A Biography of Henry Clay, the Senator from Kentucky / Containing Also, a Complete Report of All His Speeches; Selections From His Private Correspondence; Eulogies in the Senate and House; and a Poem, by George D. Prentice, Esq.

by Unknown

And do just now take a rapid review of the experiments of our rulers. They began with incontestably the best currency in the world, and promised a better. That better currency was to be supplied by the local banks; and in the first stages of the experiment, after the removal of the deposits, they were highly commended from high authority, for their beneficial and extensive operations in exchange, the financial facilities which they afforded to the government, and so forth. But the day of trouble and difficulty, which had been predicted, for the want of a United States bank, came. They could not stand the shock, but gave way, and the suspension of 1837 took place. Then what was the course of those same rulers? They had denounced and put down the bank of the United States. It was a monster. They had extolled and lavished praises on the local banks. Now, they turned round against the objects of their own creation and commendation. Now they were a brood of little monsters, corrupt and corrupting with separate privileges, preying upon the vitals of the states. They vehemently call out for a divorce of state and bank. And meanly retreating under the sub-treasury, from the storm which themselves had raised, leaving the people to suffer under all its pelting and pitiless rage, they add insult to injury, by telling them that they unreasonably expect too much from government, that they must take care of themselves, and that it is the highest and most patriotic duty of a free government to take care of itself, without regard to the sufferings and distresses of the people.

They began with the best currency, promised a better, and end with giving none! For we might as well resort to the costumes of our original parents in the garden of Eden, as, in this enlightened age, with the example of the commercial world before us, to cramp this energetic and enterprising people, by a circulation exclusively of the precious metals. Let us see how the matter stands with us here in Kentucky, and I believe we stand as well as the people do in most of the states. We have a circulation in bank notes amounting to about two millions and a half, founded upon specie in their vaults amounting to one million and a quarter, half the actual circulation. Have we too much money? [Nono! exclaimed many voices.] If all banks were put down, and all bank paper were annihilated, we should have just one half the money that we now have. I am quite sure that one of the immediate causes of our present difficulties, is a defect in quantity as well as the quality of the circulating medium. And it would be impossible, if we were reduced to such a regimen as is proposed by the hard money theorists, to avoid stop laws, relief laws, repudiation, bankruptcies, and perhaps civil commotion.

I have traced the principal causes of the present embarrassed condition of the country, I hope with candor and fairness, and without giving offence to any of my fellow citizens, who may have differed in political opinion from me. It would have been far more agreeable to my feelings to have dwelt, as I did in 1832, during the third year of the first term of president Jackson’s administration, upon bright and cheering prospects of general prosperity. I thought it useful to contrast that period with the present one, and to inquire into the causes which have brought upon us such a sad and dismal reverse. A much more important object remains to me to attempt, and that is to point out remedies for existing evils and disorders.

And the first I would suggest, requires the coöperation of the government and the people; it is economy and frugality, strict and persevering economy, both in public and private affairs. Government should incur or continue no expense that can be justly and honorably avoided, and individuals should do the same. The prosperity of the country has been impaired by causes operating throughout several years, and it will not be restored in a day or a year, perhaps not in a period less than it has taken to destroy it. But we must not only be economical, we must be industrious, indefatigably industrious. An immense amount of capital has been wasted and squandered in visionary or unprofitable enterprises, public and private. It can only be reproduced by labor and saving.

The second remedy which I would suggest, and that without which all others must prove abortive or ineffectual, is a sound currency, of uniform value throughout the union, and redeemable in specie upon the demand of the holder. I know of but one mode in which that object can be accomplished, and that has stood the test of time and practical experience. If any other can be devised than a bank of the United States, which should be safe and certain, and free from the influence of government, and especially under the control of the executive department, I should for one gladly see it embraced. I am not exclusively wedded to a bank of the United States, nor do I desire to see one established against the will and without the consent of the people. But all my observation and reflection have served to strengthen and confirm my conviction, that such an institution, emanating from the authorityof the general government, properly restricted and guarded, with such improvements as experience has pointed out, can alone supply a reliable currency.

Accordingly, at the extra session, a bill passed both houses of congress, which, in my opinion, contained an excellent charter, with one or two slight defects, which it was intended to cure by a supplemental bill, if the veto had not been exercised. That charter contained two new, and I think admirable features; one was to separate the operation of issuing a circulation from that of banking, confiding these faculties to different boards; and the other was to limit the dividends of the bank, bringing the excess beyond the prescribed amount, into the public treasury. In the preparation of the charter, every sacrifice was made that could be made to accommodate it, especially in regard to the president. But instead of meeting as in a mutual spirit of conciliation, he fired, as was aptly said by a Virginia editor, upon the flag of truce sent from the capitol.

Congress anxious to fulfil the expectations of the people, another bank bill was prepared, in conformity with the plan of a bank sketched by the acting president in his veto message, after a previous consultation between him and some distinguished members of congress, and two leading members of his cabinet. The bill was shaped in precise conformity to his views, as communicated by those members of the cabinet, and as communicated to others and was submitted to his inspection after it was so prepared; and he gave his assurances that he would approve such a bill. I was no party to the transaction, but I do not entertain a doubt of what I state. The bill passed both houses of congress without any alteration or amendment whatever, and the veto was nevertheless again employed.

It is painful for me to advert to a grave occurrence, marked by such dishonor and bad faith. Although the president, through his recognized organ, derides and denounces the whigs, and disowns being one; although he administers the executive branch of the government in contempt of their feelings and in violation of their principles; and although all whom he chooses to have denominated as ultra whigs, that is to say the great body of the whig party, have come under his ban, and those of them in office are threatened with his expulsion, I wish not to say of him one word that is not due to truth and to the country. I will, however, say that, in my opinion, the whigs cannot justly be held responsible for his administration of the executive department, for the measures he may recommend, or his failure to recommend others, nor especially for the manner in which he distributes the public patronage. They will do their duty, I hope, towards the country, and render all good and proper support to government; but they ought not to be held accountable for his conduct. They elected him, it is true, but foranother office, and he came into the present one by a lamentable visitation of providence. There had been no such instance occurring under the government. If the whigs were bound to scrutinize his opinions, in reference to an office which no one ever anticipated he would fill, he was bound in honor and good faith to decline the Harrisburgh nomination, if he could not conscientiously coöperate with the principles that brought him into office. Had the president who was elected lived, had that honest and good man, on whose face, in that picture, we now gaze, been spared, I feel perfectly confident that all the measures which the principles of the whigs authorized the country to expect, including a bank of the United States, would have been carried.

But it may be said that a sound currency, such as I have described, is unattainable during the administration of Mr. Tyler. It will be, if it can only be obtained through the instrumentality of a bank of the United States, unless he changes his opinion, as he has done in regard to the land bill.

Unfortunately, our chief magistrate possesses more powers, in some respects, than a king or queen of England. The crown is never separated from the nation, but is obliged to conform to its will. If the ministry holds opinions adverse to the nation, and is thrown into the minority in the house of commons, the crown is constrained to dismiss the ministry, and appoint one whose opinions coincide with the nation. This queen Victoria has recently been obliged to do: and not merely to change her ministry, but to dismiss the official attendants upon her person. But here, if the president holds an opinion adverse to that of congress and the nation upon important public measures, there is no remedy but upon the periodical return of the rights of the ballot box.