The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1834-03-05
Rho IL ell 81 a n d R e publican.

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when it was published in one of the news
papers printed in the city, with state
ment that.a thousand and sixty names
were signed to it. Now sir, said Mr.. r.
If there were in the city of Providence
that general distress, which has bee n re-
presented, would so much time have
been required, and would such pains
have been taken or found necessary to
procure these signatures My colleague
would seem to represent that this memo
rial was signed by all the freeholders of
the city of Providence, with the excep-
tion of few Office holders. If he be
correct in what he has SAID, that it was
signed without reference to political dis
tinctions, he is not authorized TO say,
that the thousand and sixty, if they all
resided in the city of Providence, and
the contrary of this ho will admit, com.
prise all or nearly all, with the excep
tlon he has made, of those who live IN the
city Of Providence who are males, and
are twenty-one years old and upwards; !;
and surely those whose rights are affec-
ted by any public measure. whe lher free
holders or not, have at least the right to
petition. Assuming, said Mr.. +. that
there now are in the city of Providence
niuetecn thousand inhabitants, it is fair
to presume that five thousand of these
are male citizens, above The age oftwen-
| ty-one. When the last census was ta-
ken, there were more than four thous-
and of this descri iption. One thousand
and sixty is not a ma jority of this num-
ber. My colleague has represented the
thousand and sixty as being all, under
the existing laws of Rhode Island, vo-
ters. He does not know that they all
are, nor do believe that all are voters.
The memorial purports to be memorial
of the city ofProvidence and its vicinity
vicinity might include all the factory
villages in the county of Providence 8
it might include all the towns, eleven in
number, in that county.
l have no doubt, said Mr.. p, that
there is pressure in the money marke:
in the city of Providence, and that the
memorialists-all of them, if you please
think that the removal of the deposltes
is the cause of it. | do not believe the
pressure SO great as has been represen-
ted, nor do l consider the removal Of The
deposites the sole cause of it. We want
now all the light which can be shed upon
the subject which we have under discus
sion and my colleage ought to have
told the House that within the last three
or four weeks gentlemen living in the
city of Providence, and perhaps some
who have signed this memorial, to re-
lieve their dstresses, had loaned the cit
izens in New Bedford and New York
three hundred thousand dollars. He
(said Mr.. Z. had been told that one of
the notaries who had been employed by
most of the Banks IN the city of Provi-
dence, had SAID that for the last three or
four weeks he had done less business
than at any other time, having protest.
ed but one note, and that one Of long
standing, and one which would have
been protested without reference TO any
general scarcity of money at any period
If what / have stated be cOrrect-and
will my colleague contradict me IL see
no evidence of any great scarcity of
money in the city of Providence. Was
there II great scarcity of money in any
other part of Rhode Island d! But three
or four days before this meeting was Or
ganized, the Legislature of Rhode Island
closed its session of three or four weeks
duration, an unusually long one for our
State, in the city of Providence. Its
most numerous branch is elected semi
annually, and is not at any time far re-
moved from the people. Can gentle.
men believe that there was throughout
the State, or any considerable portion
of it, any severe distress, the conse-
qlenca of the act THE Executive of the
United States, or his Secre,ary-charge
it upon me or the other, and which /
care not when no voice reached us from
that Legislature Sir, we should have
heard voice from OF. Legislature, if all !
be true which my colleague has stated, |
as we have heard voices, though of
different character, from the Legisla- !
lures of Ohio, New Jersey, and New
York. If, in my opinion, resolutions
expressing the views and sentiments en- |
tertained in this memorial, could have !
been carried through the Legislature of
Rhode Island, that course would have
beer adopted as the preferable one
In the town in which reside, and com
posed of my immediate constituents,
since this meeting in the city of Provi-
dence, there had been large meeting
of men of all parties, and although in |
that town, there is or has been maiori-
ty Of about one hundred opposed 20 the |
administration, that meeting did not
think proper to n,emorialize Congress
on behalf of the Bank, or represent to
the House, that they were ruined by the |
Il e. L. III