SENATE.] Treasury Circular. seventy-one editions of tens; twenty-six editions of twenties; and two editions of fifties; still showing that in the United States, as well as in England, on local banks as well as that of the United States, the course of counterfeiting was still the same; and that the whole stress of the crime fell upon the five and ten dollar notes in this country, and their corresponding classes, the one and two pound notes in England. Mr. B. also exhibited the pages of Bicknell's Counterfeit Detector, a pamphlet covered over, column after column, with its frightful lists, nearly all under twenty dollars; and he called upon the Senate, in the sacred name of the morals of the country, in the name of virtue and morality, to endeavor to check the fountain of this crime, by stopping the issue of the description of notes on which it exerted nearly its whole force. Mr. B. could not quit the evils of the crime of counterfeiting in the United States without remarking that the difficulty of legal detection and punishment was so great, owing to the distance at which the counterfeits were circulated from the banks purporting to issue them, and the still greater difficulty, in most cases impossible, to get witnesses to attend in person in States in which they do not reside, the counterfeiters all choosing to practise their crime and circulate their forgeries in States which do not contain the banks whose paper they are imitating. So difficult is it to obtain the attendance of witnesses in other States, that the crime of counterfeiting is almost practised with impunity. The notes under 20 dollars feed and supply this crime; let them be stopped, and ninety-nine hundredths of this crime will stop with them. A third objection which Mr. B. urged against the notes under twenty dollars was, that nearly the whole evils of that part of the paper system fell upon the laboring and small dealing part of the community. Nearly all the counterfeits lodged in their hands, or were shaved out of their hands. When a bank failed, the mass of its circulation, being in small notes, sunk upon their hands. The gain to the banks from the wear and tear of small notes came out of them, the less from the same cause falling upon them. The 10 or 12 per cent. annual profit for furnishing a currency in place of gold and silver (for which no interest would be paid to the mint or the Government) chiefly falls upon them; for the paper currency is chiefly under twenty dollars. These evils they almost exclusively bear, while they have, over and above all these, their full proportion of all the evils resulting from the expansions and contractions which are incessantly going on, totally destroying the standard of value, periodically convulsing the country, and in every cycle of five or six years making a lottery of all property, in which all the prizes are drawn by the bank managers and their friends. In proposing the limitation of twenty dollars to these District banks, Mr. B. of course coupled with it the concomitant provision for the exclusion of all notes under the same limit issued without the District. This was a precaution as just and natural as it was easy. A prohibitory law, with a liability in every passer to pay the amount of the notes, with costs and damages, in specie, and especially in gold, with summary process before a justice of the peace for the recovery, would effectually expel the interdicted and pestiferous paper. Mr. B. said that the proposed limit of twenty dollars for the minimum size of bank notes was was not an arbitrary assumption or a fanciful designation; but was a limit ascertained by experience, and proven by results, to be the lowest that would suffice to accomplish the ends intended. These ends are: 1. To re-establish the gold currency. 2. To make gold and silver the common currency for all the small dealings of the country. 3. To extend and enlarge the specie basis of the paper [JAN. 27, 1837. circulation. 4. To save the laboring and small dealing part of the community from the effects of contractions and expansions from bank issues. 5. To save them from the impositions of counterfeiters, from losses when banks fail, and from bearing the whole burden of the wear and tear of small notes. 6. To save hard money enough in the country to make it safe to have such pa per currency as commerce and large dealings may require. These are the objects to be accomplished, and less than twenty dollars will have no adequate effect; far better would be the limit of one hundred dollars, as it is nearly in France, and where that limit insures a circulation of nine tenths of gold and silver, and one tenth paper; namely, upwards of five hundred millions of dollars of one, and fifty millions of the other. Wise would it be in any single State to adopt this limit, and to exclude all notes under that amount from circulation within its borders; that State would become the richest and the happiest in the Union. It would be, in its moneyed concerns, to the rest of the Union, what France is to the rest of Europe-the absorbent of their precious metals, the perennial fountain of golden supply to its citizens, and the land of rest from the panics and pressures, the ebbs and flows, the feasts and famines, the dearths and deluges, the expansions, contractions, and revulsions, and all the crimes and misfortunes of the paper system. While But to proceed with the twenty-dollar limit. England had notes as low as one and two pounds, which we may call five and ten dollars, the specie basis contracted and diminished until silver could only be got for small change, and gold fled entirely from the country. The mint was forever coining, but the guineas and sovereigns went straight to France; and it was testified by Mr. Alexander Baring, before a committee of the House of Commons, that the gold coinage of the British mint, during this period, was regularly recoined in France, often without seeing the light in England; being packed in boxes and shipped as it issued from the mint, delivered in Paris before it was a week old, and swal lowed up in the ocean of French currency, by passing through the French mint, and assuming the stamp and arms of France. The suppression of the one and two pound notes in 1819, and the £5 limit, with the compulsory obligation on the Bank of England to pay all its notes in gold, restored the gold currency in that country, and so extended and enlarged the specie basis, as to make her currency half and half-half specie and half paper-the specie two thirds gold, and one third silver; and the paper all of £5, about $24, and upwards. This has made a paper currency safe in England, for it is dollar for dollar; it has given to the laboring and small dealing classes a hard-money currency, and it has taken from the counterfeiters their chief and favorite classes of notes for imitation. Mr. B. took the great ground tha*, where a paper currency was tolerated at all, the safety and welfare of the community required the specie proportion to be one half; that it required a £5 Imit, and gold payments, to effect that object in England; that a limit of twenty dollars would not effect it in the United States; and he was only restrained from proposing the French limit, from the impossibility of contending successfully with the bank power at present, now omnipotent in the country, engrossing the time and governing the legislation in whatever related to their own interests. A twenty-dollar limit would not give a substratum of half specie, even if our banks were compelled to pay all gold; but there is no compulsion on them to pay any part; and the efforts to bring them to half payments in gold would be long and bitterly resisted. Gold is the enemy of paper; it keeps it down when the holder of the paper has a right to demand gold; and thus a paper currency founded upon gold, as it is in England, will always be kept more within bounds than a paper cur JAN. 28, 1837.] Votes for President and Vice President-Retirement of the Vice President. rency founded upon silver. Silver is too cumbrous to hold paper in check. A person would not wish to change even a twenty-dollar note into silver to carry in his pocket, but would gladly change it into gold; and so of fifty and hundred dollar notes. When Mr. BENTON had concluded his speech, Mr. GRUNDY moved to lay the bill on the table, for the purpose of taking up and acting on the resolution submitted by him for the appointment of a joint committee to count the VOTES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESI DENT. This motion having been agreed to, and Mr. GRUNDY'S resolution being before the Senate, Mr. GRUNDY said he had no objections to the inquiry proposed by the amendment; and he thought that some such provision as that proposed by the Senator from Ken"tucky would be very proper. He had seen in the public papers a statement charging that some of the electors who voted in the late presidential election held offices under the General Government, and had made inquiries for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of the matter. The information he had been able to collect related to two cases only; and as to these, the report had been founded altogether on a misapprehension. Mr. CLAY, after a few remarks, offered the following amendment: "And, also, to inquire into the expediency of ascertaining whether any votes were given at the recent election, contrary to the prohibition contained in the second section of the second article of the constitution. And if any such votes were given, what ought to be done with them; and whether any, and what, provision ought to be made for securing the faithful observance, in future, of that section of the constitution." Mr. HUBBARD expressed his entire concurrence in the objects of the amendment proposed by the Senator from Kentucky. He wished a strict inquiry to be instituted, and measures to be adopted to guard against the occurrence of such a violation of the constitution as the Senator from Kentucky referred to. As it had been stated that two of the electors in his State (New Hampshire) held offices under the General Government, and were consequently ineligible, he was happy to state to the Senate that there was no foundation whatever for the report. The amendment of Mr. CLAY was then adopted, and the resolution, thus amended, was agreed to. Mr. HUBBARD moved that the committee be appointed by the Chair; which, by unanimous consent, was was agreed to; and Messrs. GRUNDY, CLAY, and WRIGHT, were selected. The Senate then adjourned. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28. RETIREMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT. The VICE PRESIDENT, after the reading of the journal, addressed the Senate as follows: Senators: The period is at hand which is to terminate the official relation that has existed between us, and I leave, probably never to return to it, a body with which I have been long connected; where some remain whom I found here fifteen years ago, and where, in the progress of public duties, personal associations have arisen never to be forgotten. From such scenes I cannot retire without emotion. Nor can I give to the Senate the usual opportunity of choosing another to preside for a time over their deliberations, without referring to the manner in which I have endeavored to discharge a most gratifying and honorable trust connected with the office to which my country called me. [SENATE. Entering upon it with unaffected diffidence, well knowing how little my studies had been directed to its peculiar duties, I was yet strengthened by the determi nation, then expressed, so to discharge the authority with which I was invested, as "best to protect the rights, to respect the feelings, and to guard the reputations, of all who would be affected by its exercise." I was sure that, if successful in this, I should be pardoned for errors which I could hardly expect to avoid. In the interval that has since elapsed, it has been our lot in this assembly to pass through scenes of unusual excitement: the intense interest on absorbing topics, which has pervaded our whole community, could not be unfelt within these walls. The warmth of political parties, natural in such times, the unguarded ardor of sudden debate, and the collisions seldom to be separated from the invaluable privilege of free discussion, have not been unfrequently mingled with the more tranquil tenor of ordinary legislation. I cannot hope_that, in emergencies like these, I have always been so fortunate as to satisfy every one around me; yet I permit myself to think that the extent to which my decisions have been approved by the Senate is some evidence that my efforts justly to administer their rules have not been vain; and I conscientiously cherish the conviction, that on no occasion have I departed from my early resolution, or been regardless of what was due to the rights or the feelings of the members of this body. Though I may henceforth be separated from the Senate, I can never cease to revert with peculiar interest to my long connexion with it. In every situation in my future life I shall remember with a just pride the evidences of approbation and confidence which I have here received; and as an American citizen, devotedly attached to the institutions of my country, I must always regard with becoming and sincere respect a branch of our Government invested with such extensive powers, and designed by our forefathers to accomplish such important results. Indulging an ardent wish that every success may await you in performing the exalted and honorable duties of your public trust, and offering my warmest prayers that prosperity and happiness may be constant attendants on each of you, along the future paths of life, I respectfully bid you farewell. After the VICE PRESIDENT had retired, On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, the Senate proceeded to ballot for a President pro tem. The number of votes cast was 37; necessary to a choice 19. Mr. KING of Alabama had 26, Mr. SOUTHARD 7, Mr. CLAY 1, Mr. PRENTISS 1, Mr. EwING of Ohio, 1, Mr. BUCHANAN 1. Mr. KING, of Alabama, being thus duly elected President pro tem. of the Senate, was conducted to the Chair by Mr. BENTON, and addressed the Senate nearly as follows: Gentlemen of the Senate: To be again called to preside over the deliberations of this august assembly fills my heart with the liveliest emotions of gratitude. When at the last session it pleased the Senate to place me in this exalted situation, I solemnly pledged myself to discharge the duties it devolved on me, without favor and without partiality. I felt conscious that I had done so; but could any thing add to the grateful sense I entertain of the honor you have again conferred on me, it will be found in the unequivocal testimony you have this day borne, that I had faithfully redeemed that pledge. The Senate of the United States, gentlemen, is, from its very organization, the great conservative body in this republic. Here is the strong citadel of liberty. To this body the intelligent and the virtuous, throughout our wide-spread country, look with confidence for an unwavering and unflinching resistance to the encroachments of power on the one hand, and the effervescence of popular excitement on the other. Unawed and unseduced, it should firmly maintain the constitution in its purity, and present an impregnable barrier against every attack on that sacred instrument, come it from what quarter it may. The demon of faction should find no abiding place in this chamber, but every heart and every head should be wholly occupied in advancing the general welfare, and preserving, unimpaired, the national honor. To insure success, gentle. men, in the discharge of our high duties, we must command the confidence and receive the support of the people. Calm deliberation, courtesy towards each other, order and decorum in debate, will go far, very far, to inspire that confidence and command that support. It becomes my duty, gentlemen, to banish (if practicable) from this hall all personal altercation; to check, at once, every remark of a character personally offensive; to preserve order, and promote harmony. These duties, as far as my powers will permit, I shall unhesitatingly perform. I earnestly solicit your co-operation, gentlemen, in aiding my efforts promptly to put down every species of disorder. For your kindness, gentlemen, I tender you my grateful acknowledgments. On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, it was Ordered, That the Secretary of the Senate inform the President of the United States and the House of Repre sentatives that the Senate have elected the Hon. WILLIAM R. KIMG their President pro lem. TREASURY CIRCULAR. The bill designating and limiting the funds which shall be receivable in payment for the public revenues was taken up, being on its third reading. Mr. SEVIER moved to postpone the further consideration of the bill until Monday, for the purpose of going on with the land bill; which motion was lost: Ayes 13, noes not counted. Mr. WALKER then rose and said: Before replying to the indictment preferred by the honorable Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON,] against the Committee on Public Lands, it is proper to recur to the facts and circumstances under which this controversy originated. At an early period of the session, the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. EWING, introduced a resolution to rescind the Treasury order. This resolution was very fully discussed, and especially by the Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON,] but Mr. W. had taken no part in this discussion. In the progress of the debate upon the resolution of the Senator from Ohio, a substitute was offered, as an amendment, by the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. RIVES.] This substitute was advocated by that Senator, as in consonance with the President's recommendation, to render the legislation of Congress in the collection of the federal revenue auxiliary to the suppression of all notes of a smaller denomination than twenty dollars, and a consequent enlargement of the circulation of gold and silver. The Senator from Virginia had regarded the Treasury order as a temporary measure, to meet a pressing emergency, and as having in a great degree per. formed its office. Mr. W. had still refrained from embarking in the discussion upon this question. Several Senators, however, had expressed their opinions, and great difficulties appear ed to be presented against any satisfactory adjustment of this question. Under these circumstances, several Senators, now within the sound of his voice, had proposed to him (Mr. W.) to refer both resolutions to the Committee on Public Lands. To this reference, Mr. W. said, he had at first objected, upon the grounds that the Committee on Public Lands was engaged in the laborious examination of another question, and that the subject of des [JAN. 28, 1837. ignating the funds receivable for the public dues belonged more appropriately to the Committee on Finance. Upon further consultation, however, with several Sena. tors friendly to the administration, Mr. W. had at length reluctantly assented to the proposed reference, which was accordingly made by the vote of the Senate, including that of the Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON.] No other report than that which was made, so far as Mr. W. was concerned, could have been anticipated; for to every Senator with whom Mr. W. had conversed, he had expressed his concurrence in the provisions, substantially, of the resolution of the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. RIVES;] and at the last session, when the Senator from Missouri [Mr. BENTON] introduced a resolution requi ring payments of the public lands in gold and silver only, the Senate would well recollect that he (Mr. W.) had then expressed his opposition to that resolution, and so had a majority of the Senators now composing the Com. mittee on Public Lands. When, then, the Senator from Missouri voted for this reference, he could not justly have anticipated any other report than that which was made by the committee. Why, then, did the Senator from Missouri vote for this reference, and then denounce the committee for making the only report which he could have expected, in conformity with their previously avowed opinions? Mr. W. said it became his duty, as chairman of this committee, and as their organ, to report a bill containing substantially the provisions of the resolution of the Senator from Virginia. Again, the subject had been discussed in the Senate, but Mr. W. had not participated in the debate; and the bill, by a large majority, was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading; and now, when, by the usual rules of parliamentary debate, the contest might well be considered as terminated, the Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON,] be. fore the vote on the final passage, had made a very elab. orate argument against the measure. To all this Mr. W. would make no objection; but when that Senator, having exhausted the argument, or having none to offer, had indulged in violent and intemperate denunciation of the Committee on Public Lands, and of the report made by him as their organ, Mr. W. could not withhold the expression of his surprise and astonishment. Mr. W. said it was his good fortune to be upon terms of the kindest personal intercourse with every Senator, and these friendly relations should not be interrupted by any aggression upon his part. And now, Mr. W. said, he called upon the whole Senate to bear witness, as he was sure they all cheerfully would, that in this controversy he was not the aggressor, and that nothing had been done or said by him to provoke the wrath of the Senator from Missouri, unless, indeed, to differ from him in opin ion upon any subject constituted an offence in the mind of that Senator. If such were the views of that gentleman, if he was prepared to immolate every Senator who would not worship the same images of gold and silver which decorated the political chapel of the honorable gentleman, Mr. W. was fearful that the Senator from Missouri would do execution upon every member of the Senate but himself, and be left here alone in his glory. Mr. W. said he recurred to the remarks of the Senator from Missouri with feelings of regret, rather than of anger or excitement; and that he could not but hope, that when the Senator from Missouri had calmly reflected upon this subject, he would himself see much to regret in the course he had pursued in relation to the Committee on Public Lands, and much to recall that he had uttered under feelings of temporary excitement. Sir, (said Mr. W.,) being deeply solicitous to preserve unbroken the ranks of the democratic party in this body, participating with the people in grateful recollection of the distinguished services rendered by the Senator from Missouri to the democracy of the Union, he would pass by many of the remarks made by that Senator on this subject. [Mr. BENTON here rose from his chair, and demanded, with much warmth, that Mr. WALKER should not pass by one of them. Mr. W. asked, What one? Mr. B. replied, in an angry tone, Not one, sir. Then Mr. W. said he would examine them all, and in a spirit of perfect freedom; that he would endeavor to return blow for blow; and that, if the Senator from Missouri desired, as it appeared he did, an angry controversy with him, in all its consequences, in and out of this House, he could be gratified.] Sir, (said Mr. W.,) why has the Senator from Missou ri assailed the Committee on Public Lands, and himself, as its humble organ? He was not the author of this measure, so much denounced by the Senator from Missouri, nor had he said one word upon the subject. The measure originated with the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. RIVES.] He was the author of the measure, and had been, and still was, its able, zealous, and successful advocate. Why, then, had the Senator from Missouri assailed him, (Mr. W.,) and permitted the author of the measure to escape unpunished? Sir, are the arrows which appear to be aimed by the Senator from Missouri at the humble organ of the Committee on Public lands, who reported this bill, intended to inflict a wound in another quarter? Is one Senator the apparent object of assault, when another is designed as the real victim? Sir, when the Senator from Missouri, without any provocation, like a thunderbolt from an unclouded sky, broke upon the Senate in a perfect tempest of wrath and fury, bursting upon his poor head like a tropical tornado, did he intend to sweep before the avenging storm another indi. vidual more obnoxious to his censure? Sir, (said Mr. W.,) the Senator from Missouri has thrice repeated the prayer, “God save the country from the Committee on Public Lands;" but Mr. W. fully believed that if the prayer of the country could be heard within these walls, it would be, God save us from the wild, visionary, ruinous, and impracticable schemes of the Senator of Missouri, for exclusive gold and silver currency; and such is not only the prayer of the coun try, but of the Senate, with scarcely a dissenting voice. Sir, if the Senator from Missouri could, by his mandate, in direct opposition to the views of the President, here. tofore expressed, sweep from existence all the banks of the States, and establish his exclusive constitutional currency of gold and silver, he would bring upon this country scenes of ruin and distress without a parallel-an immediate bankruptcy of nearly every debtor, and of almost every creditor to whom large amounts were due, a prodigious depreciation in the price of all property and all products, and an immediate cessation by States and individuals of nearly every work of private enter. prise or public improvement. The country would be involved in one universal bankruptcy, and near the grave of the nation's prosperity would perhaps repose the scattered fragments of those great and glorious institutions which give happiness to millions here, and hopes to millions more of disenthralment from despotic power. Sir, in resistance to the power of the Bank of the United States, in opposition to the re-establishment of any similar institution, the Senator from Missouri would find Mr. W. with him; but he could not enlist as a recruit in this new crusade against the banks of his own and every other State in the Union. These institutions, whether for good or evil, are created by the States, cherished and sustained by them, in many cases owned in whole or in part by the States, and closely united with their prosperity; and what right have we to destroy them? What right had he, a humble servant of the people of Mississippi, to say to his own, or any other State, your State legislation is wrong-your State insti [SENATE. tutions, your State banks, must be annihilated, and we will legislate here to effect this object. Are we the masters or servants of the sovereign States, that we dare speak to them in language like this-that we dare attempt to prostrate here those institutions which are created and maintained by those very States which we represent on this floor? These may be the opinions entertained by some Senators of their duty to the States they represent, but they were not his (Mr. W's) views or his opinions. He was sincerely desirous to co-operate with his State in limiting any dangerous powers of the banks, in enlarging the circulation of gold and silver, and in suppressing the small-note currency, so as to avoid that explosion which was to be apprehended from excessive issues of bank paper. But a total annihilation of all the banks of his own State, now possessing a chartered capital of near forty millions of dollars, would, Mr. W. | knew, produce almost universal bankruptcy, and was not, he believed, anticipated by any one of his constit ents. But the Senator from Missouri tells us that this measure of the committee is a repeal of the constitution, by authorizing the receipt of paper money in revenue payments. If so, then the constitution never has had an existence; for the period cannot be designated when paper money was not so receivable by the Federal Gov. ernment. This species of money was expressly made receivable for the public dues by an act of Congress, passed immediately after the adoption of the constitution, and which remained in force until eighteen hundred and eleven. It was so received, as a matter of prac tice, from eighteen hundred and eleven until eighteen hundred and sixteen, when, again, by an act of Congress then passed, and which has just expired, it was so au. thorized to be received during all that period. Now, although these acts have expired, there is that which is equivalent to a law still in force, expressly authorizing the notes of the specie paying banks of the States to be received in revenue payments. It is the joint resolution of eighteen hundred and sixteen, adopted by both Houses of Congress, and approved by President Madison. That joint resolution is in these words: "That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is, required and directed to adopt such measures as he may deem necessary to cause, as soon as may be, all duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money, accruing or becoming payable to the United States, to be collected and paid in the legal currency of the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the United States, as by law provided and declared, or in notes of banks which are payable and paid on demand in the said legal currency of the United States; and that, from and after the 20th day of February next, no such duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money, accruing or becoming payable to the United States as aforesaid, ought to be collected or received otherwise than in the legal cur. rency of the United States, or Treasury notes, or notes of the Bank of the United States, or in notes of banks which are payable and paid on demand in the said legal currency of the United States. Commenting upon this resolution, the Senator from Missouri, in his speech of December last, declared: "This is the law, continued Mr. Benton, and nothing can be plainer than the right of selection which it gives to the Secretary of the Treasury." "The words of the law are clear; the practice under it has been uniform and uninterrupted from the date of its passage to the present day. For twenty years, and under three Presidents, all the Secretaries of the Treasury have acted alike. Each has made selections, permitting the notes of some specie-paying banks to be received, and forbidding others." Here this joint resolution is admitted by the Senator SENATE.] Treasury Circular. from Missouri to be "the law," and that the practice under it has been uniform to receive the notes of speciepaying banks. If, then, to authorize the reception of the notes of specie-paying banks in payment of the pub. lic dues be a violation of the constitution, it is obvious that the constitution never has bad any existence, except in the golden visions of the honorable Senator from Missouri. Sir, what more is done by the bill reported from the Committee on Public Lands, and now ordered to be engrossed by the Senate, than bad been already accomplished by the joint resolution of 1816? This bill, as thus engrossed, is as follows: "An act designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of the United States. [JAN. 28, 1837. 1816, which, as regards the customs, is untouched even by the Treasury order. Strange inconsistency! singu lar delusion! But has it come to this: that Congress has surrendered an unlimited discretion, as regards the funds receivable for the public ducs, into the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury, and must not now interfere? That, in the opinion of the Senator from Missouri, it is all right that the Secretary of the Treasury should possess the discretionary power of receiving or rejecting bank paper in payment of the public dues; of discriminating between different individuals and different branches of the public revenue; of putting up and putting down bank paper at his pleasure-but that for Congress to interpose and define or limit that discretion is a violation of the constitution. That for the Secretary of the Treasury "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representato regulate the currency at his pleasure, and put up and tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- put down State banks and their paper, is all right; but that bled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and here- for Congress to limit and define his power, in these reby is, required to adopt such measures as he may deemspects, is unconstitutional. The Secretary of the Treas necessary to effect a collection of the public revenue ury, then, must be above Congress, and above the conof the United States, whether arising from duties, stitution, possessing an omnipotent, unchangeable, irretaxes, debts, or sales of lands, in the manner and versible power on this subject. Is not the Senate ason the principles herein provided: that is, that no tounded by the avowal and advocacy of such doctrines such duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money, payable for upon this floor--doctrines worthy of the Polignacs of lands, shall be collected or received otherwise than in France, and of the Stuarts of England, but wholly inthe legal currency of the United States, or in notes of compatible with the genius of our institutions, and direct. banks which are payable and paid on demand in the said ly contradictory, as shall be shown hereafter, to the legal currency of the United States, under the following opinions upon this subject of our patriotic President? restrictions and conditions in regard to such notes, to Are the American people prepared to sustain these docwit: from and after the passage of this act, the notes of trines--doctrines which are essentially monarchical, which no bank which shall issue or circulate bills or notes of take from Congress all power over this subject; which a less denomination than five dollars shall be received deny their authority, the authority of the representatives on account of the public dues; and from and after the of the people and of the States, and erect the Secretary thirtieth day of December, eighteen hundred and thirty- of the Treasury into a dictator, whose mandates we may nine, the notes of no bank which shall issue or circulate not control or alter? Sir, if the Secretary of the Treasury bills or notes of a less denomination than ten dollars shall may thus abolish our power on this subject, and render be so receivable; and from and after the thirtieth day of it unconstitutional for us to interfere with his orders, December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, why may not every other Secretary of every other Dethe like prohibition shall be extended to the notes of partment claim similar power and the same exemption all banks issuing bills or notes of a less denomination than from our control? Such doctrines are the very essence twenty dollars. of despotism, and now for the first time have they been openly avowed upon this floor and in this country. Tell me not, then, that the Secretary of the Treasury may receive or reject bank paper at his pleasure; may receive it, as he now does, for customs, and reject it in payment of the public lands; and that it is unconstitutional for Congress to regulate, define, and limit, that discretion. Standing upon the broad basis of the constitution, he would resist such doctrines; for they can only be maintained by a total overthrow of free government, and the establishment of arbitrary and despotic power. "SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no notes shall be received by the collectors or receivers of the public money which the banks in which they are to be deposited shall not, under the supervision and control of the Secretary of the Treasury, agree to pass to the credit of the United States as cash: Provided, That if any deposite bank shall refuse to receive and pass to the credit of the United States, as cash, any notes receivable under the provisions of this act, which said bank, in the ordinary course of business, receives on general deposite, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to withdraw the public deposites from said bank." Now, the principal difference between the provisions of this bill and the joint resolution of 1816 consists in the exclusion by the bill of notes of small denominations from revenue payments. Yet the Senator from Missouri would leave the resolution of 1816 in full force, unrepealed, unmodified, and yet objects to the measure now before us. The Senator from Missouri would have remain in force a resolution of Congress, by which the Secretary of the Treasury may, at his discretion, receive for the public dues bank notes, even of one dollar; and yet he objects to a measure by which that discretion is limited to the receipt of notes of the higher denominations. By the resolution, as it stands, the Secretary of the Treasury may collect the whole public revenue in bank paper; by the bill, as proposed, a portion of the public dues must be collected in gold and silver; and yet the Senator from Missouri objects, and denounces the ineasure as a repeal of the constitution, by authorizing the payment of the public dues in bank paper, as if it were not authorized already by the joint resolution of But the Senator from Missouri tells us that he objects to the bill of the committee as an act of Congress, when it should have been a resolution. Sir, does that Senator contend that in directions given by Congress to the Secretary of the Treasury, as regards the funds receivable for the public dues, there is any distinction between a be it enacted, and a be it resolved, by the Congress of the United States? The constitution prescribes no such form, and recognises no such distinction. It requires joint resolutions, except for adjournment, as well as laws, to be approved by the President; and when this is done, they have the same obligatory energy in limiting and directing the acts of our public agents. Sir, when the Senator from Missouri urged this new objection, he seemed to have forgotten his speech of Decem ber last, in which, when commenting upon the joint resolution of 1816, he declared "this is the law;" but now that Senator would have us believe that a joint resolution is not equivalent to a law of Congress. But if there be this distinction between a law and a joint resolution, in support of this plea of abatement, upon |
