The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-24

distinguished above all others by their ntelIoenc.
sagacity, activity, ard bodness in affairs such peri
DDS Of crisis and convulson inevitable and no mis-
chiefs which they possibly do would be half so bad
as the only preventive that would insure US against
er occurrence the entire extinction OF the spirit that
leads to them.
sir, othe general defamation against banking we
dye W oppose The experience of the most prosperous
hatiohs III the world There is a country, for in
stance, whose whole currency is Of paper and where
one seldom meets with piece of gold-whose bank
ing companies, whether with or without charter
subjected 10 no restraints o. control but such
spring out OF the vigilance of free and eager com
petition, have for upwards of century together con-
ducled their affairs with so much skill integrity and
prudence as not only never TO have occasioned any
loss either to the public the parties interested but
on the contrary, by the confession Of all competent
Judges ohaye conferred the greatest blessings upon
bolh-to have contributed more than any single
cause perhaps than all other put together,
prhS Out and develop completely all the resources Of
The land, TO foster industry to animate enterprise
and by an abundant supply of the means of exchange
10 turn It's capital and labor TO the greatest possible
accoun--where, in addition to these economical adj
VantageS, they have contrived to exercise high
moral control, sort OF cenSoral authority over the
community, and especially the humber classes of
it. by beStowng rewards in the shape of credit upon
industry and economy, and lending upon good per-
sonal character as If il were solid capital, and
through system of cash and interest upon
small depositeS have given 10 the deserving aborer
the combined advantages Of Savings Bank and a
friendly endorser-a country which has made greater
progress within the period mentioned than any other
IN Europe, with an agriculture second (if second)
only to that of Flanders, with a fourshing COM
merce, with manufactures of the greatest extent and
the most exquisite refmement-who,e cities have
almost kept pace with ours whose whole face in its
gadness and beauty bears testimony TO the spirit Of
Improvement that has animated her-What country
is that Scotland, sir. Every body has heard,
ought to have heard of the Scotch system of bank
ing and ask il any thing can be more irreconcila-
bic with the theories confidently advanced here,
than facts connected with its historyf know, sir,
what may be said in reply othis otherwisetriumph-
ant example. am aware that the Scotch banks have
in times of pressure, been compelled to lean upon
the Bank of Engand-that objections have been
made by high authorities to the principles which
they have been conducted, and that other persons,
admitting their unquesionabe usefulness and sue
cess have ascrbed il to circumstances which render
the system an unfit model for imitation elsewhere.
Be il So But still it is Notwithstanding on the
English plan with very inadequate supply, scarcely
any supply, of bullion, banking without limitation
or control, without any reference responsibility to
government-banking, in a word, with all the de-
fects imputed to that system in their most exaggerat
ed forms .'t@5"*~s ...
But if this example be satisfactory let look at
the experience of the other countries in which the
system exists and exists told, in its most
vicious sate--England and the United States. Look
at the results have no faith at all in speculative po-
ltcs A theorst IN government is as dangerous as a
theorist in medicine, agriculture, and for precisely
the reasou-the subjects too complicated and
too obscure for simple and decisive experiments 60
for undisputed results in the long Now surely
philosophical inquirer into the history Of the commerce
and public economy Of nations, if he people pre-
eminently distinguished in those particulars above all
Others would be inclined to ascribe their superiority to
what peculiar in their institutions at least whatever
might be his ideas p,ioyi such SUBJECTS he would
be very slow to deny to any remarkable peculiarly IN
those institutions its full Importance OF the pro-
hail Of Tho W. hp
he could clearly show the contrary Then, sir by what
example TO be guided in such matters II not by
that Of Engand-by far the most magnificent manifesto
ton that the world any age OF 1t, has ever behed OF
the might and the grandeur OF civilized life Sir, have
weighed every syllable that utter-l express deli
berate conviction, founded upon patient inquiry and
q comparison complete, my limited knowledge has
enabled me to make it, between the past and present
condition Of mankind, and between The great nation of
which speaking and those which surround her Sir,
there is a gulph between them--that channel
separates worlds-t is ocean more than three thou
sand miles wide | appeal to any who has been
abroad, whether going from England to any part Of the
contnent-be not descending immensely in the scale Of
civilization. know, sir that that word is an amblgu
Gus one know that in Of the graces Of polish
ed society, in OF the arts OF elegant magma
ton that in the sciences and learning and
general intellectual cultivation, nations have
celled, perhaps, many equaled England. But in that
civilization which, have said before, is the great
is immediately connected with the subject before you
which once springs Of and leads the accumula
ton Of capital and the distribution OF wealth and COM
fort through all classes OF community, with an I'M
aggregate of national power and resources-that
civilization which enables man to WELD these elements,
and arm him with the force of all their regions
which gives him dominion all other creatures, and
makes him emphatcally the Lord OF the Universe
that civilization which consists not in music, not in
PLAYING on the flute, the Athenian hero said but in
turning small city into great one-n that Victorious
triumphant, irresistible civilization, there is nothing
corded in the annals of mankind that does not sink INTO
the shades of the deepest eclipse by the side OF England
say nothing Of her recent achievements on the land
and the sca-of her fleets her armies, her subsidized al
lies Look at the Thames crowded with shipping
visit her arsenas, her docks her canals, her railways
her factories her mines her warehouses; her roads, and
brdges-go through the streets OF that wonderiulmetro-
polls the bank the emporium and the exchange Of the
whole world-converse with those merchants who con-
duct and CONTROL as Tar as possible to CONTROL the
commerce Of all nations, with those manufacturers who
fill every market with their unrivaled productsgo into
that bank which is the repository OF the precious metals
for all EuTopeconsder its notes well as the bills OF
private bankers, at premium every where, more vau-
able than specie, symbols not merely OF gold, but OF
what is far precious than god yea, than fine gold,
of perfect good faith, of unbemlshed integrity of sa
pacous enterprise OF scadfast, pcrscvcnng industry,
OF boundess wealth. of business cO-oxtensiye with the
earth and of all these things possessed, exercised,
loved, protected under system OF liberty chasened by
the law which maintains IT, and OF law soltened and nit
ratcd hy the spirit Of liberty which breathcs through
out Sir know, well as any one, what compen-
saons there are for all this opuence and power for it
is the condition Of our being that buy our bles-
sings at price" ! know that there disturbing
causes which have hitherto marred 10 degree, the
etfec, OF this high and mighty civilization but the hand
Of reform has been already applied to them, and every
thing promises the most suspicious results | have
it on the most unquestionabIe authority, because
from an unwilling witness, that within the memory Of
man. never were the lahorng classes Of England
vcrsay employed and comfortably situated at the
beginning of the present year
But | said there was another nation that had some
experience banking and its effects Sir, dare not
trust mxsclf to speak OF country with the RAPTURE