CHAPTER IV.

SPEECH ON THE DEPOSITE QUESTION.

On the 28th of April, 1836, in the House of Rep resentatives, Mr. Pierce, of New-Hampshire, rose and remarked that, not seeing the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Dromgoole) in his seat, he would move to take up the resolution submitted by that gentleman, calling on the Treasury Department for certain information in reference to the deposite of the public moneys, and the amendment thereto offered by another gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Wise.) Mr. P. thought it was due to the Secretary of the Treasury and to themselves, that the resolution should be taken up and disposed of.

Objection being made, Mr. Pierce moved to suspend the rules, which was agreed to, ayes 103, noes not counted. The resolution was then read, the question pending being the amendment of Mr. Wise, as modified at the suggestion of Mr. Calhoun, of Massachusetts, proposing also to raise a select committee to inquire into the various subjects connected with the deposites of the public moneys in certain local banks, Mr. Bond, who had spoken on two former days, addressed the House for the third time on the subjects embraced in the resolutions. The nation found itself in possession of about thirty

seven millions of dollars, all of which was in the hands of the deposite banks, which moneys were unsafe, he contended, in those institutions, because the banks were not sufficiently responsible to the Government for those moneys, and because of the small capital of those banks. He alluded to the communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, about the time the deposites were removed, in which it was stated that the domestic exchanges would be improved by that removal, and to the circular of the Clinton Bank of Columbus, a young institution, with a smaller capital than many others in that part of the country, which refused to take the notes of specie paying banks in its own neighborhood, and received those of distant banks, which, he argued, would have the tendency of deranging the exchanges. This system, he said, would have the effect of compelling those who had money to pay for public lands to get their moneys shaved by brokers, for the purpose of getting moneys which this bank would receive. These deposite banks might transfer moneys to those brokers, which could be used for the purpose of shaving. When our moneys were in this uncertain state, he did not think gentlemen ought to sit and fold their arms, and not go into an examination of the condition of those moneys. If the investigation was not now gone into, it would give the guaranty to those banks that an investigation would never be had, and, as a consequence of this, they would go on in their speculations, and he feared

that, by the next December, they should have an account of empty boxes. He asserted, without fear of contradiction, that many of the deposite banks were not able to repay the money to the Government which they were entrusted with, and pay the debts due to other creditors. It was, to be sure, asserted that the banks had four dollars to one to pay their Government deposites with. But it must be recollected there were other creditors to be paid besides the Government. He alluded to the agent of the deposite banks, and asked if he was not an agent of the Government, why it was that he had a room in the building occupied by the Treasury Department? This he did not consider proper, and contended that no individual should be allowed to have an office in the same building with the Treasury Department, who was not connected with it, and responsible to the head of that Department. IIe went into an examination to show the amount of moneys the Government had lost by local banks, and argued that the same result might again be expected.

Mr. Pierce, of New-Hampshire, followed. Mr. Speaker: I do not propose to discuss the deposite question, though there are few more fruitful subjects, as experience has taught us, and none presenting more ample materials with less of laborious research. What power Congress possesses over the deposit banks-whether they are safe or unsafewhether they constitute a United States bank to all

intents and purposes, as the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Calhoun) alleges-and whether that is to be made an objection to them in a certain quarter, as depositories of public moneys, are questions which will very properly come under our consideration, when the bill upon your table, for which a special day has been assigned, shall be taken up. At present, the question legitimately before the House appears to me to be: What is the appropriate and judicious mode of seeking the information contemplated alike by the original resolution presented by the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Drom goole), and the amendment proposed by his honorable colleague, (Mr. Wise.) To this question I should have confined myself, exclusively, but for certain extraordinary assertions and grave charges which have been preferred against the Secretary of the Treasury; and to repel even these may be regarded as the work of supererogation; for, in this country, there is, fortunately, so much intelligence -the avenues to correct information, open to all, are so multiplied and various, that no administration, and no public officer, can suffer long from mere bold, sweeping denunciation. And he who expects to make a successful attack, with such weapons alone, does great injustice to the character of the yeomanry of this country, in whose hands are its destinies. They are watchful of their public servants, jealous, if you please; but they are at the same time just. They are not convinced, and they cannot be alarmed

by mere naked charges. They look beyond the charges to the evidence upon which they are predicated, and so, I trust, will this House do, before they adopt any new and extraordinary course of proceeding. Whether Mr. Whitney, whose name has been so often introduced in the course of this debate, is the agent of a corporation, or any number of corporations-the agent of individuals, or no agent at all, is to me an affair of perfect indifference. If he is not a public officer, or in pay of the Government (and I understand that neither is the fact,) the nature of his agencies, if such he have, and the compensation he may receive for his services, are matters into which I have as little curiosity as right to inquire. Whether he occupies a room in the block of buildings, a portion of which is rented for the accommodation of the Treasury Department, or a room on the opposite side of the avenue, are questions in which the House can feel no possible interest, however much gentlemen may attempt to make of it in debate.

But there are other subjects, as the gentleman from Ohio has justly observed, of the highest importance. For instance, if the Secretary of the Treasury, or any agent of the Department by his order, or with his approbation, has adopted a new rule, with regard to what money shall be received for public dues, operating injuriously upon any portion of the country, it deserves prompt consideration; the cause should be inquired into without delay. This