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

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sensible Ia standing and character; tha,
they will violate their faith tn their surelics
aud their county; that they will cmhrzzle
ihe public money in their hands, aud thus
subject themselves To infamous punishment
I to Imprisonment with rogues and
. frlons for term Of not less than two
years.
One of The risks under the State Bank
; depose system is the same misconduct
and dishonesty of the officers, agents aud
managers of the hanks, aud they nre Du-
merous, aud many of them selected Ia per-
form subordinate duties. Without any im-
puiaiion upon the institutions. therefore,
or their principal officers, it cannoi be un-
fair to assume that many of the persons
who must have access to the books, ac-
counts, aud money, will not ne persons of
that standing and character which would
he required, lay all concerned in tho Sc
leclioa and appointment of responsible pub
lic officers. la The case of The bank, too,
the persons who must have access Ia the
money IN its charge are numerous, while
under the other system the single deInsi-
tnry al" has snch access. Again, tie
misconduct aud dishonesty of the officers
ar agepts of The hank are not made cri,ni-
nal and punished ns crimes. IL committed,
so far as the Government is concerned,
they are mere breaches of trust, and in
cur n dcM; they lay the iounda,inn of a
sui at law To recover The money embrzzled.
Can it, by possibility, be supposed that
these risks are equally balanced lie
knew that, upon "A foriuer occasiou, when
this same subject was under discussion we
had paradrd before as n long aud mast un-
pleasant list uf defaultine officers, hut it
had not heen stated ~ what periods those
defaults had occurred, or what was their
aggregate amount.
lie lnd never, upon any occasion, ex-
amined The list with much care, as il was
not a matter of entertainment to him to see
these evidences of unworthncss in those
wlo had sought aud obtained public patron
age aud public trust. lie had, however,
referred to The list sufficiently Ia learn that
ninc-trniIis of the defaults recorded upon il
had happened during the prevalence of II
system at bank ,lepu,iIes of some sort and
he thought IL would be found, upon care
fnl comparison, that u large majority of
them had taken place when n national
bark, that great security, Ia the minds of
many, against all pecuniary evils, was the
sale drposIiary of The n.iionnl treasure.
The defaulrrs were mostly disbursiDg off,
GERS proper, such as paymasirrs of the
army, pnrsers ~ The navy, aud the like, or
/ postDasiers, who had never, until very re-
Gently, been legally connected, in any way,
win the Treasury, ar contractors upon the
public works.
All these clnsses of persons, excep, post
masters, must always, and under any sys-
ten, have the same opportunity 10 nisap-
ply public money ; aud their defaults,
therefore, were no more an argument ~
gaiust the system proposed by the hill, for
the safe keeping of the public money, than
against any other system which could he
devised or named. lie had already said
I: the amount of these defaults had no, breD
stated. He did NOT know the amount, hut
lIls he would venture to affirm. wiihou, the
fear Of contradiction, that the Whole amour,
ol losses To the Go,rrnmeni, from the de-
faults of public officers, since It's orgauiza-
| tion under The Constitution would lie bu,
7 n fraction of the losses which it had sus.
tanned from It's connection wnb State bank,
{ alone, setting aside the forty years Of the
period when 4 nnionul bank was the sol,
fiscal agent of the Treasury.
Here, therefore, the State i.ank system
gained 40 advantage in the argument
HE was most happy Ia be able 10 say that
III comparison viii, The vast amounts which
! had been received aud dishursrd, the losse.
under any system hitherio adopted had
I ~ l.. L.. ....l
5 uf his country, aud of her citizens, to state
: fact which had been given 10 him from
hIlh huihnriy, since the subject of eu,rust-
ing The money of The people with their
own officers had b, en Que of discussion be-
r fore the country. The fac, To which he
alluded was that the whole Disbursements
of The army, from The year 1921, To The
, year 1886, both inclusive, amounting tu
several millions ~ each year, had been
made through the hands of the pubic Off
GERS appointed for that purpose. aud that
{ not one dollar Of loss had occurri To- The
r Guyernmrnt from those appropriations,
= during the whole of that period. Ought
z not thIs fIci niuue Ia INSPIRE conbilcuce ~
: the trusiworlhl0ps. of our public servants !
Z. u seemed la biu 80 aud he must say be-
could aoi couprrhrud how IL was. after all
3 the sxpe Ience which our furmrr aud re-
cent history aud afforded, that gentlemen
. 81 The most unqne-ii"ned integrity should
feel anJ uanifrst so much dislrnst against
the public officers of the Government
: mcn of elevated standing aud character and
directly accountable To- the people and their
: representatives., as well NJ to the civil aud
crI'niual tribunals of the couniry-snd
should, at The same time, aud ~ reference
:" The same subject, repose such implicit
s"d unmovrd conddence in the inrorpora.
ted binkin2 institutions %: the Staies. and
: 10 their Officers aud managrrs.
Dd they he.-se hat The transfer of =