Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-10-26

/ prosperity, leafluI cancers on the Douy
polite. Not perhaps in the inception of
the movement but contemporaneously with
the coasnmmation of the movement, did
this doctrine end so distinct an enunciation
by the democratic party. The champion
Of the resolution to expunge the vote of
censure upon him who had ordered re-
mOval of the public deposites, became the
champion of a hard money lcurrency-and
he who had lent his name &c. a petition for
banks, became the author Of a specie circular.
Bullion was both the countersign and the
explanation. The appeal to the people
was general and universal, it was made with
characteristic repetition and persistence
And he who had been so blunt, $50 fervid so
unapproachabIy severe in his denunciations
of paper money, as to have received the
appellation of Old Bullion, began to enter
tain some dreams of a succession to the
Presidency on this issue But there were
other issues at that time to which the pub
lie mind could not be made oblivious, and
which required much more skill in manage
ment than the Missourian could command.
A more willy man was needed, and the gold
en- dreams of Mr.. BENTON were blown sky
high by the man of -Kinderhook. In tile
mean time the State bank system went on.
The State banks were so many mice releas-
ed, by the fall of the National Bank, from
the Lions paw The transition was so sud
den and so complete that their expansion
knew no limit. The States which had no
banks, on the withdrawal of the nations
/ paper, found themselves mcasurably with
out any currency They, democratic as
they were, set about creating Institutions
of the kind which had, but moment be-
fore, been so mereilessly Iampooned by them.
Take Mississippi, for example. We take
this State because, the man who was af,
forwards thought worthy of being placed
at the head of the Sub Treasury, was in the
height of his power there, and because it
illustrates another phase OF democratic
integrity. ......
While the specie circular was enjoying
unbounded applause, and that State was
casting its vote, by large majority, for
MARTIN VAN buren,, the Legislature of
Mississippi was chartering banks, absolute
! " without number. Bank bills from six.
and quarter cents upwards, were issued
from almost every bar-room and ginger
bread stand in the State, with a munif
cence which does not admit of adequate
| description. Bankers were numberless and
bank bills were scattered with the rapidity
and profusion of forest leaves in the gales
Of autumn The State, in its corporate ca
pacity, was no less affected with the cur
rent mainland it contracted debt of
flee millions, sold its own bonds at heavy
discount, and set up a great central, agr-
cultural Union Bank, 1t was no uncom-
mon expression fora man, who, under diff
ferent currency, would have been penniless,
To say, with an air of boasting, that he "had
uqoHsg- enough 10 bIru mp a 1oet dog. '--'Phee
Mississippi bubble of l837-8-9, which ex-
pande1 under the touch of the democracy.
was scarcely inferior to the Mississippi
bubble of l7I7-IS-I9, which expanded
under the magnificent touch of John Law
and the Duke of Orleans OF course the
bubble burst. The sunshine lasted for on.
ly brief space, and the storm followed
Not only in Mississippi, but all over the
Union the storm prevailed We cannot
recount the particulars of this money TEN
pest-they are fresh in the memories of ma
ny. t'Hard times" was the universal cry.
The times Of unexampled prosperity gave
place to times of upexampled depression
aud disaster They are written in the his
tory of the country, in the records Of the
courts, in the ledgers of merchants and in
the hearts of hundreds aud thousands,
who were stricken down from affiuence to
the most abiect poverty. Democratic Mis-
sissippi, turned coolly about, abolished her
bank charters aud repu4iated Ter bank de5f.
The Wing party of that State in that day
advocated the payment of those bonds, and
the very men who had created the debt,
refused the payment, aud the debt remains
unpaid to this day.
Wei, there comes another chapter The
lpeople thoroughly Disguised and thorough
LIS aroused to a sense Of the calamity, and
It's proximate cause, in 1910 elected a
President and Congress of Bank men.
Tie President died ia the hour Of his tri
umph, or rather, the peoples triumph, aud
= the Congress passed new National Bank
c Act IL IS enough to say that the Act
was vetoed, without sayiag wherefore OF
BY whom. The country rose slowly from
It's depressioa--slowsy for THIS. perhaps rap
! ID for auy other-aud tie State aud stock
= bank system Of currency was renewed an,
{ grew apaee All around Us, aud % Amos
I al the States, We find rag currency preys
s lent In the strongest holds Of demoera
: ey baaks are chartered without che slight
est witch Of coaseienee, and spsele ciirer