Litchfield enquirer., 1838-08-09

Currency-which many think was a very sorry reform indeed. He said that the cur rency was not so sound and so uniform us it was the duty of the Government to make it and he therefore attempted to give us cur rency more sound and more uniform.
 The depoSites were removed in '3S, and the policy of employing the State Banks us the Repositories was adopted, and that expe- rimeDt has been proved. It was then said that better and safer currency would be provided for the country. 1 refer to this but to say that down to '37, the duty of furnish- ing currency, an actual currency for com
 merce had been considered the undoubted duty of Congress as much so, us the duty of making war or foreign treaties. This re-
 moval of the deposites had led to the suspen- sion of specie payments by the Banks, and since then new reading of the Constitution
 had been adopted. No such duty could be
 found. It has been scanned by candle light, and it is not there. This plain duty, which ! no man to '37 has questioned, vanishes at l once, and the new commentators can't find 1t. A new Administration came into power, pledged to follow in the footsteps of it's pre- decessor; but there was one footstep too big | for him to put his foot ina stride too long
 for him to take. This is serious fact, for
 in that, which may call fatal message, to
 the last session of Congress, there was the
 announcement of q disavowal of all power
 in the General Government, under the autho- rity ofthe Constitution, to regulate the Com
 merce or the Currency.
 The Message of 1887 does disavow any
 power on the part of the Government upon 1 these subjects and that may do no injus- tice to the President will repeat the words.
 The President says, from want of Con stitutional power, refrain from recommend ing any plan for the regulation of the curren- cy, for the relief of the commerce of the country" Any plan to regulate the foreign and domestic commerce of the country, is not, he says, in the power of the Government to adopt. Yet it is written in the Constittl- ton, that Congress has power over both for eign and domestic commerce.
 What was the necessity for any plan? It was not the crisis of the country, but it was the crisis of party. The Administration preceding the present, had rejected the Uni ted States Bank, and had set up the question that the Bank was unconstitutional. This idea they had set up all over the country. II have nothing to say for the wisdom or mo- desty of men, who after legislative decisions and judicial enactments of half century, choose to set up their private judgment against the general confirmed opinion of the country.
 It was then, the general commitment of the party against the use of the Bank, or any other Bank. by which the Administration was brought into dilemma, and which led to the necessity of some plan. will refer (though at the risk of some imputation of bad taste) those of you who recollect to have seen them, to the remarks made by me at Wheeling, when the suspension of specie payments was first made known. happen ed to be there at the time. I saw at once that the suspension had produced a new era had raised a new question, and that, whe- ther the Administration succeeded or not, there would be no prosperity until it was finally settled.
 No sooner had the State Banks suspended, | and among them those who were deposito- l ries of the Government, than the Admins tration raised the cry of treachery, want of faith, perfMy-a cry as false, in my opinion, as the cry raised short time before by the same party, that they were safe and could commit no error. a..
 But whether the suspension was rightful- Fly made or not, the Administration seeing themselves shut out from the use of the Banks,-finding that the experiment had failed-and being incapable (for it is in the | power only of great minds) of going back having no power to make any new experi- ments-being like man floating in cur rent ready to catch at any snag, and wait ing for some piece of floating timber-they | were ready for any thing rather than the Bank. It was plain that they would do pre- cisely what they have done. Seeing that ! they had deprived themselves of the power to control the currency, they said they could not find it. It was natural that they should | do precisely what they did, and by saying that they had not the power, relieve them- selves from the duty of exercising it. They l had deprived themselves ofthe constitutional means of performing their duty, and tried 1 to avoid the responsibility. but the people 1 forced that duty upon them, and called upon them to execute it. l cannot but remember | the fabled Giant of antiquity, upon whom, | while tearing asunder the oak, the strong fi- bres reacted, and caught him in the rent.
 We arc not safe moment after we lose | sight of the great principle that the Govern ment must regulate tho currency. If that power is surrendered, to whom shall it be given! To the States! To all the Banks
 To the whole people! No, Gentlemen, suf- abandoning the vessel of State to be borne l along, without helm or guide, down the cur rent, in the midst of danger and darkness.-
 As l have said, whether the Sub- Treasury be
 for the receipt of money, or for the issuing
 of Treasury Notes, all is for the purpose of
 relieving the Government from the embar-
 rassment caused by their experiments. I
 say for distinctness, and to prevent msap-
 prehension, that do not think it the indis
 pensible obligation of the Government to ere.
 ate National Bank. Ispeak not of parti.
 cular measures. say it is the general duty
 of Congress to regulate the currency-but
 the particular manner is not prescribed.-
 Congress is left to its own judgment as tothe
 means to be employed. But by whatever
 means, it is duty, which, unperformcd, one grand object of the Constitution is unaccom- plished. l say, what no event can contro-
 vert, that till Congress takes care of the cur
 rency, that part of the Constitution is unful-