The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-08-03
THE BANK AND rHEExcHEouER No. Nv.

| hoPes anu expectations which are made 10 res
on the creation of Bank, would prove TO be
deluslve. That the country would have to suf-
Ter on for years before relief would come from
such an Institution and that if relief ever came,
II would arise more from the actual change in
society, from habits of prodigality and extrava-
gance to those of industry and frugality, than
from any virtue that Bank would possess in
itself; and that the faith which ascrbes to the
Directors of United States Bank exemption
from all the inducements TO error belonging TO
the same persons placed in the directory of a
| State Bank, is false and unfounded.
Let US now consider the Exchequer plan pro-
| posed by the President, and contrast it with a
| Bank of the United States-let il be remarked
that utralsm condemned it without weighing
It's provisions, and certainly without understand
ing them. The respect due TO the Chief Ma
gIslrate required of grave Senators that they
should, at least, have given it few hours re-
Election before they had condemned it. But ul-
| traism was IN agony. Ii felt that its doom was
sealed if moment was lost in the effort to col
lect ITS shattered troops. Its lines were already
waverlng, and, unless voice went out from
| the Capitol, they would soon be broken, never
again TO be united Hence the fact that one
Senator assailed the Presidents Message SO
sson it was read. Others waited only until
Mr.. Forward could prepare the bill, and then
general assault was made upon il--and the
country, for the first time, beheld men of oppo-
site parties, and whose personal antipathies had
separated them for years, shaking hands, and
uniting in a common assault. One set called it
Government Bank, while the other pronounce
ed il the odous Sub-Treasury The truth is that
a silence of but ten days in the Senate Cham
Der would have fixed it upon the Judgment and
affections of the country. Its dement's consti-
! tuted no part of the objection to it. 1t was, be-
cause 1t was potent to equalize exchange, and
because il was potent TO relieve the wants of
the Treasury, that the war made upon it.
These things accomplished, and the Manifesto
of the extra session, along with its authors, aud
the rabld vindlctiveness of broken down poll
ticlan IN his 9th year, urging his satellites to
make war OF abuse upon the President, would
alike have sunk into forgetfulness and con
tempt Hence it was that the Huntingtons,
raved and roared, as if the President and Sec
retary of the Treasury were in combination TO
overthrow the Temple of Liberty and desecrate
It's affairs. Mr.. Webster had lost all his w hig-
gerry, while the other members OF the Cabinet
were in vile combination to palm upon the
country an engine of mischief. What did we
see in the short period which elapsed between
the going in Of the Message and the report of
Mr.. Forwards bill Press after press, on both
sides Of politics, espoused it. The country was
becoming impressed with its value But it did
not suit the politicians-lher leaders insisted
iron chests and iron safes The first of these
issues has, so far only been tried. The shout
has been raised for the mall bog and Bank
the mill boy and his monopoly --the mill boy,
who is alone satisfied when surrounded with
Bank Directors and money kings, and what has
been the result? LIT every election answer
Let Virginia with her majority Of two in favor
of Whlggery last winter, and now with ma
| jorlty of sixty against it, answer. Let Georgia
tell us what she thinks of the mill boy and his
| Bank. Let Louisiana, the stronghold of w hig-
gerry, inform the country what she thinks OF the
mill boy, who has forgotten the bag of meal
| which he formerly slraddled, and his am
| bling poney, and wishes 10 be astride Of a
| hi h-mettled charger, with all the endowments
and trapplngs Of aristocracy, and with bags
well filled with the money of the rag -barons,
and their promises TO pay. Let each and every
State, which has so far spoken, answer to this
issue. They answer, but in the same voice,
and SO will they until the end of the chapter.
The People are not to be deluded by the willy
schemes of politicians they reason for them
selves and they have the discernment to per-
celve that all the evils under which the country
suffers have arisen from Banks, and that to run
the circle OF the last 20 years in the next 20 is
but to end precisely where we now are they
are aware that whether paper be the cur
rency, or gold and silver the currency of the
country, the great danger is that the one may
be deprecated in value by the redundancy as
the other may be by aduiteraIion, and that
neither the one nor the other should be com
mltted to the hands of any other than Govern
ment The history Of the world proves that
| 'he Po"o' VI toihii'o hiohey - 'nc ldiSeSt, ana
! has proven In some Instances TO be the most
dangerous prerogatlve OF the monarch. On some
occasions the prerogatve over coinage has been
abused. His interest has been in all such cases
opposed to that Of the People. The expense
incident to war OF conquest, or to the support
OF degree OF extravaganza beyond his means,
has led the way to the abuse Of the royal pre-
rogative. But even the imperial monarch has
been forced to abandon the iniquitous plan of
adulteraton by the ind gnant voice of a People
over whom he reigned as lord and master The