The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-12-06
GOVERNOR's MESSAGE.
FeAosp citizens ofthe Senate,

IL - WIFI pleasure, tnat i again
meet the representatives Of the peo-
pie, to consult for the welfare of our
common constituents and am
happy to announce to them, that it has
pleased an all-wise Providence to
continue to us, as nation, the bless
ings of peace at home and abroad,
the enjoyment of liberty, property,
and happiness, secured to us by our
venerated republican institutions
and in our own state, an ample
sulficiency of the fruits Of the earth
for general comfort.
If there be any thing, to detract
from the brightness of the picture
which might be presented Of indivi-
dual and general prosperity, it is,
that for the last two seasons, the
crops have not been so abundant as
usual; considerable amounts of pro-
perty have been destroyed By higl,
waters, the prevalent sickness has
been severer than common the pre-
sent year and the people are OPP
pressed with the apprehension of
evil from the magnitude Of the state
debt; but with these attachments,
our condition, as people, might be
advantageously compared, with that
Of many other nations of the earth,
whose starving and overweight in
habitants are suffering from hunger,
war, pestilence, famine, or unproiit-
able toll and last, though not least,
from the oppression of arbitrary and
unequal laws, which crush one por-
ton, and that the largest Of the peo-
pie, to make them subseryient to a
favored few. Indeed, if discomfort
and repining, should exist among us,
they could not spring from state OF
actual want, but rather from the lack
of those superhucties and Injuries,
which are less necessary to com
Portable existence, than to please a
corrupt imagination.
Since the al journment Of the last
general assembly, the recuniary af-
fairs of the people, have improved
in the most satisfactory manner.
The immence amount ofprivatc debt,
contracted in consequence Of an I'M
sound and redundant paper circula-
ton, has been mostly liquidatcd.
A deprecated currency, then uni
vcrsally prevalent, has been with
drawn; and gold and silver, and the
paper of solvent banks have been
substituted in its place. Indeed, it
is highly satisfactory to observe the
great amount of the precious metals,
which has been added to the gener-
al circulation thereby giving sta
bility to the currency, and securi-
ty to the value of property and la
Dor, unknown for many years before.
The exchanges have never been so
well regulated in the palmiest days
of the United States Bank /; and this
result has been brought about by the
natural laws of trade, unimpcded by
mischievous legislation.
The several acts, putting our local
banks into liquidation, by removing
an artificial and mischicvons system
of currency, have greatly contribut-
ed to these results. The great scar
city Of money, which was expert
enced at first, promoted economy in
private life. 1t abolished the system
of private credit, which had prevail
ed to the ruin of thousands, under
an expanded paper circulation.
These acts also caused the banks
to disgorge their specie, which for
many years before, had been with
held from the business Of the coun-
try. And, more than all, these acts
have demonstrated to the people,
that currency which is dcpreciat-
ed may be withdrawn from circula-
ton, and sound one substituted,
not only without inconvenience, but
with general bcnft to all. They
have also demonstrated the grand
truths, which have been doubted by
many, that banks are wholly unne-
cessary to supply local currency ;
that money, will in the main, exist
and circulate in every country, in
proportion to its exchangeable pro-
perty and that local banks, in fact,
impede the equalization of the cur
rency, and manifestly tend to de-
range the exchanges.
Whether local banks, are ncces-
sary and expedient, in highly com.
mercial countries, where they
can be managed with integrity
and ability, and where strict pune
tuality in the payment of debts
prevails amongst all classes of peo.