The pilot. [volume] (Baltimore [Md.]) 1840-1840, 1840-04-16
No. g..

| the East to the West, were also comDelIed from
| the force Of circumstances. TO close their DOORS
and were no longer able to redeem their notes
! in coin; and, at the very time, sir, when the
! rOId and silver were 10 have been seen shining
| through the interstices Of the si!ken purses of
every farmer, specie vanishes from circulation;
the country becomes flooded with rredeemable
paper currency; shin plasters take the place Of
small change; and even the government itself,
in time OF profound peace, is forced TO the dis
graceful dilemma of issuing its own scrip, in
order TO sustain the credit of the State, and TO
prevent national bankruptcy. Mr.. p. said he
had not attempted, nor should he attempt, to
advert TO all the measures OF the late and pres
ent administration Of the general government,
which had been instrumental in inviting these
| disgracelul and melancholy results. My object
sir, is TO invite the attention of gentlemen upon
this floor 10 a few of the more prominent eau
SEES OF tie present aspect OF affairs; but, after
much patient investigation and no little sober
reflection, | have been irresistiby led TO the
conclusion, that the disasters which have fol-
lowed, in quick succession, these experiments
| upon The currency, like so many peals of thun-
der from the calm and clear sky of summers
day, spreading alarm and CONSERVATION thro'
all the Tamifcations Of trade and commerce,
can be legitimately traced 10 the rude touch OF
executive and legislative interference with that
most delicate, most sensitive OF all subjects in
poltica econony-fnance and the immutable
laws of trade. / am strengthened and amply
fortified in the position which have assumed,
i'll had no other fact to rely upon than that OF
the important truth which has now become a
matter Of history, that all these results were
| loret0ld and insisted upon as the consequence
of these experiments, at the very time they
were proposed by every distinguished Wing
| hNth hrnn obi of han
ture. Sir, the very facts, the very circum-
stances, which have since transpired, and
which now exist, were foretod with almost the
precision of prophetic accuracy; yea, were IL
not that am averSe 10 consuming the time Of
this committee, would read you from the doc
uments which now hold in my hands, which
could not fail 10 fasten deep conviction upon
the mind of every gentlemen upon this floor.
that these distinguished statesmen and patri-
OTIS fully understood what would follow in the
train of these experiments; and behodng, as
they did, in the vista oifuturity, our present en-
barrassed condition. faithfully warned the dom
inant party of the country of the evils which
they were about TO entail upon an innocent
and confiding people. Their prophetic voices
were unheeded; their faithful admonitions dis
regarded; their lofty patriotism laughed to
scorn, by the very party, sir, TO tohich you be-
| long, and which now constitutes the majority
upon this floor.
| Again, these melancholy disasters were great
| ly promoted by the multiplication of State
Banks, which had grown out of the destruction
of the National Bank and the apparent care
| which PreSiden: Jackson first evinced toward
these State institutions. He protested to aur-
ture and to support them; they were, for time,
the objects of his especial Socitude; through
his influence and the influence off the par " sir,
to which you belong, these institutions were in
creased from three hundred, to near treble that
number, and the banking capital Of the country
was multiplied in about the same ratio. At
this very juncture, when these infant nstitu-
| tions had scarcely been spoken into existence,
| aud like the helpless child that had not vet
| learned to waks every moment requiring the
kind care andlsuppor; ofthe anxious pareGt, they
| the banks-sr, at such moment, were
abandoned by their unnatural foster-iather; not
only abandoned, but, in the same hour denoun-
ced, abused villfied with the most relentless flu
ry, not only by the President himself, but by
all the official organs OF the country, Us well as
by every petty demagogue in the community,
whose business it is 10 declaim from the bar
room OF your taverns, or from the dark sinks OF
iniqulty which exist in greater or smaller num-
bers in every section of the country. Not on
ly were the banks denounced with heIlish fury,
universal destruction, the credit system, the
merchants and every branch Of American en-
terprise, were assailed with The most bitter
feelings by the whole party orthe country who,
at that time, and the present, WELD the desti-
MES of this nation. Sir, the resolution now up-
on your table, and which | am now, in the
honest discharge of high and responsible trust.
endeavoring to discuss, is fit germ of this
wild spirit Of ruin which have just attempt
ed feebly TO pourtray. Your resolution declares
all paper money TO be pestiferous--to be des-
tructive to the interest of our republican insti-
tutions, sc. mfr. LIE Grand, from Baltimore
city, here interrupted the gentleman from Dor
chester, TO say that he did not mean State
Bank paper.] Mr.. p. resumed, and said. then
your resolution which has so long engaged the
attention Of this House is nulIity-t is an
empty sound, devoid of meaning; all its hollow
professions are intended, according to the gen
teman's explanations, to effect nothing. But.
Mr.. Chairman, in spite of the gentIenlan's ex-
PLANTATION, beg the privilege Of interpreting
the resolution according TO the common sense
construction which am always disposed to I.
place upon common sense language. If these
resolutions do not intend 10 apply to State
bank paper, would respectfully enquire of
tbs ,lckh ,e Il, do,