the disease-its cause, and its remedy. They look not to us for health, who have medicined them into sickness. All they ask of us, is, to desist," to leave them alone." Time is their physician. They want time to recover from us; he has "healing upon his wings," we have none upon ours. Those who know not the cause of our disease; who have been blind to the natural tendency to this state of things, of the measures which have been pursued for several years back; who know not the agencies which have withdrawn the specie from our country, and who cannot comprehend the influences which have given such activity and effect to those agencies, may have a notion that we can relieve them: and it cannot be expected that the deep responsibility which is involved by the measures which have led to the present difficulties, should take much pains to dissipate the delusion. If we are to profit by this delusion, which conceals the past from public view, let us not go still further into error. The step we are going to take, we should remember, with the honorable gentleman from New York, (Mr. SANFORD) is not one which we can retrace. In common cases, if we commit an error, subsequent legislation can remedy it. Not so here. An error committed, in the passage of this law, is beyond our power to correct. And, furthermore, let us specially remember the magnitude of the power which we propose to regulate. It is not merely the banking power of this institution, but the banking power of the States. What is to be the bearing of our legislation upon great interests like these, so closely interwoven as they are with the pursuits of the people, it is incumbent upon us well and maturely to consider. The science of banking, connected as it is, in peace and in war, with the circulating medium; with the various operations of Government; with the different great interests of society in general; with the individual industry and enterprise of the citizen; with the value of other capital, and with the moral character of the People; is a science, like all others, of progressive improvement, and is, perhaps, even at this time, but very imperfectly understood by those who have devoted most time to its study. Could, sir, this science now call to her aid, him who wrote upon the subject as with a sun beam,"-the justly celebrated author of the " Wealth of Nations"-even this, her favorite son, would be obliged to confess that much of his theory, which the world has so long adopted, was but like "the clouds that gather round the setting sun, and seeming only to form a part of the brightness by which they are illumined." Who, then, among us, is entitled to hold the "Lamp of Truth" to this subject? None of us, it is true, can be blind to the causes of the evil complained of. We know, now, too well, the effect of the bold experiments we have tried upon the People. Tremendous as they were, it required but little skill to make them. But, to build up anew what we have broken down, to repair what we have wasted, is an achievement of another sort. Peace, and the uninterrupted pursuits of industry and enterprise, spread their bles sings around us. Restrictive regulations, and war, have snatched many of them from us. The price the country has paid for our experiments is gone. If it has not made us wiser, we have nothing in return. What we have lost must be replaced as it was gained. Legislation is the medicament which has made us sick; but it has no charm to restore us to health. One great interest in our country, from sad experience of our measures, has long since learned to look to the period of assembling the national councils, as a period of national calamity. What Thucydides says of the speech of Alcibiades turning against his own country, and explaining to her enemies her vulnerable positions, "while he speaks she totters," may justly be remarked of too many of our measures while we legislate the country totters. The great body of our merchants have, in a special manner, cause to tremble at our legislation; that great body of men, whom the sweeping denunciation of an honorable member on this floor has, this day, placed in the most degraded and the most worthless ranks of society. That honorable member makes exceptions, which serve, however, only to set in stronger view the estimate he forms of the rest. Sir, when honorable members of this House, and from great and potent States in the Union, entertain these sentiments, and express them upon this floor,

66

it manifests a hostility to commerce, which justifies all the apprehensions of her friends. It is full time for the merchants-the Morrises and the Fitzsimmonses to take their seats among us, to assert their own character, and maintain their own interests. Were they here, they would find occasions to tell us that it is not the farmer, or the country gentleman, the fleeces of whose flocks grow too slow for our Walpoles, that we have repaired to their "altars," not to worship there, but to shut up their "bible," and bear off their "God;" that the seat of commerce is not to be found in the midst of the secret and solitary hill, nor her voice to be heard in the murmur of the mountain stream." Upon a subject, sir, like that now before us, of a complex and intricate character, having the closest relations to the strongest interests in society; with no special illumination ourselves; in the absence of all practical information; uninspired with much of confidence in our own skill, by the success of our former experiments on political economy; is it wise to act at all-but, most especially, upon a subject of this character, is it possible, in the nature of things, for a general legislation, which commits itself to the strong impulse of one given pressure, to pursue the proper course? In circumstances like the present, it is circumspection, it is deliberation which is required, and not action. There are situations of peril in which the soldier halts. There are crises of difficulty and embarrassment, in which the statesman pauses. It is folly, it is rashness, and not wisdom, nor courage, that marches blindfold upon danger." It is no inconsiderable part of wisdom to understand how much of an evil is to be endured;" and particularly so when there is reason to hope that the evil will remedy itself. The existing laws, which authorize the issue of treasury notes, will remove all sectional difficulties, and afford to the People a safe and equal medium for the payment of their taxes.

I rely upon the indulgence of the Senate to excuse my having so long trespassed upon their time. I do not flatter myself with the expectation that my humble views of this subject will have much weight; they are such as have presented themselves to my mind, and, imperfect as they may be, I have obeyed only the sense of duty, in submitting them to the Senate. It remains, sir, to move you, which I now do, that the further consideration of the bill upon your table should be postponed to the first Monday in December next.

Mr. DANA made a brief reply; after which, the question was taken on the motion, and negatived: ayes 6, noes 29.

On motion of Mr. CAMPBELL, the time for taking the subscriptions was extended from six to twenty days.

On motion of Mr. CAMPBELL, another amendment was adopted, relative to the establishment of branches in the several States.

Mr. DAGGETT gave notice that he should, hereafter, submit an amendment to the Senate; after which,

The bill was reported to the Senate, and the amendments were ordered to be printed.

APRIL 2, 1816.

The amendments made in committee of the whole having been concurred in,

Mr. MASON, of N. H. renewed his motion to add to the 17th section, the following proviso:

"And if the said corporation shall at any time suspend or refuse payment, in gold or silver, of its notes, bills, or obligations, or other debts, to such an amount, and for such length of time, as Congress may deem injurious to the United States, in such case Congress may repeal this act, and abolish the said corporation, and make such regulations and provisions for the settlement of the affairs, and payment of the debts, of said corporation, and for distributing its remaining property among the stockholders, as shall be deemed just and proper."

This motion was determined in the negative, by the following vote:

YEAS.-Messrs. Barbour, Daggett, Gaillard, Goldsborough, Gore, Horsey, King, Mason, N. H., Mason, Va., Sanford, Talbot, Thompson, Tichenor, Turner.—14.

NAYS.-Messrs. Barry, Bibb, Brown, Campbell, Chase, Condit, Dana, Fromentin, Harper, Howell, Hunter, Lacock, Macon, Morrow, Roberts, Ruggles, Tait, Taylor, Varnum, Wells, Williams, Wilson.-22.

On motion of Mr. DAGGETT, to amend the bill, by adding thereto the following new section, viz:

SEC. 23. And be it further enacted, That it shall, at all times, be lawful for a committee of either House of Congress, appointed for that purpose, to inspect the books, and to examine into the proceedings, of the corporation hereby created, and to report whether the provisions of this charter have been by the same violated or not; and, whenever any committee, as aforesaid, shall find or report, or the President of the United States shall have reason to believe, that the charter has been violated, it may be lawful for Congress to direct, or the President to order, a sciere facias to be sued out of the Circuit Court of the District of Pennsylvania, in the name of the United States, (which shall be executed upon the President of the said corporation for the time being, at least fifteen days before the commencement of the term of said court) calling on the said corporation to show cause why the charter hereby granted shall not be declared forfeited; and it shall be lawful for the said court, upon the return of the said sciere facias, to examine into the truths of the alleged violation; and if such violation be made appear, then to pronounce and adjudge that the said charter is forfeited and annulled: Provided, however, Every issue of fact which may be joined between the United States and the corporation aforesaid, shall be tried by jury. And it shall be lawful for the court aforesaid, to require the production of such of the books of the said corporation as it may deem necessary for the ascertainment of the controverted facts; and the final judgment of the court aforesaid shall be examinable in the Supreme Court of the United States, by writ of error, and may be there reversed or affirmed, acco:ding to the usages of law.

The question on agreeing to said amendment was determined in the affirmative, by the following vote:

YEAS.-Messrs. Barry, Brown, Chase, Daggett, Dana, Fromentin, Gaillard, Goldsborough, Gore, Harper, Horsey, Howell, Hunter, King, Macon, Mason, N. H., Mason, Va., Sanford, Talbot, Tait, Taylor, Thompson, Tichenor, Turner, Wells, Williams, Wilson.-27.

NAYS.-Messrs. Barbour, Bibb, Campbell, Condit, Lacock, Morrow, Roberts, Varnum.-8.

On motion of Mr. HARPER, to strike out the scale of votes at elections, &c. there were 7 yeas, 23 nays. So the motion was lost.

The bill having been further amended, the question on ordering the amendments to be engrossed, and the bill to be read a third time, was decided in the affirmative, as follows:

YEAS.-Messrs. Barbour, Barry, Bibb, Brown, Campbell, Chase, Condit, Daggett, Fromentin, Harper, Horsey, Howell, Hunter, Lacock, Mason, Va., Morrow, Roberts, Talbot, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, Williams.-23.

NAYS.-Messrs. Dana, Gaillard, Goldsborough, Macon, Mason, N. H., Sanford, Thompson, Tichenor, Wells, Wilson.-10.

APRIL 3, 1816.

The bill was read a third time. On the question, "Shall the bill pass?" The following was the vote:

YEAS. Messrs. Barbour, Barry, Brown, Campbell, Chase, Condit, Daggett, Fromentin, Harper, Horsey, Howell, Hunter, Lacock, Mason, Va., Morrow, Roberts, Talbot, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, Williams.-22.

NAYS-Messrs. Dana, Gaillard, Goldsborough, Gore, King, Macon, Mason, N. H., Ruggles, Sanford, Tichenor, Wells, Wilson.-12.

[Messrs. Bibb and Thompson, the only absentees, are understood to have been detained from the Senate by ill health.]-Eds. of Nat. Int.

So the bill was passed, and the concurrence of the House of Representatives ordered to be requested in the amendments thereto.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

APRIL 4, 1816.

The House took up for consideration the amendments of the Senate to the bill to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States. After the amendments had been read

Mr. CALHOUN observed that he had examined the amendments; that they were not important; and hoped the question would be put on them generally. Mr. RANDOLPH objected to so sudden a decision on the amendments, at so early an hour, too, when the House was thin, and before they had been printed. He moved that the consideration of the amendments be postponed until

to-morrow.

This motion, after some further conversation between Mr. CALHOUN and Mr. RANDOLPH, was agreed to: ayes 60, noes 55.

APRIL 5, 1816.

Mr. CALHOUN moved that the House proceed to consider the amendments of the Senate to the bill.

Mr. MILNOR, because of the thinness of the House and the importance of the subject, and further, because he understood that the committee on the national currency were on the point of reporting a very important bill, which might materially affect the decision on the bank question, &c., moved that the consideration thereof be postponed to Monday next.

Mr. CALHOUN hoped the motion would not prevail. The reasons for it he did not think sufficient. The House was as full as usual; and the bill alluded to as on the eve of being reported by the committee, presupposed the existence of a national bank, and the committee had determined not to report it pending the passage of the bank bill.

After some further conversation between Messrs. CALHOUN and MILNOR, in which the latter gentleman insisted on the propriety of first being in possession of the report referred to, the motion to postpone the subject to Monday was negatived: ayes 43, noes 66.

After the amendments of the Senate were read—

Mr. RANDOLPH moved, for the purpose of destroying the bill, that the whole subject be indefinitely postponed; and supported his motion by adverting to the small number of members present, and the impropriety of passing, by a screwed up, strained, and costive majority, so important a measure, at the end of a session, when the members were worn down and exhausted by a daily and long attention to business; a measure which, in a time of war, and of great public emergency, could not be forced through the House; a measure so deep. ly involving the future welfare, and which was to give a color and character to the future destiny of this country; a measure which, if it and another (the tariff) should pass into laws, the present session would be looked back to as the most disastrous since the commencement of the republic; and which, much as he deprecated war, he would prefer war itself to either of them. Mr. R. then proceeded to argue against the bill as unconstitutional, inexpedient, and dangerous,

Mr. CALHOUN said it certainly could not be expected of him to enter into 80 untimely and unnecessary a discussion of the general question. The bill had been before the House three weeks, when it was maturely considered; it was sent to the Senate; and now comes back with a few unimportant amendments, on which the House had to pass. It was unfair to say that the bill was urged through the House improperly; and the gentleman was mistaken, also, in stating that a bank bill could not be passed at the last session; it was noto

rious that a bill to establish a national bank did pass at the last session, and was rejected by the President of the United States.

Mr. GROSVENOR did not know what the gentleman meant by a hard screwed majority. He would venture to say that the House had advanced on this subject with as much deliberation and calmness as they ever did on any public matter whatever; the bill was not pressed through improperly. The pressure talked of by the gentleman, was, in fact, directly the other way. With two hundred State institutions bearing down on the members of this House, it required something more than common firmness-it required boldness to urge the bill. This influence would every day become stronger, and if the subject was deferred to the next session, its passage would be impossible. He had never, since he came into Congress, known a bill passed with more ample discussion; the gentleman from Virginia had himself taken a part-an able part in it. It was not smuggled through the House; a fair majority had passed it; and he was convinced, from information he had received, that if the People themselves could be consulted, there would be ten to one in favor of it. Mr. G. answered some of Mr. RANDOLPH'S objections to the principles of the bill, declaring his difference from that gentleman on the constitutional question, and his belief of its necessity to the safety of the country. The constitutional question had been long since put to sleep by the repeated decisions of all the proper authorities, after mature reflection, and ought never again to be revived.

Mr. RANDOLPH replied to Mr. GROSVENOR, and enforced his constitutional objections to the bill, in which he was borne out by the decision of Congress in refusing to renew the charter of the old bank, which decision was grounded on the want of constitutional power. He adverted, also, in support of his opinion, to the instructions from the Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky to their Senators to vote against the old bank; which instructions were given on the ground of that institution being unconstitutional. Mr. R. declared himself the holder of no stock whatever, except live stock, and had determined never to own any; but, if this bill passed, he would not only be a stockholder to the utmost of his power, but would advise every man, over whom he had any influence, to do the same, because it was the creation of a great privileged order of the most hateful kind to his feelings, and because he would rather be the master than the slave. If he must have a master, let him be one with epaulettes-something that he could fear and respect, something that he could look up to-but not a master with a quill behind his ear.

Mr. WEBSTER said this was a subject on which a great change of opinion had taken place on both sides of the House, and animadverted on what he called a compromise of principle on a great moneyed institution, and the desertion, not only of principles, but of friends, which had characterised the proceedings on this bill. He then spoke some time against the bill, which he pointedly condemned, on account of the participation of the Government in its direction and management. If, said he, instead of the little scraps of amendments, which were very well as far as they went, but very trifling, and only served to cover the vice and deformity of the scheme, the Senate had returned the bill healthy, in all the beauty of the original institution, it would have passed through the House swifter than the current of the Potomac.

Mr. HULBERT replied to Mr. WEBSTER, in defence of the bill, and of the course he had pursued in relation to it. He disavowed any compromise of opinion, either in the principle or the details of the bill. He had sought the best lights to guide him in deciding on this bill. He had listened to the gentleman from New Hampshire, as one who would, if any could, point out its defects, and convince him of its danger; but the only objection he heard from that gentleman was the Government direction. That objection, Mr. H. said, was not with him a strong one; and he was free to say, that, if he had the