The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1837-10-10
CONGRESSIONAL.
SKETCH OF MR.. CLAY'S SPEECH,
IN THE SENATE, SEPT. %, 1887.

wi y
ration amendment being before tho Senate in
committee Of the whole,
MIR CLAY rose and urged that the present state
oil the country required great care in mixing up
our judgments upon the measures of relief pro-
posed. He had examined all the propositions
before the Senate and thought he only saw in
them further aggravation of the evils in which
we now plunged AS to the causes Of the
late revulson no regrets could now effect them
| Our suffering is upon u.s. We sec it, we feel it,
we know it. The government should remedy
our ills. They were universal, and the cure must
be universal. No more eXpedients should be re-
sorted to, to restore our past prosperity. He
should refer to the history Of the past eight years
not to reproach the actors in it, but to take from
it the lessons of experience. There the facts
were to be found We want facts.
In 1882 we had sound currency, wholesome
credit, regular system of exchanges The in
strument that furnished these things was then
doomed TO the altar The first deed was done
soon AFTER in the fatal removal of the deposites
He did go farther back for causes of the pres
ent ruin. lie found them in the war upon the
United States Bank. The result Of that war was
predicted. 1t was fulfilled to the very letter. A
philosopher would go no further in his inquiries
because he would look only to the ingredients on
which an experiment was tried.
AS to the condition of Europe referred to in
the message, the President was utterly mistaken
The Senator from Georgia had, on Saturday,
saved him the trouble'of exposing the misconcep-
tons of Mr. Van Buren,. If the causes were the
same, the results would have been the same.
The sonly object Of ascribing difficulties OF
general causes was to reconcile us TO them. But
he pointed to Mr. Kings speech mastery
exposition of the Presidents errors.
Mr. Clay showed the contraction of paper mo-
ney in England through every possible source
from October, 1888, to December, 1886, was over
half million pounds sterling, when the Prcs-
dent says the expansion of credits went on equally
in both countries. In America the expansion
was $50 per cent in the same time. The Pres-
dent was right when he said the connection be-
tween England and the States was intimate, and
it was this very intimacy that made England feel
our revulsion. She suffered just in the proper
ton she was connected with us. So did France,
so did other countries.
The true causes of our disasters are to be found
in the refusal to re-charter the U. .. Bank-the
stimulus produced by dispensing the public reve-
nue. among eighty or more deposite banks--the
gold bill-the collection of the foreign indemnity
in specie-thc disturbing OF the level of the met
ais 10y this course the treasury Circu!ar-and the
direction of the Secretary Of the Treasury to the
depostc banks to loan the public moneys Mr.
King had most ably showed the operation of all
these policies The orator then went into n de
tail of the ills produced 10y them, during which
an almost breathless silence was maintained
He next alluded to the subordinate causes of
our caamites. The depos,e law and the mo-
lives OF Senators in passing it were clearly and
eloquently examined and set forth. He showed
how bunglingly it was executed.
The great evil inflicted by the Treasury circu-
lar was the discredit into which it brought bank
notes 1t was the first shovel full of earth taken
from under tie foundation OF public confidence
in paper money. The undermining went on ST.
lently. The amount of specie taken at the land
Offices was no proof ofis injurious operation. 1t
caused the boarding up of the metals. We had
borrowed coin from Europe when we were in
debt to her. This addition of specie formed the
basis of an undue expansion of bank paper in
the east. The treasury circular took it out of
the eastern banks and carried it to the west.
There it became the basis of fresh issue of bank
paper. The Ilth Of May came and tue whole
edifice blew up.
The overthrow of The United Suites Bank was
the cause of the increase of banking. 1t was so
in Kentucky he knew. The same cause operated
in other States.
Another auxiliary cause to our over importing,
and consequent over dealing was in the policy of
the administration towards the compromise act.
Capital dreaded to embark in manufactures when
it heard the doctrine advanced on This floor that
its bonds were as silkcn threads. To our under
manufacturing, caused by this wicked policy, is
owing our over importing. Hence orr large
foreign debt
Mr. Van Buren, talks of over trading rs the
cause of our evils 1t was the result of previous
causes AS well might you say that the bullet
WIS INC inc man llldt lcVelcU
the piece. No, sir Our over-tradng was the
effect of the policy of the administration.
The tariff had come in for its share of blame.
The surplus was not owing to the tariff Had it
not been repealed, the present evils would have
never been felt. Our manufactures would have
flourished, and surplus would never have occur
red. The surplus arose from the sales of land
on the policy of Gen. Jackson. Sep
arate the receipts for lands from the customs for
five years past, and the former exceed the latter
10y almost eight tenths.
Had the land bill of 1882 passed, no surplus
from this source would have arisen. 1t would
have flowed from the land Offices gradually to
the states, and no shock would have been given
10 business.
There is another cause for our difficulties
We have not enjoyed the practical benefits of a
free government. All we have left is the form.
The Jackson party would not have misgoverned
the nation, fit had had its way. Our misfortunes
are not owing to the want of wisdom, but the
want of fir'nness. He pointed to the history of
every great measure of the last reign. The re-