Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1834-05-01
POLITICAL.
REPORT

REPORT
af the minority of the committee Of WAY
au means, on the removal of the d,
posites. Submitted March 4, lS34-b
WI. bINNEY, to the House of Represer
satiyes. 80
CONCLUDED.
Under the suppositon, then, tina
thcse measures Of administration b
sne bank have been lawful, the MINOR
y take it to be free from doubt, tina
the secretary's dissatisfaction with then
IS not one of the causes which authori
zec him to remove the deposites. The
management of the bank has not beer
committed to the secretary. He ha.
no right whatever to inspect its man
agement, or even its condition, except
in limited way, for the purpose of as
pertaining the sec urity Of the depositcs
To have given him the power Of reno
val in any case, in which he should
deem the management wrong, would
have been to give him effectualy the
management of the bank in every par>
tlcular. The charter removes ali such
cases from his cognizance by committing
the management of the bank to the d.
rcctors, under such powers and restric-
tions as the charter and by laws deter
mine.
II, on the other hand, the acts thus
questioned are violations of charter, the
objections TO the secretary's act are e.
Qually plain. In the FIRST place he is
not the officer to whom the charter has
confided the authority TO direct a pro-
sccution for violation of Ct .arter; in
the next place, it has expressly confded
that authority to others; in the third
place, the bank is entitled to be heard
before any judgemnt of violation is pro-
nounced; and lastly, that judgement is
TO be pronounced by the judicial depart
mtnt only.
The secrctyry's power to arraign the
bank for vipation Of charter cannot be
asserted. tits power of the most del
icate ap critical nature, and the 23d
sectiol of the charter commits it to the
presdent and to congress only. That
tWsecretary should be implicitly au
sorized to decide the whole question,
and to remove the deposiie- at once up
on that ground, when the charter does
not give him authority to issue IA scire
tacias TO have the question tried, cannot
be maintained. Those who have au-
thority to direct the prosecution, have
no rightto try it, or to give Judgment on
it. The Judicial power is not in con-
gress or in the president, and they can
not exercise it without themselves vic
Iating the charter Of the bank, and the
constitution also. The bank is not even
charged with violation Of charter
When charged, she will be entitled to
a hearing; when heard she will have
the benefit of trial by jury; and when
the first judgment shall have been rem
dered, she will be entitled, il it be adj
verse to review in the supreme court
of the union. In the mean time, in the
sight Of the nation and the law, all her
charter rights remain in their original
yigor. If the want Of sufficient time to
try the question is a reason for deciding
it without trial, it is one that prostrates
all the barriers which the constitution
has raised between the assertion of ar
bitrary power, and the life, liberty, and
property Of the citizens. The spirit
which frowns upon the temperate and
deliberate enquiries of the Judicial ma
gistrate, and demands its victim in an
ticipation Of the tardy and unaccommo-
dating sentence Of the law, is not the
spirit Of the constitution, nor Of the law
abiding people of the United States.
The bank then has a legal right to
say, as her directors have said, that she
HAS not been guilty Of any violation Of
charter, and congress have not the legal
night to adjudge the contrary. II they
cannot adjudgc the contrary, they can
not lawfully deprive the bank Of "a sim
Gle privilege or benefit conferred by
he charter, upon the ground that she
mas lost them by violation of charter
Every benefit Of the charter is right
of property, and it would be infinitely
better for the constitution and for the
,oeople, that congress should at once
hold the public dePosites to he removea'
HE without cause, rather than assign
,ihe cause Of violation Of charter, and
enforce, the sentence Of forfeiture e