and for the relief of suffering humanity. To these and other works of disinterested benevolence, not a few of the "gang," so called, devote nearly the whole of their time; and for the promotion of such objects, give away more than some of their envious slanderers are worth, or ever will be. Yet such is the city, and these are the men, to whom are ascribed, by the delegates from Susquehanna, Indiana and Luzerne, the opprobrious epithets which I have quoted.

But the banks have stopped specie payments! the wicked ingrates! But have not the people? and has not the government?

The delegate from the county, (C. J. Ingersoll,) stated in his place, that thirty per cent had lately been paid for money. Then are our banks the best remedy for usury, for they cannot charge more than six per

cent.

It is made the subject of complaint that the issues of the banks are irregular, that they sometimes lend profusely, and then very sparingly. As well may gentleman complain of the variations of the seasons, and that our winters do not yield crops of cotton and grain, as well as our summers. When produce is brought to market, money is wanted to pay for it; when the season for business is over, money ceases to be in equal demand. About twelve to fifteen hundred thousand bales of cotton are brought annually to our seaports. The banks are then called on, and they lend to accommodate the demand. The shippers draw upon their European correspondents, and the banks are repaid. As a further exemplification, the state of Kentuckey sends, annually, to the Atlantic states, live stock, such as horses, mules, &e., to the value of two millions of dollars. The banks there furnish the means of payment, to a class of men, who purchase of the farmers. The banks are repaid by drafts on eastern merchants, who in turn, are provided for by the arrival of the stock. In a single establishment, in Cincinnati, one thousand hogs are slaughtered daily, during the season, and in that city there are several of these extensive establishments. Money is of course wanted for these operations, and the same process takes place. So with our millers; they want money to buy wheat, and reimburse the banks by the sale of their flour. When money is wanted, the banks lend-when it is not wanted, they cannot lend. It is contrary to their interests to keep their means unemployed.

But the monster, the Bank of the United States! that bane of our pros perity. That same monster was going on very usefully and harmlessly, in the pursuit of its lawful occupations, when General Jackson took it into his head to confer a head on the Portsmouth branch, and to signify, through his friends, his desire for other changes in the administration of its concerns. He was not gratified. He had previously spoken well of the bank-he now became its determined enemy-he first flattered, and then asked for favors. But the lady was coy, she had no fancy for a more intimate connexion, and then came the declaration of war. must be admitted," said the President, "the bank has failed in the great end for which it was established--a uniform and sound currency." But our domestic exchanges were then, on an average, throughout the country, at about one half of one per cent, and it afterwards gradually rose to five per cent, ten per cent, and twenty per cent. and from Tennessee,

. It

remittances to Philadelphia reached twenty-five per cent, premium. The removal of the deposits gave the first impulse, and the suspension of specie payments added to the troubled wave. But General Jackson had

sworn a tremendous oath, that he would wring off the neck of the bank —and he seldom wavered in his purpose. A gentleman, who had been his intimate friend for years, and who was also my friend, said of him"I never, in all my life, knew that man undertake any thing, good or bad, that he would not persevere in, without regard to consequences." He did so persevere, until his measures destroyed the best currency any nation ever was blessed with, and brought ruin on thousands.

This little matter of neck wringing was a very natural conception. The General was known to be game, and had long sustained the reputation of being one of the best cock fighters in this christian community.

It was long ago charged upon the bank that it lent money to the printers; and the crimination has been revived on the floor of this house. And why, let me ask, should not the loans of the bank be extended to printers, as well as to any other class of our fellow citizens? The bank assuredly did not apply to the printers, but the printers, like all other borrowers, applied to the bank, and were treated in the same manner. If they offered satisfactory paper, they were accommodated; if not, their applications were rejected. I believe that the bank has suffered no loss by them, but that the sums borrowed were regularly repaid. As a former director of that institution, I here emphatically bear my testimony to the integrity of all these operations. I recollect that one of those printers accompanied his application with a written declaration that he was opposed to the bank, and whether the loan were granted or declined, he should continue his opposition. He obtained what he asked, and was as good as his word. He remains to this day, its open, consistent and avowed enemy. But a delegate has reminded us that large loans were made to Thomas Biddle; implying, of course, that the borrower had been improperly favored. The facts of that case are these: The government had paid off a large amount of its stock, held by the bank, and it became a matter of concernment to find some immediate employment for this addi tion to the funds of the bank. Several persons were applied to, among others T. Biddle. He was a broker, of high reputation, was in the habit of employing large sums in his business, and a gentleman, on whose pro bity, means and punctuality, the utmost reliance could be placed. To him, therefore, a temporary loan was made, and ample security obtained. When the regular business of the bank enabled the directors to use these funds, in ordinary discounts, the money was demanded and returned, together with the interest. In this transaction the bank was as much obliged to Thomas Biddle, as Thomas Biddle was to the bank. A loan to Charles Biddle has likewise been the subject of criticism. It is suff. cient for me to say in relation to that loan, that he was at the time a director of one of our city banks, and that the money he borrowed was for the use of that bank, at a period of public pressure-the Bank of the United States, at all times willing to render necessary assistance to any of the other banks. On another occasion, a considerable loan was made to a person who held a high station as a public officer. He called at the bank and alleged that congress had risen without making an appropriation, to enable him to pay a stipulated sum to certain Indians, with whom he had

negociated a treaty for their lands, and with whom he apprehended difficulty, as he would not be able to make them comprehend why he could not pay them according to contract. The amount required was advanced by the bank, which waited until congress, at their next session, made the necessary appropriation, when it was repaid. Another loan was made to a gentleman who now holds an office of high trust and confidence in the government, who was, at the time, and I believe has always been, one of the bank's opponents.

I should not feel myself warranted thus to speak of these several loans, had it not been for the charges of partiality and political favoritism, so often urged against the institution; and I am sure if the parties were now in my hearing, they would excuse the liberty I take in thus referring to these transactions.

Another fact it may not be improper to mentiou. A majority of the directors of the bank were originally Jackson men, and had actually given their votes for this noted person. If they became otherwise, it was his fault, not theirs. It should be remembered also that the administration appointed five out of the twenty-five of which the board consisted. But politics formed no part of the business of the bank. In their loans, and in their appointments to office, the inquiry never was as to the political opinions of any man, but always as to his responsibility and fit

ness.

Permit me here to state a fact, strongly illustrative of the inestimable value of confidence and credit.

At the first meeting of the trustees of the late Stephen Girard's Bank, of which I was one, and which meeting was held immediately after his decease, we found to our amazement, that the whole amount of specie in his bank was but $15,673 80, one half of which sum was in uncurrent coin. On making this unpleasant discovery, I was deputed by my colleagues to call on the Bank of the United States, to make known our situation and to solicit its aid. The directors forth with tendered us the loan of $100,000. As however, money soon came into our hands from the debtors of the Bank, we did not avail ourselves of this generous offer. I mention the circumstance as another instance of the liberal spirit in which the affairs of the Bank of the United States, has ever been administered, and of how much may be accomplished where, as in the case of Stephen Girard, confidence and credit were neither suspected nor impaired.

But it is asserted the bank employed the press to political purposes. Such an imputation, in the absence of all proof, is only to be met with a flat denial. When charged with impure motives and base actions, it certainly caused the truth to be published in its own defence: this is the whole truth of the matter. The President had, however, resolved on its destruction. He thought of the bank as the farmer thought of his pig. Have I not fed you and fattened you, till you have become sleek and wanton ?—you most ungrateful scoundrel-that you must make such a squealing, now that I want to cut your throat?"

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It has been contended on this floor that if we dispense with paper currency, specie will flow into the country to supply its place. Such

an idea is fallacious in the extreme. We must get specie as we get every thing else, by giving the value. If we discharge our pockets of our bank notes, we shall wait long before their place will be supplied by gold or silver, unless we have something to give as an equivalent.

Are we never to be done with crude experiments, and rash experimen ters? Gentlemen now tell us, that by reducing the amount of our currency, we can make one dollar go as far as four. Granted, and I will tell you what more you may do. By reducing it, still further, you may make one dollar go as far as ten. But what follows? Why the laborer, who now gets his dollar a day, would then get ten cents, and the farmer, who has his land mortgaged, for $5,000, will have to pay $60,000, while the salaried officers of your government will have their incomes increased in the same proportion. Secretary Woodbury for instance, who now receives six thousand dollars a year, will receive sixty thousand! And the President, who receives twenty-five thousand, will receive two hundred and fifty thousand!? It will indeed be a glorious golden age, a millenium for the office holders, but I guess, it will prove a little worse than purgatory, to some other folks.

I will tell you what further you may do you may affix such heavy burdens on your banks, by curtailing them of their earnings, and by subjecting the existence of their charters, to the caprice of the popular will, which like the wind, bloweth as it listeth, and no man knows whence it cometh or whither it goeth, that no prudent man will invest capital in them. You may by your folly, drive away capital from your state, and cause it to enrich your rival neighbors. But I will tell what you cannot do. After driving this capital away, you cannot get it back again, when you want it. A man may very easily set his barn on fire, but he can't quite so easily put it out.

The delegate from the county, paid a sort of left handed compliment to the directors of the Bank of the United States, after saying of the bank, that it had fallen like Lucifer, to rise no more. He called the attention of the house, to the splendid dwellings of some of the directors. In doing this, his object was, perhaps, merely to give pungency to his eloquence, perhaps to round a period, or perhaps to intimate his suspicion, that they had made a free use of the money of the institution, but of such an insinuation, I do not accuse him. Whatever motive may have had the preponderance for the time in his fruitful intellect, I can assure him, and the house, that having served in that board for many years, and consequently had much intercourse with the members, and with the business of the bank, I can say, that to my certain knowledge, the directors were not large borrowers; that they were men of intelligence, and spotless integ. rity; that they were selected from among our most respectable citizens, and were incapable of using the funds of the bank, to any sinister purpose whatever; and as to myself, that I never borrowed a dollar from the bank, or had the use of any of its funds, while a director, nor at any other time. I may add, that I am not now in the direction, having relinquished my seat, on becoming a member of this convention.

It has been insinuated also, that the Bank of the United States, was more devoted to the accommodation of the wealthy, than of the middle class of our fellow citizens. This charge, like others, is without founda

tion. So far from this is the fact, that I have a distinct recollection, that for twelve years, during which time I was a director, we regularly continued the discount of one note in particular, which, in its origin was, I think, for thirty dollars, and afterwards reduced to twenty, at which latter rate it was renewed, from time to time, and remained unpaid when I left the institution. One such instance will probably suffice. Have we any other bank in the city, that discounts paper of smaller denomination? If so, let that bank be designated.

We have it constantly sung in our ears, and the delegate from Susquehanna, having caught the note, has been pleased to amuse himself and the house, with the harmony, that we have now in the United States, eighty millions of dollars in specie. How does he know this fact? Yes, I ask these men of the woods," I do not say "babes in the woods," no I wish they were half as innocent-I ask then, these "men of the woods," who kindly undertake to instruct us on financiering and banking, how they know that we have these eighty millions? I tell them they are perfect babes upon this subject. They may know the amount that has been imported-and I acknowledge it to be great-because that is matter of record, no ship being permitted to discharge her cargo, or to break bulk, until she is regularly entered at the custom house, and a permit obtained. But no man, I repeat it, can know what sums have been exported. No entry of that need be made. Tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands may be shipped off, and are shipped off, without being reported at all, so that even these very men of the woods of Susquehanna, who are to teach us, and put us to rights, according to the promised intimation of their delegate, will find their skill and information, on this subject, entirely unavailing.

Ship owners, for obvious reasons, do not let their ship's crews know what specie is on board, or that there is any on board; and, even the owners, and captains, may be ignorant of the sums stowed away by passengers among their baggage.

But, Gen. Jackson, forsooth, imported specie! I know he imported the French indemnity in gold. It was the property of the deeply injured and suffering merchants. He did not consult them on the subject, but they were nevertheless charged five per cent commissions, &c. for the favor, when, had it been left to their own management, they could have realized to themselves, a profit of ten per cent. But, it may be asked, did he not give them the gold on its arrival? No, he knew better what was good for them than they did. Some small portion was doled out to them, and the balance !-Perhaps the office holders can tell what became of that.

But, it is triumphantly asked, did not the gold bill bring specie into the country. It certainly did, and I know one merchant who made eighty thousand dollars, by importing the precious article. How much was made by others, it is difficult to calculate. It opened a wide door for profitable speculation. Let us remember, by the way, that although this government demands specie of its debtors, it is very scrupulous of paying in specie, and precious little seems to escape from its strong box. Indeed, they do not appear ever to have been in the habit of paying away much specie. I speak with positiveness, when I say that they never placed a