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26TH CONG....1ST SESS.

Executive shall unite with the moneyed power for mutual assistance, the one using the influence of station to obtain for his ally a valuable monopoly, and the other endeavoring to wrest from the people obedience to a tyrannical chief by adroitly operating on their business and affecting their pecuniary condition. If a President, endeared to the people by his eminent qualities and sustained by the patronage of the Government, found it difficult to withstand a wealthy corporation, is it not to be feared that a coalition of the political and moneyed influences of the country would be perfectly irresistible? No one supposes that a direct assault would be made on public liberty, for we are not prepared to bend the knee to a master, but the offices of the country would be used to gratify the ambition of corrupt politicians, and its legislation would be directed according to the selfish purposes of individuals, and not for the glory and welfare of the whole people. Should this bill become a law, and the declaration go forth that privileges and immunities be no longer conferred on private associations, our politicians will not be tempted from the path of duty by the hope of making selfish partisans, and no class in our extensive country will have its feelings and opinions of public affairs affected by other considerations than those of enlarged patriotism.

Honorable gentlemen have spoken strongly of the injury inflicted on all branches of industry by the strife which we have witnessed during the last eight years. They have been pleased to say that the 66 war on the currency" has deranged business, destroyed confidence, and wasted the means of the people; and they conclude that nothing but a return to the old paths will insure safety to trade, stability to agriculture, and wages to the honest laborer. Sir, I draw a different moral from the past; it teaches that a barrier should be raised between politicians and bankers; that no future opportunity should be given for agitating the country, and mixing private affairs with the intrigues of politics. What careth the Jew for the cries of his victim if he obtain the "pound of flesh?" When did the spirit of party listen to the suggestions of reason? The ignorant and bigoted partisan will use any weapon to overthrow an opponent; patriotism has no abiding place in his heart; the sentiment of honor is buried in the desire of success; nothing too low or contemptible for his alliance; nothing so sacred as to escape pollution; ay, he would sacrifice the honor of his father and the fame of his mother to gain a miserable triumph. Is it wise, then, to separate the Government from the business of the people? If gentlemen succeed, and renew the connection, the struggle will be continued by those who honestly entertain the principles we advocate; and the mere Swiss, who fight for bread and popularity, will ever be ready to keep up strife and turmoil. Is it not best, then, for the agriculturist, the merchant, the mechanic, and the laborer, to have peace and certainty? The dews of heaven will fall, and the grain will spring forth under the industry of man; economy, skill, and ingenuity will push to supremacy our infant manufactures; enterprise will spread over every ocean our glorious banner, and all that is necessary is protection from the Government.

Every man knows what he can do, what are his means, and what his capacity; the eagerness for improving his condition will stimulate him to great efforts; the resources of the country will be developed, and its wants supplied by the good sense of the people, if they be left to themselves. Freedom is the life-blood of our institutions; let it be extended to all things and to every occupation. If bank paper be useful, it will continue in the service of the country; if it be a curse, time will moderate the evil until a substitute can be prepared. But let the Federal Government desist from granting special favors, or conferring extraordinary privileges on any class of the people.. Wherever this has occurred, under whatever pretense rulers have acted, the invariable result has been to oppress the great mass, and ultimately to diminish the strength and wealth of the country. Great Britain prohibits the entry of foreign corn until the domestic article rises to a high price, and thousands of the poor rarely have their hunger satisfied. The excuse for such legislation is most patriotic; but when it is remembered that Parlia

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offered by my distinguished friend [Mr. WRIGHT] from New York. Several propositions which he made, intended to effect this object to a greater extent, I regret to say it was the pleasure of the Senate, by very small majorities, to reject. I voted for most of them, in order to make this bill less exceptional than I believed it to be as originally reported by the select committee. Still, sir, I look upon it as a measure teeming with mischiefs of no ordinary character to the highest welfare of the Republic.

ment is composed of landholders, who must have large incomes to support them in luxury and extravagance, every sensible man will behold a mean and sordid motive in English statesmen. In the annals of Rome we read of contests between the patricians and plebeians, and one would suppose that the latter designed to rob the former of their property; but modern historians have discovered that the Senate wished to divide the national domain among its own members, and this was the origin of their intestine commotions. Whether the Government be monarchical, aristocratical, or of any other form, there will always be an effort to use it for private purposes. The king will think of himself and family; the nobles will desire to perpetuate their authority; and the ambitious portion of a republic will struggle to escape from an equality odious to their pride and destructive to their hopes of living without labor and at the expense of their neighbors. Sir, now is a propitious time for destroying this loathsome seed of dis-public opinion, we are pushing it forward with cord; let us send forth the declaration that no class of the people and no kind of industry are to receive peculiar patronage from this Government; all should depend on their own exertions, and every occupation should live or die, according to its fitness for the country, and the skill of those who pursue it.

These are the doctrines contained in the bill on your table; they are the doctrines of the Constitution; they are the bulwarks of civil liberty, and without them any form of Government will become a nuisance and a tyranny. And while we are struggling in the glorious cause, will the people forget their faithful friends, and desert their ancient principles? Can they be drawn off by a hue and cry about small faults, and permit an enemy, whom they have often conquered, to reestablish his power? Are low debauch and disgusting charlatanry to be substituted for reason and reflection? If so, we are unworthy of the blessings for which our fathers suffered, and we are prepared to be slaves.

BANKRUPT ACT.

SPEECH OF HON. A. ANDERSON,
OF TENNESSEE,

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
June 25, 1840,

On the bill to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy.
Mr.ANDERSON said:

Mr. PRESIDENT: The bill upon your table is now on its final passage; and I rise, with very great reluctance, to ask the indulgent attention of the Senate while I state, in the briefest possible manner, the reasons which will induce me to record my vote against it. There are occasions, sir, when a man may not be excused for his silence; and so I think my duty, under the present circumstances, to the State which I have the honor in part to represent, demands of me that I should bear, thus publicly, my testimony against this dangerous and searching measure.

My distinguished colleague, before the recommitment of the former bill, took the occasion, then, to express his entire disapprobation of the adoption of any general bankrupt law at this time, whatever might be its provisions, and adverted to the fact that he had no reason to suppose that Tennessee wished a system of this kind. I concurred most fully in the views which he entertained, and have now to state that I have not myself, up to this time, received any evidence that the opinions of the people of Tennessee are in favor of the passage of a bankrupt law. It may well be supposed, therefore, that at the moment when such a mighty power is about to be brought into existence, in a crisis of such peculiar character as that which now pervades this country, I should feel the deepest anxiety for the result, which may, perhaps, fall most unwelcomely and unexpectedly up my constituents.

This bill provides that all persons may become bankrupts at their election, upon petition, verified by oath, and stating their inability to pay their debts; and that a certain other class, including the merchants, shall be liable to be made bankrupts, under particular and specified circumstances. It has been partially modified, with a view to protect the interests of the creditor, by amendments

I shall not now advert to the constitutional questions which this bill involves. They have already been fully and ably discussed by others, and I shall, therefore, call the attention of the Senate to the expediency and probable results of this measure. I confess, sir, I cannot contemplate its passage without the deepest solicitude for the interests and character of our common country. Without, as it seems to me, sufficient evidence of an ardor and a haste for which we can offer no adequate justification. We have before us the progress of more than fifty years of fruitful experience, and it is now nearly forty since we dismissed from our statute-book with disgust and indignation the trial of this system, which was made in 1800. We had then a population of not much more than four million people and the difference between that number and sixteen millions; between thirteen independent sovereignties and twenty-six of greater magnitude; with our agriculture, commerce, and manufactures multiplied in a far higher proportion; with the pursuits of men not only augmented, but in the general progression of everything immensely diversified beyond any former example, has added much to the increased importance of the question under consideration, and, as I think, to the doubtful character of its policy.

Sir, in such circumstances, what are we about to do? We seem upon the very verge of exercising a power which is destined to search this vast and extended population, to try its most vital interests, to take absolute and summary possession of the great relations of creditor and debtor, to supersede, at a single step, long-established opinions, to overlay the varied customs and legislation of twenty-six States, differing widely in their interests. All this is to be done by one great, paramount, inflexible, and uniform law-a law which tramples beneath its foot the private rights of individuals and the judicial power of the States which interposes for relief or remedy between the creditor and debtor; a law which carries with it into twenty-six distinct and independent jurisdictions more than the power of the writ of summons, and more than the power of the writ of possession. Release is founded upon the oath, and fraud legally presumed at the will of the applicant. The house and lands of the citizen are to be taken without notice or preparation. The whole system of things is to be changed by the single move of the creditor or debtor. In a contradictory spirit of concession you give to the most wicked of either class the right to destroy others, and compel, by your policy, the more virtuous to enter into the competition. Accidents and oaths, under this law, may accomplish either end, and it offers the singular spectacle of granting the immunities of voluntary bankruptcy to all upon the condition that the creditors may make a particular class of debtors liable to their compulsory process. Thus the catastrophe of bankruptcy is to be completed, where undisturbed industry, prudence, integrity, and talent, might relieve the incumbent, without the odium of the injury forever clinging to his name and rankling in his heart.

If the proposition were now made for the first time to grant this power, I have no doubt it would be refused by a large majority of the American people. It has an extent, as it stands in the Constitution, far beyond what could originally have been designed, and which partly arises from the more fully developed and better understood nature and construction of our peculiar Government.

Hitherto the danger has been that of obtaining power by construction, but this is so broad and so comprehensive, in its literal sense, that we find ourselves resorting to the expedient of reducing it by appealing to the standard of English authority. And, sir, there is no country in the world

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without being able to say who shall escape and
who shall be counted last.

where its practical influence would be so pecu-
liarly felt as in ours, both by the people and the
Government. It would turn the fears and the
This measure, let it be remembered, has been
hopes of the one to an entire concentration upon urged by an eloquent appeal to our sympathies;
the other, and bring that other into the possession that he whose head was bowed down should be
of a strength which would give it a consolidated lifted up; that the tears of his wife and his inno-
mastery, ultimately, over all things, over men, cent children should be dried; that the wretched
and over States. In this may be found, in part, and forlorn should again take their place in soci-
connected with other intrinsic objections, the ex- ety. Sir, no man, I trust, feels more deeply for
planation why the exercise of the power was his fellow-man than I do, or would go further to
so long postponed, though pressed from 1790 an- relieve him under the pressure of distress. But,
nually until 1800, and why it was afterward so sir, does justice, does humanity require that we
early discontinued, and has been since so stead- should save some by destroying others? That to
ily resisted, until at length, yielding under a suc- dry tears which already flow we should strike
cession of panics and disasters, the natural prod- new fountains from which they would be shed
uct of the vast bank power of the land, we seem more abundantly? That we should multiply the
about to reenact this great statute sponge, to be
unfortunate in order to relieve them? That we
applied retroactively upon all the pecuniary re- should disregard the claims, the interests, and
sponsibilities in the country. Sir, this long post- condition of the largest business class of men in
ponement, the early repeal of the law, the resist- the nation; and that, of all others, they should be
ance against its introduction since, present to us made to feel that we legislate not for them, but
the instructive portion of the history of this sub- for those who are already desperate? Is this fair?
ject, and we ought to regard it, until we shall be Is it just? Is it wise? Is it humane? Will you
otherwise informed, as expressive of the deeplay your hand most heavily upon the commer-
sense of the American people in favor of the policy
of leaving the power entirely dormant in the Gen-
eral Government, and to be supplied by the legis-rosity is poured redundantly upon the head of the

lation of the States.

cial community under a mere suspicion that they
may deal harshly with others, while your gene-

speculator? Is this, sir, the boasted love of that
great interest? Is this the tender mercy which
the mercantile class is to receive at the hands of
their peculiar friends? Sir, it is the embrace of
death-death to credit, death to confidence; that
confidence which procures rank and station to the
trader, which sustains him in many a sore and try-
ing struggle; that confidence which, when every
honest effort is expended, would, upon a surren-
der of his effects, discharge him from his liabili-
ties; that confidence, above all, which reposes
upon our justice and our wisdom!

promise ever presented in legislative history. I
repeat, it is no more nor less than that the volun-
tary bankrupt is to be allowed to escape from his
creditor upon condition that creditors may be al-
lowed to oppress a particular class of debtors.
The first would not be permitted, but it is the con-
dition of power to the latter; and, on the other
hand, the latter is to be conceded on the condition
of that special benefit to the former. It seems to
me, sir, that if either would be wrong, and pub-
licly mischievous singly, because of the peculiar
state of the country, that the two united will cer-
tainly augment the measure of injury. I am un-
able to understand the philosophy of this subject
in any other way. It has been contended that
neither alone ought to be adopted. If so, a com-
promise by which both may be efficient, must
therefore, I think, add a double force to the ob-
jection that lies against this great experiment.

The first blow which will be struck I fear will fall heavily upon the moral feeling of society. It will superinduce on the one side temptations to seek immediate relief by a single act of surrender, where perseverance and skill would in the course of a few years recover the unfortunate debtor from his embarrassments. It is certainly true that the very offer of legal relief in the first moment of a public panic is an invitation to cease to make efforts, and will practically be an extinguishment of all debts without a struggle to pay. On the other hand, it bestows a power upon the creditor Mr. President, this measure has, to my mind, which it is illusory to suppose will not be often the most peculiar aspect. It comes before us unabused, and as often productive of the most mis-der the potent auspices of the most singular comchievous results. The whole basis of the measure invites fraud on the one side and suspicion on the other. You bring into active application two utterly antagonistical principles, the newly-awakened hope of the debtor to escape from responsibility and the vigilance of the creditor to overtake the debtor for a delinquency which he may not disregard for fear of leaving to him the ultimate advantage of the law upon the same terms. The main pillar of credit, that confidence which is mutually inspired by integrity and by justice, will be struck down at a single blow. You destroy at once all mutuality of feeling, of forbearance, and of interest. No compositions will ever be proposed, and which might be effected at less expense and less risk between the parties. It will be a race of escape and pursuit, and in the present condition of the country we will confound the honest and persevering debtor, who would finally pay, with the man of desperate fortunes. We will make an indiscriminate sweep of the unfortunate, Who yet bear themselves against the tide, with the bold and reckless speculators who are already ruined; and with this solitary act we will render memorable in all time to come the present epoch of our calamity by a great legal catastrophe, fashioned with singular zeal, anxiety, and labor from our own hands. If it were possible to limit the effect of the bill before us I am not prepared to say that it would be without a useful and happy influence upon the condition of society. But, sir, one of the very features which recommend it most strongly to the support of its warmest advocates is that it goes to the extent of every interest and every class in the community, not by merely discharging the contracts of those who are hopeless and remediless, but that the offer of emancipation from debt is universal. The practical effect of this we know will spread itself through all the relations of life, but the final end no man can tell. When you shall have broken up the moral bond of union which strengthens and protects the transactions of men as much as law itself legal izes them, it is impossible to estimate the consequences. I speak not of solitary exceptions; the plundered, willing or unwilling, must struggle with the plunderers, the virtuous with the vicious, and the blow which fells to the earth your next neighbor will carry with it another and another,

No.-40.

Sir, I would address Senators in the language of Mr. Burke, when he wrote to his constituents, with whom he had differed, "I would appeal from the opinions which you now have to the opinions which you will have five years hence;" from the present excitement to the practical results which we are now preparing, and when every other influence will have passed away except that experience which will then come home to the feeling and observation of all men.

The policy of this measure may be partly esti-
mated by the amount of debt which exists in the
country, and upon a large portion of which it
will be immediately directed. It is probably a
fair calculation that the mercantile debt owed by
that portion of the country which is now within
the range of the suspended banks is equal to
$100,000,000. Of this, I understand the compu-
tation for the city of New York alone to be up-
ward of sixty millions. The remainder may
be divided between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
This debt is to be extinguished in two methods;
by the voluntary act of the bankrupt, and by the
compulsory process which you give to the hand
of the creditor. The contracts were made in a

period of the highest prices and a swollen cur-
rency. That currency has been reduced by the
curtailment of the banks, and with their action
has fallen the price of wages and of property.
They were the primary causes of the first, as

SENATE.

they have been of the last; and although over one half of the nation they are now suspended, and refusing to pay their own notes in specie, the utmost extent of their paper currency is not more than $100,000,000, not equal to the precious metals which they have driven into retreat. It is in this state of things that you propose this measure of voluntary and compulsory bankruptcy. And, sir, to whom have you given that power of coercion, upon mere petition, without being verified upon oath; without even the right of traversing the question of fraud by a trial by jury, until after the decree is entered up, until after the blow is struck? We most graciously propose to bestow it upon those very banks, as well as upon individuals the banks, to whom we have been told, in this debate, that there is a sum of $460,000,000 owed by the citizens of the United States. They are to be brought into the great field of action, and to become the potent competitors in the general work of ruin and distress. Are we prepared for a scene like this-one vast scene of disaster, of which no man can tell the end? One wide, deep, and lasting excitement? Sir, the country will stand aghast at the practical march of this measure, with its train of clients, of debts, of agents, of assignees, of lawyers, of courts, of power, and of patronage! And who will reap the harvest? Most surely not the creditors. What is the experience of those who bore a part in the administration of the bankrupt act of 1800? I have before me the testimony of one whose talents and character entitle his opinions to the highest respect. I am not disposed to surrender a question of this magnitude to the mere authority of names; but Mr. Tazewell, of Virginia, delivered this testimony in the Senate, upon the debate on the bankrupt bill in 1827, and spoke of that which he personally knew, and which no man will venture to controvert, and which I have no doubt, upon examination, will be found to be sustained by the facts that transpired in almost every State of the Union. I beg leave, sir, to read his statement. He says:

"When the former bankrupt law was in existence he resided in a sea-port town, and was engaged in almost every case of bankruptcy that occurred during its operation; and he could assure the Senate that he never knew a solitary case in which the creditor obtained one cent. The debtors had often large estates, there was a large amount of property somewhere; but by the time it had been filtered through the hands of the assignees, or the commissioners and their

deputies and agents, and this, and that, and the other offcer, appointed to act upon it, not a fraction was left for the creditor. The whole had been absorbed in its progress."

And such, sir, I have no doubt will be the progress of this measure in the contact and process of agents and of courts.

There is another consideration connected with the subject which I think is entitled to some weight, and ought to be felt at least by those who complain of the expenditures of this Government. The total sum which will, in all probability, be extinguished, either by payment or discharge, cannot fall much short of $200,000,000. The number of bankrupts will be, perhaps, not less than two hundred thousand. I have heard it estimated to be much greater. Be this as it may, it is very certain that your courts, as at present constituted, cannot possibly execute the immense mass of business, the almost endless suits, in addition to the separate cases of bankruptcy which will be cast upon them. It is true that this bill provides that they shall be considered as always open to applications under the act, but their number is too few to enable them to go through but a small portion of the causes. You will be compelled to increase the number of your judges, and subdivide your present districts, or to create a special set of commissioners for the sole purpose of executing this law. Let those who are the special friends of this measure be prepared to take also this responsibility. It will be found to be one of no inconsiderable magnitude.

The period now fixed at which it is to take effect is the 1st of February next. Why not, then, postpone any legislation until the next session of Congress, as we shall have, in the interval, the opportunity of returning to our constituents and consulting them upon a subject scarcely inferior in importance to any which may require their consideration? Or is it possible that the anxiety to pass this bill will not brook delay?

26TH CONG....1ST SESS.

Sir, that delay would bring back upon us the judgment which may reverse the decision which we are probably this day to make.

Mr. President, I fear it is in vain to hope for the defeat of this measure. But, sir, I think it would have been prudent, in the midst of the present excitement and pressure, to have trusted a little longer to the forbearance and magnanimity of the creditor; to the honesty, the industry, and the perseverance of the debtor. In Tennessee, sir, like every other portion of this Union, we are considerably in debt; and although we cannot pay to-day or to-morrow or next day, we are essentially a solvent and a paying people. We want no sponging retroaction; but will in the end, with few exceptions, pay the last cent for which we are liable. But establish this law, and though it may cast the sunshine of hope upon the path of many a worthy and unfortunate man who is bent beneath the burden of his disasters, it will just as surely overshadow with misfortune others of equal merit, who would, if undisturbed, pass triumphantly through the impending calamities. For every bankrupt it may relieve, the very moral as well as compulsory power of its provisions will follow, pari passu, to add its victim to that object of your mercy. The very mercy of this twofold system will stimulate the fears of the creditor, who will most naturally avail himself of every advantage against the debtor, whom the law has armed with the choice of his own fortunes, and we shall exhibit the great national spectacle of fierce passions and private plunder overruling the mastery of every nobler feeling, under the influence of such temptations as few can resist and the impulse of such a revolution as none can stay. Instead of being a measure to cure the evils under which we are suffering it will propagate bankruptcies with a prolific hand. Whatever may be the theory of gentlemen upon this subject, however they may expect to bring peace, hope, and joy to the bosom of the ruined, there is another side of this picture upon which the statesman cannot look without apprehension and doubt: it is where those are to be seen on whom ruin will be brought. The law will take its course. The fears and cupidity of men will sweep over the land in one deep and rapid stream. No industry, no integrity, no perseverance, no probable prospect of success, can arrest it. I would that we could pause before we adopt this terrible and delusive measure. There is nothing in the history of the past to assure us of the wisdom of the step we are about to take.

If the Constitution contemplates such a measure as this for the protection of commerce, our prosperity for nearly forty years is proof that it is not demanded. It is said to have this basis for its policy in England; but with all her advantages, and the aid of its protection and encouragement, we have advanced many per cent, in the proportion of the whole beyond her commercial and navigating interests. As a permanent measure, it would be found, as I think, to have no such influence. Even as a temporary remedy, the power is too dangerous, and the consequences are too alarming.

Let us pause before we pass this bill. It will array the North against the South. It will engender a suspicion, a distrust, a deep-rooted prejudice, which can scarcely be obliterated during the quarter of a century. I will be a standard subject of reference for the guidance and action of the next generation; and, instead of promoting the prosperity of commerce, I fear it will materially affect its best interests, particularly by its premature adoption.

Besides all this, the country has not had half time to right itself; to recover from the stupor of its extravagance; to return to habits of economy; to make a steady, united, and persevering effort to pay its debts. Let us, therefore, look not so much to fear as to hope; to despair as to a firm resolve to pay; to the forbearance of creditors; to the justice and industry of debtors. Our countrymen are full of a noble love and a noble confidence toward each other; and it becomes us, as the grave advisers and lawgivers of the land, not to weaken, discourage, or destroy these sacred relations. We may rely upon it, sir, public opinion is not fully ripe for this measure. The time may

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District Banks-Mr. Petrikin.

come when it may demand some system of this kind for relief and for remedy; but let us not hastily and prematurely, at the first alarm, produce a revolution in our laws and the laws of twenty-six States, which, when put into motion, cannot be arrested by a hand less powerful than our own. Let us not be borne down by the mental pressure of the moment; but, standing erect, with a wise forecast, ask ourselves the question how this will be after the experiment has been passed, and the experience of years has sealed its charac

ter.

DISTRICT BANKS.

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE, WEDNESDAY, July 1, 1840.

The following bill from the Senate, extending the charters of the banks in the District of Columbia coming up in order

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the charters of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown, the Bank of the Metropolis, Patriotic Bank of Washington, and Bank of Washington, in the city of Washington, and the Farmers' Bank of Alexandria, and Bank of Potomac in the town of Alexandria, be, and the same are hereby, extended to the 4th day of July, 1842, unless Congress shall, in the mean time, otherwise order and direct, upon condition that neither of said banks shall issue and pay out the notes of any other bank, banker, or banking institution or corporation, which is in a state of suspension or non-payment of its liabilities in specie; and upon the further condition that the said banks, nor either of them, shall take a stay of execution on any judgment recovered against them in any case whatever, nor appeal from such judgment, nor take a certiorari thereon, except on an affidavit of merit

After some remarks by Messrs. W. C. JOHNSON and ADAMS in favor of the bill,

Mr. PETRIKIN addressed the Chair, and was recognized by the Speaker as being entitled to the floor, in opposition to

Mr. JOHNSON, of Maryland, who claimed it on the ground that he had, out of courtesy, given way to Mr. ADAMS.

Mr. PETRIKIN having insisted on his right, under the rules, the Speaker decided that he was correct; and he proceeded, as follows:

Mr. Speaker, I have known for years that banks and their agents claimed and possessed exclusive rights and privileges on all occasions; and that the claims of individuals, here and elsewhere, have been, in most instances, postponed at their wink and nod. I am glad that for once a humble individual has been able, on this floor, to have his rights respected in opposition to these powerful institutions. I am opposed to the recharter of these banks in the way they demand it to be done; for, Mr. Speaker, they do not merely request a renewal of their charters, but they de mand it.

We are told that the present bill must be acted upon immediately, and passed by a pliant vote. Individuals have to petition for their rights; they have to ask respectfully, year after year, without being able to get a hearing before Congress, or a redress of their grievances, and such is the case even with the war-worn soldier, the widow, and the orphan; but when the agents of banks, their presidents, cashiers, and directors command it, all business, both public and private, must be laid aside, and Congress is required, and when so required must do for the banks all that they ask; and not content with that, the banks must have it done without delay and without debate. What is it that is now demanded by the banks of this District? Why, sir, we are asked, ay, peremptorily commanded, to pass a law sanctioning their violations of law and the rights of the people. We are asked to legalize swindling and fraud of every species without any regard to the rights of the community. Let an attempt be made to amend the charter of a bank, and they are met at once with the cry of "an infringement of contracts," "a violation of chartered rights," &c.; though banks claim the right to violate their contracts with impunity, and demand the sanction of the constituted authorities for the grossest frauds. The banks, while in a state of suspension, by which they violate a solemn contract of promise to pay on demand, have the barefaced impudence to ask Congress to give its sanction to crime, alleging as a reason for it that it is for the benefit

HO. OF REPS.

of the people. We are told that the people ask for the recharter of these banks. I well know what is meant by these bankers when they say that the people require us to legalize their swindling. By the term "people" is meant banks and bankers; not the mass of the citizens; not those whom a Whig member a few days since, on this floor, called "the rabble;" not the laboring man, mechanic, and farmer, who by the sweat of their brows support their country, but the nabob who rides in his coach and four through the streets of this city, and the speculator who, vampirelike, sucks the hearts' blood of the industrious and laboring part of the community. These are they who are called "the people" by the bankers. I aver, sir, that a large majority of the people of this District are opposed to the rechartering of these banks. But a few, in comparison to the whole number of the people, are indebted to the banks. I would venture to say, if the truth could be ascertained, that of the whole number of persons resident in the District at this time, exclusive of members of Congress, and the officers and directors of banks and their connections, there are not three hundred individuals who owe the banks one dollar.

We are told that if these charters are not renewed a great deal of distress will be produced among the people. This I deny, because, as I have said before, the mass of the people owe the banks nothing, and the bankers will be cautious how they distress each other. There being no elections in this District, real panics will not answer any political purpose; but an imaginary panic is now in full force here, with a view to operate on Congress; for if we look around us we see very few symptoms of distress among those who deal in banks, that is, if we are to judge from their manner of living and the extravagance of their habits. But admitting, for the sake of argument, that our refusal to recharter these banks would produce distress among a part of the people of the District who happen to be their debtors, is that any reason why we should act in direct violation of every principle of justice, by legalizing the frauds and violations of law which these banks have committed? When was crime punished without producing some distress? When was any great political or moral reform obtained without individual suffering? And what greater evil could exist than legalized swindling by the few at the expense of the many? What greater moral and political reform could take place for the benefit of our country than to reform the banking system of this District as an example to other evil-doers? We are not to inquire whether it is expedient or inexpedient to comply with the demands made of us, but we must first inquire, what do justice and the public good require at our hands?

Mr. Speaker, we have witnessed the operation of these speculators upon the people of this District, and throughout the Union. We have seen the effects of their systematized violations of law and common honesty on the industrious, honest laborers of the country, who have been cheated out of their hard earnings by the worthless depreciated paper issued by the banks. We have on record before us, that these very banks now asking us to extend their charters, have three times, in the short space of six years, suspended specie payments, depreciated their stock and notes, and that their officers and directors have purchased them, thus depreciated, at a discount of from ten to fifty per cent.; defrauding in this way the unsuspecting widows and orphans of the District. I repeat that we have proof before us that the banks of this District have three times flooded the country with their irredeemable paper, knowing that they did not intend, nor could not do, what their notes on their face promised; and that they as often swindled the poor people by purchasing their paper themselves at from ten to fifty per cent. discount. We know that they have four times had their swindling doings legalized by Congress, and they are the subjects of the sympathy of the bank advocates on this floor. Is not this a pretty commentary on the morality of those who composed the Congresses that passed these acts? And shall we again be oper ated upon by the banks, to legalize for a fifth time such vilely dishonest transactions? Are those

26TH CONG....1ST SESS.

banks deserving your pity and sympathy? Will the Democrats in this House violate their solemn obligation made before God and the country, to faithfully represent their constituents, by obeying the demands of these swindling, insolvent corporations? I hope not, and that we will exhibit to the world, what is an anomaly in these times, one legislative body, a majority of which is not under the control of the necromancy of banks, or operated upon by the talismanic influence of bank

notes.

District Banks-Mr. Petrikin.

fense on the merits was filed; and all that was
alleged in the affidavit was, that the bank was un-
able to pay its notes, and that the plaintiff bought
them. Is it not time to enact some law to pre-
vent the repetition of such a gross violation of law
and justice? Here is proof that even the judi-
ciary is made to subserve the corrupt practices of
the banks. The president of the Bank of the Me-
tropolis, not content with the use he made of the
court to defraud the holder of his own notes, way-
laid Causten, knocked him down with a club and
beat him, in order, no doubt, to deter others from
asking for their rights.

There is another instance of the gross dishon-
esty of the officers of this same bank, which is
a matter of record in the proceedings of this
House. At the extra session of 1837, the Speaker
deposited the money for the pay of the members
of the House of Representatives in the Bank of
the Metropolis. Roderick Dorsey, the Sergeant-
at-Arms, as honest and confiding a man as lives,
not doubting the honesty of men who make such
large professions as the bank officers, took the
specie to the bank in bags and boxes; but when
he came to count it out there was a deficiency of
nearly four thousand dollars. This deficiency
the bankers refused to make good, although the
whole money was counted by one of the clerks
of the bank when disbursed, and the books of
the bank, when compelled by a committee of the
House of Representatives to exhibit them, showed
that the deficiency did exist. This is a specimen
of bank morality, and this is one of the institu-
tions for which the Whigs of this House claimed
the sympathy of its members. I could state
other instances of bank morality which would
startle even the Whigs; but I will confine myself
to what is of record and easy of proof. I will
ask any honest man if restrictions by legal en-
actments inflicting personal punishment on bank
officers, and giving a true and summary remedy
to individuals against banks, is not absolutely
necessary to prevent such gross tyranny and dis-
honesty as I have quoted, and which no man on
this floor dare attempt to deny or even apologize
for?

Mr. Speaker, it was my lot to be a member of the Committee for the District of Columbia during the session of 1837-38, when these banks applied for a recharter; and to me was assigned by that committee the duty of examining and inquiring into their condition at that time. I made the attempt, and prosecuted it as faithfully as time and circumstances would permit; and although I had to take their own statements in writing, yet I learned enough to satisfy me that they were a rotten, profligate concern, unable to pay their liabilities, and practicing a gross imposition on the public. Having had an opportunity to know a little about them, I shall offer a few amendments to the bill from the Senate; not such as i would wish to have enacted; not such as will fully protect the public against those corporations; but as much or more than I expect will be carried. I have before me the lesson of bank influence in the State Legislatures. I have seen a decided majority elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature at its last session, for the express purpose of producing bank reform; and I have seen that majority reduced to a minority, and that Legislature obeying the directions and dictations of bank agents. I have seen that Legislature, or a part of it, violate their pledges to the people, or grant to the banks all they asked or desired, by passing a law legalizing a suspension of specie payments-a violation of the laws of common honesty. I have known the Legislatures of other States of the Union to do the same thing; and I cannot expect the members of this House to be more than human beings, and be able to resist the posse of bank directors, presidents, and cashiers who I now see thronging our Hall, and leading members out of their seats to importune and operate on them. Under all these circumstances I have reason to fear that the bill will pass, as it did two years since, just as the bankers wish it; yet I will not be deterred from doing my duty. I will raise my voice, feeble as it is, to protect all classes, but particularly the humble but industrious part of the community, by asserting on this floor their grievances. If I fail in protecting them from the ruthless gripe of bankers, it shall not be for want of a will to do it. I propose, by the first clause of the amendment, to make the president and directors of the banks liable for their acts in their individual capacities. It is no more than right that they should be restricted by the fear of personal accountability, for men, as corporations, will do things that they will not do when made liable for their acts. Were I creating a new bank I would include, in this in-ple have, and pay them in the same way, we too dividual liability, the stockholders to the amount of the stock subscribed; but as most of the stock of the banks now before us is in the hands of persons who purchased it under their present charters, and as it would have the appearance of unfairness to create a new liability against them, I will not go to that extent.

The second clause of the amendment is intended to prohibit the banks from declaring dividends while they refuse to pay their debts. No honest man can object to such a provision.

The third clause of the amendment is for the purpose of enabling individuals to bring suit and recover debts from the banks. At present the judges of the courts here claim and exercise the right to issue injunctions at the instance of the banks when sued for their notes, prohibiting justices of the peace from entering a judgment even where there was no defense. As proof of this fact I will refer the members of this body to House Document No. 53 of the extra session of 1837. In that document it will be found that James H. Causten sued one of the banks for notes which the officers refused to pay; that the judge of the district court issued an injunction prohibiting the justice of the peace entering a judgment, and that the prohibition was obeyed. No affidavit of de

It is not long since my colleague [Mr. OGLE]
anathematized the President of the United States
as a "horrible specimen of aristocracy" because
he rode in a plain carriage with two horses; but
we hear no complaints from him, or any other of
the bank party in this House, of the aristocracy
of the president of one of the insolvent banks of
this city, who has his coach and four gray horses,
with several liveried servants as outriders, driving
along the streets of this city. He may well afford
to have his coach and four, with servants in livery,
when his bank, of which I am told he is the prin-
cipal stockholder, can pay its debts of several
hundred thousand dollars at fifty cents on the
dollar. I do not know this man, and if half I
have heard of him be true, I hope I never may
be his associate. If, Mr. Speaker, you or I were
allowed to contract debts to the extent these peo-

might have a coach and four; but would we have
that sympathy which the sage legislators have
expressed here for those insolvent banks? Would
we be permitted to pay our debts at that rate and
yet have property to the amount of thousands of
dollars untouched? No sir, we would not, as in-
dividuals, be permitted to do so; but as corpora-
tors and bankers, I have no doubt but we would
be, provided we used the proper means to enlist
the sympathies of members.

HO. OF REPS.

rather than be the means, by my vote, of encouraging such public swindling by an extension of these bank charters without sufficient provisions to restrain them from a repetition of their past acts, of providing means of summarily punishing the guilty individuals.

If, as the gentleman from Massachusetts says, the Government did get the money from the banks, does he wish us to suppose that it was without its being paid for? Does not every man know that bankers are all Shylocks? They require not only "the last pound of flesh nearest the heart," but take the heart also without mercy. But the Government does not get the money to pay the members from the banks.

The bank partisans, by misrepresentations of this kind, are continually endeavoring to induce a belief that banks are essential to the well-being of the Government; but the truth of this matter is, that so far from the Government being benefited by the banks, the contrary is the fact. The Speaker of the House of Representatives has been in the habit of drawing from the Treasury of the United States the whole amount necessary to pay the members and depositing it in one of the banks, from which it is drawn as wanted during the session.

The Democratic members of this body have but yesterday declared their willingness to separate the Government from the banks, and I hope they will show by their votes on the bill now before the House that they are as ready to protect the individuals who compose the community as they are the Government, from fraud and imposition. The contest between the banks and the country is not yet ended. The campaign is only fairly commenced; and he that thinks differently will find his mistake if he lives a few years. The bankers wield a power more dangerous to the liberty of the people than an army of one hundred thousand foreigners would be, and the banks act openly or covertly, as may best suit their views, or the subject to be acted upon. The first victory of the people over the banks, the Independent Treasury law, is only half won. Vigilance is the watchword, and perseverance the only guarantee of success. I hope the Democrats will be found recording their names on the present question consistently with their votes yesterday, so as to strengthen that measure. We will then be able to show to the State Legislatures an example worthy of being followed, and will be entitled to receive from our constituents, when we return to them, the cordial and gratifying welcome of "Well done ye good and faithful servants." The eyes of the American people are upon us, anxiously waiting to see whether we will retrograde or advance; whether we will row one way and look another; and whether the banks and their influences are as formidable and successful as they always have been in legislative halls. Have we not every motive to resist wrong and to do our duty?

Mr. Speaker, I had intended only to submit my amendments to the bill without any remarks, until the friends of the banks showed a disposition to stifle all inquiry. I have now occupied much more of the time of the country than I had thought I would, but the importance of the subject requires it. I now close.

Mr. P. then submitted the following amend

ments:

Provided, also, That the president and directors of each of said banks shall be jointly and severally, in their individual capacity, liable for all notes issued or debts contracted by said banks respectively, from and after the day this act goes into effect, to be recovered as other debts of like amount may at the time be by law recoverable: And he it further provided, That the said banks shall not make any division of profits, or déclare any dividends, during the time said banks shall refuse to pay all their liabilities

We have been told by the member from Massachusetts [Mr. ADAMS] that we dare not refuse to extend the charters of these banks, for if we do not extend them we will not receive our pay as members. I had supposed that the Govern-in specie on demand; and the president and directors of ment of the United States provided the means to pay its officers, and it is news to me that members are dependent on banks for their pay. I have no doubt that some are dependent on them for one kind of pay, in the shape of fair business transactions, but not for their per diem. I have always held that every man has his price if that price can be ascertained. I have no wish to claim exemption from the common frailty of human nature, but I can assure the gentleman that if he rates

himself at eight dollars per day, that price will
not buy me. I will willingly sacrifice my pay

any of said banks, who shall make any such division of profits, or declare any such dividend, or consent to or vote for the same, shall be liable to pay double the amount of the sum so divided or declared, to be recovered of them in their individual capacity, by any person suing for the same, as debts of like amount are recoverable, one half of said forfeiture to go to the person suing, and the other halfto the corporation where said bank is located.

Be it further enacted, &c., That justices of the peace within the District of Columbia shall have jurisdiction in all actions of debt against any of the banks whose charters are hereby extended, for sums not exceeding $100, and no appeal, certiorari, or injunction, shall be allowed, granted, issued, or directed by any court within said District, unless an affidavit be first made and placed in said

26TH CONG....1ST SESS.

court by the president, or one or more of the directors of the bank so sued, that such appeal, certiorari, or injunction is not asked for the purpose of delay, but because be or they believe there is just defense on the merits, and that injustice is likely to be done if said appeal, certiorari, or injunction should not be granted.

District Banks-Mr. Steenrod.

Mr. STEENROD said: Mr. Speaker, I regret
that I cannot meet the earnest request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. SALTON-
STALL] who has just taken his seat, and give my
vote for this bill without disregarding my party
predilections and party principles. I understand
that the bill under consideration proposes to con-
tinue the existence of the incorporated banking
institutions of this District until July of the
year 1842; I also understand that those institu-
tions, with a single exception, are all acknowl-
edged to be in a state of suspension in direct
violation of their charters; or, in other words,
in open and public insurrection against the laws,
Shall we,
then, in view of this condition of things.
confer on these institutions the exclusive right
to issue paper as a measure of value without im-
posing on them corresponding obligations to meet
their engagements with the holders of their notes?
Shall we give to them the incorporated privileges
to withdraw from circulation the gold and silver
to be hoarded up in their vaults, and to issue in
their stead to this people their depreciated and irre-
deemable paper? These, in fact, are the ques-
tions submitted to our consideration, and these
are the affirmative propositions maintained in
this bill. By whom are such principles as these
advocated and sustained here, and who are the
friends of the bill now under consideration? The
same members of this House who have so often
denounced, and the same party who has depre-

Mr. VANDERPOEL said it was not necessary to the purpose he had in view, in the few remarks he intended to submit, to classify the House by denominating one portion of it bank men, and another party enemies of the banks. Nor was it his purpose to cast imputations upon gentlemen because they happened to be connected with banks. It was his pleasure to know some of the gentlemen who were connected with the institutions in question, and it was but just to them to say that they were gentlemen for whom he entertained very high respect. Still, he felt it his duty to say that the bill under consideration, considering the situation in which all the banks of this District now exhibited themselves, was a very extraordinary one. They were in a state of suspension; of open delinquency; of open violation of the law that created them; and while in this condition, they came and asked for an unqualified extension or renewal of their charters. It could not be, that after our doings of yesterday, we were prepared to vote for this bill, without any amendment to drive the banks back to their duty. What a spectacle would we exhibit to the nation by so doing! It was our incumbent duty to set a better example to the States. The facility with which the banks of the several States nowadays sus-cated, the great public measure providing for the pended specie payments was, indeed, a reproach to our country. An honorable merchant, during a pecuniary or commercial revulsion, would oftentimes sacrifice hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain his credit and integrity; but, according to the ethics of banks, they suspended specie payments whenever it became a little inconvenient to maintain them. Indeed, they seemed to suspend sometimes for pretty much the same reason that Betty assigned for skinning her eels, "because they liked it." It was high time that we at least should set our face against the facility with which the banks assumed this unjust, this demoralizing position. That portion of the House that was now coming out for the recharter of these suspended banks, had always told us that it was the duty of Congress to regulate the currency of the country; that the friends of the Administration were subject to the reproach of permitting an important power, conferred upon us by the Constitution, to lie dormant.

Ho. OF REPS.

fidelity and probity, the duties imposed on them by virtue of their charters as a consideration for the exclusive rights granted them? No, sir. They have closed their doors, and pertinaciously refused to pay their just debts, while they have, on the other hand, exacted from the debtor community uniform reduction or payment of their obligations. They have assumed to keep their paper at its par value, convertible into gold and silver at the will of the holder; they have disregarded their public engagements, and have suffered their paper to depreciate, and the loss to fall on the community. While, as public institutions, created to subserve the public interest, (and they should have subserved the public interest by preserving a sound currency,) they have, as brokers and stockjobbers, deranged the exchanges by their undue exactions and extortions. With these offenses, then, resting on those institutions, the gentleman may entertain no surprise that any one here should "intimate that these banks were swindling concerns.

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But we have been appealed to not to apply to our legislation for the people of this District our rigid party principles. To this I must answer that I have no two sets of principles, one for my immediate constituents, and another for what I believe is intended for the especial benefit of the bankers here. If, as an American citizen, I would ever disdain to seek or accept of any franchise or privilege from this or any other legislative body which was not to be conferred alike on all my countrymen, as an American legislator, I will refuse to confer immunities on one portion of my fellow-citizens that are denied to or withheld from others. We have been told by the high and distinguished authority of the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. THOMPSON] that the respective Legislatures have refused, yes, that they have been afraid to carry out the principles of the Republican party on the subject of the currency, and therefore, (I suppose the argument is) that we, too, should refuse, and prove ourselves afraid to do so. But, sir, these are not the tenets of the political school in which I was educated. One who has imbibed an early reverence for the men of the Revolution, and who entertains great respect for those time-honored exemplars of American principles, would first rather study the virtue and utility of a public measure, to know whether it was to promote the good of the community at large before passing upon it; and if it was for the public good, then be not discouraged by fears or swerved from his honest purposes by the rash and reckless denunciations of others, but pursue the even tenor of his way until he shall witness a consummation of his principles.

safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursing the reve-
nues of the Government, as an innovation that
would furnish two currencies, one for the Gov-
ernment and another for the people. But char-
tered privileges to such institutions as these to
withdraw from circulation, and to hoard up, all
the gold and silver currency, and to issue their
irredeemable and depreciated paper, they can ap-
prove and support. Yes, sir, the banks may
use and hoard up the better currency, and issue
the legalized worse currency for the people, and
these gentlemen can view the act with composure
and complacency; but they are convulsed with
indignation, and startled with apprehension at a
simple public measura that proposes to collect
and pay out the revenues of the Government in
gold and silver; and can see, in such a measure
as that, one currency furnished for the Govern-
ment and another for the people. To those gen-
tlemen who would condemn what they may sup-
pose to be the tendency of a measure of the
Government, and approve a like measure in the
banks, I have nothing to say. But, sir, what
are the arguments advanced here in support of
this bill, and what has been said by its friends
to commend it to our support? We have been
informed by the gentleman from Maryland [Mr.
JOHNSON] that the adjoining States (and Vir-mogeniture, have been cited as a barrier to the

passed similar acts to this, and therefore we should
copy the precepts of this State legislation, and
do likewise. I had supposed, sir, that it rather
became us, as legislators, to set an example of
wise and good legislation, and not to follow the
bad or imprudent legislation of particular States.
I have never seen an act in the statute-book of
Virginia similar to the bill now under considera-
tion. It is true the State of Virginia has legalized
the suspension of the State banks, but never with-
out at least giving an apparent protection to the
note-holders as a remedy for the abuse of this
privilege.

And was this a specimen of the manner in which they would put this alleged power into execution? Was this the mode in which they would "regulate the currency," recharter a batch of banks that are daily in the open violation of law and duty? They could not pay their debts or redeem their bills; but what could they do, what had they done under our very eyes? Why|ginia and Maryland have been mentioned) have make dividends of profits while in a state of suspension-yes, profits made at a time when the poor market woman, with one of their notes, was liable to be shaved to the tune of from five to ten per cent. Were we prepared to legalize such doings by voting for an unqualified renewal of these charters; one that would involve no rebuke for, but would rather sanction, their past and present demerits? If we passed this bill, what a beautiful commentary would it be upon our doings of yesterday-a day signalized by the passage of that great measure of reform! He would never consent to vote for the bill unless a provision was inserted that the banks should resume specie payments within thirty, or, at farthest, sixty days. As matter of example and principle, this bill extended in its operation beyond the ten miles square. It was commensurate with the Union. By passing it in its present state, we would proclaim to the world, to the institutions of the States, the immoral sentiment that a state of suspension is not a state of palpable and most reprehensible delinquency.

The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BRIGGS] expressed great surprise that any one here should intimate that these institutions were "swindling concerns." Sir, I here in my place, before this House and the country at large, arraign those institutions, and charge this upon them, and invite an examination of the proofs. I will not here refer to the conclusive evidence adduced to day by my able and eloquent young friend from Ohio [Mr. WELLER] of the frauds of these After some remarks by Messrs. BRIGGS, institutions, but to the acknowledged facts in their THOMPSON, of South Carolina, and JOHN- history. The rights of the people have been SON of Maryland, in favor of the bill, and Mr. abridged to confer on those institutions high privCOOPER, of Georgia, in favor of certain amend-ileges and profitable immunities, and in return ments proposed by himself, compelling specie payments, and prohibiting the issue of notes of less denomination than ten, twenty, and thirty dollars, at given periods,

for which these institutions have assumed re-
sponsible trusts, beneficiary functions to this com-
munity. How have they demeaned themselves
in their offices? Have they discharged, with

Our organic State laws of distribution in descents, and the prohibition of entailments and pri

encroachments of these corporations. It is true
that these laws were established to fortify our
democratic Government, and to prevent the en-
croachments of property on right. But no pro-
tection is afforded by these laws if the respective
legislative bodies will create and multiply a swarm
of corporations for the purpose of amassing and
managing property-"corporations whose dis-
tinguishing attribute is to live forever, and whose
legal entity may forever remain the same.'
"Property thus holden in perpetual succession
cannot come under the full operation of our stat-
utes of distribution." The privileged corps which
are thus fortified are rendered more formidable to
equal rights and liberty than they could be by the
English statutes of entails and primogeniture.
What protection can there be to the masses if
valuable immunities are denied to individuals and
conferred on corporations? Exclusive privileges
and monopoly are as dangerous in an incorpo-
rated association of persons as in the person of a
nobleman or lord; and the Government that would
distinguish in favor of one over the other, by con-
ferring power, but shows its folly by adding to
crime. These organic laws of our States but
demonstrate that these irresponsible powers are
opposed to the genius of our institutions and
popular freedom; and as such, as Americans, we
should wage against them an earnest war-open
hostility.

The gentleman from South Carolina also discoursed most eloquently on the banking institu

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