SALE OF UNITED STATES STOCK IN THE NATIONAL BANK.
The President in his annual message had recommended the sale of
this stock, and all other stock held by the United States in
corporate companies, with the view to disconnecting the government
from such corporations, and from all pursuits properly belonging
to individuals. And he made the recommendation upon the political
principle which condemns the partnership of the government with a
corporation; and upon the economical principle which condemns the
national pursuit of any branch of industry and leaves the profit,
or loss of all such pursuits to individual enterprise; and upon the
belief, in this instance, that the partnership was unsafe--that
the firm would fail--and the stockholders lose their investment.
In conformity to this recommendation, a bill was brought into the
House of Representatives to sell the public stock held in the Bank
of the United States, being seven millions of dollars in amount, and
consisting of a national stock bearing five per centum interest.
The bill was met at the threshold by the parliamentary motion which
implies the unworthiness of the subject to be considered; namely,
the motion to reject the bill at the first reading. That reading is
never for consideration, but for information only; and, although
debatable, carries the implication of unfitness for debate, and of
some flagrant enormity which requires rejection, without the honor
of the usual forms of legislation. That motion was made by a friend
of the bank, and seconded by the member (Mr. Watmough) supposed to
be familiar with the wishes of the bank directory. The speakers on
each side gave vent to expressions which showed that they felt the
indignity that was offered to the bill, one side in promoting--the
other in opposing the motion. Mr. Wickliffe, the mover, said: "He
was impelled, by a sense of duty to his constituents and to his
country, to do in this case, what he had never done before--to move
the rejection of a bill at its first reading. There are cases in
which courtesy should yield to the demands of justice and public
duty; and this, in my humble opinion, is one of them. It is a bill
fraught with ruin to all private interests, except the interest
of the stockjobbers of Wall-street." Mr. Watmough expressed his
indignation and amazement at the appearance of such a bill, and even
fell upon the committee which reported it with so much personality
as drew a call to order from the Speaker of the House. "He expressed
his sincere regret at the necessity which compelled him to intrude
upon the House, and to express his opinion on the bill, and his
indignation against this persecution of a national institution.
He was at a loss to say which feeling predominated in his
bosom--amazement, at the want of financial skill in the supporters
of the bill--or detestation of the unrelenting spirit of the
administration persecution on that floor of an institution admitted
by the wisest and the best men of the times to be absolutely
essential to the existence and safety of this Union, and almost to
that of the constitution itself which formed its basis. He said, he
was amazed that such a bill, at such a crisis, could emanate from
any committee of this House; but his amazement was diminished when
he recalled to mind the source from which it came. It came from the
Committee of Ways and Means, and was under the parental care of the
gentleman from Tennessee. Need he say more?"
Now, the member thus referred to, and who, after being pointed
out as the guardian of the bill required nothing more to be said,
was Mr. Polk, afterwards President of the United States. But
parliamentary law is no respecter of persons, and would consider
the indecorum and outrage of the allusion equally reprehensible in
the case of the youngest and least considerable member; and the
language is noted here to show the indignities to which members were
subjected in the House for presuming to take any step concerning
the bank which militated against that corporation. The sale of the
government stock was no injury to the capital of the bank: it was
no extinction of seven millions of capital but a mere transfer of
that amount to private stockholders--such transfer as took place
daily among the private stockholders. The only injury could be to
the market price of the stock in the possible decline involved
in the withdrawal of a large stockholder; but that was a damage,
in the eye of the law and of morality, without injury; that is,
without injustice--the stockholder having a right to do so without
the assignment of reasons to be judged of by the corporation; and
consequently a right to sell out and withdraw when he judged his
money to be unsafe, or unprofitably placed, and susceptible of a
better investment.
Mr. Polk remarked upon the unusual but not unexpected opposition to
the bill; and said if the House was now forced to a decision, it
would be done without opportunity for deliberation. He vindicated
the bill from any necessary connection with the bank--with its
eulogy or censure. This eulogy or censure had no necessary
connection with a proposition to sell the government stock. It was
a plain business proceeding. The bill authorized the Secretary
of the Treasury to sell the stock upon such terms as he should
deem best for the government. It was an isolated proposition. It
proposed to disenthral the government from a partnership with this
incorporated company. It proposed to get rid of the interest which
the government had in this moneyed monopoly; and to do so by a sale
of the government stocks, and on terms not below the market price.
He was not disposed to depreciate the value of the article which he
wished to sell. He was willing to rest upon the right to sell. The
friends of the bank themselves raised the question of solvency, it
would seem, that they might have an opportunity, to eulogize the
institution under the forms of a defence. This was not the time for
such a discussion--for an inquiry into the conduct and condition of
the bank.
The argument and the right were with the supporters of the bill;
but they signified nothing against the firm majority, which not
only stood by the corporation in its trials, but supported it in
its wishes. The bill was immediately rejected, and by a summary
process which inflicted a new indignity. It was voted down under
the operation of the "previous question," which, cutting off all
debate, and all amendments, consigns a measure to instant and silent
decision--like the "_mort sans phrase_" (death without talk) of the
Abbé Sièyes, at the condemnation of Louis the Sixteenth. But the
vote was not very triumphant--one of the leanest majorities, in
fact, which the bank had received: one hundred and two to ninety-one.
The negative votes were:
"Messrs. Adair, Alexander, R. Allen, Anderson, Angel, Archer,
Barnwell, James Bates, Beardsley Bell, Bergen, Bethune, James
Blair, John Blair, Boon, Bouck, Bouldin, John Brodhead, John C.
Brodhead, Cambreleng, Chandler, Chinn, Claiborne, Clay, Clayton,
Coke, Connor, Davenport, Dayan, Doubleday, Draper, Felder, Ford,
Foster, Gaither, Gilmore, Gordon, Griffin, Thomas H. Hall,
William Hall, Harper, Hawkins, Hoffman, Holland, Horn, Howard,
Hubbard, Isacks, Jarvis, Jewett, Richard M. Johnson, Cave
Johnson, Kavanagh, Kennon, Adam King, John King, Lamar, Lansing,
Leavitt, Lecompte, Lewis, Lyon, Mann, Mardis, Mason, McCarty,
Wm. McCoy, McIntire, McKay, Mitchell, Newnan, Nuckolls, Patton,
Pierson, Plummer, Polk, Edward C. Reed, Roane, Soule, Speight,
Standifer, John Thompson, Verplanck, Ward, Wardwell, Wayne,
Weeks, Campbell, P. White, Worthington.--91."
Such was the result of this attempt, on the part of the government,
to exercise the most ordinary right of a stockholder to sell its
shares: opposed, insulted, defeated; and by the power of the bank in
Congress, of whose members subsequent investigations showed above
fifty to be borrowers from the institution; and many to be on the
list of its retained attorneys. But this was not the first time
the government had been so treated. The same thing had happened
once before, and about in the same way; but without the same excuse
of persecution and enmity to the corporation; for, it was before
the time of General Jackson's Presidency; to wit, in the year
1827, and under the Presidency of Mr. Quincy Adams. Mr. Philip P.
Barbour, representative from Virginia, moved an inquiry, at that
time, into the expediency of selling the United States stock in the
bank: the consideration of the resolution was delayed a week, the
time necessary for a communication with Philadelphia. At the end
of the week, the resolution was taken up, and summarily rejected.
Mr. Barbour had placed his proposition wholly upon the ground of a
public advantage in selling its stock, unconnected with any reason
disparaging to the bank, and in a way to avoid, as he believed, any
opposition. He said:
"The House were aware that the government holds, at this time,
stock of the Bank of the United States, to the amount of seven
millions of dollars, which stock was at present worth in market
about twenty-three and one half per cent. advance above its par
value. If the whole of this stock should now be sold by the
government, it would net a profit of one million and six hundred
thousand dollars above the nominal amount of the stock. Such
being the case, he thought it deserved the serious consideration
of the House, whether it would not be a prudent and proper
measure now to sell out that stock. It had been said, Mr. B.
observed, by one of the best writers on political economy, with
whom he was acquainted, that the pecuniary affairs of nations
bore a close analogy to those of private households: in both,
their prosperity mainly depended on a vigilant and effective
management of their resources. There is, said Mr. B., an amount
of between seventeen and eighteen millions of the stock of the
United States now redeemable, and an amount of nine millions
more, which will be redeemable next year. If the interest paid
by the United States on this debt is compared with the dividend
it receives on its stock in the Bank of the United States, it
will be found that a small advantage would be gained by the
sale of the latter, in this respect; since the dividends on
bank stock are received semi-annually, while the interest of
the United States' securities is paid quarterly; this, however,
he waived as a matter of comparatively small moment. It must be
obvious, he said, that the addition of one million six hundred
thousand dollars to the available funds of the United States
will produce the extinguishment of an equivalent amount of the
public debt, and consequently relieve the interest payable
thereon, by which a saving would accrue of about one hundred
thousand dollars per annum."
This was what Mr. Barbour said, at the time of offering the
resolution. When it came up for consideration, a week after, he
found his motion not only opposed, but his motives impeached, and
the most sinister designs imputed to himself--to him! a Virginian
country gentleman, honest and modest; ignorant of all indirection;
upright and open; a stranger to all guile; and with the simplicity
and integrity of a child. He deeply felt this impeachment of
motives, certainly the first time in his life that an indecent
imputation had ever fallen upon him; and he feelingly deprecated the
intensity of the outrage. He said:
"We shall have fallen on evil times, indeed, if a member of this
House might not, in the integrity of his heart, rise in his
place, and offer for consideration a measure which he believed
to be for the public weal, without having all that he said and
did imputed to some hidden motive, and referred to some secret
purpose which was never presented to the public eye."
His proposition was put to the vote, and received eight votes
besides his own. They were: Messrs. Mark Alexander, John Floyd,
John Roane, and himself, from Virginia; Thomas H. Hall, and Daniel
Turner, of North Carolina; Tomlinson Foot of Connecticut; Joseph
Lecompte, and Henry Daniel, of Kentucky. And this was the result
of that first attempt to sell the United States stock in a bank
chartered by itself and bearing its name. And now, why resuscitate
these buried recollections? I answer: for the benefit of posterity!
that they may have the benefit of our experience without the
humiliation of having undergone it, and know what kind of a master
seeks to rule over them if another national bank shall ever seek
incorporation at their hands.