COMMENCEMENT OF THE SESSION 1834-'35: PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.
Towards the close of the previous session, Mr. Stevenson had
resigned the place of speaker of the House of Representatives in
consequence of his nomination to be minister plenipotentiary and
envoy extraordinary to the court of St. James--a nomination then
rejected by the Senate, but subsequently confirmed. Mr. John Bell
of Tennessee, was elected speaker in his place, his principal
competitor being Mr. James K. Polk of the same State: and, with
this difference in its organization, the House met at the usual
time--the first Monday of December. The Cabinet then stood: John
Forsyth, Secretary of State, in place of Louis McLane, resigned;
Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury; Lewis Cass, Secretary at
War; Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy; William T. Barry,
Post Master General; Benjamin Franklin Butler, Attorney General.
The condition of our affairs with France, was the prominent
feature of the message, and presented the relations of the United
States with that power under a serious aspect. The indemnity
stipulated in the treaty of 1831 had not been paid--no one of the
instalments;--and the President laid the subject before Congress for
its consideration, and action, if deemed necessary.
"I regret to say that the pledges made through the minister of
France have not been redeemed. The new Chambers met on the 31st
July last, and although the subject of fulfilling treaties was
alluded to in the speech from the throne, no attempt was made by
the King or his Cabinet to procure an appropriation to carry it
into execution. The reasons given for this omission, although
they might be considered sufficient in an ordinary case, are not
consistent with the expectations founded upon the assurances
given here, for there is no constitutional obstacle to entering
into legislative business at the first meeting of the Chambers.
This point, however, might have been overlooked, had not the
Chambers, instead of being called to meet at so early a day
that the result of their deliberations might be communicated
to me before the meeting of Congress, been prorogued to the
29th of the present month--a period so late that their decision
can scarcely be made known to the present Congress prior to
its dissolution. To avoid this delay, our minister in Paris,
in virtue of the assurance given by the French minister in the
United States, strongly urged the convocation of the Chambers
at an earlier day, but without success. It is proper to remark,
however, that this refusal has been accompanied with the most
positive assurances, on the part of the Executive government of
France, of their intention to press the appropriation at the
ensuing session of the Chambers.
"If it shall be the pleasure of Congress to await the further
action of the French Chambers, no further consideration of
the subject will, at this session, probably be required at
your hands. But if, from the original delay in asking for an
appropriation; from the refusal of the Chambers to grant it
when asked; from the omission to bring the subject before the
Chambers at their last session; from the fact that, including
that session, there have been five different occasions when
the appropriation might have been made; and from the delay in
convoking the Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of
Congress, when it was well known that a communication of the
whole subject to Congress at the last session was prevented by
assurances that it should be disposed of before its present
meeting, you should feel yourselves constrained to doubt whether
it be the intention of the French government in all its branches
to carry the treaty into effect, and think that such measures as
the occasion may be deemed to call for should be now adopted,
the important question arises, what those measures shall be."
The question then, of further delay, waiting on the action of
France, or of action on our own part, was thus referred to Congress;
but under the constitutional injunction, to recommend to that body
the measures he should deem necessary, and in compliance with his
own sense of duty, and according to the frankness of his temper, he
fully and categorically gave his own opinion of what ought to be
done; thus:
"It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on
a prompt execution of the treaty; and, in case it be refused,
or longer delayed, take redress into their own hands. After
the delay, on the part of France, of a quarter of a century,
in acknowledging these claims by treaty, it is not to be
tolerated that another quarter of a century is to be wasted in
negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations provide
a remedy for such occasions. It is a well-settled principle
of the international code, that where one nation owes another
a liquidated debt, which it refuses or neglects to pay,
the aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging to
the other, its citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the
debt, without giving just cause of war. This remedy has been
repeatedly resorted to, and recently by France herself towards
Portugal, under circumstances less unquestionable."
"Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her
minister here, has delayed her final action so long that her
decision will not probably be known in time to be communicated
to this Congress, I recommend that a law be passed authorizing
reprisals upon French property, in case provision shall not be
made for the payment of the debt at the approaching session of
the French Chambers. Such a measure ought not to be considered
by France as a menace. Her pride and power are too well known
to expect any thing from her fears, and preclude the necessity
of the declaration that nothing partaking of the character of
intimidation is intended by us. She ought to look upon it as the
evidence only of an inflexible determination on the part of the
United States to insist on their rights. That Government, by
doing only what it has itself acknowledged to be just, will be
able to spare the United States the necessity of taking redress
into their own hands, and save the property of French citizens
from that seizure and sequestration which American citizens
so long endured without retaliation or redress. If she should
continue to refuse that act of acknowledged justice, and, in
violation of the law of nations, make reprisals on our part the
occasion of hostilities against the United States, she would but
add violence to injustice, and could not fail to expose herself
to the just censure of civilized nations, and to the retributive
judgments of Heaven."
In making this recommendation, and in looking to its possible result
as producing war between the two countries, the President showed
himself fully sensible to all the considerations which should make
such an event deplorable between powers of ancient friendship, and
their harmony and friendship desirable for the sake of the progress
and maintenance of liberal political systems in Europe. And on this
point he said:
"Collision with France is the more to be regretted, on account
of the position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal
institutions. But in maintaining our national rights and honor,
all governments are alike to us. If, by a collision with France,
in a case where she is clearly in the wrong, the march of
liberal principles shall be impeded, the responsibility for that
result, as well as every other, will rest on her own head."
This State of our relations with France gave rise to some animated
proceedings in our Congress, which will be noticed in their proper
place. The condition of the finances was shown to be good--not only
adequate for all the purposes of the government and the complete
extinguishment of the remainder of the public debt, but still
leaving a balance in the treasury equal to one fourth of the annual
income at the end of the year. Thus:
"According to the estimate of the Treasury Department, the
revenue accruing from all sources, during the present year, will
amount to twenty millions six hundred and twenty-four thousand
seven hundred and seventeen dollars, which, with the balance
remaining in the Treasury on the first of January last, of
eleven millions seven hundred and two thousand nine hundred and
five dollars, produces an aggregate of thirty-two millions three
hundred and twenty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-three
dollars. The total expenditure during the year for all objects,
including the public debt, is estimated at twenty-five millions
five hundred and ninety-one thousand three hundred and ninety
dollars, which will leave a balance in the Treasury on the first
of January, 1835, of six millions seven hundred and thirty-six
thousand two hundred and thirty-two dollars. In this balance,
however, will be included about one million one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars of what was heretofore reported by the
department as not effective."
This unavailable item of above a million of dollars consisted of
local bank notes, received in payment of public lands during the
years of general distress and bank suspensions from 1819 to 1822;
and the banks which issued them having failed they became worthless;
and were finally dropt from any enumeration of the contents of the
treasury. The extinction of the public debt, constituting a marked
event in our financial history, and an era in the state of the
treasury, was looked to by the President as the epoch most proper
for the settlement of our doubtful points of future policy, and the
inauguration of a system of rigorous economy: to which effect the
message said:
"Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no
complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign
powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history
the most favorable for the settlement of those principles
in our domestic policy, which shall be best calculated to
give stability to our republic, and secure the blessings of
freedom to our citizens. While we are felicitating ourselves,
therefore, upon the extinguishment of the national debt, and
the prosperous state of our finances, let us not be tempted to
depart from those sound maxims of public policy, which enjoin
a just adaptation of the revenue to the expenditures that are
consistent with a rigid economy, and an entire abstinence
from all topics of legislation that are not clearly within
the constitutional powers of the Government, and suggested
by the wants of the country. Properly regarded, under such a
policy, every diminution of the public burdens arising from
taxation, gives to individual enterprise increased power, and
furnishes to all the members of our happy confederacy, new
motives for patriotic affection and support. But, above all, its
most important effect will be found in its influence upon the
character of the Government, by confining its action to those
objects which will be sure to secure to it the attachment and
support of our fellow-citizens."
The President had a new cause of complaint to communicate
against the Bank of the United States, which was the seizure of
the dividends due the United States on the public stock in the
institution. The occasion was, the claim for damages which the bank
set up on a protested bill of exchange, sold to it on the faith of
the French treaty; and which was protested for non-payment. The case
is thus told by the President:
"To the needless distresses brought on the country during
the last session of Congress, has since been added the open
seizure of the dividends on the public stock, to the amount of
$170,041, under pretence of paying damages, cost, and interest,
upon the protested French bill. This sum constituted a portion
of the estimated revenues for the year 1834, upon which the
appropriations made by Congress were based. It would as soon
have been expected that our collectors would seize on the
customs, or the receivers of our land offices on the moneys
arising from the sale of public lands, under pretences of claims
against the United States, as that the bank would have retained
the dividends. Indeed, if the principle be established that any
one who chooses to set up a claim against the United States
may, without authority of law, seize on the public property or
money wherever he can find it, to pay such claim, there will
remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the treasury,
or that it will be applied after the appropriation to the
purposes designated in the law. The paymasters of our army, and
the pursers of our navy, may, under like pretences, apply to
their own use moneys appropriated to set in motion the public
force, and in time of war leave the country without defence.
This measure, resorted to by the Bank, is disorganizing and
revolutionary, and, if generally resorted to by private citizens
in like cases, would fill the land with anarchy and violence."
The money thus seized by the bank was retained until recovered
from it by due course of law. The corporation was sued, judgment
recovered against it, and the money made upon a writ of execution;
so that the illegality of its conduct in making this seizure
was judicially established. The President also communicated new
proofs of the wantonness of the pressure and distress made by the
bank during the preceding session--the fact coming to light that
it had shipped about three millions and a half of the specie to
Europe which it had squeezed out of the hands of the people during
the panic;--and also that, immediately after the adjournment of
Congress, the action of the bank was reversed--the curtailment
changed into extension; and a discount line of seventeen millions
rapidly ran out.
"Immediately after the close of the last session, the bank,
through its president, announced its ability and readiness
to abandon the system of unparalleled curtailment, and the
interruption of domestic exchanges, which it had practised upon
from the 1st of August, 1833, to the 30th of June, 1834, and to
extend its accommodations to the community. The grounds assumed
in this annunciation amounted to an acknowledgment that the
curtailment, in the extent to which it had been carried, was
not necessary to the safety of the bank, and had been persisted
in merely to induce Congress to grant the prayer of the bank
in its memorial relative to the removal of the deposits, and
to give it a new charter. They were substantially a confession
that all the real distresses which individuals and the country
had endured for the preceding six or eight months, had been
needlessly produced by it, with the view of effecting, through
the sufferings of the people, the legislative action of
Congress. It is a subject of congratulation that Congress and
the country had the virtue and firmness to bear the infliction;
that the energies of our people soon found relief from this
wanton tyranny, in vast importations of the precious metals from
almost every part of the world; and that, at the close of this
tremendous effort to control our government, the bank found
itself powerless, and no longer able to loan out its surplus
means. The community had learned to manage its affairs without
its assistance, and trade had already found new auxiliaries; so
that, on the 1st of October last, the extraordinary spectacle
was presented of a national bank, more than one half of whose
capital was either lying unproductive in its vaults, or in the
hands of foreign bankers."
Certainly this was a confession of the whole criminality of the bank
in making the distress; but even this confession did not prevent the
Senate's Finance Committee from making an honorable report in its
favor. But there is something in the laws of moral right above the
powers of man, or the designs and plans of banks and politicians.
The greatest calamity of the bank--the loss of thirty-five millions
of stock to its subscribers--chiefly dates from this period and
this conduct. Up to this time its waste and losses, though great,
might still have been remediable; but now the incurable course was
taken. Half its capital lying idle! Good borrowers were scarce; good
indorsers still more so; and a general acceptance of stocks in lieu
of the usual security was the fatal resort. First, its own stock,
then a great variety of stocks were taken; and when the bank went
into liquidation, its own stock was gone! and the others in every
imaginable degree of depreciation, from under par to nothing. The
government had directors in the bank at that time, Messrs. Charles
McAllister, Edward D. Ingraham, and ---- Ellmaker; and the President
was under no mistake in any thing he said. The message recurs to the
fixed policy of the President in selling the public stock in the
bank, and says:
"I feel it my duty to recommend to you that a law be passed
authorizing the sale of the public stock; that the provision
of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of the bank in
payment of public dues, shall, in accordance with the power
reserved to Congress in the 14th section of the charter, be
suspended until the bank pays to the treasury the dividends
withheld; and that all laws connecting the government or its
officers with the bank, directly or indirectly, be repealed; and
that the institution be left hereafter to its own resources and
means."
The wisdom of this persevering recommendation was, fortunately,
appreciated in time to save the United States from the fate of other
stockholders. The attention of Congress was again called to the
regulation of the deposits in State banks. As yet there was no law
upon the subject. The bill for that purpose passed in the House of
Representatives at the previous session, had been laid upon the
table in the Senate; and thus was kept open a head of complaint
against the President for the illegal custody of the public moneys.
It was not illegal. It was the custody, more or less resorted to,
under every administration of the federal government, and never
called illegal except under President Jackson; but it was a trust of
a kind to require regulation by law; and he, therefore, earnestly
recommended it. The message said:
"The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the
regulation of the deposits in the State banks, by law. Although
the power now exercised by the Executive department in this
behalf is only such as was uniformly exerted through every
administration from the origin of the government up to the
establishment of the present bank, yet it is one which is
susceptible of regulation by law, and, therefore, ought so to
be regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places
the Treasurer shall keep the moneys in the Treasury, and to
impose restrictions upon the Executive authority, in relation to
their custody and removal, is unlimited, and its exercise will
rather be courted than discouraged by those public officers and
agents on whom rests the responsibility for their safety. It is
desirable that as little power as possible should be left to the
President or Secretary of the Treasury over those institutions,
which, being thus freed from Executive influence, and without
a common head to direct their operations, would have neither
the temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political
conflicts of the country. Not deriving their charters from the
national authorities, they would never have those inducements
to meddle in general elections, which have led the Bank of the
United States to agitate and convulse the country for upwards of
two years."
The increase of the gold currency was a subject of congratulation,
and the purification of paper by the suppression of small notes a
matter of earnest recommendation with the President--the latter
addressed to the people of the States, and every way worthy of their
adoption. He said:
"The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the officers
of the mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the
country with a sound and portable currency, which will much
diminish the inconvenience to travellers of the want of a
general paper currency, should the State banks be incapable of
furnishing it. Those institutions have already shown themselves
competent to purchase and furnish domestic exchange for the
convenience of trade, at reasonable rates; and not a doubt
is entertained that, in a short period, all the wants of the
country, in bank accommodations and exchange, will be supplied
as promptly and as cheaply as they have heretofore been by
the Bank of the United States. If the several States shall be
induced gradually to reform their banking systems, and prohibit
the issue of all small notes, we shall, in a few years, have a
currency as sound, and as little liable to fluctuations, as any
other commercial country."
The message contained the standing recommendation for reform in the
presidential election. The direct vote of the people, the President
considered the only safeguard for the purity of that election, on
which depended so much of the safe working of the government. The
message said:
"I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the
recommendation I have so often submitted to your attention in
regard to the mode of electing the President and Vice-President
of the United States. All the reflection I have been able to
bestow upon the subject, increases my conviction that the best
interests of the country will be promoted by the adoption
of some plan which will secure, in all contingencies, that
important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the
people. Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers
be limited to a single period of either four or six years, I
think our liberties would possess an additional safeguard."