Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-02-28
SU BIT r f A S u II Y.
Extracts from MIR. Clay's Speech
CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.
Mr.. President, it is no less the duty of
the statesman than the physician to as
certain the exact state of the body to
which he is to minister before Inc ventures
to prescribe any healing remedy. 1t is
with no pleasure, but with profound re-
gret, that | survey the present condition
of our country. I have rarely, / think
never, known a period of such universal
and intense distress. The general Gov
eminent is in debt, and its existing rcve-
nue. is inadequate to meet its ordinary cx-
penditure. The States are in debt, some
of them largely in debt, insomuch that
they have been compelled to resort to the
ruinous cxpedicnt of contracting new
loans to meet the interest upon prior
loans and the People are surrounded
with difficulties, greatly embarrassed, and
involved in debt. Whilst this is, unfor-
tunately, the general state of the country,
the means of extingushng this vast mass
of debt are in constant diminution. Prop
crty is falling in value-all the great
staples of the country are declining in
price, and destined, | fear, to filrtlfc, de-
cline. The certain tendency of this very
measure is to reduce prices. The banks
are rapidly decreasing the amount of their
circulation. About onc-half of them, en-
tending from Ncw-Jersey to the extreme
Southwest, have suspended specie pay
ments, presenting an image of paralyt-
ic, one moiety of whose body is stricken
with palsy. The banks are without a
head !; and, instead of union, concert and
corporation between them, we behold
Jealousy, distrust, and enmity. We have
no currency whatever possessing uniform
value throughout the whole country.
That which we have, consisting almost
entirely of the issues of banks, is in a
state of the utmost disorder, insomuch
that it varies, in comparison with the spc-
Gle standard, from par to fifty per cent.
discount. Exchanges, too, are in the
greatest possible confusion, not merely
between distant parts of the Union, but
between cities and places in the same
neighberhood. That between our great
commercial marts of New York and Phil
adelphia, within five or six hours of each
other, vacilating between seven and ten
per cent. The products of our agricul-
tural industry are unable to find their way
to market from the want of means in the
hands of traders to purchase them, or
from the want of confidence in the sta
bility of things. Many of our manuiac-
tories stopped or stopping, especially in
the important branch of wOollens and ii
vast accumulation of their fabrics on hand,
owing to the destruction of confidence and
the wretched state of exchange between
different sections of the Union.
THE CAUSE.
Such is the uXeXaggerated picture of
our present condition. And amidst the
dark and dense cloud that surrounds us,
perceive not one CLEAN of light. 1t
gives me nothing but pain to sketch the
picture. But duty and truth require that
existing diseases should be tcaressly ex-
amincd and probcd to the bottom. We
shall otherwise be utterly incapable of
conceiving or applying appropriate REM
edics. If the present unhappy state of
our country had been brought upon the
People by their folly and extravaganza, it
ought to be borne with fortitudc, and
without complaint, and without reproach.
But it is my deliberate judgement that it
has not been-that the People arcnot to
blanchard that the principal causes of
existing embarrassments are not to be
traced to them. Sir, it is not my purpose
to waste the time or excite the feelings of
members ofthe Senate by dwelling long ON
what | supposcto be those causes. My OBJ
ject is better, a higher, and more accep-
table onc-to conside the remedies propos-
for the present exigency. Still, shoulded
not fulfil my whole duty if | did not
briefly say that, in my conscience, l be-
lievc our pccuniary distrcsses have main
ly sprung from the refusal to re-chartcr
the late Bank of the United States the
removal of the public deposites from that
institution the multiplication of State
banks in consequence and the Treasury
stimulus given to them to extend their OPP
crations; the bunglng manner in which
the law, dcpositing the surplus treasure
with States, was executed the Trcasu-
ry Circular and although last, perhaps
not least, the exercise Of the power ol,he
vote on the bill for distributing, among