TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1837.

Mr. KREBS, of Schuylkill, presented a memorial from citizens of Schuylkill county, praying that measures may be taken effectually to prevent all amalgamation between the white and coloured population, in regard to the government of the state; which was laid on the table.

Mr. MACLAY, of Mifflin, presented a memorial from citizens of Mifflin county, praying that no change in the existing constitution may be made, which would create distinctions in the rights and privileges of citizens of this commonwealth founded merely upon their complexion; which was also laid on the table.

Mr. READ, of Susquehanna, presented a memotial from citizens of Susquehanna county, praying that the civil rights, privileges or capacities of any citizen shall in no way be affected, diminished or enlarged merely on account of his religious opinions, which was also laid on the table.

A motion was made by Mr. DORAN, of Philadelphia,

That the convention proceed to the second reading and consideration of the resolution, read on the 19th instant, in the words following, viz :

66

Resolved, That the commissioners of the county of Philadelphia, be requested to farnish the convention with a statement, shewing the annual cost of each of the state courts of justice in the city and county of Philadelphia, for the four years prior to the first day of December, 1837, and the fees received out of the county funds, by the attorney general of the commonwealth, or his deputies, on the several criminal prosecutions threin, during that period."

Mr. DORAN said, when he offered that resolution, he did not anticipate any objection. He had believed that any resolution asking for information, would be at once adopted. But, as there had seemed to be a disposition to object to this call, he would state briefly the reasons which had induced him to offer the resolution. It asks information relating to the expenses of the administration of justice, in the courts of the city and County of Philadelphia, involving both their criminal and civil jurisdiction. Some alterations had been made by the commissioners, and he wished to see if these alterations were beneficial, and whether justice was now administered as cheaply as it was five or six years ago. Another reason was to ascertain the advantage of making the civil and criminal departments separate. There is the same individual who sits as judge of oyer and terminer and of common pleas-a judge should have no other duty than to preside over a single branch. Another object was to discover if the ●reation of the recorder's court had produced any benefit to the community. This court was instituted to render justice cheap; that any citizen might bring his complaints when they might be readily and satisfactorily redressed. The complaint was, that this court had added greatly to the public expense, without producing any corresponding benefit, and he desired information to enable him to decide if such was

the fact; and, when the information, asked for by this resolution, should be reeeived, he would be prepared to make up his opinion. He hoped, therefore, that, for these reasons, the convention would permit the resolution to be adopted.

The question was then taken, and the resolution was read a second time, amended and agreed to.

SEVENTH ARTICLE.'

The convention again resolved itself into a committee of the whole, Mr. REIGART in the chair, on the report of the committee to whom was referred the seventh article of the constitution.

The question being on the motion of Mr. READ, to amend so much of the report of the committee to whom was referred the seventh article of the constitution, as declares it inexpedient to amend the same, to read as follows, viz:

66

SECT. 3. The rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and estates of religious, charitable and literary corporations, and corporations for intermal improvement purposes, shall remain as if the constitution of Pennsylvania had not been altered. No bank here after chartered, rechartered, revived, continued, or relieved from forfeiture, shall issue any bill, check, promissory note, or paper credit, of a less denomination than ten dollars.'

Mr. SERGEAT resumed.

Mr. Chairman,-In the course of my observations this morning, I referred to the ante-revolution land system in Pennsylvania, which, as I have already shown, consisted in the sales of land upon credit; and to the issue of paper money at the instance of the people of this commonwealth-at that time this province. A word of explanation on the first of these topies may be necessary, to prevent misapprehension. In the year

1779, according to my recollection, when the vestry act passed, by which all the rights and interests of the proprietaries were transferred to the commonwealth, the land office was closed. It was partially opened in the year 1781; Ispeak from memory; and it was further opened, in relation to certain lands, in the year 1784; the partial opening in the year 1781, being only to enable the officers of the commonwealth to carry into effect agreements previously made, about lands-that is, to complete imperfect titles; and the act of 1784, bringing into the market certain lands mentioned in that act, and authorizing the land officers to sell them. I speak, Mr. Chairman, entirely from recollection as to these two acts of 1781 and 1784, but I believe this was their purport. As to the sales of land under the commonwealth, from the year 1784, our citizens having then, by means of our independence, the use of credit, acquired greater ability, the sales were for cash. The credit system for land, however, according to my recollection, continued until the year 1784, and, of course, a large mass of the lands of the commouwealth are held, under these sales, upon credit, and constitute the subject of various acts passed in relation to the patenting of lands.

I adverted, also, in the course of my remarks, to the fluctuations in price-producing famine and starvation, with all the other horrible extremi

ties which you heard stated in that table in the former periods of the history of England. Let me now call your attention to a comparison of past and present times.

I hold in my hand a table showing the price of flour, monthly, in the city of Philadelphia, from the year 1785, to the year 1837, embracing a period of fifty-one years. The extreme price upwards, I am not able to state with absolute certainty, but it does not exceed $15, and the lowest price does not fall under $4 50; each of these continuing only for very short periods. Here, then, taking an average, is a fluctuation of scarcely three for one, during a period of fifty-one years. What is the fluctuation which, in former times, you have seen before and after harvest? It is ten times the amount of the fluctuation in the last half century. And what was formerly the effect of these fluctuations? Famine and starvation; the people were reduced to the most horrible extremities which that table details, and which I have no wish to repeat. Every scarcity, indeed, was a famine. Have we ever encountered a famine? During the last year, and the year preceding, we had a scarcity of grain. How did we supply it? In a manner unknown to our ancestors-I mean our British ancestors. They had no alternative but to starve whenever there was a short supply. We used our credit-purchased wheat abroad. amount in value so purchased in the year 1837, according to the statement which I hold in my hand, was three millions, seven hundred and seventyfive thousand, eight hundred and eight dollars; being for three millions, five hundred and sixty thousaud, four hundred and ninety bushels of wheat.

The

This, then, Mr. Chairman, is the difference between our condition, and the condition of those who inhabtted the country from which we derive our descent, at the period referred to. Our credit enabled us to buy food, constituting a part of the debt we owe abroad, whilst they suf fered because they had no credit and no commerce. And yet those were hard money times-the golden age of our political poets. They had no circulation but specie; the sword was still flashing before their eyes. They had the "aristocracy of the sword" still among them; and does any man mean gravely at this day, to compare our circumstances with theirs, and to tell us that we are reduced to the condition of slaves, and are no better than those who are bound by shackels in the south? There never was a period in which the condition of the affairs of this world, was better than it is at the present time. And, in reference to ourselves, and the nation from which we sprung, instead of cavilling at those little inconveniences which must necessarily occur in all states of human society, we ought to feel devoutly thankful to the Almighty Disposer of all things, that he has cast our lot in this country, and in this age of the world. I say universally, bank denunciations to the contrary notwithstanding, that in every thing which constitutes the worth of man-in every thing which constitutes the happiness of man-in every thing which goes to the right performance of his duty to his Creator, to his neighbor and to himself, we are in as good, nay, we are in a better, condition, than any former age of the world. It is not material to me here to establish this fact, nor to dwell upon it. We owe this happy condition not to ourselves; it is a thing we are to be thankful for. But when our lot is cast in pleasant places"—when we find ourselves surrounded by easy circum

stances, with the bounties of Providence in abundance, and every thing to make us happy, but our own turbulent and restless tempers, we are still prone to murmur. How different from the becoming reflection of Mr. Jacob, when his calm investigation disclosed to him a welcome truth: "It ought to make us all grateful to that Providence which has brought us into life in a period 'much less exposed to suffering, than that in which our forefathers lived."

I will now, Mr. Chairman, ask the attention of the members of this committee to another period in the history of the world. I would request their particular attention to those countries, or some of them at least, in which their favorite doctrine exists in full force, and without exception. Need I inquire which has made the greatest advances in arts, in science,--in all that concerns the improvement and well-being of mankind? Shall I ask them to look, for example, at England, and compare her with Spain? Shall I ask them to look at our own boasted country, and compare her and the offspring of Spain on this continent, where there is nothing but a metalic currency-where they have nothing but gold and silver, and have none of that "deepest and direst curse that ever paralised the energies of a nation"--bank paper? But, sir, they are not free from paper; no, they are not absolutely free from paper. Whoever will take the trouble to look at a London price current, or at the foreign newspapers, will find staring him in the face at every step, the price of Spanish bonds, of Mexican bonds, and the bonds of our neighbors in the south, who have achieved their freedom from colonial dependence. Do we find them like the credit of Pennsylvania, or the credit of the United States? There is no state in this Union, whose debt in Europe is not at a fair and full price; and, let me ask, can you say this of those governments where this darling fancy of a hard money currency and no credit, prevails in all its vigor? Can you put Spain in contrast with the United States? Or, can you put her in contrast with any one of the individual states? Or, can you put the credit of the United States, or any one of the States, in contrast with the bonds of Mexico, or any one of our southernn eighbors? I believe not; but I do not rest the argument here

Townsend, in his Travels in Spain, mentions that in that country, there is an extraordinary fluctuation in the price of corn, very frequently; he states that in the year 1652, wheat sold at Seville, for fifteen shillings and three pence per bushel. In the year 1657, five years afterwards, it was selling as low as one shilling and four pence per bushel. Any man can make a comparison, and then he will be able to form some just estimate of fluctuations in the United States, and the injury sustained by them. And what is the consequence of them? Starvation-famine-And how does England stand in relation to these same years; that is, the years 1652 and 1657. The country that has commerce, the country that has credit, although at the time the bank was not established? There were no fluctuations at all from the year 1652 to the year 1657. I do not, however, rest the matter upon that. I do not rest it simply upon the foundation, that the improvements in this respect has been as great as I have stated. It has been accompanied by an improvement in the foodin the clothing, and in the mode of life of those who are most dependent on these changes-I mean, the poorer classes of the community. I do

not like to use this term, but, in the distribution of wealth, those who have the smallest portion are considered, on that account, as belonging to the class of poor. I have before me a work, the most recent which has been published on the statistics of Great Britain, It is entitled "Statistical Account of the British Empire, by J. R. McColloth." There are several pages devoted to this very subject. The details, which I acknowledge to be tedious, are indispensable to a right understanding of the subject before* us. I read from vol. I. page 584:

66

CHAPTER 2.-Improvements in food, clothing and lodging,

"CLASSIFICATION AND INCOME OF THE PEOPLE.

To enter fully into the consideration of these interesting subjects would require, not a short chapter, but a large volume. The real influence and practical operations of improvements in the arts and sciences is to be measured by their influence over the condition of the great bulk of the people; and, tried by this test, it will be found in Great Brittain, as in most other countries, that they have been singularly advantageous. The comforts of all classes have been wonderfully augmented within the last two centuries. The laboring orders have, however, been the principal gainers, as well by the large numbers of them who have succeeded in advancing themselves to a superior station, as by the extraordinary additional comforts that now fall to the share even of the poorest individuals. From the age of Henry the Seventh," (the period, by-the-by, from which the growth of commerce is dated,)" improvement in England has, a few short intervals only excepted, been uniformly progressive; and since 1760, its advance has been rapid beyond all former precedent. The vigorous and selfish policy of Henry, assisted, no doubt, by the course of events, subverted the foundations of the feudal system," (the aristocracy of the sword and hereditary wealth) "and provided for the exaltation of the crown and the law upon the ruins of the feudal nobility. The reformation in the next reign, the rise of foreign commerce in the reign of Elizabeth, and the foundation of the colonies in North America and the West-Indies in the reign of James First, gave a stimulus to industry and improvement which even the eivils wars could not countervail; but which did not receive its full development till after the restoration, or rather till after the peace of Paris in 1763. Without going farther back, we may mention, in proof of the disorderly and wretched state of the population in the early part of the sixteenth century, that Harrison tells us (Description of Britain, page 186) that 72,000 "great and petty thievet were put to death during the reign of Henry eighth.

This account of the disorderly state of the kingdom, at the period in question, is corroborated by a statement preserved by Strype, written by an eminent justice of Somersetshire, in 1596, wherein it is stated that forty persons had been executed in that county, in a year, for robberies, thefts, and other felonies; thirty-five burnt in the hand; thirty-seven whipped; one hundred and eighty-three discharged: that those who were discharged, were most wicked and desperate persons, who never could come to any good, because they would not work, and none would take them into service; that notwithstanding this great number of indict