Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1841-08-06

nnnost;on md then by train of dexterous deduction,
contriving 10 have call things added thereto lake
the very matter we discussing, the Bank-lt hrst
asserted that the General Government should nave
some Fiscal Aren't in all the States, TO assist it IN Col
,eet;np and dls5ursing the public revenues agreed.
Then il is said that Banks would be convenient ~
s,ruments through which that fiscal serrtcc might !"
performed Agreed. Then they argue, aS a seq"n"r,
that Congress must have power to create corPoraon'
that lha, Corporation must have banking pnwers that
The Government mast become a corporate co partner;
that il must parake of brokerage business with prtra
individuals; that the public revenues iHlst De ioanea
out by the coacerR and on, and so on-out more %
this by and by. Brhud what batch OF powers Of tne
prayest moment is brought forth as the progeny oil 50
Simple and Zone would supposr) sterile thing as
r;sral .9oeut And what is still more alarming and In
defensbls is the startling fact, that not one oil that
long train of powers has been granted 10
have conceded, that the Government might make
use of Banks Fiscal .7genfs in the Sta'es-so u
might of indednals-so II might oil mereanhe pa't
nerships or of its cFeers appointed for thai puf
pose, as was done, and yet done under the lhoe-
oendent Treasury have nothing TO say here, as 10
which would be The hest aud safest Fiscal Agent. II
man employ mercantile firm. Suppose it does Can
it invest il with Corporate powers Gan IL auilo,A
it to Bank on the public MONIES '0aa ou' - r:e
BODY and on any terms: To deal ana trade 70 i.es
times the amount of the capital 1t possesses anu
when disaster ovcrtakes its sPecniatons, can u sce
the private fortunes of the partners from all l,ao''y
and limit their responsibility to the stocRh"'uei
Could Government become partner IN SUI" W,
49, l. ,Lora anv one in his senses who would
voucb that Conuress could do any one Of these things
IL there any member Of Congress who would JroP4,u
the ieers and mockeries oil patriot muitituues io' wy
balance of his life, by proposing II Ana yet eve.
one Of these things IS d0"e-"onc WIN, Pf'S",e ma
viduals-donc by Congress-and IS al tins very M
non, nropo,ed 10 be done again! VIII not the wn"ie
,,on nj mn its hands, and, with al earthquake voice.
nrbid this sor.ie upon its Constitution, and this proia
nation of its sovereignty Where are The great ana
h oood Of the land that they do moi come forth and
hnd nm his rotten conspiracy against the rights and
rreedom of whole people, TO public reproof, and, WIN
the dssecng knife, lay bare TO e1ecraton It's whole
Take the State Banks. They may be made Fiscal
7rcn,s Can the Government go into partnership with
them, Can il rc-incorporate them: Can 1t confer on
them the powers Jus, enumerated? Will any man look
you in the face, and say so Oh, no. but Congress
can do the thing, by force OF charter II can
grant Ont upon il. The whole system under tl'e
touch of honest scrutiny, IS tattered INTO snreds ha
fato nomine, de te fabuta narratm'
| We have Receiver Generals now-put the banktRs
pocers of Congress that test Can you invest them
with power to the public deposltes IN their keeping
and riot upon the emo!uments from their discounts Can
the Government share with them IN those emolumcn's
Can il authorize Receiver General 10 appoint Others
in other Safes9 Can it enter into partnership wit!
them and shield their private fortunes from response
bility; Can join them in the purchase OF and hoia
lands houses, Nc, III STATE and take share IN them a.
a PARTNER &C.: Sobodg believes this. Well, why can
no, CONGRESS do il? Because The Constitution has
ierred on it no such powers. Then, how can it confer
them on a Bank, fit does mol possess them useJ!
| But consequences far fearful and portentous
than these mus. flow from tins docrine-l have shown
tina, Fiscal agent has no necessary connex'on WIN
Bank 1t ,nay perform and has performed all its pro-
per functions, well and admirably so, without one. II
then Congress may under the power to Select or 1t you
WILL to estaJiish Fiscal .7gcn invest It with banking
poners what orbids it investing with other po'eers.
| cannot see Suppose it should, and then We might
behold Fiscal 7gsn with banking Po'eeTs, and mining
po,ocrS, and Navigating Pocers, and asrcural po'o
ers and mercantile p0,ccrS, and manufacturing Polcers
And then it may take the balance OF the powers. lhey
will be too patry TO be worth rally for The States
the Constitution the Government the Union, The Eco
ple their liberties and all, will be engup hcd IN one
vast maels,rom of power and what huge hydra of Co
vernment may thereafter be sponled up from lis cav-
inrs is not get within the telescope of mortal ken!
The naked reality is, that the Government has never
been without Fiscal .lgentS in all the Stacs and III
those containing important ports Of entry, has had
them in vast numbers, and Bank no Bank, must con
tinue to have them. What are your collectors OF the
customs and val officers surveyors and hundreds oi
sub. oiccrs-nay, even the marshal and his deputies
&c, but many Fiscal agents? They are your col
{ecfiug Fiscal Arentsand all else needed are DisJnrS
iug Fiscal Agents Well, one set Of Agents are jus,
as important as the other set-lt is just as lmpor'
tant To cocct the public revenues as 1t is TO dsbnSt
them and banking pOrcrs could be no more "heces,
sarv' for the one, than the other. Now, what would
be thought Of erecting your collectors INTO vast COZ,
poration, with Banking powers-makng New YORK
The central power and comforting on the officers there
the power Of appointing the officers in all the other
ports and each and all exercising the s'gantic powers
of a Bank, DC; What would he thought oil IT, d'd
I ask , Why, il would arouse the whole people from
the Baze to the Aroostook, and it would be past all
the powers Of Government, to carry such char
ter into effect. How so !; Because It would strike
the public mind at once with lis norsties, induce
searching comparison between the powers mus con-
ferred bv Congress the Bank, and The powers con-
erred on Congress by the Constitution and these scru
TIMES, while they exposed the perls Of the measure
would establish that it without the least sanction
in the Constitution. Well, Bank, conrived and de.
vsed for your Disbarsing Fiscal agen will be iouno
to have precisely the sanction ii the Constitution
which Bank contryed and devised for your Collect
ing Fiscal 7gen would have, that is, just none at all
All the difference whatever between them would De
found to consist in the fact that ono was nore ana
that the other had been Gore tosted upon the country
and submitted to. Thus we go! "What has been once
done can be done again.; and Federalism heaved back
into life under the galvnnism of these usurpaons,
spurniug all the circumstances of dIsheartened and
routed Democracy will lnnnt it with Sam Patch far
famed MAXIM that "S0me things can be done as yell as
others.
| Corporations-P artnershps-are they "neeessary'
| If, against the circumstances of reason, Banking
vennen that may constitutionally perform It's fiscal
obligations, it would by means follow, that eorpo-
ration would be necessary TO exercise these Ban6ng
poperS. An act of incorporation neither necessary
desirable, except far besows chartered Pri-
riicges and mmunitis. Strip it Of these, and the cor
porator would moi so much thank Congress Tor lis
pains Deny them the privileges Of exemP,ing their
private fortunes from their corporate liab''teso CIR
cuatiDg their "promses to pay to an amount Two or
three times beyond all the metallic representatives OF
value they possesof discoun,ng upon the public de-
postes-o of converting these "promises to pay into
universal currency-of eontracons and e1pansions at
their pleusure-and through them Of controlling in the
public the values OF all individual and national
property-ofa power of eurtaimcnt, by which, at any
moment they drag their debtors to perils brink,
and exor subservencIes degrading 10 social existence
and fatal 10 the public Liberties deny them these, and
charter could not be forced upon their acceptance
But, if such pririleges necessary-for 'chom are
they neceSsary@ Not for the Government surely. 1t
possesses them without the charter if possesses them
ALL and, if it does not possess them at ALL it would
be trying task 10 show how it could confer them
either itself others. No, no,-all the necessity