Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1857-10-19
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have been led to embark in extravagant and
extraordinary internal improvements.
1t Is thus that the city of New York has
been led to spend more money in carrying on
her municipal government than is expended
IN some two or three States of the Union. Il
is thus that the people everywhere have en-
gagged in hazardous enterprises: and it is
thus that the currency of the country has
been inflated greatly beyond the point of
safety. Some gentlemen are unjust and in
eonsiderate enough to attribute this extrava.
gsnce to the ladies.
81 have shown you much clearer rearon
for the extravaganza that has overwhelmed the
country. (ApplaUse.) have little to say
OF the ladies, except that l am glad they are
among our friends (cheers) but there new
er can be greater injustice than to charge
upon them the extravaganza and corruption
OF the times. What has been witnessed in
the family, whether in city or country, is a
result and not cause. 1t is the result of
the extravaganza of the general Government,
followed up, as it has been, by the extrava-
gance OF States, and lesser communities, and
the people at large. (Applause.)
Now on these great points to which have
spoken-hrst, the effect of the government
upon the industrial interests of the country
second, the disposition Of the public lands
lGAHGHQlLureS-We nave
seen total disregard of and total departure
from the early habits Of industry of the peo-
pie and of the government, as exempided by
the government itself, in the commencement
OF the late administration and for these re-
suits what have we For these disasters
which are upon us what have we :
AS compensation for the sorrow and suf-
ferlng that has carried the hard working man
OF fifty winters, with his strong unyielding
arm and heart, home in tears, and filled the
hearts of his family with gloom and sorrow, if
not absolute suffering Why, we have
prlnclple-a new principle, and / shall call
your attention to that principle, as compen-
satlon Tor the wrongs which we are now suf-
tering, and may suffer for some little time to
come.
propose, before doing so, to say a word
upon topic to which l Just alluded, and
which | pass over sooner than would. 1t is
lnregard to the initiation of the currency as a
source OF the evils under which we are labor
ing. 1t is indisputable that the currency of
the country is inflated greatly beyond our
wants, and greatly beyond the point of safe
ty; but 1t is not cause. it is result and
you might as well condemn the merchant, the
individual, the government, for anything that
takes place, as to censure the controlling
agents of the monetary system for the expan-
SION OF the currency to which they have been
led.
1t lis result demanded by the country of
them, and that expansion they could not re-
fuse. Men could never have had the power
to refuse under the pressure that has been
brought to bear upon them. Look for in
stance, at the drain upon the East to supply
the West. In the State of New York you
have seen money drained from people of every
class and occupation, all going westward.
In New England we have seen the same
thing. The debts from the West to the East
have been gigantic; and in order for the
Eastern creditor to regain the money due
from the West, they have been compelled to
call upon the banking institutions, not only
to aid the East, but the West also. The ex-
pansion that has thus followed has been re.
suit rather than cause of the great moneta-
ny evils that rest upon us. The remedy is in
evitable and it lie simple. Even now. as l
said IN the commencement of my remarks, q
one has been indicated by a leading merchant
OF this city, to which others will assent, and
it will thus become established as q law. +.
There are in circulation $50, 100000 in
bank notes of the amount of five dollars and
under. We complain that the gold flows
out of the country. 1t does not flow out by
its own weight something impes it. The
man parts with his industrial products, and
whatever he has in the shape of property
very willingly, but the gold he has he holds
on to as long as he well can. (Applause,)
1t is a universal feeling. Now if you allow
the ordinary debts of the people to be paid in
gold and silver, If every working man receives
his compensation for his labor, under the sum
OF live dollars, in gold and silver, naturally he
is inclined to hold on to that; but if you pay
him in paper, the gold and silver leave the
country, and in this way we expel more or
less of this amount of fifty millions of dollars
circulated in bank notes, less than five dollars.
1t was said, by Mr.. Huskinson, of England,
that it had been the result of many years ex.
perience, that the existence of one and two
pound notes was incompatible with the cir
culation of gold and silver in small sums. 1t
was said by Mr.. Burke to Mr.. Pitt, that if he
issued one pound notes he would never see
guinea again. The same result will follow
here as there; the people themselves will be
enabled when they choose by their own ac-
ton thus to prevent an excessive imitation of
the currency, beyond that which the merean-
tile world is obliged to have.
l have TO ask again, fellow citizens, as l
asked before, what is the compensation we
have received from the government, for the
great difficulties that have oppressed us. We
have, instead of our former prosperity, the
establishment of a new principle Of govern
me1t-a new principle, revolutionary in its
character, discredita6le to the people and the
government, and now ayowed for the first
time in the history of the world, to witt
that the constitution and the flag OF the Union
carry the institution of slavery to whatever
territory they shall be extended. This has
never before been ayowed in this country.
As long ago as the formation Of the govern.
ment and the establishment of the constitu-
ton, 1t was distinctly recognized, that Con.
gress had the power to prohibit the institution
Of slavery in the territories.
AS long as the constitutional law Of Eng
land has been understood and known, it has
been held that not only did the institution Of
slavery not go with the constitution, but the
constitution itself never could cover acquired
territory except by act of Parliament (. and
until the present administration, or the past
administration, it has always been so held and
declared in this country, that the constitu-
ton did not go TO the territories ACC uired un-
der the constitution, except by act Of Con-
gress sending it there. Now as regards the
institution of slavery, every man has held
the contrary of the principle which is now
for the first time declared as, for instance,
Mr.. Jefferson, he was the father Of what is
now known as the Wilmot provso. Take
Mr.. Monroe, with his approval of the Missouri
compromise.
Take Mr.. Polk, who signed the prohibit
bition in the Oregon bill. Take Gen. Taylor,
who stood ready to give his approval TO the
sa,ra uct and was hound IN do II fanpta,,a.N