Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1841-09-23

met to postpone the bill but you would neiti
give yourself, nor suffer them to give, any ass
rance Of your future course, in case OF such pos
ponement. BY some Of us. and was myselfon
the effort was made to crafty your wishes, in q
only way in which il could be done with proPrl
ry; that is, by obtaining the general concurrent
Of the Wing members OF the two Houses in Il
postponement. 1t failed, as have reason to b
lieve, because you would give no assurance thu
the delay was not sought as means and occasio
Tor hostile movements. During this season Q
! deep feeling and earnest exerton upon our part
| while we were zealously devOting our talents AND
influence to serve and sustain you, the very secrets
of our Cabinet councils made their appearances II
! an infamous paper printed in neighboring city
the columns of which were daily charged will
fattery of yourself and foul abuse of your Cabi
net. All this bore; for felt that my services
so long dis they could avail, were due to the ma.
tion--,o that great and magnanimous People
whose suffrages elevated your predecessor to the
station which you now fill, and whose united
voices approved his act when he summoned US
around him, to be his counsellors and felt
that what was due to his memory, to the injunc-
lions which he left us in his last dying words,
and to the People, whose servants we were, had
not all been performed until every means was
tried, and every hope had failed of carrying out
the true principles upon which the mighty move
ment founded that elevated him and you to
power.
This bill, framed and fashioned according to
your own Suggestions, in the initiation of which
and another member of your Cabinet were made
by you the agents and negotators, was passed by
large majorities through the two Houses of Con-
gress, and sent to you. and you rejected it.. Inn
portant as was the part which | had taken AT
your request, in the origination of this bill, and
deeply as WAS committed for your action upon
1t, you never consulted me on the subject of the
Veto message. GU did not even refer to it in
conversation, and the first notice Ihad of its
tents was derived from rumor.
And to me, at least, you have done nothing to
wipe away the personal ndgnity arising out of
the act. gathered, it is true, from your CONVEX
sation, shortly after the bill had passed the
House, that you had strong purpose to reject it
but nothing was said Ike softening or apology to
me, either in reference to myself or to those
with whom had communicated at your request,
and who had acted themselves and induced the
two Houses to act upon the faith of that commu-
ncatlon. And, strange as it may seem, the Ve-N
@ Message attacks in anespecial manner the very
provisions which were inserted at your request,
and even the name of the corporation, which was
not only agreed to by you, but especially chang
ed to meet your expressed wishes, Is made the :
subject of your criticism. Different men might
view this transaction in different points ofligh, but
under these circumstances, as matter Of person.
al honor, it would be hard for me TO remain of
your counsel, to seal my lips and leave unex-
planned and nndsclosed where lies in this tram
saction the departure from ightforwardness
encouragement which you gave this bill in its in
ception, and explaining and excusing your sud-
den and violent hostility towards it, you throw in
to your Veto Message aninterrogatory equivalent
TO an assertion that it was such bill you had
already declared could not receive your sanction.
Such is the obvious effect Of the first interrogato
~ cause on the second page. 1t has all the force
IF an assertion without its open fairness. Ihave
net and ref Ited this the Unnecessary inference from
your language in my preceding statement, the
correctness of which you am sure will not call
in question.
Your veto to the first bill you rested on consti-
tutional ground and the high convictions of con-
science; and no man, IN my opinion, had right
to question your sincerity. l said, and SO
acted, for, through all the contest and collision
that arose out of that act, you had my adherence
and support. But how is it with respect to this
The subject of bank is not new to you it is
more than twenty yearS that you have made il an
object OF consideration and of study, especially
in its connexion with the constitutional powers Of
the General Government. You, therefore, could
not be, and you were not, taken unprepared on
this question. The bill which 1 reported to Con-
gress, with your appreciation, at the commence
ment Of the session, had the clause relating &c
agencies, and the power TO deal in exchanges, az
strongly developed as the one you have now re-
iected, and equally without the assent of the
States. You referred especially and with APP
probation to that clause, many days after, in
held In the Department of State
SOu sanctioned 1t In this particular bill as detail
ed above. And no doubt was thrown out on the
subject by you, n my hearing, or within nv
knowledge, until the letter of MIR. Boots came to
your hands. Soon after the reading of that let
Ter, you threw out strong intimatioEs that YOU
would veto the bill II 1t were not postponed
That letter did and do most unequiyocally con-
denim. but ii did not affect the constitutiouaty of
the bill, or justify you in rejecting it on that
ground it could affect only the expediency of
your action; and, whatever you may now believe
as TO the scruples existing i'll your mind, in this
and In kindred source, there is strong ground to
believe they have their origin.
If l be right i'll this, and doubt not am here
is great public measure demanded by the coun-
try, passed upon and approved by the Represen-
tatives of the States and the People, rejected by
you as President grounds having no origin in
conscience and no reference to the public good
The rejection OF this measure, too, continues the
purse with the sword In the hands Of the Execu-
tive, from which we strove wrest it i'm the con-
test which elevated your predecessor and you to.
power. L cannot concur in this your course of
policy. In or out of Office my opinions re-
main unchanged. i cannot abandon the princi-
pies for which, during all my political career, L
have struggled, especially cannot be one Of
the instruments by which the Executive wiclds
these combined, accumulated. and dangerous
powers.
These, sir, are the resons for the important step
which have felt it my duty to take, and sobmit
them as its Justification.
ain very respectfully yours,
I. EWING.
To the PRESIDENT.