
aoth!ng is now TO be seen but the hope
: less despair and ruin which these por-
tentGts eicissitudes have occasioned.
And hence il is ihat VIC have heard So
much OF the various efforts of several of
the most respectable state legislatures to
relieve the cubarrass4leiits, alleviate the
distress, and avert the ruin, that threatens
to overwhelnl their fellow -citizcns.-
| And, although We may not approve OF
all the eXpedients that have been resort
ed to, for. that purpose, .et the DISPOSE
ton which they manifest Is worthy of our
imitation, and ought to be most serious
| y regarded by us as proof that public
sentiment demands of us the utmost re-
| lief which it is in our power, consistent
ly with our duty, to extend to suffer-
ing community.
Mr.. President, said Mr.. E. the records
of history furnish no instances of an in
fatuation so univ ersal, with consequences
SO much to be deplored, as that which
has pervaded our own country, unless
they are to be found in the famous Mis-
sissippi and South Sea schemes, to
which have already alluded, and which
were not more DISASTROUS to the people Of
France and England, than would be the
situation of the debtors for public land,
if, with all their other engagements to
pay money, the government should con-
tinue to hold them bound to pay the pro-