United States bank of Pennsylvania-of which the effects are felt not in that state alone, but over half the Union-had its origin in a course of business commenced while it was a national institution; and there is no good reason for supposing that the same consequences would not have followed, had it still derived its powers from the general government. It is in vain, when the influences and impulses are the same, to look for a difference in conduct or results. By such creations, we do therefore but increase the mass of paper credit and paper currency, without checking their attendant evils and fluctuations. The extent of power and the efficacy of organization which we give, so far from being beneficial, are in practice positively injurious. They strengthen the chain of dependence throughout the Union, subject all parts more certainly to common disaster, and bind every bank more effectually, in the first instance, to those of our commercial cities, and, in the end, to a foreign power. In a word, I can not but believe that, with the full understanding of the operations of our banking system which experience has produced, public sentiment is not less opposed to the creation of a national bank for purposes connected with currency and commerce, than for those connected with the fiscal operations of the government.

Yet the commerce and currency of the country are suffering evils from operations of the state banks which can not and ought not to be overlooked. By their means, we have been flooded with a depreciated paper, which it was evidently the design of the framers of the constitution to prevent, when they required Congress to "coin money and regulate the value of foreign coins," and when they forbade the states to "coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts," or "pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts." If they did not guard more explicitly against the present state of things, it was, because they could not have anticipated that the few banks then existing were to swell to an extent which would expel to so great a degree the gold and silver for which they had provided, from the channels of circulation, and fill them with a currency that defeats the object they had in view. The remedy for this must chiefly rest with the state from whose legislation it has sprung. No good that might accrue in a particular case from the exercise of powers not obviously conferred on the general government would authorize its interference, or justify a course that might, in the slightest degree, increase, at the expense of the state, the power of the federal authorities; nor do I doubt that the states will apply the remedy. Within the last few years, events have appealed to them too strongly to be disregarded. They have seen that, the constitution, though theoretically adhered to, is subverted in practice; that while, on the statute books, there is no legal tender but gold and silver, no law impairing the obligations of contracts, yet that, in point of fact, the privileges conferred on banking corporations have made their notes the currency of the country; that the obligations imposed by these notes are violated under the impulses of interest or convenience; and that the number and power of the persons connected with these corporations, or placed under their influence, give them a fearful weight when their interest is in opposition to the spirit of the constitution and laws. To the people it is immaterial whether these results are produced by open violations of the latter, or by the workings of a system of which the result is the same. An inflexible execution even of the existing statutes of most of the states would redress many evils now endured; would effectually show the banks the dangers of

mismanagement which impunity encourages them to repeat; and would teach all corporations the useful lesson that they are the subjects of the law and the servants of the people. What is still wanting to effect these objects must be sought in additional legislation; or, if that be inadequate, in such further constitutional grants or restrictions as may bring us back into the path from which we have so widely wandered.

In the meantime, it is the duty of the general government to co-operate with the states, by a wise exercise of its constitutional powers, and the enforcement of its existing laws. The extent to which it may do so by further enactments I have already adverted to, and the wisdom of Congress may yet enlarge them. But, above all, it is incumbent upon us to hold erect the principles of morality and law, constantly executing our own contracts in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, and thus serving as a rallying point by which our whole country may be brought back to that safe and honored standard.

Our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the burdens entailed upon them by the false system that has been operating on their sanguine, energetic, and industrious character; nor to the means necessary to extricate themselves from these embarrassments. The weight which presses upon a large portion of the people and the states is an enormous debt, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt of our states, corporations, and men of business, can scarcely be less than two hundred millions of dollars, requiring more than ten millions a year to pay the interest. This sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country, and must of necessity cut off imports to that extent, or plunge the country more deeply in debt from year to year. It is easy to see that the increase of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on the exports to pay the interest, and to the same extent diminish the imports; and in proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt, and the consequent increase of interest, must be the decrease of the import trade. In lieu of the comforts which it now brings us, we might have our gigantic banking institutions, and splendid, but in many instances profitless, railroads and canals, absorbing to a great extent, in interest upon the capital borrowed to construct them, the surplus fruits of national industry for years to come, and securing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the labors of their hands might otherwise have secured. It is not by the increase of this debt that relief is to be sought, but in its diminution. Upon this point there is, I am happy to say, hope before us; not so much in the return of confidence abroad, which will enable the states to borrow more money, as in a change of public feeling at home, which prompts our people to pause in their career, and think of the means by which debts are to be paid before they are contracted. If we would escape embarrassment, public and private, we must cease to run in debt, except for objects of necessity, or such as will yield a certain return. Let the faith of the states, corporations, and individuals, already pledged, be kept with the most punctilious regard It is due to our national character, as well as to justice, that this should on the part of each be a fixed principle of conduct. But it behooves us all to be more chary in pledging it hereafter. By ceasing to run in debt, and applying the surplus of our crops and incomes to the discharge of existing obligations, buying less and selling more, and managing all affairs, public and private, with strict economy and frugality, we shall see our country soon recover from a temporary oppression, arising not from natural and

permanent causes, but from those I have enumerated, and advance with renewed vigor in her career of prosperity.

Fortunately for us, at this moment, when the balance of trade is greatly against us, and the difficulty of meeting it enhanced by the disturbed state of our money affairs, the bounties of Providence have come to relieve us from the consequences of past errors. A faithful application of the immense results of the labors of the last season will afford partial relief for the present, and perseverance in the same course will, in due season, accomplish the rest. We have had full experience, in times past, of the extraordinary results which can, in this respect, be brought about, in a short period, by the united and well-directed efforts of a community like ours. Our surplus profits, the energy and industry of our population, and the wonderful advantages which Providence has bestowed upon our country, in its climate, its various productions, indispensable to other nations, will, in due time, afford abundant means to perfect the most useful of those objects for which the states have been plunging themselves of late in embarrassment and debt, without imposing on ourselves or our children such fearful burdens.

But let it be indelibly engraved on our minds, that relief is not to be found in expedients. Indebtedness can not be lessened by borrowing more money, or by changing the form of the debt. The balance of trade is not to be turned in our favor by creating new demands upon us abroad. Our currency can not be improved by the creation of new banks, or more issues from those which now exist. Although these devices sometimes appear to give temporary relief, they almost invariably aggravate the evil in the end. It is only by retrenchment and reform-by curtailing public and private expenditures, by paying our debts, and by reforming our banking system-that we are to expect effectual relief, security for the future, and an enduring prosperity. In shaping the institutions and policy of the general government so as to promote, as far as it can with its limited powers, these important ends, you may rely on my most cordial cooperation.

That there should have been, in the progress of recent events, doubts in many quarters, and in some a heated opposition to every change, can not surprise us. Doubts are properly attendant on all reform; and it is peculiarly in the nature of such abuses as we are now encountering, to seek to perpetuate their power by means of the influence which they have been permitted to acquire. It is their result, if not their object, to gain for the few an ascendency over the many, by securing to them the monopoly of the currency, the medium through which most of the wants of mankind are supplied to produce throughout society a chain of dependence which leads all classes to look to privileged associations for the means of speculation and extravagance-to nourish, in preference to the manly virtues that give dignity to human nature, a craving desire for luxurious enjoyment and sudden wealth, which renders those who seek them dependent on those who supply them-to substitute for republican simplicity and economical habits a sickly appetite for effeminate indulgence, and an imitation of that reckless extravagance which impoverished and enslaved the industrious people of foreign lands; and at last to fix upon us, instead of those political rights the acquisition of which was alike the object and supposed reward of our revolutionary struggle, a system of exclusive privileges conferred by partial legislation. To remove the influences which had thus gradually grown up among us; to deprive them of their deceptive

advantages; to test them by the light of wisdom and truth; to oppose the force which they concentrate in their support-all this was necessarily the work of time, even among a people so enlightened and pure as that of the United States. In most other countries, perhaps, it could only have been accomplished through that series of revolutionary movements which are too often found necessary to effect any great and radical reform; but it is the crowning merit of our institutions, that they create and nourish, in the vast majority of our people, a disposition and a power peaceably to remedy abuses which have elsewhere caused the effusion of rivers of blood, and the sacrifice of thousands of the human race. The result thus

far is most honorable to the self-denial, the intelligence, and the patriotism of our citizens; it justifies the confident hope that they will carry through the reform which has been so well begun, and that they will go still further than they have yet gone in illustrating the important truth that a people as free and enlightened as ours, will, whenever it becomes necessary, show themselves to be indeed capable of self-government by voluntarily adopting appropriate remedies for every abuse, and submitting to temporary sacrifices, however great, to insure their temporary welfare.

My own exertions for the furtherance of these desirable objects have been bestowed throughout my official career with a zeal that is nourished by ardent wishes for the welfare of my country, and by an unlimited reliance on the wisdom that marks its ultimate decision on all great and controverted decisions. Impressed with the solemn obligations imposed upon me by the constitution, desirous also of laying before my fellowcitizens, with whose confidence and support I have been so highly honored, such measures as appear to me conducive to their prosperity, and anxious to submit to their fullest consideration the grounds upon which my opinions are formed, I have on this, as on preceding occasions, freely offered my views on those points of domestic policy that seem, at the present time, most prominently to require the action of the government. I know that they will receive from Congress that full and able consideration which the importance of the subjects merits; and I can repeat the assurance heretofore made, that I shall cheerfully and readily co-operate with you in every measure that will tend to promote the welfare of the Union.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 4, 1840.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I LAY before you a report from the secretary of the treasury, with several documents annexed, by which it will be seen that judicial constructions have been given to the existing laws for the collection of imposts, affecting extensively and injuriously the accruing revenue.

They embrace, with many others, the important articles of linens, woollens, and cottons; the last two of which are treated as silks, because that material constitutes a component part of them, and thus exempted them from duty altogether. Assessments of duties, which have prevailed for years, and, in some cases, since the passage of the laws themselves, are

in this manner altered, and uncertainty and litigation introduced in regard to the future.

The effects which these proceedings have already produced in dimin ishing the amount of revenue, and which are likely to increase hereafter, deserves your early consideration.

I have therefore deemed it necessary to bring the matter to your notice, with a view to such legislative action as the exigencies of the case may in your judgment require. It is not believed that any law, which can now be passed upon the subject, can affect the revenue favorably for several months to come, and could not therefore be safely regarded as a substitute for the early provision of certain and adequate means to enable the treasury to guard the public credit, and meet promptly and faithfully any deficiencies that may occur in the revenue, from whatever cause they may arise.

The reasons in favor of the propriety of adopting, at an early period, proper measures for that purpose, were explained by the secretary of the treasury in his annual report, and recommended to your attention by myself. The experience of the last two months, and especially the recent decision of the courts, with the continued suspension of specie payments by the banks over large sections of the United States, operating unfavorably upon the revenue, have greatly strengthened the views then taken of the subject.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 17, 1840.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :—

I SUBMIT to Congress a communication from the secretary of the treasury, repeating suggestions contained in his annual report in regard to the necessity of an early provision by law for the protection of the treasury against the fluctuations and contingencies to which its receipts are exposed, with additional facts and reasons in favor of the propriety of the legislation there desired.

The application assumes that, although the means of the treasury for the whole year may be equal to the expenditures of the year, the department may, notwithstanding, be rendered unable to meet the claims upon it at the times when they fall due. This apprehension arises partly from the circumstance that the largest proportion of the charges upon the treasury, including the payment of pensions and the redemption of treasury-notes, fall due in the early part of the year, viz., in the months of March and May, while the resources, on which it might otherwise rely to discharge them, can not be made available until the last half of the year; and partly from the fact that a portion of the means of the treasury consists of debts due from banks, for some of which delay has already been asked, and which may not be punctually paid.

Considering the injurious consequences to the character, credit, and business, of the country, which would result from a failure by the government, for even so short a period, to meet the engagements; that the happening of such a contingency can only be effectually guarded against by the exercise of legislative authority; that the period when such disability must arise, if at all, and which, at the commencement of the session, was