Part 35 (2/2)

We have heard, Gentlemen, of the suspension of some of the Eastern banks only; but I fear the sahout the country The United States Bank, now a mere State institution, with no public deposits, no aid fro an object of bitter persecution by it, was, at our last advices, still firm But can we expect of that bank to make sacrifices to continue specie payment? If it continue to do so now that the deposit banks have stopped, the government, if possible, will draw fro its own paylad if this institution find it prudent and proper to hold out;[109] but as it owes no overnment than any other bank, and, of course, round for deovern duty to the govern or unable to land banks can stand alone in the general crash I believe those in Massachusetts are very sound and entirely solvent; I have every confidence in their ability to pay and I shall rejoice if, amidst the present wreck, we find them able to withstand the storm At the same ti no public object to be attained proportioned to the private loss, and individual sacrifice and ruin, whichto the means necessary to enable theuished frohbors

I believe, Gentleh I believe every part and portion of our country will have a satisfactory taste of the ”better currency” I believe we shall be blest again with the currency of 1812, _when money was the only uncurrent species of property_ We have, amidst all the distress that surrounds us, men in and out of poho condemn a national bank in every form, maintain the efficacy and efficiency of State banks for dos and terrors of the ”experi ”a better currency” The ”experiment,”--the experiment upon what? The experi, and, I may als,--an ”experiment” that found us in health, that found us with the best currency on the face of the earth, the same fro silver or gold in any part of our Union, and possessing the unlin countries, and which leaves us crushed, ruined, without means at home, and without credit abroad

This word ”experiet into no enviable notoriety

Itwhich is too excruciating to be borne, like a pang of the rheuout Indeed, froe that the bad eminence of the Inquisition itself may be superseded by it, and if one shall be hereafter stretched upon the rack, or broken on the wheel, it , all his , that he is only passing into a better state through the delightful process of an ”experiment”

Gentlemen, you will naturally ask, Where is this to end, and what is to be the remedy? These are questions of momentous importance; but probably the properthis We are yet in the hts are turned to his own immediate preservation When the blast is over, and we have breathing-time the country must take this subject, this all-important subject of relief for the present and security for the future, into its e the attention and wisdoress It will call on public men, intrusted with public affairs, to lay aside party and private preferences and prejudices, and unite in the great work of redeerace All that I overneable, inthe currency of the country entirely at theto exercise over it any control whatever The _ress, but the duty I hold to be imperative It is a power that cannot be yielded to others with safety to itself or to the peace or war, and leave the twenty-six independent sovereignties to select their own foes, raise their own troops, and conclude their own terht as well leave the States to iulate their own terive up control over the currency in which all are interested

The present govern forty of these forty-eight years we have had a national institution perforovern a es and over the currency of the country The first institution was chartered on the ground that such an institution was _necessary_ to the safe and economical administration of the treasury department in the collection and disburseovernment had clearly proved this necessity At that tiress, under the provisions of the Constitution, to incorporate a bank; but a majority of both houses were of a different opinion President Washi+ngton sanctioned thethose who entertained doubts on the subject, the statesht and consideration in the Union, and whose opinions were entitled to the highest respect, yielded to the opinion of Congress and the country, and considered it a settled question Aovernment to establish a national bank, was one whose name should never be mentioned without respect, one for whoht to feel for another, one as intimately associated with all the provisions of the Constitution,--Mr Madison Yet, when Congress had decided on the e majorities, when the President had approved it, when the judicial tribunals had sanctioned it, when public opinion had deliberately and decidedly confirmed it, _he_ looked on the subject as definitely and finally settled The reasoners of our day think otherwise No decision, no public sanction, no judgainst their respect for their own opinions They rush to the arguhts but that of their own unclouded sagacity, and careless alike of the venerable living and of the hty dead They poise this important question upon soic, and decide it on the strength of their own unintelligible hts that this is a question to be judged of on broad, corounds; still less does it occur to them that an exposition of the Constitution, contemporaneous with its earliest existence, acted on for nearly half a century, in which the original frahest note concurred, ought to have any weight in their decision, or inspire them with the least doubt of the accuracy and soundness of their own opinions They soar so high in the regions of self-respect as to be far beyond the reach of all such considerations

For sound views upon the subject of a national bank, I would coes of Mr Madison, and to his letter on the subject They are the views of a truly great man and a statesin in necessity, so had the second; and, although there was soeent man can, for a moment, doubt or deny its usefulness, or that it fully accoes, during all the later years of its existence, were easily effected, and a currency the hout the country The opponents of these institutions did not deny that general prosperity and a happy state of things existed at the time they were in operation, but contended that equal prosperity would exist without them, while specie would take the place of their issues as a circulating medium How have their words been verified? Both in the case of the first bank and that of the last, a general suspension of specie payments has happened in about a year from the time they were suffered to expire, and a universal confusion and distrust prevailed The charter of the first bank expired in 1811, and all the State banks, south of New England, stopped payment in 1812 The charter of the late bank expired in March, 1836, and in May, 1837, a like distrust, and a like suspension of the State banks, have taken place

The same results, we may readily suppose, are attributable to the same causes, and we must look to the experience and wisdoress to apply the requisite remedy I will not say the only remedy is a national bank; but I will say that, in my opinion the only sure remedy for the evils that now prey upon us is the assuovernment, of some lawful control over the finances of the nation, and a power of regulating its currency

Gentleain to express my thanks for the kindness you have shown h a representative in the federal government of but a small section, when coiance to that govern for the whole country, and, so far as I ae myself impartially to use every exertion for that country's welfare

FOOTNOTES

[108] A Speech delivered on the 17th of May, 1837, at a Public Dinner given to Mr Webster by the Citizens of Wheeling, Virginia

[109] The ht advice of its suspension See the note on page 378

RECEPTION AT MADISON

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The following account of Mr Webster's visit to Madison, Indiana, is taken from the ”Republican Banner,” of the 7th of June, 1837

”DANIEL WEBSTER visited our town on Thursday last Notice had been given the day previous of the probable tinated, crowds of citizens froun froave notice of his approach, and was answered by a gun froun in quick succession, from boat and shore, and the last of the old national salute was echoing frolen as the Franklin reached the wharf Mr Webster was immediately waited on by the committee appointed to receive him, and, attended by theentlemen from Louisville, he landed amidst the cheers and acclamations of the asseant barouche, supported by Governor Hendricks and John King, Esq, and, with the different coe procession of citizens in barouches, on horseback, and on foot, formed under the direction of Messrs Wharton and Payne of the coements, marshals of the day, proceeded to the place appointed for his reception, an arbor erected at the north end of the e area formed by the intersection of Main and Main Cross Streets and the public square, and tastefully decorated with shrubbery, evergreens, and wreaths of flowers

In the background appeared portraits of Washi+ngton and Lafayette, the Declaration of Independence, and several other appropriate badges and e floated proudly on the breeze, bearing for its motto the ever-memorable sentiment hich he concluded his immortal speech in defence of the Constitution, 'LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOR EVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE' When the procession arrived, Mr

Webster ascended the stand in the arbor, supported by Governor Hendricks and the coements, when he was appropriately and eloquently addressed by J G Marshall, Esq, on behalf of the citizens, to which he responded in a speech of an hour's length”

The following correspondence preceded Mr Webster's visit