Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1837-1839, 1837-11-11

ii FROM he Nseisnsl Aasea,x..orr.
: THE UNITED STATES BANK AND tn
GOVERNMENT.
/, There can hardly DO any one among our read
Iers who is not familiar with the history of the
moval of the public money from deposite in tn
Bank Of the United States, or Of the alledge
r grounds Of the measure which has been produc
tive Of consequences 50 detrimental to the Peo
, pie and to the Government. The main allega
ton, we need hardly remind them, was that tn.
public money was not safe in that bank, and tina
1t would be more safe in banks selected bv thu
}GoveEnment, by whom, also, the public business
would be transacted with even greater facilit,
land cow enience than by that institution. CpOz
this ostensible ground we have seen that the Gov
ernment has followed out its experiment, until il
has landed us-just where We are. The public
;, money has been SO wclltaken care Of. that the
Government cannot touch q dollar of 4 Treasury
balance Of some fifteen millions Of dollars; and
Congress, having been specially called together
for the purpose, at an expense to the People Of
perhaps half . million Of dollars, has been oblig
ed to authorize q Loan (by another name) Of ten
millions Of dollars, after dishooorng the Govern
mcnt obligations to the States to the amount Of
nine millions more; and has besides, by law, given
public money, to pay, by distant instaluents, the
amount hey owe The circulating medium, in
the mean time, has deteriorated, from being the
best possible, and equal value with specie all O.
yer the world, until we have . medium which has
almost no circulation at all, with which, for the
most part, you cannot pay turnpike toll, ut the
distance Of gate to another, from the place Of
its issue. The very mendicant in the street Of
one town will not accept rs aims the paper issued
and circulated as money in the town adjoining.
On this state Of things we shall not expatatc,
having desire here to exaggerate the evil, or
infame the very natural dissatisfaction of the
Public with the authors Of it.
Whilst, however, the Executive measures have
placed the public jeopardy, and spread a degraded
currency over q halEruined land, Time, which
tells the truth Of all human speculations, has
quietly exposed the fallacy Of all the grounds,
pretended or supposed, upon which the late Pres
ident Of the United States,' and the Cabal by
which he was surrounded, undertook to tamper
with the currency, and to use and abuse the public
money. The Bank Of the United States, after re-
fusing to bend at the footstool Of power, has not
gratified "the Government" BY breaking. 1t has
duties to Government, and met its obligations,
with as much unctuality though the Gov ern-
ment itself had not broken with il.
More recently it may be recollected, the same
institution has been again vindictively assaled by
the Government press, upon allegations of its un-
willingness to settle, on equitable terms, with the
for the amount Of shares of its cap !
tal stock, belonging to the United States. An
agreement was finally made, by which the bank
agreed to pay, and the Treasury to receive, in
our annual instalments, one hundred and fifteen I
dollars and fifty eight cents for every hundred dol
ars of the nearly seven millions of the banks
stock belonging TO the Government; thus secur-
ing to the Government clear profit Of more thu
fifteen and half per cent. on the amount Of its !
stock in the bank, in addition to the amount OF
:~ hos 1lv
e dividends.
We come to the point to which we pro-
,ose to ask the readers attention.
fiat ef ths thus IS ; nEsecd do S0oc
'ctwcen the Bank and the Government, under
which it was payable, let it be borne in mind,
nents, and the Bank of the United States might,
it chose, have answered the demands Of the
Government for performance Of this contract in
he same manner the deposite banks did when
skcd for payment Of the public money. But did
he Bank act upon this principles Far from it.
> to say, FIVE months ago-the Bank, being called
pom by the Navy Department, to help it out Of
dilemma, by an advance of money on account
f this contract, promptly agreed to do SO, and
id advance the money, TO the amount Of half a
Million of dollars, and placed it where the De-
artmcnt had occasion for it, asking and receiv- ,
,g for this service only the same interest the
um advanced as the Bank itself had agreed to1
ay upon its contract debt to the Government.
It has just come to our knowledge that the re- :
,ainder Of the amount Of the first instalment, .
ue by the bank, has been paid within the week Z
efore last, and in a manner SO honorable to the 4
ank that it deserves to be mentioned TO its cred
The amount paid in advance, as above, lin ;
uding intercet.) for the of the Navy De-
,rtment, was $5lO,353,99. Tho amount paid +
State transfer drafts and Treasury warrants, :.
.ceived by the bank in the course of its deal :.
gs, was 81, LAS, $50 l6-The balance Of the :,
stalment, amounting to 9622, 459 II, was paid y
specie; making total amount Of two m'liions Il
,e hundred and seventy thousand nine hundse6 :,
ID sixty three dollars and seventyseven cents. :,
We confess our qualification At being able to o.
ate these facts, honorable to institution a.
inst which all the malice Of party and all the n
wer of the Government have been directed for :,
e last five years In the particulars of this r.
ansaction we have a noble and eloquent reply h;
the calumniators Of the bank, and further con- -
nation of the arguments Of those who have :.
aiutained the right against the wrong in all -
is controversy. We say the right against the :.
rong, and we say it confidently: for whatever ~
ubt may have heretofore existed as to the 81
,ht or the wrong side Of the question ofthe ut ~
! Of the value Of Bank Of the United States, =,