Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-12-13
frnldsnt,s Mess,age.-ConcIuded

ff7St. and sanction Of the great name OF
Washinston which has been SO often In,
Md Is its support, are greatly weakened
Av the deyelopement Of these facts. The
..,.r;ment 81 that Bank satisfied the peo-
NJ that it ought not to be continued, and at
Ia end Of twenty years Congressrefused to
rs.eAarter it. 1t would have teen fortunate
foftRs country, and saved thousands from
bankfuptsy and ruin, had our public men
resisted the temporary pressure Of the times
uuon financial aud pecuniary interests, and
refused to charter the second Bank. OF
this the country became abundantly salts
Sed at the close OF its twenty years dara-
ton: as in tho case of the first Bank, it also
esased to exist; under the repeated blows OF
Ffesident jackson, it reeled ald fell, and a
Subsequent bill to charter similar lastltu-
ton was arrested by the veto OF President
Tyler.
NJ. Madison, in yielding his signature to
the charter in 1916, did so upon the ground
df The respect due to precedents; and as he
subsequently declared athe Bank OF the Uni
ted States, though on the .iginal question
held to b. unconstitutional, received the
Executive signature.
.s 1t is probable that neither the Bank OF
1871 nor that of 1916 would have been
chartered but for the embarrassments of the
government in its finances, the derange-
ment Of the currency, and the pecuniary
pressure which existed, the first, because OF
the war Of the Revolution, and the second, ,
the consequence of the war Of 1872. Both
were resorted to in the delusive hope they
would restore public credit and afford re-
lief to the business of the.country.
Those Of our public men who opposed the
whole eAmerican system" at its commence
ment, and throughout its progress, foresaw
and predicted that it was fraught with In
calculable mischiefs, and must result in Sc
rious injury to the best interests OF the
country. For series of years their wise
eounsels were unheeded, and the system was
established. It fostered and elevated the
money power, and enriched the favored few
BY taxing labor, and at the expense Of the
many. Its effect was to make the rich
richer and the poor poorer" Its tendency
was to create distinctions in society, based
on wealth, and to give to the favored class
e. undue sway and control in our govern
msat. It was an organized money power,
which resisted the popular will and sought
to shape aad contEol the public policy.
Under the precarious workings of this
combined system and measures, the coun-
try witnessed alternate seasons OF Temporal
~ apparent prospe .ity, Of undue and dis
astrous commercial revulsions. OF unprece-
dented fluctuation Of prices and depression
Of the great interests of agriculture, navlga-
tioa, aad commence; and general pecunia-
ry suffering, and of final bankruptcy OF
shousa ads, safter severe struggle OF a
century, the system was overthrown."
The Bank has been succeeded by prac-
heal system of finance, conducted and con-
lrolled solely by the government; the con-
1titutional currency has been restored: the
public credit maintained unimpaired, even
ii period of foreign war; and the whole
country has become satisfied that banks,
or State, are not necessary as hscal
lgears Of the government. The revenue
duties have taken the place of the protec-
tive Tariff. The distribution OF the pro-
cseds received from the sale of the public
lands has been abandoned, and the corrupt
ing system Of internal Improvements, it is
hoped, has been effectually checked.
It is not doubted, that if this old train OF
measures, designed to take wealth from the
many and bestow it upon the few, were to
prevail; the effect would be to change the
entire character of the government. One
pnly danger remains. 1t is the seductlons
Of that branch of this system, which consists
ia Internal Improvements. holding out as it
does, inducements Of particular sections and
locations, to embark the government In
them, without stopping the inevitable con-
sequences. This branch of the system IS
50 intimately combined and linked with the
others, that, as surely as defect is po-
duced by an adequate cause, if it be resusl-
tated and revived and firmly established, it
requires no sagacity to forsee that it will
draw after it, the rs-establlsh-
nent of aNational Bank, the revival of
Protective Tariff, the Distribution of the
Land Money, and not only the postpone
ment to the distant future of the payment
of the present National Debt, but its annual
increase. ! entertain the solemn convic-
lion if the Internal Improvement branch of
the aAmerican System" be not firmly re-
sisted at this time, the whole series OF meas
ures composing it will be speedily establish
ed, and the country will be thrown back
from its present high state Of prosperity
which the existing policy has produced, land
be destined again to witness all the evils,
reyulsions, depression Of prices,
the pecuniary embarrassmeuts through
which we have passed during the last TWEEN
ty-6ve years.
To guard against consequences so ruin
Gus is of high national importance involving
the continued prosperity Of the country
| have felt ito be an imperative obliga-
lion to withhold my constitutional sanction
from two bills which had passed the two
Houses Of Congress, and involving the
principle ofinternal Improvements, branch
Of the American system and conflicting
in their provision with views here expressed.
.sa This power, conferred upon the President
by the Constitution, have ON three ocea-
sions, durins my administration Of the Ex-
ecutive department of the government,
deemed it my duty to exercise; and on this
last occasion Of making to Congress an an
nual communication aof the state of the
Union" it is not inappropriate to give the
principles and considerations which have
geyefned my action. [ deem this the more