Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-02-26
GREAT MEETING IN PHILADELPHIA.

GREAT MEETING IN PHILADELPHIA.
A great meeting of the citizens of Phlladel-
phia assembled at the Exchange in that city,
last Saturday, to hear the report of their Com
mittee recently sent to Washington. From five
to ten thousand people were present.
We subjon from the report an account OF the
interview of the Committee with the President:
The memorial having been satisfactorily dis
posed of in both Houses of Congress, the dele
gates thought it respectful to call on the Presl-
dent of the United States, and make known to
him the condition, the sufferings, and opinions
of their constituents. This interview took place,
by appointment, at 2 o'clock on the 18th of Fee
bruary The delegates having been severally
introduced to the President, were received with
such politeness and courtesy Of manner, as to
Justify the expectation of patient and candid
hearing In this however, they were disappont.
ed The Chairman had hardly announced in
one or two sentences, the general nature Of our
mission when the President interrupted him,
and proceeded in a vehement discourse OF more
than twenty minutes DURATION to announce to
us, and, through us, to constituents, his OPT
MONS and his determinations in reference to the
restoration of the depOsites, the recharer OF the
Bank, and the future disposition of the public
revenue. In the course of those remarks,
(Which, as they were long, and somewhat de-
sultory, it is deemed unnecessary to present IN
detail.) the following positions were distinctly
assumed by the President:
l. That application for relief must be made
to the Bank of the United States, and not to
him; that, whatever distress existed in the COM
munity, (and he believed there was some dis
tress,) had been caused by the Bank. which
was boarding its specie, and curtailing its dis
counts, in order to crush the State Banks, and
compel the Government to abandon its policy
That the Executive had no power to relieve the
distresses of the community, but that the stock
holders of the Bank ght effect that object by
electing directors who would conduct its affairs
honestly, and on principles Of Christian benevo-
lenCe.
2. That the present Directors of the Bank had
violated it's charter, by giving to the President
the whole power of the Bank power to use
its funds without voucher or receipt. That such
a power in the hands of one man was danger
Gus to the liberties of the country, and had been
used to destroy the elective franchise. That the
President of the Bank, if an honest man, would
not have accepted a trust so unlawful That
for these reasons, he regarded the Bank as a
monster of corruption, which he was determined
to put down That Bank so using IFS powers,
ought Gas he repeatedly expressed it, to be rob-
bed of those powers.
g. That the law creating the Bank of the
al. That no power to create a National Bank
was conferred, or intended to be conferred, by
the Constitution. That the provision by which
Congress was authorized to regulate the cur
rency, had reference only to domestic and TO-
reign coin, and not to paper of any description.
t. That having made up his mind Trevocably
upon all these ponts-Andre1D jackson never
would restore the deposites to the Bank-An-
dreao Jackson would never re-charter that mon
ster of corruption. That neither persuasion
nor coercion, nor the opinions of the people, nor
the voice Of the Legislature, could shake his
fixed determination. That, sooner than consent
to restore the deposites or recharter the Bank,
he would undergo the fortunes Of ten Spanish
inqusitions; that sooner than live in country
where such power prevailed, he would seek
an asylum in the Wilds Of Arabia.
s. 1t was announced by the President that he
meant to continue the present system of col
lecting the revenue by the State Banks, until the
experiment had been fully tried, and at all E.
vents until the expiration Of the charter Of the
United States Bank. That he had no doubt Of
the success ofthe experiment, nor that the State
Banks would answer all the purposes of the
Country: That he would furnish the country
with as good nay, a better and more solvent
currency than that ofthe National Bank. That
he had early toreseen and provided against the
inclination of the Bank ofthe United States to
crush the State Banks, and that his interpostion
alone had saved them from ruin. That he
would continue to protect the State banks by
all the means in his power.
6. The President admitted that considerable
distress had followed the action of the Govern
ment in relation to the deposites. He had ne
ver doubted that Brokers and Stock Spectators,
and all 1rho ouere doing business upon borrowed
capital, would suffer severely under the effects
of the measure, and that all such people ought
to break
The foregoing paragraphs are believed to
contain all the important ideas expressed by
the President, in the first part of his discourse
to the Delegates. In some emphatic expressions
his language is accurately preserved, while his
numerous repetitions of the same idea in differ
ent words which served unnecessarily to pro-
long the interview, have been avoided. Once