The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-12
Ito be continued.)
REMARKS OF MIR. LEGARE,

On he Bill anth0ri-e The issuing of Treasury Notes.
1.-THE House will indulge me, sir, at this late hour,
will make few remarks upon the subject before it.
canddly confess have been all along favorable
to the issuing Of these Treasury notes, without in
tcrcst bearing very small interesttwo or three
per cent. at the outsde-bccause | thought they
would answer, and answer very effectuay, the
double purpose of relieving the government, and re-
lieving in almost an equal degree, the great body
of the people. have no dread at all of such an is
sue leading to system of paper money! MS has been
said here and elsewhere. For one ! 60 for such
system. do not claim for the government the right,
under the constitution, of furnishing circulating
medium as sHch, to the community. But there is no
| such power involved in the amendment your ta-
bic or in that modification Of it to which have Just
alluded, ard which greatly prefer. 1t is one of the
simplest and most usual forms Of borro,riag money,
within the very letter OF the constitution That pow
er is vested in Congress without any qualification or
reserve whatever to the in which il shall
b. exercised. BY wha, authority-with what color
of plausibity can gentlemen pretend 10 say 10 us,
yor may borrow Tins, bit not HRs-th,s form of Loan
is legal that an unheard of and fragrant usurpaton
Can Il b, pretended that the founders of this govern
men looking forward 10 the infinitely diversified
| cxigcncies of a society intended 10 be perpetual,
spreading over country vast, almost beyond dis
crp.ion in extent exposed TO all the vcissiudcS Of
peace and war, of prosperity and distress, delibc-
| ra.ely deprived Il OF means OF raising money, to
| which it has already been forced On memorable
OCCASION to resort, end which Is perfectly familiar
in the practice of every government in the civilized
world and that too, when the power is conveyed in
terms as argeandcomprehcnsivea as language can be
say sir that this convenient form of loan, which
consists chiefly in anticipating to meet casual ext
gencies, the current revenues Of country, is TO
| b, met with every where in Europe. Every body
| has heard of the distinction between floating and
| funded deb In England there is always a large
amount of Exchequer Bills in the market. The SC
curi;ies of the Bank of England consist almost ex-
clusively of them as combining scfSy and convc-
viencc in the highest possible degree. In the CONT
| mental states Treasury Bons are just as common.
In short, if we were not the only people upon earth
so happy as TO know, only BIZ hcarSay OF the eSre-
dicnS 10 which, in the conduct Of difficult affairs,
states are every where compelled to resort gentle
men would scarcely express such R0ire as,orish-
men ana alarm al one Of the most usual of them.
+ But repeat It, sir, am not committing myself TO
the doctrine that this government has, under the
constitution, an unlimited control over our currency,
either in this in any other form. You know, Mr..
Speaker, what my opinions arc upon that subject
from those generally entertained in the part of the
country which | have the honor to represent /
have done too much in my humble way TO fortify
and to ditinSc those opinions know too well their
Importance in government constituted as this is TO
the weaker part of the confedcracy, and especially
that that weaker part seems threatened with
rous aggression to indon them nay to bite one
iOt of their rigor and stcrnncss for the sake OF
mere momentary relief and convenience. admit
that when this House is called upon By the Execn-
tive to Issue Treasury notes in every ohcr case
Of loan, il ought TO see that the government really
wants money, and wants il too for boRa fas fsdcrat
(not national they are called, or notiona) pur-
poses That is the restriction, sir That is the
sound practical rule from which will never consent