been found to deny to the bank the services of those men who are best qualified to administer its affairs with safety and profit to the institution. It is a provision not contained, your petitioners believe, in the charter of any respectable banking institution. It was not contained in the charter of the former Bank of the United States, and it would seem that the provision of the charter, which forbids the re-election of more than three-fourths of the directors in office, at the time of an annual election, (to which your petitioners have no objection) is calculated to effect all the ends of the embarrassing provision, from which your petitioners now crave relief.

Second. At present, there is no authority, under the laws of Congress, to punish any fraud, peculation, or violation of trust, committed by any of the officers of the bank, or its offices; and on this point the State laws are also supposed to be deficient. Nor is there any adequate civil remedy for the bank against its faithless agents, who may, the hour before their dismissal from office, while the investigations necessary to their removal indicate to them that result, take the property of the bank from its vaults, and withhold it, spend it, and, if they please, give it in payment to their other creditors, in exclusion of the bank from which it has been thus purloined.

Third. Under the charter, it has been doubted whether the bank has powe to authorize the issuing of notes not signed by the president and countersigned by the cashier. The labor and the time necessary to sign notes for the bank and all its branches, are much greater than either of those officers can bestow upon that object, and hence the bank has been unable to put in circulation a sufficient amount of notes, of the smaller denominations, which the public most want, and which are best calculated to serve the interest of the bank. If authority were given to the board, from time to time, to appoint one or more persons to sign notes of the smaller denominations, at the parent bank, under the superintendence and direction of the board and its principal officers, there would be no public risk, and it would afford all the aid which your petitioners desire on the point.

Fourth. Under the fourteenth section of the act incorporating the bank, the bills or notes of the bank, originally made payable, or which shall have become payable, on demand, are made receivable in all payments to the United States, unless otherwise directed by act of Congress. Under this regulation, the power of the bank to make its capital available, either for its own profit, or the public good, is greatly abridged. The sphere of its circulation. is limited to those places where it is least wanted, and made to exclude those where it would be eminently useful, while the whole currency of vast sections of the country is thereby frequently greatly embarrassed.

Your petitioners forbear to enter, at this time, into a further exposition of the grounds of their application for relief on these points; but respectfully hope and request that your honorable body will so dispose of the subject as to give them an opportunity of manifesting the justice, as it regards the Bank, and the policy, as it regards the public, of the relief and protection which they respectfully claim. On behalf of the Board of Directors.

Attest,

THO. NELSON, Cashier.

L. CHEVES, President.

IN SENATE, December 1, 1820.

Mr. ROBERTS presented a memorial* similar to that presented in the House;

Accompanying the memorial was a document submitted by a "committee of the bank," for that purpose appointed, to the Committee on Finance, in the Senate, in which are detailed, more at large than in the memorial itself, the grievances under which they suppose the bank to labor. [See Senate Documents, 2d Session of 16th Congress, Document 45, page 7.]

which was, on motion of Mr. BARBOUR, referred to the Committee on Finance, consisting of Mr. Sanford, Mr. Macon, Mr. Dana, Mr. Eaton, and Mr. Holmes, of Maine, by whom, on the 20th of December, 1820, the following bill was reported, to wit:

A BILL to amend the act incorporating the United States' Bank.

Be it enacted, &c. That it shall be lawful for the directors of the Bank of the United States to appoint an agent and register; and that all bills and notes of the said corporation, issued after the first appointment of such agent and register, shall be signed by the agent, and countersigned by the register; that such bills and notes shall have the like force and effect as the bills and notes of the said corporation which are now signed by the president, and countersigned by the cashier thereof; and that, as often as an agent or register of the said corporation shall be appointed, no note or bill signed by an agent, or countersigned by a register, shall be issued, until public notice of the appointment of such agent or register shall have been previously given, for ten days, in two gazettes printed in the city of Washington.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any president, director, cashier, or other officer or servant of the Bank of the United States, or of any of its offices, shall fraudulently convert to his own use, any money, bill, note, security for money, evidence of debt, or other effects whatsoever, belonging to the said bank, such person shall, upon due conviction, be punished by imprisonment, not exceeding three years, and by standing in a pillory not more than three times, in open day, in some public place, during one hour at a time, which standing in a pillory, when inflicted more than once, shall be on different days.

IN SENATE, January 12, 1821.

The Senate took up the said bill, when Mr. SANFORD, in a speech of considerable length, laid before the Senate the views which operated on the Committee of Finance, in recommending this bill; the reasons in favor of its provisions, and those which induced the committee not to recommend the two other objects petitioned for by the bank.

Mr. ROBERTS moved to amend the bill by adding thereto the following sections:

"SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the bills or notes of the offices of discount and deposite of the said bank, excepting those of the office in the District of Columbia, originally made payable, or which shall have become payable on demand, shall be receivable, in all payments to the United States, only in the States and territories in which they are made payable, and in the States and territories in which no office of discount and deposite shall be established, any thing in the fourteenth section of the act incorporating the subscribers to the Bank of the United States, to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That all notes of the denomination of five dollars, issued either by the bank, or any of its offices of discount and deposite, made payable on demand, shall be receivable at the bank or any of its offices: And provided, further, That it shall not be lawful for the directors of the said bank to establish more than one office of discount and deposite in any Statz, without the consent of the Legislature thereof first had and received.

"SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That so much of the second and fourteenth fundamental articles of the constitution of the said bank, contained in the eleventh section of the act incorporating the subscribers thereto, as provides that no director of the said bank, or any of its offices of discount and deposite, shall hold his office more than three years out of four in succession, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the directors of the said corporation shall cause a list of the stockholders of the said bank, together with

their places of residence, to be kept in the banking house at Philadelphia, open to the inspection of any and every stockholder of said bank, who may apply for the same within the hours of business, for at least ninety days previously to every annual election of directors; and no person who may be entitled to vote at any election for directors of said bank, as attorney, proxy, or agent, for any other person, co-partnership, or body politic, shall, as such, give a greater number than votes, under any pretence whatsoever, and no letter of proxy shall be of any force or effect longer than years, or until it shall have been revoked.

"SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, whenever the said corporation assent to the provisions of this act, and certify such assent to the Secretary of the Treasury Department, by writing, duly authenticated, this act shall be of full force and effect, and not otherwise.

After these amendments had been offered, the bill was, on motion, postponed till Wednesday.

ON THE PRINTING OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS.

Mr. SANFORD having laid before the Senate sundry papers connected with the subject of this bill, which had been communicated to the Committee of Finance, by the bank, to enforce the expediency of granting the objects prayed for in their memorial,

Mr. OTIS moved that those papers be printed for the use of the Senate.

Mr. BARBOUR moved that all the papers submitted to the Committee on Finance, by the bank, be printed.

[This motion was understood, by the debate which ensued on it, to refer to a particular paper which had been communicated to the committee by the bank, with a request that it might be received confidentially; which paper is understood to contain a statement of frauds committed on the bank, and the names of those persons or officers who committed them.-Note by the Reporter.]

A good deal of discussion took place on this motion; the debate turned principally, on the propriety of making public, information of this personal character, which had been confidentially communicated to a committee of the body to whom the subject had been referred, simply to show the expediency of granting to the bank the security of penal sanctions, against violations of trusts, by its officers, and the reason which existed for asking of Congress this additional guard against such treacherous spoliations; some gentlemen being in favor of making the information public, as a just punishment of the offenders, and a warning to the world against them; and others being opposed to disclosing it, under the circumstances in which it came to the knowledge of the Senate. In the course of the debate, it appeared that the document was not now in the possession of the committee, and part of the discussion related to the propriety of taking measures to obtain it, the proper mode of proceeding in that matter, &c. The debate was terminated by a motion by Mr. SMITH, to postpone the subject to Monday, with the view of submitting a resolution on the subject. The desired postponement took place.

On the 17th of January, the subject being resumed, Mr. BARBOUR'S motion was negatived, and the original motion of Mr. OTIS was agreed to.

FEBRUARY 19, 1821.

The bill, with Mr. ROBERTS's amendments, being before the Senate as in committee of the whole, the amendments were rejected. Yeas 7, Nays 30. The bill was further amended, and ordered to be engrossed for a third read ing, and on the next day it passed the Senate.

This bill, when sent to the House of Representatives, was not acted on by that body.

RESOLUTION OF MR. SMITH, OF S. C.

IN SENATE, January 15, 1821.

Mr. SMITH, of S. C. submitted the following resolution, to-wit: "Resolved, That, the better to enable Congress, in considering a bill "to amend the act, entitled an act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States, to apportion the punishment to be inflicted upon the presidents, directors, cashiers, or other officers, or servants of the Bank of the United States, and of its several offices or branch banks," the President of the bank be requested to transmit to the Senate, if any such exists, a statement of any and all fraudulent conversions by the said presidents, directors, cashiers, officers, or servants, or any of them, of any moneys, bills, notes, securities for moneys, evidences of debt, or other effects whatsoever, belonging to the said bank, to his or their own use. And in what offices these frauds have been practised, and to what extent, and by whom committed, and at what times. And likewise to state what facilities each of those several officers have, by means of their stations, respectively, to commit frauds of this character."

The Senate took the same into consideration, and on motion of Mr. SANFORD, the resolution was amended by adding a request for “a statement of the number of bank notes issued by the bank, signed by the president and countersigned by the cashier thereof, of every different amount or denomination; and also a statement of the amount of notes heretofore issued and made payable at the principal bank, and the amount of notes made payable at the different offices."

The resolution, thus amended, was, on the 17th of January, disagreed to.

THE OHIO PROCEEDINGS.

IN SENATE, February 1, 1821.

The President communicated a letter from the Governor of Ohio, transmitting the report and resolutions of the joint committee of both Houses of the General Assembly of that State, on the communication of the auditor of state, upon the subject of the proceedings of the Bank of the United States, against the officers of said State, in the circuit court of the United States, and which were approved and adopted by the said General Assembly. The letter, report, and resolutions, were read, and,

On motion of Mr. EATON,

Were ordered to be referred to the committee on Finance, and to be printed.

On the 21st of February, on motion of Mr. SANFORD, the said committee were discharged from the further consideration of the subject.

The letter of the Governor of Ohio, and accompanying report and resolutions, may be found in the "Senate Documents," vol. 2d, for the 2d session of the 16th Congress, Doc. No. 72.

A like communication was, at the same time, made to the House of Representatives, and laid on the table; but it does not appear to have been printed by their direction; and no further order was taken thereon.

UNITED STATES' BANK MEMORIAL.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, December 12, 1821.

Mr. SERGEANT again presented the memorial of the Bank, being a copy of that presented at the last session; and it was referred to a select committee, consisting of Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Gorham, Mr. Colden, Mr. Stevenson, and Mr. Little.

Resolution Respecting Usury.

DECEMBER 20, 1821.

Mr. COLDEN moved the following resolution: "Resolved, That the said committee be directed to inquire whether the Bank of the United States has not taken, and is not in the practice of taking, more than six per cent. per annum for, or upon, its loans or discounts."

MARCH 7, 1822.

Mr. SERGEANT, from the said committee, made the following report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The committee on the memorial of the Bank of the United States, to whom was referred a resolution directing them to inquire "whether the Bank of the United States has not taken, and is not in the practice of taking, more than six per centum per annum for, or upon, its loans or discounts," report: That, having inquired into the facts deemed to be material in relation to the question proposed in the resolution, they find,

1st. That it is, and, from the establishment of the Bank of the United States, has been, the practice of that bank, in calculating the discount upon a note payable a certain number of days after the date, to compute the interest upon a month of thirty days, and the fractions of such a month. Thus one per cent. is charged for sixty days.

In this respect, the bank has conformed to the established, and, it is believed, universal usage in the United States, prevailing among individuals as well as in moneyed institutions, and to the most approved tables heretofore in

use.

2d. That, in charging the discount upon a sixty days' note, the bank and its branches have followed the usage of the place where the loan was made, as to the number of days (including the days of grace) for which the discount should be computed. In general, it has been the practice in the United States to charge the interest for sixty-four days; but there are some places where the interest is charged for only sixty-three days, and the branches established at such places have conformed to the practice there prevailing.

The committee do not think that there is any thing in either of the modes of computing interest adopted by the bank which calls for legislative interposition, and, therefore, submit the following resolution:

Resolved, That the committee be discharged from the further consideration of the subject.

RESOLUTION BY MR. ARTHUR SMITH.

JANUARY 10, 1822.

Mr. ARTHUR SMITH submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That the Committee to whom was referred the memorial of the Bank of the United States, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making it the condition on which any alteration of the charter, for the benefit of said bank, shall be made, that the eighth clause of the fundamental articles of the constitution of the said bank, be so amended, as to limit the said bank in the contraction of debts, and the issue of its notes, to some multiple of the gold and silver coin of the lawful currency of the United States, actually in its vaults or possession, and held to answer the demands against it; that the said committee also inquire into the expediency of providing, that the plea of the act of limitations shall not bar a recovery in an action brought on a note or notes issued by the Bank of the United States, and payable to bearer." This resolution was disagreed to by the House.

IN SENATE, December 27, 1821,

Mr. FINDLAY presented a memorial of the president and directors of the bank, which appears to have been a copy of that presented by Mr. Roberts at

d