Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1844-04-23
ron TIE E.h'RDIRER
10 THE PEOPLE OF VIRCISIA.-lNo. WI
TIE SWORD AND THE PURSE,

I FOR Tue sNeUyRER.
10 THE PEOPLE OF VIRclSIA!-lNo. vHl
TIE SWORD AND THE PURSE,
United in 1871, By The rery Fcderalsis mho, hel"re III
election n 1910, pronounced Hat anon Jaet 10 Il
betty
The whole country remembers what cllnor tn
federalists raised when, in 1881, President Jackson
u the public deposits, directed the Secretary
the Treasury TO remove them from the United Siats
Bank, md 10 place them in the Stat Banks. They
charged The Pres dent with lakng possession of III,
public Treasury without authority Of law; and Undue
ed many honorable citizens TO believe that he had
propriated the public funds TO his private The,
pursued that patriotic Presd nj with severe, magnan
denunciation; until the general swindlng which ihi
bank committed, and could no longer Conceal gradual
ly turned every honest man against i, aud proved
that nothing brt The virtue sagacity, and iluon
President Jackson saved millions of the public funds
from total and irretrievable conGscaun. In The can
vass Of lS10 General Harrison se;ztd every opporlu
nifty 10 deprecae this union of The purse and sword.
IN his inaugural address, the Ash Of March, ISL
he sald:." there was wanting other addition to the
powers Of our Chief Magistrate, stamp monarchca
character on government but the rontroi Of The pub
lie finances; and TO him il appeared strange indeed
that any should doubt that the entire control which
the President possesses The officers who have the
control OF the public money by the power OF removal
with or without cause, DID, for all mschievous purpo-
SEES, subject the public treasure 10 his disposal"
In this strong language did President Harrison
tend that Executive control The Treasury officers
gives Executive control The public finances; anl
that this combined control would convert our Republic
into q monarchy. One would naturally conclude then
that nothing could induce him to exercise that contrc
Yet, on the 9Th March, 1871, only two days after his
Inauguration, President Harrison placed the ,chole 7rCa
surg Department under lie con.roi Of Col. Chambers,
person 'cho 'cas cDcrr Of he Government arh0 ra
then inmate Of The White House, and trhO acted a.
Gen. Harrison's military aid In utter derision O
every civil right, the Treasury seized in military
style, aud never restored 10 the rghlu guardians oil
it, until The President had fully asserted and exercised
absolute control over the public funds.
When tins Outrage was committed, The independent
Treasury system in conn lete operations and gold
silver and Treasury no,es, to large amount, were in
the very edlce which President Harrison had subject
ed TO his absolute CONTROL and turned over TO his Tor
mer military hid The pretext for this arbitrary con-
duct WAS, that the Treasury officers were STRIVING 10
embezzle the public funds Yet public officer was
allowed opportunity to rebuff this charge TO confront
his accuser, or to vindca;e himself in any way be-
fore Executive condemnation was pronounced against
him. Had the money, then actually IN the proper
custody Of the Treasurer been taken ana misapp!'et
under this srong-haEded authority oil Inc PRESIDENT
and his military aid, the legal accountability OF the
Treasurer for which he had gwen his official bond
with heavy security would have been wholly cancelled
By the hesty aud lnconsderae proceedings Of the Pre-
sdent. THIS Executive proceeding cannot De defended
on the pretext that the urgency OF tho crisis put oil
falsehood of that hesiy and scandaous accusation
against the public officers could have been FULLY and
readily ascertaned without inteTrupting, even for 4
moment, the regular operations oil the Treasury But
secret aud sweeping SANDER against The officers OF
the Depertment afforded an opportunity to exercise
power; aud then the oona:chcal character Of the pow
er was no longer objection 10 the cuellest display
Of it.
The desire or leading Federalists unite the purse
end the sword, and 10 subject both 10 Executive con
troll, further evnced by the furious haste IN when
they repealed the Independent Treasury ACT without
providing n legal custody for the public funds
The Independent Treasury system exac;ed oihcia
bonds Of every public oics who received the pubiic
funds. But that system and lis securities were quietly
destroyed and the heavy revenue OF The Government
was turned 10 irresponsible peIsons-nny, 10 the
very Federaists who had declared, that it was out
right monarchca to unite The purse and s"ofo OF Tue
nation
In 1884, Mr.. Tyler while in the Senate said "The
press is the sentinel nf the people. And il they suffer
il TO be approached By Executive favors, they will in
dee d. he their own worst enemies. Are gentlemen
blind 10 The power o! the President : In t' mildes
form i, is immense. Shall Srcel tbs enormous
pocer By oHo,cng nc President 10 control The purse ana
The earreRcy D0 So and ltaica monarch M Tie 1eo0
IS more po'ctJnt
Yet the Federasts forced President Tyler 10 con-
troll The purse and the currency at the moment they
proclaimed HIN "a weak, vacillatng, and faithless
Chief Magistrate" And If President Tyler commit
ted wrongs:f he never listened to the dictates oil
ambition, employed the public funds TO reward
Editors, it not owing to his inability 10 control
those funds the belief of the Federalsis that he
was too honest to apply them 10 his own use His ST.
creiary of The Treasury allowed to remove The
public funds wherever he pleased-to change at his
pleasure tie evidences of public dehtconvPrt stock
into notes, and notes into stock, and to issue Treasury
Notes for public concerns, as well as Tor payment Of
public debts.
Against the use Of the public credit Ivy tie Secretary
of the Treasury, the Committee Of Ways and Means
have lately made strong report 10 the House OF lie
presenatives.-tSee Report, No. 37o, 2sth Congress
l.t Session 1.-The committee unanimously report the
'no,es thus issued upon the credit of the United
States, for circulation, constitute essentially paper
currency, and identical with bills ot credit-the
power 70 ISSUE which, was intentionally with:ed.-
The power to borrow money on The credit oil the
United States was UNANIMOUSLY gwen, whilst the
power TO emit bills Of credit reiused-was struck
out CT the plan proposed by vote in Convention, oil
nine States TO two. And yet the Secretary OF The
Treasury contends that because there no express
words Of prohibition, rs there are applied TO the STATES
that Congress may exercise the power incidentally or
appurtnanty 10 the power Of borrowing money, whilst
the States totally precIdcd from resort to bills oil
credit either principal or primary power, or N any
way incidentally or appropriately connected with
some other power clearly TO the States IL was
thou ht That 1t too late 10 undertake TO revive the
exploded Federal doctrine Of claiming power, because
il had not been expressly forbidden. And it ls matter
of equal surprise that ut this late day it should be ser
ously entertained by any Federal officer that bills oil
credit "a paper cnrrencyD may be supplied to the conn
try under OF the granted power TO borrow money
Tie power supply paper currency is thus made oil
contingent existence, depending first, upon the neces
sty OF exercising The primary power to borrow money
and then upon the policy adopted, Of making the loan
permanent, the shape Of funded debt, or upon
shorter time IN The shape of Treasury notes. THE com
entertain the deepest conviction that the Seeret
| hocp talks 70
of The existing laws, but that he claims for Congress
power conferred by the Constitution but intended
expressly to be withheld; and that he has papably
mistaken the purpor Of The observations made in Con
yention on the occasion To strike out the power TO
emit bills of credit 1.-The Of public notes can be
justified only as the mode Of eiIecng loan-They
are employed to acknowledge the existence of deb
due by the United States, and contain promise Il
paw it, at some future stipulated time, with interest
az may be agreed To issue notes for circulation, pay
able on demand under cover of authority TO borrow
money in the form Of Treasury notes, is deemed az
a buse of authority which ought 10 be corrected
"And, in conclusion, the committee declare, that thu
presen, Treasury notes, at The moment of ISSUE with
,offb o nrp n