, 1840-03-14

chance will Tennessee have to receive, by
federal disbursement, any portion OF what
she may have paid? We have no forts, nc
foundries, no arsenals, no Notifications, nc
army, no navy, navy yards or dry docks. In
short, we have mex TO no objects upon which
the federal governn ent expends money
therefore none of II would be returned 70 us
We must pay up our full proportion OF all IN
direct taxes in hard money, with a certainty
that little or lone Of it would be returned to
US by federal expenditures, and in the course
of a very few years we must be drained o.
every hard dollar we now have.
There is another class OF objections against
this measure entitled, and l think, TO Still
more grave considerations.
The addition it will make to the powers OIL
tie federal executive. Every officer with
which the money is to be deposited, or lett
for safe keeping, will be appointed by the
President and removable at his pleasure. We
might as well give it to the President himself
as to entrust it to those whom he can and
will control.
This plan will multiply officers and in
crease considerably our expenses at its COM
m%encement, and in the end no man can fore
see the swarms of dependents it may gener-
ate, and the additions it may occasion to our
expenditures Of the public money.
By the use Of the patronage already be-
longing to that officer. we all know and feel
that Il large portion Of the power vested IN
the legislative department exists only IN
name; il is ir substance vested in, and ex-
pressed by, the President as he wills; shall
we, then, give him a controlling power over
| Ill A. -a,,,r, ro.o,rcac aF the federal
government For one | canEot consent to
It.
Lastly. this Sub Treasury is nothing but a
stepping stone 10 4 bank created by the fed
eral government. bottomed On its " funds,
attached TO the Treasury Department, and
all placed at the control Of the President, or
of those who will never have any will which
does not correspond with his.
II appears TO me, 10 reasonable man can
think If we mmcn this system we are 10
stop short Of such a bank.
Let one year only pass with all your reve-
nue. in specie, and that locked up, your State
Banks, and paper currency deranged, and
what then! Those who may wish to carry
out this system will then recur to the sound
doctrines advanced BY the late President
Jackson, 'that the money OF The country
ought not TO be kept locked up by the gov
ernment. an +; more than the arms belonging
TO the ci,izens-both will be sure to be mis-
used" And it will be urged that society is
suffering for 4 sound circulating medium; we
must pass "A law authorizing this money TO
be loaned, the interest will ease US OF the
payment of much taxes, and by circulating
Treasury notes or drafts drawn by one OF
these Treasurers upon another, we will have
! sound paper currenc:, good every where
and bott0med on a metallic basis. This doc
trine will become the democratic doctrine,
and every man who opposes it, will be de.
nounced as a bank-bought federalist, the
law will pass and in due form we shall have
the Treasury; and what then!
The purse and the s,rord ,UU be united and
a power to increase the purse. as need may
require, not by adding eagles and haId dollars
10 our funds, but by issue OF paper. IN such
sums as NAV be deemed necessary and prop
er. This bank with its %pecuniary means,
and the credit and resources it will possess,
can either destroy or render subservient to
the views Of the Executive any State Banks
which may be in existence. The whole mon
eyed power not only of the federal govern.
ment, WI OF ali oldtc DiiIhS uciIB tuuS pld-
ced in the hands OF the President, he will be
able to control the destinics Of the country.
His uiH becomes the law Of the land.--
He will never again have to appeal to 'tLe
sober second thoughts of the people, to carry
any ~lavorite measure. His first
daiion will always sucure its speedy enac-
ment into a law.
In the views which | take Of this subject,
| may be in error; but they are sincerely
entertained. In the first instance, | placed
my vote against it, under the belief that such
were the sentiments Of the people | presen-
ted. Afterwards, l was instructed by the
legislature to continue my opposition. ]
did SO, from a conviction that l was right;
and nothing would give me more pleasure
than to conform my vote 10 your wishes, III
the measure were an ordinary one. or if be-
the error OF sanc,ioning it could be
corrected; but, believing, as | do, that the
once granted to the Executive can
be recalled, and that its exercises
will take from the people that freedom of
and Of action which alone entities
our government 10 be considered Free, !