The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1841-07-09


SECRETARY EWING'S "FRISRY" A.
GENT, or NATIONAL BANK, ALIAS
NATIONAL DAREERs--TO LATHER
THE RICK, AND SHAVE THE POOR,
GRATIS.
Secretary Ewing, after all his dreadful note Of
preparation, has AT length brought forth his 'Frisky
Agent Gas we hear it calIed,) and behold il turns
out to be just The Wild speculative, and unconsti-
tutional machine, we had imagined It, 1t Is grand
instrument by means of which few members Of
Congress with ordinary shrGwdness may manage
the whole financial operations of this republic, may
lather the rich with huge loans, shave the po0r Of
their little earnings, expand the currency until their
pockets and the pockets Of their friends are filed to
rcple,ion, then contract il aud make beggnrs of
every body else, who may be fools enough to trust
to the ye-acry of such appearances!
The plan is in truth an union of measures, Fed
eral in essence and hostile TO every principle ollrce
government 1t is based ON corruption in the first
instance, because it proposes TO bribe the States
into i.s adoption, by means of distribution Of the
proceeds Of the public domain; or by an incorpo-
cation into the capital Of the proposed Bank, Of the
fourth instalment of the surplus revenue due TO the
several States. Again this capital is to be consid-
cred provision for securing the regular payment
of the interest on the State debts and out of this
must spring stale of things producing in effect, Il
national assumption Of those labl,ilies--thus car
ryng out measure repudiatcd at present by the
sensible of all parties, and identifying it so init
ma,ely with the public interest, that dlsntegralion
cannot readily take place without deslructon-that
the one cannot be removed without imminent dan
ger to the other.
1t is folly for the Secretary to imagine that in the
Fiscal Agent, he has hit upon n scheme free from
Constitutional objections. II j. unconstitutional in
al lis elements Its location in the District of CO.
lumhm could not relieve it from that reputation.
Congress has no right 10 charter bank even here,
The Convention which framed the Constitution re-
pca,edy refused TO grant TO Congress the power Of
making corporations in that District even for pur-
poses Of internal improvement; and why' Be-
cause, as Mr. Jefferson canddy tells US, that pow
err might be employed in the creation Of n hank
How then can Congress take upon itself TO do that
the right to do which was especially withheld from
it, BY those who first gave it being Congress has
no Constitutional power TO grant IN incorporation
Of any kind, and yet il seems under the denomlnn-
ton Of "Fiscal Agent the Secretary thinks the
Constitution may be Gyaded, and an incorporation
of the most hideous and monslrous kind cunningly
erected
1t is also ridiculous TO pretend that such an
"Agent" as the Secretary's scheme presents, is at
all calcuattd'to diminish the abuses characteristic
of all great banking institutions. II is impossible
in the nature Of things 10 keep bank honest. We
have seen ten thousand expedients attempted in
our own State aud we have seen them all fail IN
imposing any thing like salutary restraint upon
their bank-managemcnt. Some mode has ever
been found 10 cyade the wholesome provisions OF
the law just as the Secretary now proposes 10
eyade the provisions of the Constitution; aud it is
not to be supposed that after the lesson afforded
them by the honorable gentleman himself, that the
wre-pullers of the Fiscal Agent would overlook,
or neglect 10 make use Of any similar advantage
In short, look at il as you will, the cloven foot
Of this creature of Federalism, is plainly exhibited
" Oyerirading, excessive issues fluctuations in the
prices of stocks and consequent speculation" are
The inherent evils Of the whole banking system. and
are not 10 be remedied except by its thorough eau
terizaon. mere provision in a bank charter
will not do Every day affords us instances Of
tricks. BY virtue of which corporation may do al
most any thing however foreign 10 its nature and
intention. Ont of the directors of this Agent,
two are to be Government directors; and TO ina
CINE that those two can exercise any control ovei
lis operations, or that by sufficient " accommoda.
TONS they cannot be made to see the excellent
tendency Of every measure proposed by their co.