The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-03-30
An Extra Session OF COngress-CabsneS Con.
sultations-True Policy OF Mr.. Pierce-Th,
Necessities or the CFisIs.

An Extra Session OF COngress-CabaneS Com
sultations-True Policy OF Mr.. Plerce-The
Necessities OF the Crisis.
Our advices from Washington TO day in
form us that there has been q third Cabinet
consultation upon the question Of an extra
session Of Congress, in view of our critical re-
probability that certain recent and very often
sive transactions Of the Cuban authorities will
decide the wavering mind Of the President in
favor of this extra conVocation of the two
houses.
We are glad to hear it. We hope that Mr..
Pierce win act accordingly, and cut short this
tangled gordian knot of the Cuban imbroglio,
by an early cali of Congress, and the submission
of the whole matter to the representatives of
the States and the people. Fresh from the
people, they will be fully competent to act in
accordance with the ends of justice, and the
reasonable wishes and expectations OF the
country. The time is auspicious-the crisis
demands action-the subject matter to be con-
sidered has been tried in every shape and form,
by the Executive department, through the me
dunn Of diplomacy, without the slightest prac-
teal result, except the indignant return of Mr..
Soule and the publication of his correspon-
dence. This is a result, we admit, of some
Importance; for it has served to enligten the
public mind concerning the policy Of Spain.
the Vaccinations of England and France, and
'the manifest destiny" of Cuba, which unless
we ahall act promptly and decisively, will be
manifest" European balance OF power 10 the
Gulf Of Mexico.
But the ghost Of the Van Buren, extra session
of 1887, and the spectre of the Harrison extra
session of 1S41, here rise up and confront the
administration. Mr.. Pierce remembers the
disastrous failure Of the Van Buren experiment,
and the still more rapidly ruinons consequences
to the Harrison regime at Washington, and
throughout the country, Of the extra session Of
1S41. Yet we admonisb our present admins
tration that these precedents afford no occasion
for alarm. Neither of them bears the slightest
analogy to the exigencies and the present policy
Of Mr.. Pierce. Let us briefly explain. +.
When Mr.. Van Buren, came into power in
1887, the financial policy of General Jackson.
resulting from the downfall of the United
States Bank, had brought upon the country
general revulsion. First, the government
deposits, some twenty-five or thirty millions,
were taken from the United States Bank,
under Old Hickory's revolutionary system, and
farmed out among the State banks. These
monster" encouraged to supply its place, and
to act upon these deposits as so much Of
a solid specie basis to their available means.
And what were the results? The country was
flooded with bank paper, and the widest spe-
culations ran riot over the land. Then an act
was passed distributing the surplus revenue
among the States. The PIT banks, called upon
to disgorge the first instalment, began to shake
in the knees. Bank paper became question
able stuff. Large purchases were then being
made by settlers Of the Western public lands.
Government, to protect itself, required that all
money in payment for lands and for duties
should be specie. The effect was electrical.
The explosion was universal. The banks
throughout the country suspended, o general
crash of mercantile and business failures sue
ceeded and thus Van Buren,, two months from
his Inauguration, found himself in the midst Of
the great revulsion Of '37.
What was to be done? The country looked
to government for relief, and instant relief.
The idea was preposterous; it was utterly out
of the question; but the people were impatient,
and something must be done. Among other
applications, o numerous committee from the
city Of New York waited upon the President,
and requested him to rescind the specie circu-
lar, to defer suits upon unpaid bonds and to
call an extra session Of Congress They stated
that the value Of their real estate had, in SIX
months, deprecated some forty millions Of
dollars; that within two months there had
been two hundred and Fifty large bust
ness failures in New York. that within
the same limit their local stocks had de-
clined twenty millions In value; that the mer-
chandise in their warehouses had declined full
thirty per cent; that within few weeks twenty
thousand Of our working people had been
thrown out Of employment; and that, in fact,
1.-THE errors Of our rulers had produced wider
desolation than the pestilence (ls32) which de-
populated our streets, or the confagration
1S35) which laid them in ashes"
This was a sample of the numerous petitions
from all quarters for an extra session, and the
result was the extra session of September
1887 few palliative measures were passed.
the sub-treasury passed the Senate, but was re-
jected by the House. The people were disap-
pointed. Congress had given them no positive
relief; and though the administration rallied
little in 1889, the President, his administra-
ton, his Congress, his party and his policy
were all swept away by the tremendous popu-
lar reaction Of 1s4O Without that extra ses-
sion the result would have been the same The
crash bad come, and the consequences we're in
evitable. Nothing could have given immediate
relief, and nothing could have saved the ad.