Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-08-03


to stimulate it's industry and entcrprisel
Tho President assigns in his message a conspi.
cuous place tn tho alleged injurious operation of
the Bank on tho interests OF the Western People.
| They ought To- DO much indebted to him for his
kindness manifested towards them; although, L
think, they have much reason To deprecato il. The
! People OF all the West owe to this Bank about
thirty millions, which have been borrowed from il;
and the President thinks that tho pa yments for The
| interest, and other facilities which they derive
from the operation of this Bank, are so omcrous as
to produce "a drain OF their currency, which no
country can bear without Inconvenience and occa-
siona DISTRESS" His remedy is to compcl thc,n to
pay tho whole of tue debt which they have con-
tractcd, in period short of four years. Now, Mr.
President, 1t they cannot pay the interest without
distress, how are they to pay the prncipalf If
they cannot pay part, how they to paw the
whole! Whether the payment of the interest be
or DO not burthon 10 them, is question for them.
solves to decide, respecting which they might be
disposed to dispense with the kindness Of the Pres
ident. If instead of borrowing thirty millions
from tho Bank, they had borrowed a like sum from
a Girard, John Jacob Aston, or any other banker
what would they think OF one who should come to
them and say-"Gentlcmen of the West, il will
ruin you 10 pay the interest that debt and there
fore will obligc you to pay the whole of tho prin.
cipal III less than four years" Would they not
reply-'We know what we are about; mind your
own business; wo are satisfied that in ours we can
make not only the interest what VIC loan but
| fair profit bcsides?"
| a great mistake exists about the Western opera
III
sness, the commerce of tho West, and the opera
tions OF Government, that occasions the transfer
| annually, OF money from the West to the Atlantic
States. What is tho actual course of thngs7 Tho
business and commerce of the West carried on
with New Orleans, with tho Southern and South
western States, and with the Atlantic cities. We
transport our dead or Illuminate produce to New
Orleans, and receive in return checks drafts of
tho Bank of the United States at u premium of a
half per cent. We send, by our drovers, our live
stock to the South and Southwest, and receive ST.
milar checks n~return. With these drafts
checks, merchants proceed to the Atlantic cities
and purchase domestic or foreign goods for Western
consumption. The lead and fur trade of Missouri
and Illinois is also carried principally throug OH
tho agency of the Bank of tho United States The
Government also transfers TO places where it is
wanted, through that Bank, the sums accumulated
ut the different land Offices for purchases OF the
public lands.
Now all these varied operations must go on-all
these remttances must be made, Bank of the Uni
ted States Bank. The Bank does not create
but 1t facilitates them. The Bank is vchi-
Gle; just much the steamboat is the vehicle
which transports our produce to the great mart of
New Orleans, and not the grower of that produce
1t is to coDiound and effect to attribute to
the Bank the transfer Of money from the West to
the East. Annihilate the Bank tomorrow, and
similar transfers of capital, the description of
pecuniary operations, must be continued not
WELL it is true, but performed they must be, i'll
WE'LL under any state of circumstances.
The true questions are, how they per-
formed, how were they conducted prior to the OK
istcnce of the Bank, how would they be, after it
ceased? L can tell you what condition
before the Bank was established; and, / reason
from past to future experience under analogous
circumstances l can venture 10 predict what it
will probably be without the Bank
Before the establishment of the Bank of the Uni
ted States, the exchange business of the West was
carried on by a PREMIUM which was generally
paid on all remittanccs to the East of 81 per
The aggregate amount of all rcmittancos through
nj he hpIp 10 of h,
and instead of tho sum then paid, we now pay half
per cent or nothing, if notes of the Bank Of the
United States be used. Prior to the Bank, we were
without the capital of the thirty millions which
! that institution now supplies, stimulating our n-
| dustry and invigorating our enterprise. In Ken
lucky we have no specie paying Bank, scarcely
any currency other than that of paper of the Bank
of the United States and its Branches.
i How is the West to pay this enormous debt of
thirty millions of dollarsl 1t is impossible. 1t
cannot be done General distress, certain, wide.
spread, inevitable ruin, must be the consequences
OF an attempt to enforce tic payment. Depression
in the value of all property, shcr's sales and sac
rifices-bankruptcy, must necessarily cnsue; and,
with them, relief laws, paper money, prostration
OF the courts of justice, evils from which we have
just emerged, must again with all their train of af-
filctions, revisit our country But it is argued by
the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. White) that
similar predictions were made, without being real
| ized from the downfall of the old Bank of the Uni
ted States 1t is, however, to be recollected, that
the old Bank did not possess onc-t third of the cap
ital of the present. that it had but one office west
OF the mountains, whilst the present has nine; and
that it had little debt due to it in that quarter
whilst the present Bank has thirty millions The
war; too which shortly followed the downfall fthe
old Bank, and the suspension of specie payments
which soon followed the war, prevented the injury
apprehended from the discontinuance of TIE old
| Bank.
The same gentleman further argues that the day
| OF payment must come; and he asks when, better
than now? IL it to be indefinitely postponed? is the
charter ofthc present Bank to be perpetual? Why
Mr.. PRESIDENT, all things-govcrnncnts, republics
empires, laws, human life-doubtless are to have
an end; but shall therefore accelerate their ter
mIn"tIonl The West is now young, wants CAPT
tai, and its vast resources needing nourshment
are daily developing. BY and by, 1t will accumu
| lato wealth, from its industry and Enterprise and
possess its surplus capital The charter is not made
perpetual, because it is wrong to bind poscrty per-
petually At the end of the term limited for lis
renewal, poserity will have the power Of determin
ing for itself whether the Bank shall then be wound
up, or prolonged another term. And that question
may be decided, as it now ought to be, by con-
sldcraton of the interests of all parts of the Union
| the West among the rest. Sufficient for the dav
| is the evil thereof.
The President tells us that if the Executive had
been called upon to furnish the project of the Bank
the duty would have been chccrfulIy performed;
and he states that Bank, competent 10 all the
4 duties which may be required by the government
might be so organized as not to infringe on our
own delegated powers, tho reserved rights of
the States. The President is Il coordinate branch
OF the lcgslatIye department. AS such, bills which
have passed both Houses of Congress, are presented
TO him Tor his approval rejection The idea of
going to the president for the pro ect of a law is
totally new i'll the practice, and utterly contrary TO
the theory of the government What should we
think oftho Senate calling upon the House or the
House upon the Senate for The project ola law?
In France, the King possessed the initiative Of