The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1837-07-22

cut off from each other in commercial in
tercourse, and rendered aliens in their own
| land. In word tile currency, the very
| life-blooa of business in this active enter
prising and thrifty nation is so deeply di-
seased already, that general paralysis has
seized upon our prosperity, d althongh our
government is the most free, and fostering
in the world, menaces, II some corrective
be not applied, to sweep it, with the besom
of destruction. TO the general view of the
subject here given, may be added, This of
an individual nature, that every man who
thinks he has the honest representative of
five dollars in his pocket, in the shape of a
Five dollar bill, is egreGiouslv mistaken, for
owing to the depreciation of bank notes, it
is in reality worth little more than three
dollars, so that every man who has in his
possession, or is compelled to take paper
money of great or small denominations, has
at once practical Illustration of the inius-
tice and hucmation of the system. This is
no exaggerated picture, fellow citizens,
proofs of its sad reality are before us, and
around us, on all sides. The description
narrowing rs it is, is re-echoed from city
and country, from hill top ard valley, in all
sections of the land.
The foundation of our national prosperity
is shaken, but not overthrown. The ma
ton is too youthful and vigorous, the holds
of corruption are too weak, the energy of
industry, and the impulse of patriotism are
too strong to yield more than a temporary
submission TO the storm. Let us be on the
alert, and call into action the inborn spirit
of the American people, ascertain the eau
ses that have produced these evils, and the
remedies that are practicable, and we will
rise again with new strung nerves for the
contest, and augmented wisdom to provide
against their future recurrence, obtained in
the dear bought but precious school of ex-
perience.
After this general depression has done its
work, the resuscitation of general and indi-
vidual prosperity, will in one or two years,
by the adoption ofproper measures, not
only restore TO us what has been lost, but
will fully compensate for every evil, in the
stability and security that will lie impaired
| to our currency.
III. Having adverted to the existing con-
dition of the country, it hext becomes ne
cessary, in order to provide remedy, that
the causes which have led to it, should be
examined, and fpossible that means to e.
radicats them be pointed out. 1t will not
become essential, to take up and consider
separately the various causes that have been
assigned by different writers. 1t will be
enough 10 say, that neither the reihoyal of
the depositcs--the specie circular, nor all,
or any of the measures of President Jack
III nInic ha,
by any natural possibility, have produced
the present state Of affairs Those meas
ures important as they were, to check the
spread of the disorders in the currency, and
to lay the foundation for their final cure,
and correction could no more produce the
vast and violent conyulsions, that we have
already described-than according to Mr..
Biddle's metaphor the shifting of the bal
last, could arouse the storm that dashes the
ship on the breakers-or the bubbles that
dance on the bosom of the ocean could pro-
duce the mighty upheaving waves, that toss
them to the winds. The causes lie deeper
than any measures, within the constitution
al power of the whole Legislative and ex-
ecutive departments of the general govern
ment to devise, and adopt.
Touching the immediate interests Of the
people, in so few points, any system of le-
gislation on the part of the national govern
ment, must, of necessity merely reguyute,
and cannot create the multifarious opera
tions of the whole community. Let it be
retollected too, that in this instance, the
premonitory symptoms of the final catas-
trophe, began to be exhibited before Gen.
Jackson was elected to the presidency at
all. 1t is true, that during his adminlstra-
tion the causes that were before at work
silently and secretly, have been accelerated
by his efforts to remove them, and thus
prove most incontestibly that they were
seated in the system he sought to amend,
and not in his measures to affect it. This
bositioh is susceptible of such clear demon
stration, that no honest man can doubt it.
What was that system, against which all
the energies of President Jackson's power
ful mind, and transcendant popularity aided
by the zeal6us cooperation of the people,
was directed for eight eventful years, with
out completing the salutary reforms, that
were essential to render il beneficial to the |
countryl Your own experience and good
judgment will point at once TO the uncheck-