Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-02-28
VOL. XHI..No. 662
the States, the nett proceeds of the sales
of the public lands.

mixed with a currency possessing UNI"
form value throughout the whole country;
a re-establishmcnt of regular exchanges
between different parts of the Union and
a revival of general confidence. The
People want, in short, good government
at Washington ; the abandonment OF RASH
and ruinous experiments the practice
here of economy F.; and the pursuit OF the
safe lights of experience. Give US these;
and the growth of our population the en-
terprise of our People, and the abundance,
variety and richness of the products OF our
soil and of our industry, with the blessing
of Providence, will carry us triumphant
ly through all our complicated embar-
easements. Deny thesc-perseverc in :.
mal-administration of govcrnment-and
it is in vain that the bounties of Heaven
arc profusely scattered around US.
MIR. VAN buren,.
There is one mainland lament to
to say, from the current of events anu
progress of Executive and party power
but one man, at present in the country
who can bring relief to it, and bind up the
bleeding wounds of the People. He, Of
all men in the nation, ought to feel as a
parent should feel, most sensibly the dis
tresses and suf1erings of his family. But,
looking to his public course and his Off
cial acts, am constrained to say that he
surveys unconcerned the wide spread
ruin and bankruptcy and wretchednesS
before him, without emotion and withou.
sympathy. Whilst all the elements OF
destruction are at work, and the storm i,
raging, the Chief Magistrate, standing i'll
the midst of his unprotected fellow Cit
zens, on the distinguished position ofhon-
or and confidence to which their suflragc>
have elevated him, deliberately wraps
around himself the folds of his India rub
Der cloak, and lift his umbrella over his
head, tells them, drcnchcd and shverne
as they are under the beating rain and
hail and snow falling upon them, that he
means to take care of himself and official
corps, and that they are in habit of en-
pecting too much from Government, and
must look out for their own shelter, and
security, and salvation.
THE REMEDY PROPOSED.
And now allow me to examine, and
carefully and candidly consider, the re-
medy which this bill offers to suffering
People for the unparalleled distressc,
under which they are writing. will
first analyxc and investigate it as its
friends and advocates representa-. What
is it. What is this measure, which has
SO long and so deeply agitatcd this count
nv, under the various denominations o.
Sub-Treasury, Independent Treasury,and
Divorce Oft the States from Banks? What
isit! Let lis define it truly and clearly.
Its whole principle consists in an cxac,ion
from the People of specie, inthe payment
ofall their duties and dues to Govern
ment, and the disbursement of specie BY
the Government, in the payment Of all
salaries and of all the creditors of the
Government. This is its simple and
entire principle. DIvcst the bill under
consideration of all its drapery and par
sphernalia, this is its naked, unvarnished,
and uneXaggerated principle, according to
its own friends. This exclusive use of
specie, in all recei pts and payments If
the Government, it its true, is nol to be
instantaneously enforced but that is the
direct and avowcd aim and object of the
measure, to be accomplished gradually,
but in the short space of a little more than
three years. The twenty-cight sections
of the bill, with all its safes, and vaults,
and bars, and bolts, and receivers gener-
al, and examiners, have nothing more nor
less in view than the cxaCtion of specie
from the People, and subsequent dstr-
button of that specie among the officers
of the Government and the creditors of
the Government. 1t does not touch, nor
profess to touch, the actual currency o;
the country. 1t leaves the local banks,
where it found them, unrctormed, uncon-
trolled, unchecked in all their operations.
1t is a narrow, selfish, hcartcss measure.
1t turns away from the People, and aban-
dons them to their hard and inexorablo
fate; leaving them exposed to all the
| perncious consequences of an unsound
currency, utterly irregular and disordered
exchanges, and the greatest arrangement
in all business. 1t is worse it agra
Yates and pcrpetuatc the very evils
which the Government will not redress:
for, by going into the market and creating
a new and additional demand for specie,
it cripples and disables the State banks.
and renders them incapable of furnishing
that relief to the People which parental
Government is bound to exert all its cner-
gies and powers to afford. The divorce
of the State from banks, of which its
friends boast, is not the only separation
which it makcs-it is separation of the
Government from the constituencies
disunion of the interests of the servants
of the People from the interests of the