The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-08-16

thing less than widespread deranpemsu.a
ruinous consequences would ensue: Suoh
an experiment must necessarily rest Upon
vague distractions and speculative theories.
II is therefore the province of wisdom, to con-
suit the ancient and familiar paths we have
travelled, and repose upon those we have
found TO be safe, contenting ourselves to cut
of and close up those that have been found
to be useless and dangerous.
The system Of credit is coeval with our
government it has been incorporated with
our Institutions fashioned our mode Of bust
ness, is interviewer with all the transactions
OF society, and is suited to the genius Of our
people. 1t awakens enterprise, it encourages
emulation, it rewards industry, and it filled
up the vast vacuum inseparable from our con-
diiion when we stepped into existence feeble
and needy, and has been our current and ne
gotiable endorser ever since. II connects
the past, the present and the future by SO
many ties, that it cannot be exterminated
without ruinous revulsion in all the impor-
tant interests of the country and fearful en-
barrassments to the government
Examining dispassionately the operation
of this useful agent upon the general and pro-
forced to admit that ii has achieved more for
us than has fallen to the lot Of any other ma
ton. With but few and transient Interrupt
tons, our course has been continuous flow
of prosperity aud happiness
In the short space of half century we
have become the second commercial ration.
of the world-our agriculture and manufac-
lures have reached a maturity that has given
al F~<>,,, all i
pendences-our population has quintupled-.
we have embraced within our policy the dis
tant regions of the southwest and west, and
brought into the confederacy thirteen states
in addition to the odd thirteen" We have
paid off the debt OF two wars, amounting to
nearly two hundred millions Of dollars-in the
great system of internal improvements, we
are subduing both time and space, adding
countless millions to our wealth, and binding
by thousand indissoluble ties the unity Of
our federal compact. In all the elements
that make nation great, we have taken rank
with the. first powers of the world. 1t is
quite certain that these wonderful results
have been principally aided and accelerated
by the credit system we have practised
But if this system is the curse of modern
times as some absurdly charge it, it is quite
strange that the people Of the United States
have not before been notified of the baneful
qualities and dangerous society of monster
they have cherished as the great lever Of
their power for the last fifty years. If on the
one hand it has opened our canals, built our
rail roads, established our schools, extended
our commerce, subdued the wilderness, set
our factories in motion, built our cities and
villages, and in thousand ways ameiorated
and advanced the condition of the people, and
rendered us great powerful, and glorious as a
nation, where, on the other hand can be traced
any very affecting or enduring mark of the
ravages of the system in the character OF
CURSE The human system occasionally suf-
fers in consequence OF some excess or IN
temperance Abuse of the credit system may
have in few instances produced disorders
of the country, but they are less the fault OF
the system itself than of its accusers, and
, they are never of overbalancing or permanent
Importance. ".
The system was first adopted in England
in the reign of William and Mary in 1893,
and has existed up to this time under various
notifications. 1t commenced new era in
the history of British power and resources
1t has made England the first commercial
and manufacturing nation as well as the first
naval power of the word-it has made her
the banker of nations-it has enabled her to
substitute nearly all Europe, and to preserve
the political balance of power long and often
endangcred-it gave her deiverance In the
darkest hours of her adversities, and enabled
her to paralize the arm that meditated her
fall and subjugation, and built up for her
commanding moral influence that is respected
wherever the light of civilization has reached.
She is therefore UNNECESSARILY in advance OF
the nations of Continental Europe. Unaided
by this system, the most prosperous of these
nations have moved with tardy pace, whilst
others have refrigerated to the lowest stage
of poverty and degradation. They saw
in this system an enemy to the reign OF
despotism that weakened the scePsfe just in
proportion as it gave wings to enterprise and
awakened the slumbering energies Of be-
nighted people. TO obviate it therefore, they
adopted metallic currency in some parts and
a mixed currency, base and unsound In 9th
ers, as being most certain to perpetuate and
exalt the order of the patrlcians and fortliy
the power that rules.
A system of credit is system of confs
dence In an unmixed metallic currency, the
laws of trade must be for the most part those
of the freebooter and the robber. Tho
holder of commodities trusts them not out
of his sight until the hard purchase mo-
noy is paid into his hand in coin. With one
hand he holds upon his goods and with the
other grasps the metallic equivalent. The
laborer must have his hire in advance; con-
tracts are out of the question, and plighted
faith is UNDECIDED and condemned. The OPP
eratons of trade, of art, Of manufacturing and
producing must be limited to. the amount of