The North-Carolina standard., 1838-06-27

cd n
The Government and of the country, IS demand |
ed for the banks by the very same men VINO are
nroclaiming to the people that they should re-
oco NO confidence in the Government itself, OF
r their own virtue and ability to select. the ON
GERS of Government But what act oil Cong'ess
or of the Executive, could restore Puoilc Conn
dence in these institutions? None, SIR, Inone the
minds of freemen are not the subjects OF le9lsla-
tive coercion their judgments will never be
forced by law upon falsehood in the very pre-
sence of opposing truth. Y You may declare the
confidence of Congress in the so1vency and non
estv of all these corporations, but such decaIa
tion will neither be true nor effective; ana u IL
could thus control the public Judgment as Is
asked and expected, it would be legislative
fraud upon the people,, and an act, OF "'o
Itreachery to the country. .-..sl .,.,,
The second and last cardinal feature OF the Dill
before us:-what is ii, and what does 1t propose
Does it propose, as has been assumed IN oeoate'
an immediate collection of all the revenue IN
metal? No: it provides for the receipt after
one year, Of one-sixth part only IN specie ana
Then proportienate annual increase OF metal
for tbe six succeeding years; after which, no
notes are receivable This, with the deposite
fsature constitutes the whole of the bill called
the Sub-Treasury and it is for such a bill that
the substitute has been submitted by the Senator
from Virginia, mir. RIvEs1
And now, what are the features and primer
pies Of this substitute
Il first assumes that there are two currencies
in the country, one better than the other that
the people and the Government are two separate
and hostile bodies and that the latter seeks 10 ap
propriate to itself the better currency, and to
| force the less valuable upon the former; and
having assumed such to be the facts, and such
the design of the Government, the substitute then
nroceeds to defeat this design, by forcing the IN
| ferior currency on both Government and people
| II l,o, &c od mi ned he
over. to be the only standard of value for labor
and property II, therefore, it be true, that pa
per is less valuable, then that fact is reason
conclusive not only against its receipt as money
by the Government, but also against the bank
ing system itself. by which such paper is impos-
ed upon the community
! But how stands the other proposition, so re-
pealedly urged by the mover and by the friends
OF the substituted Is it true that the people and
the Government are distinct and hostile bodies? ?
1t will be admitted, I presume, that the men Of
America, acting through their State agencies,
created,rhe Government 1t will not be question
ed that they elect its officers, supply its revenues,
and prescribe its policy; nor will it be denied
that they the men, are, in fact the Government
itself What then, does the Senator from Vir-
ninia mean by the term people, body distinct
FROM and hostile TO, the Governments l will
seek his meaning in the tendency OF his argu-
ment, and in the character of the authority he
pressed into his service.
That Senator sir, has commended the genius,
and invoked to his aid the opinions OF Mr.. Burke.
l, too, acknowledge, in many respects, the just
authority Of that transcendant intellect; nor do
withhold from the memory of the man that sa-
cred respect which is due from an American to
the memory of one whose lifea and actions, though
an Enelishman and at home. had bearing up
on the Revolutionary Struggle OF our fathers. by
no means unffiendly 10 its success. But sull.
the writings and sentiments of Mr.. Burke were
those of monarchist He had been reared "a
midst, and died devoted to, the monarchical sys-
tenn of Great Britains and OF Europe. II his OBJ
iections to the abuses Of that system were great
! his fears from its overthrow were yet greater; ;
and it cannot be disguised that as he declined IN
the vale Of years, his mind took refuge In those
yerv abuses from the terrorS OF the French rev
olution 1t was then that he sought to check
those liberal principles TO which his earlier llle
4 had been devoted it was then, when the lnsur-
gent spirit and rising power OF an oppressed peo-
nle threatened the very existence OF monarchy; /;
i was then that he came forward as politician
and as an author, to re2ress that spirit, and re-
sist that power: The same philosophical tenn
ner of mind which rendered him timid as
statesman, amid the convulsive action of masses
ultimately led him in search OF some abstract
principle upon which to rest his opposition to all
4 nopular movements 1t was then and with this
tion and in his celebrated Appeal from the new
to the old Wings" he laid down and enforced
the principle, that men, told bg the head are not
in political sense, the people OF a country but
that failures, corporations, orders, and classes,
being distinct parts of the general mass. AMI
founded upon prerog otire, privilege, perpet~tty,
and property that these taken together consti-
tute "the people," or the nation, Thus in his
creed, the natural man, the individual citizen is
annihilated constituent element of the nation
or the people, and the artificial combination sub
stituted in his place-a principle, the exact op-
poste of that upon which this Government, with
3 its freedom, stands And yet, sir, it is upon this
: principle of MIR. Burke that the discrimination
: is here sought to be made between the Govern
e ment and the people. is here, in the Senate,
S that the same combinations, ORDERS banks, and
j corporations, resting upon the same separate in
= terests the same privileges and immunities, stand
forth claiming to be "the peOple' of this country
i and asserting right TO its Government We
:, can now understand what is meant when gentle
e men Mr.. Burke's school speak OF "the people, y
i We may know that corporations, that banks, moi
:, individuals, are intended we may know thai
Ithi o1r,l., for R,lrly,