[THE removal of the deposits from the bank of the United States,
by order of president Jackson, in October, 1833, caused great
pecuniary embarrassments and distress in the commercial cities
and towns of the United States, from the pernicious effect of
the measure on the banks and currency. Numerous memorials were
presented to congress, by the people, praying for relief. On
the presentation of a memorial from Philadelphia, Mr. Clay made
the brief remarks which follow, consisting principally of an
eloquent appeal to the vice-president, Mr. Van Buren, to use his
influence with general Jackson, to restore peace and prosperity
to the country.]
I HAVE been requested by the committee from Philadelphia, charged with
presenting the memorial to congress, to say a few words on the subject;
and although, after the ample and very satisfactory exposition which it
has received from the senator from Massachusetts, further observations
are entirely unnecessary, I cannot deny myself the gratification of
complying with a request, proceeding from a source so highly worthy of
respectful consideration.
And what is the remedy to be provided for this most unhappy state
of the country? I have conversed freely with the members of the
Philadelphia committee. They are real, practical, working men;
intelligent, well acquainted with the general condition, and with the
sufferings of their particular community. No one, who has not a heart
of steel, can listen to them, without feeling the deepest sympathy for
the privations and sufferings unnecessarily brought upon the laboring
classes. Both the committee and the memorial declare that their
reliance is, exclusively, on the legislative branch of the government.
Mr. President, it is with subdued feelings of the profoundest humility
and mortification, that I am compelled to say, that, constituted as
congress now is, no relief will be afforded by it, unless its members
shall be enlightened and instructed by the people themselves. A large
portion of the body, whatever may be their private judgment upon
the course of the president, believe it to be their duty, at all
events safest for themselves, to sustain him, without regard to the
consequences of his measures upon the public interests. And nothing
but clear, decided, and unequivocal demonstrations of the popular
disapprobation of what has been done, will divert them from their
present purpose.
But there is another quarter which possesses sufficient power and
influence to relieve the public distresses. In twenty-four hours
the executive branch could adopt a measure which would afford an
efficacious and substantial remedy, and reëstablish confidence. And
those who, in this chamber, support the administration, could not
render a better service than to repair to the executive mansion, and,
placing before the chief magistrate the naked and undisguised truth,
prevail upon him to retrace his steps and abandon his fatal experiment.
No one, sir, can perform that duty with more propriety than yourself.
You can, if you will, induce him to change his course. To you, then,
sir, in no unfriendly spirit, but with feelings softened and subdued by
the deep distress which pervades every class of our countrymen, I make
the appeal. By your official and personal relations with the president,
you maintain with him an intercourse which I neither enjoy nor covet.
Go to him and tell him, without exaggeration, but in the language of
truth and sincerity, the actual condition of his bleeding country.
Tell him it is nearly ruined and undone, by the measures which he
has been induced to put in operation. Tell him that _his_ experiment
is operating on the nation like the philosopher’s experiment upon a
convulsed animal, in an exhausted receiver, and that it must expire in
agony, if he does not pause, give it free and sound circulation, and
suffer the energies of the people to be revived and restored. Tell him
that, in a single city, more than sixty bankruptcies, involving a loss
of upwards of fifteen millions of dollars, have occurred. Tell him of
the alarming decline in the value of all property, of the depreciation
of all the products of industry, of the stagnation in every branch of
business, and of the close of numerous manufacturing establishments,
which, a few short months ago, were in active and flourishing operation.
Depict to him, if you can find language to portray, the heart-rending
wretchedness of thousands of the working classes cast out of employment.
Tell him of the tears of helpless widows, no longer able to earn their
bread; and of unclad and unfed orphans, who have been driven, by his
policy, out of the busy pursuits in which but yesterday they were
gaining an honest livelihood. Say to him, that if firmness be honorable,
when guided by truth and justice, it is intimately allied to another
quality, of the most pernicious tendency, in the prosecution of an
erroneous system. Tell him how much more true glory is to be won by
retracing false steps, than by blindly rushing on until his country is
overwhelmed in bankruptcy and ruin. Tell him of the ardent attachment,
the unbounded devotion, the enthusiastic gratitude towards him, so
often signally manifested by the American people, and that they deserve
at his hands better treatment. Tell him to guard himself against the
possibility of an odious comparison, with that worst of the Roman
emperors, who, contemplating with indifference the conflagration of
the mistress of the world, regaled himself during the terrific scene,
in the throng of his dancing courtiers. If you desire to secure for
yourself the reputation of a public benefactor, describe to him truly
the universal distress already produced, and the certain ruin which
must ensue from perseverance in his measures. Tell him that he has
been abused, deceived, betrayed, by the wicked counsels of unprincipled
men around him. Inform him that all efforts in congress, to alleviate
or terminate the public distress, are paralysed, and likely to prove
totally unavailing, from his influence upon a large portion of the
members, who are unwilling to withdraw their support, or to take a
course repugnant to his wishes and feelings. Tell him that, in his
bosom alone, under actual circumstances, does the power abide to
relieve the country; and that, unless he opens it to conviction, and
corrects the errors of his administration, no human imagination can
conceive, and no human tongue can express, the awful consequences which
may follow. Entreat him to pause, and to reflect that there is a point
beyond which human endurance cannot go; and let him not drive this
brave, generous, and patriotic people, to madness and despair.
Mr. President, unaffectedly indisposed, and unwilling as I am to
trespass upon the senate, I could not decline complying with a request
addressed to me, by a respectable portion of my fellow-citizens, part
of the bone and sinew of the American public. Like the senator from
Massachusetts, who has been intrusted with the presentation of their
petition to the senate, I found them plain, judicious, sensible men,
clearly understanding their own interests, and, with the rest of
the community, writhing under the operation of the measures of the
executive. If I have deviated from the beaten track of debate in
the senate, my apology must be found in the anxious solicitude which
I feel for the condition of the country. And, sir, if I shall have
been successful in touching your heart, and exciting in you a glow of
patriotism, I shall be most happy. You _can_ prevail upon the president
to abandon his ruinous course; and, if you will exert the influence
which you possess, you will command the thanks and the plaudits of a
grateful people.
ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY FROM THE EFFECTS
OF THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS.