1st Session. DELAWARE. MEMORIAL AND PROCEEDINGS OF CITIZENS OF KENT COUNTY, In favor of restoring the Public Deposites to the Bank of the United States. APRIL 14, 1834. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled. The memorial of the undersigned, citizens and qualified voters of Kent county, in the State of Delaware, RESPECTFULLY REPRESENTS: That the interests of the section of the country which they occupy being agricultural, and its staple commodities consisting, almost exclusively, in the produce of their lands, they had enjoyed, until a late period, a state of prosperity, which had never been surpassed-seldom, ifever before attained; that enterprise had encouraged industry; competence had rewarded labor; commerce had carried our produce to a ready, profitable, and fair market; and mutual confidence had extended, without weakening credit; that the constant occupation given to our mechanical and laboring classes, and the ready payments made to them, had enabled them, equally with the more wealthy, to obtain those articles necessary to their wants or their comfort, which our commercial intercourse with the largest cities in our Union had introduced amongst us. In this state of envied prosperity, with no fear for the present, no apprehension for the future, the sudden, unexpected, unauthorized, and unconstitutional step, taken by "the Executive," has introduced a state of things, dark as before it had been brilliant-industry paralyzed for want of employment; labor unrewarded, because uncalled for; enterprise dejected and sunk, because credit and confidence are fled; and our markets depressed and unprofitable, because of general distrust. In investigating the causes which have reversed so entirely the representation, which has been faithfully made, your memorialists can attribute them only to the following enumerated acts of the Executive: 1. To the unjustifiable attack of the President against the Bank of the United States, when its expediency and constitutionality had been, first or last, fully sanctioned and approved of by all parties. 2. To the unconstitutional and arbitrary exercise of power by the Executive, in removing the deposites from the said Bank, and in the manner of effecting said removal; thereby assuming a power not delegated to the Executive, and one, in the opinion of your memorialists, hostile to every principle of republicanism and of liberty. 3. To the express declarations of the President, in reply to the delegations of our fellow-citizens, who have respectfully urged upon him the extent of distress in [Gales & Seaton, print.] every section of our land; which declarations evince a determination, on his part, to adhere to the fatal course which he has adopted, regardless alike of our griev ances, our remonstrances, and the rights of Congress. 4. To the assumption of power exercised by the President, in taking, “upon his own responsibility," authority not constitutionally intrusted to him, and vesting the whole power of "the Government" in the "Executive" alone. To these causes your memorialists are, with reluctance, compelled to attribute the present distress which pervades our country. Despairing of any aid from the President, your memorialists appeal to your honorable bodies, the representatives of the people, as the proper and legitimate source; and pray that in your wisdom you should devise some means to remedy the distress now existing, to prevent general ruin and bankruptcy, by adopting such measures as are calculated to restore confidence, by redeeming the faith of the nation pledged to the United States Bank in its charter, and violated by the unlawful acts of the President, and by such other means as to your wisdom may seem most meet and proper. At a meeting of a number of the citizens of Kent county, in the State of Delaware, convened by public notice, at the state house in Dover, on Saturday, the 22d March, 1834, for the purpose of taking into consideration, and expressing their sentiments in relation to the removal of the public money by the President of the United States, from the place of deposite designated by law, and of its effect upon the welfare and prosperity of the community; Cornelius P. Comegys, Esq. was appointed President; and Presley Spruance, jr., and William Nickerson, Esqs, were appointed Vice Presidents; and Charles Kimmey, jr., and George R. Mason, were appointed Secretaries. viz: The following resolutions were then reported, read, and unanimously adopted, Resolved, That we regard the conduct of the President, in the removal of the public money from the place of deposite designated by law, as an arbitrary usurp ation of authority, subversive of the rights of Congress, and dangerous to the liberties of the people. Resolved, That the removal of the public money from the Bank of the United States has deranged the currency of the country, and produced a want of confidence in the trading community, which has seriously affected the prices of the staple commodities of this county, alike injurious to the farmer, the merchant, the mechanic, and the laborer. Resolved, That we believe a restoration of the deposites of the public money to the Bank of the United States is imperiously called for as a measure of justice to that institution, and as the only remedy to alleviate the present distress of the country. Resolved, That our Senators and Representative in Congress be earnestly requested to use their best efforts to procure the passage of the bill now before the Senate for the recharter of the Bank of the United States, and the restoration of the public money to the said Bank. The memorial signed by a number of the citizens of Kent county, complaining of the late act of the President of the United States, in causing the public deposites to be removed from the Bank of the United States, and of its effect upon the interest of the community, and praying Congress to adopt some measure to relieve the distress of the country thereby occasioned, was read, and unanimously adopted. The following resolution was then offered and adopted: Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to take charge of the memorial and resolutions of this meeting, and forward them to our Senators and Representative in Congress, with a request that they should lay the same before Con gress. Messrs. William Huffington, Charles Kimmey, jr., and William H. Cooper, were then appointed the committee to carry into effect the foregoing resolution. CORNELIUS P. COMEGYS, N. Stockly John R. Rees Dennis Stevenson John Moore Robert Philips Cornelius C. Walker John Louden Peter Meredith Richard Downhand Jonathan S. Green Wanner Rellon Parnett Kirby Thomas Pickering Edward Vickars John Croap Samuel Meredith Todman Downs David W. Collins Charles Spere Moses Marsh William Harris Risdon Ford William Wallace William Scottens, Jun. Benjamin Wallace Isaac Hazel John Husbands, Jun. Edward Guilkes Thomas Barnet Andrew N. Harper James Dryden Blackanett James Ennis William B. Spittall John Towler Samuel Thomas Benjamin Wheatman Samuel Phillips Joel Fox Peter Fox James Layne Nathan R. Longfellow Nathaniel Levridge Samuel Sharp John Booth George C. Herring John Argos Nathaniel Davis John G. Gamble Robert W. Malony Covington Messup Perry Steptmore Robert Frame Avary Needler Martin Ford William S. Lofland John M. Sutherland John Tawesend Barnat P. Carmes George Walston John Wooder James Collins James W. Slaw James Belling John Cardeen Isaac Marker William Roe Thomas Cook William Marker Brian Parvis Jonathan Downham Thomas M. Firsthueait Isaac Merrick Jacob M. Hill John G. Brown Isaac Moore Samuel Webb William Ford John Pleasonton John Carrow 'Timothy Carrow John M. Levick William S. Vaustavorer David Wallace Thomas Maclary James Cowgill John Jackson Nathaniel Pleasonton Joseph Hoffecker Augustus Greere Andrew R. Price Andrew Price George M. Manlove John J. Mitchell Laban Barcus E. M. Doevell Richard Wallace Daniel Taylor Matthew Chanlove James Selby William P. Smithers Dm. Smith Manlove Hayes James Jackson Nath. Green James Millaway George Hart Benjamin Enos Thomas Hawkins, Jun. James R. Clements Charles Vinyard Levi R. Johnson Isaac Riggs Henry Downs Clement Postles Henry Downes William Housten John Pertiman Ezekiel R. Wright Philip H. Fisher Thomas Houlston William Robbers Robert Milton William Simpson Henry N. Memre Alexander Fleming Benaiah Sharp William C. Collins James F. Stewart John Harwood William Langrel James Rawley Samuel Hering John Sharp Henry Sharp John Fowler Gary Hillmon John Harper Edward Collins James Massy Charles Stubbs John Postles Isaac Gruwell John Hangadine James C. Jackson Thomas Harriss William Nickerson |