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

sistence Of the entire body of the people Can
men Who are struggling TO confer powers SO
omnipotent as these be sincere In their appre-
tensions of danger from the paltry patrona age
created in the bill
Rnt the first OF the two principal features OF
the hin incnrs the hostility of the Senator from
VIRGINIA. as affording insufficient security Tor
the safetv of the revenue What then, is this
feature2 It provides that the sworn and respon-
sibIe officers of Government-they VINO nave al
,voIs collected the public dues-shall, aided by
few others named in the bill, continue to col
lect them, shall keep them safely till approprii,,
ated by law; shall give ample security; snail
not use or loan dollar all upon the penalty OF
their bonds, of imprisonment for years, and of
eternal DEGRADATION as men. Thus all the safe
Guards thai can impose restraint on human a.
9encv are provided and if these are insufficient
If necuniary and corporeal terrors, with the
certainty of nersonal debasement-ifal all these al
ford no guarantee for the rectitude of human con-
duct, then man can no longer cenhde In man.
and all popular government must END. w n.y.
if officers cannot he trusted with the care OF the
revenue for a week or a month, till drawn for
the public service, why trust them with It's COL
lection in the first instance and why trust DINER
officers with its final disbursement? Ii agents
appointed bv the people, from among the peo-
nle to transact the affairs of the people, ana re-
sponsible to the people, are unworthy OF the Peo
| ples confidence and il, also, bank agents. aP-
pointed by banks, interested IN BANKS ana re-
sponsible only to banks II such men are alohe
worthy TO be entrusted with the public income
whv not give them is collection and Glsburse-
ment? Why not deliver all public property to
Ithem-place them over your fleets and armies
give them in q word, the government OF your
country? No, sir, these apprehenslons tor the
safety ofthe national treasure. In possession OF
the sworn and responsible officers OF the Gov
ernmenl, cannot be sincere, without gentlemen
solemnly believe the representative principle OF
the Constitution radically impoent, without they
deem revolution plainly inevitable, and therefore
desire to substitute the banks for the people as
the source of political power. For, how can
men, who believe the Constitution adequate 10
all the ends of Government-how can, they look
the country in the face, and declare the revenue
more safe in the hands of banks, expressly au-
thorized by law to use it, than IN those OF ON
GERS positively forbidden to touch dollar, under
the penalty of forfeiture, Imprisonment and dis.
honor2 From what part of the conduct OF
banks and bankers, is such conclusion 10 be
drawn2 Is it from the fact that they have al
ready seized millions Of your funds, placed Tor
safety in their vaults--that they still retain them
ond now demand of Government its future re-
venues, as the sole condition upon which they
will ply their debts either 10 the Government or
the people? Is it for these reasons that banks
are again 10 be trusted
To this feature Of the bill. however the Sena-
tor from Massachusetts MIR. WERsTERl urges
another and very different objection. He is
alarmed at the strong boxes the bars, and the
boIts-the very means intended 10 increase the
security Of the public money. These cumbrous
fixtures Of Gothic barbarism offend his taste,
alright his fancy, and shock most deeply, his
nervous sensibillty. And yet that Senator can
contemplate all the parts of this dreadful oppa-
II hah h,,fE md
in the vault of bank In such a cavern he
seems composed and at home; there, in that
subterraneous abode of all honesty and of all
innocence his ina eination can rove, unappalled,
through the chilled darkness and the dense Vapor,
and catch, and hang, and lounge, and repose, up
on bars, and bolts, and locks, and hinges, swing
ing the ponderous door to close the iron entrance
His fright in the one case is equalled by moth
ing but his courage in the other; and if, in the
one instance his respiration is difficult in the o.
ther. he breathes deeper and freer-"
Yes. it was the Treasury order, the hostile
action ofthe Government, that brought the banks
to the ground, by impairing the public confidence.
Such is the charge, but what is the fact? All
are aware that, until within the last few years,
no bank ever dared to discount beyond the ag-
grega,e Of lis capital and deposes. What,
then, was the case at the time of suspension p
The Treasury order had lons been issued; and
|
| its effects, the banks had discounted hundred
millions of dollars beyond the united total o!
their capital and depostes, both public and pri'
va,e Such, sir, was then the public confidence
and such the imbeciity of the order, that the
banks were able thus to levy an extra tax upon
the people, equal to the interest upon hundred
millions of ideal capital capital existing. no
where, based upon nothing but the incautlous
credulity of the country. And now, sir the
banks having expanded their discounts, and with
them expanded the public confidence, until the
very excess of that confidence has laid the whole
system in ruins, we are told told TO our faces tolc
in the presence o. these facts, that the system
caved in under the pressure ofthe Treasury or
der This we are told with the bank table:
before u.s. and whilst these tables exhibit an ex
pansion of loans and discounts, after the promul
CATION, and in despite of the order, such as th'
banks of no other country. nor our own bank
at any former period. ever dared to attempt
No, sir, the explosion of the banks was natur
, al and inevitable. The Treasury order neilhe
quickened nor retirded the catastrophe. It's on
/ y effect was to break the violence of the shock
and to circumscrbe the extent of the ruin. Tn
s connections of the banks. instead of being con
: fined within the circle Of commerce and trade
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