Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1834-01-21

The old Congress OF the Confederation then and that Con-
stvss bad nothing TO 80 with the in etal alt irs OF the
states. The States real States up TO 1879, when
they parted with about much vi their mower as the TO-
restdi oil its wood when furnished stick handle 10
,hc axe; they parted with enough enable the Federal
Government, with the aid OF Federal Bsnk to take the
remainder The greatest injury the Federal Government
privng them Of their gold currency such as they possess
ed at the adoption Of this Federal Constitution. Mr. b.
undertook to affirm, end appealed the knowledge OF all
The aged surviving patriots OF the revolutionary times
whose memories would SUPPLY the place OF faithful hsio
ry-o all the younger race who had forward since
that time and whose researches into history their
country, extended back to that peodbe appealed to
them TO say, il it true that the people OF these
United States possessed at the time of the adoption OF this
feuer' CONSTITUTIONS the best and abundant moneyed
possessed by them, other people; Nance
~, sf plentiful supply OF silver for all the
and daily transactions between and man. secondly
plentiful supply OF gold Tor larger and
ven"g expenses; MtTdy, an abundant supply oil large
Bank notes. and bills OF exchange remnc0s and large
transactions between merchants and traders He appeal
cd WIN confidence 10 venerable age gbtencd YOUTH
aud 10 the faithful historic page for the answer TO these
assertions They would ALL with voice, coroborate
us assertion; aud where was that superb eurrencyo
gold and silver, AMI large notes, which had before tho
federal banki The gold gone toto; the
dollars nearly gone for nothing halves
cent ten cent aud five pieces from the u States mint
were now TO be the large bank bills also gone and
their place supplied, and The place OF hard money al.
most al, sums above thiysE forty shlings, supplied
ny The United States Branch Bank notes. rather anch
Bank unacceped orders) for five and ten dollars; the
greater part OF them couniere the payable five
hundred or thousand miles from the place where issue
ana SO connved ty the cunning OF the Bank, and the
hep OF lawyers, as not TO he liable 10 IL per DANA.
ge like real notes, specie payments should be refused
10y e BANK ms was the present state Of currency
wiii De worse before is better the Bank Of the
United States triumphs the Government; but II IL
does Lot triumph, the adnis alton Of President JACK
Ih ' w.. Dl trusted anu oeheved, would esia-
american people the applause and gratitude of every
one That has hard hands and honest reforming
the gold currency and restoring that superb currency
which the people OF these States enjoyed the adoption
oil the present Constitution.
The next great merit claimed for this Bank by lis eu
ogsts' Mr. b. said was the imputed establishment of
SOUND currency BY sound curreacy. meant the pa
per currency OF the Bank ITSELF the ve ten and TWEEN.
ty dollar notes drafts which now through the
country MIR. depored, he spoke in terms OF commits
seraon OF the intellect that could speak of any paper
rency as being sound one He considered the intellect
to be orty years in Of the ntel ence of the age
winch could apply such term to such uncertain aud
variable medium. The term sound cuyrencv belonged TO
hard money alone. Ii was that alone that was sound
that was subject TO diseases of which il would scken
ana me- All bank paper subject to DEATH instant
uea'h ana That IN thousand ways; from the frauds of
those who issued il, in putting out more than thew
could redeem TO the unfounded panic produced by ac-
eident or design which could instantly blow kyhigh
not only irail banks but those which rested upon
all the foundations OF acknowledged ultimate securi.
~. There was no such thing soundness in a cur
rency which depends upon breath for its daily ex.
isience. Such was paper currency The idea Of such
currency was modern conception, originating in the
crimes the Bank OF England, and its reign over The peo
mencement of the present century Before thar time
bank notes, either England AMERICA did not enter in
10 me aea OF currency that is to say into the idea Of the
money winch the common and body of the people
were using in their daily operations Not that there were
no bank notes; there were plenty of them but they
were large notes, intended for merchants and for
traders, Tor remances, and for large dealings The
common business OF life done upon a currency of
gold and silver and people Market the hired ser.
vani the iabore the inhabitants of the country and the
villages were free from the pcs,ilence of small bank notes
o. .he goodness oil which they judges the
my was all Tree from the danger OF counterfeit paper
ana strangers to the degradation of running about from
man 10 man, with humble petition 10 get silver for
note IL Is only since the Bank OF England was able
under the ministry of the younger PITT to force lie
small notes into circulation to the exclusion of puneas
and silver shng that the idea OF Bank notes as
among me people ever obtained ioo,hod in the public
mind FROM England II spread 10 America and from long
use has become incorporated with the ideas OF
the day It's indeed, base and degenerate idea unwor
thy oil statesmen, unworthy ofhose who either from read
ing or memory, have any knowledge of the long sken
purses gering through all their inersces with new
coined gold or the little buckskin bags stuffed to bursting
WIN whole dollars quarters, and psaree tight
the mouth with rusy string which fathers used TO
wear Still. owing 10 the present depraved idea of cur
such thing he Mr. b. would be eoWos s oil
on mat iac and would meet the eulogss the Bank of
the United States in the open field and upon their own
ground and contest its claim TO the poor merit of having
yen gwen sound paper currency 10 the people of the
nited States Promising that the Bank went into opera
ION In 1877 he would recall to the recollection of ali per-
sons, that the Bank closed all its branches in the South
and est in the spring Of lSl9 and for eight
1927, when Bank drafts began crcuIate-1ssuED NO
PAPER AT ALL in those sections of the Union conse-
quently it furnished sound currency during those eioh
years in which it furnished any kind This stale
meDt OF mere fact would extinguish the claim of the Bank
10 the honor OF establishing sound currency for nearly
'ne hall OF the period which it had existed The other
hall would next be disposed OF, and without Difficult
~, for the currency furnished since 1927 has consisted
Almost entirely OF those branch drafts whose ilepali-
y as circulating medium, is universally admit.
ed The deci ion of the Supreme Court at their last
term, has senced those with whom authority is more no.
tent than reason These drafts thus lille gal in themselves
are now so universally eounteeited, that no man knows
the good from the bad The officers OF the branches
selves know nothing about it, and will receive or reject
the same note, at different times or in different hands
At the winding Of the Bank in 1886 there can he M
DOUBT mat ha the notes, or drafts in the hands ofte
people, wiz DC rejected as counterfeit among them in ali
as many good notes had ones as the officers
know nothing about them, and will be very ant 10 de-
tide In iavor oil their institution in all cases of
ioubt This currency thus illegal, and thus countereited
'hd mus liable 10 be condemned good bad, when pre-
'ented Tor payment, cannot be called sound That an
peilaion then, must be restricted the small uIan,itv If
real Promissory notes issued by the Bank and these are
dependent Tor the universally of their circulation TO the
unvefsay OF 'her ecevabihty in payments TO The Fe-
iera Government The continental bills of the revola-
onary war would pass well all over the United States
rs these notes. il made receivable like them AT all the
houses, all land Offices, and all Post Offices in
me Cnoh Leit 10 the credit and resources of The Bank
her distant branch notes would be excep
IN The neighbohood Of the branch that issues them Al
ready The rejection OF them had commenced at the sister
branches in New York and Baltimore aud their total and
permanent rejection was only prevented by the energy
OF the Secretary OF the Treasury issuing he transfer
drafts Tor upwards OF two millions OF dollars which with
me dread oil more, coerced the institution TO continue TO
receive The notes OF her remote branches Mr. B. re-
pedeu' nat me ea soHndness could attach TO pa
per money OF any kind whatever, dat /, was onv appI
cable to hard money and OF ha The Bank of the United
states had deprived the South and West of % millions of
gold and silver, OF which she had sold and exported 10