Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-01-19

II IdIticular attentlon IS invited to thlS pro- tracted extract We were compelled to give the whole of it, for from first to last it is a
 wire drawn argument, in many places
 not very ntelligible, each part, however feebly depending upon its immediate fore
 runner, to carry out the much distressed
 and worried idea that Congress, with the | power to 'coin money may denominate any
 thing money, from "Ricardo bars," to rank
 bank bills, provided credulous. community | will only imagine them ''synonymous with
 currency.''
 ] It is little remarkable that a constitutional l question settled in '91 by Congress, by Pre-.
 side1t Washington, by special charter, by the Federal Court, and what is better than all, and very conclusive, by the change of certain great men's opinions, should at this
 day, want such defence, and that it is re- servsd for the sapience of the present genera tion 10 make such discovery, for the discus
 stony great question, that never once oc- cui1fd to those who long since determined the joint, and made it so clear that cit is for eveIsettled and at rest" It would seem that thislargument comes too late. They must stard onthe ground upon which the question
 was originally settled, or admit that such groand was unstable, and wanted proptinp. If thematter was so plain before, wherefore the necessity of this new argument Can any thing strengthen that which is as strong as it can be? What higher authorities are wanting than those Just mentioned? What are we to infer from this oyerwrcught effort to brace that which is said to be so well planted No, tho .- truth is, thereis yet doubt. With all their weighty authorities, the pointis still tremu- lous, and wants repose. And whenever we see reasoner risk,by dangerous, because weak argument, casse which he af1irms is sssteadfast and immovable,'' we have right to draw one two conclusions, either that he is not sincere, and dolbts his case, or that he believes his adversary is too shall low to detect his sophistry. 1.-the latter, the people will net thank the committee for the compliment; fthe former, they are welcome to all its advantages; and, in either event, it is bad cause that requires such support There was no necessity for such tortured aud labored argument Why not come out at once, and say under the power ssto coin money and fix it's value,'' Congress have a right to create hriuate corhoration, and suffer their promissory notes, not one whit better than any other individuals, to be sy- nonymous with scoin?" Will the committee say that? No, they will not so risk their re- putation, upon such an absurdity; but yet, strange to tell, if, by an artful and extended train ofsophisms, they can make the commu nity believe it, they have not the least ob- jection; this may be Congressional ethics, but belongs to no school where honest purpose of mind is at all regarded If they can make the bills of friUate comhany the same as 'scoin," they can and ought to make the bills of exchange, drafts, notes, and due bills of hrivate individuals the same, for they cer- tainly have the same right and though this last kind of paper may not 'sbe believed" to represent "the precious metals" yet they oftentimes represent very precious property, and are as readily available. Indeed, they may dispense with the precious metals alto gether, and rely alone upon paper curren- cy. To have claimed such a right for the Government paper, would have been a little plausible; though equally untenable, but to hazard such a doctrine in favor of private corporation bills, because they are bank bills, and because bank bills are generally believed p represent the precious metals, is too severe draft upon the charity of an easy, unthink- ing world. /
 But why is it., if this is one of the e1hress ho7pers intended to be effected by corpora tion, that nothing of it is mentioned in the Charter? Have the committee forgotten that his self same erhreSS fo7uer has already been carried into effect by another well known law, which seems to have bodied out diffe- rent construction. from that which they had the honor to submit? For what purpose is the law regulating the MINT, and the sta- tutes fixing the value of the different coins, if this clause means nothing more, than that "cGn" is 'scurrency," and currency is bank bls?"
 Have we come to this, that the erhress hoyoers of Congress mean one thing to- Jay and another tomorrow; that one Congress passes law to establish Mint. to coin pre- Cions and other metals regulates the value thereof, and in so doing, believes it has fully executed this e.r7irSss hozver, and all at once another version is given to it, and we are gravely told it means nothing more nor less than to authorize the incorporation of bank, to regulate the coining and value of money'' by paper currency!'' Wonderful
 Alarming doctrines are every day shooting up in rank growth around the Constitution, and we are prepared almost for any thing, but we confess this is an indication of no com mon .portent. If the express powers of the General Government are nothing but a nose of wax, and liable to be moulded to as many forms as will suit the interest or ambition of willy statesmen, or the avar'ce of greedy mo- nopolists, if after one power is amply ex- ecuted, and every thing which it contains is fairly yielded and acted upon for years, by well known laws, it is again subjected to the crucible of construction, for the purpose of extracting another and different principle, we confess there is great cause for humila- tion and despair, or the exercise of power very decidedly stronger than the force of hu- man reasoning
 But to put this matter out of all doubt, and to place still further in the wrong, that kind of argument which seeks to subvert the con- sttution of nation, let us inquire into the ori- gin of this power, and how it came to be vested in the General Government, and we hope to he ruced for xue dae,,;ea -ll Ir;,J