Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-05-30
REPORT OF THE MINORITY OF The
BANK COMMITTEE.
IcoNCLUDED

we should understand IL III our OWL Case. "
those who, in the ardOr OF protracted contro-
yersy. have become wrought up to the beliefthat
the Bank and all its offices are one great engine
af corruption and those who have defended It's
chartered rights and maintained its usefulness,
in and out of Congress-, a band OF mercenary
stipendiaries, it may seem very just ana pro-
ner demand that the confidence of their private
Intercourse should be violated their business
transactions stigmatzed with corruption before
the world, and their private correspondence
spread on the journals OF Committee OF the
House, and, at their discretion, sent to the news
papers But if pausing moment IN the career
ofparty, they will make the case their own; sup
pose themselves at the mercy OF those now III
the minority, welding against them the entire
authority of the House, sending its committees
to unlock their closets, and requiring the produc-
ton of every letter they may have wfltten on
public affairs for years, they Will proDaDiy IoIh
a new conception of the light IN which the CANS
now under consideration are regarded by those
against whom they were aimed, tany SUCH there
be.
The undersigned would make reflection
somewhat similar in reference to the call Tor
the amountof fees paid to counsel Tor Legal ao-
vice given to the Bank, and the accommoua-
tions received at the Bank by editors and pub
fishers of newspapers and periodical works 1t
will not be denied that there is an imputatlon OF
corruption in calls like these; for it cannot be
r. pretended that, merely as part OF the business
fall under these heads in any estimate, however
extravaganza, in their amount could be OF any
interestt TO Congress- Why, then, are they sim
gled out? There is of course, in collecting the
vast amount of debt constantly falling due to the
Bank and in carrying on its large concerns, con-
tinual need oflegal advice and professional ser,
vice Is il diSreputable TO seek this ADVICE ana
- service and, having received them, to pay Tor
them2 Is the profession of the law fairly OBJ
noxious TO the stigma which the resolution
implies, on those of its members who transact
the business of the Bank? Are mere partisan
insinuatons, fabricated with all the levity and
cruelty of an INSCRIPTIONS press, sufficient
ground for the virtual denuncation and pros
cription of a whole profession? The under
signed forbear to insist on the protection which
the law gives to the intercourse OF lawyer and
client, and which, they believe, would protect
the Bank from this search into the relations
which exist between it and counsel employed IN
transactng its business
Nor do the undersigned think the profession
of editors and publishers, ofright, more obnoX-
ious to the imputation OF corruption, on the
ground of business transactions with the Bank.
The nature of their business requires bank &C
commodation as much any other. The I'M
dersigned do not perceive that they are more
likely than any other class of citizens to be cor
rupty influenced by the accommodations they
receive If they were it is doubtful, as matter
of fact whether, with an exclusive eye TO the
the country, and to the influences under which
they are dispensed, it would be better calcula-
ton at the present day, to defend or to attack
the Bank of the United States. One thing is
certain, that the;editor defends the Bank
of the United States may be considered free
from the suspicion of having an eye to political
patronage a source ofcOrruption, when abused,
powerful, to say the least, as the favor OF
mere moneyed institution.
z. But the undersigned hasten to express their
views on the last step which was taken by the
committee towards the discharge oftheir duty; in
many respects the most Important of all. On
the 9th day of May, copy Of process, some
what Of the character of subpRaa daceS team,
and which maybe seen in the appendix, No. AZ,
addressed to B. S. Bonsall Marshal of the east
ern district of Pennsylvania, was served upon
Nicholas Biddle, President, Emanuel Manuel
Eyre, Matthew Newkirk John Sergeant, Charles
Chauncey, John S. Henry, John r. Neff, Am
brose White, Daniel w. Coke, John Goddard,
James c. Fisher Lawrence Lewis, John
Holmes, and William Platt, Directors of the
Bank of the United States, commanding the
said Bonsall to summon them to be and appear
before the Committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives Of the United States, appointed on
the 4th day of April, 1884, in their chamber in
theNorth American Hotel in the city of Phila-
delphia, and to bring with them the credit books
of said Bank, on the 10th day of May instant
at the hour of II, NJ, then and there to testify
touching the matters enumerated in the said res
luton, and TO submit said books to said COM
mittee for inspection.
The undersigned entertained, and still enter
tain, great doubts ofthe legality of this process
The inquiry alluded to in the process is among
other things into the abuses, corruptions and
mal-practices of the Bank that is, the crimes
and msdemeanors of its officers and directors:
and the process Just recited is intended To be a
summons to majority of the directors and the
chief officer of the Bank to appear and testify,
as individuals to the matters of that inquiry;
that is; to their own crimes and misdemeanors
with view, as the resolution of the committee
expressed it, ofinqury whether such prosecu-
ton (viz. a criminal prosecution) should be in
stituted." The undersigned have already ar
gued at length, and attempted to show, that the
power reserved in the charter, of sending a
committee to inspect the books and examine the
proceedings of the Bank, and report whether
Its charter had had been violated, conferred no
right OF compelling the production of the books
out of the Bank, and the appearance of the di-
xectors, to submit to an examination on oath as