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tions of the country, and ascribed to them a magic influence in forwarding the construction of roads and improvements generally in the States. But, sir, if I were to ask the gentleman what was the immediate agent employed in constructing these improvements, the only correct answer that he could give would be that it was not the capital nor the banks, but the labor of the country that was entitled to this high commendation, for the erection of those enduring monuments, those magnificent improvements. I have heard labored efforts here to justify and excuse the suspension by these banking institutions, but all the arguments are alike inconclusive and unsatisfactory to my mind. There is but one moral code for the government of man, either in public or private life, or of parties. A justification of these institutions is a departure from that code. A bank suspension is a violation of public engagements; it is a fraud perpetrated on the community by these corporations, and no legislative body could be justified in sustaining or legalizing it. Such a principle could not be sustained morally in an individual or a corporation. Public faith, public justice, and national honor forbid it.

Sir, I look upon this as but a struggle between the note-holders and the note-makers, between the bankers and the people; one laboring for privileges and monopoly, and the other for equal rights; one for honest and just legislation, and the other for partial and unjust government. These are the antagonist and opposing principles involved in this question-principles that concern every man in the country. The bill under consideration not only proposes to legalize the actions of these suspended banks and their consequent frauds on the public, but to confer extraordinary privilege and the right of monopoly on these associations of bankers. Yes, sir, we are about to be most partial and extremely indulgent to these delinquent bankers; indulgent, that they may not be compelled to toil and labor, that the elements may not visit them too roughly, that they may loiter on their walks of pleasure, and loll in their mansions of royal splendor. You authorize them to issue their false measure of value, and to be tax-gatherers, to feed on the substance of the bodypolitic, while the honest laborer, who, in the heat of summer and the blasts of winter, exposed to all the vicissitudes of the seasons and the times, is left to toil for his daily maintenance. Yes, on the poor laborer you impose the tax of this depreciated and irredeemable paper, and a great proportion of the loss, in consequence of its frequent and periodical failure. You virtually say to him, "We impose on you, by our laws, a paper currency as an exclusive measure of value, but you shall not circulate your notes at their trade value; the Government will not authorize or permit your paper as a currency, for that privilege or monopoly is exclusively confined to and conferred on these bankers." This is counter to that democratic principle which ever seeks to protect the weak, to elevate the depressed, and to secure to all just and equal rights.

District Banks-Mr. Weller.

consequently produced in this community if those institutions are ordered to wind up their affairs. No proposition is more clear and conclusive in political economy than that nothing is added to the actual capital of a country by instituting banks or the issuing of paper money. But the credit system, we will be told, can only be sustained by banks that have the authority to issue paper as a circulation, and their present chartered immunities. This, I believe, is likewise untrue and fallacious; a sound and well-regulated system of credit can be preserved in the country without these extraordinary chartered privileges being conferred on banks. The instincts of capital always seek employment. If it is to be found oftener under the seal of the act of incorporation of a bank it is because it is its present fastness, its stronghold. Withhold these acts of incorporation, which confer exclusive privileges on the capitalists here, and the natural laws which govern capital must still prevail; and it cannot, therefore, remain unemployed; it will still go into the market and seek to pass into the hands of labor; and though under this direction the profits of capital may not be so great, its acts and influence so powerful, still its advantage to the public will not be impaired by the absence of its incorporated privileges and monopoly.

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stantly follow to this District, should the bill be rejected. He avowed himself the friend of credit, and said he had voted for the Independent Treasury bill not to destroy, but to give it stability.

Mr. RYALL made a short speech in most decided opposition to the bill; but if it must pass, he was for Mr. PETRIKIN's amendment.

Mr. UNDERWOOD spoke for the bill, urging the distress which must ensue should it fail, and in the close moved the previous question.

Mr. PETRIKIN moved to lay the motion on the table.

Mr. UNDERWOOD withdrew the call for the previous question, on condition that Mr. WELLER, of Ohio, who obtained the floor, should renew it.

Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I cannot consent to give a silent vote on the important question now presented to the consideration of the House. I would be doing injustice to my own feelings, and to the generous, warm-hearted friends at home who have honored me with a place in this Hall, were I to sit quietly in my seat and suffer a bill, involving principles of such deep and vital importance to our free Government, to become a law. I trust I shall obtain the attention of gentlemen while I present my objections to this bill, although I have but little hope that anySir, I am nauseated with this daily nostrum, thing I can say will induce members to record that the credit system of this country is confined their votes against it. It comes to us indorsed to your bank parlors, and in the exclusive keep- by the Senate, and judging from past legislation, ing of your bankers, who, to preserve it, must be I have no doubt it will pass this House before endowed with incorporated privileges and mo- to-morrow's sun shall have set. I desire, hownopoly. The history of my own State might be ever, to give it an especial kick, by way of showadduced as a memorable example to contradicting my disapprobation of it, and the principles this position. From the adoption of the Federal upon which it is supported. Constitution in 1788 to 1804, banks were un- Permit me to say that I regret that the friends of known in our State legislation. What people this measure did not present it at an earlier period were more pure than this people at that period? in the session. We have now been here seven When was our commerce greater? Or what por- months, and when we are within three weeks of an tion of the world was more prosperous than the adjournment a bill is presented for the extension Old Dominion at that time? That was the period of the charters of the banks of this District, and in our history when honesty and industry were an effort made, by the application of the previous esteemed virtues necessary to constitute the re-question, to push it through this House without spectable man and citizen. Every farmer's desk allowing members an opportunity of examining in Virginia at this period was adorned with some its merits and demerits, or inquiring into their gold and silver, and never had we less inconven- actual condition. It is true we have a short and ience and cost in transporting money from point imperfect report made out by the officers of these to point. This, then, was done by our traders banks, exhibiting partially the condition of these and merchants before we had learned the magic institutions, but I venture the affirmation that not of creating corporations with monopolizing priv- a dozen members of this House have looked into ileges. The merchants were then honest and that document. Besides, I would much prefer a accommodating, and their credit was better than report made by a committee of this House. I your banks. Bank suspensions and explosions, would have more confidence in their statements and bank irresponsibility have impaired public than in the exhibit of bank officers. confidence in this modern system of credit. The system that will promise to pay to-day and be authorized with impunity to refuse payment by to-morrow, may be approved by the swindler, but not by the honest mam. If the Commonwealth of Virginia, then, at this period, could prosper without the aid of banking institutions, it might be supposed that this District of ten miles square could do likewise. Where are the enduring monuments and boasted testimonials of the utility of your system here? Will I be pointed to the superb cities and magnificent improvements that adorn this ten miles square? These are but the evidence of the profligacy of this Government, and of the munificence of the legislators for this orphan territory. Where are your chambers of commerce, with their evidence of enterprise, the rich garnerings of the product of labor and trade? Where are the streets crowded with enterprising But, sir, I am told that this act is simply demerchants and tradesmen, and where the busy signed to enable the banks to wind up their afhum of industry in the workshops and manufac- fairs and settle up their concerns! This is not tories? Or where are the fields which have been the first time this plea has been made. On the made to blossom under the toil of the husband-4th May, 1820, an act was passed by Congress extending the charters of the banks in the District "then paying specie, and during such times only as said banks should continue to pay specie," to the 1st June, 1822. This act may be found in volume eight, Laws of the United States, page 53. On the 2d March, 1821, an act passed, extending the charters of these banks to the 3d March, 1836. (See volume eight, United States Laws, page 19.) It was then pretended, as now, that it was necessary to do this in order to enable the banks to wind up. But, sir, you find them in 1836, when their charters again expired, asking a further extension for the same purpose; and an act was accordingly passed on the 2d July of

may look here in vain for testimony of this kind as an argument why these institutions should be rechartered. But, on the other hand, look at the poor country around this city that seems never to have had employed upon it the renovating hand of industry. This may be a portion of the fruits of that paper system, of bank facilities and credit, which is so prolific of evil; a system, the effect of which is to lead men to believe they can live without industry and labor.

Mr. HOLMES delivered an animated appeal against the ruinous consequences which must in

The bill now under consideration proposes to extend the charters of six banks in this District for two years. It proposes to continue their corporate existence for two years from the 4th of July, instant. Some of these banks have been in existence for more than thirty years. The original charters are to be found in the book I now hold in my hand, and I ask gentlemen, before they vote for the act now before the House, to examine these charters, and see the almost unlimited powers conferred by them. Let gentlemen look into them and tell me whether they would be willing this day to incorporate banks with such tremendous powers; and if they would be unwilling to do this, then I ask, how can they vote to extend them? The act now before us will confer on them all the powers and privileges conferred in the original charter.

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that year, extending their charters to the 4th July, 1838. (See Laws of the United States, volume nine, page 447.) Well, sir, did the expiration of this act find their affairs settled up? Did they proceed to wind up their business in accordance with the understanding of the time? No; but they again, while under suspension, came in and asked for another renewal a little more time to settle up. On the 31st May, 1838, an act passed renewing their charters to the 4th July, 1840, upon three conditions, two of which I ask leave to read:

"2. To redeem all their notes of the denomination of five dollars in gold and silver, from and after the 1st day of August, in the present year.

"3. To resume specie payments in full on or before the 1st day of January, in the year 1839, or sooner, if the principal banks of Baltimore and Richmond should sooner resume specie payments in full."-Laws of United States, vol. 9, page 765.

Now, sir, the 4th of July, 1840, being the period at which this act expires, is near at hand, and they are again at our door asking for two years more! It becomes us, then, to inquire whether they have complied with the requisitions of the law to which I have just adverted. The obligation to pay specie for their notes was a condition precedent, and the banks were bound to perform it before they could exercise any of the privileges conferred by the act. The very moment they refused to comply with that condition, that very moment their corporate existence ceased, and they could no longer legitimately exercise the power of banking. This position, it seems to me, is so palpable and plain that it needs no argument to establish it. Well, sir, have they performed this condition? Have they observed the restrictions and limitations imposed on them by this act? The fact is stated in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and is notorious, that they have suspended specie payments and are refusing to redeem their notes! For more than eight months past have they been standing out in open violation of the law, and yet they have the effrontery, the unblushing impudence, to present themselves before Congress and ask for an extension of their charters to the 4th July, 1842! Such a daring outrage upon decency and propriety should not be tolerated. They have suffered their notes to depreciate at their own doors from six to twelve per cent., and yet we are told that their charters must be renewed! They have, it is true, set at defiance the positive enactments of Congress, laughed at the restrictions imposed on them, and yet we are to endure and countenance all this and submit to another extension! Sir, I care not what course other members may pursue, but I cannot, as a Representative of the people, give my sanction to such an act. I would be recreant to the trust confided to me as one of the watchmen on the tower of liberty were I not to sound the alarm and warn my countrymen against the strides these incorporations are making toward swallowing up the legislative power of this country.

But, sir, I have said that we have no report enabling us to understand the precise condition of these institutions which we are now called upon to incorporate. I have, however, now before me a report made to the House in 1836, by a committee, to which I call the especial attention of members. We may judge of their present conduct from what has taken place heretofore. My friend from Pennsylvania, [Mr. PETRIKIN,] who made a few remarks against this act, was charged with intimating that these banks had been dishonestly managed. Sir, if he had so alleged, he would have been sustained by the record now before me. I ask the friends of this swindling system to examine this document, and see the heavy loss sustained by the citizens of this District by the failure of these institutions, before they record their

votes.

In order that gentlemen may see that I am not speaking without the book, I ask leave to read the following extract from the report before alluded to:

"In 1821 there were in the District of Columbia eleven banks, the capital of which amounted to $5,214,641; of these, four, whose capitals amounted to $1,994,634, have since failed. At different periods, at the time of their failure, they had of notes in circulation, private and public deposits, the aggregate sum of $741,037. The committee have not had time to ascertain precisely what proportion of these stocks was ever, in fact, paid in originally; neither do they know exactly what part of these deposits and circulation, if have been or will be paid or redeemed; any,

District Banks Mr. Weller.

but from the price at which the obligations of these institutions have been sold in the market it is not unreasonable to conclude that the United States, (the deposits of which alone in these banks exceed $450,000,) and the people of the District, have lost in capital, circulation, and deposits, a sum exceeding $1,700,000!”

"The other seven banks, chartered in 1821, (all of which are now petitioning for a recharter,) had originally capital, amounting together to $3,279,629, of which they have seyerally purchased up to the amount of $1,258,887, and have now in pledge stock for debts to the amount of $205,488 70, which leaves actual capital paid in $1,815,252 30, being $1,464,376 70 less than the amount with which these institutions commenced operations.

"Here again the committee must say that they have not had time to ascertain precisely the sum for which each share of this stock has been purchased by the several banks. That would be a work of some labor, and without it an opportunity is not offered to decide how large or how small is the amount of the speculation which has been made by those who hold the residue of the stock of these banks. But it may be safely assumed, that when a large proportion of the capital stock of a bank has been purchased in by the institution, there has been gross mismanagement of its affairs. It is imprudent for a bank, having notes in circulation, to own or loan largely on pledges of its own stock, and it is indubitable that large amounts of the stock of a bank, skillfully conducted, would not be so far below par that no purchaser could be found for it, when pledged to secure the payment of a loan at six per cent., but the bank itself.

"From the testimony of a respectable broker, to be found in the appendix, it appears that the stocks of two of these banks have sold as low as fifty per cent. below par.

"It would be a work of interminable labor to attempt to ascertain what sum has been lost to the community by the depreciation of the notes and obligations, other than stock certificates, of the seven banks now under consideration; or rather, it should be said of three out of those seven, for the committee do not know that the notes of the Bank of Metropolis, the Union Bank of Georgetown, the Bank of Potomac, or the Farmers' Bank of Alexandria, have ever been below par. Neither will the committee undertake to estimate the loss to the public sustained by the depreciation of the obligations of the Bank of Washington, the Patriotic Bank of Washington, or of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown, occasioned chiefly by their suspension of specie payments in 1834; neither will they now express an opinion as to the justice or propriety of that measure. There is, in the appendix, much evidence to enable the House to decide intelligently on those matters; but they can and will advert to portions of that evidence, in support of proof already given, to show that the people of this District have been grievously injured by the manner in which these banks have been managed; and that it is the solemn duty of Congress to deliberate calmly, and endeavor to provide some guards against a recurrence of those mischiefs, regardless of the clamorous demands of those interested in the existing banking establishments, many of whom, too, have profited largely by their abuses.

"There were four banks in the District which suspended specie payments in 1834; one of them (the Bank of Alexandria) has not applied for a recharter, and, consequently, no means have been taken to ascertain the extent of the depreciation of its various obligations in the hands of the holders. At the time of failure, its capital was $500,000; of which $115,565 had been taken by the bank in payment of debts. Its notes in circulation, its public and private deposits, amounted to $152,167. As this bank has not yet settled with the holders of its obligations, it cannot be said, with certainty, how much of this amount of property has been lost to the public; but we feel warranted in estimating that at least sixty per cent. of it (say $350,000) may be added to the large sums heretofore named, which have been taken from the profits of labor, and been absorbed by adventurers and speculators in currency and stocks. What amount of the stock or paper of the other three banks, which suspended specie payments, changed hands at a discount, cannot be stated fully. It appears from the testimony of several witnesses who have been examined, and whose testimony is appended to this report, that large amounts of the stock and notes of these three banks changed hands at a discount of from fifteen to sixty per cent. And the committee regret to discover that several of the directors of these institutions, some of whom had, by their own acts, depreciated their obligations, entered the market, and purchased freely the stock and notes of the banks, of which they were directors, at a discount, and then paid the paper thus obtained into the bank, at par, in discharge of the debts due from them thereto. The extent of these and other speculations in the currency of the four banks may be measurably estimated from the fact that they had in circulation and in deposits, at the time of suspension, $696,471; more than one half of which obligations, together with these stocks, probably changed hands in sixty days after the suspension, at an average of thirty per cent. discount to the original holder; a considerable proportion of the profits of which operations, it appears, were made by the directors of these institutions, whose speculations are certainly reprehensible, as they were largely indebted to the several banks committed to their care at the time of their respective failures, and had it in their power, by paying in current funds their own notes, to have postponed, and, in all probability, to have prevented entirely, those disastrous speculations by which they profited so much, while the community suffered so seriously,"

From this report it will be seen that nearly a million and a half of dollars have been taken from the profits of the labor of the industrious mechanic of this District and absorbed by these bank officers and swindling speculators. Has the power of the Federal Government become so weak that it cannot protect the people of this District from

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these outrages? Have these institutions become so powerful that they can no longer be controlled by legislation? If so, the days of our glory are numbered, and a moneyed aristocracy will soon be established upon the ruins of our republican institutions, and this, the most glorious nation that ever existed, will be numbered with the things that "were, but are not."

That the House may fully understand the manner in which the officers of these institutions speculated in their own paper, I ask leave to read a small portion of the evidence taken under oath before that committee.

First, I give you the evidence of William Jewell, a director of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown:

"The bank failed during my absence in Baltimore. After my return I told Mr. W. W. Corcoran that I wished to exchange property I had for stock of the bank, if he should hear of any that was for sale. In a few days he told me that a widow lady had stock worth, at par value, $15,000, for which we gave her houses and lots assessed at about eight thousand dollars. I purchased also, of another person, $225 worth of stock, at fifty dollars on the hundred. During the last winter I purchased $3,700 worth of stock at fifty-six dollars per hundred."

Next in order, I present the evidence of John Pickerell, a director of the same bank:

'I sold to a lady in Georgetown, a house and lot, and took in part payment $2,900 worth of stock at seventy-five cents on the dollar. I also exchanged property in Washington city, which had cost me less than $1,200, for $1,800 worth of stock. A few weeks ago I purchased of a broker $3,750, for fifty-six dollars on the hundred."

One more extract, and I have done with this report. It is the testimony of William Prout, a broker, of Washington city:

"I bought stock of the Washington Bank at fifty cents on the dollar, and Patriotic at seventy-five cents on the dollar. I bought paper of the Bank of Washington and Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown, at sixty-five cents on the dollar, and the Patriotic at sixty-five cents to the dollar. I purchased notes to an amount exceeding $80,000.”

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"I made frequent sales to the directors of the banks at a small profit. Some was sold, I recollect, to E. Ingle, a director of the Patriotic Bank; to Edward Simmes, a director of the Bank of Washington; to William A Bradley, president of the Patriotic Bank; to Jonathan Prout and S. J. Todd, directors in the Bank of Washington; and R. Simmes, a director of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown." "To some of these gentlemen I sold these notes, and took in payment their individual notes, at long dates, without interest."

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Here, sir, you find these bank presidents and directors borrowing money out of the banks which they controlled, compelling, by their own acts, the banks to suspend, purchasing up their stock and notes at a discount of fifty per cent., and paying them in as a discharge of their liabilities at par! Is this a fair business transaction? Shall I be told that all this is honest? If it is so regarded here, then you must have a different standard of moral honesty from that which we have on the other side of the mountains.

Now I ask you, Mr. Speaker, whether we are to incorporate institutions which have been managed in this way? Ought we, in any shape or form, to countenance this system of swindling? Why, sir, if you will give me an act of legislation that will enable me to discharge my debts with fifty cents on the dollar, I would be able to ride in as fine a fourhorse coach, have as splendid an equipage, and as many servants in livery, as the president of either of these banks!

The passage of this act must have a deleterious influence over the action of the State Governments. Here, it is admitted, we have exclusive jurisdiction; and if we set the example of rechartering banks while in a state of suspension, who can tell how many of the States will follow in our footsteps? The immense power exercised by these institutions is truly alarming. You have now nearly a thousand of these shaving machines in the nation, the owners of which procure a livelihood by the sweat and toil of their neighbors. You will find the officers, agents, and dependents of the banks in our national as well as State councils. In 1816, when the banking interest in this country was much less powerful than it is now, John Randolph of Roanoke said upon this floor, "Every man you meet, in this House or out of it, with some rare exceptions, which only serve to prove the rule, is either a stockholder, president, cashier, clerk, doorkeeper, runner, engraver, paper maker, or mechanic, in some way or other, to a bank."

shin-plaster manufactories upon the people, and, my word for it, the men who are now invoking you not to make this a party question will be the first to reproach you after the deed is done.

I rejoice, Mr. Speaker, that there is a portion of the people in this District who are opposed to the renewal of these charters. I read you the memorial of a part of the citizens of Georgetown:

"The memorial of the undersigned, citizens of Georgetown, District of Columbia, respectfully represents:

"That the suspension of payment by the banks of the District of Columbia is a gross and palpable violation of their charters, by which valuable privileges were conferred upon them; that it is an outrage upon the moral sense of the community in which they are situated, debasing and demoralizing in its tendency and example, and a grievous Injury and oppression upon those who are compelled to take their notes at their nominal value in payment for their labor.

"That the mere association of a number of individuals in the form of a chartered company gives them no license for dishonesty, or impunity for crime, in their aggregate more than in their individual capacity.

"That the banking institutions in the District having been chartered professedly for the purpose of promoting the interests and convenience of the inhabitants thereof, we are the best and should be the only judges in what manner our interests and convenience are best promoted.

"That at the suspension of payment of the banks of this District in the second week of October, 1839, they had in circulation upward of seven hundred thousand paper dollars, which by that act were depreciated twelve and a half per cent., inflicting a loss of upward of one hundred thousand dollars upon the holders thereof; that the rates of depreciation since that period have ranged from twelve and a half to eight per cent., thus filching from the working man one eighth to one twelfth of the nominal amount received as the wages of his labor.

"That the practical operation of this state of things in the District is, that while those who are in the service of the Government receive their compensation in gold and silver, their neighbors are compelled to receive as a return for their labor depreciated bank paper, thus constituting, emphatically, one currency for the Government and another for the people.

"They therefore pray your honorable body to take such measures as may, at the earliest possible day, compel the banks of the District to fulfill their obligations by the resumption of specie payments, or that they be required to assign their property for the benefit of their creditors and wind up their affairs."

This memorial is signed by forty-nine citizens, and proves that there are at least that number of free and independent men who properly understand their interests, and dare to come into this House and protest against the extension of the charters of these suspended banks. Sir, I do not know, personally, a single individual upon that memorial; but they have my respect for the independence they have manifested in coming forward, bearding the lion in his den, and asserting the principles of Democracy in despite of the frowns of these purse-proud bankers.

I cannot close my remarks without calling upon my Democratic friends to come up to the rescue. I invoke them to come forward and defeat this measure. The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. UNDERWOOD] tells us that this ought not to be made a party question! Sir, it is a party question-a question involving principles upon which the two parties in this country have divided. The subject of the currency has occupied the attention of this House for a large portion of the present session, and will continue to agitate the public mind for many years to come. The Democrats have been endeavoring to redeem the country from an irredeemable currency; they have been advocating the necessity of divorcing the General Government in its fiscal operations from all connection with banks; they have been denouncing the present system as unjust, and in violation of every principle of equal rights; they have been zealous in exposing the swindling practices of these institutions, and calling upon the people to effect a

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principles of the sub-Treasury bill that the States might carry out the system and reduce the country to a hard-money currency. We are to set an example, he says, in this District, for the States to follow.

Mr. VANDERPOEL here interposed, and was very anxious to explain.

Mr. DAWSON for some time refused to yield the floor, wishing the explanation to be deferred until the gentleman should make his reply; at length, however, he yielded, when

Mr. VANDERPOEL explained that what he had said, or meant to say, was this, that banks under a state of suspension exerted a demoralizing influence; that they exhibited a demoralizing

THURSDAY, July 2, 1840.

The following bill was introduced by Mr. HOLLEMAN, of Virginia:

A bill to continue the corporate existence of the banks of

the District of Columbia for certain purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, &c., That the provisions, restrictions, and enactments of the act of Congress of the 25th May, 1833, entitled "An act to extend the charter of the Union Bank of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia," be, and the same are hereby, extended to the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown, the Bank of the Metropolis, the Bank of Washington, the Patriotic Bank of Washington, the Bank of the Potoinac, and the Farmers' Bank of Alexandria: Provided, That whenever in the original act the 1st of July, 1838, occurs, it shall be so construed as to mean the 4th of July, 1840; and whenever the 1st of July, 182, occurs, it shall be construed to mean the 4th of July, 1814.

Mr. ADAMS inquired whether it made no distinction in favor of the Patriotic Bank, which never had suspended specie payments?

Mr. HOLLEMAN replied that it did not. Mr. UNDERWOOD gave notice of his intention to offer the following amendment in case the bill of Mr. HOLLEMAN should not meet with favor:

That the several acts of Congress creating and granting charters to the several banks in the District of Columbia, which were in force on the 1st day of July, 1840, be, and the same are hereby, continued in full force for the term of two years from and after the 4th day of July, 1840: Provided, however, That no one of the existing banks shall declare or make any dividend of its profits among its stockholders during the time it fails to pay specle for its notes: And provided further, That all the profits hereafter made by any one of the said banks over and above six per cent. upon its capital, clear of expenses, shall be paid over to the corporate authorities of the city in which such bank is located: And provided further, That said banks shall severally resume the payment of specie for their notes thrown into circulation within ninety days from the said 4th of July, 1840.

After a few remarks from Messrs. HOLLEMAN and UNDERWOOD,

Mr. DAWSON said that the measure now under consideration was very important to a large portion of the free but unrepresented people of the United States; and it became gentlemen to act in this matter with the respect due to themselves and to the mass of the community whose interests were confided to their care. Mr. D. went on to observe that he considered the present question, when viewed in all its aspects, as the most important one which had occurred during the present session of Congress; it was nothing less than the grand "hard-money scheme" of the Administration carried out in its first application. Gentlemen might cover it up as they pleased, but it came to that; it was the question whether, in a District over which Congress exercised undisputed sway, they should at once abolish all banks and credit, and rely on a hard-money circulation. That was the question. A portion of this House have declared that all banks in this District are to come to an end, and then all bank currency must cease with them. Another portion of the party say they are for banks with certain limitations; but they are to be of a temporary character, and all looking to a winding up of bank concerns; and this final winding up must be accomplished within two years. Let me refer to the language employed by a gentleman from New York, [Mr. VANDERPOEL,] who is considered as one of the leaders of the Administration party in this House. He told us that we ought now so to develop the

ever it did not suit their convenience to pay their debts; and that Congress was bound to set an example in opposition to this spirit.

Mr. DAWSON. It was, then, the moral tendencies of the conduct of the banks that induced the very honorable and conscientious gentleman to oppose them. [A laugh.] Well, sir, the gentleman votes to wind up the affairs of all the District banks because their suspension had an immoral tendency. Has the Patriotic Bank suspended? Does it not now redeem its bills on presentation? And does not the bill before you put this bank on the same footing with all the rest? Is it the immorality of paying its notes for which this bank is to be destroyed? No, sir, no.

This was not the gentleman's ground. He was for having us set an example here by winding up all banks, and leaving the people of the District to a hard-money circulation. It is due to the country, due to candor and magnanimity, to develop the true issue, and not by unworthy subterfuges to attempt to conceal it. I have said that this is an important, an all-important question; and "now is the time, and now is the hour" to discuss and settle it; to form the great issue before the country; and to let the people of this land know that there is a party in Congress who are determined to roll the wheel of ruthless extermination over all State banks, and thus to prostrate with them the rights of the States. Gentlemen may think to deceive the people; but let me tell them the people are wide awake, notwithstanding all the poppies that have been flung over their eyes. I am ready now to meet the question. I stand on the old conservative ground; I go for preserving the institutions of the country, and the rights of the individuals connected with them. I am against destroying the relations of creditor and debtor. I will not vote to depreciate the value of property, to raise the value of money, and thereby to empower the creditor to bring all the property of the debtor under the hammer. That will be the operation of the bill. That is the question on one or the other side of which we are now to range ourselves. Will you, by voting for this bill, appreciate money one hundred per cent, and depreciate all property fifty per cent.? Will you throw the property of this District in the hands of the moneyed men, and thus make the rich richer and the poor poorer? You know well that I am not one of those who love to dwell on the invidious distinction between rich and poor; and though I make no hypocritical pretensions of sympathy, when it thus comes to action I am not willing to destroy that kind of indulgence extended by the banks to the people in the District, and thereby force their property into market. For who, I ask, are to be the beneficiaries from this splendid act of reform? I answer, the stockholders of these banks, and public officers. The banks of this District have $2,500,000 due to them from the citizens, whose notes they have discounted; the amount of their paper circulation is about $650,000; the specie capital in their vaults is about $420,000. Now, taking this $420,000 from the $650,000, and it leaves about $200,000 to pay, while they have $2,500,000 to receive. Under these circumstances what do you do? You, friends of the people; you who are no more Democrats at heart than I am, yet tell the dear people so much more about your Democracy-what, I ask, do you do?

At one blow you cut off the five heads of these District banks, and throw them bleeding into this ten miles square; and you tell them, now die, close up your earthly concerns, for you may live no longer. Well, what is the result? They must

26TH CONG....1ST SESS.

sue their debtors, and bring their property to the hammer. And who will buy it? The officeholders first, and then the stockholders; and where is the poor debtor? Borne down, crushed, brought with his family to ruin and desolation; and brought by whom? By this House; by you, who call yourselves the people's friends. For the sake of your political experiment of bringing a "hard-money currency" into this devoted District, you stand by with stony hearts and look upon the ruin of these defenseless people as if it were a spectacle exhibited at a theater. You throw all the property of the poorer and middling class of people into the hands of rich landlords and money-holders. Houses, the fruit of hard earnings and long saving; houses that cost the owner $10,000 will go before his eyes, under the hammer of the auctioneer, for $1,500 or $1,000; all to carry out your beautiful scheme of "reform" and a "hard-money currency!" You talk about" indulgence" to the banks. Is it not amazing that gentlemen will talk about bank directors as proud aristocrats, rag barons, rolling in splendor and luxury, when it is a well-known fact that the banks have never averaged a profit over seven per cent.? Why the "great monster" itself never realized to the stockholders over six per cent. on their money. Yet with language like this in their mouths, gentlemen will pass this bill, driving every money borrower to the usurer or shaving shop to save him from a jail. There is the sheriff levying on all he has in the world, and there stands his poor wife wringing her hands and clasping her weeping babes to her bosom, while her husband in an agony is offering twenty-five per cent. for money to the usurer or shaver to postpone the hour of their final ruin. How are these money lenders to be benefited? Not by granting the banks a charter; no, if you want to encourage and fatten usurers and shavers, and make bank directors, already rich, still richer, cut off all banks at a blow, annul their charters, and compel them to enforce their demands on the community. While millions are due the banks, they have only to take off enough to redeem their circulation, and they pocket the balance. This is set us as an example; and I say, if you can only carry out your plan; if you can but go through the States and Fiduce their Legislatures to do as you are doing, I say that, barring "stop laws" and "relief laws,' no property in the whole country will be equal to bank stock, and no people be made so rich as usurers and shavers. The effect of your reform is to depreciate all property, to make the stockholder plaintiff and the borrower defendant.

I have a letter from my own State, from which I learn that when a certain plaintiff who had recovered a judgment ordered the sheriff to levy on the defendant's property and compel him to pay in specie, the indignation of the neighborhood was aroused to such a degree that they went to the sheriff and asked him to stop sale, and then to the plaintiff in a state of such excitement that they could scarce be restrained from violence, remonstrating against such oppression and revolting cruelty. Yet we are now called upon to do this very thing, and to do it in the name of the General Government, that it may be held up as an example to the State governments. Well, sir, let the example be carried out; let those who are for compelling the defenseless people of this District to use nothing but hard money, go into their own States and get their State Legislatures to collect the taxes in hard coin, and to pay for all their works of internal improvement in the same hard currency. Try it there, and how long do you think your Government will exist? Will you not have a revolution as surely as you make the trial? Then I say that we have been here fighting these two days past in ambuscade; neither side has come up boldly to the issue. I call upon you to come from the bushes and show your faces. Do to the people of this District as your are willing to do to the people of your own State. I call upon you Virginians, and you Representatives from Maryland, to treat the people of the District of Columbia as you are prepared to treat the citizens of Virginia and Maryland. Then your people will know what it is you mean, and what they have to expect. Yet, while you are voting here to destroy these banks because they have suspended specie payment, (though one of them has

perhaps, as much as any other cause, induced the banks of New York to hold on to their duty, and to exhibit to the world the comparatively proud

lic opinion there would not tolerate another suspension. The bank, then, that shall dare to suspend again will at once be consigned by public

The proposition of the honorable gentleman from Maryland, [Mr. THOMAS,] with the amendment of the honorable gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. UNDERWOOD,] will do this. Indulge them at least for two years. Who, I ask, should best understand the affairs of this District and the necessities and wishes of its inhabitants? Is it not the gentlemen whose local situation brings them nearest to the District? And who are these? Are they not the gentlemen from Maryland? And now what do we see? Who feel the most anxiety for their relief? The two gentlemen from Maryland, [Messrs. JOHNSON and JENIFER.] These gentlemen are not willing that Congress shall set its heel upon this District and grind its citizens to powder. They are not willing that you should treat them as rats in a receiver-mere subjects of experiment. This District, ceded to your Government, and confided to its parental care, is not a garden plat in which to try new-fangled experiments. Its inhabitants are Americans, American citizens, and they are not to be practiced on in this way. If you want to try your new schemes take a wider field. Let the zealous gentleman from New York [Mr. VANDERPOEL] go to the great Empire State, and there let him proclaim his hard-money doctrines. If, indeed, I have mistaken his real views; if he is not in favor of prostrating banks and introducing a metallic currency, I shall rejoice from the bottom of my heart. It will cause me the liveliest joy to hail him as a conservative, and join him in an effort to save the country.

I now move you that this whole subject be referred to a select committee, with instructions to report a bill to this House to-morrow at eleven o'clock.

Mr. VANDERPOEL said that the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. DAWSON] had, unintentionally no doubt, made a false issue. He could not conceive how he could have so far misunderstood the observations he (Mr. V.) made yesterday. He knew that the gentleman would not designedly misrepresent him. He would not, and could not, imagine that he had imputed to him (Mr. V.) sentiments which he never uttered, to furnish himself with a pretext for exhibiting himself to us in that irredeemable character in which he had just presented himself. Mr. V. could reciprocate the expressions of surprise in which the gentleman had indulged, and say that he was astonished, yes, astounded, at the fact that he would become the advocate of institutions whose motto seemed to be, "irredeemable, irredeemable to the last." And in support of what he (Mr. V.) did say, he was willing to accept the challenge of the gentleman, and go with him before the people of the "Empire State," and there plead before the laboring men and farmers of that great Commonwealth. He would there argue with him the bold and naked question, whether it was right, whether it was moral, to recharter a number of banks who refused to pay their debts; who were constantly issuing irredeemable paper, with a full knowledge that the laboring man and the market woman who happened to come possessed of it, must, in order to raise actual money upon it, be subjected to a loss of from five to ten per cent. He knew the moral sense, the sense of right, of the proud and prosperous people of that great State. They would never again for a moment tolerate in their banks this irredeemable, this profligate position, in which the institutions of this District now presented themselves.

The prevailing ethics of New York would save her people from the loss, her character from the degradation inseparable from a gross and daring violation of law and duty on the part of all her moneyed institutions; and it was this fact, this conviction, that the Legislature would never again wink at such demoralizing delinquency that had,

imately to belong; I mean to the vortex of irretrievable bankruptcy. They never did do, the Legislature of New York never would dare to do, what the Bank Whigs were so ready to do, recharter a whole batch of banks while in a state of suspension. The most it did when the banks of New York suspended specie payments in 1837 was, for the term of one year only, to save them from proceedings of the attorney general to enforce a forfeiture of their charters, at the expiration of which they were obliged to resume. They did not ask for further grace; nor would it have been granted had it been asked for. This the banks knew full well. No man who then lived in New York could have mistaken the public pulse upon this subject. It was on the side of duty, on the side of morality, on the side of fidelity to moral and solemn engagements; not on the side where we have found the Irredeemable Whigs of this House. He hoped ever to see in his native State too high a tone of morals to regard with an indulgent eye that position of delinquency, of open violation, on the part of the banks of the very laws that created them, which the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. DAWSON] seemed to regard as quite venial, if not praiseworthy. If the time should ever come when such indulgence shall be too easily cherished and too freely accorded, then he would be prepared to believe that the days of her honor, her good faith, and with it her boasted prosperity, had departed.

But the gentleman insists that in the remarks he (Mr. V.) made yesterday he made a decided demonstration in favor of an exclusive hardmoney currency, by way of carrying out the subTreasury plan. Sir, either his (Mr. V.'s) mode of expressing himself must be very unfortunate and confused, or the gentleman's powers of comprehension are very much at fault; for he surely meant to make no demonstration in favor of an exclusive hard-money currency. What he said was that the banks had made a solemn compact with the Government, and through it with the people, that in consideration of special and very valuable powers granted them they had solemnly agreed to redeem all their liabilities in gold and silver; that this was one of the very conditions of their charters, the violation of which rendered their charters void; that while in a state of open and unblushing violation of this vital condition of the law of their creation, they came to us and asked us for an extension of their corporate existence, without our even hinting at the delinquent and unjust position they occupied, and that there was found in this House a strong party ready and willing to regard this non-payment of their liabilities a mere peccadillo that did not merit our censure, or even our attention, when they called upon us to grant them an additional boon! This is the length and breadth of what he said and meant to say on that occasion. Yes, he freely accepted the challenge of the gentleman from Georgia, and would tell him that he was willing to go before the hard-handed and true-hearted laborers of his native State and say to them, "These are the banks that we refuse to recharter without at least inserting in the act to recharter them some provision that shall drive them back to their duty. We cannot, as your faithful Representatives, pass in approving silence over such delinquency. We cannot see their poor bill-holders constantly shaved from five to ten per cent. without marking with our disapprobation the state of things which conduces to such losses." This, sir, would be the tone and language he would assume before the high-minded people of New York, and he was very sure he would receive from them an approving response. They would not, for such sentiments, be quite as ready as is the gentleman from Georgia, for uttering such sentiments and assuming such a position, to suspect him of too strong hard-money predilections.

But he would go a step further toward showing that he had not assumed a cruel and unfeeling