, 1840-06-27

and direct contradiction to it, was the enter
ing wedge to that fatal and unnatural con
nexion Of the political and money power Of
the country. 1t was the germ of a revolu'
ton in The currency which the constitution
and the laws had established, from which
have sprung most Of the evils Of a vicious
paper circulation. By this breach of the
constitution, a national bank became fasten.
ed upon the country. by it the minds OF the
people became familiarized 10 the reception
of bank paper in the dues of the government,
and from that the transition was easy and
for the first bank was not made for Is months
afterwards, and by this time, the people were
prepared to carry out the views Of the sa-
gacious Hamilton, and whose great aim was
to strengthen the federal government, and
assi,nilate it as much as possible to his model,
the British constitution.
When this order was made, the two banks
whose notes were received in the payment
of government dues, were the only institu-
tions of the kind in the U. S., and it will be
seen that Hamilton did not make them the
repositories Of the revenue, but only receiv-
ed their notes as equivalent TO gold and sill
yer. The object was - to facilitate remit.
tances from the several states without draw
ing away their SPECIE" These notes formed
bit n very small portion of the currency
particularly in the New England and the
southern states, so that the receipts of the
government in this portion of the union must
have been principally in coin; who then
were the keepers of the revenue previous to
this order? Who collected, kept and dis
bursed it? Who performed this office even
after the issuing of the orders up to the
time of the establishment of a national
bank. in February, 1912 anG what was tho
legal currency of the country during this
time? 1t is as evident and certain, as any fact
In history, that the sub-ireasury scheme, as
proposed by Mr.. Van Buren,, was in practi-
cal operation in every part Of the union, and
that the collectors OF the customs not only
collected, but kept disbursed the revenue
But if it were necessary to foriify my views
on this subject with additional evidence, for
tunately | have it at hand. ! find it in the
reported remarks Of one Of the most distin-
and talented members of the Wing
party in congress, in a late speech in the
lower House on this subject. ! allude to
Mr.. Gushing of Massachusetts. He is re-
ported to have said that "Hamilton had tried
the plan and that it had signally failed
This establishes all that | desire, and that is.
that the independent treasury was in opera
ton at the origin Of the government, and that
of its being an innovation, it is but
returning to the constitution and the primi-
practice OF the government. But it is
not true that it failed on its first trial. So
far as the reception of gold and silver only
was concerned, it was impossible that the
secretary could nave found out that it would
not work well. There was no time given
the experiment, before he usurped legis-
alive authority and virtually repealed that
part of the revenue law; nor is il true that,
experience convinced him that the collectors
could not keep the public moneys, and per-
orm all the duties necessary to their c~ollec-
ion and disbursement. This was not among
he reasons which he urged for the incorpo-
atlon Of a bank. and in fact, ! fatter myself
hat | shall be able to show, that up to 1916,
collectors Of the customs, and the recei.
'ers Of the land officers discharged this duty
without the aid Of the bank. and that the fist
'ank was not the depository of the public
money, but that its notes were only received
n the payment Of dues to the government.
| find, Mr.. Editor, that | have extended
his article much longer than | anticipated,
nd to prevent the disadvantage of being Ia
en in "broken doses,"I must for the present.,
leave of my subject, and promise to re-
ume it again at some convenient time.
LINCOLN.
Correspondence Of the Baltimore Patriot.
W.c.uxc-oy lima IN 1Q10 l.