Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-09-25

|
what he believes to be against the Consti-
tuition he has sworn to support, let those
circumstances be compared with the cir
cumstances under which Mr.. Madison
acted. In the letter to Mr.. Ingersoll, Mr..
Madison says the obligatory force of pre-
cedents in interpreting the Constitution
depends, among other things son the pros
pect which there may be Of change of
construction by the public or its agents."
The constitutionalty of bank had, at the
time of Mr.. Madison's action upon it, been
annually recognized, as he says for twenty
years successively--the whole nation had
acquiesced in it; and there was no pros
pect of any change of opinion. yield
to no one in profound respect for the prin-
ciples and character of Mr.. Madison, and
| have ever been disposed to make every
allowance for the course he felt it his duty
to pursue. Let me read a sentence or
two from his letter to Mr.. 1ngersol
"The act establishing a Bank of the
United States" says he, "had been carried
into execution, throughout a period of
twenty years, with annual legislative recog.
nitions-in one instance indeed, with
positive ramiicaton of it into new state,
with the entire acquiescence of all the
local authorities, as well as the nation at
large; to all Of which may be added de-
creasing prospect g" any change in the
public opinion adverse to the constitution
atty of such an institution
Now, will any man pretend to assert
that the same circumstances exist now!
Has there been an annual recognition of
the constitutionaity of the bank for the
last twenty years. Do the local authori-
ties every where acquiesce in it! And is
the opinion in favor of the constltutonality
of a National Bank so universal and so
3 confirmed that there is no prospect of any
respectable body of public opinion being
arrayed against it! No. The reverse Of
all this is true. Half the nation are arrayed
against both its consttutionality and its
expediency; the local authorities in several
, quarters are in open arms of remonstrance
and threatened resistance against it. So
far from there being no prospect of any
change by the public or its agents in the
construction which affirmed the consttu-
tionality of National Bank, that construc-
ton has already, to great extent, been re-
versed. These are the circumstances I'M
: der which President Tyler had to decide
on his course of Observation-Disclosures, in
every feature, strikingly contrasted with
the circumstances of Mr.. Madison's tune.
Therefore say that if, in his inaugural, he
had in view the example of Mr.. Madison,
referred to by the Senator from Kentucky,
it formed no rule by which he was bound
to surrender his solemn convictions as TO
the unconstitutionality of the bank.
But the Senator from Kentucky has told
us that Mr.. Jefferson, in various ways re-
cognized the constitutionality of National
Bank; and in illustration of this posi-
ton, he tells us an anecdote, a passage of
secret history, | know not on what author
ity, which | must say is but little in con-
sonance with Mr.. Jeherson's life and opin-
ions. 1t represents him who never shrunk
from any responsibility, as willing to stink
back under the fraudulent and gnomnious
shelter held out by perversion of the ten
days provision, to screen himself from
the duty of asserting those glorious princi-
} piles which had been the ornament of a
long life, Until the positive testimony of
a responsible and unimpeachable witness
to the fact itself shall be produced, | never
can yield my belief to his being willing to
stand by as passive accessory to the yio-
ation of the Constitution. Where was the
occasion for his doing so? He was to 90
out of office in the month of March. 1909,
and the bank charter would not expire till
1911: and the record will show that after
that time, he renewed repeatedly, and in
the most solemn form, the expression of
; his hostility to such an institution. do
not mean to cast the slightest imputation
on the statement of the honorable Senator
himself so far as any knowledge OF his
own is concerned; but an anecdote of such
character coming to him at second or
! third hand and contradicted by the whole
i public life of Mr.. Jefferson, he will pardon
me for saying that it does appear to my
:, mind to be eminenty apocryphal But the
Senator permitted himself to refer to two
public official acts of Mr.. Jefferson, after
his own refusal, many years ago, of the
argument deduced from them; mean his
signing a bill to establish branch of the
: bank at New Orleans, and bill to punish
q the counterfcitng of the bills of the bank
. Can | do better, in reply to this argument
5 than quote to the Senator his own Ian.
a guage2 | know. indeed, his reluctance tc
4 have his speech refe red to. Mr.. Clay
Not at all; not at all remember the
D signal vengeance with which one of the
1 Senators WIS visited who ventured tc
; quote it, and therefore felt some delicacy
in referring to it myself
. In the able and eloquent speech made by
the honorable Senator against the constitu
l.