OCT. 12, 1837.] Sub-Treasury Bill. think a little more ourselves, and afford our constituents an opportunity of thinking and speaking also. Before Mr. POPE had concluded his remarks, as given entire in preceding pages, he was arrested by the hour, and the House took its usual recess till 4 o'clock. EVENING SESSION. The Committee of the Whole met at four o'clock, and had to wait long for a quorum. Mr. POPE had the floor, but yielded it for a short time to Mr. CUSHMAN, who observed that, as the gentleman from Kentucky had made a personal allusion to him, he would, with that gentleman's leave, say a word or two by way of explanation. It is true, as that gentleman says, that while the report of the Committee of Ways and Means was under discussion, and after it had been debated during the morning hour for several days, he moved the previous question. It is true, also, that the honorable gentleman from Kentucky asked him to withdraw the motion, that he might make a few remarks upon that subject, and he now complains that he was then prevented from so doing by the above-mentioned motion. Mr. C. said there were two reasons why he did not comply with that request. The first was, that there was around him a general desire that it should not be granted and if he had withdrawn it, the same motion would have been renewed by some other gentleman. Secondly, that the subject of a United States bank had, for the last five or six years, been the common theme of discussion in every city, town, village, and hamlet in the country. It is true, he said, that several gentlemen, during this debate, had declared that the subject of a bank has not been before the people for their discussion, but it was the bank. Mr. C. said if gentlemen would only go back to the reelection of the late venerable President of the United States, they would find that that Presidential canvass was put upon the question of bank or no bank. A bank, the bank, or any bank, were all denounced by the people at that time, as appears by the result of that election. It was the pivot upon which that election turned. But if the subject of establishing a bank was not before the people for consideration at that time, the whole subject was before them during the election of the present Chief Magistrate of the United States. Mr. Van Buren, before the late Presidential election, in pursuance of a call which was made upon him for that purpose, declared, in the most unequivocal manner, that he could not sanction an institution of that character; and this was the pivot, also, upon which that distinguished in dividual was elevated to the Presidency. Twice, therefore, have the people declared that a United States bank ought not to be established. Mr. C. observed that, from the course which he had thought proper to pursue, some gentlemen may have supposed that he was disposed to check, unnecessarily, the freedom of debate. But he would assure gentlemen that they mistook his character altogether. He would go with him who would go farthest to protect the great vital principles of civil and religious liberty, the freedom of speech, the liberty of the press, and the right of petition. These sacred rights he never would yield but with the last breath of life. But there is a very wide difference between the rightful exercise of these invaluable privileges, and a wilful abuse of them. To correct this evil, this abuse, the rule regulating a call for the previous question was adopted as a part of the by-laws of this House; a rule which has existed ever since the formation of the General Government. A similar rule has been adopted by several State Legislatures to correct the abuses which are the subject of so much complaint in this House. In fact, nothing of any importance could be accomplished in this House without such a law. [H. OF R. On the east side of the Atlantic, in the Spanish Cortes, the question asked is, "Has not this subject been sufficiently debated?" If this question is responded to by a majority of that body, an end is put to the discussion, and a vote taken on the main question. This is the operation of the rule for the previous question in this House: the design of the motion is to ask the House if the subject under consideration has not been sufficiently debated, and cannot be enforced without a majority of the members present. As the gentleman from Kentucky states that he merely alluded to him as stating a fact, and not for the purpose of impugning the purity of his motives, Mr. C. observed that he would close his remarks by stating, that, so long as his fellow-citizens of New Hampshire should provide him a seat upon this floor, he would faithfully and independently execute his political trust; and should any gentleman, here or elsewhere, dare to question the purity of his motives, he would pronounce him a base caluminator. Mr. C. was here interrupted by Mr. WM. COST JOHNSON, who said that he rose to a point of order. He said that he rose to arrest the current of the honorable gentleman's remarks with great reluctance; but he considered them so out of place at this moment, that he was constrained to protest against their further continuance. ' We are now, Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. J.,) within a few days of an adjournment, and have to decide upon an important bill; and, in the midst of this discussion, the honorable gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. CusяMAN] thinks fit to consume the time of the House by discussing the merits of the previous question, which he called some four or five days ago. Then was the time for explanations, if the gentleman thought any necessary. But his object was then to arrest explanations and discussion upon the merits of a resolution which the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means thought fit to introduce, but was afraid to have discussed. And now the honorable member from the Granite State feels a strong propensity to enlarge upon it. Yes, sir, with great and peculiar emphasis, he now discusses a bank and the bank, and called the previous question upon it, after but one member had spoken upon the subject. Why did not that gentleman use that occasion (said Mr. J.) to discuss a bank and the bank? He has edified the committee with his learning and research upon the history of the previous question; and after making a great display of his exalted patriotism in defending the freedom of debate-and we must, in giving him the credit which he claims for the patriotism of his notions, listen to his pretensions, and not judge him by his acts-he refers us to the high authority which he has culled from the east side of the Atlantic. He has talked about Turkey, and has shown that he has precedent for the gag-law in the example of the Spanish Cortes. The gentleman is as unfortunate in his authority as he is in the time of his using it. The gentleman can find authority in the Spanish history for the inquisition; and from his readings of Spanish history, and adopting their principles for his standard of action in this hall, we may account very rationally why he has so often called the inquisitorial and detested previous question-the instrument of petty tyranny all over the world. And, to use the gentleman's own figure, he is the "pivot" around which that question has so often wheeled in this hall. But I urge the distinguished gentleman to forbear in this discussion, for he has already reaped honors enough in that barren field, for his head now blooms and blossoms with the glories of the previous question. [Here Mr. CUSHMAN rose, and said that his object was not to consume the time of the House, but he had risen to explain, by the courtesy of the member from Kentucky, [Mr. Pore,] who was entitled to tho floor.] Mr. J. said that he utterly denied the right of the mem ber from Kentucky, or of any other member, to allow the Mr. POPE then resumed the course of his remarks, which he continued till long after lights had been brought into the hall, when, being exhausted, he sank into his seat without having closed his speech. A motion was now made for the committee to rise; but Mr. W. COST JOHNSON, having conferred with Mr. POPE, stated that the gentleman had no objection to Mr. J.'s taking the floor at this time, in the confidence that the House, in the morning, would permit him to conclude his remarks. Such seeming to be the general understanding, Mr. JOHNSON rose and addressed the committee as follows: Mr. Chairman: I return to the honorable member from Kentucky [Gov. POPE] my thanks for yielding the floor to me before he has completed his remarks. After having spoken for four hours, his physical energies have yielded before the rich abundance of his mind is exhausted on this interesting question. I feel (said Mr. J.) how perilous my situation is in attempting to follow the learned and distinguished member who has just taken his seat. At this late hour, too, when the committee have been so long in session, I am strongly apprehensive that I may not compensate them for any portion of their attention. I must therefore throw myself upon their magnanimity. But before I enter upon the subject under discussion, I feel it a duty which I owe to myself and to others, to give a passing notice to an observation which fell from the honorable member who last addressed the committee. The honorable member remarked, in the course of his observations, in substance, that the friends of the administration, or some of them, had said that the opposition had a few years ago made charges against the Post Office Department, and, among others, his friend, the late Postmaster General; and that the administration sacrificed some of the members of that Department (at least the chief clerk) to the avenging deity of the relentless opposition. I do not for one moment suppose (said Mr. J.) that the honorable gentleman purposed any personal application of his remarks to any particular member of the opposition, but spoke of the opposition as a party. But having been a member of the twenty-third Congress, when the administration of the Post Office Department was made a subject of special examination, and the report upon that examination was submitted to this House, I felt it my duty to take an humble part in a debate in this hall in relation to the abuses committed in that Department. And my name having been thrown before the public in connexion with that discussion, and with a collision with the late Postmaster General and his son, I feel warranted in now alluding to it, from what has been said, and in giving an explanation which circumstances at the time rendered it impossible for me to do. When a bill was under discussion in this House giving, as I thought, increased patronage to that Department, I took occasion to oppose its passage, and to animadvert upon [Ост. 12, 1837. the corruptions which were proved to exist in it. A spirit of intimidation then still lingered in this hall, and clearly manifested itself, I thought, on the night of that discussion; for, during that session, a member had been waylaid on the street and attacked for words spoken in debate; and, but shortly before, other members had been beset and assaulted. I saw, or thought I saw, that there were members willing to place themselves between the officers of Government and the members of this House who wished to scrutinize their official conduct. I was soon left alone on one side in that exciting discussion, and, fancying I saw its result in advance, took the distinct ground, when daggers were spoken but none used, that I was willing and ready to hold myself responsible to any member of this House, or to any officer of Government, who might imagine himself aggrieved by my strictures. That was the position I assumed-perhaps rashly-but still it was the position. The next morning, in this Capitol, and before I entered this hall, I received a laconic note from the Postmaster General, by a gen. tleman whom I had never seen before, but whose bearing convinced me that he was a gentleman. There was no threat written in it, but, from its peculiar brevity, I regarded it as a threat; so did two honorable gentlemen of this House to whom I submitted it. I felt it to be my duty to give it a very short answer. Soon after, I received a challenge from the son of the Postmaster General-a gentleman whom I have never seen in my life. I accepted it. By the advice, I apprehend, of others, it was withdrawn. Rumor reached my ear that I was to receive some two or three more, and was to be caned by I know not how many. Under such circumstances, I would neither explain nor authorize any friend to explain in my name, as an honor able friend in this hall will well remember. The system of interrogatories I dislike at best; but, according to my sense of propriety, I can never bring myself to answer them when they are blended with even the shadow of a threat. But now that the late Posmaster General is no more, and the restraining circumstances of the affair have passed away, I embrace the opportunity which the remarks of the honorable member have afforded me, to say, in my place, that I never designed to charge the Postmaster General with peculation, though I was unwilling to except hin from the charge (of which I had proof enough to convince my judgment) that it did exist at that time in the De partinent. I deem it due to myself, due to those whom he has left behind him, his relations and friends and the honorable member as one of those friends-to say, that I had no proof that he was corrupt, nor do I believe that he was a corrupt man in the moral or legal sense of the term The most that I meant to say was, that when corruption was proved to exist in a department, the censure shou'd fall with the heaviest force upon the head of that depart ment, if he did not suspend the guilty subordinate. But I dismiss this subject, now and finally, and will at tempt to approach that immediately under debate. Mr. Chairman, (said Mr. J.,) when Sir Walter Scott was asked why it was that he had not written the life of the Emperor Napoleon in one instead of three volumes, he answered, because he had not time! And if I should trespass upon the kind indulgence of the committee a little longer than it may think judicious, I beg the committee to receive in advance, as my apology, that I have not had time to investigate, in all its bearings, the important subject before us, and to arrange my reflections in perspicuous brevity, which is the best proof I know of a familiar knowledge of a subject. Day and night have we been occupied in this hall, for weeks past, without hardly taking respite for sleep, in investigating the important bills which have been crowded upon our attention; with not even time to eat with comfort, and with scarcely a spare hour to read the budgets daily placed on our desks, or to spend in examining books of knowledge, or be occupied in quiet reflection. The experienced debaters, and the learned members of this House, may easily surmount such obstacles; but the humble member who claims your indulgence feels them with the strongest and almost overpowering force. Notwithstanding such embarrassing considerations, I ain unwilling to give a silent vote on the bill before the committee, but will assign, as briefly as I can, the reasons why I I shall give a negative voice. We have been assembled, Mr. Chairman, in extraordinary session, and have already acted on some most extraerdinary bills. But the most extraordinary ever presented to the consideration of this House, with an earnest and apecious hope of being received with favor, is the bill now under debate. A bill of no less a nature, in my judgment, than one calculated, if passed, to obliterate some of the brightest features in our constitution; to annul in its operation almost all the statutes which so carefully guard the mode of receiving and disbursing the public revenues; in one word, a bill to take from the representatives of the people all supervision and control of the public moneys, and to place in the Executive hand, which now has control over the army and the navy, the appointment of an almost illimitable number of public officers, and has command of the militia when in the actual service of the United States-to place in the same hand, to receive and to pay out, without scarcely a check or restraint, all the public money of the nation. The request from the Executive to be possessed of such delicate and enormous power greatly surprised me; to find the representatives of sovereign States tamely acquiescing, completely astonished me; to find it advocated on this door by some of the representatives of the people, who, under the constitution, are the purse-creating and the purse-holding power, has awakened into alarm every hid den apprehension of my mind. What proofs of superior knowledge and superior usefulness has the Executive given, to warrant a surrender of power to its discretion? Has it shown, from the prudent exercise of powers delegated to it by the constitution and the laws, that, to promote the interest of the nation, its powers should be amplified and new authorities delegated? That, to promote the interest of the people, you must abandon your trust and your duty, and give almost unlimited discretion to the Executive will? That the Executive will better administer your duties than the conjoint wisdom of the representatives of the people? Or does the President even place his request upon the pretext that, by your surrendering into his hands all control over the money of the people, it will give them relief in their present distress, and equalize the exchanges and currency of the country ? Even this plausible argument is not offered, but is distinctly repudiated in the Executive message. No argument of this sort is offered; and yet you are asked to make the surrender simply to gratify the executive pleasure. But, Mr. Chairman, I would not care how strong the reasons might be that could be assigned; if they were ten times as strong as any I could imagine, I never can be guilty of violating, by voting for such a measure, the whole genius and spirit of the constitution-the essence of every republican constitution in every representative Government. Sfar from the Executive exhibiting superior sagacity and prudence in regulating the financial operations of the Government, it has shown itself most culpably inefficient to discharge the duties required by the existing laws, and those which it has assumed, in violation of both law and usage. I have not even a shadow of doubt in my mind, that all the embarrassments in our country, in the currency, and in business of every kind, are in a chief degree chargeable to the Executive of the last four years. To justify this allegation, I am constrained to allude [H. OF R. briefly to the past, but shall take only a rapid glance at circumstances that have transpired, as that ground has been most ably occupied by members who have preceded me in this debate. When, Mr. Chairman, did any country present as great a degree of prosperity as this nation did at the time that General Jackson commenced his unrelenting hostility to the late Bank of the United States? What country on earth possessed a better currency than this did at that time? What country afforded such a reduced rate of exchanges? Where was labor better rewarded? Where was industry better recompensed? Search the inhabitable globe for a parallel, and you will search in vain. Where was an institution better organized and conducted, and its paper more readily received in every part of the United States, if not in every part of the world, by people of every pursuit, from the centre to the remotest borders of the Union, than the paper of the Bank of the United States? It had realized more than had been predicted by its most ardent advocates in 1816. It had been chiefly instrumental in effecting and maintaining, for nearly twenty years, what I regard to be the great desideratum in a country where agriculture, planting, manufactures, and commerce lean upon and support each other-a convertible paper currency-bank paper converted at the will of the holder into gold and silver. Such was the state of the currency four years ago. Bank paper was not only convertible into silver at the counter of the bank that issued it, but was convertible everywhere in the interior at the counters of retail merchants, who were always glad to exchange their silver for bank notes, which better suited their purposes for transmission. Peace and plenty gladdened the whole land; content and cheerfulness were found in the most humble cottage as well as in the more costly edifice; a prospect of universal prosperity was then presented, on which the mind loved to dwell. I will not expatiate upon it, but content myself with a simple narration. General Jackson, in the plenitude of his power and unparalleled popularity, had forced, by his system of proscription, most of the officers of the Government to become political partisans. To be an active partisan, to gain preferment, was a sine qua non with him. The political armor was put on, and each saw written on it, "this is the road to Byzantium." The president of a northern branch of the United States Bank had displeased some active partisan, and the mother bank refused to dismiss the honest and independent head of the branch; that partisan infused the venom of his feelings into the bosom of General Jackson. Threat after threat was made, in the President's messages, against the United States Bank. A better currency was promised the people, if they would unite with the Executive in destroying that institution. That promise had a charm in it, as all persons are anxious to better their condition; and all believe, however prosperous, that their condition can be improved. But still an honest and upright Congress refused to lend itself to the malignant purposes of the Executive, or to gratify his splenetic will. Congress was in favor of renewing the charter of the bank. The Executive veto nullified the will of the representatives of the States and the people. Congress refused to gratify the will of the Executive in ordering the Government deposites to be removed from the Bank of the United States, where the law had placed them; but he, with ruthless hand, seized upon the public treasure, as Cæsar had done before him, and parcelled out the money of the people among a host of State institutions, which he now testifies are the most unprincipled and profligate in the annals of history. Those institutions were urged by the Secretary of the Treasury to discount most liberally upon the deposites of the Government; and as slaves always most readily obey the first orders of a new master, they not only discounted H. OF R.] ers. Sub-Treasury Bill. paper offered to them, but in many cases invited customCongress altered the standard of gold, and reduced its value. (I rejoice that I had the honor to vote against that bill.) Europeans sent their gold here to be coined, and then ordered it home again. The Neapolitan and French indemnities were adjusted, and imported in gold. This was hailed as the millennium of the golden age, and General Jackson was told by his flatterers, and believed it, that he had at last discovered the Philosopher's stone. Jaundiced-eyed and near-sighted politicians, whose minds cannot realize causes and effects, or discriminate fictitious from true and abiding causes, thought that they had really worked a specie miracle; and the General himself read his valedictory, "still harping" on the monster bank, and congratulating himself and the country on the experiment which he had tried in his humble efforts to improve, as he said he had, the currency of our country. But I am fast in my chronology; there is one other remarkable event which I wish to allude to. Before General Jackson retired from office, a distinguished Senator, who had aided much in building up the golden image which he wished all to fall down and worship, made a political prediction, that, if the people of the West would co-operate with him in destroying the Bank of the United States, they would see, in violation of all the laws which govern fluids or solids, gold flow up the Mississippi. They believed, and looked with anxious hope, but looked in vain. He conceived the expedient whilst Congress was in session, but revealed it perhaps haps to few lingered until Congress had adjourned, and then, "solitary and alone," he thought he would set the golden stream in motion. Congress ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to receive the notes of specie-paying banks and gold or silver in payment of public dues. The alchymical operation was to be effected by a disregard of the law, and the Secretary of the Treasury was ordered to issue his famous proclamation, demanding nothing but gold or silver for public lands. The prediction was realized: gold and silver flowed up the valley and over the mountains, but flowed in steamboats and in stages-flowed to the land offices and to the banks of deposite, but never into the pockets of the working people of the West. This last act broke the glittering dream, and the veil of Mokanna fell to the ground. Convertible paper and gold were no longer synonymous; Government, which should have been the last, was the first to make the distinction. Gold and silver were at once more valuable for the article most in demand in this country is land; and the Government is the largest (because it is the greatest proprietor) and cheapest seller, and can control the market value. Thousands daily purchased public land, and of course thousands were forced to procure specie. It soon became an article of merchandise, to be bought in the market, rather than a medium of exchange. The banks found their paper returned upon them, and their specie almost exhausted, and wisely suspended specie payments; and the deposite banks were the very first to set the example. Confidence became impaired; the banks had been pressed by those who held their notes, and they, in turn, called on their debtors, and the debtors of the banks called on all who owed them; thus the pressure passed the whole round of the circle of trade and business. Panic, dismay, confusion, and bankruptcy, followed in quick and fatal succession. The Government could not escape the consequences of its measures, and suspended specie payments. The last Congress, foreseeing the evil consequences of the specie circular of the Treasury Department, passed a bill rescinding that order. General Jackson treated it with contempt, placed it in his pocket, and retired to the Hermitage, denouncing the insolence of Congress in sending a bill to him which questioned the wisdom of any measure which he had ordered. Mr. Van Buren, who succeeded to the Presidency, was urged most earnestly to rescind that [Ост. 12, 1837. circular, but he refused. When he saw, as he ought to have seen, its evil tendency, he should have yielded to the counsel of honest and practical men. I will here say that, whilst I believe that the evils of that measure might have been in some degree softened if Mr. Van Buren had rescinded the order after the fourth of March, I do not think that it would have prevented a suspension of specie payments: it would have changed the direction of that suspension; much of the silver would have been drawn from the West to the Atlantic and to the Southern cities, and would have, in some degree, relieved them; but that would have forced a suspension of specie payments by the Western and Southwestern banks, which would have been quickly followed by the banks of the commercial and large cities. When silver is at a premium, it is impossible, in the nature of things, for the paper of any bank to remsis long in circulation, or for any bank to throw out its paper to any useful extent to the people, and redeem it with the precious metals. From this train of measures and circumstances I trace the causes of the suspension of specie payments by all the banks, the great confusion and embarrassment in business of every kind, the distresses and bankruptcies which oc curred, and the confusion which has overwhelmed both the people and the Government. From such measures you can trace consequences, with the same unerring accuracy as the human eye can inark the path of the desolating whirlwind. Anid this disastrous crisis, the President issued his pro clamation convening Congress, which he had positiveh refused to do a few weeks before. We assembled, som of us with hope, some with apprehension, though al equally anxious to know what measures would be recom mended, and what position the Executive would assume Some thought that the President would recommend thi sub-Treasury system; others, a retrial of the State banks whilst others hoped, at least I did, that he would throw himself upon the advice of Congress. This was really my belief, as well as my hope. His appointment of Mr. Poin sett at the head of the War Department had inspired with some hope of better things. No man, save one, wht had been born either south or west of Pennsylvania beld s place in the cabinet. And the appointment of a second and one so highly worthy and eminently qualified, was, thought, the harbinger of some salutary changes. So first rate men are in office, I care not from what quarter the are taken, or where may be their birth-place. But maintain that every prominent place should be filled by high-minded and efficient gentlemen, who understand thei duties, and are prompt to discharge them. I came her with no pledged hostility to his administration, and, per sonally, I had a very high regard for the President. My situation here is peculiar. I have been elected by the of both parties. If I were to consult the feelings of a ma jority of the persons who voted for me, rather than the opinions of a majority of the voters of the district, I woul pause in my course. But, when entrusted with a publi duty, I do not feel at liberty to be governed by feelings d personal predilection or antipathy. I feel bound to take! more expansive view of the whole district and the nation When we assembled here, speculation was at once hushes by the receipt of the President's message; and I must con fess I was greatly disappointed. I had read his famous jet ter to Mr. Sherrod Williams, in which he considered the State banks as Government depositories, and said how ad mirably the system worked-where he denounced the Ums ted States Bank, and promised to tread in the footsteps his illustrious predecessor. I thought all this was the men electioneering language of the day, and that, when once it office, he would make himself the President of the people and not of a party. All my expectations were disappoint ed; for almost the first thing he informed the representa tives of the people whom he had called together-who assembled here fresh and warm from the midst of the people-was, that if they should dare to pass a bill to establish a bank of the United States, he would be a lion in their path; that he was armed with a veto power, and would assuredly use it. Such language is unprecedented in the history of this or any other country. The President, in his inaugural address, informed the people that if a particular measure should be passed by Congress, he would use the veto. I thought that unnecessary and uncalled for, but supposed it was designed for Southern effect. A veto in that case would be unnecessary; nor did Mr. Van Buren, or any one else, suppose that he would ever be called on to redeem his pledge; for, Mr. Chairman, whenever the Congress of the United States shall so far forget their compact with Maryland as to violate private property in the District Columbia, your jurisdiction will end, and that of Maryand will begin, over all that part of the ten miles square torth of the southern bank of the Potomac river. I may farther: that moment this House shall contain a majorty of members who will be so reckless as to vote for the bolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, the annuniation of that majority by the Chair will be the sounding the death-knell of the Union. Before Mr. Van Buren is six months in office, before a ingle bill or resolution has been sent to him for his signatre, he has voluntarily, gratuitously, stepped out of the ne of his duty, to inform Congress that upon at least two leasures he will use his veto. I have an hostility to thế No power, and can never be reconciled to its use. The amers of our constitution placed it in the hands of the Mecutive, under the fallacious belief that it is the weakest the co-ordinate branches of Government. Sir, the fraers of the constitution and the authors of the Federalist we mistaken. The Executive is more powerful than all other branches put together. All power is fast consolating in the Executive hands; and the Executive history last four years is sufficient to just justify the remark withit any proof. They thought it harmless, because they und it obsolete in England, though existing in the Engh constitution. the The Government of the United States is the last in the orld which should tolerate the veto power. There may some plausibility for it in the State constitutions, which cure to the people the right to elect both branches of the egislature; for there both branches may be moved, in a eater or less degree, by the same commotion or popular mpulse. But even in the constitution of my own State, here the Senate is not elected by the people, the Execu fe is denied the veto power; the constitution says the overnor shall sign the laws. And it has been judicially stided by our highest courts, that laws which have passed General Assembly, or both Houses of the Legislature, vand without the signature of the Governor. And that almost the only feature in the Maryland constitution hich, I think, could not be changed for the better. And the Federal Government, also, every useful caution exis in framing laws, without the existence of the oppresive veto power in the Executive. In our Government, art representative, part confederative, no law can be enactd without its first receiving the sanction of the representaves of the people; or, in other words, a majority of the eople in their aggregate capacity, without distinction of Hates, control in this House. In the confederate branch, where the sovereign States are equal, a majority of those lates müst give sanction to every bill. What greater afeguard can there be to liberty than to require first the oncurrence of a majority of the people, and then a marity of the States, to every measure of public utility? Every restraint beyond this is actual, real oppression. I egard the abuse of delegated power to be as obnoxious to eunure as the usurpation of power. And an Executive [H. or R. places itself within the range of that censure, when it arrogantly uses, or presumptuously threatens, the veto. It is to awe free and fearless deliberation, by suspending the sword of Damocles over the heads of nervous politicians, in this hall or the other. Historians inform us that, with all his vices, "Nero never attempted any thing against the jurisdiction of the Senate." Marcus Aurelius, though armed with the imperial tribunitian (or veto) prerogative, said, in alluding to the Senate, "It is more proper that I should submit to the opinion of so many and such friends, than that so many and such friends should follow my will." An able writer says, "It was by adding the tribunitian power (intercedare vetare) to the military, in their own persons, that the Roman Emperors consummated the ruin of the republic." "It was by this mode," says Tacitus, "that Augustus found means, without the name of King or Dictator, to make himself superior to the legislative and executive powers of the commonwealth." If the Romans lost their liberty by the union of the military and the veto power in the same hands, how can it be preserved in this nation, when you unite in the same hands, which have now the military and veto, the power of the purse, which you propose to do by the bill now on your table? -a power which Augustus never possessed. But in these modern days, a President is called a Roman patriot, who freely uses this detested instrument of tyranny; though Pliny boasts, in panegyrizing Trajan, "that the Emperor never allowed himself to annul or prevent the execution of the Senate's decrees." I will not longer dwell on this subject than to say that, as it was by the use of the veto that Louis XVI lost his head-so may the next American who shall use it lose his personal popularity. But the President has thought fit to read to Congress & lecture upon constitutional law, and gravely tells us that a Bank of the United States would be unconstitutional. Yes, sir, he would fain convince us that the constitution was in his keeping, and that he will not let the rude hands of the representatives of the people profane it. Mr. Chairman, how much crime has been committed, how much blood has been shed, by fanaticism, under the pretext of serving the cause of religion? How much usurpation and tyranny have been practised, upon the pretence of saving the constitution and serving the people? Let history answerfor every volume can answer, from the creation of the world to the present moment. Who is this mighty expounder of the constitution? Is he the the venerable and glorious man who presided over the deliberations of the convention that formed that sacred instrument? Or is he the wise and distinguished individual whose pen gave it form and proportion, and who has been emphatically called the Father of the constitution? No, sir, he is not. But he is Martin Van Buren, of Kinderhook. The same individual who informed the nation in his inaugural address, on the east front of the Capitol, that he was the first President elected who had not participated in the patriotic struggles of the Revolution; who thought it proper to say, for the information, perhaps, of the ladies present, that he was born since those ancient days. He is the first and chief of the modern expounders of the constitution, Yes, sir, even Amos Kendall, an officer, not of the constitution, but of the law, says that he is a limb-yes, sir! the right arm, I supposeof the Executive body, and has dared to read a homily to the courts upon their duties and the constitution. It is time, for the dignity of this House and the nation, that such insolence and effrontery should be frowned down, if not punished. But I will leave these distinguished personages for a moment, and allude to others. There is another class of politicians in this House, who have been thrown into ecstacies because Mr. Van Buren says that, as |