The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-06-05
COMMUNICATIONS
THE BANKS.

. l have SAID that IL was the intention oil the
federal ofice-holders, to break up the banking
system, and my ink was scarce dry, when Sena-
tor Walker avows it openly, and so does Benton
As the veil is slowly rising, so is the deep laid
conspiracy exposed to view. Their feint, of in
tending merely to REFORM and not to destroy, will
soon be abiured by the whole band, and the fact
admitted, that absolute destruction is their aim
And what is there of good, of worth, they
have not destroyed? Morals, truth, reverence
for the constitution, obedience to the laws, re-
spect for the will of the people, the brightest
pages in history, industry, foreign trade, the
currency, the public treasury, the credit of the
States, of individuals, and of corporations, all
have fallen before these unprincipled rulers
And instead of looking, with one momentary
pang of repentance, on the mischief they have
done, or of compassion, on the feaful anguish
they have inflicted, they go careering on, like
bacchanals, in their insane schemes. No feeling
of conjunction ever visits these heartless dema-
gogues. Let them but keep the power, and
plumber the peoples money, and they care not for
the sufferings of those, who their bread by
he sweat of the brow. "Spoils to the yictors,"
they had the audacity to proclaim in the Senate
of the Union And God knows with what fideli-
ty they have obeyed the decreei This is their
golden rule, the great maxim by which their
course is shapen. They announced it at the be-
ginning, and they have carried it out, to the end
But the taste of plumber, has only made them
the more greedy Not satisfied with the pickings
and stealings, in which their officers throughout
the country have so freely indulged their native
propensities, their whetted appetite now urges
them to deeper plunge into the public Golfers.
They now go for the whole. Give them their
Sub-Treasury, and sweep away the Banks, and
every dollar of the revenue of the Union, is in
their grasp. This artful device, which for three
years they have been striving to force into our
statute book, will give them its legal custody,
whilst the annihilation of the banks, will throw
out Of our reach, any other depository. Estab-
lish the Sub-Treasury, break down the Banks,
and our doom is sealed The doors will be bar
red, without the chance of escape, by peculation
and fraud as gross as mountains. As long as the
banks exist, there will be hope: for, it would be
easy for Congress to shift the depostes into their
vaults. But, when they are no longer in being,
such transfer, cannot, of course, be made, and
all dread of it will be removed from the minds
of the Sub-Treasurers. Then will the spoilers
riot, without fear of restraint, and be enabled to
make freer use of the public money, than their
Swartwouts, Prices, and their host of defaulters
have yet lone; free even, as that has been.
| This willy scheme, when once engrafted on our
policy, will place the whole money power in the
possession of the President and his subordinates,
to WELD it without control. He and they will
have the monopoly of loans, and exchanges, and
through these, supervision over the business of
every man. The Presidential favorites, and the
rich usurer alone, will be the lenders of money;
aud, like all other monopolists, they will charge
dearly, for their loans. Then the borrower must
cringe, and sell his very conscience for the favors
he may receive. His independence is gone, and
he must either pine in poverty, give up all hope
of advancing his fortunes, or submit to the terms
| of the Sub Treasures.
| But, it may be asked, ere these leeches to be
lenders of money also? Assuredly, they will be-
! The collectors of the customs, before the en-
ployment of banks as repositories of the public
funds, did lend out the revenue that was paid
into their hands. The present collector of New
York, has already been receiving seven per cent.
from the public debtors; and when the banks are
destroyed, and the new despotic system chnched
on us, they will lend again; not at seven per-
cent only but at the highest rate they can squeeze
out of the hapless debtor or borrower But 1t
may again be asked, can such things be done!
ssThe party" has already sanctioned abuses that
make one stare with wonderment; abuses which,
ten yeas ago, could not have been imagined, by
the veriest reviler of republican government.
And what has been so often done by them, will
be done again. Their elastic con sciences and
INSCRIPTIONS partyism will not only cloak and
Justify, but make it appear to be the very essence
of democracy. The pirate crew will fight des-
perately for their comma nder, and for the booty
he shares among them.
In the absence Of the banks, the Sub Treasury
gives to the President, entire command OF the
public money, and control over the business OF
every citizen. The standing army, which be so
earnestly recommends to Congress, gives him
command over our persons. And the bankrupt
law, gives him the command of our property, real
personal, and mixed. Thus have these danger
rous men planned a scneme Oh as Sr"unis . "
ranny as their love of power, or hatred Of repub-
| licanism could devise. Thus have they, with a
sagacity as longsighted it is artful made their
arrangements to deliyerus over, bound hand and
foot, to the control of man who, under the dis
guise Of constitutional President, will be as per-
| feet despot as the Gar Of Russia, or the Empe
ror of Morocco.
The banks have heretofore, been the only lend