The Madisonian., 1840-02-18
SPEECH OF MR.. CLAY,
or KENTUCKY,
ON THE sUBTREAs BILL.
IN sENATE-January 20, 1910.

dcsrous, Mr.. President, before the passage OF
this bill, not 10 make speech, but 10 say a
few words about IL. i have come to the Se-
nate to-day unafiectedly indsposcd, from a
serious cold, and am in no condition to ad-
dress this body; bnt regard this bill as so
pregnant with injurious, aud dangerous, and
direiul consequences, that cannot reconcile
It to sense OF duty to allow it finally to pass
without one last, although unavailing, effort
against il. am aware that the decree for its
passage has gone forth-a decree Of urgency,
too, so urgent that short postponement Of
the consideration Of the measure, 10 admit of
the fllliDg OF vacant seats in the Senate by
| Legislative bodies now in session--seats which
have remained vacant, not by the fault Of the
| people, but from the inability Of those bodies
to agree in the choice Of Senators, has bcen
refused by the vote OF the Senate--refused,
scorniully refused, although, whether the bill
be transmitted two or three weeks sooner or
later to the House Of Representatives, owing
to ITS unorganized condition, and its known
habits ofbusness, will not expedite its passage
single hour! Refused by the concurrence
OF Senators who, not representing on this
subject the present sentiments and opinions
OF their respective States, seem unwilling to
!
fairly represent them!
II is remarkable, sir that judging from the
vote on the engrossment oi the bill for third
reading, it is to be hurried through the Senate
by less than majority Of the body. And if
the two Senators from Tennessee had clung
TO their seats with the same tenacity with
which other Senators adhere to theirs, who
have been instructed to vote against the bill,
and are violating their instructions and ifthe
Senate We're full the vacant seats being filed
as we have every reason to believe they will
be filled, there would be a clear majority
against the passage of the bill. Thus is this
momentous measure, which both its friends
and foes unite in thinking will exert tre-
mendous, if not revolutionary, influence upon
the business and concerns of the country--a
measure which has so long and so greatly dis
tracted and divided our councils, and against
which the people have so often and so signal
ly pronounced their judgment, to be forced
through the Senate Of the United States.
MIR. President, il is no less the duty Of the
statesman than the physician to ascertain the
exact state OF the body to which he is 10 mi
mister, before he ventures to prescribe any
healing remedy. Ii is with no pleasure, but
with profound regret, that survey the pre-
sent condition our country have rarely,
think never, known period Of such univer
sal and intense distress. The General Co.
vernment is in debt, and its existing revenue
is inadequate to meet its ordinary expendi-
ture. The States are in debt, some OF them
largely in debt, insomnch that they have been
compelled to resort to the ruinous expedlent
Of contracting new loans to meet the interest
upon prior loans and the people sur
rounded with difficulties, greatly embarrassed,
and involved in debt. Whilst this is, unlor-
lunately, the general state Of the country, the
means of extnguishing this vast mass Of debt
are in constant diminulion. Property is falling
in value--all the great staples of the country
are declining in price, and destined, | fear, to
/ further decline. The certain tendency of this
ve,y measure is to reduce prices. I he banks
are rapidly decreasing the amount OF their cir
culation. About one half Of them, extending
| from New Jersey to the extreme Southwest,
have suspended specie payments, presenting
an image Of paralytic, one moiety of whose
body is stricken with palsy The banks are
without head; and, instead Of union, con-
cert, and cooperation between them, we be-
hold jealousy. dstrust, 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 state Of the utmost
disorder, insomuch that it varies, in compari
son with the specie 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 be-
tween cities and places in the same neghbor-
hood. That between our great commercial
marts Of New York and Philadelphia, within
five or six hours of each other, vacillatinp be-
tween seven and ten per cent The products
of our agricultural industry are unable to find
their way 10 market from the want of means
in the hands Of traders to purchase them, or
from the want of confidence in the stability of
things. Many Of our manufactures stopped
or stopping, especially in the important branch
of woollens and a 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.
Such is the uneXaggerated picture Of our
present condition. And amidst the dark and
dense cloud that surrounds us, perceive not
one gleam of light. 1t gives me nothing but
pain to sketch the picture. But duty and
truth require that existing diseases should be
fearlessly examined and probed to the bottom.
We shall otherwise be utterly incapable OF
concciving or applying appropriate remedies.
II the present unhappy state of our country
had been brought upon the People by their
folly and extravaganza, it ought to be borne
with forIitudc, and without complaint, and
without reproach. But it is my deliberate
judgment that it has not bccn-ihat the Pco
pie are not to blame-and that the principal
causes of existing cmbarrassments are not TO
be traced to them Sir, it is not my purpose
TO waste the time or excite the feelings oi
members of the Senate by dwelling long on
| what | suppose TO be those oanses Nv OBJ