, 1840-03-21

Tns restriction IS TO ne repealed requiring
their speedy presentation to the depositaries.
They are to become the general circulating
medium of the country. 10 less than ten
years the receivers general are To haze ee-
tween forty and fifty millions Of gold and sill.
YER in their vau Is, 10 be represented by The
same amount of treasury drafts in circulation,
and in the possession OF the banks. The
government then, calculating that the de-
mand upon these depositaries will not require
them 10 keep this amount Of specie on hard.
ixSiil draw it out clandestinely for their own
Purposes, rs was formerly done from the
Bank Of Amsterdam and some future presl-
dent will, by means OF this stolen money,
subvert the government, and destroy the lib
critics Of the people.
Now, sir. is not this the merest fancy pic
ture that was ever sketched? II Is all the
offspring of the senator's W prolific imagi-
nation. 1t is all prophecy, and no fact
Even by his W showing, there is no foun-
dation for it in the bill. On the contrary,
every precaution has been used TO prevent
the possibility Of any such occurrences.
And what reason has he TO predict that the
friends of this measure will change all their
principles and purposes in less than three
years, and, by new legislation, convert the
independent treasury into 4 government
bank Has not every Senator perceived
the holy horror with which my friend from
Missouri (Mr. Bsnton) was inspired at the
bare idea that the government might ever
issue %"notes, bills or paper" receivable In
payment Of the pablo dues' His lynx-eyed
Jealousy seized hold OF these general express
sions, in the 10Th and goth sections of the
bill, and, although there was nothing on the
face Of the earth on which these words could
operate, unless possibly on SOM struggling
treasury note which might remain unredeem.
ed long after it became payable, yet he had
them stricken from the bill. "He snuffed the
tainted breeze" from afar and, although
there was no present danger, vet he saw a
possibility that these words might have n
meaning hereafter, and that, in future years,
the government might be willing to issue
%"noics, bills or p,per," and therefore, we all
united with him in voting for his amendment.
This was, in the phrase OF the lawyers, the
exclusion of any conclusion which might by
possibility be drawn from these general
words in favor OF government paper.
But again did not the senator from Ken
lucky perceive with what ~alacri.y the friends
of the bill supp ,rtel the amendment of his
colleague, (Mr. C,itcndenJ imposingi it upon
the secretary Of the treasury as a solemn du-
tv, TO take care, in his regulations for the
speedy pres ,nta,ion of government drafts 20
the depositlries, that these drafts, rs iar as
may be, shall never be used as 4 paper cur
rency or medium Of exchange?
Suppose it were possible that the secretl-
~ Of the treasury. without authority. and in
the very face of the provisions Of this bill,
and the known and avowed opinion OF its
~irieni Is, should, rs the senator supp Ses he
might, circulate these government drafts in
the form of bank pape:, and of the denomina-
ton of twenty, fifty, and a hundred dollars,
what do you think would be the corsequen-
cesl He would instantly be deprived Of his
Office for this violation Of law, and would be
Justly held up to public execration. In JUS
not one of those who consider it possible
that he could ever dream of pursuing such a
course, without the express authority Of con-
gresS and | nay venture 10 predict, with
} unerriny certainty, that such an authority
will never be conferred upon him by the pre-
sent party in power. But even if he should
thus violate his duty, whilst the e3d section
of this bill shall remain in force, these drafts
never could become a general circulating
medium and therefore. there could never
be, as the senator supposcs, an accumulation
OF forty-fiye or fifty millions Of dollars in the
hands of the depositaries. But, even if this
miracle should be accomplished, and a future
president should attempt to embezzle this
money for the purpose OF subverting the go
vernment, there would still be one most un-
pleasant obstacle in his way. He would
then, under the provisions Of this bill, be gull
ty Of felony, and would be transferred from
the white house 10 the penitentiary. The
truth is, that "these hydras, gorgops, and
chimeras Dire" exist only in the senator's
imagination.
The senator in n triumphant tone, exclaim-
ed that, by the passage of the bill, the union
Of the purse with the sword will be consum.
mated in the hands Of the president. This,
!, if true, would indeed be fearful. 1t would be
tie death-knell Of civil liberty in this coun-
, try. Wheresoever the power over the purse
and the sword is united in the hands OF one
!, man, there the government is despotic. II