Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1837-07-04

With regard TO the present situation Of our |
country, my sentiments correspond entirely |
with yours. In the midst of the bounties OF
Providence, showed upon US with profusion
scarcely ever avished upon any other nation,
we are suffering severely from causes which
fear we must attribute entirely 10 ourselves.
In our relations at this time with Foreign Ma
tons, and more especially with the Indian
tribes, VIC have far more to answer for tnan In
complain Of. Our recent Indian war was Of
our own provoking, and has been waged in no
credtable manner. And while we have
wronged our neighbor at the South, by utterly
uniustifable violations Of her territory, unau-
thoriezd even by Congress, we have permitted
another neighbor at the North, to encroacb
with IMMUNITY upon our own territory; and 10
curtail the boundaries Of a state, once par: Of
our own native commonwealth.
We present at the present moment, still
more astonishing and portentious spectacle
to the world Without a dollar of national
debt, we are in the midst of national bank
ruptcy. From treasury Overlooking with
fifty millions Of dollars, our government pays
in paper trash, the wages Of the clerks in the
public Offices. The nation is insovont--the
whole people is insovent. You inquire if
this is owing 10 the conduct OF the late admin
lstraton. believe it is attributable 10 various
cause, among which the grant of the use Of
the monies in the treasury, to numerous state
corporations, by The order Of the late President
of the United States, without authority of law,
was the most pernicious. Having said so when
the deed was done, can have no hesitation
in repeating it now, that its fatal consequences
arc seen floating from the wreck OF public
credit. The use of the public monies, while
in the Treasury, in the interval between the
receipt OF them as revenue, and the payment
Of them as public expenditures, TO fulfil the
engagements Of the nation, had been granted
| by law, 10 the Bank Of the United States, for
an equivalent. II never had been of much
profit to that bank, because the depoeites there
| had never been considerable at any one time
! They never were suffered to accumulate; for
the moment a surplus appeared, it was appi.
ed towards the discharge Of the national debt.
IL was precisely at the moment when the
whole debt was paid off, and when the reve-
nue. was doubled by the sudden and enormous
increase OF the proceeds Of the public lands,
that the use Of the monies in the Treasury, was
taken from the Bank of the United States,
chartered by and under the control Of Con-
cress and drbbled out in parcels TO suit ia
vourite purchasers, 10 q multitude Of State
Banks, without responsible capitals, and wholly
beyond the control Of Congress, or Of the Ex-
ecutive Government Of the United States. OF
the means Of information possessed blythe
Government, as 10 their condition and credit,
YOU may Judge from the recent Circular ad-
dressed to them by the Secretary OF the
Treasury, stating that he had learnt their stop
page Of payment, from the newspapers.
But the ruin Of the pecuniary concerns Of
the nation, the melancholy reverse Of fortune,
and loss Of character among the wealthy, and
the loss of daily bread to the laboring poor and
their children, the distress we are witnessing
| Ill ola n tho ueonln arn IN q
alone TO the errors of the late Administration
There have been errors Of the people them
selves for which they are now atonlng, anc
from which they can recover only by their owr
energies The tide of their prosperity has
rushed upon them in q tempest, till it over
flowed their banks, and broke down theil
mounds All history tesi6es, Us the father o
our race pronounces his lamentation in the
Paradise Lost
"Now perceive
Peace to corrupt, no less than War 10 was tie
The unrestrained pursuit Of inordinat'
wealth, end the abuse Of credit, especially b.
the agency of Banks, are the proximate cause
of The catastrophe under which we are now la
f boring. believe a National Bank chartered
by Congress, with capital sufficiently larg
to control all other existing banks, and 10 reg
uate the currency, TO be the only practicable
expedient for restoring and maintaining spec
payments; but | entertain doubts whether
should be bank Of discount. With regard I,
. this nv mind is not definitely made up. iRclin
more strongly 10 the opinion, that the suspen
sion of specie payments by such bank shouIt
not only operate as an immediate forfeiture o
it's charter, but be made penal offence in thu
President and Directors of the Institution
The violation Of moral principle, committed
By bank in suspending specie payments is
in nv opinion, not inferior TO that Of lraudulen
! bankruptcy in an individual. The right Of an,
! Legislature to authorize such suspension i
! questionable, and the repeal OF laws express
enacted TO enforce the fulflment of contracts
at the very moment when they have Teen brok
> en-, is mockery OF al moral principle, and
scandal TO human legislation
But, fellow citizens, indulge the hope tina
the sufferngs Of our country, at the presen
crisis, are like the paroxisms ffever, efforts @
nature TO throw off the disease. We hay
I tried the nostrums Of empires, and, as usua
o they have aggravated the worst symptoms c
8 the dstemper. | fear we have not yet reache
: the last stage Of the pestlence, and that we ar
d still to he more severely handled by the docto
o than by the disease.
: But the patient has firm and vigorous con
: stitntion, and he cannot die. After sufferin
/ as we must under the operation OF some othe
!" mountebank experiment, upon The failure
which those who palm it upon us will tell NJ
il is what they always predicted, and then off
h another, perhaps the people themselves wi
n discover that they have been led astray upon
: wrong track, and will return to the right on'
u That has happened to US more than ono
J, heretofore. This calm and considerate rctnr
Q of the people. through their own sutierlngs,
= iuotce, temperance, and prosperity, is one {
n the greatest and best characteristics OF III
: nation. 1t gave us an excellent constitute
IF Of the United States, instead of Nationi
}. PaIay. under the name of Confederation:
y L nj Mum inc on