Newspapers / Newbern Sentinel (New Bern, … / Feb. 28, 1834, edition 1 / Page 1
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I"- Lb -'4- ' ' i . -' 1 ';' J :j t " ' "'f ;"'' "4 if- :?r ; -I U .-- t ,fv...- j,-- I" - :' - . .4" - . .-- f ' v!--, - . ; -; .j J . . I H-- f 4 "M TV i- - I.--- W : - - -;,. - " - ' -1 '. . - .r:ir-!:4 .O!". 1 : -44 ' f-4 K-A-y ;.- -4 V.- -. f v ; 4 444-4 4:- r ;;, ; :,..,!..., 4.4;-; 4 ,, l;; jj:' b:ilj44n;l - I -..' 4;-4j:,4l?'LlBERTY.JrHE!iib0NSTI -:i.- ;-.4 r,'A 1 -v'--v : .4" ' - VOIj. XVII. NEWBERX, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1834. HO. 8S0 . . i . . , - : : 1. j .1 j PUBLISHED BY THOMAS WATSON. TWce dollars per 4 f TERMS, .7 - j . annum, payahU in advance. exceeded its legitimate authority;, and had- jno war I this extraordinary extension of ita t,w am i iuui lor ir in iru cnrrMrwinHan . u o . . r: : 1.. j;j - - - . .r . , : l j m :: w Hie cufcittry i i duiciv uiu nor reauire an. lncnpaA me a reasury." iij the state ttf the question iiow pre sented to us, this transaction beias referred to bv (Continued from fourth, page.) I hooe I have shown, replied Mr. R. that from the mtorq and terms of the, authority reserved tolhe Sec retary of the Treasury, the wholecond uct of the Bank, ihthedisehnrffe ofall its dutie?,i.s propf rly open to con- pderatjon ; and I shall how proceed td inquire into its ron'iuct in several instances, which appear to me td tnrnish ample iustification flr withoh?in? from it the (iepositesof the public money. In cot fihins.mveelf to hese jnstances, I do not wish to he ijnderttood ns Ljiinkin ihere is nothino rIsp in the conduct , of the I3ank worthy of hlam1 or. justly incurrincihe nuimarl; Version of the Government On the contrary, I t h ink there is much more ; rur 1 connn myselr to those in iirinces.'hecause I believe that they alone are abun dantly sufficient to justify the withdrawing of the de ijbsitcs ; and because I I am unwillnij to w.rupv the time of the Senate unnecessarily with details' of this goft. to frhe conduct and duties of the. Rankl Mr. President thej fold nay viewed in two great relatibnslet Cbvernmept,2d, to the community at large. . la the lirst ot these relations, it3 duties arrt two as fiscal age;nt of the Government, to receive :ahd 1 distribute the public mopevs, and to have them ready ion tho puunt- vii-t-, vviiriievtr ann wnerever tney , may be called; for by the Government and as a cor- j I)UIrttiV1' " ' 1 in!" l Aioirmr iium ijr IclW, IU UIt eeivand conform to all the condition and securities . imjj6'J by the act of its creation.-t-lNovv, sir.Uel u$ firt inquire how it has performed thej firt named o these, jiuns n,as ii.neen niwaysjeady and prompt tQffn11ruP1Tne puonr monevs comm trei to nskf ppi in?! wjhpnjKey have been require to meet Ithe pub iicjvnrafrement8 ? This consideration-1 hold to be I'ofkhe highest importance. It is hot sufficier ; tfie publFc mnnpys should bp 'ultirriately snfo in th be'ult should of the Oank. or in other, words ririteiy .solvent. '.. out Pit is bp rpa fv to meet nromnflv an that the R; necessary , thai faithfully ev nl it 1 ry call made upon it by the Govern mpni fr the public jfuhd?,twhpn required for the public! service. This, is t nuv. fxemiiu ut(i m ine anairs 01 onvate me. wnen bei individual 'has accumulated a suhri of money which wishes to nut out at interest, to Wait an1 exhecJted I, or an opportunity of profitable investment, it is a Ir4(Hng'considerationjVV!th him to pur his monev m tti hands of some one. i who will; not merely be able tb p inj the long run., but who will rMr';. promptly ftncl cectaiuiy, . wnrneyer canon urxm. , lltn the bank of tfv? United States, sir, displayed these fundamental -qualities of promptitude and fide! ine secretary of the Treasury as one of his reasons ior oraenng me removal or the public depdsite?; it necessarily becomes f a practical object of inquiry," demanding the eerions consideration, if not f the ac- . ' 01 viongresSj . and none, in my estimation, could iuui cBifriiauy uiusiratc uie delinquency of the Bank mi ua reiauous 01 nscal affent in the government. While these Eecret neiirotiations were trnimr on' to withold the public funds from theirlemtimatc destina- nation the payment of the public debt it appears that there was in the Bank on the 1st day of October, oo, auer ueuucti n tne whole amount of debt desig nated for paymeni on that day a clear surplus of the public revenue of 3,222,792. ;4 .. ! j Upon a calm review of these trans'ictiona Mr. Pre sident, I thinkjt must be admitted by all fhat the Bank,i by an improper use of tlie public money for its own 1 advantage, had disabled itself in mppL with promptitude and punctuality, the calls of thel iroverni ment for the public funds committed to its ' keeping that it had not only failed to ha ye those funds forth coming, when required for the public service,! but that by a secret and unwarrantable intervention between the government and the public creditor, it ha!d sought 10 prevent tne application of those funds to the extin guishment of the public debt and that in both res pects, it had violated its clearest duties ajj'fiscal agent of the government 1 V , .. Let us now see if it has not eauallv violated the other duty indicated as appertaining to its relations to me government tnat ot lulhlling the conditions and guarantees provjoeu and imposed by jhe charter it- oc ) wiicuiiiuiiuuisiration. i ne cnarter pro vides that, fortthe managemeiit of the affairs of the oanK, mere snail pe twentx-tive Uirectore, 61 whom five are to be chosen bv the President of the United states, with the advice and consent of the Senate:' and at is farther "provided as a. fundamental article: of htheConstitution of the Bank,that 'not less than seven Uireciors stiair constitute a Board for the transaction for business." ; The design of these nrovisions. nn. (toubtedly, was io secure,,in all the operations of the Bank, an adequate and responsible representation of the.interests both of the government and of the stock holders, and such a knowledge on the part of the gov ernment, through the Directors chosen by it, of the praetr-iiiiigsqi me tsanK, as would serve as a cperk to rriai practices and abuses, and as a securitjy for.the public interests, of every kind, connected with the institution.- But the actual hanagement of iheJ3ank has been so conducted as to evade and frustrate all these essential guarantees provided by the charter for a conect admiinitration. Instead of thelaffaifs of the Bank be;ng tVansacte I by a Board -ofi at least sevi'll Din ctorsi at which everv Dirertnr mifrht. hnrf urejy dirt not require an increase of private loans to the amount of twenty-eight millionsf to invest eight millions. It is also alletred- hv tho KnnL- ht during this interval, it liad called iin its funds from urope to an -additional amout of about Tour millions; but U has failed to tell us,Nr, whyj it; had thus called in its foreign funda. The question Would naturallv ; ' -tt " - 1! . . J - fUnvernmeriT rmrl the neon?e.-it would hrw- rrrrlrprti ' 5 J t ' f J ' ' i i i - . - I - ' - uKieeu, a raiai aegrneracy. 1 f , From this general, review ; of the conduct of the Bank, in its various relations to the public, hope 1 havej shown, Mr. President, that it J at least has no just cause to complain! of j the animadversion with which it has been visited in ihe removal of the depo- nnaitea' T trnt also. sir. that I have shown in the art occur. Was it to aid in the great political operation of the Secretary of the Treasury, ordering that remo at home attributed toil!, involving,- as was supposed, val, there vaj no Want , of legal, authority. Here, the critical issue of the renewal of ltd charter, or was ' then, believing as I do, that bur highest duties to the Constitution and to the puhlic liberties forbid our. do ing any thing, not required by law and justice, which wpuld tend to strengthen this dangerous and uncon stitutional institution,- (and! shch, I think, would be the inevitable tendency of a restoration -of the depo sites,) I might have been content jto terminate -my view of the subject But grave'questions of constitu tional law have been made in regard to the rights ana powers 01 the chief Executive officer on this oc casion, which. ought not to be shunned. Questions of thia sort, whenever they arise, should be firmly met, and fully and fairly canvassed, as nothing can be of deeper interest to the people and to the States of this confederacy, than the ascertainment of the true prin ciples of that Constitution which they have u ordain ed and established' i i On this .branch of the subject, there is a discrepan cy of opinion among these, who have, nevertheless, United in censuring the conduct of the administra tion. I understand the Sehatnr from S. C 1r. Cnl- 1832, when thd President put his veto on the bill for houn,) distinctly to adiniit the constitutional power of n ikn n U It' ' L! i 1 i 4 ! '. -.I 1 . L T-: J . ia 1 . uc-viiaiicuiig ii, -11 was uniiDOwn wnemer 11 me uic i-rcBiueiinoBupenuienaaiiaconiroi, 11 necessary, nan) would have the I least reason to be opposed to his; election," . Why, sir, one could not but be amused at this dramatic exhibijiod of polijickl simplicity, on the part of this veteran! tactician in the field of poli tics, if it were not for the! recklesslself-contradictions which accompanies it. 1 1 When, sit, in the very book in which it makes thisf declaration, it characterises the first message of the President in Djecjember, 1829, as an assault uX)n the bank when it had adopted, in November 1830, and iti ;JVlarch 1831, resolutions for the distribution; of tracts and pamphlets to " counter act" as it says, j" the schemes for the destruction of the bank," originating in that message when in the same book it expressly iustifies those resolutions of 1 1830 and 1831, on the ground of self-defence against r the bnsrilp ntttMnnto nr-'tili';ior ' I'iinnnmn ko iDro oiuciii ami lusi ineu jsj co uestroyne insiituiion that it should after these tjhings gravely tell us jt did not know, all this time,! that it" wduld have the least reason to be Opposed to the election") of the present Chief Magistrate, is certainly an! extraordinary ex it for other purposes ? vyenave neen lurther tld by the bank that the years loo I and 1 832 were years of ex traordi nary foreign importations, add Lthat uhusual facilities of hank accommodation were required to diffuse these ij nojrra through the I country. I But the bank ought to have recollected that these very importa tions had been unduly (stimulated by the improper and unprecedented extension of its discounts ; and that the distinguished, authority, (Hr. Rush,) whose testimonial it had vauntingly cited in reference to another question, had, in the very report, from which that testimonial is extracted, declared that one of the most iraportaiH duties and functions of the Bank is, "by confining its issues within prudent limits, to re strain excessive importations, and to keep them with in the true wants and capacities of the country." But, sir, another most extraordinary explanation has been attempted iy the Bank It says thai while this ex pauoiun ui us uiscounis was going on, and uniu juiy tylinVeivring up he public flmds, or the pnf 1: pJ, t l?vln.1,,;1f ol' V" would be present, plie most wnen; called tor ny tne tjovernment f I connden adpeal to the history bf the postponements of 3 cefttsj it-ljias eatly to)a; . stack try per redempkliAn. to sustain me in tljie assert iph that' not. It is in the rerollertion of" the Senate that 111 the Spring of 1832, it had been determined off six on. the i iind la halt?, millions of the 3 per cent iisuing IslWayof July, and that a cor V : 1 . . 1 1- - . 1 r m- 4 - I rctjootidence took place, in tne montn ot iviarcn, be- s?ibwto that: operation. I It soon became evident that thibank was not in -ai situation .to meet the operation ho largely had it used the public funds in prewlenteu extension of its discounts, (as will be seep hcfeauer,) tol promote; its own interests ana views. In tills 4.ate of things, various pretexts and suggestions weretarged by the Bank to induce the Government to Iposjt pone tile contemplated payment ; and a pohement.to the mpruh of October was finally yiel- del, tjiH; Bank undertaking to pay the interest on the debt iia the mean time, and holding out expectations, which it did not .fulfil, of accommodakiohs to the irri- pdrtirig 'merchants to enable them the "better to pay the accruing 1 revenue of the Government. The Bank! has reported to a grtat deil ofjspecial pleading tpshqw.that, notwithstanding the arguments it so zilalously urged, on. the Government it neither, ' bought lor" lmpori.iM. business of the institution is transacted bv small committees chosen by the President, and con ducting their proceedings jn secret ; and from these committees, mus engrossing the active administration otCthe Bank, the Directors chosen bv the o-oyernment have been systematically excluded. It is the remark, sir, of a most able and distinguished man, ofdne'whose knowledge both, ot banking and finance, is unsurpas sed in this, as it probably is in any other country, (JVlr. Gallatin,) that " the mystery with which it was formerly hough t necessary to conceal the operations an uri- p ank ia? been one t Iost prolific sources of erruueuus opiuions on max sunject, and 01 mismange- menton tneir part." this dangerous and exploded mystery, the bank of the United States has sought to revive, and in doing so, has furnished just cause for the jealousy of the government and the nation. r The President of the Bank; according to; the by laws of the corporation, being, exofficio, a member of thce committees as well as having the sole appoint ment ol tlie.m, he directs and : controls thei proceed ings at will: and his responsibility is reduced to less than a name, not only by the mvsterv which envel- bpes those proceedings, but by the fact that through the number ot proxy votes which he givesJ (in vio- lation 01 me spirit 01 tne cnarter at least, wnicn restricts the highest number of votes of any individual periment upon :our simplicity if itlbe not an amusing display of its own. Considering, then, Mr. President, that the attempts of the Bank to explain this unprecedented increase of justify it by proper aid1sufficient reasons that it stands condemned, on the contrary, by sound maxims of banking, and of a safe correct find prudent man agementbut that on the other hand, there were ob- viuus pumicaij moiivea ior it, notwitnstanaing me professed ignorance of such by the Bank that it was coincident in point of time, with the application for a enevval ol its tharter, knill also with the pendency of a contested election, in theis?ue of; which its own fate the action of the Treasury Department, in reference to this question j while the honorable Senator from KentuckyMr. Glayt utterly denies this power, and considers the conduct 4sf th' President as a' palpable usurpation. Here Mr. Calhoun rose and said that though he! did not consider the conduct of : the Presi dent an usurpation; he considered it a gross-abuse of power.J Sir, (said MrJ Kj.) the only question pre sented Dy ine resolution under consdieration,is a ques tion of i the existence, notl of the abuse, of power. Those resolutions dirctly affirm, that the , President -1 1 i .r- ' f ' . 1 tiau assumed tne exercise 01 a power not granted ny the constitution and laws." the President was, under iinr rjri nested" the. nnfetnonement. Rnt . xvWlsitid tht committee of invesligjition of 1832, stockholder to thirty,) he chooses also' what directors tofo wliom the matter was thoroughly discussea and osamineu i " 1 he Committee are! fully or opinion till vt -though; the Bank neither " sought for" nor " re- Kiuebted" the postixniemeut," (feturriing ihus the lan milage of the President of thd Banlf,) "yet Jf sujeh pdstncjineineiit had not been rdade. i the Bank would not, oh the 1st of July have possesse J the ability to hive met the demands without: causing a scene of 'great distress an the commercial community.". Now, Mr! Presided t-J while the Bank was thus able to meet the demand of the United States for tliicir own moneys what was the state of the account bet;4eri it and the public; Treasury 1? Why, sir, ph dd- he pleases. In the actual administration of the Bank, then, every guarantee provided hy the charter it set at nought. The, representation allowed to the go vernment in, the ffaire of the Bank, is virtually nul lified instead of the open management of its con cerns by a responsible board ot Directors, ithe raost important business of the Bank is transacted' in, the conclave of small committees controlled by the Presi dent alone; and in him,! in fact, has been realized that concentration of all power in the hands of one man, (so far as the affairs of this great corporation, are concerned,) the apprehension of which,m regard tothe constituted auth rities of the nation, has elicited ine progress 01 iui , yu u 1 ; ttfc M of April, 1833, wh, the Me was .propoJ K bK;'S ,oe usuea or ine contempm eu ry neim-mere va3 ofthe BaDk l a n r wih lWa0Ummeliu iil 1116 11 h to. ine. crenit ni tnp rrpttsnrv ior niinnc 1 , ., r. , . . . . . ... .. . then, I look at the con mjaueye on deposite, the sum of $9,513,0000, and on tlie first of July when the payment was to have been made, the sum of S9.81 1.000. ' more than three mil- lidnslpf the public money overf and above the sum imposed to have been called for ! !' 1 4 jlJui, sir, this was not all. When the month of July arrived, the Government, determined, and issued no tite ol its intention to pay, on the first of October" fob lqw.ng, two-tbirds ol the whole amount ol the A per cent fetocks, and the remaining thitd on the 1st pf , tnereaiter. Tne Bank feeling-that it could whether as fiscal agent bound to administej- the pub- he lunds tor the public convenience, or a subordinate corporation created by the government, antjl bound to conform ta the fundamental regulations imposed by the law of its creation, I think it has equally failed in its duties, and forfeited its title to the confidence ofthe goTvernment I; will nowJVMr. President, briefly enquire what has been the conduct of the Bank in its relatipns to the community at large. In this relation its proper func tions and-duties are to give safe and prudent aids to sound industry and enterprize, to abstain from encour TlAt ..tU' i 1 ' I ' 1 ' 1 .1 f . I . Z 1 , Tuu uy pusioiiity, appeal to tne iu inner a-i -n epirit of wild epeculation , and overtradin CUlirenceot the. Cnvernniont -Knt hiiinr; Rtdl niinr-l H . - n . f n . r " lenceof the Government', but being still unpr I'cu 10 meet its can ior tne public asecjet negociation,and actually corisuraarated anar rangement with the-foreign hohlers bf the 6tockf not td cope forWard with their cirtificates at the periods in designated, to leave the amount due to them still the Sank, on an agreement that the Bank should pay theni the interest, but the Govrrnment continuing ;bound, in consequence of the detention of the certifi cates, tor the principal ofthe debt, Here the conduct ouhpBank, frorri a negative, became a positive de linquency. It was no longer a mere want of leadi ness and ability to pay up the public funds, when re quired for the public service, but an active and un warrantable interposition, contrary to every principle Government J to polit y the early .ofiti duty as fiscal agent of the unvart a in a great object of putili.- apdhual extinguishment ofthe public debL ! V heh the existence and result ofi this secret nego tiation became accidental! v kbownJthe Bank endea- . vdrvd to undo what had been agreed to be done, and procure the surrender of the certificates, which it ;U previously made an arrangement to navts ciu UP-I But this in no manner; lessens the impropriety ani unwarrantable character ofthe original act, and kpves the bankjustly exposed to the full force ofthe invitations of faithlesness and illegrilily, which lits cpnJuot'rn this transaction hasincurred. It avails as ;-JUe foreler to the' declaration of the Committee of the ni Whether the conduct ol the circumstances of the case, an abase, depends upon what had been the con duct of the institution, whose surpervision was in trusted to a department declared by the Senator from South Carolina to be under the superintence and con trol of the President; add f the views which I have already presented ol the conduct of.. that institution, have any foundation, all will agree that if the Presi dent possessed the power, the occasion had occurred when it ouht to be exercised. ' :. I will now, Mr. President, examine the several po sitions which have been taken by the Senator from Kentucky Mr. Clayl in jrelation to the question of constitutional power. I he honorable feenator first affirms that bv what has been done with rearard to the removal of the public deposites from the Bank of the United States, the Executive has usurped the power over the Treasury and public purse which the Consti tution has exclusively vested in the Legislative De partment; - In enforcing this position, sir, he has pre sented to jus, with his characteristic eloquence, the al arming consequences of an union ofthe power of the was supposed to be involved and lthat the part ofthe f sword and of the purse in the .same hands.- As.no union wtiicn was the principal scene of the Bank I topic is oetter calculated to arouse tne jealousies 01 a free people than this, it becomes us to analyze and ex amine itJ and to see how far it has any just application to the subject under consideration. Sir, it is a great maxim of constitutional liberty in that country from which we have derived so many of our institutions, that the powers of the sword and the purse should be kept separate and distinct, arid as the maxim comes to us f rom thence, we cannot better as certain, its scope and meaning, than by seeing how it is understood and practised there. InlEnglalid, the power of the sword is in the hands of the King. He its branches, unless 'the Secretary of the Treasurjf 4 should, at any time, otherwise; order and direct. ll' the Secretary of the Treasury,1 in the exercise of the discretion thus reserved to him bv law should order the public moneys 16 be deposited elsewhere, he cert tainly uturps' no legislative power over th piiblfc purse. j He merely executes a subsidiary trust id re gard to the place of keeping ihe public moneys, which , ; has been expressly confided to him by the legislative department itself. , l j : , L . J But, sir, it has been argued that hy tha act incor porating the bank' of the .United Sta with the provision above mentioned, the hank was, id effect constituted the Treasury ofthe United States, and that in removing the public deposites from the bankj money had been drawn from the Treasury, in viola- uon 01 ine consuiuiionai declaration on that subject. It the act incorporating thebarik, could, by possibility, have had the effect attributed td it. of converting the unutt, uy buiuc binwc luuiinurpriosis, into tne Iiai Treasury, still it became the Treasury sub mixta' onlythat is, only-so long as the Secretary of the l reasury mignt not - oraer tne puouc money 10 De deposited elsewhere. When the Secretary of the ; Treasuryshould order the public; moneyto be Ideposited 1 elsewhere, then in virtue ofthe provisidn' referred to - taf want of logical precision in this notion of ihe Trea- isury. "i he error is in annexing tne ideal 01 nxeu locality to it; whereas, in the true constitutional ana financial sense, it is hot a place,! but a state or condi-. tion. it is the condition ol moneys belonging to tne Government, and being in the custody or legal pos session of the officers charged with their safe! keeping. vv hereyer moneys are placed to their credit and sud ject to the control of the public Treasurer, there they are, both in legal and common intendment, mMney puouc ireasur. . j i , . . In a report of the Secretary of the Trcasttry.tliaue on the; 9th day of January, 1811, 1 find 'the term used , 111 such ar vvay as 10 snow conclusively ine sense m which it is habitually employed in the fhiances of tho government. A resolution had been aldopted by the House of Representatives on the, 19th (Dec. 1810, re quiring the Secretary of the Treasury! among othei things, ! to report " what willibe the probable amount' of the deposites in favor of the Ignited States in any ofthe said Banks," U. S. and State." or their brandi es, and, which ol them, on the 1st of AI arch, 181 J The Secretary ofthe Treasury, in answer to thia call reported " It is probable the amodnt oft specie in the Treasury, will on the first day of March nexs rincipal scene of the Bank operation, was at the same time the debateable ground ofthe political contest.1 ; When all these circumstan ct e are considered, it does seem tcj me to be difficult to resist the impression! that this extraordinary dpera- 1011 01 iae DiiuK, was directed to a political ODject ; an mpreskion strongly confirmed by the unequivocal manifestation of a politicai spirit by the Bank in other of its proceedings. I allude, of course, to the dctive devotion of the funds of the Bankj under resolutions giving the president ad; unlimited control over.them or that purpose, to the iU pp-eparation; and circulation of pamphlets and other may be the -disguise in exceed 2,500,000, and that! the proportion depositftt in the Banks, other than that ofthe United States and iti brancnes, will hot materially vary from what itis at present," Here we see Mr. President that the: Secretary of the Treasury speaks of the whole of this sum, though distributed in various Banks, both of the United States and the States, as being In the Treasu ry, because, whether in pne'or the other, it was equal ly in the legal custody and under the! Control of the Treasurer. A similar illustration is furnis r r i hed bv the establishing the Treasury Department. vkrf law The 4th section of that act declares that all " receipts for mo neys received by him" (the Treasurer) " shall be en dorsed jupon warradts signed by the Secretary of the Treasur, without hich warrant so- pigned no ac knowlegmcnt for , money, received into the public' , Treasury .shall be valid." Here, it wil be rceived, . that tlie receipt given by the Treasdrer Ifendorsed 7 upon warrants signed by the Secretary of the Trea sury is treated as synonymousjwith receipt into the public Treasury. When the Treasurer thus execute his receipt, the money, wherever it may be, stands to control, and .is conce it continues in tile his name, though : in nB' ."i j and, above all, to abstain from all interference with funds, instituted h TV,i;t;rjs 0f the 'nmntrvi This last dutv was on a enma mtt-tl an Ar- I I j l -i. t r i lonner occasion recognizea ; oy uie rreKiuem 01 ine 1 n it . 1 . i iu. DanK nimseu, - as luiiuiiuieinai in uie iruiiKLiiuLiuii ui the bank." The inquiry in what manner the bank has "discharged tiese duties, imposed by its relations to the community, necessarily brings under review the unprecedented extension 01. its acconniiuutiiiuns iu individuals from to Wjuu, in ; tne short space bf sixteen months, between 31st Dec. 1830 . wr .ruu. mi . t' 'i'ji I I C and 1st May, loaz. i nis exiraoruinary increase 01 bank facilities must inevitably have produced, and did produce, a most pernicious spirit of overtrading in tlie country. It was effected, too, as we have seen by an unwarrantable use of the ppblic funds in the keepfng of the bank, to such yd extent as utterly- to disable it to meet the; calls of the Government for those funds, when they were required for., the public just and Secretary engagements. But, in addition to these! strong pbiections, it is alleged both by-the of the Treasury in his renort to Congress, and bv the President in the paper read to his Cabi netJ that there is every .reason to belie ve that this extraordinary ex pansion of the business of the bank was made with an express view to a political object to bring more and more of the community under its power,! to be exerted at the critical moment of an election, in which it felt a deep interest. V 4 - ' I must say. Mr. President that this , allegation is . . " ' . , rm . nearly tle whole of the certificates, it no longer pre- entirely unsatisfactory. It is true, that in tins inter 4iUs practical obiect of inquiry, or to call for or admit val, the bank received from the I Government re-im- it h ' m ' - t 1 t . .... 1 i i f , action 01 congress upon it." h ne same cwuiuh- Dursment 01 a loan 01 aoout eignt millions k to re-in- writings ; which, whatever which they are sent forth, have been, many of1 them, party publications of 'the most acrimonious character. - i I I "; I , These proceedings have been attempted to be jus tified on the ground of elf-defence. But there is a radical fallacy in the appropriation Of this plea by the Bank. The Bank has no riorht t!o I consider itself a party to the question df the renewal of its charter. It is a trrpflt niiclinn rvft" nntinnal rin1!rir tn K'1eMr?pd by- high 'consideration of jthe publtd good, in which the interest ofthe Bank, as such, cannot legitimately enter, in the slightest degree. Lijte every other pub- lie quesuon, us aiscussion and us decision snouiu oe freely left to the constitutional organs of the public will, and to the. ordinary and copious channels of pub lic information ; that; -public inte-est,' which should alone govern its decision,! being an (ample guarantee that every argument and! consideration in favorbfthe xanK,-wnicn enner justice or pouy. couia suggesi, would be fully presented to the! public mind. On that ground the Bank especially, had every reason to be content to stand. A majority of both Houses of Congress had declared themselves in favor ol a renewal of its charter the larger portion dftlie press was also favorable to the same object. There was no danger then, that its side of the question would not be fully presented to the nation through the usual and legiti mate modes of enlightening public opinion, without its coming forward,, with its vast preponderance of moneyed power, to operate in the! cause. But even those whoj have attempted a justification of these proceedings of the Bank, ("have admitted that the publications prepared and circulated" under its patronage, should be-!limited tola defence of its conduct. What, however,' has been the character of 1 many 01 tnose puDucationp f 1 ne nonorame oeimio from Mssouri, Mr. Benton gave us a few days ago, some idea of the tone anU spirit of ode of them, "the address to members of the State (legislatures,'7 of which some hundred jthousands pf- copiejs, it seems had teen circulated by the Bank,! a portion of .which, under its all-pervading agency, had found their way into the retired valleys and mountain hollows of his own State. The drift and object of these, were plain ly to operate on pending elections,! by every species of appeal which might be made , available for the purpose, we nave been presented, sir. m anoiner quarter, Mr. Polk, in H.of R. with specimens of another ol these publications, disseminated, in luce manner! far and wide bv the potent! influence of the money'of the Bank ; judging of which, by the speci mens given, we mus all acknowledge them to be in the bitterest and most! inflammatory style of party denunciation and invective; seeking much more to rouse and enlist the passions and, prejudices of the people in the party contests of the day, than to en- lifrhfpn nnrl mnvinre their "itidf-ments as utO the nature and operations ofthe Bank.f 4 But sir, I will not. pursue these details. The fact which they serve tor illustrate, is manifest and known to all The Bankdias openly entered the political a- rena as a I nartisan ra great monied corporation, fiflitrarv tn the. ends of the. institution, and in 'viola tion of its clearest dutiek vesta in the hands of its of ficer,an unlimited and i irresponable coctrpl over its vast funds, to enlist ithe co-operation of the press, thmnn-h it and bv ofher meaus, to influence the elec- tionsand thus, if possible to mould the action of the government to its mteresieu ana amDiuous purposes. a . can declare war, make peace, raise armies, equip fleets. Ejutthe supplies for the prosecution ofthe war, lor the support of the army and navy, can be obtain ed; only by a vote of Parliament; aud thus the power of ithe purse is lodged in the hands ofthe representa tivjes ol the people. " Thisjis considered the great se curity of English liberty -j-that the King, who holds the power of the sword, has no power of the public purse. But what is this power over the purse.which is thds ieafouslv and wisely withheld from the Execu tive Magistrate? VVhyjsir, evidently the power of drawing jmoney from the pockets of the people, and of designating the objects to which it shall be applied. The power ofthe purse, then, of which we have heard so much in the course of this discussion, and so much, 1 must be permitted to 6ayj that is vague and indeterminate, is, in the true constitutional sense the power of taxation aud appropriation the power of raising money, by taxes, of determining in what man ner and to what amount they shall be raised, and4 to what objects they shall be applied. 1 his great pow er here, as in England, lis exclusively vested, as it eught to be, in the immediate representatives ofthe people, fine Constitution expressly declares that .'Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties imposts,", &c. and that "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of ap- 1 t- "'I . A -..mi ; L .. - il f pnauons maae oy law. 1 1 nese are tne provisions 01 Constitution which confer and define the power of the purse. But while the general powers to raise and appropriate money for the public service were vested in pongressj it certainly never could have been in tended that Congress itself was to collect, to receive tokeep to disburse the -public money. These are, suDordinate ministerial functions which must, ofne- cessity, oe penormeuoy executive agents, unuerine general provision ofthe law. In England, sir, where, as wchave seen, the power of the purse is fullv and 1 J . . , Ll effectually vested in Parliament, it is neverthless, the Exchequer and the Treasury, Executive departments. which manage the collection and expenditure ofthe pubhc revenue under authority of law. , So with us. eir, the ministerial functibns ol collecting, receiving, keeping, disbursing the public money, have invaria bly; devolved on theExecutive officeis of ;he govern ment. j 4- : ' , It is true, sir, that Congress in the exercise of its legislative powers, taay and ought td, (as far as is consistent with the public interests, : which might in certain cases require a discretionary power to be lod ged with the xecutive, I prescribe a place of deposite for the pubUc moneys, when collected ; bdt if no suchj prescription dc maue py ine legislative auinorny, " devolves necessarily on the Executive Department, charged with the collection and safe keeping of, the public moneys, to determine where they shall ne de posited and kept-;; Such was the case, in tne mosi unlimited sense, previous jto thejpaesage of an act in 1800, which required that, at bertain places, the bonds takexi for the payment of duties, should be deposited in the Bank of the United States, or its branches lor mMeetTn,, TfnrA that time, the Treasury Depart- merit caused the public nioneys to be deposited wnere soever it thought proper-rnm instances nv tfcc hands of public'officers ; in others m the State Banks, andin others, in the bank of the United States and its branches. This it did at its perfect discretion, without its ever being imagined that, In doing so, it encroached on that power of the purse, which the nefifntion had lodged id other hands. When the present oa,nKoi tne united otates was l .. . . .. t li..'-' J ' : ; . I .1 his credit and is sub ject to his quently in the public Treasury. Treasury so long as it stands in ! the'mean time it may be repeatedly shifted jfrora place to piace ; aiiu 11 goes out 01 me a reasury onjy. wnen it passes from him to some creditor of thej Government, to whom it is paid under a warrant of disbursement. Another illustration of the same kind Ss 1 urnished.bv that clause of the act which makes it the duty of the x runsurer uti me iiiiru uay vi every session 01 Von- gress "i to lay beiore them a true and perfect account of the state ol the 1 reasury by which Certainly itjs . nic:aiii. (.tiabic niiuuiu my uciuic vuurc:b3 all'' iXC- count of the state of any Bank or other place where the public money may be deposited, but " the amount ofthe public moneys wheresoever deposited." ' j I fear, Mr. President, that I may hdve been i 4it : tie minute in these explanations ; bu'tj'slr; 'lie charge of violating the public Treasury, and of eloigning : the public money, is a very grave ode, and miht well justily the tediousness of a little detail in develop- m . i : -a 1. - I . . . 1 a .' ing a misconception, and conlusion of ideas; on whidi laloiie the charge rests. r If these explanations havu not been-entirely fruitless, I niay now confidently ap- 4 peal to gentlemen ftd saywhefe is there ndy thing tt give even a color of plausibility to the' charge that, the public moneys,' in beurg removed jfrord the BanK of the United States to other places of deposites, have been taken out ot the public Treasury 7 Are they not :ii 1 r 4tJL; iL- -ii n ' .-. tJ establishedatl charter contained a provision; that the Jexplicitly propouncedl the 1 condemnation of e j vest this sum in the permanent form of acco mmoda- J and liberties of the country could have passed without Stv- oftbe ocV;c dae AoM ha Taate in it or cticn, ia Idecbringas itdid, tito bank had j tiorj: which, it h understood, ;iaudb the greater part cf the stsra scd rebuke ikh23 cet frcp thslP.0"5 310013 D8mtf0 wA?r not stand in his name and to his credit in the State Banks, as they did in the! United States Bank 7 Are they aify moe-accessibfe to misapplic'atioii, or .dnau- tnonzea uses now, than pey were then j Are thev exempted, where they are, from any of the eafegaarja and barriers which the law anci the cmstitution have thrown around the public, moneys ? Can you reach them in the State Banks, any. more than you Can in thc-U. S. Bank,' without these! precapsiopary forms whiph have been established for the prelection! of the -public Treasury Can a single shilling be disbufs- . ; ed now, any more than heretofore, without warrant drawn by ' the Secretary of the Tre-isuryj counter- signed by tlie comptroller, and recorded by the Re- gister ? j And yet, sir, from the sweeping and vehe ment denounciations we have heard, lone would sup pose that the whole public treasury was-now at the unlimited disposition of the President to be expen ded by him in any way and for any purpose he might choose, free from all restraint of law or form of law. . To What a degree, sir, tnust the sagacious mind of the honorable Senator fromKentucky (Mr. Clay) have been inflamed by a gratuitous, i however patr otic, indignation against the President, to have in- 1 " voked, as, applicable to this occasion, the solemn warning of Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Cdnven- tion, against the union; of the puree fend the bwotS which that gifted orator and patriot pronounced ttribe destructive to freedom. Glowing, siri as was the ima gination, end fervid as the oratory of that great maou hc uoci ivuju nave uccu in uic simple ministerial operation of transferring the public moneys from one place of deposite to another in pnrgoance of authori ty given by law, that formidable assumption of the power of the purse which united .with iK fWhft sword, he denounced as. fatal to liberty. If the hon- viouic vwowi luia reua a icw nrlfil sentences jnjme- aiateiy preceding the passage he quoted he woufd hate seen in what. Ren m; ttnrv cnoke of the power of the purse and the sword- He would have seen that Mr. Henry, uncompimnos adversaryas ne was 01 tne new, constitution,1 was argues ,- La i i.Wvin Concress, ol taxa- tion, of raisingarmies, ;and of cootfol over janf; u 7 " Conffrees, by the power f-.: u-.h rrAifiirf? an array-, and-y Wit control over ids miw '";".!..- 4 is
Newbern Sentinel (New Bern, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 28, 1834, edition 1
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