Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-04-13

SlOO. All the Banks in the union, sa We u TOW in
| view England, had suspended specie payment;
| 'na' IN consequence. the country deuged
WIN Hood Of paper money, which, having no
| specie basis, had undergone different degrees of
depreciation, according To varying circumstances.
AS In the district of Columbia, there had been the
| hghest hoodtide of paper issues, so, then, there
was the lowest ebb of depreciation; the paper of
that place compared with that of the Eastern
BANKS having been, it is believed, at 90 per
discount.
| 49, 10 such point had things come--that, it is
said-and believe it to be true, the very
with which MIR. Monroe, then Secretary of War
pro tempore furnished some aid to General Jack
| son Tor the defence of New Orleans, were borrow
CO. In part, upon his private credit, of of the
district Hanks and with all the excr,ion of the de-
Partment, and all the zeal of the men, the Kentucky
nmntia only arrived on the 18th January, four days
before the great battle of the 9Th.
he poverty of the Treasury necessarily pro-
duced corresponding result in the ranks of our
army-men could only be enlisted with money
that money we had Mott could not be raised,
In the then state of public credit, by loans, but
at ruinous sacrifices, if at all.
"The causes of our financial embarrassment and
OF public credit, may be easily assigned.
| VIII here make short DEPRESSION to do so.
From an unwillingness in times Of difficulty, to
| tax the people, beyond what necessity required,
| the plan of finance, established at the commence
Ihent OF the War, was to make the revenue of each
year during its continuance, equal TO the expenses
| of the Peace establishment, and the interest on
the old debt, and the War leans, relying upon
loans, to dcfray all the extraordinary expenses of
| the War.
Experience, however proved that this system
could not be long continued; for the demands of
the Government, required loans and treasury notes
| in the year ending in September, 1918, to the
amount of almost 1874 0OO,OOO and for the next
year between $s29, 100000 and $3O,OOO,OOO.
Every new loan, too, was contracted, upon
worse terms than the preceding the public debt
being in constant increase, and the revenue as far
as II dcpeHded upon customs, being in progressive
dlmnution, being now reduced low as about
10000, accrung from that
upon the recommendation of the President, in
his message of Sept 1914, and the strong represen
tation of the distressed condition of the finances in
the Treasury Report, Congress made earnest and
jealous efforts to remedy the evil. The Treasury
Report recommended as the means of relief, Ma
tional Bank, with capital of $50, 900 OOO an in.
crease OF OO per cent to the direct tax and inter-
nal duties, and the imposition of taxes to the
amount of 81 100000; thus calculating upon an
annual revenue of S2l 100000. The tax bills
were generally passed. The Bank, (thc subject of
tins communication after being reduced in its CAPT
tai to $4,000, 600, passed, and rejected by the
PRESIDENT, on account of the manner in which the
capital was constituted, and its supposed inefh
cheney, in assisting the operations of the Treasury
After which the new Bill, hereafter more par
tlcuarly referred to, passed by the Senate
and after the news of the Peace, indefinitely post
poned by the House.
"Whilst were thus destitute, both Of men
and money, (as to the army, mean only that our
ranks were thin and force too small such
were the resources ofthe enemy, and such the cha
racter OF the war, that absolutely needed Il
much larger military force than would under other
circumstances, have been necessary: for though
our little navy performed prodgies of valor-yet,
the vast extent of our dcfenceless sea-coast, and
the great superiority eff the enemy the water,
enabled him to menace different and distant points
IN quick succession; thus, constantly h0rassing
our militia. and some times with frutless marches.
to points which the enemy abandoned before their
arrival.
''To these difficulties. is to bo added another
gr' wing ont of the composition of Congress. |
There was in that body, strong and talented mi
norIty, who resisted most of the measures, which
| the Government, and the ma ority thought would
enable them to carry on the with vgor. enter
| not into the discussion Of the merit, or demerit
oil THIS course. They acted upon the alleged
ground, that the war had been mprudcntly de-
clared, and improvidently carried
cit is sufficient for my purpose to state the fact
III tax bill were before the house, il most ge
nerally opposed; if were offered for re-
cruitng the army without money, by laying off
the militia into classes and drafting one man from
each class, 1t was denounced and characterized by
the odious appellation of cORscripton.
1.-Two additional facts will close the narrative
Of the difficulties, under which we labored.
''Ihe far famed Hartford Convention was i'm ses-
sion from the 18th December, 1914, to 4th JAN, |
1915. Much fear felt, from the proceedings |
OF this assembly, both to the integrity of the |
Union, and the efficiency with which the war could
DC carried on mat tneSe Tears were not ground |
less, i'll appear from the fact, stated by the Histo-
rical Register, now before me, that this convention
concluded their report, which shortly after |
published, by recommending to the legislatures of
the New England States, to adopt efectual mea-
sures Tor protecting their citizens from the opera
ton and effects of all acts which have BEEN or NAV
be passed by Congress, subjecting militia or other
citizens to forcibe drafts conscriptions or Impress
ments not authorized by the constitution, refer
ring directly to the measure before stated, of elias.
sing the militia, with view to fill the army bv
a recruit drafted from each class.
sin the midst of these appalling difficulties the
enemy were almost knocking at the gates of Rome;
or, dropping the alluson to the Roman history
| he was literally almost at the gates of New Orleans
| by means of his naval superiority already alluded
to- he might be said to be ready for attack eUery
1ohere; whilst from the various causes which /
have statedwe were prepared to receive him almost
no Where The powerful and formidable armament
| destined for the attack of Orleans, was composed
in good degree, of the army of wellington;
vain gloriously called the conquerors of the
| conquerors of Europe. Every mail from
that quarter received with almost breath
css anxiety. 1t even asserted in one
| of the papers of the day, that Orleans had
been captured, and that the President was in pos
| session of official intelligence of the fact Nav
we were by one editor furnished with the omi-
nous prediction, that VIC should never celebrate
another 9TH of July, Independent nation.
| "The situation Of affairs such, as to cause
| IN the then temporary capitol, a meeting of the
members friendly to the Administration to decide
upon some great question concerning the public
good; speaking from memory, Il will not assert it
positively) / believe the subject matter was the
| Bank. Whatever the subject, I have, to this
| day, strong impression upon my mind of the
effect produced by brief address. from the vcnera
bic tlnday of Pennsylvania. His advanced age
his lettering form, his tremuous voice, seemed
almost TO produce the sOlPnuitv of the rC