Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-01-10
MIR. BINNEY'S SPEECH.
On the Remoral of the DepositeS
EXTRACT


mean to discuss this great question, slr, as
think il becomes me to discuss 1t, on my hrst
entrance into this House; as 1t would become
any one to discuss it, having the few relatlonS
to extreme party that have; and beng deslf-
ous for the short time that he means TO be con-
nected with the station, to 40 or omit notnihg
that shall be the occasion of painful reflection
hereafter | mean to discuss it gravely and
temperately; not sir, because 1t is not mt sub
iect for the most imprisoned and vehement APP
meals to every fear and hope that patriot can
entertain for his country; for hold, without
doubt. that it is so but because, as the defence
of the measure to be examined comes to this
House under the name and in the guise OF Rea-
SOM deem it fit to receive it, and to try It's
pretensions by the standard to which 1t appeals
and this also, in my Judgment best becomes my
own position. mean to examine the Secreta-
rvs paper, as the friends Of the measure say II
ought to be examined-to take the facts as ne
states them unless in the same, or in other pa
ners proceeding from the same authority, there
are contradictions, and then must be allow
ed the exercise Of private judgment upon the
eyidence-to take the motives as the Secretary
alleges them--to add no facts, except such as
are notorious or incontestibe, and then 10 ask
the impartial judgement OF the House upon my
answer.
Sir. the effort seems to be almost unnecessa-
Wv. The great practical answer is already CIV
en- by the condition of the country. NO reason
inc in this House can retute 1t; none is necessa-
nv TO sustain it. Itcomes to us, is hourly COM
ing to us, in the language OF truth and bitter
ness of heart from almost every quarter OF the
country; and, if any man is so blind to the real
tiles around him, as to consider all this but as
theatrical exhibition got up by the Bank, or the
friends of the Bank, to terrify and deceive this
Nation he will still be blind to them, until the Ca
tastrophe of the great drama, shall make his ia
culties as useless for the correction OF the evil,
as they now seem to be for its apprehension.
Mr. Speaker, the change produced in this
country, in the shortspace of three months, is
without example in the history of this or any
other Nation. The past summer found the Peo-
pie delighting in the apparent adjustment OF
some of the most fearful controversies that ever
divided them The Chief Magistrate OF the
Union had entered upon his office for another
term. and was receiving more than the honors
of Roman triumph from the happy and CRATE
full People of the Middle and Northern States,
without distinction of party, age, or sex. Ma
tire promised to the husbandman an eXuber-
ant crop. Trade was replenlshlng the golfers OF
the Nation and rewarding the merchants en-
terprise The spindle, and the shuttle and
every instrument of mechanic industry, were
pursuing their busy labor with profit. Internal
improvements were bringing down the reno
test West to the shores of the Atlantic, and
binding and compacting the dispersed lnhabl-
tants of this immense territory, as the nhaDltanS
of a single State. OnS UNIVERSAL SIulle UeduDeu
from the broad and happy face OF this favored
country. But sir, we have had fearful ad-
monition, that we hold these treasures in earth
en- vessels and still more fearful one, that
misudging man, either in error or in anger,
may, in moment, dash them to the earth, and
break into a thousand fragments the finest
! creations of industry and intelligence.
Sir there is one great interest in this nation,
| that is, and fear will for some time continue
to be particularly subject to derangment and
vet every other interest is intimately and inse-
parably involved in it, mean the currency
We have probably three hundred and fifty banks
from which this currency is derived We have
at least eighty millions of Bank notes, with a
metallic circulation along with it. not greater,
! perhaps, than as one to seven. We have, it
may be, one hundred and thirty millions of Bank
notes and Bank deposites, performing in part, the
same office, with little more than twenty mil
lions of specie in the banks to sustain it. tits a
system depending essentially for its safety upon
public confidence, and that confidence depend
/ ing of course upon the regularity of the whole
machine, which again depends upon the con-
troll that governs the whole. When compared