Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1838-10-18

o''ieh uoucsi Judgment. Is lie not monomaniac
II this be denied, we ask, why did Mr. Calhoun re
lnse TO sanction this great measure of deyeianet
aud liberty when Mr.. Cond, Racquet OF Philadel.
ph'a who only presented II to Gen. Gordon ae,
MI Calhoun had turned his back upon it, suggested
the plan to him Was he then blind TO its beau.
ties insenslble OF lis healing and rcnovating pro
pefues Why, we ask, did he, at the very moment
that Gen Gordon pressing this wonderful Polit-
zeal, Moral and Financial Panacea upon the House
oil Represcntaves-lhs Universal Catholicon. " hch
like quack medicine, not only cures all diseases.
but ~restles successfully with Death itsel-nhy did
Mr.. Calhoun, at rhatve,y time in the Senate, eat.
nesy advocate extension of the charter of the
National Bank lie tells us, thai the "circumstan.
ces' then inauspcious. What circnmsian
ces then existed, which do not now exist, He
talks about circumstances"-but he takes espe
cia care not 10 tell what those circumstanceswere
The truth is, there were circumstances in 1884
TO forbid the adoption Of the Sub Treasury scheme
which do not equally exist now But even llhere had
been The most formidable obstacles in the way. Mr.
Calhoun should not have hesitated To encounter
Them IN order to get rid of many evils and To Sc
cure TO the country such immense and lasting bene-
hts Surely, II the Banking system be the agent of
snch widespread decentralization and danger as Mr..
Calhoun says is, he acted most unpatrotc as
well as most unwise part IN endeavoing 40 iasten
II upon the country, by giving a new lease oftweve
years to the National Bank, especially when NJ the
very moment that he was thus urging the roloneaon
OF ITS charter, Gen. Gordon, with nober disregard
Of opposing circumstances, and a more sagacons in
sight into iuturity, (though we had supposed that
ip.y mon NIL C,., At
Calhoun himself and that of those few Gen. Cor
don was not one, proposed the very scheme of dc-
lverance and liberty" which Mr.. Calhoun refused
TO support
All the slang and cant about the petnicous moral
and political influence of the banking system is the
rankesl imposition ever attempted TO be PLAYED off
upon human cfedulity, if we except the remedy
which our wise physicians have discovered for the
imaginary maady. But even if twere not So with
What face can John {. Calhoun denounce the evils of
this system when it has not been two years since his
own State Legislature, acting OF course with his
sanction, chartered Bank with 10 millions of capt
tal.--a Bank whose arms are TO be spread into
half dozen States ,-openting under charter from
each,-and. il Mr.. Calheuns arguments in relation
to a National Bank be worthy of regard, cenrazing
capital and commerce in the .SoUth to the detrmcnt
Of the Iestern States, which to be linked to this
Southern monster1 Are Tennessee, kentucky and
Ohio prepared to render themselves tributary to
Charleston, where the Mother ofths Bank litter is to
have her palace Is Mr.. Calhoun himself not bound,
# his ponraure Of the effects IF the banking system
be tue, to eudeayor to nuliy the charter already
obtained inr we presume he charter breaker )and
10 prevent the monstfous evil from taking root in his
own State Or is he of tnar very lar class Of
diNniercdcd people, who, although they think
wealth very corrupting in its influence upon others
not at all unwilling to the risk of beng cor
rupted by it themselves!
Mr. Calhoun makes two allegations against the
Banksihe first, that their power of contraction and
expansion enables them to make business prosper or
decay, lust as thsy please-the second, that they d
lnse abroad debasing spirit OF cupidity and avafce
which will finally exnguish the more elevated
feelings of our nature.
To the first OF these allegations we have only to
say that the Banks never expand or contract except
as the increasing or the declining commerce of the
country renders the or the other operation ne
cessary. And that, were there no Banks all the
good and evil effects Of an expansion and contrac-
ton would be just certain visible and extensive as
they are now. Whenever the country bought from
abroad more than it could pay for by its products
contraction in the amount oil It's circulating medium
would eusue. to the extent Of the deficit d on
The other hand, if it exported largely beyond the a.
mount of its purchases, then an expansion would
result, TO the extent of the overpns, to be paid n
money. This result would be Just as inevitable I'M
der the hard money under the paper system, Hit
were possible to overthrow every Bank in the Union,
and to Danish all their paper from circulation, these
I sudden expansions would be less inevitable than
they The great error OF the Anu-Bank
party IS, in attrbuting to Banks evils which they
have no instrumenality in producing, being only he
agents through whose action they become visible
and tangible to the community. The instruments
OF commerce, they censurcd and denounced for
those fluctuations which are the necessary results
Of commerce Itself, aud which fall with as much Sc
verify upon those countries where no Banks exist as
est in society. But even il this were not so-cycn
II the Banks the authors instead of the agents of
these fluctuations still what interest can they have IN
Inllctng this deadly I'M my upon the community, of
which they and all interested in them constitute an
integral part, and with whose prosperity their own
| is identified Why should the Banks ruin the PEG
pie, when by that very act they cut off the resources
OF their debtors, aud thus ruin themselves like
wise The idea is preposterous and absurd. 1t is
based uDOn the false assumption that the Banks are