Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1844-09-21
SEPTEMBER 81, 1914.
rty. Rule or ruin seems TO be their max

liberty. Rule or ruin seems 10 be their max
i'm. .- ...-...
Mr.. Clay once opposed to the National
Bank as inexpedent and unconstitutional, be- |!
Game the candidate of the Bank party
for President. He himself upon the floor of
the Senate before the election of 1882, dis
tlnctly made up the issue between him and
General Jackson. That issue was made, and
met, and tried upon Jackson's Veto. 1t was
s'Clay and National Bank, or Jackson and
No Bank" We speak to those, many of
whom must remember this, and if any should
deny it, the facts are indelbly recorded in the
debates of the Senate. The panic and vio-
lence of that eventful period need only be al
luded to. Words could not portray to such
as did not witness it, how the elements of
party strife were stirred into hurricane by
the combined influence of associated wealth,
what were denominated "business transac-
tions," aided it is true by honest advocates of
Bank. whom circumstances had for the time
allied to the Bank party. To those who wit
messed it, memory will supply our want Of
language to depict it. Time has since re-
vealed. what many suspected before the dis
closure was made, how political leaders and
members Of Congress had been accommodate
ed with loans at the bank upon slender secu-
rty-how the purchaseable public Presses
had been bribed, and the money of the Peo-
pie thereby applied to silence the sentinels of
liberty how the debtors had been alternately
INDUCED, and pressed, coaxed, and alarmed.
But the people of North Carolina, and the
People of the United States nobly withs:ood
the assault, and successfully met that crisis.
They resolutely stood by the " Constitution
as it is,'' and by the vote of an immense ma
jority, sided with "Jackson and No Ba''k.'
Ia'ld so ended the first appeal
For short period after it, there was an ap-
parent acquiescence in that determination of
the People. In 1886, all the candidates for
President wee presented to you as she oppo-
and Mr.. Van Buren, (the only candidates in
upon CONSTITUTIONAL grounds. and conse-
quently pledged to VETO any bill to charter
such an Institution. There was no Anti-V etc
|clamor whilst Mr.. Clay out Of the field.
except from the ABOLTTIONISTS, who, of
course decred all pledges to veto their fanati-
cal projects, as repugnant to republican prin-
ciples and adverse to the cause of Liberty and
the People. But in the progress of the next
four years, the Clay party allied themselves
to others, and by their joint efforts Gen. Har-
rison was elected President. In respect to
Gen. Harrson's opinions upon the Bank we
shall remark only that his declarations and
his votes in Congress were opposed to it, and
, so his supporters in North Carolina denied
that he was in favor of it. His opponents
however persisted in declaring that they ap-
pretended the contrary, and the Democratic
party of this State confidently predicted that
the leaders of the Clay party would 60 for a
a National Bank. But, that Gen. Harrison
= was in favor of the VETO is beyond all con-
troversy. These were his own words as ut
tered in his Inaugural Address a few short
weeks before his death. Hear him:
"The negative upon the acts of the legis-
] ''lative by the Executive authority, and that
IS in the hands Of one individual would seem
"to be an incongruity in our system. Like
= s. some others of similar character, however,
7 sit appears to be HIGHLY EXPEDIENT;
IS and if used only with the forbearance and
} s. in the spirit which was intended by its au-
s. thors, it may be productive of GREAT
= /" GOOD and be found one of the best SAFE
"GUARDS to the UNION" (Gen. Har-
rison's Inaugural Address.)
a Wherefore it is deceptive to say that the
election of General Harrison weakened, and
= more so to assert that it reversed the old de-
, cision of the people to stand by their Consti-
, tuition as it is, and to sustain the VETO.
Gen. Harrison having died soon after his
election, Mr.. Tyler succeeded to his high sta
ton, and, in accordance with the predictions
of the Democratic party, Bill to charter a
, National Bank was twice passed thro' Con-
- gress by a majority less than two thirds, but
r it was as often laid in the dust by the VETO
! tof the President.
t Mr.. Tyler in his turn was bitterly denoun-
5 ced for il, and Mr.. Clay again throwing him.
self at the head of the Bank Party, upon the
floor of the Senate again made an issue be-
4 fore the People against the VETO, and it
was sent to the people for trial in the elections
Of 1912 to the Congress of lS43. We need
e not tell you how it terminated. A very large
2 majority were returned to Congress in favor
f of the VETO and against Mr.. Clay and his
E Bank party. So ended the last appeal. The
e first, it was pretended, had been indecisive of
e the question because Gen. Jackson was the
f candidate, and he had strong party of his
r own. But the last decision of the People
= was made the same way when it was SUBJ
q ject of boasting then, and has been ever since,
: that Mr.. Tyler had no "party of his own"
t And what has followed Has there been
q an acquescence in the popular will Has
f Mr.. Clay shown in any sense Republican
5 submission to the determination OF the Peo-
: Pile! Has he not on the contrary put himself
in array against your repeated decision 8
D against ali the eminent men who ever filled
the Presidential Office beginning with Wash
' lngton and ending with Harrison and Tyler !;
3 against the unanimous voice of the trainers of
cur Constitution
5 He has surely done all this, for he and his
= party are now making WAR upon the Con-
5 srITurIoN itself. He and they were not con-
: tent to fight the question of Bank or no Bank
over again: but they have now gone step
further and are distinctly pledged to 60 for
Our UNION, and this is the more indefen-