Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-06-27
From the Ba6aio Courier
A NATIONAL BANK.

ted the question ofthe establishment of
such an institution as the principal a
mong the propositions TO be passed u
pom by the people in the exercise of
their sovereignty at the ballot boxes
1t becomes imperative upon them to
examine the character and history of
the old u. S. Bank, as affordIng cri-
terion for forminga correct judgement
upon the important matter submitted
to their decision.
In 1892 General Jackson was rec
lected to the Presidency. Prior to his
reelection the U. S. Bank had succee-
ded in extorting from Congress the
passage of a bill renewing its charter
for 90 years. The bank was then at
the height of its power and influence:
1t had the command not only Of its
own enormous capital ofthirty millions
but of the strength and influence of
the principle moneyed men in the
country, backed by the bankers and
stockholders of England, and it brought
also against the government the reve-
nue. of the nation. Its coTuptlonS and
briberies; its purchases Expresses, and
of senators and representatives in Con-
gress; its legions Of travelling speech
makers and millions of abusive tracts
and published speeches scattered broad
cast over the land; its gross cancatures
and lying handbills, offering 10 every
hand that would take them, and stuck
upon every post and in every bar-room
and groggery; its vast and sudden ex7,
pansions, its unexpected and gripping
contractions, and its insidious and fiat
tering promises and alarming and ru-
nous panics,-all the immense ma
chinery of coaxing and coersion which
it made use to intoxicate the weak and
intimidate the fearful, in its memorable
struggle against the people and their
government, must be fresh in the re-
collection of every one who was at that
time of an age and diScernment to
mark the course of affairs and appre-
ciate the complexion and tendency of
the means made use Of to overave OPP
position and purchase support.
Such in brief were the agencies en-
ployed by the bank to force itself upon
the country for another term Of years,
and had it been successful in that eff
fort, its existence would be without eff
fectual limit, for it would have gather
ed sufficient. strength to reproduce IL
self at will, Independent of, and in OPP
position to the wishes of the people,
1t wrested from Congress as before sta
ted, an enactment of its recharter.-
This was on the very. eve of the Presi-
dental election. The bank and its
federal allies, dependents and satellites
probably thought that the President
would yield to their wishes and APP
prove the charter, in dread of TIE pow
er and influence they could bring to
bear upon the ballot boxes. If so they
misjudged the gallant and old soldier
statesman who then occupied the exec
utive chair. Webster, Clay, White
and Writ, were all brought into the
field as candidates for the chief Magis-
tracy, supported by the bank and its
branches, and the mighty money infu-
ences of usurers and spectators
throughout the Union. The array
was most imposing and would have
dismayed weaker, a less patriotic,
more tme-serying man. But Gen,
Jackson was not one of these.
In the moment of this crisis, IN the
front of these formidable combinations,
Gen. Jackson vetoed the Bank oil and
thus stamped the seal of moral heroism
upon Shame and character forever
He gave his reasons for the return of
the bHl to the House in which it origi-
mated, in message that will remain to
all time an imperishable monument of
his integrity, boldness, ability and pa
triotlsm. At the close of that message
he told the people that it embodied
his honest convictions, tn at he could
not SHRINK from what he felt to be his
duty, that if his decision failed to- meet
their approval, the remedy was at hand
they had only TO put another in his
place who would better meet their
views.
Upon this issue the Presidential bat
tie was fought, and what was the re-
suit 1t was the triumph of honesty o.
yer craft-of truth over error, ofIustice
over fraud, of Jackson over the com.
bined forces of federalism, bank and
arlstocracy, in all their shapes and as
poets. Clay had been put up TO take
the vote of the National Republican, OF
the Middle and Western States; WeD1
ster to rally and obtain the federal
strength of the East; White 10 secure
the t;m;d wayering, panic-stricken