Madison Whig advocate. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1839-1841, 1839-08-10
CANTON, nIssIssIpPI, SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, $3.50.

TIE rate OF exchange ic bAHhSs Gil
! the brokers of the eastern cities vii
} thus b. able, through the operation Q
, the system, to drain Us of our resources
] and our Banks, drawn on, as they mus
be, by the upper country dealers, ane
! the agents of northern n.echants. mus
: indemnify themselves at the expense o
. the planters. or surrender their charters
and cease their operations.
i There is another objection TO TIL
plan, which, If founded. as We believe
. IN truth, is too great TO be out-weighet
I by any small or questionable expedIen
cy. 1t is the demoralising influence
which ii evidently exercises over those
engaged in conducting its operations
The President proposes. to obviate thi:
evil, that defaulters be punished as fel
ions. We wish not to be understood a:
tobJeciing TO punishment, when crime
has been Committed. But we deem i
inhuman and unwise, to tempt men tc
dishonesty in the expectation of punish
ing them afterwards. Panishmenis. thus
inflicted, are almost graiuitous. Besides,
even if the denunciaiion of the harshesi
sentence of the law would deter the
weak or the wicked, which experience
has unhappily disproyed, it seems i'm
possible to detect defaulier, before he
is beyond the reach of prosecution.
I And when every thing is done that such
a proposition contemplates, the crime is
not extinguished, nor the criminal re-
stored 10 virtue or reputation.
| We have thus far considered the sub
treasury as a plan by which specie is
collected, and paid in the ordinary ex-
| penditures of the government; as sys
tenn bearing no perceptible resemblance
TO banking, but operating in u manner
totally the reverse. But il cannot be SO
in practice. All the bills introduced in
to Congress, for regulating the details
of the measure, were Bank charters
under another name, converting the
whole revenue of the treasury into a
basis for banking operations. under the
control of the Executive. The secreta-
~, by these plans, was TO draw bills and
sell them, in payment of salaries and
contracts, and, if occasion required, to
purchase them from others. 1t is plain
enough, that the bills thus drawn, would
be common medium of circulation, in
the vicinity of the place where payable.
and subject oftraffic every where else.
Relying on the faith of the government.
the public would not hesitate to receive
them and circulate them as money, or
purchase and sell them as means of re-
mittances. The specie would. in the
m eantme, be steadily accommodating in
the sub-treasuries, and its place would
be supplied by the bills of the treasury
Under such an operation, the Banks
would be drained and the Secretary of
the Treasury, as the chief officer of the
great banking engine ofthe nation, would
have the monetary affairs of the people
under his own control. Can a more
powerful instrument Of tyranny be con-
structed? 1t would be vain to look to
state legislation, for relief against so
onerous an evil. The power of the ex-
ecutive branch of the general govern
ment would overwhelm Congress and
the state legislatures, and establish an
empire with the empty forms of Re-
public.
We have thus presented condensed
view of this much boosted remedy for
the evils with which the party now in
power has visited confding and de-
ceved people. All the patronage of the
government-all the power of party dis
cipline, and all the arts of sophistry
have been brought in to aid in engraft-
ing this instrument of tyranny upon the
free Institutions of our country All
have failed. With majorities in both
houses Of Congress, pledged, as was sup
posed, TO passive acquiescence in the
will of the President, this odious mea-
sure has been several times rejected, and
with each succeeding election of repre-
sentatives by the people, its prospect OF
success has become more hopeless than
before. Yet it is still avowed TO be he
policy from which the President will not
depart. His hope of success in the next
presidential election is indissolubly con-
nected with its fate, and his prominent
partisans are TOO deeply committed to its
support, to allow him TO retract his first
opinion. Unable to lead. he must be con
tent 10 follow the faction with which he is
associated, or sink into obscurity.
However unamiabie and anti-republi-
can we may regard a claim, by the
chief of Office holders, that he and his
subordinates should enjoy better cur
rency than the people could afford them
selves, the subject is too small for an
extended commentary. Nor would we
complain of his recommen dation of he
sub-treasury, were we permitted to view
it as suggestion to Congress, hastily
or inadvertently presented. 1t is his
determined perseverance in the meas
nre against the known wishes of the
people, and after his own experience of
the faithlessnesi Of the collectors, that
calls for our earnest reprobation. The
populations OF these men are without a
parallel IN any country. And while they
prove the sagacity of those who have
uniformly resisted the favorite policy of
the President, they furnish, also, anoth
er lesson which should not pass unheed-
ed. They prove that party which re-
CARDS the offices established for the ben
eft of the people, as the proper spoIIsl
of conquest, to be distributed By its
chief among his partisans, in proper
ton to their zeal in his service, can new
or administer the government with