The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-01-06

parties are high minded honorauSe mcu, wno NV
been great losers BY these transactions, and
given no counlenancc 10 The ISLANDERS We deuounce
10 these America owes debt which money cannot
pay butl console myself ~ the confident belief that
The time will soon como whsD their money vii PAID
and when II will BE- their pride aud pleasure TO say
al have never Lost confidence In or slandered inc
Such men have never sold the stocks
hypothecaied TO Them much less have they dePrecia
ted them for the purpose Of buying them IN that hey
might 20 upon the bank for the residue, ana pay
themselves by purchasing in its assets III nominal
prices. What they would not do, others have DONE
aud those and their dupes and accompliccs are, more
than other persons responsible for the losses which
the innocent holders Of American State bonds have
suffered. The bonds thus hypothetical were chiefly
those OF the States Of Pennsy vana, Indiana, Illinois
and Michigan. These States had been stimulated by
the high price of American produce, and the album
dance Of money in England, TO enter upon The exPen
diturc Of large sums works Of internal improve
ment The acts authorizing these expenditures were
resisted ON the ground that they would involve the ne
cessity Of taxation. They sustained upon the
ground that sufficient could be borrowed 10
complete the works thus undertaken, and that when
completed the revenue derived thereirom would pay
principal and interest. The argument addressed to
the people was 'your agricultural produce Il now
comparatively yelueess, because the cost Of trans
poriaton almost quite equal TO the price in the
market. Complete these railroads and these canals
and then the increased value Of your public lands IN
the line Of these improvements, and moderate toll
for the use Of them, will pay the debt thus created
Withom txraon :" That such was the understanding
of the people of the States appears from the fact
that they levied no taxes for the payment OF interest
The Bank Of the United States purchased their bonds
Indiana defrau led Of large sum, believe, about
S3,0O0,C0O Michigan was also deirauded OF nearly
the same amount. Their public works were com
menccd ; the non-payment Of what Was due on them
the hypothecation Of their bonds and the depreciation
OF their credit consequent upon their Experimentation
compelled them to abandon their public works in
their unfinished condition, sacrificing the entire ex-
Pcnditure, and making themselves liable for large
sums to contractors to the credit Of the State
the shape OF scrip or temporary loan from banks TO
meet the pressing emergency. It was at this mo-
ment, when the States in this condition., the
whole country suffering under the exhaustion pro-
duccd by the process OF the Bank Of England, and
the consequent failures of the United States Bank
which have before explained that the London press
and the London creditor demanded taxation and the
payment Of interest, coupled with insulting and abu-
sve epitflets.
II was in vain that these States pleaded their pccu-
liar condition In vain they urged that by the de-
strucion Of their credit and their currency the coun-
try was so exhausted that their produce could not be
sold at any price, and that taxation beyond the re-
demptIon OF the local issues mpos on them by ne
cessity was impossible. Certain parties han been in
duced TO believe that the Federal Government could
DC pulled into the assumption of Sta debts that IS,
That the Federal Government would assent to the prin
cpe that one of 26 States may contract any amount
oil debt, and that the other 25 bound TO pay il
II the State has DO right to contract there is OBJ
legation 10 pay and il the State has right to
tract, who can limit the sum- The proposition tina
one oil ~ partners may contract what debts he will
tn ms own name and on his account, and that all
the others bourd TO pay or be Denounced as dis
honest Is SO prosperous that it needs but be stated
to demonstrate Ms absurdity.
Now, II instead OF this attempt to coerce the Fed
eral Government to assume the Stale debts, which
the slightest knowledge Of the relations between the
States and the Federal Government ought to have
convinced them impossible, 1.-THE Of the effort
had been made TO sustain the credit Of the new
States, and small advances had been made TO relieve
them from the necessity of making temporary loans
by the'issuc OF scrip and local bank paper receivable
IN payment OF current taxes, and without which
dition II would have been worthless, these States
would have completed their public wo,ks, and The
innocent boDdholdeIs would at this time have been
receiving their regular dividends But this did not suit
the purpose oil those who have pundsrcd and broken
down the Bank Of the United States, and whose OBJ
ject was TO purchase in the bonds Of these States st
oDe-fiih their value, and then 10 make up the def
cheney on the sum for which they had been by pothe
Gated, by purchasing the other of the bank at
much the same rate What did these parties care
for innocent widows and orphans 7. What does the
stock exchange know Of sympathy for those whom
they have impoverished
legation to advance additional to finish the pub
lie works or protect the credit Of the d,fsulting
States' | admit II. My purpose not TO justify the
default by this suggestion. Ii is TO explain that the
new States were tempted TO enter on a system Of
public works, requiring expenditure beyond their
present means, by confident belief that they could
borrow money IN Europe to complete them. That
they did not anticipate that they would be required
TO levy taxes TO pay dividends before those works
were completed that the state of the money market
10 England, produced by the Bank Of England justi-
fed that belief; that the subsequent contraction by
the Bank of England, and The measures adopted by
certain parties TO possess themselves of bonds bypo-
thecaied by the Bank Of the United States had the
elect OF so dtprecating their credit impose up
on these States the necessity of issuing scrip and To-
cal bank paper and Of making il receivable in pay
meut Of taxes that the failure of the Bank Of Tie
United States, caused by the measures | have
explained, the exhaustion ofthe country and the de
probation OF the value OF property made it impossi-
bic for these new States 10 do more than redeem the
local issue which the condition of the public work,
and the interest Of the public creditor had forced up
on them. repeat that these facts are not given as
Justification OF the failure to pay dividends. They
are intended TO show that there was no deliberate
purpose OF defraudng the creditors and 10 explain
TO the innocent bondhoders that as the parties who
deliberately cheated and plundercd the Bank Of The
United States had an interested motive in depreoiat-
ing the value OF hypothecated bonds so now the only
parties who are interested in deprecainp their Gre
dit are those who desire to purchase them at less
han their real value.
1t should be borne in mind that as the press in
England have Identified the whole American people
with the deaultng States, with us, the people Of
hese States look upon their creditors as a unit and
IDENTIFY them with the Bank of the Uui,ed States by
whom they have been injured and defrsuded; and il
: striking TACT that OF all the States tempted by
he facility OF borrowing money TO enter on works OF
internal Improvement, with the single exception Of
Maryland and hers is nearly parallel case. not
ngle State has failed to pay its dividend but those
whose credit was broken down through the Bank of
he United States In the manner | have explained
md po, ito the candor Of every impartial mind TO
'ay whether the real responsibility should be upon
hose Americans who are indeed the v,ctilns-com-
pared with those losses the unpaid dividends are a,
nothlng-or upon those who, by piundering the
Bank OF The United States, have enriched themselves
Al he xnntLA colil. lalal -. :. j