Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1842-01-22
MIR. MANGUM's Speech on THE EN-
PLAN.

had viewed the proposal, not like the advocat
who had written this report, bot Ike an homes
man. determined to do his duty. And he wa
compelled to come To the conclusion that even /
the worst of times this Government had ever ye
seen. never had thero been so bold, SD reckless
push for absolute power, as was now publishing
Iy made in the piper before the Senate. lie re
peared The assertion. Never, never, IN the wholt
history Of this Government, had there been wit
messed a push so bold; or one which, 1t success
fuI, must be attended with consequences so vast
aud so disastrous to the liberties Of this land
With IA Government possessing a ppwerol patron
age which, even in the ieehIcst hands, was "
threatening aspect to liberty-a patronage which
spreading itself like a pnlypus, tusInuated It's at
,enuated fbies through all The Iuiersiices OF so
cictv, and. by ITS tempting power, operating t6
subdue all that maniiness OF principle. that hardy
virtue. which characterized our fathers-tu pro
pose to superadd to this threatening, this porter
tous amount Of patronage tho entire money pow
err, and his to be managed and cou' rolled at viii
by those hands which pull the wires and move
the puppets Of party-if he believed the country
was prepared for such a measure as thls. he
should feel a depression Of mind which nothing
could cheer; he should took upon his children
with tears, and mast despair Of the welfare of his
country for centuries TO come.
What a concentration of power did It not at
tempt to achieve! In the present PROSTATE and
down-trodden condition OF OR State banks-he
spoke oil mat spurious ana mIiiittniHDuS Heii
which had sprung up under the mrsrule OF n late
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS rotten throughout
and lettering to their fI,l-if the Government
should at once furnish 10 the people a paper cur
rency which should be IN sound aud general cred
IL, those banks would pop, one after another, like
guns dischrrging in a burning ship, from ono end,
Of the Union TO The other. This Government
machine fabrica.ing a paper like this, was to
spring up amid the general blight and harrenness
ms 80 vIviiying and fructlfyin g germ of public
prosperity, (he used the language of the eloquent
author of the report) Yes no doubt; and when
il should have gertnrnated and sPronted; when !,
should have ''put forth its roots downward and
borne frni, upward" while the whole IaD5 round
about was n barren desert; when II should have
spread its branches far aud wide, md covered the
whole land with its sh rde--th en-oh, ves-theu
we were to lie down in that "tranqutlitv Of re.
pose'' which the writer of this report thought 50
desirable--the rcposr. the stllncss of an inexora-
bic, moan. mrrcenary dcspotism. To such n
measure Mr.. NJ, never could consent: he would
not, should not. Could any man trace the conse-
quenccs? What was the amount OF money to be
placed under the control of this new institution?
Ii was 10 ISSUE n paper cremation to the amount
Of fifteen millions. Then it was 10 receive ff
teen millions more upon depnsite. lIsrc was, at
once, an amount of thirty millions Of dollars,
enough of itself 10 overlp " the whole country;
and he saw no graris in this bill to prevent
the amount being extended to n hundred mis-
lions annuity by is dealing in cxch~nge.--
Should Congress establish 4 high tariff, or even
but "A liberal tariff, whose annual importing sho1ld
replenish the now empty Treasury with an in.
come Of twentv.five million dollars. tia, alone
might enable the Government to raise its head
over the dead sea of our PROSTATE national credit.
and waive the wand of lis power n the desfruc~
ton Of the public prosPority. Bat should there
be snperaGded to thiS, n new capital of thirty mai
lions more. subsidlzing every thing 10 its own
l. ..l 49, e
this Exchequer should have been over the land.
what chrnce could possibly remain for the exis-
teuce of public liberty? Place a man Of even
moderate ability. aud of thirtv-Gve wears Of age.
in tho Presidential chair; put IN his hands this
mighty concentration of power. political and rs
cal. and If he did not riie :oughshod over this
people for the rest of his life. II must be owing %
his own virtue. and not theirs who armed HIM
with such an engine OF oppression.
Bat now what did wc behold? In the distress
sed aud prostrare condition Of the whole business
Of the cnun,rv-a condition rendered still more dis
tressing from the defeat of everv plan oi relief
--wo had now a project started. Of which he would
again saw that 1t was the ho,dcst push for abso
lutte power viii h tho people Of this country had
vet witnessed; and. further, Which was the mos
portentous BRIRE to he found IN the history o.
modern times. Yes. n hrlhe; the most open and
borefaced that ever was offered. In many p9r,s
of the country the People were sleeping on A
volcano: their condition was IN The last degree
and dangerous, they were in fact. al
most becgared; and when once a man was made n
beggar, very slight effort was sufficient, to rem
der him slave. In their necessity they lifted NJ
their ewes TO The Government for aid. And what
was il now proposed that tho Government should
dol Step forward and offer them a bank. with
money facilities far greater and far better caicula-
ted for the easement Of their distress and the re-
l'ei OF their immediate wants than any National
Bank which their hes, friends had ever devised.
Mr.. Nj. said that i, nigh, be worth while TO
90 into a brief comparison between a Bank of the
United States and the proiec, pronosed in the re-.
port before the Senate. A Bank OF the United
States, when first started, naturally displaced a