Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1837-10-04

of more :han three hours III length aid mach
decision deliver ID his TieWs Of the various
Questions involved in the subject t2lu.a tho
Senate The following presents b:!ef oa'-
ne ol Scne points touched on IN his n'c:s:iI'g
Gdde He said he had felt great cn5arras
u,cu: drrin! the whole ofthe session in regard
10 the propositions OF lur. kires and Air Cal
houn. I.c was not entirely in favor of either.
He had been alwavs opposed to TIE State bank
system. ana had predicted the disasters whch
haze fnIloIc! is adoption. He insisted that
it had not nn!y failed, ba: was an entire failure
from tha bg;n;ng-a system OF fraud anu deccp
ton. /. produced spccula:ions in the cx
changes, bv the officers Of the banks who were
expected to regulate them; the alleged inc'!'-
ties of exchange were merely nominal; and he
adduced instances to show that shaving, to a
great extent upon them, had been carried on.
The Specie Circular had increased the amount
Of shaving; anA he addlccd instances q enor-
nous profits divided, BY the banks in the city
of his residence. He expressed the belieitha
tbs currencT and exchanges, bad as they oil
course wers,made still worse b. the in:erposi-
ton of the President.
Hr. 4. had been rather inclined to favor
the sub.trcasurv system, till the argun 'nt
Ar. Benton convinced him ofits lnexpedlency.
He ridiculed Mr. BIS prccelents, drawn from
the Roman empire, from Napolesn,'roIn Spain,
and from Turkey, and characterized their H.
nancia! measure IS those Of plunder, opp.cs-
sion, and blood. Mr. Benton had entirely
fr;oh,encd Mr.. K. from the support Of his sub.
treasury svsten, rs modified by Mr. Calhoun.
AIR K. expressed the hope that he would
find himself able to supper: the present Admin
istra;ion; but he mnst speak the truth. The
message, he SAID, was greatly arroneouS IN va
rious particulars, which he proceeded to sh. W,
mostly from authentic statements and other
documents. Bv these he proved that the pa.
per currency in England had 60: been expan:
ded. as the message alleged; that there had
been 10 increase ofspccuatlon there; that the
value OF tho currency there had been lncreas-
ed, aud not deprecated; that there had little
.r no augmentation ofloans in England; that
no universal commercial distress had occurred
there, except what was owing to Its commerce
with this country; and that in Eng land there
had bee, no overtradlng. Mr.. h. expressed
extreme reg;ct that these errors Of the mes
sage bad gone forth to the world, aud been
believed as truth, vii, there was no truth IN
them. He deprecated the importatons Of
specie which had been forced into this country;
and argued that this forced mass, instead OF
going into tho circulation of the country, went
into the banks, and served as the basis OF ex-
cessiYc pancr issues Tie S30,0OO,O00 OF
foreign debt, in March last, as stated BY the
message, he thought an error, since more than
S32 10000 OF such debt had been paid since
that period. ,
lur. King then entered into an elaborate and
interesting financial investigation.to show that
the system adopted and acted upon By the Ad'
ministration had been vain warfare against
.hc natura! order ofthings in commercial trans:
actions They had unnaturally forced gold and
silver into the country from England, and then
endeavorcd to keep it he:e, despite OF the nat
ural causes which led it to flow backwards
and forwards; that, By this violent procedure,
the Bank of England had been obliged, III Its
own defence, On order to prevent It's own vaults
being drained Of all their specle,) to put Stop
TO American credits, and call in its debts. II
il had not done SO, it would have been forced
to suspend Now, if the natural laws OF trade
had been allowed to prevail-lf the merchants
Of this country could have been allowed to oe-
tain specie to pa, tho debt, and could have
RENTED il t. Eagland,no embarrassment would
have followed; but the specie which they re-
oulred was drained away to the West by the
unnatural aud violent process oftho specie cir
cular; in consequence Of which scarcity OF
specie was created OH the Atlantic board. The
effects of the specie circ uar, whlle thus ruin
Gus TO the commerce ofthe East, were not less
disastrous to the trade aud business OF the
West. The banks there we're drained OF spe-
specie by its opera ion; it was, in fact: the
commencement ofa general run upon them,
begun by the Goveynmentitsclt; most lmpol-
tic and fatal procedure. Thus embarresments
were created on oil sides, by attempting to
force things to flow unnaturaly IN channels
contrary to the course and order OF trade
Thus run against the trade and trading instt-
tutions Of the country (and, by consequence,
against ell the people of the country was IN
stituted and carried on by the very Govern
ment OF the country Itself, and against its own
country! suicidal course which, perhaps had
no parallel in the history of the world.
Among other positions, Mr &. brought for
ward the following, which he maintained by
various arguments, and illustrated with clear
ness and force
l. the banks are not nsolvent merely because
they do not pay specie. Specie is made to bs
an article OF merchandise-it is no longer an
itom of currency. The premium which Gov
ernment has put upon has driven 1t OH from
being currency X never can become eur
rcn and bo currency so long as Government
by It's exclusive measures IN reference to spe-
Gle, forces it up at premium; that is, to drive
i. out Of the general currency: It's now a
commodity kept III brokers' shops, ready Tor
sale, as any other merchsndise.
Q. The adoption of hard money currency:
and the exclusion of paper currency would
bs equal to the coniscation CT one third OF the
property Of every individual Of the country.
g. The paper currency Of the country is not,
as it is represented by some, now deprecated
in value On the contrary, it has risen IN val
ue, and is now, at this moment, above the val
..,L:.l .oo.,, boro bnE>ra b,, srSpansIOn -