Litchfield enquirer., 1837-09-28

rencV Of Told and StlTets ne 0enounced it ad
 mischievous and fallacious. and calculated
 to postpone the resumption ot specie pay
 meI1ts. The Senators from South Carolina | (Mr. CaIhoun) and Missouri (Mr. Benton)
 had yesterday submitted propositions which contemplated an entire revolution in the pol icy of the country. The Treasuiry order of inc late Executive might have been wise at
 inc lime it was issued, but the continuance of it was repudiated by the whole country.-, He referred to the bill which was passed by
 the two Houses, arising out of that order,
 and its fate. He believed that the voice of
 the country had sanctioned the provisions of
 that bill, which he desired now to renew and
 re.ofFer to the Senate. That bill authorised
 the reception of notes of Banks issuing notes
 of no denomination below that specified and
 providing against any discrimination. He
 had modified his proposition in one or two
 particulars !; the most important of which I was the entire prohibition of the receivabiI- l ity of the notes of any Bank which had sus- pended, or might suspend, specie payments, and did not resume them before a certain 1 day. He believed this measure would have l beneficial effect in this country and would
 expedite the resumption of specie payments. l He took view of the paralyzed condition of
 our commerce, and the degraded state of the
 currency, which he compared to human body in state of suspended animation, the vital spark being still there, and requiring
 only the particular remedy, to recal it into action. The great object of all should be to restore confidence. He referred to instances lin England, and one in New-York, where a single act of the government was sufficient to
 restore confidence, even before it was carried into practical operation. He adverted to the
 message of the President where it drew
 parallel between the distress of this country
 and that of Great Britain. There was a
 striking difference between the situation of
 the one country and the other.i In England
 the distress had not led to the suspension of specie payments, while here it led to that
 suspension. Why was that difference? It
 was because the conduct of the British gov ernment invited confidence, while that of our
 government repelled confidence. The bill
 which he offered looked to the resumption of
 specie payments. He laid it down as de-
 monstrable that if the measures which had
 been projected were carried through, there could be no resumption ofspecie payments.
 So long as gold and silver were at premium,
 the Banks could not resume specie payments.
 Such must be the result of the measure pro-
 posed by the Senator from South Carolina.-l The proposition of the Senator from Missouri imposed positive penalty for the resump-
 tion of specie payments. He expatiated at length on the tendency of the course which the government is pursuing, not merely to separate the government fiom the banks, but to divorce the people from the government He declared it to be his determination to stand by the people, and not to see one de- scription of currency for the government, and another and spurious kind for the people. He repudiated the idea of the President that the government has nothing to do with the currency of the country. He, looked at the pH( <hon %<> multiplication of banks as one which the framers fthe Constitution never contempla- ted. He considered that in consequence of the change of its condition the views of the framers of the Constitution could not be car- ried out by the mere force of the Constitu- tion, especially in reference to the regulation Of the currency. He described the evils which are connected with the banking sys- tenn; and took the ground that the banks de- rive their greatest profits from small notes, and that it is from the over-issues of these small notes that all the danger from the sus- pension of specie payments must come. He relied much more upon public opinion than on banks to restore the currency, and he be- lieved that public opioion would coerce the government to Q correct course of measures. He saw no difficulty in correcting the cur rency by the fiscal agency of the State banks. Unless these agents can be successfully em- ployed in controlling the currency, the peo- pie will not be long satisfied without a na- tional institution, such as he most fervently deprecated. It might as we'll be said on the explosion of a steamboat that this great dis covery of the age has turned out to be fail- ure. He went into history of the experi- ment in the State banks. He justified the removal of the deposites from the Bank of the United States, and condemned the faithless and ambitious course of that institutions The conduct the State banks, in this crisis, he considered as deserving of all praise, and all confidence. The Secretary of the Trea- could still sustain themselves. If the State banks had failed the new United States Bank had failed, and the hard currency system had failed by the same test. He considered the fictitious and forced importation of specie into the country as disturbing the level ofthe currency. forced into the banks because it could not occupy the channels which are fil- led with small notes, as of the causes of the existing evil It ordered these banks to issue three dollars m paper for every one thus
 forced into it's vaults in specie. The Treasu-
 ry circular was also another. of the great
 causes of the evil, operating most iniuriously
 as soon as that became the permanent policy of the government. It's effect was to create a
 run on the banks, hoarding the precious met ais, and thus having no small agency in pro- ducing the present distress. He defended the deposlte act as one of the swiSeSt efforts of American legislation; but thought that there
 nad been great error in the administration of
 the law, by which the currency of the coun- try had been disturbed. As to the surplus revenue he believed we should now hear no more of It, and we should consequently have no more depoSite acts As to the Treasury