North Carolina Newspapers

IS -'S feSo W hole JYo. 680. Tarborough, (Edgecombe County, JV 6'J Saturday, March 24, 1838 FoLXirSo- 12. Tie Tarborough Press, BY GEORGE HOWARD, la published weelcly at Ttoo Dollars and Fifty Cents per year, if paid in advance or, Three Dollars at the expiration of the subscription year. For an period less than a year, Tiusnty-fioe Cents per month. Subscribers are at liberty to discontinue at any time, on giving notice thereof and paying arrears those residing at a distance must invariably pay in advance, or give a respon sible reference in this vicinity. Advertisements not exceeding a square will be inserted at One Dollar the first insertion, and 23 cents for every continuance. Longer advertise ments in like proportion. Court Orders and Ju dical advertisements 25 per cent, higher. Ad vertisements must be marked the number of in sertions required, or they will be continued until otherwise ordered and charged accordingly. Letters addressed to the Editor must be post paid or they may not be attended to. Independent Treasury Hill. SPEECH OF MR. STRANGE, OF NORTH CAROLINA. h Senate, March 6, 183S. Upon the bill to ''impose additional duties, as deposi taries, upon certain public officers, to appoint Receivers General of public money, and to regulate the safe-keep ing, transfer and disbursement, of ihe public moneys of the United States." f Mr. STRANGE addressed the Senate 1 as follows: j When, at the extra session, I had the honor of submitting to the Senate, in as I condensed a manner as possible, my views I on the subject now under consideration, I ! did not suppose that, under the pressure ol j that high responsibility which rests upon j every member of this distinguished body, I should again be compelled to enter the I arena and engage anew in this momentous strife. 1 did believe that such a direction , would be given to the subject as to lull into repose those elements of discord which have been so long howling through the political atmosphere. 1 did not anticipate j that the political patient would be forced I to lie for months in ignorance of his dis ease, and without the application of any ; remedy that, in his anxiety and distress, I his hopes and his fear might be appealed to, to wring from him concession. But such has been the result, and the subject is I again before us, and, notwithstanding the 1 great ability with which it has been d is- cussed, I feel it my duly, avoiding, as much as possible, grounds heretofore oc I cupied by me, to offer some suggestions to the senate. In doing so, l snail probably repeat much that has been said by others; and if 1 should seem tedious to the Senate, my apology must be found in the magni tude of the subject. It is, on the side I propose to advocate, so full of topics that the difficulty is not to find something to say, but to select from the vast mass of matter which crowds upon the mind. In this respect, perhaps, the gentlemen in the Opposition may seem to have some advan tage over us, for the little that can be urged on that side of the question may be thrown upon the mind in all the force of concen tration, while on ours the effect ol each is dissipated by the variety of considerations which claim attention. In the remarks I shall make, 1 beg leave in the outset to dis claim any personal allusioji. Personali ties in debate are, in my judgment, wrong in every point of view. They violate the decorum which becomes these halls. Tliev are breaches of that spirit of kindness which should characterize the intercourse of members of the same body. They in terfere with the faithful discharge of duty to our constituents. They are inconsis tent with our own self-respect, and detract from our propriety as gentlemen. In any thing, therefore, which I may say, I war upon parlies, not persons; upon principles, not men. It might seem invidious to se lect any one from among those who have preceded me in the advocacy of what 1 conceive to be the cause of truth, as a pe culiar subject of remark; but when it is re membered that the Senator from Ohio is a native of the State which I have the hon or in part to represent, that he hath been transplanted from my own sunny clime to the cold regions of the lakes, and hath yet put forth in unabated vigor, and is withal one of the youngest members of this body, both in age and station, I may be excused for tendering hitn my thanks as one of the Democracy of the country, and, so far as my feeble voice may serve, cheering him on in the race of glory he has so nobly be gun. In the further progress of my remarks, I shall treat the origiual bill reported by the Committee of Finance, and the proposed substitute of the Senator from Virginia, together, for, like Pharaoh's dream, the subject is one, although presented in a two fole manner. And the parallel holds in another important particular;-for, if the substitute should prevail over the original bill, it will be the consumption of the seven full and good ears of corn by the seven thin, withered, and blasted by the east wind; the destruction of the seven fat-fleshed and well-favored kine by the seven thin fleshed and ill-favored, such as were never seen in all the land of Egypt for badness. This subject has been justly pronounced on all sides as of the utmost importance. Indeed I do not believe that one equally important is likely to engage the attention of Congress through the lapse of years. Its importance is evinced by the nature ol the opposition it has been doomed to en counter. The press has made it and its advocates, for months past, the themes of ridicule, insult, and vituperation. Au op position the most talented, compact, and powerful ever known in this country, has met it on both floors of Congress; and even sme of those, to whose bosoms the prin ciples are dear which it is intended to sup port, and who would pour out the blood of those bosoms in their defence, under (they will excuse me for saying,) "a strange, a passing strange" delusion, are found war ring against it; and should this bill fail, had it a voice to speak, it might exclaim in its dying accents, " Tu qouque Brute " ilh the first man in Rome when he fell beneath the daggers of his friends. This reminds me that the Senator from New York Mr. Tallmadge bade the friends ol if the Administration "beware the ides ol November." I, for one, received the war ning in the spirit in which it was given, llbeit I may not profit by it; and in the kindest manner 1 take leave to remind thai Senator in return, that it was of the ides ol another month that Caesar was warned, not by a misguided friend, but by hisfaith ful Augur Spuriuajaud when the sacrifice was completed, and Caesar was slain, the chief of those concerned in his destruction were forced to acknowledge that they had acted under a wild delusion, and had "struck the foremost man of all this world but for supporting robbers;" and all that they had gained was the poor privilege of having the insulting proposal made to them "to sell the mighty space of their large honors, for so much trash as might be grasped, thus." But formidable as has been the opposition of the press, and that upon both floors of Congress, one still more powerful is waging against this bill. The banks, the banks, once the few and modest agents of commercial exchanges, have been multiplied by hundreds, and converted into one great political machine, wielding its Briarian arms in every direc tion. When Cadmus slew the dragon, it was dead for ever, and from its sown teeth only sprung forth armed men. Lint when the mother monster of banks was slain, it revived in its own person, and from some portion ol its exuvicc sprang forth a legion more terrible in this controversy, than an army with banners. This measure, in myjudgment another magna charla another Declaration ot the Independence of the people has been grossly traduced and misrepresented. ):n agination has gathered around it dark shadowy forms, obscuring its stature and proportions, and then declared it, like Hamlet's cloud, an ouzel or a camel, as the humour prompted. Under her m.igi touch it ns grown up into a vast moun tain, destined to belch forth its volcanic lava in every direction, overwhelming this lair land in rum and desolation. iMr. Pre sident, when I look to the substantial arf;u meol which is brought against this mea sure, I feel the same exultation which filled my. soul when 1 heard read in this hall that able and luminous document which first brought it to the attention of Congress Then I felt proud of my country, of my principles, and ol the man whom I had borne an humble part in rendering the honored instrument, (or, if gentlemen think either, our morals, or taste, or our Ian guage, is to be improved by applving low terms to dignified subjects,) the honored tool in bringing them into action. But when I look to the clouds of prejudice, which, in thick, heavy masses have galh ered around it, 1 am oppressed with gloo my forebodings, and my heart sickens at the anticipated miseries of my country un : mat it were mine to wieia a magic wand, by which I might brush away those clouds ol prejudice, and lay bare the sub ject in an us simplicity, uut the wish is . I r- . . . . vain, and I must essay what I can, however limited my hopes of success. The first and most natural mode resorted to by the enemies of an Independent Trea sury to prejudice the public mind against it, is pouring upon it, in advance, the most violent and bitter denunciation. Odious names are applied to it and its friend Loco Focoism, Jlgrarianism, Spoils Party and a host of other catch words, having no very definite meaning, and thereby leav ing to imagination to fill up the blanks with every thing dangerous aud detestable To borrow a figure from the Ssnatpr from South Carolina, not now in his seat, Mr. Preston, they are used as a bell to ring together a rabble of offensive ideas. Every one knows the effect of the cry of mad-dog upon the unfortunate animal against whom it is directed Even the most staid and prudent men are roused from their propriety, and join in the pur suit of the doomed wretch; and the in quiry whether or not the charge is well grounded is seldom made until it ceases to be a matter of any consequence to the creature charged whether it is true or not. This measure has been denounced upon this floor in a tone of voice, aud with au emphasis which might have disturbed the sleep of every cradle in this wide-spread city, as worse than the alien and sedition law. There is, in my judgment, a vast difference between the two measures. The one has already been condemned by the American people, and spurned as an at tempt to feller their liberty and bind them in slavery. The olher, as I have already intimated, is a feather from the wing ol their own high-soaring eagle. But lliere is no disputing about taste. The devil, it is said, prefers blasphemy to prayer. But what the Senator who made this denuncia tion can find in the alien and sedition law preferable to an Independent Treasury, 1 eave bun to point out. I lie next circumstance seized upon to prepossess the public mind against an lo- lepeudeut Treasury is, that it was recom mended by the President of the United Stales; aud the Senate has been taunted with being composed of a parcel of servile minions of power, assembling only to reg ister the rescripts of a tyrant. Sir, 1 would ask, was our Constitution founded in wisdom or in folly ? Is any here so bold as to declare the latter? If onv. let him speak out plainly. None! Then il is acknowledged to be founded in wisdom; and if so, for w hat purpose was the third section ol the second article inserted: which declares, "he (the President) shall, from lime to time, give to the Congress infor mation of the slate of the Union, and re commend to their consideration such mea sures as he shall judge necessary and ex pedient." Was it merely to lest whether the President would yield obedience to the behests ol the Constitution? whether Con gress would be so tame and submissive as lo pay the slightest respect to the sugges tions made under the injunctions of the Constitution? or whether any President would have the audacity to assail the jus Jivinum recently transferred from kings lo corporations'? The Senator from Massa chusetts Mr. Webslei J was wrong in call ing the message which recommended the Independent Treasury ihe iEolian cave. The figure would have been much more apt if, in speaking of it in connexion with the paper system, he had compared it to the inverted spear which the poet repre sents as having been stricken into the hol- v mountain, or that launched by Lao- coon a gainst the side of the wooden horse. The effect was not, as I think, that men tioned by the Senator : Unia Eurusque Notosque ruunt creberque pro cellis Afiicus et vastos volvunt ad litiora fluctus. "All the winds rushing out in fierce storms to gether, And rolling the great waves to the shore." But it was, in my opinion, another de scription of the poet, U teroque recusso, Insoneure cavae gemitumque dedere cavernce, Insequitur clamorque virum. "The womb being smitten, its hollow caverns sounded, and gave a groan. Theclainor of men followed." The next mode of prepossessing the peo ple against an Independent Treasury, is calling it a war upon the banks, and through them upon the people. Was there ever a more gratuitous assumption? What are the facts? Does Congress propose lo pass any law regulating the banks, abridg ing their privileges, or modifying their charters? Does it propose to tax them, or in any other way to legislate of, orconcern ing them? Do not the friends of this mea sure expressly disclaim all right so to do? Who, then, is the assailant? Congress proposes to pass a law declaring how the revenues of the Government, raised exclu sively for ihe uses of the Government, shall in future be received, kept and disbursed, and the banks, through their agents, break in upon the calmness of Congressional de liberation, and demand that the whole bu- 111. . . .1 IIT siness snail be commuted to tnem. we alone, say they, are entitled to its posses sion. No others can be found worthy to be trusted with it. Besides, the possession of it is profitable to us; aud we cannot sur render the advantages we derive from it; and what is more, we say that the people derived advantages from our possessing it; and we will so convince the people; and we will stir them op to aid us to this demand; the revenues to olher keeping than ours, is war upon us, and through us upon the people. This artifice of the banks iu bringing forward the name of ihe people in iheir attempt to seize upon ihe public trea sure, reminds me of an ingenious but cruel device iu ancient warfare, when two cities or nations heing at war, the one, by some accident, got jl0 iis'possessi.m a number of ihe wives aud children of ihe other; these the former placed in front of them, and so advanced upon iheir adversaries, upon whom ihey could with effect dis charge liieir arrows and hurl iheir jave lins, while the latter were restrained by the fear of wounding iheir own kindred. The banks know that we are ihe kindred of ihe people, ourselves a portion of them; and could we be persuaded that in resisting iheir attempts we were wounding the pen pie, . we should yield the contest. But what is the connexion between the banks and ihe people? Do the people control Ihe banks, or the banks the people? There can be but one answer to these questions. Il is our masters' masters, then, aud not our masters themselves, who demand the public treasure; and if we do not surrender it, shall it be said we are making war upon both? We make no war upon ihe banks : it is ihe banks who have made war upon us. As ihe ancient Gauls did the Roman territory, they have overrun our country; we have been driven to the Capitol, tin only remaining fortress, aud no help is led lo us, but like Manlius Torquaius, lo hut 1 the intruders from its walls. Another mode of exciting prejudice against the Independent Treasury system, is speaking of il as a separation between the people and ihe Government. 'No charge was ever more absurd than this Those who use it, but betray their own ha bitual mode ol thinking. They are wont lo consider the Government as ihe proper ly ol the lew, contrived lor iheir specia comfort aud accommodation, while the people, an ignoble herd, are totally unfit to govern themselves, or to have any part in . i . . . . i .i i f me government oi outers. 1 hey are ac customed to view mankind in classes, re gularly graduated, at the head of which graduation stand those who administer (he Government; while Ihe friends of ihe Inde pendent Treasury look upon Government as a mere institution, set up by the people for iheir own use and purposes, managed by a portion of themselves, appointed as agents of the whole to that end. That it has no incarnate, separate existence, like monarchical or aristocratic Governments, and can have no rights or interests bo those which it holds in trust for the people. Distinct from theirs, excepi so far as is ne cessary for ihe discharge of its fiduciary office, il has no existence. Hut the most formidable of all the pre judices excited against the Independent I'leasury system, is that caused by consid ering it as a part of a great system devised by the late Administration, which has thus far in its progress, brought ruin and dis- tress upon the country. It is asserted that the nation is in the very depths of pecuni- iry distress, and that all this has been brought about by the unwise or malicious deeds of th? past Administration continued by the present. 1 he ghost of ihe late Ad ministration is made to stalk across this hall an object of terror as well as of admi ration, and men are thereby fiightened from their propriety. This was Ihe prin cipal ihcme of the very able address to which we listened from the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Clay, on Monday week, and I think he succeeded very effectually in showing that neither the past or present incumbent of the Presidential chair was very favorable to banks as the fiscal agents of the Government. But that he ever reached the Q E D of his argument, to wit: that that hostility had wrought any ill to the country, I utterly deny. It never has and never can be proven that it caused the present commercial distress so loudly complained of; but, on the contrary, it is perfectly manifest, and the experience of every day renders it more so, lhal this dis tress is ihe result of over-trading and ex cessive bank issues. This slate of over trading and over-issuing, presented a de ceitful show of great prosperity, most glowingly described by the Senator from Kentucky, who last addressed you, Mr. Crittenden, and to convey some adequate idea of it; he borrowed1 from the beautiful soliloquy of Cardinal VVolsey : "We were like little wanton boys who swim on ladders These many summers, on a sea of glory;' and the Senator might have continued the quotation, and found iu it the cause of4he sad reverse "But far beyond our depth: our full-blown pride Hurst under us, And left us to the rude mercy of a stream, Which threatens to o'erwhelm us." oeen sv iiinniiiiT ami i..i O o mat III winch we are iu danger ol being drowmd. Confirmation is daily added to. the posi tions luken by the President, and main tained by his friends at ihe extra session, lhal the paper system had been expanded in England as well ns in litis country, and lhal ihe commercial, distress complained ol mi this country was lo a greater or less extent prevaleui iu all the trading nations. Mr. Strange here introduces numerous api quotations from authentic sources, sta tistical details, and lucid arguments to il lustrate and sustain his propositions, and concludes his speech as follows : Mr. President, in the course of this de bate, I am drawn into a very frank expres sion of my opinions of the tendency of the hanking system. Convictions produced by deep reflection, and . enforced by the highest sense of duty. But I should do in justice to my feelings did I fail to declare that, so lar as I am acquainted with bank ing operations in my own State, they have been conducted with much integrity, and the evils, if any, arc the evils of the sys tem, and not of its administrators. The great propriety with which banking opera tions have been conducted there, has ren dered us too insensible to the evils of the system, and I doubt not that many sensi ble men will look upon these annunciations of opinions on my part as coming from a heated imagination. Sir, I have little hope that the paper sys iem will besoon arrested. Standing here, I have no right to propose or advocate any measure for the accomplishment of that object. 1 can only vote for the with drawal of that encouragement, that stimu lus, w hich the Go eminent' has heietofore afforded it; and that it is my desire and my purpose to do, and nothing more. But the lendetny of ihe paper system is on ward. Lock to the Birmingham memo rial once more, aud there you find thai peo ple praying for the repeal l Mr. Peel's bill compelling the Bank of England to pay specie. 'Like the drunkard, they cry out for more of that stimulus under whose sickening effects they are now laboring. Once more let us turn to the Edinburgh Review lor testimony concerning its effects upon the mercantile ( hisses : "The radical dfifect, in fact, in the constitution of the bank, consists iu its particip;uiutoo much' in the feelings aud views of the mercantile class It is managed by merchants, and we need not wonder that it should sympathize with them. It may, however, be inferred, with almost unerring certainty, that the bank is acting on erroneous principles when its conduct is warmly approved by the merchants, and converselyi Whenever the city articles of the metropolitan papers teem with eulogies on the conduct of the bank, we may be quite certain that mischief is abroadi A mer chant is anxious to get bills readily discounted at a low rate of interest, and his good or bad opin ion of the bank directors depends, in niue cases out of ten, on their readiness to negotiate the pa per he lay 3 bforc them." Witness its effects even upon this floor. The Senator from Kentucky Mr. Clay insists that even now the notes of the bank ought lo be taken by the Government, in ihe lace of their refusal lo pay specie. The j principle of convertibility, upon which only bank paper was ever tolerated, is now abandoned, aud every thing must be treat ed as money which assumes the form of a bank note. Such is the tendency of the system. 1 he people have tasted ot the cup of Circe, and their noble- natures are changing, aud will, 1 fear, continue to change, unless some modern Mercury shall come with the herb Moly, or some other antidote, to ihe arts of the enchantress. There is one hope, and that is, if. pressed much further, the system must explode of itself; it cannot hold out here as it has done in England. There have been many circumstances to sustain it there, which ex ist not here, and will probably never eiist When England commenced with her paper system, she commanded ihe trade ot the world. Soon the Indies opened to her their treasures, and a vast mine they have proved, their golden strands sparkled with wealth in every form, and the British ar mies had only to fight a battle, and then gather gold from among the gore as a boy would pick up pebbles on the beach. In one year, Mr. McCulloch informs us, 15, 000,000 or $75,000,000 were returned from India. Here was ballast enough for a vast paper system. Besides all Jhis, her exchequer bills and her national debt, by ite magic operation of confidence, have been converted into substantial capital. No one believes that the national debt cf England will ever be paid; but its interest will, and it is eagerly sought after as an investment for capital; and a father be queaths it to his son,as conscious of having enriched him as if he had left him the pro prietor of so much land. But in thiscoun-.. trv the paperystem has none of ihese sup. j portsj and, if pushed much farther, it must