The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1838-02-21

He would not say that these "sie s"'
seo,epc.s orthe State bank deposne SYSTEM,
NJ had said urnn that poiut all he intended
40 s.y. hut /, was matter Of history That
-. d;s,.,ers had come upon the coun-
,r, ,nder the practical operation at that
sys,er.. What had been the effect of the
nneration. for two-thirds of n year, of the
.ystem which it was supposed would de-
siroy credit, depress property, discourage
enterprise and exerton, and send the coun-
try back to state of barbarisml Foreign
exchanges had been, for some time, down
to and below par. in our commercial mar
kets; thus affording conclusive evidence
that our foreign debt had been reduced
within ordinary limits; domestic exchanges
were rapidly approxima,ing healthiui
state, furnishing the s,me evidence that IN
ternal trade was gradually aud steadily e.
qualizing itself; property retained fsir
value, and found a steady market; credit
and confidence were gaining strength; anu
the banks, as general remark, were re-
covering from their late excesses, ana pre-
pairing for speedy resumption OF specie
payn,ents. Such seemed to be the history
of ouI business prospects atthe present mo-
ment. He did not mention these things 10
ascribe them to the operations OF the Ma
tional Treasury, or to the manner IN which
those ope rations had been conducted since
.he suspension of tie banks, but to prove
that the practical operation of system for
the management of our finances, such as Is
substantially provided for by the bill, had
not had the effect to retard and defeat these
great and beneficial business results, nor to
repress the immense energies, and to Grip
pie the vast resources, ofour extended coun-
try.
Surely, then, SO far as experience has
afforded evidence, ii offers no cause tor
discouraeemeh to the friends of the meas
ure, and inasmuch as opinions beyond tha,
whether favorable or unfavorable, are little
more than conjecture, the opposers OF the
bill should not demand of us to surrender
our favorable Judgment, though thus slight
ly tested, in favor of a measure which re-
peated experiment, both IN adversely and
in prosperity, has proved to be delusiye and
dangerous.
The next objection he proposed to notice
was, that the operations of the bill would
be to separate the Government from the
people, and to secure sound currency fol
the public officers, and base currency for
the country.
This, again, was a startling objection
and required examination. Its first as
sumption was, that the tendency of the meas
ure under discussion would be To separate
the Government of the country from the
people Of the country to elevate the for
mer and depress the latter and the second
was, that the separation would be marked
by difference in the value of the currency
TO be provided for and secured TO each
Had either Of these assumptions any foun-
dation in fact, or even in fair apprehension
He had already attempted to show, and
thought he had succeeded in showing, that
the financial system proposed by the bill
was preferable to the State bank depositt
system in the following respects, namely
in the safety il afforded to the pnbIic mon
eys; in the expenses and risks attending
its administration in its salutary influences
upon the banking institutions themselves
in the limitations of patronage added to the
Executive branch of the Government; IN
the independence it secures to the Govern
ment financially, and the exemption it con-
fers from injurious imputations; and in it:
tendency, to the full extent of the operations
of the National Treasury and of the exer-
tion of all The constitutional power of thi.
Government, 10 produce and maintain q
sound and stable currency for the whole
country. If he had succeeded in estab-
fishing these positions, would it, could it
be said, that system possessing such ad-
vantages was calculated to produce sePara-
.,,I ,l,a IL, II
the country and the Government of theil
choice He could not believe it.
But the objection assumed that this sep
aration was to grow out the different cur.
rences produced for the Government and
the people, by the necessary action of the
system. That the effect of the bill would
be, and was intended TO be, to produce and
maintain uniform and sound currency fol
the National Treasury, and for all who
might have demands upon it, as well the
officers Of the Government as others, wa.
most freely admitted. Indeed this was
claimed as one Of the principal merits of the
system. But did it follow that, because the
bill had this tendency, it would therefor.
tend to debase the general currency of the
people2 Certainly not. No such conse.
quence followed. On the contrary, it hao
been already shown that, so far as it should
exert any influence upon the general cur.
rency, that influence must be to raise tha
currency to level with that secured to tn,
Treasury. Ii, then, the people were to hav,
base currency, they were to have it, no
in consequences of the bill, bu, in de6anc,
of it; they were 10 receive it, not from tn,
public Treasury, but from their own Stat,
banks; not from the evils Of the Legislation
of Congress, but from the evils of State leg
islation. Did any one pretend that the bill
could exert an influence to debase any por.
ton Of the currency upon which 1t had nc
direct notion He had not heard il so CON.