cuse.

Upon this point also depends, in a great measure, the authority of the judge to proceed for the contempt of court. The question is this: Did General Jackson imprison Judge Hall for the purpose of preventing any further proceeding by the court upon the writ? Let us examine the facts carefully.

The order for the writ was granted on the evening of the 5th of March; Mr. Morel carried this order to the clerk the same evening, and wrote immediately to General Jackson the letter which I have already read to the Senate. This letter first informed General Jackson of the writ; and upon this information, and this alone, he ventured to issue the order for the arrest at 7 o'clock the same evening. This appears from the affidavit of Mr. Claiborne, the clerk of the court, in which he states that, in the evening of the same 5th of March, he called upon the General, in company with the marshal, Mr. Duplessis, and others:

"The General showed me a letter he had received from Mr. Morel, the counsel of Mr. Louallier, informing him (the General) that a writ of habeas corpus had issued in the case of Mr. Louallier."

This witness further says, that in the course of time he was with General Jackson; and the conversation turning upon Judge Hall, the General observed

"That he had no personal prejudices against the Judge; but that his conduct in the instance in question had brought him under the cognizance of his (the General's) general order; that this was his (the General's) camp, and that no person or power must or should be over him in it."

But, sir, there is still stronger proof upon this point. General Jackson, in his letter of the 23d December, 1842, says:

"On the subject of Louallier's arrest, it should be known that he secreted himself from the issuing of the order for his arrest until he had made arrangements with Judge Hall for the habeas corpus; and when arrested and delivered to the colonel of the provost guard, being told that I had given directions for his good treatment, he replied, with thanks, that it was unnecessary, as he would be there but a short time. He was asked why? His reply was, that Judge Hall had issued a writ of habeas corpus for him, on which Colonel Arbuckle wrote to me asking advice. I directed him to keep the prisoner as long as he could wield a bayonet, unless he was liberated by my order. Having made inquiry into the matter, and found that Hall had so issued the writ, I forth with gave orders for the arrest of Dominick A. Hall, and sent Captain Butler, of South Carolina, and Dr. Wm. Butler, with a file of men, for that purpose."

General Jackson's determination to defeat this writ does not stop with the arrest of the Judge. He had been informed that an original order for the writ had been made by the Judge, and filed with the clerk of the court. Fearing that this order might in some way interfere with his purpose, the General, at about 9 o'clock in the evening, sends one of his aids (Major Chotard) with a written order to the clerk, requiring him to give up the ori ginal order of the Judge. The clerk refuses to comply, but consents to accompany Major Chotard to the General's quarters; when the following scene took place, which I will permit the clerk to describe in his own language:

"The General showed me a letter he had received from Mr. Morel, the counsel of Mr. Louallier, informing him (the General) that a writ of habeas corpus had issued in the case of Louallier. I told the General that the writ had not issued; he asked me for the reason. I answered, because the marshal had told me he would not serve it on the Sabbath; and that it being returna. ble at 11 o'clock on Monday, I thought it would be time enough to issue it in the morning. The General asked me if I intended to issue it? I said that it was my duty to do so, and that it would issue. At this the General handed me a printed paper, which he said was his general order, and observed that that order would show me he would do his duty also. The General asked me for the original order of Judge Hall before mentioned. It was writ. ten on the back of Mr. Louallier's petition, and I handed the General the paper. The General read the order, and also the affidavit of Mr. Morel, which was at the foot of the petition, and observed to me that the dates of both the order and the affidavit had been altered, and asked what all this juggling was about? I assured him there was no juggle, and the reason of an alteration in the dates was as I have stated above. The General mentioned to me he should keep the paper in his own possession. Iob. served to him that there was an order of court that no original paper should be delivered out of the office. The General said he should keep it under his own responsibility; that it should be safely preserved, and that he would give me a certified copy of it; which he did."'

Here it is important to observe, that, prior to this interview, General Jackson was under the impression that the writ had issued. He was led into this mistake by the letter from Mr. Morel, stating that the writ had been awarded. As soon as the clerk informs him that the writ had not been issued, but

Fine on General Jackson-Mr. Miller.

was still under the control of the clerk, the General, with all that military quickness peculiar to his character, perceives that the writ is still at large. This new difficulty must be overcome; and he forthwith sets to work like a hero to strangle the writ in the hand of the clerk. "The General," says the clerk, "asked me if I intended to issue it. I said that it was my duty to do so, and that I would issue it. At this, the General handed me a printed paper, which, he said, was his 'general order;' and observed that that order would show me that he intended to do his duty also."

Failing, by this threat, to intimidate the clerk from issuing the writ, the General next proceeds, by stratagem hardly to be justified even by the arbitrary rules of martial law, to obtain possession of the original petition and order. At the request of the General, the clerk hands him the paper to read; he refuses to return it, although the clerk urges upon him the rule of the court, "that no original paper should be delivered out of the office." He replies that he will keep it under his own responsibility; and then despatches the clerk with a copy of his own record, the original remaining in the pocket of General Jackson. But, sir, the case does not stop here. The General understood, from this interview with the clerk, that, although he had shopped the Judge, and pocketed the order, the writ would, nevertheless, issue. He therefore turns to the marshal, (who was present with the clerk at this interview,) and, after remarking that he had shopped the Judge, said "that he would treat any person who might improperly meddle with his camp in the same manner that he had treated the Judge." The marshal further testifies, that it was manifest, from the whole tenor of the conversation, that the General intended to disregard the writ.

These several acts on the part of General Jackson; the sudden arrest of the Judge between the test and return of the process; the attempt to suppress the writ by intimidating the clerk; the surreptitious manner of obtaining possession of the record; the threatening language to the marshal, and the utter disregard of the writ itself, can admit of but one construction. They prove, beyond all doubt, the settled purpose of General Jackson to defeat, by means of tyrannical and irresistible force, the legal operation of the habeus corpus. And most thoroughly did he succeed in his purpose; for he demolished the court, bullied its officers, carried off its records, and trampled beneath his feet, as so much blank paper, its record and seal.

By way of excusing these arbitrary proceedings-for no one even attempts to justify them-it is said that they were necessary to the military defence of New Orleans. I might here show, by incontestable evidence that the city at this time needed no extraordinary defence; that the enemy, defeated and routed by the battle of the 8th of January, had retired from the city, and were not to be found within one hundred and fifty miles; that, in fact, the war was over and peace declared, and known in New Orleans; and the city, on the 5th of March, could have been safely defended by the same band of sixty armed soldiers who expended their military ardor in storming the house and arresting the body of Judge Hall. All this, however, is irrelevant to the present inquiry. Could any state of things, militant or peaceful, an enemy present or absent, a siege or a blockade, a victory or a defeat-could any emergency of war render necessary to the defence of a city that a judge should be imprisoned for the peaceful act of granting an order for a writ of habeas corpus?

Is there anything in that act which could possibly affect the defence of a city? Could the imprisonment of Judge Hall add to the strength of ramparts? Would its battlements be enlarged, or its towers strengthened, by the incarceration of his body? Were the seizure of the record and the duress of the clerk necessary military movements of defence?

This writ was directed to General Jackson, and upon him it was served; he had the custody of the person for whose benefit it issued, and it was within his option either to have the body before the Judge, according to the command of the writ, or to return that the safety of the city required the retention of the prisoner. If he had taken the latter course, we might then with propriety discuss the other question which has been agitated here, (but which is, in my opinion, irrelevant to the case,)the legality of the imprisonment of Mr. Louallier. But, sir, he determines to take neither of these courses. Not satisfied with disobeying the writ

Senate.

and detaining the prisoner, and with neglecting to give any excuse or reason for the detention, he imprisoned the Judge also. The only excuse General Jackson could allege for disobeying the writ, was the urgent necessity of retaining his custody over Louallier: having determined to retain him, his whole object was accomplished. Where was the necessity of taking the other step? Assuming supreme power, under what he called martial law, over all the civil authorities, and surrounded by a victorious army obedient to his will, Louallier was as secure under his custody after as before the issuing of the writ of habeas corpus. The imprisonment of Louallier could not be rendered less secure by the liberty of Judge Hall. Where, then, I ask, was the necessity for this wanton and ernel act of oppression? Neither the safety of the city nor the security of the prisoner required it; and the only reason that can be assigned for this proceeding is the one I have named-an arbitrary determination on the part of General Jackson to defeat any further proceeding upon the habeas corpus.

The minority report, which accompanies this bill, does not, in my opinion, touch the true point in this case. That report merely attempts to excuse and justify General Jackson for the arrest and detention of Mr. Louallier. It says not a word about the arrest of the Judge, nor offers the slightest apology for the contempt offered to the court. The question is stated in the report as follows:

"This question, however, having been introduced by the committee, the undersigned submits, that, in time of war and of imminent public danger, it may be the duty of the comman. der to arrest those regarded as traitors, spies, or mutineers, within the limits of his camp-especially in cases where it was obvious to him that his refusal to exercise such power would involve the disbanding of his forces, the defeat of his army, and the surrender of that army, and of the country which he was bound to defend. The alternative, as he fully believed, was to make the arrest or the abandonment of his country's standard, and the surrender of one of her greatest cities to a powerful enemy, whose motto of victory involved indiscrimi nate plunder and licentious outrage. Under such circumstances, should he make the arrest and save the country? To this question there will be but one response from the heart of every true American patriot."

Now, sir, as one of the American people, my heart fully responds to the sentiment, that, in time of war and of imminent public danger, it may be the duty of the commander to arrest traitors, spies, and mutineers, within the limits of his camp. Í would even go further, and excuse the General for hanging traitors and spies under such circumstances. But we must not confuse the innocent with the guilty, the patriot with the traitor, even to add to the honor and glory of General Jackson. Was Judge Hall a traitor, or a spy, or a mutineer? Is there a fact or a circumstance, stated in that report, or anywhere else, implicating him in either of these high crimes? The imprisonment of Louallier, the circumstances under which it was made, and the reasons for its continuance, are distinct matters from the imprisonment of Judge Hall: the former may be excused, and even justified, without at all affecting the legality of the latter. May not a man be legally imprisoned, and yet a judge be permitted to grant a writ of habeas corpus, to inquire into the cause of his duress, without subjecting himself to the penalties of the crime which rests upon the prisoner?

"The law (says this report) which justified this act was the great law of self-defence: it was the law of necessity."

What act? The arrest of Judge Hall? No. The honorable gentleman who made the report does not mean that arbitrary proceeding. He could find no necessity so urgent, no self-defence so pressing, as to legalize, under any code of law, civil or martial, an act so destructive to personal security and civil liberty.

Did these several acts on the part of General То Jackson amount to a contempt of court? answer this question satisfactorily, we must ascertain what constitutes this offence. The best authorities in the law describe it as follows:

"A contempt is a disobedience to the court, or an opposing or despising the anthority, justice, or dignity thereof. It com. monly consists in a party's doing otherwise than he is enjoined to do, or not doing what he is commanded or required by the process, order, or decree of the court. Sometimes it arises by one or more, their opposing or disturbing the execution or service of the process of the court, or using force to the party that serves it; sometimes by using words importing scorn, reproach, or diminution of the court, its process, orders, officers, or ministers, upon executing such process or orders."

The authority to restrain and punish in a summary way acts of this nature, is essential to the existence of every court. It is part of the law of its judicial life necessary to its self-preservation. It is the right to resist or punish, on the spot, and

7TH CONG....3D SESS.

without delay, any insult or act calculated to disturb or restrain its judicial action in a cause or proceeding depending. The law of contempt embraces the right to maintain the honor and order of the court; to protect its officers in the legal discharge of their duty; to preserve its records; or to defend its process and writs, in their service or return, against insult or violence.

If we deny to a court this power of self-protection, the obstinacy or the violence of any one man may at any moment stop the proceedings in a cause, bar the doors of your courts, and break up the administration of law and justice.

Was not that the result in the case before us? A legal proceeding had been commenced--a writ issued under the authority and seal of the court, and made returnable at a certain time and place. The object of the writ required that it should be executed with as little delay as possible; its purposes being to inquire into the cause of the imprisonment of a citizen, who alleged that he was illegally deprived of his liberty.

Now, sir, if a person, conscious that these proceedings are in progress, and desirous of defeating them, wrests from the hands of the clerk the order and petition upon which the proceedings are founded, and, between the test and return, seizes with armed force and imprisons the judge who issued the writ, and thus prevents him from being present to hear the parties on the return day, is he not guilty of a gross contempt? If this be not contempt of court, then, alas! are our courts beneath contempt.

This is, in fact, something more than a contempt. For a contempt is seldom so outrageous as to deprive the tribunal of its existence; but here the blow was so fierce and fatal, that the whole court, with all its functions and faculties, judicial, ministerial, and executive, together with its record, process, and seal-all fell paralyzed in death be neath the arm of the hero of New Orleans.

Thus far I have spoken only of the outrage to the Judge of the contempt to the court. These, unjustifiable as they are, might have been excused by an indulgent and grateful people; but there is exposed by these proceedings a still deeper outrage, and a still higher contempt-an outrage against the Constitution, a contempt of the writ of habeas corpus. I could forgive much, in consideration of the military services of General Jackson; but who that reveres the institutions of his country can sanction a wanton breach of its Constitution? Who that loves liberty can excuse the blow that strikes down the bulwarks of its defence?

men.

In the erection and maintenance of a Government founded upon liberty and law, principles, and sometimes things, are of more importance than Thousands of lives were sacrificed to obtain our Constitution. Our ancestors contended for years, amidst revolutions and persecutions in the field and in the Senate, for the establishment of that great instrument of English liberty-the writ of habeas corpus; and shall we, their descendants, yield both these proud trophies of patriotism to the insatiable ambition and craving vanity of one man? Gen. Jackson, in the vigor of his youth, was willing to sacrifice his life in defence of his country; and does he now, in old age, grudge a thousand pieces of silver, expended in vindication of a principle, deprived of which his country would not be worth defending?

Our fathers, mindful of the history of the writ of habeas corpus, and duly appreciating its importance in the protection of personal and civil liberty against the aggressions of arbitrary power, did, in and by the Constitution, secure the privilege of this writ to every American citizen in the following words:

"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it."

The

Mark the words, "the privilege of the writ!"—a known right, a common prerogative, used and enjoyed by the people before and at the time of the adoption of the Constitution; and which that instrument does not grant, but merely preserves. power to suspend this great common-law privilege is reserved to Congress, the Representatives of the people; and even then their control over it is limited to two emergencies-rebellion or invasion; and not even then, unless the public safety require it.

Of little value would be that constitutionally preserved privilege, if the power to suspend it is left in the hands of every commander in our army and navy, to be exercised according to his judgment or whim; neither the Executive, the commander-in

Fine on General Jackson-Mr. Miller.

chief of the army and navy, the judge who issues the writ-no, not even the sovereign people, for whose benefit this privilege is reserved, have the power to suspend it; Congress, and Congress alone, can do it.

This is acknowledged by all. Yet we are told that there is a law superior to the Constitution-the law of war, called martial law! Do gentlemen mean to say that a declaration of war abrogates the Constitution? Was not our Constitution made for war as well as for peace? Is its potency only to be felt in the quiet unresisting times of peace, but lost amid the din of arms and shouts of victory? It would, indeed, be an ill-constructed instrument-for the government of a free people, if it made no provision for the protection of the property, the liberty, and the life of a citizen at a time when all these rights demand the most efficient support, and require the most powerful protection.

But this martial law-what is it? What its definition? From whence does it proceed, and what are its limits?

This thing called martial law once had a kind of existence in England. It was felt, but not seen, dwelling in the dark corners of the star-chamber, seizing citizens in the darkness of the night, and dragging them off to be tried and executed by armed men; in its character, half military, half civil-a court-martial for trial of civil offences.

So ill-shapen, so monstrous, so undefinable was this law, that Judge Blackstone, who could, in_one short sentence, define the municipal law of England, found himself utterly at fault in describing the martial law, and contents himself by telling us that it is the absence of all law. If I should undertake to define this law, it would be by reversing Judge Blackstone's definition of municipal law, to wit: "Martial law has no rule of action, does not proceed from the supreme power of the State, neither commanding what is right, nor prohibiting what is wrong

If by this law is meant that code of laws which govern men in arms-the rules and regulations of an army and navy-we all understand it. But when you claim for this law a supremacy over the Constitution; when you extend its jurisdiction over the citizen--over the life, liberty, and property of the private individual, and subject him and all his rights to be dealt with according to the will or whim of a military commander--you present a monster, a tyrant, under whose government no freeman could live in safety for an hour.

General Jackson seems to have been under the impression that this constitutional privilege was only to be enjoyed in time of peace; that the writ of habeas corpus was a tame, quiet process, to be sent to county jails, and only obligatory upon sheriffs and turnkeys; but upon a major general, whose camp is a city, and whose only law is a camp order, enforced at the point of the bayonet! what avail parchments, writs, and paper constitutions? Shall the soldier yield to the civil marshal? Shall the general yield to the judge?

General Jackson forgot, at the time, the history of that writ. You, sir, know that it had its origin in war and civil commotion, when, under pretence of an urgent necessity and public safety, men were seized by armed soldiers, thrown into prison, and kept there, unheard and untried, by the mere mandate of the King.

That man Jenks, whose imprisonment was one of the immediate causes that produced the famous act of habeas corpus, was a citizen of London, on the popular or factious side. He was committed by the King in council, for a mutinous speech in Guildhall. The Chancellor, on an application for a habeas corpus, declined to issue it during the vacation; and the Chief Justice of the King's Bench made so many difficulties about issuing the writ, that Jenks lay in prison several weeks. This arbitrary imprisonment of an humble citizen of London excited the spirit of liberty throughout all England; and notwithstanding the mandate of the King in council, and the craven prevarication of the Chancellor and of the Chief Justice, the Commons of England never rested until they had secured by law an effectual remedy against any future outrage upon the liberty of the citizen. That remedy has, since that day, been sacredly preserved as a great landmark in the progressive advancement of civil liberty. It has been called the second Magna Charta of English rights. Our fathers brought it with them as a cherished jewel; they re-enacted it in every State Legislature; they embodied it in the Constitution of the Union; and there it now stands,

Senate.

stereotyped forever, in these words: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended."

From the time when the commons of England triumphed over the arbitrary martial-law power of the crown-from the day of the enactment of the habeas corpus, in the reign of Charles the Second-from the formation of our Constitution-through all the commotions, revolutions, and wars in England and in America-no King, no President, no popular military chieftain ever ventured to suspend, even for an hour, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, until General Jackson, on the 5th of March, 1815, and in the 39th year of our independence, took upon himself the responsibility,

This case stands alone. For one hundred and fifty years has this writ been revered as the guardian spirit of human liberty, pursuing unmolested the even tenor of its way, commanding obedience from every authority, entering every prison, descending into every dungeon, and, through grated doors and arms of steel, bringing forth the prisoner, together with the cause of his imprisonment, to the light of day.

Now, sir, I ask, can we, the Senate of the United States, existing by and acting under the Constitution, excuse, and thereby justify, this suspension of the habeas corpus? No, sir; we cannot; we dare not. I would do anything for General Jackson rather than this. Erect monuments, make triumphal arches, build temples in honor of the glorious victory at New Orleans; but I cannot sacrifice a great constitutional principle-a principle more valuable to this people than a hundred cities, more glorious than a thousand victories.

Why is this measure urged upon Congress just at this time? After sleeping for a quarter of a century, this claim suddenly awakes, as by the touch of a magician's wand; the whole country becomes agitated with an anxious sense of justice, brooking no delay. The public treasure groans to be delivered of the fine money; and General Jackson and his friends can live no longer under the foul imputation of the sentence. Why this sudden outbreak of justice, gratitude, and sensibility? Were not all the facts of the case as well known twelve years ago, as they are at the present moment? Has delay advanced the validity of the claim? Has neglect aroused our gratitude? Has time made the outrage more glaring?

Passing over the eight years of General Jackson's administration, (during which a sense of delicacy might forbid action upon this subject,) how can we account for the silence of Mr. Van Buren, during the four years of his administration? Did his keen eye not perceive this stain upon the character of his great benefactor? Was his gratitude so obtuse that it could not give a word or a hint that the thing would be agreeable? Or was it that, having glory enough in those days, this little matter of the thousand dollars fine was laid by for a season of scarcity?

I believe I know that this measure has here and elsewhere many honest supporters. The honorable Senator from Missouri, who introduced the bill, has too much sincerity and honesty of character ever to advocate a measure here which he does not believe to be right and just. Yet, sir, from all that I have seen and heard, I cannot divest myself of the impression that a certain aspirant to the Presidency is attempting, through this measure, to use once more the name and influence of Gen. Jackson to obtain a second time the object of his ambition. Having once been warmed and illuminated by the meridian influences of his glorious predecessor, he has, during a short eclipse, been examining with telescopic accuracy, the clouded face of the great luminary, to discover, if he could, some little spot from which might be elicited a solitary ray of reflected glory.

In order to get at this little matter of glorification, the life and history of the old hero have been conned over to find, if possible, some dubious point of official conduct-some unjustisfied act-some unvarnished spot, a vanity not satisfied, an insult unavenged; and, at last, this matter of the fine is fixed upon as an offensive object in the picture, and we are called upon to varnish it over by legislative enactment. Let me say to the friends of Gen. Jackson, you are not true limners; you will spoil the painting by this varnish. It is these rough points and dark shades that give character and individuality to the picture. Smooth them down, or gild them over, and it will no longer be a true likeness of pour responsibility-taking hero. It is better for all

27TH CONG......3D SESS.

parties that we leave this matter as the history of the times records it. Let the controversy between the civil and military power-between the General and the Judge-remain settled as it is by the record. It is well settled, and we cannot alter it if we would. The hero General met the hero Judge in sharp conflict; the General imprisoned the Judge, and the Judge fined the General; the one lost his liberty, the other his money. We cannot now readjust the matter upon equal terms. You may gratify the feelings of General Jackson by returning this fine; but what becomes of the outrage upon the Judge? Is there no sympathy for his wrongs? Dragged from his house by armed men; marched through the public streets; branded with crime; the object of scorn and contempt; imprisoned, and then banished as an outlawed traitor--his wrongs have never been redressed. He went down to his grave an injured and insulted man, long to be remembered for his unequal contest with the hero of New Orleans. Not so with General Jackson. This petty fine, this sentence of contempt, now remembered by him with so much soreness, was unheeded at the time, amidst the shouts of his triumph; and was, for a while, forgotten, in the enjoyment of those high honors bestowed upon him by his grateful country. Yet his friends are not satisfied. The record of this sentence is still in existence. After twenty eight years of glory won and enjoyed in other fields, they now propose to conduct their hero, with all Congress in his train, back to the first field of his triumph, New Orleans; not to celebrate his victory over the enemies of his country, but rather to sanction his triumph over the laws and Constitution of our Republic; and the grand ceremony of this fête will be to tear in fragments, over the grave of Dominick A. Hall, this record-the only monument left us of an independent and upright judge. 1, for one, will have no part in the pageant.

SPEECH OF MR. BARNARD,

OF NEW YORK,

In the House of Representatives, February 20, 1843-In Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, on the bill reported from the Committee of Ways and Means in relation to treasury notes.

Mr. BARNARD offered to add to that bill, by way of amendment, the substance of a bill laid on the table some time since by him, and printed, and which, at the time, he had proposed to offer as a substitute for the exchequer bill of the Select Committee on the currency, (Mr. CUSHING'S bill,) whenever that bill should be taken up. Mr. BARNARD'S bill, now offered as an amendment to the treasury note bill, was entitled "A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow a sum of money, not exceeding fifteen millions of dollars, of State banks, and to adopt an equal amount of currency, which shall be receivable in payment of Government dues."

This amendment having been received

Mr. BARNARD addressed the committee to the following effect:

Mr. CHAIRMAN: On the whole, sir, I do not know that any more fit occasion for bringing forward the provisional measure on the subject of the currency which I have had the honor to propose, could well be presented, than that which is now offered; and have felt obliged, therefore, to decline the appeal made to me by my friend, the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, [Mr. FILLMORE,] that 1 would forbear to press this measure at the present time. I must insist on embracing this occasion to discharge myself of a great public duty; and, having a very distinct notion of what this House owes to the country on the subject which I have now brought to its notice, I am not disposed to let this opportunity slip of exacting from it some action in regard to that subject. It will not do to say that my bill is not germane to the subject before the committee. The two subjects are intimately related. Nor will the plea of lack of time avail anything. If there is time to perpetuate an issue of twelve millions of treasury notes, for the relief of the treasury-which is what the bill of the Ways and Means proposes-there is time to consider a proposition for changing the form of that indebtedness-which is what my bill proposes, with the advantage of supplying to the country, by means of that change of form, what the country now so much needs, and so imperatively demands —an ample, and a safe, sound, and uniform nation

Treasury Note Bill-Mr. Barnard.

al currency. It will not do to say, as we have heard said and repeated this morning, that the public business must first be done-as if there were no other public business than the passing of appropriation bills, and bills to issue or perpetuate treasury notes. Sir, this which I propose is public business, and public business of some consequence too; and, if gentlemen are not sensible of the fact now, they may be made so, perhaps, when our common master, the people, come to reckon with us on the subject. In the condition in which the monetary and business affairs of this Government and of this country now are, and have been for a considerable period, no one thing can be named of such indispensable necessity as the restoration of a sound and uniform national currency. It is the vital air to the body politic--an indispensable requisite to its healthy existence. It may, in my opinion, be now, at once, procured and restored, by a very simple and a very safe financial measure, which, for itself, and without reference to the matter of currency, is strongly demanded by the condition of the treasury.

The bill of the Ways and Means is professedly a bill for the relief of the treasury; and it proposes that relief through the old mode (become so hackneyed within the last six years) of treasury notes. This is the ready resort and panacea prescribed in these latter times, for all the distempers of our exhausted exchequer. Whenever this abused patient of ours-victim, as he has been, of alternate plethora and inanition-shows symptoms of collapse or syncope, forthwith he is to be blown up, like a bladder, with treasury notes. Treasury notes are his hartshorn and his lavender; they have recovered him from many a heart-sickness and deadly swoon, within the last six years; and it is really surprising how their virtues hold out, considering how frequently, and almost constantly, they have been resorted to and applied. Sir, I have never yet, I believe, voted for a treasury-note bill. I might do so, without any direct violation of conscience or principle, if I could see a proper case or exigency for a measure of the sort. They might be used, as exchequer bills are used in England, to anticipate incoming revenue; but they ought not to be lightly resorted to, to take the place of revenue, or as a mode of borrowing for the support of Government, especially in time of peace. They have now been thus employed for almost six years uninterruptedly. They were so used by the last Administration, against which we Whigs earnestly remonstrated; and, coming into legislative power, we Whigs have adopted and continued the practice with how much more urgent necessity on our part, the country will determine. And it is now proposed to employ still further this means of raising the wind for the treasury; it is proposed to give authority to the treasury to reissue the whole batch of treasury notes now outstanding-some twelve millions of dollars, more or less--as they may be paid in for dues, or come in for redemption. The greater part are already past due, and do not come in for payment, only because we have added to our promise to pay interest on them till due--which was the footing on which they originally stood-a promise to pay interest on them till redeemed. And it is proposed by this bill to add the like promise in regard to the rest and residue of the outstanding notes. Sir, I do not like this Jeremy-Diddler way of supporting this Government. These notes, every one of them, were issued payable in one year from date, and it concerned the credit and honor of the Government that they should have been promptly met at maturity. This subsequent promise of paying interest, to prevent the holders from demanding payment of the principal--this purchase, in market overt, of the lenity and forbearance of our creditors-is not the sort of transaction that I, for one, can take any pride in, as an American citizen. If the Government unhappily could do no better, why, very well; and I hope there has been more actual necessity for this sort of proceeding than I have been able to discover. At any rate, coming, as the renewed proposition does, from the Committee of Ways and Means, I shall not set myself up against it; though it must be carried, if at all, by other votes than mine. I have not moved to strike out the bill of the Ways and Means, and substitute mine for it; I propose my bill as an amendment, to be added to theirs; they will consist very well with each other in the same enactment. If my plan should chance to be adopted, and then it should be found that the State banks should refuse to lend us money on the terms

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proposed, the treasury would still have the treasury notes to resort to; while, on the other hand, if the banks should assent to our terms and lend us the money, there would not only be no necessity for any reissue of treasury notes, but all the outstanding notes might be promptly redeemed. The bill of the Ways and Means is, as I have said, a bill for the relief of the treasury. So is mine; and, I venture to think, much the more important and necessary bill of the two, not only for the relief of the treasury, but for the relief of the country also.

But, Mr. Chairman, I am free to confess-indeed, I wish it to be understood-that my main purpose is to procure, by the plan I propose, a currency of national import and character for the country. This is the great want of the country. Upon this question, more than any other, the political revolution of 1840 turned. The Whig party came into power upon the solemn promise and pledge to give the country a sound national currency. The general expectation was, that this was to be done by means of a bank of the United States. The mode, however, was not so much dwelt upon; it was the object and the thing that was chiefly discussed, promised, and expected. The local currencies were in the most deranged condition; the utmost confusion reigned in the exchanges; the regular flow of business was obstructed and interrupted in all its channels. There was stagnation, and distress, and ruin everywhere. It was universally felt that the process of restoration must begin at Washington. It was this Federal Government which had brought on all this mischief, by its unhallowed war on the best currency the world ever saw, and which had then coolly turned its back on the confusion and desolation it had created, and declared that it did not belong to this Government to have anything to do with currency and exchanges. The demand of the people was, that it should have something to do with this subject; and that demand was uttered with the voice of authority, and in tones of thunder. They called on the name of the Whig party, which they clothed with the ensigns of political power, and commanded them to go promptly to the work of relief and restoration. And we promised to do it. The country must have a sound and uniform national currency, and we promised that it should be supplied. This was the only way to bring order, regularity, and safety out of the confusion and rottenness which prevailed in the local currencies and in the exchanges; and we promised it should be done. Before God, and many a cloud of witnesses, we made this solemn engagement. There was one condition, and one only, annexed, by necessary implication, to this engagement. The mode of reaching and accomplishing the object must be in strict conformity to the Constitution, and to our own wellunderstood principles. We were not bound to violate either the Constitution or our own consciences; but we were bound to accomplish the object, only leaving these intact.

And, Mr. Chairman, never was a great duty entered upon with more alacrity, resolution, and zeal. Never was there a more honest endeavor to perform an honest undertaking and trust. An extra session of Congress was convened, and we went to work like men at the subject of the currency, though, in the mean time, we had lost the elected head and chief of our party and of the Administration. Still, we did not shrink from our duty and our engagements. At that period, nothing but a bank was thought of in any quarter, whether in Congress, at the Treasury Department, or at the Executive mansion. Various plans were suggested-to Congress, in Congress, and by the Executive; and they were all plans of banks. Nobody seemed then to think or dream of anything else. By common consent and agreement, at that period, the currency of the country was to be supplied and regulated through an incorporated national bank. Two attempts were made in Congress to establish such a bank; two such banks in succession were created, to neither of which would the President yield his assent; and it became, at last, apparent to everybody that he would yield his assent to nothing in the shape or similitude of an incorporated national bank. Thus ended at once all hopes of supplying a currency by means of a national bank for the term of Mr. Tyler's administration. It remained to be seen whether the same object could be accomplished through any other agency, which should be free from constitutional and other insuperable difficulties. Mr. Tyler and some of his advisers were of opinion it

could be; and a plan for this purpose was submitted to Congress from the Executive department at the last, as it has been again at the present session. This is the exchequer plan, which has gained, certainly, a great deal of notoriety, if it has not gained much success. It was silently condemned by Congress at the last session, and it has been condemned at the present session in this House by the most sweeping and significant vote which, I venture to say, was ever passed on a measure of Executive recommendation.

This condemnation, thus passed on the Executive plan of an exchequer, must be deemed to have reached, also, the same exchequer scheme as modified in the bill brought in by the Select Committee on the Currency, (Mr. CUSHING's bill.) Let the gentleman from Massachusetts bring his bill to the test of the yeas and nays, and he shall see how much, or rather how little, favor his scheme will command in this House. It is the same scheme, in substance, already stamped, not with disapproval merely, but with reprobation. The gentleman's exchequer differs from the Executive plan in two particulars, not unimportant in themselves, but in no manner affecting the character of the measure. It is the exchequer still; it is just what it was in its original conception, what it always has been, and always must be. It is an Executive treasury with sub-treasuries, as contradistinguished from "the treasury of the United States," as established by law in the first session of the first Congress, and employed from that day to this with the universal approval of the American people, excepting during one single year under the last Administration. It is also an Executive commercial bank of deposite and exchange-a Government bank, to be managed and conducted by officers of Executive appointment, and to deal with individuals on individual account.

One respect in which the gentleman from Massachusetts has modified the Executive plan is in withdrawing from the exchequer board and agencies the power to purchase exchange. The power to sell exchanges, however, remains, and may be exercised to any extent, and with all that latitude of discretion in regard to prices and persons which could not fail to make this machine a political engine of the grossest favoritism and corruption. At any rate, with this power to deal in exchanges, and the power to receive the money of individuals and furnish bank paper money therefor, the exchequer is out of all question a Government bank, and, as such, can never receive the support of those so regarding it, who desire to see the Constitution and Government preserved. Even the friends of the measure advocate it only by denying roundly that the exchequer is a Government bank-a denial which admits of no support, that I can discover, but naked and bold assertion.

Another modification of the executive plan, proposed by the gentleman from Massachusetts, is in substituting for any fund a specie basis of dollar for dollar for the paper issues of the Government. As a principle of banking, I must be allowed to say that I hold this proposition in no sort of respect. It is commended to our admiration by an epigrammatic remark of its author, that "for every paper eagle on the wing, it has a gold eagle in hand." But it is evident the gentleman has wholly mistaken the character and habits of the bird he was describing. He seems to suppose that these are gregarious-that they fly only in flocks, like wild geese in their migrations; and that when they get tired of being on the wing, and alight, they alight all at once and all together. It was important, therefore, in his estimation, to make provision beforehand for this peculiarity of habit, by having constantly on hand an equal number of golden eagles for his weary paper eagles to settle down upon. Now, this is certainly an error in the gentleman's natural history, which one so truly learned ought not to have made. It detracts materially from the merits of the contribution he was making to the interesting science of ornithology. These paper eagles are not gregarious; they fly either singly or in small detached covies; and, like swallows of a sunny day, some, and by far the greater number, are always on the wing while others are at rest. To drop the gentleman's figure, it would be a mere wanton waste of property, besides being a temptation to all manner of corrup tion, if the Government, issuing convertible paper, were to undertake to keep constantly on hand an amount of gold and silver equal to the issues. The idea of its necessity is not obsolete; it is merely ab

Treasury Note Bill-Mr. Barnard.

surd. By the very terms of his bill, the paper issues only to those who prefer it to gold and silver; and the same necessity which obliges the community to demand the paper instead of the coin in the first instance, must continue to operate as long as there remains any business to transact, and must lead the community to the continued use of the paper in preference to the coin. Nothing but a sudden and universal suspension of business throughout all the regions of industry and commerce, or a sudden and universal panic, shaking and unsettling the foundations of all credit and of the Government itself, could ever drive home in one day, or in one period, the whole outstanding mass of paper issues. There should always be a large and broad basis of specie for all issues of paper, so as to secure at once, as far as human calculation can go, actual convertibility and real confidence. No man has insisted more strongly or more uniformly on this than I have. But to go beyond this, and insist on making the metallic basis equal to the circulation, is a good deal worse than a blunder. If adopted by the Government, in case it turned banker, much more ought the same rule to be adopted by all the banks, and it could not end in anything but fraud; for the specie would as certainly disappear, as time passed on to show how useless a hoard it was. Either it would have this result, or issues would cease altogether; and that golden era, so much sighed after by the sublimated Democracy, would be brought in.

But the gentleman's dollar for dollar doctrine is not objectionable merely as a principle of banking; it is still more objectionable when taken in connexion with the sub-treasury feature of the exchequer plan. It makes his sub-treasury incomparably more dangerous than that of Mr. Van Buren. Under Mr. Van Buren's scheme, no moneys were to be kept in the hands of executive officers, except the surplus or casual balance of the ordinary revenues -it might be one or three millions. But the gentleman from Massachusetts proposes a sub-treasury, under which executive officers shall have in their personal custody not only all the surplus revenues of the Government, but also twenty millions more of good gold and silver, under the name of a redemption fund for outstanding issues! How could any man have the face to submit such a proposition to the Representatives of the American people; and to connect that proposition, too, with another for the establishment of an out-and-out, undisguised Government bank--and that, not a bank merely dealing with individuals on Government account, but dealing with individuals on individual account? And this offer and attempt is made by this republican, constitutional, limited Government of ours; and under an Administration that has distinguished itself by the obstinate constitutional scruples which it has set up against measures of the most salutary and indispensable character, and which had been sanctioned by the best opinions, and by a long continued and repeated practice from the very foundation of the Government.

Mr. Chairman, an incorporated national bank being out of the question for the period of Mr. Tyler's term of office; and the executive plan of an exchequer, with all its modifications, being also condemned, and equally out of the question; the inquiry is presented-and it is one of momentous interest to this great country-whether any other mode not substantially embraced either in the plan of a a national bank, or in that of a Government bank, and free from insuperable difficulties, can now be devised and adopted for the accomplishment of the same great and desirable purpose of supplying to the country a sound and uniform national currency? If such a mode can be suggested which shall be found on examination, on the one hand, to promise complete and happy success, and, on the other, to be liable to no constitutional or other sound objection,then, for one, I shall feel that I have failed in the most solemn of all my public duties, and of all my political engagements, if I do not exert every faculty I possess in endeavoring to bring about its adop tion before this Congress shall be dissolved. Sir, I believe that the plan set forth in the paper which I have sent to the Chair, will, if adopted, accomplish the important object of supplying, for the uses of both Government and people, a safe and uniform national currency; that it has in it nothing in common either with a national or a Government bank; and that it will be found on examination to be free from all serious difficulties or objections.

It is proposed, in the plan which I present, to employ a limited amount of State bank currency,

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adopted by this Government in such a manner as to give it the "odor of nationality"-and that in a way which cannot subject this Government to the slightest hazard of loss. The Government, it will be recollected, is at present, and must be for some time to come, a debtor for borrowed money. Be sides a permanent loan, (a part of which will be come payable in a couple of years,) there are now outstanding eleven and a half or twelve millions of treasury notes, the greater part of which is now due and payable, and the residue soon will be, and the whole of which ought promptly to be taken up and cancelled. It is this necessity of the Govern ment, by which it is compelled to become or continue a debtor for borrowed money, which enables us to devise a plan for nationalizing a limited amount of State bank currency, through a conve nient money transaction with these banks. A very large proportion of all our outstanding treasury notes are understood to be in the hands of the banks; and, so far as these are concerned, to borrow money now on contracts of loan of the banks, will only be to change the form of our indebtedness to them. Besides our indebtedness on treasury notes, on mere due-bills-which ought to be paid, and which it is discreditable to us not to pay promptly at maturity-it is doubted, in some quarters, whether the means at the command of the treasury will, without further aid, carry the Government safely through to the 1st of January next. The Secretary thinks he shall have a small balance, if the sum of the appropriations shall not exceed his estimates, and it is now almost certain that the appropriations will not exceed, but will fall considerably below, his esti mates. But there is still danger (as some contend) that the revenue, both from customs and lands, may fall off for the present year even further than be has yet anticipated. Now, the ability of the treasury to meet all engagements till the 1st of January next ought to be put beyond all contingency before this Congress is concluded. Every possible excuse to the Administration for calling an extra session should be taken away. A duty imposed on teas and on coffee-the most productive and the least burdensome of all our sources of revenue-would make everything safe; but parties do not like to take the responsibility. I am very sorry for it. I am always pained and afflicted when I see my political friends and associates on this floor shrinking from any duty which patriotism demands of them to perform. But it is clear that our revenue for the current year is not to be strengthened in this way. We shall adjourn without any duties on teas and coffee; and hence it becomes a matter of sound pol. icy to provide, if we can, in some other way, for the possible contingency of a deficit in the treasury for the current year. This necessity will be found to be completely met by the plan which I have brought forward, which provides at once for the pressing pecuniary wants of the treasury, as well as for a sound and safe medium of payments and receipts both for the Government and the people.

Mr. Chairman, the plan which I propose is this: Let the Secretary of the Treasury be authorized to borrow, of sound specie-paying State banks, a sum not exceeding fifteen millions of dollars-borrowing, however, of no bank an amount exceeding onefourth part of its capital in actual possession; and the rate of interest to be paid must not exceed six per cent. He must receive of the banks effective money-gold and silver, or its equivalent, according to existing laws in regard to the medium of payments to the treasury. Let the Secretary also be authorized, on the receipt of the money borrow ed, to cause an amount of the circulating notes of each lending bank, just equal to the sum borrowed of each, to be stamped on the face of such notes, "receivable in payment of public dues, according to act of Congress," and countersigned by a proper officer of the Treasury Department. Let the Secretary be authorized and required to enter into a written contract with each loaning bank, setting forth with particularity the terms and conditions of the loan, and the obligations of the respective par ties; and let it be stipulated, in a special manner, that if, at any time, the bank shall suspend specie payments, or fail to redeem any of its circulating notes in gold and silver on demand at its counter, then, and from that time, interest on the loan to the Government shall cease to accrue and be payable; and the notes of the bank stamped at the treasury shall, as fast as they shall be received in payment of public dues, be cancelled, and returned to the bank in payment of the debt due from the Government to such bank. Let it also be stipulated in such contract,

27TH CONG....SD SESS.

that the Government may, at any time, on reasonable notice, pay off or reduce its indebtedness to the bank; and also that the bank may, on reasonable notice, require the payment or reduction of its debtthe stamped notes of such bank being, in either case, cancelled to an amount equal to the payment or reduction; and, in case of a demand of payment by the bank, the Government to have the option of payment in cash, or of giving its bond for a term of vears, upon interest not exceeding six per cent.

This, sir, is the general outline of the plan. It is perfectly simple; can be comprehended by a child; admits of no mystification. It means, and can mean, nothing more and nothing less than what is expressed on its face. If it is objectionable and inadmissible, gentlemen can state how and why, and they can do it as well to-day as they could after a week's reflection. It is not a plan to be thrust aside because it cannot be understood, nor because it proposes any experiment the operation of which may not be fully foreseen. It proposes no mere experiment in anything, and scarcely anything which is really new and untried. It is nothing new for this Government to borrow money, and to borrow of banks; and, though the act of stamping State bank currency receivable for public dues has not been heretofore attempted, yet banks have issued their notes before, and Government too has issued its notes. No new kind of currency is to be tried; it is the currency of State banks, limited in amount, that is proposed to be employed, resting on the same responsibility of the banks to redeem, and on the same specie basis for its convertibility, as hereto. fore; and the Government, instead of issuing notes of its own, on which it should stand solely responsible, will merely stamp this limited amount of State bank paper, so as to make it a legal medium of payments to the treasury by the debtors of the Government; and that by such an arrangement, that the Government cannot be subjected to the possible loss of a dollar. It is not to be Government paper in any sense; the Government is not to undertake for its redemption, or even for any default of the banks, other than by making it receivable at par for public dues as money, whether the banks redeem or fail to redeem. This, of course, is a valuable security to the holders of these bills, beyond the responsibility of the sources of issue; for it is clear, supposing suspension by any bank, or even the most complete failure and insolvency of such bank, the holders of its stamped paper could suffer no considerable loss, inasmuch as its value could never fall below that of treasury notes receivable at the treasury. The Government, in the mean time, undertaking for nothing but receivability, stands without the slightest liability to loss; since it already has the money of the bank in its hands, to the full amount of the stamped paper outstanding, for which it is indebted to the bank, and which indebtedness is reduced and paid off as fast as the stamped paper is received at the treasury, cancelled, and returned to the bank.

It is not doubted that the banks would gladly embrace the proposal held out to them by this bill. Their condition at the present time is a crippled one, just in proportion to the depressed and stagnant state of business in the country-crippled, I mean, in regard to the extent and profitableness of their current transactions. Their numbers have been much thinned by the prevailing distempers of recent times. Some of those that remain are undoubtedly still in a critical, if not desperate state; but by far the greater number never were in a sounder condition. Specie payments have been resumed all over the United States, except, I think, at two or three points only at the South. It is probable, indeed, that never before, since banking commenced in this country, did the specie in the vaults of the banks bear so large a proportion to their circulation. In the city of New York, as shown by recent returns, the banks have seven millions of specie to one million of actual circulation; and, taking all the banks of the State together, the excess of specie over their paper in the hands of the people is above a million and a quarter.

But banks may be in a very sound condition, and yet not be in a condition which favors or indicates a state of prosperity in the commercial community. At present, their circulation is greatly restricted; and yet, no doubt, the currency is as full as the real demands of business require in its present depression and stagnation; and I hope that hereafter, forever, their circulation will continue to be limited to the real demands of business, though I hope also that the time is not distant when, by better facilities,

Treasury Note Bill-Mr. Barnard.

confidence will revive, and business along with it. Nothing can tend to furnish these necessary facili ties so effectually as a national currency. At present, too, these banks-very many of them, certainly-are in want of good customers for their money, and can be in no way reluctant, therefore, to supply the Government with the moderate sum it requires. Indeed, the Government is already their debtor to a large amount in treasury notes, and the loan proposed by this bill will only change the form of the indebtedness. The advantage to the banks in this transaction is obvious. It secures to them not only a good customer for a portion of their loanable capital, but also the pretty certain benefit of a circulation to an amount equal to the loan. If they can keep out any paper whatever, they can certainly keep out this stamped paper. Much of it will travel far beyond the range of their ordinary issues, on errands which will only be accomplished, oftentimes, by running the whole circuit of commerce from one end of the country to the other. With this advantage, drawing interest as they will in their circulation, they can afford to put down the interest on their loans to a very moderate rate. And this I have no doubt would be done, and so as to effect an important saving in the item of interest, by the diminished rate, as compared with that which the Government now pays to the banks and others on its treasury notes and public debt.

But it is in no respect with any special view to the benefit of banks that this plan is brought forward; least of all, to bring them under the patronage or the pettings of the Executive. If incidental advantages accrue to them in any proper financial measure of this Government, I am not one to make that matter of difficulty or objection. I should rejoice to see this Government and the banking institutions of the country, which exist, and must exist, brought once more into harmony, after the ruthless war that has been waged upon them; but I do not want to see them brought again into a corrupt subjection to the Executive, and I cannot discover any such dangerous tendencies in the plan here proposed. Under this plan, the Government will make proposals for a business arrangement with the banks in the way of a loan, just as any other customer might do. There will be no lack of sound specie paying banks to offer for the loan, and the Government will be forced to take the offers that are most advantageous to the Government. In all this, there is no chance for any such favoritism or corrupt practice, as when the treasury, having a surplus of very many millions of revenue on hand, was at liberty to select a few favored institutions, without limitation or restriction on its choice, as the recipients of its high bounty, in the shape of deposites, amounting to a gratuitous loan of heavy sums of money from the public coffers.

The Government, as I have said, is, and must for some time continue to be, a debtor for borrowed money. The plan now proposed does not contemplate any increase of the public debt-none, certainly, of any consequence. Fifteen millions is named as the maximum amount to be borrowed of the banks. Twelve millions, or thereabouts, will be required within the year, to pay treasury notes actually due; and no more is allowed by the bill to be borrowed than may be found indispensable for this purpose, and to meet any actual deficit (certainly, in my opinion, not likely to occur) in the treasury in the recess of Congress. The President seems to think there is danger of a deficit; the Secretary does not, and the Committee of Ways and Means do not. This bill will, at any rate, put this matter so beyond the reach of contingency, as to leave no apology, on this score, for an extra session of Congress. This will be one point gained, but not the most important.

The stamped currency will be a perfectly safe as well as a convenient medium of payments and receipts at the treasury. No failure of the banks can affect its value in the hands of the Government. If such an event occurs, while this paper or any part of it is in its hands, it is still worth its amount in gold and silver-every dollar of it; for it will pay debts due from the Government, as well as so much gold and silver. All this kind of paper, whether in the treasury when failures occur, (if they should occur at all,) or coming in afterwards, will be equal to specie for the uses of the Government, because it will be immediately turned back to the sources from which it issued, in payment of the public debt in those quarters.

There is one possible hazard to which the treas

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ury might in one event be subjected, but which is easily provided for beforehand. If, at any time while this plan should be in operation, one of those revulsions in the commercial world should occur, which should drive the banking institutions of the country to a general suspension of specie paymentsan event which has twice happened, and only twice, in our history-then the treasury might find itself in the receipt of a medium for current revenues, which it could not pay out for current expenses. Just having passed through one of those scenes and seasons of general suspension, every one will see how little is to be apprehended at present on this score; and yet I have thought it prudent to provide for such a possib'e occurrence, by inserting in my bill a provisional authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to meet any such event and exigency which should arise in the recess of Congress, by an issue of treasury notes not exceeding five millions of dollars. Such would be a proper occasion for a resort to treasury notes; and this provisional authority gives every possible security to the treasury in the practical working of the plan.

But, Mr. Chairman, it is mainly to the advantage of the community, of the American people, that I have looked in bringing forward this measure. Suffering as this people have done now for long years, under the oppressive action or the cruel neglect of this Government in regard to the vital subject of the currency, it is time not only that something were attempted, but that something should be done. Admit that the attempts already made, and which have so signally failed of success, have put an end to every hope of establishing any permanent measure for fiscal purposes and for currency, any measure worthy of the subject, worthy of statesmen to devise, worthy of the country, and likely to stand the test of all trial and of all time-admit all this, and what then? Are we, therefore, justified in doing nothing?

If there be an expedient-a provisional measure like this which I have brought to the notice of the House this morning, involving no intricate details, nothing to perplex, nothing to raise apprehensions, nothing to doubt about, and nothing which can be tortured into a departure from our own well-established political and economical principles and views of public policy-a measure standing, in no way or degree, as an obstruction or impediment to our bringing out and establishing hereafter a favorite, a more worthy and permanent measure, applicable to the same subject, whenever (if ever) we may be clothed with the requisite political power--and, finally, a measure which fairly promises to be successful, to accomplish eminent good without the slightest hazard of doing any harm whatever,—if, I say, there be such a provisional measure, and if this which I here offer be such a measure, (and I religiously believe it is,) what excuse or apology can we offer to the country for failing to resort to it and to adopt it? I address myself to men of my own political faith and party. Do we wish for the confidence of the country, and for future political successes and triumphs? Let our first wish and resolution be to deserve that confidence and those successes and triumphs. We cannot command the confidence of the country by sullen inaction or a dogged resolution to do nothing, while everything valuable and effective, and not positively mischievous, remains to be done; we cannot command that confidence otherwise than by steady, persevering, and zealous efforts for the relief of the people in a season of unprecedented depression and distress, and for their prosperity. The necessary means and instruments of public prosperity, the necessary facilities for the re-establishment of the ordinary business relations and the transaction of the ordinary business operations of this great American community, cannot be supplied but through the agency of this Government. Without its action, there can be no national currency; and without such a currency, there can be no stable system of cheap and equal exchanges; and there can be no return to profitable business and to prosperity without such a currency and such exchanges. We cannot have a bank, and we will not have an exchequer; but we may have, for the current time, a national currency and equal exchanges, without either of those establishments; and, in my solemn conviction, we are much to blame if we do not now make the necessary provision on the subject.

I do not entertain a doubt that the paper contemplated by this bill will form a currency of national import and character-how perfect or complete it may be in this respect, I do not under