PUBLIC DISTRESS.
From the moment of the removal of the deposits, it was seen that
the plan of the Bank of the United States was to force their
return, and with it a renewal of its charter, by operating on the
business of the country and the alarms of the people. For this
purpose, loans and accommodations were to cease at the mother bank
and all its branches, and in all the local banks over which the
national bank had control; and at the same time that discounts were
stopped, curtailments were made; and all business men called on for
the payment of all they owed, at the same time that all the usual
sources of supply were stopped. This pressure was made to fall
upon the business community, especially upon large establishments
employing a great many operatives; so as to throw as many laboring
people as possible out of employment. At the same time, politicians
engaged in making panic, had what amounts they pleased, an instance
of a loan of $100,000 to a single one of these agitators, being
detected; and a loan of $1,100,000 to a broker, employed in making
distress, and in relieving it in favored cases at a usury of two and
a half per centum per month. In this manner, the business community
was oppressed, and in all parts of the Union at the same time: the
organization of the national bank, with branches in every State,
and its control over local banks, being sufficient to enable it
to have its policy carried into effect in all places, and at the
same moment. The first step in this policy was to get up distress
meetings--a thing easily done--and then to have these meetings
properly officered and conducted. Men who had voted for Jackson, but
now renounced him, were procured for president, vice-presidents,
secretaries, and orators; distress orations were delivered; and,
after sufficient exercise in that way, a memorial and a set of
resolves, prepared for the occasion, were presented and adopted.
After adoption, the old way of sending by the mail was discarded,
and a deputation selected to proceed to Washington and make delivery
of their lugubrious document. These memorials generally came in
duplicate, to be presented, in both Houses at once, by a senator
from the State and the representative from the district. These,
on presenting the petition, delivered a distress harangue on its
contents, often supported by two or three adjunct speakers, although
there was a rule to forbid any thing being said on such occasions,
except to make a brief statement of the contents. Now they were read
in violation of the rule, and spoke upon in violation of the rule,
and printed never to be read again, and referred to a committee,
never more to be seen by it; and bound up in volumes to encumber the
shelves of the public documents. Every morning, for three months,
the presentation of these memorials, with speeches to enforce them,
was the occupation of each House: all the memorials bearing the
impress of the same mint, and the orations generally cast after
the same pattern. These harangues generally gave, in the first
place, some topographical or historical notice of the county or
town from which it came--sometimes with a hint of its revolutionary
services--then a description of the felicity which it enjoyed while
the bank had the deposits; then the ruin which came upon it, at
their loss; winding up usually with a great quantity of indignation
against the man whose illegal and cruel conduct had occasioned such
destruction upon their business. The meetings were sometimes held
by young men; sometimes by old men; sometimes by the laboring,
sometimes by the mercantile class; sometimes miscellaneous, and
irrespective of party; and usually sprinkled over with a smart
number of former Jackson-men, who had abjured him on account of
this conduct to the bank. Some passages will be given from a few of
these speeches, as specimens of the whole; the quantity of which
contributed to swell the publication of the debates of that Congress
to four large volumes of more than one thousand pages each. Thus,
Mr. Tyler of Virginia, in presenting a memorial from Culpeper
county, and hinting at the military character of the county, said:
"The county of Culpeper, as he had before observed, had been
distinguished for its whiggism from the commencement of the
Revolution; and, if it had not been the first to hoist the
revolutionary banner, at the tap of the drum, they were second
to but one county, and that was the good county of Hanover,
which had expressed the same opinion with them on this
all-important subject. He presented the memorial of these sons
of the whigs of the Revolution, and asked that it might be read,
referred to the appropriate committee, and printed."
Mr. Robbins of Rhode Island, in presenting memorials from the towns
of Smithfield and Cumberland in that State:
"A small river runs through these towns, called Blackstone
River; a narrow stream, of no great volume of water, but
perennial and unfailing, and possessing great power from the
frequency and greatness of its falls. Prior to 1791, this
power had always run to waste, except here and there a saw
mill or a grist mill, to supply the exigencies of a sparse
neighborhood, and one inconsiderable forge. Since that period,
from time to time, and from place to place, that power, instead
of running to waste, has been applied to the use of propelling
machinery, till the valley of that small river has become the
Manchester of America. That power is so unlimited, that scarcely
any limitation can be fixed to its capability of progressive
increase in its application. That valley, in these towns,
already has in it over thirty different establishments; it has
in it two millions of fixed capital in those establishments;
it has expended in it annually, in the wages of manual labor,
five hundred thousand dollars; it has in it one hundred thousand
spindles in operation. I should say it had--for one half of
these spindles are already suspended, and the other half soon
must be suspended, if the present state of things continues. On
the bank of that river, the first cotton spindle was established
in America. The invention of Arkwright, in 1791, escaped from
the jealous prohibitions of England, and planted itself there.
It was brought over by a Mr. Slater, who had been a laboring
manufacturer in England, but who was not a machinist. He brought
it over, not in models, but in his own mind, and fortunately he
was blessed with a mind capacious of such things, and which by
its fair fruits, has made him a man of immense fortune, and one
of the greatest benefactors to his adopted country. There he
made the first essays that laid the foundation of that system
which has spread so far and wide in this country, and risen to
such a height that it makes a demand annually for two hundred
and fifty thousand bales of cotton--about one fourth of all
the cotton crop of all our cotton-growing States; makes for
those States, for their staple, the best market in the world,
except that of England: it was rapidly becoming to them the
best market in the world, not excepting that of England; still
better, it was rapidly becoming for them a market to weigh down
and preponderate in the scale against all the other markets of
the world taken together. Now, all those prospects are blasted
by one breath of the Executive administration of this country.
Now every thing in that valley, every thing in possession, every
thing in prospect, is tottering to its fall. One half of those
one hundred thousand spindles are, as I before stated, already
stopped; the other half are still continued, but at a loss to
the owners, and purely from charity to the laborers; but this
charity has its limit; and regard to their own safety will
soon constrain them to stop the other half. Five months ago,
had one travelled through that valley and witnessed the scenes
then displayed there--their numerous and dense population, all
industrious, and thriving, and contented--had heard the busy
hum of industry in their hours of labor--the notes of joy in
their hours of relaxation--had seen the plenty of their tables,
the comforts of their firesides--had, in a word, seen in every
countenance the content of every heart; and if that same person
should travel through the same valley hereafter, and should find
it then deserted, and desolate, and silent as the valley of
death, and covered over with the solitary and mouldering ruins
of those numerous establishments, he would say, 'Surely the hand
of the ruthless destroyer has been here!' Now, if the present
state of things is to be continued, as surely as blood follows
the knife that has been plunged to the heart, and death ensues,
so surely that change there is to take place; and he who ought
to have been their guardian angel, will have been that ruthless
destroyer."
And thus Mr. Webster, in presenting a memorial from Franklin county,
in the State of Pennsylvania:
"The county of Franklin was one of the most respectable and
wealthy in the great State of Pennsylvania. It was situated
in a rich limestone Valley, and, in its main character, was
agricultural. He had the pleasure, last year, to pass through
it, and see it for the first time, when its rich fields of wheat
and rye were ripening, and, certainly, he little thought then,
that he should, at this time have to present to the Senate
such undeniable proofs of their actual, severe and pressing
distress. As he had said, the inhabitants of Franklin county
were principally agriculturists, and, of these, the majority
were the tillers of their own land. They were interested, also,
in manufactures to a great extent; they had ten or twelve
forges, and upwards of four thousand persons engaged in the
manufacture of iron, dependent for their daily bread on the
product of their own labor. The hands employed in this business
were a peculiar race--miners, colliers, &c.--and, if other
employment was to be afforded them, they would find themselves
unsuited for it. These manufactories had been depressed, from
causes so well explained, and so well understood, that nobody
could now doubt them. They were precisely in the situation of
the cotton factories he had adverted to some days ago. There
was no demand for their products. The consignee did not receive
them--he did not hope to dispose of them, and would not give
his paper for them. It was well known that, when a manufactured
article was sent to the cities, the manufacturer expected to
obtain an advance on them, which he got cashed. This whole
operation having stopped, in consequence of the derangement
of the currency, the source of business was dried up. There
were other manufactories in that county that also felt the
pressure--paper factories and manufactories of straw paper,
which increased the gains of agriculture. These, too, have
been under the necessity of dismissing many of those employed
by them, which necessity brought this matter of Executive
interference home to every man's labor and property. He had
ascertained the prices of produce as now, and in November last,
in the State of Pennsylvania, and from these, it would be seen
that, in the interior region, on the threshing floors, they had
not escaped the evils which had affected the prices of corn and
rye at Chambersburg. They were hardly to be got rid of at any
price. The loss on wheat, the great product of the county, was
thirty cents. Clover seed, another great product, had fallen
from six dollars per bushel to four dollars. This downfall of
agricultural produce described the effect of the measure of the
Executive better than all the evidences that had been hitherto
offered. These memorialists, for themselves, were sick, sick
enough of the Executive experiment."
And thus Mr. Southard in presenting the memorial of four thousand
"young men" of the city of Philadelphia:
"With but very few of them am I personally acquainted--and
must rely, in what I say of them, upon what I know of those
few, and upon the information received from others, which I
regard as sure and safe. And on these, I venture to assure the
Senate, that no meeting of young men can be collected, in any
portion of our wide country, on any occasion, containing more
intelligence--more virtuous purpose--more manly and honorable
feeling--more decided and energetic character. What they say,
they think. What they resolve they will accomplish. Their
proceedings were ardent and animated--their resolutions are
drawn with spirit; but are such as, I think, may be properly
received and respected by the Senate. They relate to the conduct
of the Executive--to the present condition of the country--to
the councils which now direct its destinies. They admit that
older and more mature judgments may better understand the
science of government and its practical operations, but they act
upon a feeling just in itself, and valuable in its effects, that
they are fit to form and express opinions on public measures
and public principles, which shall be their own guide in their
present and future conduct; and they express a confident
reliance on the moral and physical vigor and untamable love of
freedom of the young men of the United States to save us from
despotism, open and avowed, or silent, insidious, and deceitful.
They were attracted, or rather urged, sir, to this meeting, and
to the expression of their feelings and opinions, by what they
saw around, and knew of the action of the Executive upon the
currency and prosperity of the country. They have just entered,
or are about entering, on the busy occupations of manhood, and
are suddenly surprised by a state of things around them, new to
their observation and experience. Calamity had been a stranger
in their pathway. They have grown up through their boyhood in
the enjoyments of present comfort, and the anticipations of
future prosperity--their seniors actively and successfully
engaged in the various occupations of the community, and the
whole circle of employments open before their own industry
and hopes--the institutions of their country beloved, and
their protecting influence covering the exertions of all for
their benefit and happiness. In this state they saw the public
prosperity, with which alone they were familiar, blasted, and
for the time destroyed. The whole scene, their whole country,
was changed; they witnessed fortunes falling, homesteads ruined,
merchants failing, artisans broken, mechanics impoverished, all
the employments on which they were about to enter, paralyzed;
labor denied to the needy, and reward to the industrious;
losses of millions of property and gloom settling where joy and
happiness before existed. They felt the sirocco pass by, and
desolate the plains where peace, and animation, and happiness
exulted."
And thus Mr. Clay in presenting a memorial from Lexington, Kentucky:
"If there was any spot in the Union, likely to be exempt from
the calamities that had afflicted the others, it would be the
region about Lexington and its immediate neighborhood. Nowhere,
to no other country, has Providence been more bountiful in its
gifts. A country so rich and fertile that it yielded in fair and
good seasons from sixty to seventy bushels of corn to the acre.
It was a most beautiful country--all the land in it, not in a
state of cultivation, was in parks (natural meadows), filled
with flocks and herds, fattening on its luxuriant grass. But
in what country, in what climate, the most favored by Heaven,
can happiness and prosperity exist against bad government,
against misrule, and against rash and ill-advised experiments?
On the mountain's top, in the mountain's cavern, in the remotest
borders of the country, every where, every interest has been
affected by the mistaken policy of the Executive. While he
admitted that the solicitude of his neighbors and friends was
excited in some degree by the embarrassments of the country,
yet they felt a deeper solicitude for the restoration of the
rightful authority of the constitution and the laws. It is
this which excites their apprehensions, and creates all their
alarm. He would not, at this time, enlarge further on the
subject of this memorial. He would only remark, that hemp,
the great staple of the part of the country from whence the
memorial came, had fallen twenty per cent. since he left home,
and that Indian corn, another of its greatest staples, the
most valuable of the fruits of the earth for the use of man,
which the farmer converted into most of the articles of his
consumption, furnishing him with food and raiment, had fallen
to a equal extent. There were in that county six thousand fat
bullocks now remaining unsold, when, long before this time last
year, there was scarcely one to be purchased. They were not
sold, because the butchers could not obtain from the banks the
usual facilities in the way of discounts; they could not obtain
funds in anticipation of their sales wherewith to purchase; and
now $100,000 worth of this species of property remains on hand,
which, if sold, would have been scattered through the country
by the graziers, producing all the advantages to be derived
from so large a circulation. Every farmer was too well aware of
these facts one moment to doubt them. We are, said Mr. C., not
a complaining people. We think not so much of distress. Give
us our laws--guarantee to us our constitution--and we will be
content with almost any form of government."
And Mr. Webster thus, in presenting a memorial from Lynn,
Massachusetts:
"Those members of the Senate, said Mr. W., who have travelled
from Boston to Salem, or to Nahant, will remember the town of
Lynn. It is a beautiful town, situated upon the sea, is highly
industrious, and has been hitherto prosperous and flourishing.
With a population of eight thousand souls, its great business is
the manufacture of shoes. Three thousand persons, men, women,
and children, are engaged in this manufacture. They make and
sell, ordinarily, two millions of pairs of shoes a year, for
which, at 75 cents a pair, they receive one million five hundred
thousand dollars. They consume half a million of dollars worth
of leather, of which they buy a large portion in Philadelphia
and Baltimore, and the rest in their own neighborhood. The
articles manufactured by them are sent to all parts of the
country, finding their way into every principal port, from
Eastport round to St. Louis. Now, sir, when I was last among the
people of this handsome town, all was prosperity and happiness.
Their business was not extravagantly profitable; they were not
growing rich over fast, but they were comfortable, all employed,
and all satisfied and contented. But, sir, with them, as with
others, a most serious change has taken place. They find their
usual employments suddenly arrested, from the same cause which
has smitten other parts of the country with like effects; and
they have sent forward a memorial, which I have now the honor
of laying before the Senate. This memorial, sir, is signed by
nine hundred of the legal voters of the town; and I understand
the largest number of votes known to have been given is one
thousand. Their memorial is short; it complains of the illegal
removal of the deposits, of the attack on the bank, and of the
effect of these measures on their business."
And thus Mr. Kent, of Maryland, in presenting petitions from
Washington county in that State:
"They depict in strong colors the daily increasing distress with
which they are surrounded. They deeply deplore it, without the
ability to relieve it, and they ascribe their condition to the
derangement of the currency, and a total want of confidence,
not only between man and man, but between banks situated even
in the same neighborhood--all proceeding, as they believe,
from the removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the
United States. Four mouths since, and the counties from whence
these memorials proceed, presented a population as contented
and prosperous as could be found in any section of the country.
But, sir, in that short period, the picture is reversed. Their
rich and productive lands, which last fall were sought after
with avidity at high prices, they inform us, have fallen 25 per
cent., and no purchasers are to be found even at that reduced
price. Wheat, the staple of that region of the country, was
never much lower, if as low. Flour is quoted in Alexandria at
$3 75, where a large portion of their crops seek a market.
These honest, industrious people cannot withstand the cruel
and ruinous consequences of this desperate and unnecessary
experiment. The country cannot bear it, and unless speedy relief
is afforded, the result of it will be as disastrous to those who
projected it, as to the country at large, who are afflicted with
it."
And thus Mr. Webster, presenting a petition from the master builders
of Philadelphia, sent on by a large deputation:
"I rise, sir, to perform a pleasing duty. It is to lay before
the Senate the proceedings of a meeting of the building
mechanics of the city and county of Philadelphia, convened for
the purpose of expressing their opinions on the present state of
the country, on the 24th of February. This meeting consisted of
three thousand persons, and was composed of carpenters, masons,
brickmakers, bricklayers, painters and glaziers, lime burners,
plasterers, lumber merchants and others, whose occupations
are connected with the building of houses. I am proud, sir,
that so respectable, so important, and so substantial a class
of mechanics, have intrusted me with the presentment of their
opinions and feelings respecting the present distress of the
country, to the Senate. I am happy if they have seen, in the
course pursued by me here, a policy favorable to the protection
of their interest, and the prosperity of their families. These
intelligent and sensible men, these highly useful citizens, have
witnessed the effect of the late measures of government upon
their own concerns; and the resolutions which I have now to
present, fully express their convictions on the subject. They
propose not to reason, but to testify; they speak what they do
know.
"Sir, listen to the statement; hear the facts. The committee
state, sir, that eight thousand persons are ordinarily employed
in building houses, in the city and county of Philadelphia;
a number which, with their families, would make quite a
considerable town. They further state, that the average number
of houses, which this body of mechanics has built, for the last
five years, is twelve hundred houses a year. The average cost
of these houses is computed at two thousand dollars each. Here
is a business, then, sir, of two millions four hundred thousand
dollars a year. Such has been the average of the last five
years. And what is it now? Sir, the committee state that the
business has fallen off seventy-five per cent. at least; that
is to say, that, at most, only one-quarter part of their usual
employment now remains. This is the season of the year in which
building contracts are made. It is now known what is to be the
business of the year. Many of these persons, who have heretofore
had, every year, contracts for several houses on hand, have this
year no contract at all. They have been obliged to dismiss their
hands, to turn them over to any scraps of employment they could
find, or to leave them in idleness, for want of any employment.
"Sir, the agitations of the country are not to be hushed by
authority. Opinions, from however high quarters, will not
quiet them. The condition of the nation calls for action, for
measures, for the prompt interposition of Congress; and until
Congress shall act, be it sooner or be it later, there will be
no content, no repose, no restoration of former prosperity.
Whoever supposes, sir, that he, or that any man, can quiet the
discontents, or hush the complaints of the people by merely
saying, "peace, be still!" mistakes, shockingly mistakes, the
real condition of things. It is an agitation of interests, not
of opinions; a severe pressure on men's property and their means
of living, not a barren contest about abstract sentiments. Even,
sir, the voice of party, often so sovereign, is not of power to
subdue discontents and stifle complaints. The people, sir, feel
great interests to be at stake, and they are rousing themselves
to protect those interests. They consider the question to be,
whether the government is made for the people, or the people for
the government. They hold the former of these two propositions,
and they mean to prove it.
"Mr. President, this measure of the Secretary has produced a
degree of evil that cannot be borne. Talk about it as we will,
it cannot be borne. A tottering state of credit, cramped means,
loss of property and loss of employment, doubts of the condition
of others, doubts of their own condition, constant fear of
failures and new explosions, an awful dread of the future--sir
when a consciousness of all these things accompanies a man, at
his breakfast, his dinner and his supper; when it attends him
through his hours, both of labor and rest; when it even disturbs
and haunts his dreams, and when he feels, too, that that which
is thus gnawing upon him is the pure result of foolish and
rash measures of government, depend upon it he will not bear
it. A deranged and disordered currency the ruin of occupation,
distress for present means the prostration of credit and
confidence, and all this without hope of improvement or change,
is a state of things which no intelligent people can long
endure."
Mr. Clay rose to second the motion of Mr Webster to refer and print
this memorial; and, after giving it as his opinion that the property
of the country had been reduced four hundred millions of dollars
in value, by the measures of the government, thus apostrophized
the Vice-President (Mr. Van Buren), charging him with a message of
prayer and supplication to President Jackson:
"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 re-establish
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.
[The Vice-President.] 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 paralyzed 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."
During the delivery of this apostrophe, the Vice-President
maintained the utmost decorum of countenance, looking respectfully,
and even innocently at the speaker, all the while, as if treasuring
up every word he said to be faithfully repeated to the President.
After it was over, and the Vice-President had called some senator
to the chair, he went up to Mr. Clay, and asked him for a pinch of
his fine maccoboy snuff (as he often did); and, having received
it, walked away. But a public meeting in Philadelphia took the
performance seriously to heart, and adopted this resolution, which
the indefatigable Hezekiah Niles "registered" for the information of
posterity:
"_Resolved_, That Martin Van Buren deserves, and will receive
the execrations of all good men, should he shrink from the
responsibility of conveying to Andrew Jackson the message sent
by the honorable Henry Clay, when the builders' memorial was
presented to the Senate. I charge you, said he, go the President
and tell him--tell him if he would save his country--if he
would save himself--tell him to stop short, and ponder well
his course--tell him to retrace his steps, before the injured
and insulted people, infuriated by his experiment upon their
happiness, rises in the majesty of power, and hurls the usurper
down from the seat he occupies, like Lucifer, never to rise
again."
Mr. Benton replied to these distress petitions, and distress
harangues, by showing that they were nothing but a reproduction,
with a change of names and dates, of the same kind of speeches and
petitions which were heard in the year 1811, when the charter of the
first national bank was expiring, and when General Jackson was not
President--when Mr. Taney was not Secretary of the Treasury--when
no deposits had been removed, and when there was no quarrel between
the bank and the government; and he read copiously from the Congress
debates of that day to justify what he said; and declared the two
scenes, so far as the distress was concerned, to be identical. After
reading from these petitions and speeches, he proceeded to say:
"All the machinery of alarm and distress was in as full activity
at that time as at present, and with the same identical
effects. Town meetings--memorials--resolutions--deputations
to Congress--alarming speeches in Congress. The price of all
property was shown to be depressed. Hemp sunk in Philadelphia
from $350 to $250 per ton; flour sunk from $11 a barrel to
$7 75; all real estate fell thirty per cent.; five hundred
houses were suspended in their erection; the rent of money
rose to one and a half per month on the best paper. Confidence
destroyed--manufactories stopped--workmen dismissed--and the
ruin of the country confidently predicted. This was the scene
then; and for what object? Purely and simply to obtain a
recharter of the bank--purely and simply to force a recharter
from the alarm and distress of the country; for there was no
removal of deposits then to be complained of, and to be made the
scape-goat of a studied and premeditated attempt to operate upon
Congress through the alarms of the people and the destruction of
their property. There was not even a curtailment of discounts
then. The whole scene was fictitious; but it was a case in
which fiction does the mischief of truth. A false alarm in
the money market produces all the effects of real danger; and
thus, as much distress was proclaimed in Congress in 1811--as
much distress was proved to exist, and really did exist--then
as now; without a single cause to be alleged then, which is
alleged now. But the power and organization of the bank made
the alarm then; its power and organization make it now; and
fictitious on both occasions; and men were ruined then, as now,
by the power of imaginary danger, which in the moneyed world,
has all the ruinous effects of real danger. No deposits were
removed then, and the reason was, as assigned by Mr. Gallatin to
Congress, that the government had borrowed more than the amount
of the deposits from the bank; and this loan would enable her
to protect her interest in every contingency. The open object
of the bank then was a recharter. The knights entered the lists
with their visors off--no war in disguise then for the renewal
of a charter under the tilting and jousting of a masquerade
scuffle for recovery of deposits."
This was a complete reply, to which no one could make any answer;
and the two distresses all proved the same thing, that a powerful
national bank could make distress when it pleased; and would always
please to do it when it had an object to gain by it--either in
forcing a recharter or in reaping a harvest of profit by making a
contraction of debts after having made an expansion of credits.
It will be difficult for people in after times to realize the degree
of excitement, of agitation and of commotion which was produced
by this organized attempt to make panic and distress. The great
cities especially were the scene of commotions but little short
of frenzy--public meetings of thousands, the most inflammatory
harangues, cannon firing, great feasts--and the members of Congress
who spoke against the President received when they travelled with
public honors, like conquering generals returning from victorious
battle fields--met by masses, saluted with acclamations, escorted
by processions, and their lodgings surrounded by thousands calling
for a view of their persons. The gaining of a municipal election in
the city of New-York put the climax upon this enthusiasm; and some
instances taken from the every day occurrences of the time may give
some faint idea of this extravagant exaltation. Thus:
"Mr. Webster, on his late journey to Boston, was received and
parted with at Philadelphia, New-York, Providence, &c., by
thousands of the people."
"Messrs. Poindexter, Preston and McDuffie visited Philadelphia
the beginning of this week, and received the most flattering
attention of the citizens--thousands having waited upon to honor
them; and they were dined, &c., with great enthusiasm."
"A very large public meeting was held at the Musical Fund
Hall, Philadelphia, on Monday afternoon last, to compliment
the 'whigs' of New-York on the late victory gained by them.
Though thousands were in the huge room, other thousands could
not get in! It was a complete 'jam.' John Sergeant was called
to the chair, and delivered an address of 'great power and
ability'--'one of the happiest efforts' of that distinguished
man. Mr. Preston of the Senate, and Mr. McDuffie of the House of
Representatives, were present. The first was loudly called for,
when Mr. Sergeant had concluded, and he addressed the meeting
at considerable length. Mr. McDuffie was then as loudly named,
and he also spoke with his usual ardency and power, in which
he paid a handsome compliment to Mr. Sergeant, who, though he
had differed in opinion with him, he regarded as a 'sterling
patriot,' &C. Each of these speeches were received with hearty
and continued marks of approbation, and often interrupted with
shouts of applause. The like, it is said, had never before
been witnessed in Philadelphia. The people were in the highest
possible state of enthusiasm."
"An immense multitude of people partook of a collation in
Castle Garden, New-York, on Tuesday afternoon, to celebrate
the victory gained in the 'three days.' The garden was dressed
with flags, and every thing prepared on a grand scale. Pipes
of wine and barrels of beer were present in abundance, with a
full supply of eatables. After partaking of refreshments (in
which a great deal of business was done in a short time, by
the thousands employed--for many mouths, like many hands, make
quick work!) the meeting was organized, by appointing Benjamin
Wells, carpenter, president, twelve vice-presidents, and four
secretaries, of whom there was one cartman, one sail maker,
one grocer, one watchmaker, one ship carpenter, one potter,
one mariner, one physician, one printer, one surveyor, four
merchants, &c. The president briefly, but strongly, addressed
the multitude, as did several other gentlemen. A committee of
congratulation from Philadelphia was presented to the people and
received with shouts. When the time for adjournment arrived,
the vast multitude, in a solid column, taking a considerable
circuit, proceeded to Greenwich-street, where Mr. Webster was
dining with a friend. Loudly called for, he came forward, and
was instantly surrounded by a dense mass of merchants and
cartmen, sailors and mechanics, professional men and laborers,
&c., seizing him by his hands. He was asked to say a few words
to the people, and did so. He exhorted them to perseverance in
support of the constitution, and, as a dead silence prevailed,
he was heard by thousands. He thanked them, and ended by hoping
that God would bless them all."
"Saturday Messrs. Webster, Preston and Binney were expected at
Baltimore; and, though raining hard, thousands assembled to meet
them. Sunday they arrived, and were met by a dense mass, and
speeches exacted. A reverend minister of the Gospel, in excuse
of such a gathering on the Sabbath, said that in revolutionary
times there were no Sabbaths. They were conducted to the hotel,
where 5,000 well-dressed citizens received them with enthusiasm."
"Mr. McDuffie reached Baltimore in the afternoon of Saturday
last, on his return to Washington, and was received by from
1,500 to 2,000 people, who were waiting on the wharf for the
purpose. He was escorted to the City Hotel, and, from the steps,
addressed the crowd (now increased to about 3,000 persons), in
as earnest a speech, perhaps, as he ever pronounced--and the
_manner_ of his delivery was not less forcible than the _matter_
of his remarks. Mr. McD. spoke for about half an hour; and,
while at one moment he produced a roar of laughter, in the next
he commanded the entire attention of the audience, or elicited
loud shouts of applause.
"The brief addresses of Messrs. Webster, Binney, McDuffie, and
Preston, to assembled multitudes in Baltimore, and the manner in
which they were received, show a new state of feelings and of
things in this city. When Mr. McDuffie said that ten days after
the entrance of soldiers into the Senate chamber, to send the
senators home, that 200,000 volunteers would be in Washington,
there was such a shout as we have seldom before heard."
"There was a mighty meeting of the people, and such a feast
as was never before prepared in the United States, held near
Philadelphia, on Tuesday last, as a rallying 'to support
the constitution,' and 'in honor of the late whig victory
at New-York,' a very large delegation from that city being
in attendance, bringing with them their frigate-rigged and
highly-finished boat, called the 'Constitution,' which had
been passed through the streets during the 'three days.' The
arrival of the steamboat with this delegation on board, and
the procession that was then formed, are described in glowing
terms. The whole number congregated was supposed not to be
less than fifty thousand, multitudes attending from adjacent
parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, &c. Many cattle
and other animals had been roasted whole, and there were 200
great rounds of beef, 400 hams, as many beeves' tongues, &c.
and 15,000 loaves of bread, with crackers and cheese, &c., and
equal supplies of wine, beer, and cider. This may give some idea
of the magnitude of the feast. John Sergeant presided, assisted
by a large number of vice-presidents, &c. Strong bands of
music played at intervals, and several salutes were fired from
the miniature frigate, which were returned by heavy artillery
provided for the purpose."
Notices, such as these, might be cited in any number; but those
given are enough to show to what a degree people can be excited,
when a great moneyed power, and a great political party, combine for
the purpose of exciting the passions through the public sufferings
and the public alarms. Immense amounts of money were expended in
these operations; and it was notorious that it chiefly came from the
great moneyed corporation in Philadelphia.