Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1837-07-04

situtiou friratc. In their tddress they had Ia re-
Ter to our. puS,G aaats. In hts reply Mr. ssys
With regard 10 the present si,ufi,on Of out
country. my sep, imrnis eottcsponJ entirely With
yours. In the mids, OF the boun,ics OF Providence.
show cred upon US Nth prCiusion ,ctroely ever
las shed upon any ohct nation, We are sut,nng Sc
verely from causes which fear We must attribute
to ourselves. IN our relations at this time wiih
foreign nations, aud most especially with the In
dian tribes wa have far more to soswcr Tor than
10 complain o. Our recent Indian Of
our owu provoking. and hos been wsged IN no in
ereditable manner, Aud while We have wronged
our ncigh bor at the south by utterly unjustihabe
violations Of her territory, unauthorized even by
Congress, we arc permitting another neigbbor al
the north 10 cncrcach with inpuniiy upon own
territory and TO curtuil the boundaries of State,
once part of DOR own native Comma n~calIh.
We present at the present moment still. more
astonishing and porteniious spectacle 10 the world.
Without dollar of national debt, We are in the
midst Of national bankruptcy. From Treasury
overhowirg with hny millions of dollars, cur Gov.
eminent pays in paper trash the wLgcs of the
clerks in thu public Offices. The nation is inscl-
v,nt--'he whole people is insolvert. You inquire
f this is owing to the conduct Of the late Admin.
istration believe il is attributable to various
CAUSES, among which The grant OF the use Of the
monies. in the Treasury, to numerous Stale corpo-
ra,on., by order Of the late President of the Uni.
ted States without authority Of law, was the n,os
pernicious. Having said SO when the decd was
done, ] can have no hcsii alton in repeating il now
that its fatal consequences are seen floating from
the wreck Of the public credit The use Of the
public monies while in the Treasury, 10 the inter
val between the receipt Of them as revenue, and
the payment Of them public expenditures, to full
III a<.C,L H. NJ.
led by Law, to the Bank Of the United States, for
an equivalent. 1t never had been Of SO much pro-
fiji to that Bank because the deposites there had
never been considerable at any one time. They
never were suffered TO accumulate !; for the mo.
ment surplus appeared, it was applied towards
the discharge Of the National debt. IL was pre.
cscy at the moment when tho whole debt was
paid off, and when the revenue was doubled by the
sudden and enormous increase of the proceeds Of
the Public Lands, thnt the use OF the monies In the
Treasury was taken from the Bank Of the United
States, chartered by and under the control of Con
gress, and dibbed out in parcels to suit favoriie
purchasers, TO a multitude of State Banks without
responsible capitals and wholly beyond the control
of Congress or the Executive Government OF the
United States. OF the means of information pos
sessed by the Government, as 10 their condition
and credit you may Judge from the recent circular
~, stating that he had learnt their storpage Of
payment. from, the ne0spaprs
But the ruin OF the pecunisry concerns Of the
nation, the melancholy reverscs of fortune, and |
loss of character among the wealthy, and the loss
Of daily bread to the laborng poor and their CHI.
dren, the distress We are witnessing among all |
classes of the people, are not owing alone to the |
errors ofthe late administration. There have been |
errors Of the people themselves, for which they are
nnxu at md firm tiobi bau
ly by their energies. The tide of their pros
perity has rushed upon them in q tempest, ill it |
ovsrfowcd their banks, and broke down their
mounds, All history ,estfes, as the father Of our
race pronounces his lameniation in the Paradise
lost
Peace to corrupt, no less than War to waste"
The unrestraned pursuit of inordinaie wealth. and
the abuse Of credit, especially BY the agency of
Banks, are the proximste causes Of the catastrophe
under which we are now laboring believe a
National Bank, chartered by Congress, with can.
ital sufficiently large to control all other existing
Banks, and to regulate the currency, to be the on
~ practicable expedicnt for restoring and
ing specie payments; but / entertain doubts wbeth
er It should be bank Of discount With reeard
to this, my mind lie DOT definitely made up. in.
cline more strongly TO the opinion, that the sur
pension OF specie payments, by such Bank should
not only operate ss an immediate forfeiture of its
charter. but be made penal offence in tho Presi.
dent and Directors Of the institution. The viola.
ton OF moral principle, committed by a bank in
susPending specie payments, is, in my estimation.
not inferior to that fraudulent bankruptcy in an in
dividual. The right Of any Legislature to author.
ze such suspension is questionable, and tae re-
pea OF laws expressly enacted to enforce the fulfil
o'e"t OF contracts. at the very moment when they
have been broken, is a mockery of oil moral prin.
c'ple and scandal to human legislation.
Bot, feow-ciiizens. indulge the nope that the
suhenngs OF our country, at the present crisis, are
ike The paroxysms of fever. efforts Of nature to
throw on the disease. We have tried the nos
t'uas OF empires, and. usual, they have agpr..
waited the worst symptoms of the distemper. !
lear we have not yet reached the last stage Of the
pesthence,and that we are still to be more severe
iy handled by the Doctor than the Disease.
But the paen, has firm aud vigorous consti.
luton, and he cannot die. Amer suffering as we
must under the operation Of some other mounte
bank experiment, upon the failure of which those
who palm II upon us will tell US, ii is what they
always predicted and llen offer anoihe, ne,Lsos |