Art. X.—BANK OF THE UNITED STATES.
1.—Report of the Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Representatives of the United States, to which was referred so much of the President's Message as relates to the Bank of the United States. April 13th, 1830: pp. 31. 8vo.
2.—Message of the President of the United States to both Houses of Congress. December 8th, 1830.
When the President first presented the question of re-chartering the Bank of the United States to the national legislature, at the opening of the session of 1829-30, the measure was viewed very differently by different men. We do not speak of the vulgar herd of politicians, great and small, who approve or condemn indiscriminately all measures of the government, but of that more elevated and independent class, who ask nothing of any administration than that it shall do its duty; and who judge of its acts as they seem to be legal, useful, and wise. To some the president's course appeared to be highly objectionable. The bank charter had then six years to run, and, consequently, they said, neither this congress nor the next had any control over the subject. Nor could it furnish matter of legislation, they added, whilst president Jackson remained in office, unless he should, by being elected for a second term, give his sanction to a principle which he had pronounced impolitic and dangerous. To have brought forward the subject, under these circumstances, with no very doubtful intimation of his own wishes, was as unnecessary as it was unusual, and implied a want of confidence in those who were ultimately to decide the question.
To others, however, this early notice of the subject seemed to be justified by its importance, and they thought that the public could not be too soon engaged in discussing the merits of a question which in so many ways concerned the general welfare. Of this opinion seemed to be the committee of the house of representatives, to which this part of the message was referred, and which, after giving the subject a full consideration, reported in favour of renewing the charter of the present bank, and against the substitute for it which the president had ventured to suggest.
The subject being thus fairly before the people, and in fact undergoing a very thorough investigation in the public journals, it was expected that the president would be contented with having done his duty on the occasion, and, if not silenced by the gentle dissuasive of the senate, or the bold and uncompromising logic of the house, he would merely regret that truth should be so hoodwinked by prejudice, or that error should have found so many apologists and supporters in those august bodies, and that he would leave the question where it properly belonged, and where he himself had placed it—with "the legislature and the people." It was, then, with no little surprise, perceived, that the succeeding annual message, which is at the head of this article, had brought the same subject to the notice of the legislature, consisting precisely of the same individuals as before, when nothing was pretended to have occurred to induce them to change their former opinion, and when the only reason which had been given, at the preceding session, for inviting the consideration of what neither required nor admitted immediate legislation, no longer existed. Public attention had been fully drawn to the subject. The stockholders of the bank, who are profiting by the good management of the institution, and who naturally wish the charter renewed, had taken the alarm, and, trusting to the omnipotence of truth, had every where invited investigation and discussion—and all those who hoped to profit by the new national bank, or who felt themselves bound to second the wishes of the administration, had opposed the renewal of the charter, through the prints devoted to the same cause.
When the avowed purpose of the president had been thus completely answered, by his first communication to congress, it is natural to ask what could have prompted the second? Were the majorities in both houses of congress personally hostile to the president, or unfriendly to his administration; and was it necessary for him to defend himself from party prejudice by an appeal to the people? That could not be; for it is notorious that the president's friends, personal or political, are most numerous in both houses, and this advantage is a daily theme of party boast and congratulation. Were the chairmen of the respective committees his political opponents, and did they insidiously endeavour to bring his party into discredit for the purpose of advancing their own? But they were among his most zealous adherents—nay, it may be questioned whether there was a single individual in the United States to whom the president was more indebted for the vindication of his character before the people, than to Mr. M'Duffie, who wrote one of the reports;—unless it might be to Mr. Adams, when secretary of state. Was it then expected, that the house of representatives, which had disregarded his recommendation, would now approve his project? It is impossible that the president or his advisers could have believed they would carry their complaisance so far. They must have known that the subject would be referred to the same committee, composed of the same persons, as that of the preceding year, and who would be likely, if they reported at all, not only to support their first opinions by further arguments, but to express their disapprobation of a course so wanting in respect to the legislature, and so little calculated to promote harmony between the different branches of the government. As, then, we are compelled to give the negative to all these suppositions, we must infer that the object of this extraordinary course has been to influence public opinion. It seems essential to the views of the present executive of the United States, to put down the present national bank, and to erect another on its ruins; and this favourite purpose it hopes to attain by bringing the president's personal and official influence to bear on the question; and, under the forms of the constitution, to appeal from his party in congress, to his party in the nation.
On the dignity or good faith of this course we will not make any comment; but since the question is thus brought before the people, we will cheerfully meet it, and inquire how far the measure recommended by the president, against the opinions of the immediate representatives of the people, seems calculated to advance the public interest, or to promote a distinct and peculiar interest. We shall fearlessly, though temperately, examine the president's propositions, both as to the existing national bank and its proposed substitute; and we shall look at the subject with a single eye to the public good, for we have no other interest in the question than what is common to every citizen of the United States. We know that there is much good sense in this nation, and although there is a full share of prejudice too, yet no one need despair, that the former, if properly addressed, will eventually prevail.
That part of the Message which relates to the bank is in these words,—
"The importance of the principles involved in the inquiry, whether it will be proper to re-charter the Bank of the United States, requires that I should again call the attention of congress to the subject. Nothing has occurred to lessen, in any degree, the dangers which many of our citizens apprehended from that institution, as at present organized. In the spirit of improvement and compromise which distinguishes our country and its institutions, it becomes us to inquire whether it be not possible to secure the advantages afforded by the present bank through the agency of a bank of the United States, so modified in its principles and structure as to obviate constitutional and other objections.