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... atui (toady progreaa, to the uttermo?t ?* ?" "Y ? of the we*'- who c,n **" ????? of "'" n n r. lrm.'d .l.uoet wub the auddm.ne- of 'T.nnn.n' ^o lho.e of fruitful..? ."<1 iittsrzztst: ^?53 r& l^rrr r.r.d. iIld J\or h.m-T"wouid 1.-U -, ... van, to Ta^or Cainoena, telling ? tale of the wsra of knights and cruaadera, or of the diacovcry and conquest ?^Mr? UunkTnTaTdoof th^e things-,,ot doubling lor a moment, the infinite superiority ol our race >? every thing that relate to a refined and well ordered public economy, and in all the ineansaud '^r? ments of a high social improvement, t jWtojn* ol all paradoxes the most singular, to hear lorei?u examples seriously proposed lor our .rniu ii n very matters wherein that superiority to ever ap neared to me to b-most unquestionable. The re (lection has occurred to me a 'hou^aiid turn > veiling over the continent ot Europe, p through filthy ill paved villages, through towns in .a".??; "i --Mrr,' having been made since the Reformation, as ua looked al the wretched hovel ot the pour peasMl or ?nti/ .n or seen hiin at his labors with his clumsy implements and coarse gear?what a cjiange wou d take place in the whole aspect of the country, it it were to Call into the hands of Americans tor a single K' BuS^U paper money and the credit system alone that have achieved all these wonders I I do not say so,sir; but can you say,can any oiie presiiino io^) , that they have not done much of all this 1 I know that the cardinal spring and source ot ow success is freedom?freedom with the peculiar*characMltot belongs to it in our race? Ireedoin of thought, Ir dotn ot speech-freedom of action, freedom ..1 com merce freedom not merely from the oppression., but from tho?e undue restraints and thai imperiiuent interference of government in the latere?ts p>r.q irly belonging to individuals, which4tand m the wj.v . all improvement in the nations ot continetial hu rope. It is this vital principle, the f,\^''",Khtv a inent, of social equality, tempered and sobered profound respect for the authority of the laws -md for the rights of others, and acting upon '"al olher prominent characteristic of the A*or.nan race, the str.mg inst inct of properly with the |>? nwnalliiute oendence and personal comfort that belong that explains our unrivalled aud astonishing .P""? 2i ess. But of this rational, ditlustve liberty, among a people so intelligent as ours, the credit sy s tem is the natural fruit, the inseparable companion, the necessary means and instrument. It is pari^and parcel of our existence Whoever heard ot ^redi a despotism, or an anarchy 1 It implies coh/mmc confidence in yourself, confidence in your neighbor, confidence in your government, confidence in the administration of the laws, eonhdence in the sagaci ty the integrity, the discretion ot those wain w hom you have to deal; confidence, in a word, in your destiny, and your fortune, in the destinies and the fortune of the country to which you belong; as tor instance, in the case of a great national debt, it is the fruit I sav, of all that is most precious in civi lized life, and to quarrel with it is to be ungratetui to God for some ol the greatest blessings he has vouchsafed to man. Compare A*ia ?'ith Europe; hoarding has been the usage of the former from tunc immemorial, because it is slavish, oppressed and barbarous; and it is curious to see the effect ot En glish laws in breaking up (as they are doing,) that system in Hindooston. Depend upon it, sir, all such ideas are utterly alien to our way ol thinkirg to ail the habitudes of our people, and all the interests ot the country. My friends from beyond the mountains are familiar with the great principle, the magical effect of credit in a young and progressi ve country. They know what miracles are wrought by a smalt advance of money to enable enterprise and industry to bring into cultivation a virgin soil. I hey know how soon the treasures of its unworn fertility enable them to pay off a loan of that sort with usurious in terest. and make them proprietors of estates rising in value with the lapse of every moment. Compare the "Teat Western country now, with what it was twenty years ago.?sell it ,skb kasta?and compute, if the powers of arilhmetic will enable you to do so, the augmentation of its riches.' Sir, this is one of the phenomena of our situation to which attention has hardly ever been called?the manner in which the mere increase of population acts upon the value of property. To be struck with the prodigious re sults produced in this simple way, you have only to compare the estimated taxable property in Pennsyl vania and New York, when it was returned tor di rect taxation in '99, with the returns ot the same pro perty for the same purpose in 1H13, after an iuterval of only 11 years*?you will see how it is that our people have b.*en enriched by debt, and " by owing owe not '?how with a balance of payments almost continually against them from the first settlement of the country, they have grown in riches beyond all precedent or parallel.?You will appreciate all the blessings of the credit system?and imagine, perhaps, how this wonderful progress could have been im peded and embarrassed by the dilficulties oi a metal lic circulation, t But the fluctuations of the currency?the ruinous irregularities of bank paper! Why, sir, I have al ready shown they belong to commerce itself, not to the means which it employs, and that there is no remedy for them. But, after all, what is the sum of the evil 1 Look again at. general results. '1 ell me not that reactions produce fewer disasters, or less extensive derangements of business and circulation in countries whose money is principally metallic. It may be so; but what does that prove"! II you never soar, you will b3 in no danger ot falling, cer tainly?but then, Serpit humi tutus mimium timidus que procelltr. A go-cart may b"! a very safe contrivance lor the tottering footsteps of infancy?but is it thus that manly vigor is to be trained tor the dust and heat of the Olympic race ? Sir, it is the condition of all that is grand and awakening in nature, to be somewhat wild and irregular. In the moral world, especially, peril and difficulty are the price which Providence exacts of its for all great excellence, and all eminent success. It is in struggling with them that the heroic virtues, which elevate and purity humanity, are called forth and disciplined; and it is precisely be cause our people have b:en trained in that stein school, that they have effected more, and are now able to effect more, with equal means, than any other in the world. Sir, ii is not our currency only that it is obnoxious to the imputation of irregularity. What is democracy, popular government itself? flow often has it, fallen, to my lot to defend it by the very con siderations which I now urge on a kindred tonic, when foreigners have spoken to me of the disorders that have occasionally checquered our history. When they exaggerated the importance of such events, I have reminded them that all human insti tutions must have their,imperfections; and that it is by their general effects in a long course of expe rience, not by occasional accidents, however strik ing and important, that they are to b ? judged. That the absence of restraint, which leads to occasional, licentiousness, fosters that bold, robust, energetic, and adventurous spirit, and that habit of haughty self reliance. and independent judgment, which are the very soul of republican government: which have rendered that form <>f government wherever it has existed, so illustrious for heroic achievements ; and has made every era of i icrtv m the history of mankind, even in its most imperfect form, an era of flourishing prosperity and progress Sir, such a people, as has been said of beings of a higher order, " live throughout, vital in every part." All head tliey live, alMieart, all eye, all ear, All intellect, nil sense This is the great secret of our superiority, and of that of everv free people?not the forms of a constitution, not the outlines of a system, not mere organization?hilt the principle of life, the all-pervading animation and vital ity that informs the-whole body politic, and give* it the ? warmth, and strength, and activity?the winning graces and expressive countenance of a man, instead of the . euld aud repulsive stillness of a painted corpse Jurv trial is another of these irregularities?liable, undoubt edly, to much criticism in detail, scarcely susceptible, as a juridical institution, of a strict defence in theory? yet what should we think of a reformer that should pro pose to us, the abilition of a system so full of practical good, because it was unknown until recently, any where but in England, and often leads, as it certainly has often led, to great abase and injustice ! But, then, it seems, our banking system is an innova tion, introduced only a century and a half ago, and deviates from the primitive model of the. Bank of Am sterdam.?the honett system, as it is called?and that instead of lending money, it lends merely credit. As to the idea of its being an innovation, I would just remark, that it had its origin at that great e|>och of hu man improvement, as I must still be allowed to eall it, . when mankind ceased to cut each over's throats for differences in religion, and began to make war for colonies and commerce?an era perfectly familiar, as such, to every one thai has studied history philosophi cally. But there is something more in the historical reminiscence than the mere fact just referred to If the comparative effects of Dutch and English banking are to be judged by the event, what an instructive lesson is to be drawn from a parallel between those two powers, at the close of the 17th century, and their relation lo ?1'itkins Statistics, 1H3">. f Mr Gallatin's I'mnpblet, p 63 wards ?ach other now ! Where la Vao Tromp ! Where ia lie Ruyler' What la become of th? mighty fleets which disputed the doiiiiiiion of the seas with England and France! Poor Holland ! Iter dufuuceless potts blockaded by British squadrons?her court browbeaten by British diplomacy?ahorn of all her strength and glory, ahe senna almoat sinking again into the waters out of which ahe emerged So much for the innovation. Hut what i? the objection to the ay ate in ! Let ua un derstand each other. I will put a case. The quantity of the precious metal* required in any transaction, or any number of trausacjious, between two countries, (or two individuala, for it cornea to the same thing,) depends not only upon the balance of payinenta between them, but also upon the confute net they have in each other Thus Hamburgh imports corn for England in a season of dearth, from Prussia. If trade |>e prosperous ami the world at peace, she will probably pay for this corn by a bill at six months, with interest, ami when tho tune comes for meeting her engagement, she will do so by sending to Dantzic a cargo of colonial produce.* liut should the times be auch (from war, commotion, die ,) as to mako commerce unccriam, or to inquir credit, the purchase can he made only for caah, and paid for hi gold ami siher. Now, sir, commcrce being a ntero ex change of commodities, every body must aee, at a glance, that it u very tnnch more promoted by a state of peace and order, than by one of war and commotion, by a state of 'confidence, than by one of distrust, |bjr a state of things that admit* of payments in bills, than by one that requires payments in cash. In a simple operation, liko the one described, this is quite manifest, and yet the whole theory of money and of banking, is contained in that simple operation. Sir, it explains at once why it is that in countries very j far advanced in commerce and civilization, the precious ] metals, for all purposes of currency, are superseded by commercial paper, us u particularly the case in England, w hose paper circulation of all sorts is something like -00 millions, resting upon a basis of only 30 millions ! of specie t Money is nothing more than what is called I by the brokers "s bought and sold note"?it is a token j which shows that its holder has parted with coinmodi I ties to that amount, and that he is entitled to receive iheir equivalent in other commodities whenever it shall ?be his pleasure to do so Why should that token be of gold ! Why should a mere title or evidence of debt, be itself of a material as costly as the thing of which it is the symbol and the evidence ! It is clear, that were there anv means of insuring soci ety against excessive issues of paper, besides its con vertibility into gold and silver?wore not that the only practical test hitherto discovered bv which prices in dif ferent countries can be compared?all commcrcial na tions would dispense with tho precious metals as a me dium of exchange. But as yet there is no such means, and the currency, theoretically the most perfect, is for the present impracticable; The nearest approximation to it has certainly been made occasionally in theU Slates, where tho specie basis has just answered the purpose of ascertaining that our currency was on a level with that of other nations. But there is another step in the commercial op eration just mentioned. The holder of the Bill of Exchange received in payment of corn, stands in need of soiiv other commodity which, his own credit does not enable h:m to procure He ap plies to n bioker or any other capitalist for tiie cash, or what will answer his purpose just as well, his credit in the shape of a note payable on de mand, or at a short date, for which tho original bill at C mon'hs is given in exchange, with a reasonable dis count. This Ia3t operation is what is considered as tho ureal abomination of banking. The bank receives a discount on giving its own bill payable ou demand or one at a shoit date, (for which therefor it is compelled to reserve or prepare a fund,) for a bill payablo at 6 months, of which of course payment cannot be demand ed until the expiration of thut term And, now I aslt, whero is the difference between the first operation, which every body must perceive is eminently condu cive to the extension of commcrce and the last ' What objection can bo made to it that does not lie equally against the drawing and discounting of bills of exchange ?an improvement of which Europe has been boasting for at least six hundred years, and of which tho advan tages have never to my knowledge been questioned be fore ! Why is not a credit founded on property as good in the one case as in the other! and why should gold and silver be used in cither when they are not wanted ! The banking system, sir, is only one form of that di vision of labor which takes place in all opulent coun tries. It lends to a great economy both of lime and money?of the former because ihe business of a whole community in receiving and paying away can be trans acted by the clerks of a single institution, us well us by 100 or 1000 tunes the number, in llie separate employ ment of individual merchants?of tho latter because in stead of each individual in u community reserving the quantity of gold and silver necessary to meet current demands, a much smaller proportional amount kept by a banking house has been found to answer tho wants of tho whole society. But the utility of that system is not confined to the advantages just mentioned. It ap pears to me very clear in the first place, that the credit system carried to the extent in which it exists in England and tho United States could not possibly be made to rest upon any thing so liable to be disturbed by a foreign demand, ami by other contingencies, as the metallic ba sis, and of which a given quantity cannot therefore be counted on at any given lime What is commonly called the currency of a country, that is to say, bank paper and the precious metals really constitutes a very small portion of it, but it may be considered as the test or touchstone of all tho rest, and if engagements in bills of exchange, Ac. be not met according to their tenor in what is considered as cash, it is difficult to cal culate the effects of this nlarin that may ensue. But there is another point of view in which banks ap pear to me quite essential to our commercial system. It is that, according to the rrm.uk of an excellent wri ter, the appreciation of the credit of a number of per sons engaged in comincrce has become a science, and to , the height to which that science is now carried m (Jicat Britain (and in this country) that country is in no small d ?gree indebted for the ilourishing state of lis inter nal commerce, for the general reputation of its mer chants abroad, and for the preference which in this re spect they enjoy over the traders of all other nations. Sir, 1 have been driven to this elementary way of considering the subject by tho coerse which the argu ment has taken here and elsewhere, and because, in so lemnly reviewing, as we are now compelled to do, the whole monetary system of the*country, it is of the very last importance, that the subject, in all its aspects, should be fairly presented to the people. I shall there fore proceed briefly to consider the question, how far it is practicable or desirable to substitute a metallic cur rency for bank paper, or even very materially to widen the metallic basis of our present circulation. I presume it will hardly be disputed that by a general return to the precious metals as the only medium of ex change for the whole commercial world, the operations of trade would bo every whero embarrassed and im peded, and the value of money enhanced, or which is the same thing, tho prices of commodities reduced in an incalculable degree. I low far a similar effect has ul ready been produced by the diminution of the supply from the Mexican and South American mines, within the last twenty years, is one of the most difficult and controverted questions of the day. This is not a fit oc casion for stating the arguments advanced by the advo cates of different views of that subject, but I will men tion to the committee that in a very able work to which I have already referred as having been recently sent to me, the author, who examines this point with perfect candor, advanc.es the opinion that thousands have with in the period alluded to, been precipitated into embar rassments from that cause alone 5 If it be true, as is alleged by Jacobs, that the whole stock of coin in cir culation in 1929, was less by upwards of ?60,000,000 than that which circulated in ISO!)-and if any thin<r like the supposed diminution of the actual quantify by abiasion, hy I >-;s, by consumption in manufactures takes place, (| per cent.II a year,) it becomes matter of serious speculation what means shall b> adopted to ob\ i.ite sii great tin inconvenience ;is a continually decreasing metallic b isis, at a period when com merce and its productive powers are so immensely on the increase. Sir, that question is infinitely more interesting in a highly prog retire country than in any other. In such a country, the currency must "vuhrly enlarge,! with the growth of its popnla lion and of its productive power, or it is subjected to hat most terrible of all evils, falUnu prio.t. Every ,,liat ''.as ever treated of such subjects, has dwelt ujion the effects of an increasing currency, as wonderfully favorable to industry. No more strik ing example of this truth can b: desired than what was witnessed in the Itl'h century, after the im portation ?l -Mid and silver from America began to produce a decided effect ii|?<?n the distribution of wealth. It is admitted on all hands to have b?en the period of the greatest improvement in society that has occurred in its history ; and of .-,11 countries h.- it remembered, England b ?neiitcd most hy the general rise of prices, became so large a portion of her farmers held leases for long terms of years and paid money rents: the increase of the circulation operating to reduce the real value of the returns made to the landlord in favor of his tenant. The * Thornton. 'Mr. Burgess in the Minutes of Evidence \r? before the _orninitlco of the llonse of Common*, in i I hornton. i} Mom y and its Vicissitudes in Value. II Money and its vicissitudes in value great beneht of a full and ??!*< ially an increasing circulation thus, consists not only in quickening and fceilitatiag exchanges, (itself an nnintn.se siimulu> to industry,) but in sacuriin? to the industri ous classes rather a larger proportion A the income of society thin they would otherwise enjoy. Every thing which they buy to sell again advanc es in price while it is in their hands, and this unquestionable truth is of itself, a total refutation ol all that is said concerning the oppressive^ operation of bank paper, upon the produettrc e?wes, by the very persons who in the same breath, speak of its excess ayd deprecia tion. With a population then, increasing at the rale of ?I ot 5 ner cent, a year,.and with an accumulation of capital and productive power proporiionably greater, I hold it to bs utterly ub>ure to talk of any thing like a metallic currency in the United States. 1'here is no jxrssib'.e means of procuring it, and if by any means it rould bs procured, 1 venture to allirm that our people would get rid of it in the course of a few years, though all the penal laws of S|uiin against the exportation of gold and silver should bj re-enacted here?laws which were passed with no other effect, even in that country, but to show the utter futility of such legislation. 1 say, sir, that with their present habits ol active enterprise and strict economy, the American people would export the precious me\als as fast as they were imported, beyond any amount of them whirh might be; absolutely necessary for the domestic exchanges of the country, and they would do so because gold and silver would b.*of use abroad in purchasing com modities, and would be wholly superflous at hortie where paper would do as well. It you put down " the Bants," it would have no effect but to set up something worse in their plaee, in the shape of private paper. There are some things over which the most despotic law givers are unable to exercise any control, and one ol them, as all experience shows, is this commerce in bulliou. Sir, it has been said that the only advantage of a pape r currency over the precious metals consists in its cheapness. 1 am, by no means, as you may ga ther from what I have said, ready to admit this, but supposing it to be true, is that saving really an un important matter 1 Mr. Gallatin, in a pamphlet ol signal ability,* has, as 1 conceive, fallen into a grave error on this subject, which it is so much the more important to rectify, as I perceive that l>e has mis led others more disposed tnan hiinsell to turn a spe culative error into a practical mischief. He states the whole benefit derived from the use of paper in stead of the precious metals in the Uailed States in 1830, including, under the name of circulation, pri vate deposits in tin- binks, as they ought undoubtedly to be, at about five millions ol dollars a year. It is true, that according to principles admitted by Mr. Gallatin, the progress of the country, both in wealth and population, in the last y-irn years, would re quire a very considerrble addition to be made to this estimate in order to a correct application ol it.to our actual condition. But, sir, it appears to me that the estimate was made on data altogether erroneous. In the first place, the quantity of currency, if it were metallic, necessary to the circulation of this coun try. was prodigiously underrated. For reasons thai need not b? stated here, it is found that a gi\en amount of metallic currency docs not circulate as ' rapidly as an equal amount of paper, and, therefore, that more of it is ceteris p<irihu.i required to do the same business. But without going into such minute inquiry here, why should the United SliUcs w ith sixteen millions of inhabitants, and relatively the most active trade both foreign and domestic in the world, and with extraordinary productive power of all sorts, not need at the very foul half the circula tion necessary in France, with only double their population and not half their industry 1 The stress that ought to be laid on this latter circumstance may b' illustrated by comparing Asia with F.uropc in ihis particular?double the population in the former possessing, according tothe most accurate researches, only one-fifth the quantity of gold and gilyer, which, in addition to paper of all sorts, is required in the latter. Now, the circulation of France was, before the first revolution, set down by Neckar at 0001?and Thiers, in his history of that event, makes a similar estimate.t Its present amount ought, in reference to the increase of her capital and jwpula tion, to be at least tiOO.OtXVfXK) of dollars, and accord ingly. as was observed by one of my colleagues, (Mr. Thompson) it is slated at that on good authority .4 \lr. Hothchild, in his examination before the Com mittee of the House of Commons in 1H3?, mentions the paper circulation of the Bank of France as amounting to 750,000,000 of franks. According to this; then we should require on the footing of popu lation alone, at least 300,000,000 of dollars. So much for the amount?now for the loss upon it. Mr Gallatin considers It only as ?o innrh interest on dead capital, and even the intereitl ho puts at an exceed ingly low rate. But I apprehend the difference tothe country between having a vast inert mass of gold and silver as currency, and turning it into productive capital, inust be determined not in reference to interest merely, but to the profit of stock laid out, in active industry, which is no where in this country less than 10 per cent, and in the great majority of cases, the new states and all included, nearer double that amount on an average. You see then, sir, what an enormous loss a metallic cur rency would be to the nation, without taking into the account its wear anil tear. Look hack at the hall cen tury that has passed away and say what that loss would have been, on principles of coinjiound interest, from the beginning up to the present day. Why, sir, it ex ceed# all powers of calculation, nay of imagination Do not suppose for a moment that so important, so palpable a truth, although never stated in abstract terms or as a general proposition, has not occurred to the people of the United States. They have felt it without perceiving it, they have acted on it without reasoning about it, they have perfectly well comprehended the real uses of mo ney without studying the principles of currency, and ihcv have preferied paper as a circulating medium to gold and silver,"because it was better for their purposes than gold and silver, on the simplest maxims of pru ? deuce and economy. Yon may depend upon it, this 1 conclusion is. as deeply rooted as it is just. \ ov will | never be able to shake it. All your policy will be of no , avail, ns all legislation is forever vain which comes into ' conllict with the genius of a people, especially in mat ters so deeply and visibly ulfeciing their private in terest. The Barbarian who, in Ins impotent rage, threw fetters into the Hellespont and scourged its foaming bil lows, did not wage a more insane war against the nature of things. But we arc told that if it is an experiment that has been proposed to us?we need not be alarmed at it, be cause we arc accustomed to experiments, and successful ones?that our constitution itself is a mere experiment. Sir, I deny it ulterlv, and he that says so shows me that i has cither not studied at all or studied to very little pur . pose the historv and genius of our institutions 1 he great cause of ilicir prosperous rcsulta-'-a cause which everv one of the many attempts sincc vainly made to imitate them on this continent or in Europe, only de monstrates the more clearly?is precisely the contrary. It is because our fathers made no experiments, and had no experiment to make that their work has stood. They were forced hv a violation of their historical, hereditary rights iimler the rid common law of thru race to dis solve their connection with tho mother country. Their external, their federal relations were of course changed, and ill that respect, nnd in that respect only, thoy wute compelled to do their best in the novel situation in which they stood. What relates, therefore, merely to the union of tho Slates is all that gives the least coun tenance to this superficial idea of an " Ex|>erinicnt" which has done > o much to misguide the speculations of some visionary minds upon these important matters.? Even m this respect, however, an attentive study of our historv will show that strong fi dcral tendencies ex isted and hud, frequently, on former occasions manifest ed themselves II But tho whole constitution of society m the States, tho great body and bulk oJ" their public law, with all its nuxims and principles?all that is re publican m short, iu our institutions?remained after the Revolution and remains noir with some very subordi j nate modifications, what it was from the beginning ? Our written constitutions do nothing but consecrate and , fortifv the "plain rules of ancient liberty" handed down j with Magna Charta, from the earliest history of our race. It is not a piece of paper, Sir, it is not a few abstractions engrossed on parchment?that make free governments No, sir, the law of liberty must lit: inscribed on the heart of the citizen, the word, if I may use the expression without move-once, must become flesh , you must have a whole peojilc trained, disciplined, bred, yea and born,, as our fathers were to institutions like ours. Before the colonics existed, the Petition of Right?that Magna Charta of a more enlightened age?had been presented [ in 1643 hv I.ord Coke and his immortal compcers ? Our founder* brought it with them, and we have not | gone one step beyond them?they brought these max ims of civil liberty not in their libraries but in their souls, not as philosophical prattle, not as barren gen eralities, but as rules of conduct, as a symbol of public duty and private right, to be adhered to with religious fidelity, and the very first pilgrim that set Ins foot upon the rock of Plymouth, stepped forth a living constitu tion, armed at all points to defend ami to perpetuate the liberty to which he had devoted his whole being. I: only retinitis for me to advert briefly to one c?r ?Considerations on the elirrrncy nnd banking of the United States. Philadelphia, IS,II. ? See an article in Blackwood's Magazine, for last February. J Rurke's b'tfer on the French Revolution. Thier's Hist do I*. Revolution Francaise v. 5, p. 21. KCommitter at Albany, Ace. two additional topics and I have (!<?*? It ha.- been argued at> if the currency Riven to bank |*per in this country, were due almost uxelusively to ine counte nance which government affords it. by receiving it in payment of public dues. Certainly, Sir, the pa tronage of government is an important concurring cause of this credit, bin it is not true that it is evwn [ tial to it- What does the House of Hothchild owe uj the government^ of Europe; that House to which all the governments on the continent are obliged to have recourse in their financial exigeucie* I And here let me call 'he attention ot those who deel lim mi vehemently against the ageucy of blinking corpora tions, to the fact, that this mighty house, w iin its scarcely less than royal intluence and splendor, like most ot the other establishments of the same kind in Europe, is no corporation at all, but a mere private partnership, and to the additional lact, that this co lossal fortune lias b -en amassed in little more than a single generation, by an obscure person bmiina corner of the Juden.?Strasse of Franklort on the mainc.aud his four sons. Do you not see then, sir, that the odious common place* ab jut money puwer," and " the political powers," either have no meaning or apply with all their force to every ac cumulation ot capital, and all the great results of modern commerce 1 The " money power, 1 pre sume signifies "the power of money,' which is widely did used in this country, thanks to the pro tection of equal laws, and which will exist and con tinue to have its intluence, so long a.s those laws shall protect it from ct>njisc<itu>n, whether it shall bor row the credit of the government, or the government I shall borrow its credit. It is scarcely necessary to notice an idea, analogous to the last , which has been very much insisted on, and that is, that the com merce of New York has been built up by govern ment credits. Why, Sir, this does appear to me too extravagant to need exposure. New York has been built up by her unquestionable natural advantages, and there is no measure of this government?there is only one event, that can possibly deprive her of her immense commercial ascendancy,?the dis solution of the Union?/W, and nothing but t/uit, can do it. Commerce, as I have already remarked, leads every where to centralization: look at Liver pool?look at Ilnvre, the last in a hard money coun try. But on this head there is a very important con sideration, which has been urged with all his admi rable eloquence by one of my colleagues in the Senate. (Mr. Preston.) If this concentration of com mercial business at that city be injurious to the others now, what will it become, if by collecting the revenue in gold and silver, and thus making gold and silver mere merchandize, you add to the disad vantages of centralization, all the difficulties of pro curing coin?make New York the great specie market?and render the whole country tributary to the money changcrs of Wall street 1 Sir, a word more to the South and for the South. When your system of protection was still in all its vigor, we, (I mean the people ot' South Carolina.) sent you a Protest against its principles and tenden cy, which contained among other objections to it, one that deserves to be repeated here. We told you that we depended absolutely upon commerce?com merce on the largest scale?commerce carried on, as it has been for the last half century, with an ever increasing production, provoking and creating an ever increasing consumption, and permitting us to send a million (now a million and a half) of bales of cotton into the market, without any danger of a glut. We told you the staple commodities, especially the principal one which we produced, were among the very few in the production of which slave labor can enter into competition with Iree. We reminded you that, great revolutions in trade, sometimes arose from apparently slight causes, and that however far it might be from your purpose, or even your apprehensions, it was possible that your legislation might occasion us the loss of our foreign market, our only resource?that the result of that loss to us would be poverty and utter desolation, that our people in despair, wonldemigrate to more fortu nate regions, anil the whole frame and constitution of our society would be seriously impaired and en dangered, if not dissolved entirely. And we adjured you not to persist in a course .of legislation of which the benefit to yourselves, even were they unques tionable, were nothing in comparison of the danger to which they exposed us?a danger which, how-. ever contingent or remote, involved our whole existence, and could not be contemplated without well founded alarm.?Sir, I repeat to you now?1 repeat to the representatives of the whole South up qh this (loor?the words then addressed to the Hou>e on a different subject. Let well alone. Resist this uncalled for innovation, of which no one can lore see the whole extent nor the ultimate results. Mark what your Secretary of the Trcasary has told you in tin''very paper in which he reveals the project on the table?voir produce too much cotton. Go home gentlemen of the South, and tell your people that their successful industry is a vice?that the fertility of theirsoil is a curse?that their excessive produc tion occasional disorders in the state?and that the remedy for our troubles, is that tfunj should live on short commons. Let them co-operate with our political economy, by depriving themselves of the little mercantile capital thev have?let them abolish those corpora tions to which people who cannot themselves do business with the \vidow and the orphan have con tributed their means for the accommodation of com merce?let them but do this, and their docility will be admirable, and shall have our approbation. Sir, before 1 take my seat there is one other topic that I feel it my duty to advert to?I mean to the sup posed injurious effects of Hanking institutions upon the laboring classes of society. Although I have no doubt but that there are many defects in (he con stitution, as well as the management of those institu tions in this country, and should be most willing to co operate, if occasion served, in reforming them, I have no hesitation in acquitting them at least of <A?'*charge. Who that hasever heard of the relation bet ween capi tal and labor, between wages and profits, but must see at once,that it is unfounded; and accordingly Hume objects to banks that by their issues they raise wages, and so hurt the manufacturing interests of a nation. 1 have already remarked that one bf the effects of an increasing currency is to make a distribution of the wealth of society more favorable to the indus trious classes of it?to confiscate, in a manner, the property of tho-*c who live on fixed incomes, for the benefit of those who produce the commodities' on which those incomes are laid out. It is for this rea son that the radicals of England?Mr. Atwood, lor example?are all strenuous advocates of paper money, and even of inconvertible paper. The idea that the poor are to gain by a return to metallic cur rency, is so far as I know, confined to their friends in this eountrv, whose z.'al is certainly greater than their knowledge. It is true, sir, that among other disadvantages attending frequent fluctuations in the currency, it is said that wages are the last thing that rises in a case of expansion. And that may be so in countries where the supply of labor is greater than the demand, but the very reverse is most certainly the fact here where the demand?especially, when stimu- ! lated by any extraordinary increase,real or fictitious, of capital?is always greater than the supply. All pricc j is aquestion of power, or relative necessity between . two parties, .and every body knows that in a period of \ excitement here wages rise immediately, and out i of all proportion more than any thing else, because ( the population of the country is entirely inadequate j to its wants. During the last year, for instance, the i price of labor became so exorbitant, that some of | the most fertile land in South Carolina, rice fields i which have been cultivated a hundred years, were j in danger of being abandoned from the impossibility j of paying for it. Sir, as a Southern man, 1 repre sent equally rent, capital and wages, which are all ? confounded in our estates?and 1 protest against at- | tempts to array, without cause, without a color of pretext or plausibility, the different classes of society against tine another, as if in such a country as this there emUd be any natural hostility, or any real dis- I tinetion b'tween them?a country in which all the rich, with hardly an exception, have been poor, and j all the poor may one day b ? rich?a country in which i banking institutions have been of immense service, ! precisely b'cause they hav.e been most needed by a 1 people who all had their fortunes to make by good i character and industrious habits, Look at thai re- : markable picture?remarkable not as a work of art, b it as a monument of history?which you see in pas- J sing through the Rotunda. Two out of five of that \ immortal committee were wcArt/i/V.<and such men !? ! In the name of God, sir, why should any one study i to pervert the natural good sen^e, and kindly feel- I ingsof this moral and noble people, to infuse into tlicir minds a sullen envy towards one another, instead of that generous emulation which every thing in their situation is fitted to inspire, to breathe into them the spirit of Cain, muttering deep curses and meditating desperate revenge against his brother, because the smoke of his sacrifice has ascended to heaven before his own! And do not they who treat our industri ous classes as if they were in the same debased and wretched condition as the poor of Europe, insult them by such an odious compari- , son 1 VVhy, sir, you do not know what po verty is?we have no poor in this country, in the sense in which that word is used abroad. Every laborer, even the most humble, in the I nited States, soon becomes a capitalist, and even, if lie choose, a proprietor of land, for the West with all its boundless fertility is. open to him How can any one dare to com pare the mechanics of this land, whose inferiority in anv substantial particular?in intelligence, in virtue, in wealth?to the other classes of our society 1 have yet * Franklin and Sherman, signers of the Declaration to tarn, with that race of eutcaaU, of which ao terrific ? picture M presented by rtwent writ? poor of L grope ? ? race, among no mromidflrabte portion of whom famine and pestilence may be aaid to dwell con tinually?many of whom arc without morala, without education, without a country, without a God ! and may be raid to know aociely only by the teirora of ita penal code, and to live in |?rpeuial war with it?poor bond men ! mocked with the name of liberty, that they may be sometimes tempted to break their chains, in order that after a few daya of atarvation in idleness or dissi ' pation, they may t?e driven back to their prison-house, I to take them up again, heavier and more galling than | before?severed, aa it has been touchiugly expressed, | from nature, froin the common air and the light of the 1 sun, knowing only bv hearsay, that the fields are green, that the birda sing, and that there is.a perfume in flow i era * And ta it with a race whom the perverse institu tions of Europe have thus degraded beneath the condi tion of humanity ; that the advocates, the patrons, the protectors of our working men, presume to compare them ! Sit, it is to treat them with a scorn, at which their spirit should revolt and does,revolt. Just before 1 left Charleston, there was a meeting called for some piirjxxe which waa regarded by ihe people of that city as unfavorable to public order. There waa something, I suppose, in the proceedings, which looked to the m 1 vidious distinction of which i have been shaking ; for I it led, as I have heard, to an i xpreaakm of sentiment I from one of our mechanics,t which struck me aa noble I beyond all praise. He said he wondered what could bo I meant by addressing to the industrious classca particu ! larly, all inflammatory appeal* against the institutions of I the country?aa if they were not a part of the comma 1 nity, as much interested in its order and peace, as any other?as if they had no ties of sympathy or connection with their fellow citizens?above all, as if they had not intelligence and knowledge enough to take carc of their own interests, but were reduced to a state of perpetual pupilage and infancy, and needed the officious protec tion oi' self-constituted guardians! Sir, that was a aentii.ni nt worthy of a freeman, arid which may be re corded, with honor, among the sayings of heroes. Mr. Chairman, I thank the committee for the atten tion with which it has honored me. I have detained it long : but I was full of the subject which appears to inc to be one of vast importance, in all its bearings. I have spoken what I felt and thought, without reference to Karty. But 1 will say one word to those with whom I ave generally acted on this floor. 1 have heard that some of them disapprove this measure, but are dis|>oscd to vole for it to oblige their friends. Sir, this is a strange and a great mistake. A true friend ought to be a faith ful counsellor, l^et them remember the deep reproach which the great poet puts in the mouth of one of his heroes: H:ulst thou bul shook thy head, or made a pause, When 1 spoke darkly what 1 purposed, Or turned au eye of doubt upon my face ! * Micbelet. f Mr. Harliy. FOREIGN NEWS. THIRTEEN DAYS LATER FROM ENGLAND. By the arrival of the Liverpool packet ship Orpheus, ? Capt. Buiislev, we received on Saturday accounts from Iiondon to the 16th September, and Irom Liver pool to the 16th. Theac dates arc thirteen days later than those last received, aad yet I'hey contain little po litical intelligence of anv interest. The Parliamentary elections being over in England, partv politics there have for the present lost much of their activity, and Parliament, which was convened to meet on the 11th September had been prorogued to the 2d October. Tranquillity also pervades France. It is again posi tively stated that the dissolution of the French Chamber of Deputies had been actually determined on. Very [ extensive preparations continue to be made for another | expedition to the coast of Africa, which is intended to act against the Bey of Constantino. The Duke de Ne mours has a command in this expedition. The Peninsula continues in a state of the utmost an archy and confusion. In La Mancha, the Queen's troops had been compelled to give wav before the Car i lists. In Old Castile the Carlists had resumed the of fensive under their chief Zariategui. In Lower Arra gon the Carlists were inactive, which had given rise to a variety of reports, amongst which was one that Don Carlos had been taken ill and returned to Cantavicja.? Martial law had been proclaimed by the Queen's cotn j matider, Baron de Meer, in the four provinces of Cata lonia. Strong suspicions were entertained of the loya lity of Geneia! Espartero, the chief commander of the Constitutional army. Ti?e Spanish capitol was perfect ly tranquil; it was feared however that that tranquillity would not endure for any length of timo. The state of atTairs in Portugal appears to be much ! of the some character as in Spain. The contest be tween the friends of the charter granted by Don Pedro and the supporters of the more democratic institutions since introduced, being still undecided. The Baron de Botnfin commands the troops of the existing Govern ment, and the Marquis de Saldanha those of the party, the former term rebels. The latter are evidently in considerable strength, and the principal opposition they seein to apprehend is from the National Guard in Lis bon. The cholera still rages with great violence in the south of Europe and has also broken out in Berlin. ENGLAND. London, Sept. 9. The firmness which has been for some weeks dis played by the public securities wan increased by tho rather unexpected determination which was communi cated to the moneyed and commercial interests on Thursday afternoon, of the directors of the Bank of England to reduce the rate of interest of money advanc ed upon loans from 5 to 4 per cent. The official notice relative to this subjcct is as follows : " The Governor and Company of the Bank of Eng land do hereby give notice that on and after tho 7th in stant, they will be ready to receive applications for loans on the deposite of approved bills of exchange, not hav ing more than 7 months to run : such loans to bo re j paid on or before the 20th of October next, with mte | rest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, and to be for I sums not less than 2000^-ach. Bank of England, Sep. 7, 1?37" V'erv considerable doubts arc entertained by some parties in the citv as to the j?olicy of the step which the directors of the Bank have come to j the present low rate of interest realised for advance in the city generally being considered. The private bankers are discounters of that class of paper which would be received by the bank in deposite at 3 and 3 1-2 per cent, and apprehen sions are indulged that the measure adopted by the Corporation will revive speculation and lead again to the recurrence of many of those evils, frotn the effects of which the commercial and trading classes have now nearly recovered. At tho same tune it is not denied that there may be occasion for the extension of the ac commodation of the Bank before long. Capital will be inconsiderable request in a fortnight or three weeks to meet the heavy payments into the Exchequer for duties previously to thu close of the financial quarter. There are also very heavy bills of exchange falling due for produce imported from China to the East Indies and other places; add to this, that to meet the general purposes of trade, the fourth of the next month will bring a good quantity of paper to maturity, and the prompts which will be required for lite large sales of colonial and foreign produce which have been com menced, and it is more than probable that without tho offer of the bank to make advance of 4 percent, the value of money would have extended much above that rate. All things considered, therefore, the Bank Direct ors are entitled to credit for the course thev have adopt ed, as facilities will be given to trade should a pressure again arise, which might, without the interposition of the Corporation iu reducing the value of money, very materially tend to check that improvement which is now so apparent in all tho important branches'of commerce. Tlio business transacted in the Funds this week has been comparatively small, indeed scarcely a single bar gain to any amount has been made since.the commence ment of operations on Monday morning last The prices of stock have been steadily improving, and Consols for money have risen frotn 91 3-rt to 91 7-8 and for the October account from 91 1-2 to 92. The highest prices were realised immediately after the notice was com municated to the Stock Exchange from the Hank of England of the reduction in the rate of interest upon advances, and they were maintained within a mere frac tion up to the close of business ye.Uerd.iy afternoon ? A considerable reaction has taken place in the value of Exchequer bills this week, a notice having: been issued for paying off all bills drawn in the months of July, Au gust, and September in the last year, and for the issue of other bt.'U bearing the same rate of interest as the iast. There have been some sales of these securities made in the expectation that', as money i* now so plen tiful, and the value of stock so high, the Chancellor of the Exchequer would think it a good opportunity to re duce the rate of interest. The premium on all de scriptions of bills has advanced from 42 to SO India Bonds arc also higher than last week, having improved frotn 46 to 50 prcm The last transfers m bank stock, previous to the closing of the books oil Tuesday, were made at 211. India Slock has risen to 2"<l) 1-2, and for account 259 3 4 The contents of the private letters received from the principal commercial houses in the city of New Vork, S';S,',r ,nd<oihrrp?rt">r ^ L'nutd sutr. ,o - I V l ,re of " f,vor,We ,c'>of The thr*, ' k. el j wmrh have come in thu wh k haw hr? nearly 1,000,000 dollar. gold ,lU, r amount engaged for the ve... I. which were to'leave \ 1 0rk ?Ub8t'l1up?? ?? ?hc .ailing of Ike ?hich have nisi come in, ratlu-r e,ceed?i the jlMt ? "he Lundo., line of packet .hip Toronto, ?|,.ch armed,,! ?*' hai n?l*??" soft,000 U, freight, a very larl proportion of which are in wvereiim. 'Hie reinitlanc?. Baring of lZou.7* ncn pm M h" > r,",?1',he Anglo-Aii.e e tl of ti! ? l,a4"'? Kood /..depend ve v : ,hc Packet. have v? Inch w ill i'I. *?7 " , cotto" ,nd ??her produce, whii u will j.'o a considerable way toward, rtdocuw the ndebladne.. (a new Jooathanwin) of the American to ; the Dm,.. merchant. According to the mo.i.cc" ra ?. calculation, which had been made at New York the debt due by the Americana to the Briti.h and other , claimant., mclu.ive ol t|M. remittance. of tl... week, had been reduced to 6,000.000 of dollar. I, i. estimated j that (be foreign creditor.of America would lone by the aterhngab?Ut 'hfCe <lu*ftt? of a million | The Wool Trade ?Bradford The only alteration ! we can notice in the wool market to-day, j. an increa. cd dullne.a. Price. do not vary The transaction. the )arn market are to tQuch the .aine e*tent a. la.t week, arid the .mall advance we mentioned a. having " obtained on them ha* been confirmed to-day A very fair amount of business has been done to day in the niece market; rather more than on the two or three market days previous The manufacturers are asking higher price., and .ome have refused to sell st previous I quotations, but we do not hear that an advance has ueen-obuined. VKRY LATK FltO.H K.\ULAM). I he packet ship Independence, Capt. Nye, arrived in New Vork, October 20, from Li verpool. The latest dates are London, 24th Sept , and Liverpool 25th, inclusive. GREAT BRITAIN. A proclamation was issued on the 20;h of Septem ber, calling a meeting of the new parliament on the 14th of November, for despatch of business. 1 he King and CAueen of Belgium embarked at Ramsgate, for their own kingdom, on board a go vernment steamer, on the 19th. Mr .Stevenson, the American Minister, returned to Lotfdon on the 20th, from Liverpool, where |.? -htnl been attending the meeting the Br itish Asso ciation. The half-yearly general meeting of the stock holders of the Bank of England va> on the 21m I he following is a condensed sk* . h ot the pro ceedings : The Court was not very numerously attended, al though it was expected by many parties interested in the American trade, that explanations of ihe po sition in which the corporation has been placed in reference* to the suspended houses, would be s? >n2-hr for by $ome of the proprietors. This expectation was not, however, realized, and the business of the day was r tnfined solely to a few inquiries respecting the amount of the rest (or surplus profits of the b.mk5 the dead weight, the branch Dank system, the letrai proceedings of the London and Westminster Bank, and the progress cf the business of the corporation for the last six months. The Governor said he had to state that the Court of Directors, having carefully considered the state of the Bank accounts, had come to the resolution of recommending the declaration of a dividend, if the proprietors thought fit, out of interests and profit*, of 1 per cent., tor the half year ending the 10th ut October next. Mr. Selwyn could have wished that more copious and extensive information had been given to the pro prietors, to which lie considered they were entitled. The worthy Governor had followed, however, the footsteps of his predecessors in this respect, and in order to elicit the information he wished to obtain, he should propound a fair question.. What was the amount of the rest at the time the accounts were made up, upon which the Court of Directors agreed to recommend that a dividend of 4 per cent., should be declared ? The Governor.?The amount of the rest at the time the accounts were inspected was ?2,854,462. Mr. Selwyn.?The next question I wish to put i-, whether there has been in the last half year, any al teration in the branch bank system? A proprietor asked whether the prefitsof the cor poration had increased or decreased, since the last halt yearly meeting 7 The Governor stated that the profits in the last half year had not increased; they were rather less than in the preceding half year, but the sum was ton small and insignificant to require any comment. Dankof England.? The following is the quarter ly average of the weekly liabilities and assets of the Bank of England, from June 27 to Sept. 19, 1837 in clusive: liabilities. assets. Circulation . .?18,914,000 Deposites 11,093,000 Securities.. ?26,605.000 Bullion 6,303,000 ?32,908,000 ?28,907,000 [ Downing street, Sept. 22, 1837. A comparison of the above with the last oceount '\,at, lh<~ circulation has been increased bv ?t.tjJ.OOO, the deposites increased by ?88,000 the se curities decreased by ?112,000, and the bullion in creased by ?549,000. Anuria? Merchants ?The London Times of the AM September, in alluding to the commercial affairs withi this country, holds the following language: " 11 ls said that some assistance is to be given of a more effectual nature, in the liquidation of the claims of the American houses in New York, and that a gentleman of much experience in such business, ac companied by one of the confidential clerks of the bank itself, is about to proceed thither for that pur pose. Whether this mission is undertaken expresslv by the orders of the bank, or at the solicitation of other parties, does not appear; but, coupled with the total silence of the directors on this subject at the meeting yesterday, it proves the correctness of the general impression in the city, that the realization of the effects of those houses in America is jroin" on very badly." Ihe liiited States frigate Independence arrived at Portsmouth on the 20th of September. From Ihe London Courier, Saturday, Sept. 2t. " ( Hi/, 12 o'clock.?We are still without later ac counts troin America, the wind being just now u favorable for vessels coming from the westward. Letters seem, nevertheless, to be preuy confidently looked for by Monday. Several of the New York packets are some time over-due. % " The English market is steady, and, as is the case with the foreign, there is little or nothing doing in it. Consols for the account are 92, exchequer bill< lt> to 48, and bank .stock for the opening2l() to 211 " The Wandering Piper was performing in Liver pool tor the ben fit of public charities. I he John Hullon?A splendid new ship bearing tne name of John Bolton, arrived in the Mersey on Monday last, from CAuebec, having completed i(11 her first voyage, in fifteen days. She was built at Quebec. Her dimensions arc?keel, 115 feet; beam, 35 feet; hold 2:1J feet, and measures I,(KM) tons bur then. She has on board a cargo of 1,550 tons at a draught of water under 20 feet.?Liverpool pn/rr. Sir Francis Rurdctt has published a very long let ter to Lord Melbourne, remonstrating against Un contemplated sale of the royal stud, which the birimet denounces as a penny-wise, pound-foolish piece ot policy. The papers are more than usually filled with a. counts of murders, burnings, robberies and othe r outrages in Ireland. FRANCE. A telegraphic despatch announced the arrival of the Duke i~e Nemours at Bond, with hi- Miite, on L jSeptember 13th. General Damrenmnt had a skirmish with the cavalry of the Bey of Con stantia, 12 leagues from that place, in which the lat ter were repulsed, with trifling loss. The Co mm free states the exports from France in 18.lt;, consisting of products and manufactures, to have been somewhat more than ?8,000,000. M. Cerfberr, the atrent appointed by the Govern n: -nt to arrange the differences with the Republic of I I lyti, left Paris for his destination on the Kith of September, ft i* said'thatthe French Admiral corn mandingon the West India station has received or d<-rs to support M. Cerfb-rr, as occasion may re quire. THF. CHOLKRA. The accounts of the Cholera at Marseilles, pre <>i the most encouraging nature. On the 12ih of s-| mkne flw, ?niii.h ir of* tirfiu itni II rI'l... . I . n.v. VII' I'lttnisiH^ ? ^ '11 VII*,: Iw'll III I tember the number of deaths was but 11. The <li ease had made its appearance at Pisa, but not alarm ingly. At R ?me it had somewhat diminished. The number of nobl-*- who had fallen victims in that city was 140. The principal mortality was in the Trastavere quarter, and among the Jews t >n the 5(h and6th, f>H new cases had orenrreil, and 25t> death The Berlin bulletin of the 21 hoitts fro in