Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1835-12-17

he gold coinage. These advantages
will be more apparent in the course OF
next year, whep the branch mints au-
thorized TO be established in North Car
Georgia, and louisiana, shall
have gone into operation. Aided as
it is hoped they will be, by further re-
forms in the banking systems of the
States, and by judicious regulations on
the part of Congress, in relation to the
custody Of the public moneys, IT may
be confidently anticipated, that the use
Of gold and silver. as a circulating me-
dunn, will become general inthe ordina-
nv transactions connected with the
labor of the country. The great de-
sideratum, in modern times, is an ef1i-
cient check upon the power of banks,
preventing that excessive issue of paper
whence arises those fluctuations in the
standard value, which render uncer-
tain the rewards oflabor. 1t was sup
posed by those who established the
Bank of the United States, that from
the credit given to it by the custody OF
the public moneys, and other privileges
and the precautions taken to guard a.
gainst the evils which the country had
suffered in the bankruptcy of many OF
the State institutions of that period, we
should derive from that institution all
the security and benefits ola soundcur
rency, and every good end that was at
tainable under that provision OF the
constitution which authorizes Congress
alone to coin money and regulate the
value thereof. But it is scarcely neces-
sary now to say that these anticipa-
tons. have not been realized Alter
the extensive embarrassment and dis
tress recently produced by the Bank
of the United States, from which the
country is fast recovering, aggravated
as they were by ~pretensions to power,
which defied the public authority, and
which ifacquicesed in by the people,
would have changed the character of
our government, every candid and IN
telligent individual must admit, that for
the attainment oftbe great advantages
ola sound currency, we must look to a
course of Legislation different from that
which created such an institution.
In considering the means of obtain
ing so important an end, we must set
aside all calculations oftemporary con-
v~enience, and be influenced by those
only which are in harmony with the
true character and permanent interests
ofthe Republic. We must rccur to
first principles, and see what it is that
has prevented the Legislation of Con
gress and the States, on the subject of
currency, from satisfying the public
expectation, and realizing results or
responding to those which have attend
cd the action of our system when truly
consistent with the great principles OF
equality upon which it rests, and with
that spirit of mutual iorbearance and
concession, and generous patriotism,
which has originally apd must ever
continue to be, the vital element ofour
Union.
On this subject | am sure | cannot
be mistaken, III ascribing our want of
success, to the undue countenance
has been afforded to the spirit
ofmonopoly. AS the serious dangers
our system has yet encountered
may be traced to the resort to implied
powers, and the use of corporations
clothed with privileges, the effect Of
is to advance the interests Of
the few at the expense of the many
have felt but one class of these ex-
hibited in the contest waged by the
Bank of the United States against the
Government for the last four years.
Happily, they have been obviatcd for
the present by the indignant resistance
Of the people but we should rccollect
that the principle whence they sprung
IS an ever active one, which will not
to renew its efforts in the same and
other forms, SO long as there is a
hope of success, founded either on the
.n%attention OF the People, or the treach-
cry of their representatives, to the
subtle progress of its influence. The
Bank is, in fact, but one of the fruits of
a system at war with the genius ofour
nsttutions-a system founded upon Il
political creed, the fundamental princi-
Pile Of which is a distrust of the popular
will as a safe regulator of political
power, and whose great ultimate object
and inevitable result, should it prevail,
IS the consolidation OF all power in our
in one central government. La
wish public disbursements, and corpo-
wlthexclusive privileges, would
be substitutes for the original, and, as
yet, sound checks and balances Of the
constltutlon-the means by whose ST.
lent and secret operations a control
NOnld he pyarcised hv tho fav Cvar