tion. lay in the redemption of the public debt, the bank [riably exacted the legal damages from individuwas by this means enabled to avoid curtailing als in similar cases. In the case of Stephen Gisome six millions of its accommodations until rard, conclusive proof was adduced that the prothe crisis of commercial embarrassment passed tested bill was immediately paid-by the agent' away. The arrangement, Sir, was essentially of Girard, and not by the agent of the Governbenefical to all parties and injurious to none, ment-and that not one cent of damages was and I am utterly at a loss to conceive why the sustained by the Government. Yet the twenty ghostly form of these extinguished three per per cent. damages were exacted to the utterents. is now conjured up in the array of most farthing. Under these circumstances it is charges against the bank. It serves no other a shame, a crying shame, that the administrapurpose than to evince the spirit of the prosecution should thus not only refuse to pay its just debts, but assuming the judicial power of de Another charge gravely urged against the ciding in its own case, attempt to forestal the bank, and of which the administration ought to opinion of the tribunals which are alone compe be ashamed, is the criminal audacity of demand- tent to decide the question. In every view it ing from the Government, on a protested bill of was the duty of the bank to make this claim, exchange, the same damages which the Govern- and of the Government to pay it. It was the ment itself has universally demanded of indivi- only mode of obtaining damages from the French duals under like circumstances! Government; for unless our Government shall The Government being desirous to obtain pay damages, it can exact none from Franeefunds here in exchange for funds in Paris, the To say nothing of the other stockholders, the bank in the spirit of kindness and accomodation people of the United States own one-fifth of the which has marked all its transactions with the stock of the bank, and they have a right to deGovernment, voluntarily offered to purchase a mand that the administration do not sacrifice upbill of exchange from the Treasury here upon the wards of thirty thousand dollars of their money, French Government, upon better terms than by its arbitrary and faithless conduct towards could be obtained any where else, or to advance the bank. In every respect, this is one of the the money to the Government here, and under most audacious charges ever brought by the adtake the collection of the bill as its agent. The ministration against the bank, to justify the highTreasury declined the agency of the bank, and handed measures by which they have attempted sold it the bill on the French Government as a to destroy it. mere commercial transaction. From some cause I will now proceed, sir, to consider that charge the French Government refused to pay the bill against the Bank, which is the real moving and it was protested in Paris. The agents of cause of this persevering and relentless persethe Bank there, paid it for the honor of the bank. cution. It is, as the executive expresses it, that But the President of the United States alleges the bank "has attempted to acquire political that the sum paid here for the bill, was left in power," a charge unknown to any code of law, the bank and simply added to the amount of the moral or political, and of that fearful vagueness public deposites, If this were true, it would which indicates the arbitrary spirit in which it not vary the case as to the legal liability of the originates. The first specification under this Government for damages. But it is not true. charge is founded on a resolution of the Board On the coutrary, the Secretary of the Treasury, of Directors, authorizing the President of the under the authority of an act of Congress, gave Bank to have certain documents printed to ilpublic notice that the nine hundred thousand dol- lustrate its operations. To my mind this seems lars obtained for this bill, would be loaned out to be a very harmless resolution, but as the Prefor the benefit of the claimants for French spoli-sident of the United States has denounced it as ations to whom it belonged. It was, therefore, a dangerous precedent, clothing the President as much taken from the available fund of the of the Bank with powers subversive of the liber bank, as if it had been immediately pa idover to ties of the country, I will beg leave to read it the claimants. The directors would have been for the information of the House: 66 Resolved, stupid in the extreme, if they had regarded this that the President be authorized to cause to be as an addition to the Government deposites, and prepared and circulated such documents and made it the basis of discounts. The bank hav- papers as may communicate to the people infor ing sold the bill in London, would have been mation in regard to the nature and operations of the liable to the full amount of legal damages on its bank." Now, I pray to know, sir, what applibeing protested, but for the good fortune of hav- cation of the funds of the stockholders could be ing an agent in Paris who paid it. And now, Sir, after the bank has saved its own oredit and that of the Government by this payment, the administration comes forward with a charge against the bank of assailing the credit of the nation, because it demands its legal rights! Sir, the faith of the nation has been tarnished-deeply tarnished-by the utter disregard the Govern- "Was it expected when the moneys of the ment has manifested, in a mere question of legal United States were directed to be placed in that right, to the great moral and religious precept bank, that they would be put under the control of doing unto others as it would that others of one man, empowered to spend millions with should do unto it. The Government has inva-'out rendering a voucher or specifying the object? more useful and judicious, when the institution and its credit were assailed by every species of misrepresentation and calumny? But the Presi dent of the United States seems to regard it as equivalent to clothing the President of the Bank with the whole fiscal and military power of the country. He says: Can they be considered safe with the evidence ments, when conferred on Mr. Biddle, is all a before us, that tens of thousands have been spent piece of cheatery, but when a discretionary powfor highly improper, if not corrupt purposes, that er of levying war and spending money without the same motive may lead to the expenditure of any limitation is conferred upon himself, it is ag hundreds of thousands and even millions more. fair a thing as ever was. And can we ustify jourselves to the people by The President of the United States asks if a longer lending to it the money and power of the bank whose directors make such an application Government, to be employed for such purposes?" of the public funds is fit to be the depository of It seems that the President of the United States the public treasure? Sir, I wish the President of has an instinctive abhorrence for discretionary the United States had been as faithful to the executive power delegated to any one but him- trust committed to him as the agent of the peoself. What is this power vested in the President ple of the United States, who own one fifth part of the Bank? It is not only harmless and inno- of the stock in this bank, as the directors and ofcent in its object, but perfectly safe as a respon-ficers of the institution have been to their trust, sible exercise of power. The President acts un- as the agents of the stockholders in general. der the authority of the directors, with whom he What, then, are the respective duties of the Preis daily associated, who have daily opportunities sident of the United States and the President of of inspecting his proceedings, and to whom he the Bank, as representatives of the stockholders, is, therefore, under a constant and direct respon- and how have those duties been performed. The sibility for the exercise of the discretion vested contrast is striking. It is equally the duty of in him, as to the amount he may spend in print- them both to promote the prosperity and credit ing documents explaining the operations and vin- of the bank, in order that its capital may yield a dicating the credit and the character of the bank. large profit, and its bills furnish a sound curYet the President of the United States thinks rency. But what has been their conduct? For this very insignificant power subversive of public several years past, Mr. Biddle has been night liberty, when he is himself clothed with a discre- and day exerting talents of the highest order, tion a thousand times more dangerous. Sir, with a singleness and devotion never surpassed, when I recur to what was done here at the last to promote the credit and usefulness of the bank. session-when I reflect that an act was passed, And what has the President of the United States I will not call it a law, and that too at the special been doing in the same period? Has he exerted instance and request of the President, clothing his influence to advance the credit and success him with the power not only to spend the whole of the bank, as the relation he bears to the stockrevenue, but to exhaust the credit of the nation holders and the country required him to do? in arraying a military power against a sovereign No, Sir. On the contrary, he has been strainState of this Union, I confess I cannot but feel ing every nerve, and attempting to move heaven surprise and disgust to hear that President mag- and earth to accomplish the destruction of its nifying a molehill into a mountain, and talking credit, and consequently of its prosperity. At a about the danger of executive discretion! A sim- time when the bank was as solvent as any bank ple resolution authorizing the President of the in the world, he suggested that the public depoBank to print explanatory documents is a mon- sites were not safe in its vaults. This charge, strous proceeding, but an act clothing the Presi- which in any other country would have shaken dent of the United States with dictatorial power, the eredit of any other bank, coming from such a is all perfectly fair and proper! This brings very source, made not the slightest impression upon forcibly to my recollection another Dutch anec- the Bank of the United States. Nothing can be dote, and as I am in the way of drawing illustra- said more highly creditable to the bank than that tions from this excellent class of our citizens, from it was able to stand up against this assault upon whose very eccentricities lessons of wisdom may its credit by the executive government, and a be deduced, I beg leave to relate it. In a certain confederacy of speculators and stock-jobbars, Dutch vicinity, I will not say Kinderhook lest a which would certainly have prostrated the Bank question of location should arise-a lottery was of England. authorised, and on a certain day the neighbors And what a lesson are we taught at this very all assembled to witness the turning of the wheel. moment of the danger incurred by unskilful per The drawing commenced, and blank after blank sons who venture to meddle with edged tools. was drawn by the principal persons in the neigh- The administration, or more properly the Presiborhood until a general suspicion of unfairness dent, has struck a blow that it was supposed began to prevail. A large bully stepped for would shake the credit of the bank to its deepest ward as the champion of his neighbors, threat- foundations. That blow has recoiled. And while ening to smash the wheel to atoms, and declaring the credit of all the other banks has been shaken that it was all a "willainous piece of gheatery." by the concussion, the Bank of the United States In the midst of his rage, when every one was stands alone on a rock of adamant, bidding a trembling for the safety of the wheel, a friend proud defiance to the storm, and generously exstepped up to him with great exultation, ex. tending the hand of succor to other institutions. claiming, my dear sir, have you heard the Yes, sir, I am informed that within a few days news? You have drawn the highest prize." past this bank tendered a loan of $50,000 to one "What, (said he) the highest prize! It's as fair of the local banks to relieve it from the pressure a ding as ever wes." produced by this reckless and vindictive act of And so, Sir, in the estimation of General Jack-executive madness. Such, Sir, is the contrast son, the discretionary power to print a few docu- between these two Presidents. I come now to another of the specifications the relief of the commercial community. They under the charge against the bank, of "attempt- were so applied, Sir, and were the means of saving ing to acquire political power." It is alleged by probably hundreds and thousands from great the Secretary of the Treasury that between the distress, if not from bankruptcy. 1st of January, 1831, and the 1st of May, 1832, I well recollect the lugubrious vaticinations of a period of sixteen months, the bank increased a gentleman from New York, (Mr. CAMBREits loans the enormous and unprecedented sum LENG,) who told us that the bank had seduced of $28,000,000. And it is inferred that this ex- the merchants into the excessive importations, tension of its loans could be designed for no and it could not save the country from general other purpose but to give the bank a political in bankruptcy. But experience, which has falsified fluence to be used in opposition to the election of this prediction, has shewn that the bank underGeneral Jackson. I will first examine the facts stood its own duties and operations much better and then the logic of this specification. The than those who chose to step out of their approSecretary states that "the aggregate debt due to priate sphere, however enlightened on the genethe bank" on the 1st of January, 1831, amounted ral subject of political economy. The country to $42,402,304 only, whereas on the 1st of May, not only passed through the crisis, by means of 1832, its loans amounted to $70,428,070. Now, the wise and liberal course pursued by the in fact, the discounts of the bank amounted to bank, but passed through it without a struggle. $33,575,403 at the former date, and had only risen The merchants would not fail, even to accomto $47,375,078 at the latter date, making a dif-modate the gentleman from New York, and the ference in the accommodations to the community country was brought out of its difficulties so naof only $13,799,675, instead of twenty-eight mil- turally and smoothly, that it was hardly aware of lions as the Secretary's statements would induce the crisis. The bank is certainly entitled to the the public to suppose. But this is not all. At highest commendation instead of being obthe former period, the bank had a debt due to it noxious to censure, for effecting this great public by the Government of $8,674,681, and by Baring benefit, without impairing its own credit-a re& Co. $2,387,331, making a sum of 11,062,012, sult which the gentleman from New York deemwhich added to the discounts, raised the debt due ed utterly impracticable. If I were to select to the bank in January, 1831, exclusive of do- the period, or the incident in the history of its mestic bills, to $44,637,415, being only $2,737,663 proceedings, best adapted to illustrate its useless than the amount of discount in May, 1832. fulness it would be precisely this. And I will It is apparent from this view, that the aggregate only remark further on this point, that the inteldebt due to the bank in January, 1831, including lect of that man must be wofully perverted, who $10,456,653 of domestic bills, was $55,094,068 can see in this proceeding no other motive or instead of $42,402,304, as represented by the object, than to interfere in the Presidential elecSecretary of the Treasury, making the differ- tion. ence between the debt due to the bank at the I have gone through all the charges brought two periods selected for comparison, even if we against the bank that I deem worthy of notice, include the domestic bills, only $15,334,002, and and I now beg the attention of the House to those if we exclude these bills as not properly classed urgent considerations which impel it to an imme. with bank loans, the difference will be only diate interposition of its authority. I need not $4,877,349. It will be here perceived that to tell those who hear me of the actual and impendmake out his charge of an unprecedented exten- ing distress and ruin which threaten our comsion of its loans by the bank in the sixteen mercial cities, and finally the whole country. The months artfully selected, the Secretary has sup-evidences of this are every where to be seen. pressed the debts due to the bank by the United We can neither turn to the right nor to the left. States, and by Baring & Co. amounting to without perceiving anxiety and dismay in every $11,062,012, in stating the "aggregate debt due countenance. Is it not, then, the solemn duty of to the bank" in January, 1831. And I am con- Congress to interpose its constitutional power to strained, Sir, to believe that this suppression was arrest the progress of this desolating torrent? intentionally made, as the facts were upon the We are called upon, Sir, by every consideration face of the monthly statements, and of a nature which can grow out of a just regard for our own not to be overlooked, or misunderstood. When contemned authority, or for the rights and liberthe bank converted its government and foreign ties of the people. The President of the United debt into cash, what course could it pursue but States has unlawfully seized upon the public make a corresponding extension of its discounts? treasure. Where, Sir, is that treasure at this This was not extending its debt, but changing moment? No man here can tell us. By what its character, by lending to our merchants what authority has the President taken it? Let genit had collected from the government and fo- tlemen produce it if they can. reigners. To censure this, argues a total ig- Sir, Congress is peculiarly called upon to norance of the duties of the bank, and disregard vindicate its right to the guardianship of the of the pressing wants of the commercial commu- public treasure, because the President has atnity at the period under review. It was a period tempted to forestall its decision and places it in of unprecedently large importations, when the a situation which may preclude the free exercise heavy commercial debt contracted, and the unu- of its judgment. Why, Sir, was the change of sual amount of bonds due to the government, the deposites, made only sixty days before required that the bank should draw in all its meeting of Congress? I will tell you the rearesources from other quarters, and apply them to son. The President was fearful that he could time, than the European prices published at the same time here. I presume all other descriptions of property have experienced a similar depression, and can well imagine that all property in stocks, public, or private, must have suffered even in a greater degiee. It is stated on good authority, that the stock of the Girard Bank, the one selected in Philadelphia to receive the Government deposites, has fallen from 70 to 54 since the 1st of October. would ask is all this to result? I am not sure can tell An administration that will thus wantonly tamper with public faith and private property, to promote the selfish purposes of individuals— whatever else it may be called-does not deserve the name of Government. In what, I that I know precisely what is its object, but I you very certainly what will be its end, It will be, Sir, the sacrifice of the industrious and enterprizing classes of the community, to promote the interest of speculators and stockcredit is their principal capital, will be ruined, jobbers. Hundreds of industrious men, whose while the money lenders and money changers will realize princely fortunes, making a rich har vest of the public distresses. If there be any with the administration or not-who have stipu speculators in the stocks-whether connected lated to deliver certificates of State bank stock calculated to make this measure subservient to the Governmont. But if there be any who have their speculations in the stock of the United States Bank, I rejoice that they will be disap Pointed. The stock of that bank has been less not induce even a drilled majority to do that which if already done upon his responsibility, it might be induced to sanction. He is a military man, Sir, and he knows the effect produced in desperate emergencies, when the General throws himself into the breach, and calls upon his soldiers to rush to his rescue, or witness his destruction. There could not have been selected a time for performing this act better ealculated to show the President's defiance of the Legislative authority. And yet, Sir, the Secretary of the Treasury has come here with the miserable-I had almost said impudent pretence that he was constrained to do it by the necessities of the country. It is not true, Sir. The President had only to announce that the deposites would not be removed until the question should be first submitted to Congress, and the public mind would have been put at ease. The Secretary well knew this. But the Executive Government has thought proper to thrust itself forward and place the subject in such a position as almost to deprive Congress of its free agency. We are now told by a gentleman from New York, (Mr. CAMBRELENG,) that the restoration of the deposites to the Bank of the United States was an idea that struck him with alarm; that the country had already suffered too much from one removal to be able to endure the effects of another. It is for this reason that I have made my resolution prospective. I am not so reckless of the on a given day, they may profit by this act of sufferings of the community, as to take away the money which has been actually deposited in the selected banks. I know we shall be told that the picture of public distress is exaggerated. One gentleman, indeed, (Mr. VANDERPOEL,) told us the other day, that it was all a humbug to ascribe the prevailing distress to the removal of the And now, Sir, in concluding my remarks, I deposites. If this be a humbug, it is a very me- must be permitted to say, that if we ratify this lancholy one. But whatever gentlemen may proceeding of the President and Secretary of the have thought three days ago, I believe there is Treasury, by refusing to order the restoration of no one who would now be bold enough to say the deposites-in addition to the present sufferthat the removal of the deposites has had no ing and distress of the people, we shall permit agency in producing the public distress. The a system of political banking to be entailed upon calamity can hardly be over estimated. Any the country, utterly incompatible with public idea which we can form of it here, will fall short liberty. If we intend that it shall ever be arrestof the sad reality. I confess, Sir, I have been ed it must be done now. For if we give time astonished at the accounts brought by every the complete establishment of this confederacy mail. I did not believe that a scene of distress between the Executive Government and the so sudden and extensive, could have been pro- State banks in all its ramifications of dependant duced by the miserable tampering of the Go-interests, I will defy all human power to break vernment with the system of commercial credit. It is a mistake to suppose that it is confined to the merchants or to the commercial cities. It will extend like a wave until it affects every class and reaches the furthest limits of the country. In relation to one of the great national interests, I can speak with positive knowledge, as to the depression this measure has produced in the value of property. I confidently believe that eve ry cotton planter, who did not sell his crop at the commencement of the season, has lost two cents on every pound of his cotton, in consequence of this measure. It is a fact without precedent, but conclusively shown, by a comparison of the Liverpool and Charleston prices current, that the price of cotton has been habitually five cents lower in this country, at any given affected than any other. the league or resist the man who wields its pow. |