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APRIL 25, 1834.]

Hanover (York County, Pa.) Proceedings.

[SENATE.

stitutional recommendation, adapted to the exigency of though the Governor should be characterized as vacillathe times? The gentleman says that every man knows ting and time-serving, he would not give himself much unthat the President will not retrace his steps. He will not easiness on that account. True, the Senator from Kenretrace his steps! and why should he not? Why should tucky had enlarged upon the expressions in the resolu he be above the reach of public opinion? No Emperor tion, and even with that he was not disposed to find fault; nor King in Europe, dare disregard public opinion. And it was the gentleman's province to do so. The Senator yet we are told that our President (and who is he but the from Virginia, on his right, [Mr. LEIGH,] said, the other servant of the people?) will remain unmoved in his ruin- day, that he would not defend Virginia, for the very fact ous course. He has himself, indeed, declared that nei- of an attempt to defend, implied defect of character. He ther the voice of the Legislature, nor the people them-was pleased with the maxim, and would adopt it on this selves, shall divert him from his purpose. But we have occasion. The character of the present Governor of recently seen that he can retract, either voluntarily or by Pennsylvania could not suffer from imputations cast upon the influence of others. He sent us a protest last week it by gentlemen here or elsewhere. There was, howasserting the exclusive right of the Executive to the cus-ever, one allusion upon which he wished to say a word. It tody of the public treasury. He claimed, indeed, that was said that Governor Wolf held different opinions, at the possession of all the public property of the nation, different periods, in reference to the Bank of the United and the public purse, as well as the sword, belonged to States. Mr. McK. said, at the time first alluded to, he him, and not to Congress, and that Congress could not stood in a relation to the Governor which gave him an deprive him of it. On Monday last he transmitted a supple- opportunity of understanding minutely his opinions on mental message to the Senate, disclaiming the doctrines, the question of re-chartering the Bank of the United in this particular, of the prior message. Unless the af- States, and it was almost the only one upon which they firmative and the negative—can and cannot―yes and no- differed. However, he was at that time opposed to the mean precisely the same thing, he can retrace and has bank—and he stated, as a matter of his own knowledge, retraced his steps. How he did it would be a matter of that Governor Wolf was then, and is now, in favor of a curious secret history. I have heard and believe (al-national bank, and he believes the fiscal concerns of the though I will not vouch for the accuracy of the statement) Government cannot get along without it. He does think, that the supplement was prepared by some of the partí- however, that recent developments in relation to the mansans of the President, collected at a certain house on Sat- agement of that institution, are sufficient to create doubts urday night last, without consulting with him, and after as to its influence upon the public morals.

it was concocted, it was presented to him for his signa- Mr. BROWN said, if his Satanic majesty had, at any time, left Kentucky and taken refuge in Buncombe

ture.

The Senator speaks of popular excitement, and of county, North Carolina, it was certain he had not always treason. Sir, I hope the people will be excited-I would remained there since; for when gentlemen who had, for appeal to them collectively and individually; I would go some years past, and until very recently, stood as oppoto every cabin and cottage in the country, if it were pos- site to each other politically as the antipodes, had been sible, and awaken all, all to the perils with which we are grouped together, in one of the resolutions which had just threatened. Treason! and what is the treason, or the been read, [Messrs. CLAY, CALHOUN, WEBSTER, McDuralmost treason, of the honorable Senator? Nothing more FIE, and BINNEY,] and had, by name, received the strong than words-words which, during what was called the approbation of the public meeting whose proceedings reign of terror, were considered as amounting only to se- were then before the Senate, he thought that some superdition. But under this administration, determined to go natural agency must have been employed to effect so miahead, and in advance of all others, they are to be regard- raculous a result. ed as almost treason! The parallels of history, Mr. Presi- The attack of the honorable gentleman upon the Govdent, are remarkable. About the commencement of the ernor of Pennsylvania, was entirely out of place, and unAmerican Revolution, when the patriot and orator to called for. The Governor of that State was accountable to whom I have often alluded (the great uncle of my friend those from whom he derived his official authority, and to from South Carolina, Mr. PRESTON) poured forth indig- none others. The Senator from Kentucky had made it a nant strains in the Colonial Legislature against the tyranny serious cause of complaint against that gentleman, that he of George the Third, loyal members cried out Treason! should continue to support a President who had done treason! and it resounded throughout the ancient capitol much to arrest the internal improvement system, and who at Williamsburg. And now, when the people are de-aimed a destructive blow against the tariff. Mr. B. was nouncing arbitrary acts of the Executive of the present happy to hear justice done to the President on this subday, not less loyal members cry out again, Treason! But ject. It had been attempted, here and elsewhere, to denow, as then, I trust it will be unavailing, and that the prive the President of the merit which the honorable genvigilance of the people will continue to be exercised until tleman had very properly awarded him; and the declaraall danger is dissipated. tion which he had made, on this occasion, should be reMr. McKEAN asked for the reading of the resolution ceived, now and hereafter, as evidence to establish the that alluded to the Governor of Pennsylvania; which the claims of the present administration to the credit of havSecretary read as follows: ing done that, for which they were entitled to the highest

"Resolved, That while we disapprove the vacillating commendation. The course of the Governor of Pennor time-serving policy of the Governor of Pennsylvania, sylvania, in opposition to the bank, had done him immorwith regard to the Bank of the United States, we highly tal honor. The stand which the patriotic State of Penncommend the course pursued toward that institution by sylvania had taken, had added another just cause of gratiDaniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Horace tude and admiration to the many others furnished by her Binney, and Mr. McDuffie, and their associates in Con-history, for the disinterested and noble example which gress." she has set. Elevated above those mercenary feelings

Mr. McKEAN said, he was aware that the public opin- which but too often influence human action, she was opions of public men were public property, and fair sub-posed to cherish in her bosom a proud and corrupt monjects of public animadversion; and if, in these times of in-eyed monopoly, which aspires to bring the country under discriminate crimination and recrimination, it became ne- its arbitrary control.

cessary for political effect, to include the name of the "un- The honorable gentleman had congratulated his politiassuming" Governor of "unassuming Pennsylvania," with cal friends on the success of the anti-administration party the other distinguished names in the resolution, even in Hanover, a small county in Virginia. Mr. B. said, if

SENATE.]

Hanover York County, Pa.) Proceedings.-President's Protest.

[APRIL 25, 1834.

that State confirmed him in the opinion that the condition of her citizens generally, in relation to pecuniary affairs, was sound and healthful, and that the prosperity of her independent farmers and planters never rested on a more solid basis than at this time.

the friends of constitutional liberty were destined to wit-dence throughout the country, to produce general embarness the overthrow of those principles, in quarters from rassment, and, by means such as these, to effect a politiwhich they might have expected a voice animating and cal change in favor of the party now out of power. cheering them in the great contest which was now waging, Most of the information which he had received from in opposition to the mighty power of the bank, it was a source of the highest satisfaction to perceive, that the spirit of the great democratic party in our country continued firm and invincible, and that the great body of the people were on the side of the country and against the bank. The honorable gentleman had, in the course of his re- He had been informed, from sources in which he placed marks, appealed to what he had been pleased to call the the most implicit reliance, that drafts on the North could whig party, and urged them to exertion in the great con- readily be obtained from the Bank of Cape Fear, at the test which was now going on between the parties which small premium of a quarter per cent., that being on terms divide the country. as favorable as the United States Bank had ever transMr. B. would recur for a few moments to the history of acted business of that kind, so far as he was informed. parties in England and this country, to show what claim This fact afforded abundant proof, not only of the entire this new-fangled and self-styled whig party had to the ap-competency of the State banks to conduct the fiscal conpellation which they were about to assert an exclusive cerns of the Government, but of their ability to afford title to. In England, if his memory did not much deceive the same facilities to the commercial interest in carrying him as to the history of parties, the high tory party had on the business of exchange between distant portions of generally been among the strongest supporters of the the Union, as those afforded at any time heretofore by great moneyed monopoly which had so long existed in the Bank of the United States. that country, and which had been a part of that formida ble government machinery, whose power and influence had been so effectually and successfully exerted to keep the many in subjection to the will of the few.

Mr. B. said, that every means which ingenuity could devise, had been industriously seized on, and dexterously used by political partisans, to withdraw the true question at issue, and to make erroneous impressions on the public In the writings of the illustrious Jefferson, published mind. The opponents of the administration, well aware since his death, he expresses the opinion that the Secre- that the conduct of the bank cannot stand the test of tary of the Treasury, in 1791, favored the introduction scrutiny before the public eye, with that skill and address of a national bank in the United States, with a view of which have often been resorted to with advantage in miliplacing in the hands of the Government a powerful en-tary operations, seek, on every occasion which presents gine to subserve party purposes, and to assimilate our itself, to make a diversion in favor of the bank, by attackGovernment, in its practical operation on the people, still ing the acts of the Executive, and misrepresenting both more to the English system of government. Mr. B. his conduct and his motives. Mr. B. said, that, for himsaid that two great epochs had occurred in our history, self, he should keep steadily in view the great question between which and the present period, he thought he which he considered really at issue, which was, whether could perceive many points of resemblance. When the the pretensions set up by an arrogant moneyed aristocrapeople of this country had solemnly determined to throw cy, and the political party supporting it, should prevail in off the yoke of the British government, there was a party the conflict; or whether the cause of the country, and the then, who endeavored to alarm and intimidate them, by Chief Executive Magistrate, who was defending the citadepicting the ruin and distress which would ensue from del of our liberties against the most dangerous assaults, it; but instead of listening to those panic-makers and should be sustained. alarmists, they were willing to encounter any degree of On motion of Mr. WILKINS, who desired time to supply danger and distress rather than surrender their rights as himself with a copy of Governor Wolf's message concernfreemen. They persevered and finally triumphed, when, ing the bank, and with the consent of Mr. CLAY, the subif they had listened to those who were continually pro- ject was laid on the table. claiming ruin and distress, they would have remained in inglorious bondage. In the late war with England, the same attempts were made by the opposition party as now, The Senate then proceeded to the consideration of the to overawe the Government and the people, by repre- special order, being the modified resolutions offered by senting the distress which an attempt to vindicate the Mr. POINDEXTER; rights of the country would bring on its citizens. The The question being on the motion of Mr. BIBB to farmers and planters were told by the advocates of sub-amend-when

PRESIDENT'S PROTEST.

mission, that they would be overwhelmed in ruin if the Mr. BIBB rose and said: The best administrations have Government went to war, but the whig republicans of not been without some opposition; the worst have had that day, as in the Revolution, resolved not to be alarm-more support than they deserved. The opposition to and ed by panic-makers. They again persevered, and were support of the administration of President Jackson, whether crowned with the most brilliant success. At the present for good or for evil, praiseworthy or censurable, will be day, there was a party in our country which had endeav-more dispassionately decided by posterity. The intelliored to alarm the people into submission to the bank gent of the present day must pass their judgment; the by the same course, and same cries of distress. He had actors of the present age must do their duty to thembriefly endeavored to trace the parallel between those selves and to their country, to preserve their institutions, who had appealed to the fears of their countrymen, by and to transmit to posterity the inheritance, at least unimsketching the most gloomy pictures of distress at the two paired, but improved if may be. great epochs alluded to, and the party which was now endeavoring to accomplish their objects by like appeals. If party designations were to be given, he left it to others to make the application which the points of resemblance indicated by him would in a great degree justify.

To perform what he considered a solemn duty, he entered upon this discussion, and he would be untrue to his feelings, if he did not declare that he felt no gratification in being impelled to the task. He felt called upon by the occasion, to prevent, as far as his powers would serve, Mr. B. said, he felt gratified that the condition of the the vital spirit of the constitution, and the essential prinState of North Carolina was such as in a great degree ciples of civil liberty, from being lulled by the outward placed her citizens above the reach of the great efforts forms of the constitution, and drowned in the circling which had been for some months made to destroy confi- leddy of executive power.

APRIL 25, 1834.]

President's Protest.

[SENATE.

-

The Senate had resolved "that the President, in the The committee went to Philadelphia, examined witnesslate executive proceedings in relation to the public reve- es, directors and others, upon oath-(among these Mr. nue, has assumed upon himself authority and power not Sullivan and Mr. McElderry.) They made a reportconferred by the constitution and laws, but in derogation counter reports were made by the minority of the comof both." To this resolution the President has sent his mittee. protest. Of this resolution, he complains that "there is On the 2d March, 1833, in accordance with the comno such certainty of time, place, or circumstance, as to mittee, the House of Representatives "Resolved, That the exhibit the particular conclusion of facts or law which in- Government deposites may, in the opinion of this House, duced any one Senator to vote for it." And, in a subse- be safely continued in the Bank of the United States."quent part of his protest, he endeavors to confine the Ayes 109, nays 46.—(H. J., p. 450, 463-4.) public attention to his acts in "dismissing the late Secre- Thus, by more than two-thirds, the suggestion of the tary of the Treasury, because he would not, contrary to President as to the removal of the deposites, was dishis sense of his own duty, remove the money of the countenanced by the House of Representatives. So stood United States in deposite with the Bank of the United the matter when the Congress adjourned. The RepreStates and its branches, in conformity with the President's sentatives refused to sell the bank stock; voted that the opinion, and appointing his successor to effect such re-deposites might be safely continued in the Bank of the moval, which has been done." This necessarily brings United States-the proceedings about the 3 per cents., into review the facts and deductions alluded to in the res- the rumors alluded to by the President, and the funds of olution, and draws into discussion the principles avowed, the bank, having been examined. asserted, and defended by the protest. The protest had been committed to the press before it was delivered to the Senate, and thousands of copies have been distributed. The President has appealed from the Senate to the people.

Notwithstanding these two reports concurring in the safety of continuing the deposites in the Bank of the United States, and the overwhelming vote of the House of Representatives, sufficient to drown even a veto, the President hurried to his next act in chronological order, disclosed by document A, appended to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury.

Conscious of the importance of the subjects, and of the gravity with which they should be treated; believing, moreover, that the acts of the Executive have sufficiently 3d. By the letter of Messrs. Sullivan, Wager, and Gilcharged the political atmosphere with electricity, I have pin, in answer to a letter of the President, it appears that, covenanted with myself, not to utter wittingly any thing on the 14th of April, 1833, he had instituted another inwhich can justly be taken in offence by the Senators who quiry. Neither the powers of the Secretary of the Treasvoted against the resolution, and who sustain the princi-ury, nor the report of that agent, nor the report of the ples avowed in the protest. If I shall not keep this cove-committee of the House of Representatives, nor the vote nant, it will be by force of a habit of free and undisguised of that branch of the Legislature, nor the investigation utterance of my opinions upon questions which involve made by their more ample powers, nor the powers of the the principles of free government, which those who know Judiciary to hear and try a scire facias against the bank me best will avouch. upon fifteen days' notice, were sufficient to quiet the apprehension of the President for the safety of the " 'money of the people." To his own more ample powers he resorted, and by proceeding under his sign manual, Messrs. Sullivan, Gilpin, and Wager, were put to the honorable employment of secret informers. In less than six weeks after the adjournment of Congress, this new court of inquiry was instituted. What compunctions of conscience 1st. By the message of the President of the 4th De- they had in performing the task set upon them by the cember, 1832, he recommended to the Congress to pro- President, will appear by the conclusion of their letter to vide for selling out the stock of seven millions of dollars him of the 22d April, 1833, in answer to his of the 14th; held by the Government in the Bank of the United States, they say: "We may be permitted also to add, that the and for placing the proceeds in the Treasury: he com- wishes and opinions which we took the liberty of expressplained of the conduct of the bank in relation to the 3 ing in our former letter, have been since more strongly per cent. stocks: moreover, he said "such measures as confirmed; and that we should not only feel more satisare within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury faction ourselves, but be enabled to convey to you more have been taken, to enable him to judge whether the pub- full and correct information, were we to proceed in an inlic deposites in that institution may be regarded as entirely vestigation whose object was avowed, and if we were safe; but as his limited power may prove inadequate to strengthened by that official sanction which we sugthis object, I recommend the subject to the attention of gested."

In voting for the resolution complained of, I was not confined to the limits supposed by the protest. As I intend that my argument shall apply to acts done by the President, to deductions from facts alone, and to principles of action avowed by him, not to mere abstractions, I will state succinctly the facts to which the resolution of the Senate was applied by me.

Congress, under the firm belief that it is worthy of their 4th. By document B, appended to the same report, it serious investigation. An inquiry into the transactions of appears that these informers were further stimulated by the institution, embracing the branches as well as the the letter of the President of the 3d August, 1833. In the principal bank, seems called for, by the credit which is conclusion of their answer, they say "that a more exact given, throughout the country, to many serious charges statement could only be obtained by an agent directly auimpeaching its character, and which, if true, may justly thorized by the Executive." excite the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of the money of the people."

These communications formed the basis of the manifesto read to the cabinet.

2d. These subjects of the message were referred by 5th. By the documents communicated by the Secretary the House of Representatives to the Committee of Ways of the Treasury, it appears that Mr. Kendall, the Fourth and Means. An investigation by that House, with its am- Auditor, (attached to the Navy Department,) was appointple powers, did take place. The report of the agent ap-ed by the President, not by the Secretary of the Treasupointed by the Secretary, was, that the deposites were ry, as an agent to communicate with the State banks, to safe, and this report was communicated to the House of ascertain upon what terms they would be willing to accept Representatives. On the 13th of February, 1833, a bill the deposites of the public moneys, and perform the dufor the sale of the bank stock, recommended by the ties stipulated to be performed for the Government, in President, was rejected by the House of Representa- the charter of the Bank of the United States; and he retives. (H. J., p. 325 to 327.) ported accordingly.

VOL. X.-94

SENATE.]

President's Protest.

[APRIL 25, 1834.

Secretary to examine the banks.-(Documents D, G, I,

After the report of Mr. Kendall was made: 6th. On the 18th September, 1833, the famous mani- L, and N, of Secretary's report.) festo of the President was read to the cabinet, and pub- 12th. The deposites being so changed, loans of two lished to the people of the United States in the Globe of millions three hundred thousand dollars were made by the 20th September. The authenticity of this document four Treasury checks on the Bank of the United States, is acknowledged, in his response refusing to send a copy of half a million each; and three others of one hundred to the Senate.

thousand dollars each, in favor of the cashiers of certain 7th. In his manifesto, the President declares the first of those selected State banks, "to be used upon certain day of October as the time fixed for the removal of the contingencies;" that is to say, to enable those banks to deposites-avows "the proposed measure as his own"- settle the balances against them, and to guard them against "its responsibility (he says) has been assumed, after the bankruptcy. They were loans, emphatically; they most mature deliberation and reflection, as necessary to were not drawn for any financial purpose of the Govpreserve the morals of the people, the freedom of the ernment; they were in pursuance of no appropriation press, and the purity of the elective franchise." Mark by law, but for the private purposes of the banks, that! The President has taken the "morals of the people, not to be used but upon contingencies; and if those the freedom of the press, and the purity of the elective contingencies did not arise, (that is, if the bank should franchise" under his jurisdiction. settle the balances demanded of them without the aid of these loans,) they were "to be returned to the Treasury, to be cancelled."

When he invited the Congress to interfere, the safety of the deposites was the question. But the Congress would not order the removal; and the House of Representatives resolved they might be safely continued in the

Bank of the United States.

Thus the President, not content with the examination made by the Secretary of the Treasury, (Mr. McLane,) not content with the examination by the House of RepreThe Congress would not sell the seven millions of stock; sentatives and the vote of that House, got on foot an nor would they repeal the law which declared that the inquiry of his own, by secret informers; decided on the notes of the Bank of the United States should be removal of the deposites; appointed the agent to confer receivable in all payments of revenue. The deposites with the State banks; appointed the time for the removal increased the profits of the bank, and the United States to take effect; removed Mr. Duane for refusing to betray received their proportion of the semi-annual dividends the trust confided to the Secretary by law, and to surupon their capital stock. Therefore, the Congress would render his judgment and discretion to the President. He not make war upon the capital of seven millions, nor upon assumed the power over the Treasury, and appointed the dividends. Mr. Taney to consummate his scheme.

8th. Mr. Duane, then Secretary of the Treasury, could I shall treat the stoppage of the public moneys from not, in his conscience and judgment, see any reasons for being deposited in the Bank of the United States, the making war upon the capital stock of the United States, removals, transfers, and loans to the State banks, as the and the half-yearly dividends accruing to the Treasury. acts of the President; the reasons assigned by Mr. Taney He could not see the propriety of removing the moneys as the reasons of the President; and the principles assertof the United States from a bank of safety, in which the ed by that report, as the principles of the President. I United States had an interest and derived profit, into State shall consider the Secretary, (Mr. Taney,) as the "inbanks, in which the Government had no stock, from strument" employed by the President for the occasion, which they could receive no dividends, and over which and the report itself as having been inspected, approved, they had no control. He respected the powers of the and referred to in his message at the opening of this Congress and the interests of the Treasury. session. My authority for so doing rests upon public documents and admitted facts.

9th. For refusing to submit the trust confided to him by law, and his oath and judgment, to the dictation of the President, Mr. Duane was dismissed on the 23d of September, 1833, and Mr. Taney was appointed to succeed him-to do that which Mr. Duane refused to do.

10th. On the 26th of September, 1833-but three days after Mr. Taney was appointed, the orders were issued for depositing in certain State banks the revenues falling due on the 1st of October and after. Similar orders followed in succession in favor of other State banks.-(See documents C, E, I, appended to the report of the Secretary.)

They are notorious: they do not depend upon moral testimony; they are on record in the public offices. They are too notorious to the multitude of citizens who are enduring the tortures of mental and bodily distress, privation, and ruin, which this ill-fated measure has inflicted upon them. The honorable Senator from Tennessee [Mr. GRUNDY] has avowed these acts to be the President's, and is unwilling that he should be deprived of any part of the honor and glory of the achievement: and surely in this instance he had authority for so saying.

The report of the Secretary has been, by the ComThus a movement so important to the finances of the mittee on Finance of the Senate, so satisfactorily exposed United States, so deeply affecting the currency, exchange, and refuted, and with so much more ability than I preand all the important interests of the people, was adopted tend to, that I shall say no more of it as a financial measin three days, by a new Secretary of the Treasury, trans-ure, than is absolutely necessary to preserve the chain ferred from the office of Attorney General, before he of my argument. could possibly have studied or surveyed, much less comBut I shall examine the political principles and powers prehended, the vast field, and the consequences. But practically exercised in the removal of the deposites, in the Attorney General, accustomed to obey the mandates the dismissal of Mr. Duane, and asserted and proclaimed of a court, easily transferred his obedience to the mandate in the manifesto and protest of the President. of the President; and so the will of the President was done.

11th. By the documents communicated to the Senate, it appears that a system is attempted by the Executive, of forming a league of banks; that contracts have been made with those banks by the Secretary of the Treasury, not only without law, but in defiance of law; that one article of the agreement is for authority to him to levy a contribution (a tax) upon them, for defraying the compensation and expenses of agents to be appointed by the

I shall consider them, 1st. As they have been brought to bear upon the chartered rights and franchises of the stockholders of the Bank of the United States.

2dly. As they have been brought to bear upon the officers of the Treasury, and the security of the public treasure.

3dly. As they affect the distribution of powers and safeguards ordered and ordained by the constitution.

These acts of the President in relation to the public revenue appear to me to have made an attack on private

APRIL 25, 1834.]

President's Protest.

[SENATE.

rights: they have made a breach of public faith; and with of the United States and its branches, and continue there it a wound upon social confidence and credit: have de- until the 3d of March, 1836, unless the Secretary of the ranged the currency and exchange: have erected a new Treasury shall at any time otherwise order and direct, in jurisdiction for ascertaining offences and affixing punish- which case the Secretary of the Treasury shall immediatements unknown to the laws and forbidden by the con- ly lay before Congress the reasons of such order or distitution: have asserted and acted upon powers and pre-rection. The contract says, "unless the Secretary of the rogatives which tend to subvert the radical principles Treasury shall otherwise order and direct." of the constitution, and to uproot the essential foundations of all free government.

On the 17th September, President Jackson announced his final determination for the removal of the deposites; In reviewing and descanting upon these measures, I appointed the day, and took the responsibility on himself. feel nothing of the joy of victory over a fallen enemy: Was he the Secretary of the Treasury? Is the President nothing of the complacency of a prognosticator, who of the United States ex officio the Secretary of the Treashaving predicted evils, finds his forebodings verified. ury? Clearly they are separate and distinct offices, inNo, sir; far, far different are my feelings. They are compatible, and not to be united in the same person. The the acute and pungent sorrows of one who sees but too laws had appointed the Bank of the United States as the certainly, that those in whom he put his trust and con-place for keeping the public moneys; and the public faith fidence are running down to ruin: that the deep founda- was pledged to it by contract and by a charter. But this tions of former political associations are broken: that same law and contract gave a discretion and a power to those who have been, and yet should be friends, are a particular officer (the Secretary of the Treasury) to gloaring on each other, and looking with eyes of wild suspend the execution of this law, for reasons to be redistrust: that principles which have been avowed, cher- ported to and adjudged by Congress. The authority ished, struggled for, and maintained by the great repub-given by the Legislature was to a designated officer. His lican family, are betrayed, deserted, enfettered, and judgment was to decide, his judgment was to rule, his wounded by him, from whom assistance was expected to reasons were to be reported to the Congress for their apgive them strength and activity: principles which awaken proval or disapproval. To the Secretary of the Treasury the fairest hopes and solicitudes of the friends and patrons alone, the Congress had expressly and particularly confiof human liberty; and which, like the rounds of a ladder, ded the discretionary authority for suspending the execuwere used as auxiliaries and supporters in his elevation. tion of the law. Mr. Duane, then Secretary of the Treas1st. The conduct of the President towards the bank ury, not only could not see reasons for suspending the and bank directors, violated principles not to be profaned, execution of the law, but his reason and his judgment rewhich are at the foundation of liberty and asserted as jected the proposition. He refused. For so refusing, fundamental in the State and Federal constitutions. "No for the honest, faithful, conscientious exercise of his reason person shall be despoiled of his property, immunities, or and judgment, in the discharge of a trust expressly comprivileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled, mitted to him by law, the President removed him from ofor deprived of life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment fice; and by the command of the President, and upon his of his peers or the law of the land." "The right of responsibility, the law was suspended. The removal was trial by jury shall be held sacred and inviolable." "No effected by the mandate of the President. law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, That the discretion and authority to remove the deposor abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." ites is confided and belonged to the Secretary of the These axioms are declared as self-evident truths, in the Treasury, by the act of Congress, accorded with the Pres bill of rights of not less than eighteen States of the Union, idents own view of the subject, until after Mr. Duane's and in the constitution of the United States. These es- refusal; an event, no doubt, very unexpected. The tablished leading principles are declared for the purpose President seems to have supposed that his dictum would of limiting and controlling the actions of all government. have been reason with Mr. Duane. Under these suppoThey are the pillars of human liberty, and distinguish a sitions, the President seems to have labored when he read free government from a despotism. his manifesto to his cabinet, on the 18th of September. The President has despoiled the bank and the stock-Here Mr. B. read from the manifesto: "The power of the holders, United States and individuals, of their immuni- Secretary of the Treasury over the deposites is unqualities and privileges, without the verdict of a jury, and fied. The provision, that he shall report his reasons to without any law of the land. By the act of Congress Congress, is no limitation. Had it not been inserted, he proposing the Bank of the United States to such persons would have been responsible to Congress, had he made a as should subscribe their funds for shares, and by the ac-removal for any other than good reasons; and his responceptance of the terms, the law became a contract between sibility now ceases upon the rendition of sufficient ones to the Government and the stockholders; each bound to per-Congress. The only object of the provision is to make form their respective correlative stipulations. By this his reasons accessible to Congress, and enable that body charter the stockholders, foreigners and citizens, ac- the more readily to judge of their goodness and purity, quired private rights and immunities, not to be despoiled and thereupon to make such further provision by law," &c. nor taken away, but in the manner provided by the char- Here the power belongs to the Secretary; he is reter and the laws of the land. These immunities and priv-sponsible to Congress; and the removal must be for "good ileges they have purchased and paid for by one million reasons,' to acquit the Secretary of his responsibility to and a half of dollars, and other valuable considerations, Congress.

honestly paid and performed to the United States. The But again: in the same document, the President said, United States are bound, on their part, to a full and punc-Far be it from him to expect or require that any memtilious observance of the stipulations of the charter. The ber of the cabinet should, at his request, order, or dictasolemn faith of the United States was pledged. The tion, do any act which he believes unlawful, or in his stockholders held their immunities and privileges by the conscience condemns. From them, and his fellow-citihighest muniments of title; they were stamped with the zens in general, he desires only that aid and support faith of the Congress; they were sealed with the faith of which their reason approves and their consciences sancthe President of the United States, affixed to the charter tions." by President Madison; they are sanctioned by the integri. Again: "In the remarks which he has made on this allty of the Supreme Court of the United States. The char-important question, he trusts the Secretary of the Treas ter assures to the stockholders that the deposites of the ury will see only the frank and respectful declarations of moneys of the United States should be made in the Bank the opinions which the President has formed on a meas

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