only whig newspaper of the day, that circulated in New Jersey, blotted with the tears of his widowed wife and fatherless daughters, has been treasured up by their affection, and is annexed to their petition. With your permission, Mr. President, I will read it: "We hear that, in the late action on Long Island, Colonel Philip Johnston, of New Jersey, behaved with remarkable intrepidity and fortitude. By the well-directed fire from his battalion, the enemy was several times repulsed, and lanes were made through them, until he received a ball in his breast, which put an end to the life of as brave an officer as ever commanded a battalion. General Sullivan, who was close to him when he fell, says that no man could behave with more firmness during the whole action. As he sacrificed his life in defence of the invaded rights of his country, his memory must be dear to every American who is not insensible to the sufferings of his injured country, and as long as the same uncorrupted spirit of liberty which led him to the field shall continue to actuate the sons of freemen in America." Mr. President, the tree of American liberty was nourished by the blood of such heroes. But, Mr. President, when the husband and the father, at the call of his country, steps from the circle of domes tic endearments, a patriot and a hero, it is the safety and protection of his wife and children that nerves his arm and animates his exertions in the hour of battle; and if he falls, his last prayer is for his country, and his last earthly consolation is, that his death commits them to its gratitude and protection. This obligation, which springs from the grave of heroism, is sanctioned by the purest and noblest feelings of our nature, and the highest dictates of policy, and creates a debt which descends upon all who inherit the blessings thus acquired. If, sir, the claim of the petitioners had no other foundation than this, it would, in my humble judgment, be irresistible. But it does not rest on this alone; it is supported by the plighted, and, I am sorry to say, the unredeemed, faith of their country. To say nothing, sir, at present, of the pledge fairly to be implied from the addresses of General Washington calling the militia to arms, and animating them to battle, that the country would provide for their wives and children, this pledge was distinctly made to Colonel Johnston and his companions in arms. On the 31 of June, 1776, Congress resolved that 13,800 militia should be employed to reinforce the army at New York, and that New Jersey be requested to furnish 3,300 of their militia to complete that nun ber, to be engaged until the 1st of December, unless sooner discharged by order of Congress. This was to form the flying camp destined for the defence of New York. On the 5th of June, 1776, Congress resolved that the flying camp be placed under the command of such continental general officer as the commander-in-chief should direct. That the militia, when in service, be regularly paid and victualled, in the same manner as the continental troops. General Mercer was appointed to the command of the flying camp, thus formed, on the 20th July, 1776. The Convention of New Jersey was requested by Congress to raise for the flying camp, under General Mercer, three battalions of militia, in addition to the five formerly desired by Congress, and send the same with all possible despatch to the flying camp; and that they should be officered, paid, and provided, as directed by the former resolutions for forming the flying camp. Thus, sir, it is plain that the detachment of New Jersey militia required to form the flying camp for the defence of New York, was called out by the Continental Congress, and for the general defence of the country; and was placed in the service of the United States, under the command of continental officers, and on the same footing in all respects as continental troops. In fact, the battal [SENATE In the last ordinance passed by the Convention of New Jersey, on the 11th August, 1776, to carry into effect the resolutions of Congress to which I have referred, the preamble recites: "The Convention, viewing with serious concern the present alarming situation of this and her sister States-that on a prudent use of the present means depend their lives, their liberty, and happiness, think it their indispensable duty to put their militia on such a footing that the whole force may be most advantageous. ly exerted." For that purpose, the whole militia were classed in two divisions, and one half were immediately detached to join the flying camp at New York. After the appropriate details, that ordinance concludes in a strain of patriotic eloquence unknown to the rolls of statutes, and which I cannot deny myself the pleasure of recalling to the recollection of our country. It breathes the pure spirit of "Seventy-six." "And whereas the principles of equity and humanity require that a proper compensation and provision should of made for the families of all such as may be killed or wounded in the service, the Convention pledge the faith of this State that an adequate provision for the purpose aforesaid shall be made. "In this interesting situation, viewing, on the one hand, an active, inveterate, and implacable enemy; increasing fast in strength, receiving large reinforcements, and industriously preparing to strike some decisive blow; on the other, a considerable part of the inhabitants supinely slumbering on the brink of ruin, moved with affecting apprehension, the Convention think it incumbent upon them to warn their constituents of their impending danger. On you, our friends and brethren, it depends this day to determine whether your wives, your children, and millions of your descendants yet unborn, shall wear the galling, ignominious yoke of slavery, or nobly inherit the generous, the inestimable blessings of freedom. The alternative is before you. Can you hesitate in your choice? Can you doubt which to prefer? Say, will you be slaves? Will you toil, and labor, and glean together a little property, merely that it may be at the disposal of a relentless and rapacious conqueror? Will you, of choice, become hewers of wood and drawers of water? Impossible. You cannot be so amazingly degenerate as to lick the hand that is raised to shed your blood. Nature and nature's God have made you free. Liberty is the birthright of Americans-the gift of Heaven; and the instant it is forced from you, you take leave of every thing valuable on earth: your happiness or misery, virtuous independence or disgraceful servitude, hang trembling in the balance. Happily, we know that we can anticipate your virtuous choice. "With confident satisfaction we are assured that not a moment will delay your important decision; that you cannot feel hesitation whether you will tamely and degenerately bend your necks to the irretrievable wretchedness of slavery, or, by your instant and animated exertions, enjoy the fair inheritance of heaven-born freedom, and transmit it unimpaired to posterity." It was under this animated and eloquent appeal to his patrio'ism, and solemn pledge that a proper compen sation and provision should be made for his family, that Colonel Johnston marched to the field of his death and renown. That pledge, sir, was never redeemed by the State of New Jersey; and that pledge devolved upon the United SENATE.] The Expunging Resolution--Admission of Michigan, &c. States, and was solemnly assumed by them when they assumed the revolutionary debt and obligations of the several States. It rests upon the equity and humanity of those who are now enjoying the fair inheritance of freedom which Colonel Johnston died to obtain. In addition to all this, the claim of the petitioners is also sustained by the equity, if not the express letter, of various resolutions of Congress. I refer particularly to those of the 15th May and 26th September, 1778; the 24th August, 1780, and the 26th May, 1781. It is likewise sanctioned by several laws of Congress, making compen sation for revolutionary services in analogous cases, which I forbear to detain you by enumerating. [DEC. 27, 1836. THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. Mr. BENTON laid on the table a resolution to ex Punge from the journal of the Senate the resolution of March, 1834, censuring the conduct of the President for removing the deposites from the Bank of the United States, &c.; which was ordered to be printed. [The res olution is in the same words with the one on the same subject introduced by Mr. BENTON at the last session.] After transacting some other business, The Senate went into executive business; and when the doors were opened, The Senate adjourned. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27. ADMISSION OF MICHIGAN. Strong as the claim of the petitioners is upon its own merits, there is another conside ration which, sir, I feel bound to press on your attention. It appears that one of the petitioners is the wife of Joseph Scudder, Exq. His youth was devoted to the service of his country, in A message was received from the President of the one of the bureaus established by the Revolution. He is United States, through A. JACKSON, jr., his private secthe surviving son of Colonel Nathaniel Scudder, one of retary, on the subject of the adinission of Michigan into the Union, with documents, stating that Michigan, by that illustrious band of revolutionary patriots and heroes who devoted himself to the service of his country, both convention, had, at a late day, complied with the regu in the cabinet and in the field, and was alike distinguish-lations of the conditional act of admission. ed for his wisdom as a statesman, and bravery as a soldier. Among the first in his native State to espouse the cause of American independence, he was, from its declaration until his death, honored with a seat either in the councils of his native State, or in Congress. Bit he did not avail himself of the exemption which his civil employments conferred to relieve him from military duty. At an early period of the revolutionary war, Colonel Scudder was honored with the command of a regiment of militia of his native county, then peculiarly exposed to the invasion of the enemy. In the hour of danger he was always to be found at its head, bravely defending his native soil. But it was not his fate there to fall in all "the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war." He was killed on the 16th October, 1781, near Black Point, in the county of Monmouth, while bravely leading such of his fellow-soldiers as could be collected on a sudden alarm, to repel a predatory excursion of the enemy. The honors of war were the only public tribute paid to his memory; and to this day his children have neither asked nor received any thing from the bounty of their country as a compensation for their irretrievable loss. Thus, sir, by a happy coincidence, this petition presents before you the daughter of the first militia colonel of New Jersey, and the son of the last who fell in achieving our glorious independence. Never did death confer greater honor upon children. If it cannot disarm poverty of its miseries, it ennobles it. The children of Colonel Johnston, now aged, infirm, and, it gives me pain to add, poor, are compelled to ask of their country the redemption of that pledge, solemnly made to their father, to relieve them from the severe pressure of misfortunes which have resulted from neither crime nor vice. Their father died on the first battlefield where the star-spangled banner was unfurled in defence of American independence; that glorious prize for which he fought and died, which animated his exertions and nerved his arm when that banner waved fitfully over the field of his death and his country's misfortunes, has been obtained by his country. The star-spangled banner now waves in triumph over the land of the free and the home of the brave," the pride and protection of a great, prosperous, and happy nation. The petitioners now submit their case to the equity, the humanity, and plighted faith of their country. Mr. W. concluded by moving that the petition be read, and referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Claims; which motion was agreed to. Mr GRUNDY moved that the message and documents be printed, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. BENTON remarked that, as the President had given his opinion that Michigan had complied with the requisite terms of admission, and as he had said that he should have issued his proclamation accordingly, had the information arrived during the recess of Congress, he (Mr. B.) regarded the proposed reference as a mere matter of form, and would prefer that a joint resolution of admission should forthwith be passed by both Houses. Mr. GRUNDY said he would still prefer the course which he had suggested, and on this account: that the first convention had not assented to the terms of admission, but another convention had decided to accede to the proposition made by the Congress of the United States. The great inquiry now was, are the proceedings in accordance with the act of admission? The decision of which question depends on information which ought to be ascertained before the actual admission, though the President had said that, in his opinion, all was right, and, if the information had come during the recess, he would have acted accordingly. Mr. G. had no design to produce any delay, by a reference to a committee. He should not withdraw his motion, and he hoped the Senator would withdraw his opposition. Mr. BENTON said that, as the committee might draw up a joint resolution for admission to-day, he should not oppose the reference. The message was referred accordingly. THE TREASURY CIRCULAR. The Senate now proceeded to the special order, the further consideration of the joint resolution introduced by Mr. Ewine, of Ohio, on this subject, the question being on the amendment or substitute offered by Mr. RIVES to that resolution; which substitute proposes to refuse to receive for the public dues the bills of such banks as issued, after certain specified periods, bills under certain specified denominations; the substitute also leaving in the power of the deposite banks to refuse such funds as they may think proper. Mr. HUBBARD, who was entitled to the floor, rose and addressed the Chair as follows: Mr. President: Although it was on my motion that the Senate adjourned on Thursday last, yet, in moving for the adjournment, it was not then my intention to address the Senate this morning upon the subject now under consideration. But as I shall have no better opportunity to express my own views with reference to the deposite bill of the last session, which seems to be involved in this discussion, and as I have been, in connexion with my colleague, most grossly misrepresented in relation to our vote upon that bill, and as the princi ples of that bill have been most strangely misunder stood-certainly most falsely and perversely stated in the public journals-I will avail myself of the opportunity now presented, briefly to express the considerations which induced me to give my support to that measure. Before, however, I proceed to notice that bill, I shall advert to the resolutions of the Senator from Ohioshall endeavor to explain their object, and, in my apprehension, the impracticability of accomplishing the object intended, in the way and manner proposed. The resolutions offered by the Senator from Ohio are as follows: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Treasury order of the eleventh day of July, anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, designating the funds which should be receivable in payment for public lands, be, and the same is hereby, rescinded. "Resolved, also, That it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to delegate to any person, or to any corporation, the power of directing what funds shall be receivable for customs, or for the public lands; nor shall he make any discrimination in the funds so receivable, between different individuals, or between the different branches of the public revenue." The first resolution seeks to repeal the Treasury order "the specie circular," as it is called-of the 11th of July, 1836. The second is intended to prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury, by his authorized agents, from directing what funds shall be received for customs, or for the public lands, and prohibiting him from making any discrimination in the funds so receivable between different individuals, or between the different branches of the public revenue. The main purpose of the reso lution is to rescind the order of the Executive, bearing date on the 11th of July, 1836, directed to "receivers of public money and to the deposite banks." Can this be accomplished? Is this matter within our power? It seems to me that if these resolutions should pass both Houses of Congress, the object which the Senator from Ohio has in view would not thereby be effected. If the order of the 11th of July, 1836, was issued by authority of law, the resolution of the Senator from Ohio should seek to repeal the law upon which the order is based, and which gave authority for issuing the order. If the order of the Secretary of the Treasury has not been issued in pursuance of law, the order itself is of no effect; and any resolution which we could pass, rescinding such an order, would be alike ineffectual. If the Secretary had the legal power to send forth the order, it is beyond the legislative control of Congress. If the Secretary, or the President, through the Secretary, had the right to promulgate the circular, he may be answerable for the manner in which he exercises that right; but the act cannot itself be repealed by any legis lation of Congress. If the Secretary had not the authority, the power, the right to issue the order, then the order itself is perfectly nugatory. [SENATE. If the order, then, has been issued by the Secretary of the Treasury in pursuance of law, the mode proposed to get rid of it is objectionable, and, in my view, unwarrantable. If not issued in pursuance of law, the adoption of the resolution would seem to me equally objec tionable and unwarrantable. In such a case, the officer should be, and ought to be, held amenable for such an assumption of power. It therefore occurs to me, that the object the Senator from Ohio has in view cannot be attained in the way proposed; and if the last resolution of the Senator from Ohio should be adopted, it seems to me that the direct effect would be to prohibit receivers from accepting the paper of local banks, under any circumstances, in payment of the public dues. It proposes, in terms, to take the power from the Secretary of the Treasury to designate the kind of money receivable; and, should it be adopted, if any effect shall be produced whatever, it will be to exclude from the offices of our receivers all local bank paper. They would be bound to take nothing but gold and silver, unless the joint resolution of April, 1816, is imperative and obligatory; and if that be so, the Executive had no authority to restrain the legal operation of that resolution; for, if binding, it gives to the debtor rights which cannot be infringed or taken away by executive power. If the order of July 11, 1836, was unauthorized, the resolution to rescind it would be unnecessary. Its adoption could not prevent the immediate promulgation of a similar or der, in case the Executive, charged with the execution of the laws, should consider it to be his duty to do so. To accomplish the object the Senator from Ohio has in view, we must go beyond the order itself; we must go to the law on which that order was based, and in the execution of which it is presumed that the order in question was issued. To render the order of no effect, we must amend the law! I propose, Mr. President, first to examine the question, whether the Executive had a legal authority to issue the order of the 11th of July, 1836; and, if he had the power, whether it was a matter of policy for him to exercise it at the time and under the circumstances he did. Had the President, through the Secretary of the Treasury, the power to issue the order of the 11th of July last? On this point I can entertain no doubt. It seems to my mind to be clear and free from difficulty; and so far from its being a wanton assumption of power, so far from its being illegal, it is a power in strict accordance with the requisitions of existing laws, and which the President, charged with their execution, was bound to issue if he considered the public interest demanded it. The public lands were the property of our common country; they had been obtained by the sacrifices and services, the blood and the treasure, of the whole republic, during the war of the Revolution; and they were early pledged for the payment of the public debt, necessarily incurred in the establishment of our national independ ence. An act of Congress which has reference to the sale of the public lands was passed May 18, 1796, and makes no particular designation as to the kind of money receivable. It fixes the minimum price at two dollars per acre, and directs that, " upon payment of a moiety of the The Executive is an independent branch of the Gov-purchase-money, the purchaser shall have a year's eroment. The Senate can have no more power over credit for the residue." the rightful acts of that branch of the Government, than it has over an order of the House of Representatives, or an order of the Judiciary. One branch of the Government, exercising its powers and its duties within the constitution and the law, cannot have its acts rescinded and set at nought by the action of any other branch of the Government, VOL. XIII.-9 The act of March, 1797, declares "that the evidences of the public debt of the United States shall be receivable in payment of any of the lands which may be here. after sold in conformity to the act" of 1796. The fifth section of the act of May 10, 1800, provides, "That no lands shall be sold by virtue of this act, at either public or private sale, for less than two dollars per acre, and payment may be made for the same by all purchasers, either in specie, or in evidences of the pub. lic debt of the United States," at certain rates, which are prescribed in the act. And thus the law stood until 1820, when the credit system was abolished. From a view of these several acts, it results that, under the act of 1796, there was no particular designation of the kind of currency receivable for the public lands; but the pay. ments were to be made in money," that is, the legal currency of the country. Under the act of 1797, evidences of the public debt were made receivable for the public lands; and under the act of 1800, specie or evidences of the public debt were required in payment. Such was the law, and such was the practice under the law, with reference to the public lands, until the act of April, 1820, except it was provided, by the particular provisions of the act of 1812, that Treasury notes were made receivable for all public lands sold by the authori ty of the United States. The fourth section of the act of the 24th of April, 1820, making further provision for the sale of the public lands, seems to my mind to settle the question as to the legality of the specie circular conclusively. It declares, "That no lands shall be sold, at any public sales thereby authorized, for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, nor on any other terms than that of cash payment. The requisition is, that the sales of the public lands shall not be made on any other terms than that of "cash payment." There cannot be two opinions, here or elsewhere, as to the import of the terms "cash payment." It means payments in the constitutional or in the legal currency of the country, in gold or silver, or in the paper currency which had been previously established by law. By acts of Congress, Treasury notes were at one time receivable for the public lands, and bills of the Bank of the United States were made receivable by the provisions of the charter itself. But at the date of the specie circular no such legislative provisions were in force. There was, then, no legal obligation at the date of that order to receive any thing for the public lands, or for the cus toms, but gold or silver, unless that obligation is imposed by the joint resolution of the 30th of April, 1816. [DEC. 27, 1836. to this matter, as it has been urged in argument that the message of the President, and the consequent action of Congress thereon, had reference to a different matter. That act declares: "That the 14th section of the act entitled 'An act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States, approved April 10, 1816,' shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed." This was but an answer to the message; it had no sort of reference to the resolution of 1816, nor had the message any such reference. On the 11th of July, 1836, there was nothing then in the way of this circular, but the joint resolution of the 30th of April, 1816. I propose to refer to the history of our own legislation, as affording us some light upon this interesting subject of the currency. It will be found that as early as the 31st of July, 1789, Congress passed an act "to regulate the collec ion of duties," and the 30th section of that act requires: "That the duties and fees to be collected by virtue of this act shall be received in gold and silver coin only;" and goes on to establish the rates at which foreign gold and silver should be taken and received. This act was repealed by the act of August 4, 1790; but it will be found that, by the 56th section of the act of Congress passed in August, 1790, a provision precisely similar is introduced, which was contained in the act of 1789. The mint was established on the 12th of April, 1792; and by the 16th section of that act of Congress it is pro vided "that all the gold and silver coins which shall have been struck at and issued from the said mint, shall be a lawful tender in all payments whatsoever; those of full weight according to the respective values hereinbefore declared, and those of less than full weight at values proportionate to their respective weights.' Thus it appears that by the acts of Congress, not only foreign gold and silver coins at certain rates were made receivable, but also the gold and silver coins struck at our mint were also made a lawful tender. The first United States Bank was chartered on the 21st of February, 1791; and it will be seen, by a reference to the 10th section of that act of Congress, "that the bills or notes of the said corporation originally made in gold and silver coin, shall be receivable in all payments to the United States." And thus, by the express enactment of Congress, were the bills of the United States Bank made receivable for all debts due to the Government; and by a reference to the 74th section of the act of the 2d of March, 1799, which repeals the act of August, 1790, and which "regulates the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," it will be found "that all duties and fees to be collected shall be payable in the money of the United States, or in foreign gold and silver coins" at fixed rates. By the act of Congress of June 30, 1812, it is provided "that Treasury notes, wherever made payable, shall be everywhere received in payment of all duties and taxes laid by the authority of the United States, and of all public lands sold by the said authority." It is perfectly true, that, in practice, the legal obliga-payable, or which shall have become payable on demand, tion has been relaxed; but it is not believed to have been done at the risk of the Government. Paper money, beside the bills of the Bank of the United States, had been received; and our collectors were in the habit of receiving the paper of some State banks, at particular times and places, and under peculiar circumstances, for the debts due to the Government; but such collections were upon the responsibility of the receivers. The relaxation of the rule of law bad been for individual accommodation. I have stated that, by the express terms of the charter, the bills of the Bank of the United States were made receivable for customs and for public lands. But the Bank of the United States, which was made the depository of the money of the United States, would not receive in deposite all State bank paper as cash, although of the description as stated in the resolution of 1816. That charter expired on the 3d of March last, and the Presi dent of the United States, in his annual message to Congress, December, 1835, remarks, that "It is incumbent on Congress, in guarding the pecuniary interests of the country, to discontinue, by such a law as was passed in 1812, the receipt of the bills of the Bank of the United States in payment of the public revenue;" and, in pursuance of this recommendation of the President, Congress did, at the last session, repeal, in express terms, the 14th section of the act chartering the Bank of the United States. It will be found by that section that the bills of that bank were made receivable for the public dues. I will read the act of the last session in relation On the 19th of March, 1812, Congress passed an act expressly repealing the 10th section of the act incorporating the subscribers to the first Bank of the United States. Between, then, the 19th of March, 1812, and the 10th of April, 1816, when the second United States Bank was chartered, American and foreign gold and silver, and Treasury notes only, were receivable for the public dues; and, as I have before said, it is provided by the fourteenth section of the act establishing the late Bank of the United States, "That the bills or notes of the said corporation originally made payable, or which shall have become payable on demand, shall be receivable in all payments to the United States, unless otherwise directed by act of Congress." And the section next following assigns a good reason why this preference was so decidedly given to the bills of the Bunk of the United States; for no one can doubt that this fourteenth section gave to the paper of that bank a currency and a circulation which it never could have had if that had not have been incorporated in the charter. The 15th section provides "that during the continuance of the act, and whenever required by the Secretary of the Treasury, the said corporation shall give the necessary facilities for transferring the public funds from place to place within the United States, and for distributing the same in payment of the public creditors, without charge." = [SENATE. with reference to this subject, much better expressed than I can the character and extent of the then existing evil, and the requisite remedy therefor. He remarked: "What was the present evil? Having a perfectly sound national currency, and the Government having no power in fact to make any thing else current but gold and silver, there had grown up in different States a currency of paper, issued by bank's setting out with the promise to pay gold and silver, which they had been wholly unable to redeem; the consequence was, that there was a mass of paper afloat, of perhaps fifty millions, which sustained no immediate relation to the legal currency of the country-a paper which will not enable any man to pay money he owes to his neighbor, or his debts to the Government. The banks had issued more money than And the next following section provides “that the de- they could redeem, and the evil was severely felt, &c. posites of the money of the United States, in places in He declined occupying the time of the House to prove which the said bank and branches thereof may be estab that there was a depreciation of the paper in circulation; lished, shall be made in said bank or branches thereof, the legal standard of value was gold and silver; the relaunless the Secretary shall otherwise direct," &c. It was tion of paper to it proved its state, and the rate of its declearly intended, by the introduction of the fourteenth preciation. Gold and silver currency, he said, was the section into the charter, to grant an important and ex- law of the land at home, and the law of the world abroad; clusive privilege to the bank; and it is just as clear to my there could, in the present state of the world, be no mind that the bank was bound to receive in deposite other currency. In consequence of the immense paper "the money of the United States," and to transfer, with-issues having banished specie from circulation, the Govout charge, that money, which constituted the public ernment had been obliged, in direct violation of exfunds, from place to place, as required. isting statutes, to receive the amount of their taxes in something which was not recognised by law as the money of the country, and which was, in fact, greatly depreciated, &c. This was the evil. The currency which the bank was bound to receive in deposite, and which constituted the "public funds," was foreign coin at fixed rates, the coinage of our own mint, and Treasury notes. The bank could not have refused to have received either of these descriptions of currency, and it never did refuse so to do. Thus matters stood when, in just twenty days after the bank was established, comes the resolution of the 30th of April, 1816, and it certainly cannot be unimportant to inquire how this resolution happened to be offered, and how it happened to be adopted. A character is now given to it which I never supposed it was entitled to, and hence it may be useful to trace its origin, in order to determine its true character and object. It is now not only matter of public history, but must be within the particular recollection of the members of the Senate, that, during the last war, the banks in New York, and west and south of New York, had stopped payment. The banks of New England did not, during that period, suspend specie payments. But the banks first referred to had issued a flood of paper on individual security, and on a pledge of Treasury notes; an amount which, at the time, the banks themselves were wholly unable to redeem. Much of this depreciated uncurrent paper had found its way into the public Treasury for customs and for lands. No man can say that the receipt of this money was not an entire departure from the requisitions of existing law. But still its receipt seemed to be unavoidable; it was the only money in circulation in New York and west of New York; and although the acts of Congress expressly required that the customs should be received only in gold and silver, and Treasury notes, yet, considering the particular crisis, and the peculiar circumstances of the country, it was next to an impossibility for the public receivers and collectors to observe expressly and literally the law; and hence an immense amount of this de preciated paper had accumulated in the public Treasury. The banks themselves were receiving enormous profits upon their issues; and the funds of the Government were in most imminent jeopardy. The Secretary of the Treasury could not, at the time, if he would, upon his own notion, without the order and direction of Congress, have checked this growing evil; he could not have changed the course. The author of the resolution himself, in a most able speech which he made in the House of Representatives, "These banks not emanating from Congress, what engine was Congress to use for remedying the existing evil? Their only legitimate power, he said, was to interdict the paper of such banks as do not pay specie from being received at the custom-house. With a receipt of forty millions a year, he said, if the Government was faithful to itself and to the interests of the people, they could control the evil; and it was their duty to make the effort. They should have made it long ago, and they ought now to make it. The evil grows every day worse by indulgence. If Congress did not now make a stand, and stop the current whilst they might, would they, when the current grew stronger, hereafter do it? If this Congress should adjourn without attempting a remedy, he said, it would desert its duty." It became the bounden duty of Congress to interpose, and, by some decisive act, to stop all further receipts of this depreciated paper money; to improve the currency of the country; to render safe the funds of the nation, and to inspire public confidence in the resources of the Governmen'. It was at a time like this, and under circumstances like these, that the resolution of the 30th of April, 1816, was presented; and the last clause of that resolution speaks to the then Secretary of the Treasury, and through him to all the receivers of the public money, and more especially to the banks themselves, which had flooded the nation with their over-issues of uncurrent and depreciated paper, a language which to mortal can misunderstand. It declares: "That from and after the 20th day of February next, no duties, taxes, debts, or sums of money, accruing or becoming payable to the United States, ought to be collected or received otherwise than in the legal currency 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;" most clearly indicating that the resolution, in this part, was merely advisory. It ex. pressed the sense of Congress in relation to its subject. matter. It said to the Secretary, that he should not thereafter receive any uncurrent paper; and it had the whole effect intended. It checked at once the issues of these banks; it produced, as if by magic, an entire revo |