The Arkansas advocate., 1834-12-26

pie that the existence of the public debt, oy rendering taxation necessary for it's ex- l'inguishnent, has increased the difficulties winch are inseparable from every exercise of the taxing power; and that it was, in this respect, remote agent in producing those disturbing questions which grew out of the discussions relating to the tariff. If such has been the tendency of debt incurred In the acquisition and maintenance of our 51aiionai rights and liberties. the obligations of which all portions ot the Union cheerfnlly acknowledged, 1t must be obvious, that whatever IS calculated 10 increase the bur dens of Government without necessity, must be fatal to ali our hopes of preserving It's true character. While we are felicitatihg ourselves, therefore, upon the extinguish- ment of the national debt, and the prosper otls state of our Finances, iet US not be tempted to depart from those sound max ms of public policy, which enjoin just adaptaiioa ot the revenue to the expendi- lures. that are consistent with rigid econ omy, and an entire abstinence from all topics of legislation, that are not clearly within the constitutional powers of the Go vernment, and suggested by the wants of the country. Properly regarded, under such policy, every diminution of the pub- lie burdens arising from taxation, gives to individual enterprise increased power, and furnishes to all the members of our happy Confederacy, new motives for patriotic af- lection and support. But above all, its most important effect will be found in its in- fluence upon the character of the Govern ment, by confining it's action to those objects which will be sure to secure to it the at tachment and support of our fellow-citi- \ zens.
 Circumstances make 1t my duty to call the attention of Congress to the Bank of the United States. Created for the con- venence of the Government that institu- ton has become the scourge of the Peo- pie. It's interference to postpone the pay ment of a portion of the national debt, that 1t mightretain the public money appropria- ted tor that purpose, to strengthen ii in a political contest-tbe extraordinary exten- sion and contraction of it's accommodations to the community-its corrupt and partisan loans-lts exclusion of the public direc- tors from a knowledge of its most ifnport- ant proceedings-the unlimited authority conferred on the president to expend its funds in hiring writers, and procuring the execution of printing, and the use made of that allhority-the retention of the pension money and books after the selection of new agents--the groundless claim to heavy dam- ages, in consequence of the protest of bull drawn on the French Government, have, thro' various channels, been laid before Con- gress. Immediately after the close of the last session, the Bank, through it's president announced it's ability and readiness to aban- don the system of unparalleled curtalment, and the interruption of domestic exchanges, which it had practised upon from the lst of August, 1883, 10 the 30th June 1884, and to extend it's accommodations to the com munity. The grounds assumed in this an- nunciation, amounted to an acknowedg- ment that the cnrtailment, in the extent to which 1t had been carried, was not neces- sary to the safety of the Bank, and had been persisted in merely 10 induce Con- gress to grant the prayer of the Bank in its memorial relative to the removal of the de. posites, and to give 1t new charter. They were substantially confession that all the real distresses which individuals and the country had endured for the proceeding six or eight months, had been needlessly pro. duced by it, with the view of affecting through the suferings of the People, the Legislative action of Congress. It is sub- ject of congratulation that Congress and the country had the virtue and firmness te bear the infliction; that the energies of oul people soon found relief from thIs wantor tyranny in vast importations of the precious metals from almost every part ofthe world
 and that at the close of this tremendou. effort to control our Government, the Bank found itself powerless, and no longer able to loan out its surplus means. The com munity had learned .o a,anageEits affairs : without its assistance, and trade had alrea. dy found new auxiliaries so that on the first of October last, the extmordinar, spectacle was presented of Nationa
 Bank, more than one half of whose capita was either lying unproductive in its vaults or in the hands of foreign banker..
 To the needless distresses brought or the country during the late sessionpf Con. gress, has since been added the pen sci zure of the dividends on the public stock to the amount of one hundred and seventy thousand and forty-one dollars, under pre- tence of paying damages, costs and inter. est, upon the protested French bill. This sum constituted portion of the estimated revenues for the year 1884, upon which the