PREPARATION FOR THE DISTRESS AND SUSPENSION.
In the autumn of the preceding year, shortly before the meeting of
Congress, Mr. Biddle, president of the Pennsylvania Bank of the
United States (for that was the ridiculous title it assumed after
its resurrection under a Pennsylvania charter), issued one of those
characteristic letters which were habitually promulgated whenever
a new lead was to be given out, and a new scent emitted for the
followers of the bank to run upon. A new distress, as the pretext
for a new catastrophe, was now the object. A picture of ruin was
presented, alarm given out, every thing going to destruction; and
the federal government the cause of the whole, and the _national_
recharter of the defunct bank the sovereign remedy. The following is
an extract from that letter.
"The Bank of the United States has not ceased to exist more
than seven months, and already the whole currency and exchanges
are running into inextricable confusion, and the industry
of the country is burdened with extravagant charges on all
the commercial intercourse of the Union. And now, when these
banks have been created by the Executive, and urged into these
excesses, instead of gentle and gradual remedies, a fierce
crusade is raised against them, the funds are harshly and
suddenly taken from them, and they are forced to extraordinary
means of defense against the very power which brought them
into being. They received, and were expected to receive, in
payment for the government, the notes of each other and the
notes of other banks, and the facility with which they did so
was a ground of special commendation by the government; and now
that government has let loose upon them a demand for specie
to the whole amount of these notes. I go further. There is an
outcry abroad, raised by faction, and echoed by folly, against
the banks of the United States. Until it was disturbed by the
government, the banking system of the United States was at
least as good as that of any other commercial country. What
was desired for its perfection was precisely what I have so
long striven to accomplish--to widen the metallic basis of
the currency by a greater infusion of coin into the smaller
channels of circulation. This was in a gradual and judicious
train of accomplishment. But this miserable foolery about an
exclusively metallic currency, is quite as absurd as to discard
the steamboats, and go back to poling up the Mississippi."
The lead thus given out was sedulously followed during the winter,
both in Congress and out of it, and at the end of the session had
reached an immense demonstration in New York, in the preparations
made to receive Mr. Webster, and to hear a speech from him, on
his return from Washington. He arrived in New York on the 15th of
March, and the papers of the city give this glowing account of his
reception:
"In conformity with public announcement, yesterday, at about
half past 3 o'clock, the Honorable DANIEL WEBSTER arrived in
this city in the steamboat Swan from Philadelphia. The intense
desire on the part of the citizens to give a grateful reception
to this great advocate of the constitution, set the whole city
in motion towards the point of debarkation, for nearly an hour
before the arrival of the distinguished visitor. At the moment
when the steamboat reached the pier, the assemblage had attained
that degree of density and anxiety to witness the landing, that
it was feared serious consequences would result. At half past
3 o'clock Mr. Webster, accompanied by Philip Hone and David B.
Ogden, landed from the boat amidst the deafening cheers and
plaudits of the multitude, thrice repeated, and took his seat
in an open barouche provided for the occasion. The procession,
consisting of several hundred citizens upon horseback, a large
train of carriages and citizens, formed upon State street,
and after receiving their distinguished guest, proceeded with
great order up Broadway to the apartments arranged for his
reception at the American Hotel. The scene presented the most
gratifying spectacle. Hundreds of citizens who had been opposed
to Mr. Webster in politics, now that he appeared as a private
individual, came forth to demonstrate their respect for his
private worth and to express their approbation of his personal
character; and thousands more who appreciated his principles and
political integrity, crowded around to convince him of their
personal attachment, and give evidence of their approval of
his public acts. The wharves, the shipping, the housetops and
windows, and the streets through which the procession passed,
were thronged with citizens of every occupation and degree,
and loud and continued cheers greeted the great statesman at
every point. There was not a greater number at the reception
of General Jackson in this city, with the exception of the
military, nor a greater degree of enthusiasm manifested upon
that occasion, than the arrival upon our shores of Daniel
Webster. At 6 o'clock in the evening, the anxious multitude
began to move towards Niblo's saloon, where Mr. Webster was to
be addressed by the committee of citizens delegated for that
purpose, and to which it was expected he would reply. A large
body of officers were upon the ground to keep the assemblage
within bounds, and at a quarter past six the doors were opened,
when the saloon, garden, and avenues leading thereto were
instantly crowded to overflowing.
The meeting was called to order by Alderman Clark, who proposed
for president, David B. Ogden, which upon being put to vote was
unanimously adopted. The following gentlemen were then elected
vice-presidents, viz: Robert C. Cornell, Jonathan Goodhue,
Joseph Tucker, Nathaniel Weed; and Joseph Hoxie and G. S.
Robins, secretaries.
Mr. W. began his remarks at a quarter before seven o'clock,
P.M. and concluded them at a quarter past nine. When he entered
the saloon, he was received with the most deafening cheers. The
hall rang with the loud plaudits of the crowd, and every hat was
waving. So great was the crowd in the galleries, and such was
the apprehension that the apparently weak wooden columns which
supported would give way, that Mr. W. was twice interrupted
with the appalling cry "_the galleries are falling_," when only
a window was broken, or a stove-pipe shaken. The length of the
address (two and a half hours), none too long, however, for the
audience would with pleasure have tarried two hours longer,
compels us to give at present only the heads of a speech which
we would otherwise now report in detail."
Certainly Mr. Webster was worthy of all honors in the great city
of New York; but having been accustomed to pass through that
city several times in every year during the preceding quarter
of a century, and to make frequent sojourns there, and to speak
thereafter, and in all the characters of politician, social guest,
and member of the bar,--it is certain that neither his person nor
his speaking could be such a novelty and rarity as to call out upon
his arrival so large a meeting as is here described, invest it with
so much form, fire it with so much enthusiasm, fill it with so much
expectation, unless there had been some large object in view--some
great effect to be produced--some consequence to result: and of
all which this imposing demonstration was at once the sign and the
initiative. No holiday occasion, no complimentary notice, no feeling
of personal regard, could have called forth an assemblage so vast,
and inspired it with such deep and anxious emotions. It required
a public object, a general interest, a pervading concern, and a
serious apprehension of some uncertain and fearful future, to call
out and organize such a mass--not of the young, the ardent, the
heedless--but of the age, the character, the talent, the fortune,
the gravity of the most populous and opulent city of the Union. It
was as if the population of a great city, in terror of some great
impending unknown calamity, had come forth to get consolation and
counsel from a wise man--to ask him what was to happen? and what
they were to do? And so in fact it was, as fully disclosed in the
address with which the orator was saluted, and in the speech of
two hours and a half which he made in response to it. The address
was a deprecation of calamities; the speech was responsive to the
address--admitted every thing that could be feared--and charged
the whole upon the mal-administration of the federal government. A
picture of universal distress was portrayed, and worse coming; and
the remedy for the whole the same which had been presented in Mr.
Biddle's letter--the recharter of _the_ national bank. The speech
was a manifesto against the Jackson administration, and a protest
against its continuation in the person of his successor, and an
invocation to a general combination against it. All the banks were
sought to be united, and made to stand together upon a sense of
common danger--the administration their enemy, the national bank
their protection. Every industrial pursuit was pictured as crippled
and damaged by bad government. Material injury to private interests
were still more vehemently charged than political injuries to the
body politic. In the deplorable picture which it presented of the
condition of every industrial pursuit, and especially in the "war"
upon the banks and the currency, it seemed to be a justificatory
pleading in advance for a general shutting up of their doors,
and the shutting up of the federal treasury at the same time. In
this sense, and on this point, the speech contained this ominous
sentence, more candid than discreet, taken in connection with what
was to happen:
"_Remember, gentlemen, in the midst of this deafening din against
all banks, that if it shall create such a panic, or such alarm, as
shall shut up the banks, it will shut up the treasury of the United
States also._"
The whole tenor of the speech was calculated to produce discontent,
create distress, and excite alarm--discontent and distress for
present sufferings--alarm for the greater, which were to come. This
is a sample:
"Gentlemen, I would not willingly be a prophet of ill. I most
devoutly wish to see a better state of things; and I believe the
repeal of the treasury order would tend very much to bring about
that better state of things. And I am of opinion, gentlemen,
that the order will be repealed. I think it must be repealed. I
think the east, west, north and south, will demand its repeal.
But, gentlemen, I feel it my duty to say, that if I should be
disappointed in this expectation, I see no immediate relief to
the distresses of the community. I greatly fear, even, that the
worst is not yet. I look for severer distresses; for extreme
difficulties in exchange; for far greater inconveniences in
remittance, and for a sudden fall in prices. Our condition is
one not to be tampered with, and the repeal of the treasury
order being something which government can do, and which will do
good, the public voice is right in demanding that repeal. It is
true, if repealed now, the relief will come late. Nevertheless
its repeal or abrogation is a thing to be insisted on, and
pursued till it shall be accomplished."
The speech concluded with an earnest exhortation to the citizens of
New York to do something, without saying what, but which with my
misgivings and presentiments, the whole tenor of the speech and the
circumstances which attended it--delivered in the moneyed metropolis
of the Union, at a time when there was no political canvass
depending, and the ominous omission to name what was required to
be done--appeared to me to be an invitation to the New York banks
to close their doors! which being done by them would be an example
followed throughout the Union, and produce the consummation of a
universal suspension. The following is that conclusion:
"Whigs of New York! Patriotic citizens of this great
metropolis!--Lovers of constitutional liberty, bound by interest
and affection to the institutions of your country, Americans
in heart and in principle! You are ready, I am sure, to fulfil
all the duties imposed upon you by your situation, and demanded
of you by your country. You have a central position; your city
is the point from which intelligence emanates, and spreads in
all directions over the whole land. Every hour carries reports
of your sentiments and opinions to the verge of the Union. You
cannot escape the responsibility which circumstances have thrown
upon you. You must live and act on a broad and conspicuous
theatre either for good or for evil, to your country. You cannot
shrink away from public duties; you cannot obscure yourselves,
nor bury your talent. In the common welfare, in the common
prosperity, in the common glory of Americans, you have a stake,
of value not to be calculated. You have an interest in the
preservation of the Union, of the constitution, and of the true
principles of the government, which no man can estimate. You
act for yourselves, and for the generations that are to come
after you; and those who, ages hence, shall bear your names,
and partake your blood, will feel in their political and social
condition, the consequences of the manner in which you discharge
your political duties."
The appeal for action in this paragraph is vehement. It takes every
form of violent desire which is known to the art of entreaty.
Supplication, solicitation, remonstrance, importunity, prayer,
menace! until rising to the dignity of a debt due from a moneyed
metropolis to an expectant community, he demanded payment as matter
of right! and enforced the demand as an obligation of necessity, as
well as of duty, and from which such a community could not escape,
if it would. The nature of the action which was so vehemently
desired, could not be mistaken. I hold it a fair interpretation of
this appeal that it was an exhortation to the business population
of the commercial metropolis of the Union to take the initiative
in suspending specie payments, and a justificatory manifesto for
doing so; and that the speech itself was the first step in the grand
performance: and so it seemed to be understood. It was received
with unbounded applause, lauded to the skies, cheered to the echo,
carefully and elaborately prepared for publication,--published
and republished in newspaper and pamphlet form; and universally
circulated. This was in the first month of Mr. Van Buren's
presidency, and it will be seen what the second one brought forth.
The specie circular--that treasury order of President Jackson,
which saved the public lands from being converted into broken bank
paper--was the subject of repeated denunciatory reference--very
erroneous, as the event has proved, in its estimate of the measure;
but quite correct in its history, and amusing in its reference to
some of the friends of the administration who undertook to act a
part for and against the rescission of the order at the same time.
"Mr. Webster then came to the treasury circular, and related the
history of the late legislation upon it. 'A member of Congress,'
said he, 'prepared this very treasury order in 1836, but the
only vote he got for it was his own--he stood 'solitary' and
'alone' (a laugh); and yet eleven days after Congress had
adjourned--only six months after the President in his annual
message had congratulated the people upon the prosperous sales
of the public lands,--this order came out in known and direct
opposition to the wishes of nine-tenths of the members of
Congress.'"
This is good history from a close witness of what he relates. The
member referred to as having prepared the treasury order, and
offered it in the shape of a bill in the Senate, and getting no vote
for it but his own,--who stood solitary and alone on that occasion,
as well as on some others--was no other than the writer of this
View; and he has lived to see about as much unanimity in favor of
that measure since as there was against it then. Nine-tenths of the
members of Congress were then against it, but from very different
motives--some because they were deeply engaged in land speculations,
and borrowed paper from the banks for the purpose; some because
they were in the interest of the banks, and wished to give their
paper credit and circulation; others because they were sincere
believers in the paper system; others because they were opposed
to the President, and believed him to be in favor of the measure;
others again from mere timidity of temperament, and constitutional
inability to act strongly. And these various descriptions embraced
friends as well as foes to the administration. Mr. Webster says
the order was issued eleven days after that Congress adjourned
which had so unanimously rejected it. That is true. We only waited
for Congress to be gone to issue the order. Mr. Benton was in the
room of the private secretary (Mr. Donelson), hard by the council
chamber, while the cabinet sat in council upon this measure. They
were mostly against it. General Jackson ordered it, and directed
the private Secretary to bring him a draft of the order to be
issued. He came to Mr. Benton to draw it--who did so: and being
altered a little, it was given to the Secretary of the Treasury to
be promulgated. Then Mr. Benton asked for his draft, that he might
destroy it. The private secretary said no--that the time might come
when it should be known who was at the bottom of that Treasury
order: and that he would keep it. It was issued on the strong will
and clear head of President Jackson, and saved many ten millions
to the public treasury. Bales of bank notes were on the road to
be converted into public lands which this order overtook, and
sent back, to depreciate in the vaults of the banks instead of the
coffers of the treasury. To repeal the order by law was the effort
as soon as Congress met, and direct legislation to that effect was
proposed by Mr. Ewing, of Ohio, but superseded by a circumlocutory
bill from Mr. Walker and Mr. Rives, which the President treated as a
nullity for want of intelligibility: and of which Mr. Webster gave
this account:
"If he himself had had power, he would have voted for Mr.
Ewing's proposition to repeal the order, in terms which Mr.
Butler and the late President could not have misunderstood;
but power was so strong, and members of Congress had now
become so delicate about giving offence to it, that it would
not do, for the world, to repeal the obnoxious circular,
plainly and forthwith; but the ingenuity of the friends of
the administration must dodge around it, and over it--and now
Mr. Butler had the unkindness to tell them that their views
neither he, lawyer as he is, nor the President, could possibly
understand (a laugh), and that, as it could not be understood,
the President had pocketed it--and left it upon the archives of
state, no doubt to be studied there. Mr. W. would call attention
to the remarkable fact, that though the Senate acted upon this
currency bill in season, yet it was put off, and put off--so
that, by no action upon it before the ten days allowed the
President by the constitution, the power over it was completely
in his will, even though the whole nation and every member of
Congress wished for its repeal. Mr. W., however, believed that
such was the pressure of public opinion upon the new President,
that it must soon be repealed."
This amphibology of the bill, and delay in passing it, and this
dodging around and over, was occasioned by what Mr. Webster calls
the delicacy of some members who had the difficult part to play,
of going with the enemies of the administration without going
against the administration. A chapter in the first volume of this
View gives the history of this work; and the last sentence in the
passage quoted from Mr. Webster's speech gives the key to the views
in which the speech originated, and to the proceedings by which it
was accompanied and followed. "_It is believed that such is the
pressure of public opinion upon the new President that it must soon
be repealed._"
In another part of his speech, Mr. Webster shows that the repealing
bill was put by the whigs into the hands of certain friends of
the administration, to be by them seasoned into a palatable dish;
and that they gained no favor with the "bold man" who despised
flinching, and loved decision, even in a foe. Thus:
"At the commencement of the last session, as you know,
gentlemen, a resolution was brought forward in the Senate for
annulling and abrogating this order, by Mr. Ewing, a gentleman
of much intelligence, of sound principles, of vigorous and
energetic character, whose loss from the service of the country,
I regard as a public misfortune. The whig members all supported
this resolution, and all the members, I believe, with the
exception of some five or six, were very anxious, in some way,
to get rid of the treasury order. But Mr. Ewing's resolution
was too direct. It was deemed a pointed and ungracious attack
on executive policy. Therefore, it must be softened, modified,
qualified, made to sound less harsh to the ears of men in power,
and to assume a plausible, polished, inoffensive character. It
was accordingly put into the plastic hands of the friends of the
executive, to be moulded and fashioned, so that it might have
the effect of ridding the country of the obnoxious order, and
yet not appear to question executive infallibility. All this
did not answer. The late President is not a man to be satisfied
with soft words; and he saw in the measure, even as it passed
the two houses, a substantial repeal of the order. He is a man
of boldness and decision; and he respects boldness and decision
in others. If you are his friend, he expects no flinching;
and if you are his adversary, he respects you none the less,
for carrying your opposition to the full limits of honorable
warfare."
Mr. Webster must have been greatly dissatisfied with his democratic
allies, when he could thus, in a public speech, before such
an audience, and within one short month after they had been
co-operating with him, hold them up as equally unmeritable in the
eyes of both parties.
History deems it essential to present this New York speech of
Mr. Webster as part of a great movement, without a knowledge of
which the view would be imperfect. It was the first formal public
step which was to inaugurate the new distress, and organize the
proceedings for shutting up the banks, and with them, the federal
treasury, with a view to coerce the government into submission to
the Bank of the United States and its confederate politicians. Mr.
Van Buren was a man of great suavity and gentleness of deportment,
and, to those who associated the idea of violence with firmness,
might be supposed deficient in that quality. An experiment upon
his nerves was resolved on--a pressure of public opinion, in the
language of Mr. Webster, under which his gentle temperament was
expected to yield.