The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-09-23

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connection between Bank and State--and TO
enable the government to keep in its own
hands its own means Of existence, viii GER
tainly be relief % one Of the parties. i not
both. These bills have been reported by the
Finance Committee. and will enable the coun-
try 70 Judge how far they are obnoxious 70
the charge Of reporting nothing for relief, and
nothing Of any value. They are six in NUM-
ber--of great value and efficacy in my esti-
nation land they comprise all the subjects
on which that committee were expected to
produce any thing for the action Of the
Senate.
There is another bill which may come from
another Committee, the Judiciary, and which
| shall rejoice to see come from tia bill
of most potential and universal relief to the
whole country! to relieve ms from most cry
ing imposition, which now aflicts and OPP
presses every thing in our America, from the
Federal and State Governments, and their
elevated fmctionaries, down 10 the tub Of the
washerwoman and the cart Of the drayman
1t is the bill to apply the penalties Of hank
ruptcy 10 their ancient, original, appropriate,
and primitive subject, and the one from which
the law itself takes its name. Broken bank,
60ncus and rupfus, is the Roman designation
of the law. Broken banks, and not broken
merchants, broken tailors, broken lawyers,
and b roken farmers, were the Roman, the
Grecian, the Asiatic, and the Egyptian sub
jects Of this law. The English and other
moderns, have diverted it to humber game
and President Van Buren, is the first in the
list Of Executive magistrates to propose to re-
store it to- its original and most appropriate
subjects. | shall rejoice to see that bill come
in. 1t will be tidings of forthcoming relief to
an afflicted and PROSTATE empire. II will fix
the day for the general resumption Of specie
payments, and will furnish a rule, and pro-
vide an engine, for separating the solvent from
the insolvent, "pronises 70 pay"
That bill has been denounced in advance
upon the floor, and war to the knife has been
declared against it. The assault has even as
sumed the character of combined movement
against the nervous system of the friends Of
the measure. 1t seems as il they would ter
rify us. have not communed with others
to learn how they stand the shock of this pre-
cocious assault but for one, my nerves
remain unaffected, and my feet do not feel as
if they had meditated flight, and intended %
bear off my body from the perib Of the COM
ing conflict.
That bill has been denounced IN an unusual,
unexpected and precipitate manner. do not
return the dennnciation, nor do now under
take its defence, by obliquing into an argu-
ment foreign to the question before the SEE
nate but am free to declare myself friend
ly 70 the measure, and ready to support it as
soon as it is brought forward. am not de-
tered by the imposing apparition Of sovereign
States, engaged in the trade, or associated in
the business, Of banking. My own State,
even Missouri, has embarked in the perils and
mysteries Of this trade. She has chartered
moneyed corporation, and gone into partner
ship with it and if ever that concern shall
dishonor its promises to pay" !, for one, shall
be ready to apply the penalties Of bankruptcy
to the whole establishment, and shall make
no discrimination between the effects Of indi-
vidual stockholders, and the effects Of the State
embarked in the partnership.
say this, not in defiance, but in candor, in
sincerity, and in openness Of heart. am for
the measure, and avow it inmy place here
and if the consequences Of this avowal should
be what some seem to think, an extinction of
political existence, and a perpetual exclusion
from the purlieus of this TEN MILES SQUARE,
! stand here now ready to do the deed, and 10
pay the forfeit, to vote for the bill without fall
tering, and to march from this CAPITOL, with
out looking back.