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UCSB LIBRARY
ESSAYS
ON THE
AS EXEMPLIFIED
IN ITS
-.
*
DEADLY HOSTILITY
7O THE
BAXK OF THE FJVITED STATES,
AND
IN
THE
ODIOUS CALUMNIES
EMPLOYED FOR
ITS DESTRUCTION.
BY ARISTIDES.
"
What
profits all the ploughman's skill and pain,
and brambles choke the rising grain 7
What force havn laws to make the people blest,
If factious spirits do the State molest?"
If tares
PHILADELPHIA:
JESPEK HABDISO, PHINTEB.
1835
DEDICATION.
I INSCRIBE
THESE ESSAYS TO THE HONEST AND JUST MEN OF THE
REPUBLIC, BY
WHATEVER PARTY NAME
DESIGNATED.
To OTHERS, THEY
WILL, OF COURSE, BE AS
"SOUNDING BRASS, OR TINKLING CYMBAL."
ARISTIDES.
PREFACE.
I
HAVE a few words
to read these essays.
to say to the reader before he begins
find in them, some severity, but
He will
no rancour; a free handling of the parties, but no malice.
My position will be found to resemble that of the surgeon.
He probes the ulcer exposes its corroded and corroding
parts, for the purpose of seperating
His object
healthful.
1st.
2d.
is
them from the sound and
sometimes two-fold:
To save the subject.
To prevent the spreading
.
of the leprons-like disease,
and thereby rescue society from its distressing effects, I have
not much hope of succeeding under the first similitude.
My
main object
is, I confess, to save the yet uncontaminated citizens of the country from the fatal effects of following the
example set by those actors, whose conduct I have exposed.
1 hold it to
to
human
be as dangerous
to our liberty, as
is
the cholera
would, it is true, delight in restoring them,
as individuals, to those honourable political relations, which
all just men maintain, towards our common country,
who
I
life.
prefer that country, and
its
prosperity, to
party
and the
"general welfare," to their individual preferment. I sincerely
wish they would abandon their reckless course, turn their
backs upon the arch-enemy of all that is dear to the Republic
and its hopes, and practice those lessons which were be-
queathed
ever,
to us
little
If these
by the Father of
his
Country.
I
have, how-
hope.
men
suffer
by the exposure which these
essays
make
of their conduct, they will bear in mind that no one is
to blame for it but themselves.
They are supposed to be
free agents.
When they consented to come in contact with
the loathsome cause of their present condition, they did it
voluntarily. They doubtless weighed well the ignominy
IV
that they were destined to endure, and balanced against it
the "rewards'" which prompted them to the sacrifice. They
preferred to endure the former, rather than forego the latter.
wash my hands of having, directly or indirectly, encouraged
one of them to place himself in the condition in which the
reader will find them all. Let me, therefore, not be blamed.
These men are alone responsible. They chose their present
condition, (humiliating enough, in all conscience,) and are
entitled to all the honour it confers, and to all the disgrace.
I
The reader is now respectfully requested to pass on, and
at the picture
view; and
if,
does not turn from
take
is
my
look
which the following essays will expose to his
the whole of it, he
after he shall have
surveyed
word
for
it
it
in
deep sorrow for
his country,
that his moral vision
is
defective,
he
may
and
not right with himself.
ARIST1DES
all
ESSAYS
No.
1.
DESIGN under this head, to make an appeal to the intelligent and candid of all parties, on that which may, perhaps,
I
seem
to
them.
many, at the first blush, as not concerning any of
But let no man, or corporation, pass the subject over
because calumny has carried its end in proof the Bank of the United States, (or rathe
downfal
ducing
ther in defeating its recharterj) that therefore the truth,
touching this whole business, is not to be regarded, and its
lightly, or think,
solemn injunctions noted. The very success of a calumny is
the very reason why it should be exposed, and why those who
have been
calumny
not
(and
who
its
victims should be vindicated.
to carry
its
be regarded ; but
it
will
have
this
has been misled by
acting under
its
its
it
of
should
success should rouse every man,
effect
it,
The failure
might be a reason why
ends,
on every honourable man)
own conduct when
to vindicate his
influence,
by hurling back upon
its
authors
such a judgment of condemnation as will make them pause
at least, before they venture again thus wilfully to delude,
and thus murderously to destroy.
Is it said by the designing and wicked, that a citizen is rabid and shall men who have confidence in the declaration,
seize and confine the victim, and shut him out from light and
and shall it be
liberty, and there keep him until he dies
;
proven afterwards, to the satisfaction of all parties, that the
charge was groundless, and that it was made for personal or
vindictive ends, or both, and then because the
man
is
dead,
be permitted to those who thus wickedly destroyed
him, to go, not only unpunished, but unrebuked? Yet this is
the doctrine of those who say, because the Bank has been run
shall it
down by calumny, there is no need of exposing
that calumny,
from
the
foul, but too sucreputation
and
its
from the no less
officers
enemies;
or of vindicating
cessful attacks of
its
foul .designs
their " good
upon
its
name."
been an unholy war waged, and with the
of
unholiest
purposes, and prosecuted with a spirit diabolical and
If there ever has
fiend-like,
the
Bank
it
has been the
war waged by Jacksonism
of the United States.
demonstrate
It will
be
my
against
business to
All that relates to this subject,
this.
now
is
now
speak. The days of
trick, and deception, and chicanery, are gone by. The Bank,
so long and so shamefully abused, may be considered as out
matter of
Facts must
history.
of the question.
It is
with the
living, vindictive actors,
the
From Levi Woodbury, down to the spies,
the subject may now be handled without creating suspicion
The
that selfishness or personal or political objects govern.
heartless politician, the fool and the knave, must now come in
The curtain will be
for their share of glory and of shame.
Let those who have played their parts, take the conlifted.
public have
to do.
Infamous deeds should be recorded, and their
sequences.
authors held up to merited public execration and contempt.
ARISTIDES.
No.
The
election of General Jackson, to the Presidency
opened
have demonstrated, a fearful era,
the history of the Government. His utter incompetency
a new, and,
in
2.
as the results
for the place, his habits, his passions
all
conspired to
make
than a suitable person to fill an office so
His very presence in
high, so dignified, and so responsible.
him any thing
else
that lofty place, operated as the signal for the profligate of
the elements of discord. The unprincipled
all parties to stir
of every party
were seen wending
their
way
to the
presence
chamber, there to offer the incense of their flattery, and to
ask for the " rewards" for which they had been struggling;
whilst others, just escaped from the throes of sudden conversions, knelt also before the throne, to receive from the hands
of him
who
some crumbs of favour.
Very soon
" General
that
after, the proclamation was formally issued,
his
enemies."
Jackson will reward his friends, and punish
He
sat
upon
it,
proceeded as the world knows, to
fulfil this
proclamation,
to the letter.
Here, then, for the first time in this free country, was witnessed the alarming spectacle of an open perversion of all that
had been held sacred in the doctrines of republicanism. An
ukase had been issued; and for the constitutional exercise of
the freedom of opinion, and the exercise of the elective franchise, the great body of the freemen of America, including
the most wise, and the most virtuous, were proscribed! Such
a perversion of Executive authority, and such a prostration
all that was just and right, whilst it alarmed the friends of
constitutional liberty, served but to rally the wicked, the profligate, and the irresponsible of every party. They beheld in
of
Andrew
Jackson, the very elements upon which alone they
could operate, when it was resolved by the leaders to employ
them, and to use him, to perpetuate "the party," and secure
to themselves the honours and emoluments of office.
High-handed and oppressive as were those measures, it had
not yet entered into the head of even the most abandoned of
the party, to conceive that such outrages would be committed
Not a man of them dreamed, that, standing
upon Executive ground, General Jackson would order a solemn
compact between the United States and a corporation to be
as followed.
violated
;
seize the public treasure, wrest
it
from the place
where the laws had assigned it; and that too, on his own "reand that he would sanction the use of the
sponsibility;"
public money, as has been done through the Post Office, and
employ the patronage and power of the other departments of
the Government to perpetuate "the party" Nothing- of all
this was
thought possible. Reckless as the leaders were even
then, such high-handed measures, if mentioned,
made them
tremble.
would have
8
The question, at the period of which I am writing, was
" where shall we realize the monied power, to secure to ourselves and our successors, the places we now occupy, and to
our party its perpetuation?" As was natural, perhaps, the
3
eyes of the leaders were turned to [df THE BANK OF THE
UNITED STATES. It was the great monied power of the Union.
Its five hundred
Its branches were in many of the States.
officers were looked upon as having power and influence.
These it was thought indispensable to secure. Already possessed of the patronage of the Government, which, it was settled,
it
should be faithfully employed in behalf of " the party"
to secure the Bank, when all would be well.
remained only
How
to
accomplish
this,
was the
question.
before an opening presented itself.
" had
in New
mouth,
have at
its
It
was not long
The Branch
at Ports-
Hampshire,
originally the misfortune to
head a Mr. Cutts, who ended by defrauding the
United States of upwards of g20,000 of the pension fund,
which the Bank was obliged to replace; and in other respects
had become so deranged, as that " of $5460,000 of
It was at this
loans, $148,000 was thrown under protest."
" the
a
but
that
not calculated
man,
President,
worthy
period
7
for such a state of things, resigned his place.'
Now, who would have thought that the appointment of a
successor, and such a man, too, as Jeremiah Mason, would be
seized upon as a pretext for feeling how far the party might
its affairs
calculate upon the co-operation of the Bank of the United
States in confirming its power and perpetuating its existence?
I venture to say, that, except with the actors in this nefarious
scheme, such a thought would have occurred to no man.
It was seen that, in righting the condition of the Bank, Mr.
Mason would have, of necessity, to act with decision and firmness.
In doing
this,
he must, as President of the Board, ocin all proceedings which were required
cupy a foremost place
to reinstate the
Bank
in its
former prosperous condition. This
would of course involve an obligation to move upon the parties to -the $112,000 then under protest, and others, perhaps,
beside these, might have felt, incidentally, this new but necessary action for the recovery and preservation of the funds
of the Bank.
Here, then, was the field in which the seeds
9
for
a
and personal hostility were
and when the crop ripened, and after
examination of its condition, Levi Woodbury and Isaac
a large crop of
sown.
full
Into this
dissatisfaction
field,
" the
Hill, choice spirits of
party," entered.
moment. The administration at Washington
be firmly
Now was the
was thought to
and whatever it might indicate to the Bank
was hoped would be cheerfully responded to.
settled
as its wish,
it
was necessary, at all hazards, to make -the trial. And
now, reader, I am going to disclose an act on the part of
Woodbury, which I will call the first embodied calumny
that "the party" hurled at the Bank; a calumny in the formation of which there is as much coward duplicity and profligacy, and personal degradation, as has ever attached to any
It
man of the
party since.
Availing themselves of the state of things as they existed
between the Bank and its dealers, Woodbury and Hill proit was
easy for them to do under such circumstances,)
the signatures of some forty or fifty persons to a petition for
the removal of Mr. Mason ; and for the appointment of such
cured (as
a board
as the petition
named.
But
this
was not
all.
Mr.
Woodbury took upon himself to acts. particular part, which,
as long as he lives, will operate to degrade him in the estimation of
every honest man; and will have the further effect to
tarnish his honour in the view of posterity.
What was that
act? To write, I answer, two letters one to Mr. Biddle,
President of the United States Bank, in which he presents
himself as brooding, most disinterestedly over the interests
(excluding political considerations from the subject,) of that
institution; whilst, perhaps with the same pen, he wrote a
"confidential" letter to Mr. Ingham, then Secretary of the
Treasury, in which he says: "The new President of the Bank
at this place, (Portsmouth, New Hampshire,) Jeremiah Ma-
a particular friend of Mr. Webster and his (JQ23 POLIMr. WebTICAL CHARACTER is doubtless well known to you.
ster is supposed to have had much agency," &c. &c.
Here,
son,
is
;
"
then, in this
confidential" letter to Mr. Ingham, the removal of Mr. Mason is placed, by the writer, on political
grounds; whilst, in his letter to Mr. Biddle, he places
2
it
upon
10
" the
charges against him
grounds wholly different, and says,
Mr. Mason) originated exclusively with his political friends!
next, (that there may be no cavil on this suhfrom both these letters; and from them
extracts
ject,) publish
"
which was to see
further illustrate the design of "the party
I will, in
my
Bank might be counted on as a subservient tool
hands of those men, who sought its agency to promote
" the curtain
I have said
their own selfish -and party ends.
how
far the
in the
shall
be
lifted,"
and
it
shall be.
ARISTIDES.
No.
I
have shown what encouraged the profligate of all parties
around Gen. Jackson and also their design in doing
They derived their encouragement from their knowledge
to rally
so.
3.
;
that Gen. Jackson had no one qualification for the office to
which he had been elected, and that his prejudices and passions made him the fit instrument for their stratagems and
Having secured his mandate, proscribing all except
members of " the parly^ and become possessed of the offices,
and the press, the concluding part of the design was to get
wiles.
This could be done, only, as the public
possession of the Bank.
offices had bedti secured
by putting tools into them. The
who might not be of "the
he reformed out, and Jackson men put in
when the monied power would be united with the patronage
Presidents, Cashiers, Directors, &c.,
party," were
to
;
of office and the press, and then, as the torrenrsweeps down
all before it, it was calculated to devastate every
party, and
fragment of party, save "the party." That was to be made
invincible.
Hence, as I have shown in my last No., the
movement upon the New Hampshire Branch. But my partiwith Mr. Woodbury, at the time
States Senator from New Hampshire, and now
cular business in this No.
United
is
Q^J Secretary of the Treasury.
I
have
said, that this poli-
functionary took upon himself to act a particular part ;
and that, in acting that part, he descended from the level of
tical
11
honourable conduct, and has made himself hateful
nest men.
I
proceed
his double-faced letters.
bury wrote
From
On
the 27th June, 1829, Mr.
from
Wood-
Mr. Ingham, then Secretary of the Treasury.
to
that letter I
make
the following extracts
EXTRACT
"The
to all ho-
to furnish, as promised, extracts
:
1.
President of the Branch at this place, (Portsmouth) was changed
and the salary greatly increased; both which measures have
last year,
given much dissatisfaction, as well to the public, as to
holders."
many
of the Stock-
REMARKS.
Now, here are two
1st. as Mr. Biddle,
he received the " confi-
distinct falsehoods
in his reply to Mr. Ingham. of whom
dential letter of Mr. Woodbury, says
:
:
" The President of the
not changed. The late President, Mr. Shapley,
voluntarily declined serving, without the slightest intimation
Bank was
of a wish on the part of the Bank, and solely, as he stated, 'in
consequence of his advanced age and declining health, together
with
his close
confinement to the
great measure,
2d.
"
The
office,
which prevents
in
a
"
his attention to his private business.'
Salary of the
new
President was not increased
a dollar."
any candid man, who is in his senses, answer,
whether he believes a word about the "dissatisfaction" that
Mr. Woodbury asserts was felt by the public, and many of the
stockholders ? At least on account of the only reasons he
Now then, let
assigns for
it.
A-}
'.
',.'.-
EXTRACT
"The new
Webster, and his political character
Webster
is
2.
is a particular friend of Mr.
doubtless well known to you. Mr.
President, Jeremiah Mason,
supposed
to
is
have had much agency
in effecting the
change."
REMARKS.
Here
aimed
a clear and undisguised avowal that the writer
Mr. Mason by a political onset. It was
him " a particular friend of
for this
object to style
is
to displace
sufficient
Mr. Webster."
That was the drop
relied
upon according
to
12
the proclamation of Jackson, which promised rewards to his
friends, and punishment to his enemies, to poison the subject
of the onset, and secure the agency of the administration at
Washington in procuring from the mother bank an order for
Mr. Mason's expulsion
meanwhile, Mr. Woodbury's cohad submitted a list of names for
;
operating friend, Isaac Hill,
Directors and a President.
It so happens that the supposition of Mr. Woodbury that
Mr. Webster had much agency in effecting the change,"
had as little grounds to rest upon as had his more formal defl
clarations touching the changing of the Presidency, and the
" Mr.
increase of the salary, for Mr. Biddle says
ebster
had not the slightest agency in obtaining for him (Mr. Mason)
the appointment. His nomination was resolved upon without
:
W
the knowledge either of Mr. Webster or Mr. Mason."
After remarking further upon Mr. Mason's unfitness for the
office of President,
Mr. Woodbury
discloses the object,
and
says:
EXTRACT
3.
"If any relief can be afforded by the selection of different directors
for this Branch, as any board without him (Mason) in it, or with him not
at Us head would at once furnish relief."
REMARKS.
No doubt. Put out capable and honest men, and put in
Jackson men, and the sought for relief would have been instantly experienced, since that much of the Bank of the United
States, according to the plan (and which, 1 assert was
matter of canvass in a Jackson caucus at Washington}
TO SECURE THE BANK, would have become the instrument of
"the party.'
And this was the object of this letter writer,
and in his conscience he knows it and whether that monitor
be sufficiently elastic, pressed upon as it has so long been, and
1
''
;
as
it
yet
is
by the lumber of party, and the employment
it
demands, the day will come when the light breaking in upon
it from a throne
higher than that on which Gen. Jackson sits,
will give to it life and
energy, and a power to its sting which
no mortal agency can
resist or destroy.
13
now
to the correspondence between the same Levi
and
Woodbury,
upon the same subject, with Mr. Biddle. On
the same 27th day of June, 1829, the former addressed the
latter a letter.
That letter is not published, nor have I seen
I
turn
But its character may be inferred from Mr. Biddle's reply
Mr. Ingham, touching Mr. Woodbury's "confidential"
" I am
letter to Mr. Ingham.
He says
surprised that Mr.
it.
to
:
should consider the complaints about Mr. Mason,
as having the remotest connexion with politics, and I am
Woodbury
Mr. Woodbury wrote to you on
surprised for this reason,
the 27th June, on the same day he wrote a similar letter
me
1
to
.
I
answered, thanking him
requesting him
to
guide
my
for his suggestions,
inquiries,
by
stating
and
what was
To this
the nature of the complaints against Mr. Mason.
he replied on the 3d instant, and that letter has the following declaration
" From the confidential
:
character of this letter, it is due in perfect
frankness to state, that the President of the present board, as a politician,
is
not
very acceptable to (J^/* the majority in this town and state
it is at the same time notorious that the charges against him, in his
(j* But,
present
office,
originated
EXCLUSIVELY WITH HIS FRIENDS."
REMARKS.
clear, than, that in his letter to Mr. Biddle,
Mr. Woodbury spoke not a word about
except perhaps to give to Mr. Biddle the assurance
Nothing
is
more
of the 27th June,
politics
that politics had nothing to do with his request for the removal
of Mr. Mason, but only the welfare of the Bank, and this he
abundantly confirms in his
letter of the 3d,
when he says, "the
charges (of course all of them) originated exclusively with
Mr. Mason's jriends. They could not therefore have been
political.
So then
we
find
Levi Woodbury
in
one
letter to
"the Government" plying political reasons for the removal of
Mr. Mason and in another of the same date, to the Presi;
dent of the Bank, reasons wholly distinct, and relating to any
thing and every thing but politics
!
!
!
And now let me ask the reader what he thinks of a man
who would thus employ his high station in attempting a double
injury to his fellow,
by making him
first
obnoxious to a domi-
.
.nant party, on political grounds; and secondly to his employers,
on grounds relating to their pecuniary interests 1 Does it not
robbery? And to robbery of
plundering a man of his "good name?"
approximate most fearfully
to the
the worst kind
to
But the end to be accomplished by these nefarious means,
skulking and lurking after men's character, is a thousand
this
fold more shocking than are the means for its accomplishment.
That end was the subversion of a great moneyed institution,
established and conducted with a sole view to the fiscal concerns of the country, and the advancement of the general
prosperity, and a converting it into a political engine, for the
purpose of making permanent the very worst political dynasty that has ever cursed any Country.
I shall
show
in
my
next that simultaneous movements were
made upon two
other Banks, one in the. South and the other
After that I will
in the West, and in what these resulted :
return to Mr. Woodbury, and show the result of the examination into
to
have
Mr. Mason's
satisfied the
conduct, which ought, (but did not,)
most impudent defamer under the sun.
ARISTIDES.
No.
When
4.
Mr. Ingham, moved upon by Woodbury, as
I
have
shown, opened
correspondence with Mr. Biddle, hi 1829,
on the alleged maladministration of the Branch at Portsmouth, he had been reached by charges of a like character,
his
4i
Complaints," he says, in his
implicating other Branches.
"
of a similar nature have also
letter of the llth July, 1829
been suggested from other places, particularly Kentucky and
Louisiana."
This reveals the plot. If the onset had been confined to
the Branch at Portsmouth, there might be some reason to
under honest,
suppose that those who conducted it acted
see political partisans,
we
when
mistaken
But
views.
though
as in the case of Woodbury, plying upon the administration
similar charges, implicating other and distant Branches, we are
15
into
forced
the
conclusion,
that
the
attacks
wewj not
but that they were the result of party
only premeditated,
deliberations, and contemplated the same end, which was t*
in possession, through the
put the dominant, or Jackson party,
of'subservient political agents, of the monied power
agency
f the coUhtty.
Or, if the charges implicating those Branches
were not conclusively proved to be false, we might then infer,
on the face
that, however apparent concerted action might be
of the proceedings, that
still
those
who made
might have done
so under erroneous impressions.
to the clear evidence of a concert of action, is
the fact that the charges were
false,
there
is
the charges
But when
superadded
no escaping the
conclusion that they were made for political effect, and to
bring the branches attacked into subserviency to the party
making them.
I will state
from document No. 121, published by Congress,
made against the Kentucky Branch, The Pre" I
John Tilford, in his letter to Mr. Biddle, says
the charges
sident,
:
my duty inform you, that, within the two last days,
a most shameful attempt has been, made to induce the public
think
to
it
to believe that the officers of this
Branch were influenced by
political considerations in making loans."
Here we have
The Woodbury
it.
slang all over.
The
a statement printed in the Lexington Observer,
in
terms
the most unequivocal, the truth of the charge.
denied,
" The
That statement says
charge attempted to be made
is, that the board required that the politics of the party apdirectors, in
:
plying (for discount) should be known to them, and that if they
belonged to the Jackson party, their applications were rejected.
In this state of the case, what proof can be offered to the
public of the utter falsity of such a charge 1 Certainly the
best evidence is the testimony of those members of the board
who are
themselves stipporters of the present (Jackson) adAn array of names, sufficient to put down
ministration"
is
published and among these are letters from
Mr. Robert J. Ward, Mr. Joseph Bruen, and Mr. Benjamin
Taylor, who are known, says the statement, as supporters of
any calumny,
General Jackson.
16
Mr. Ward
" I
have been a director during the
present year, and have no hesitation in declaring that I have
never known an instance where the political opinions of the
:
says
applicant had the remotest influence upon the directory, in
granting, or refusing a loan. On the contrary, I have believed,
and always so stated, that the board of directors were entirely
impartial, and that loans were invariably made, or refused,
entirely with reference to the responsibility of the persons
applying, and the situation of the Bank at the time, and
without any reference whatever
to the political opinions of
the applicants."
u The
Mr. Taylor says
imputation is utterly -without
foundation" He had been a punctual attendant at the
board for nearly three years. There had been "no occurrence
furnishing i\\e slightest foundation for such charge" These
:
extracts may suffice. They could be multiplied. The calumny
was confronted and exposed by members of the Jackson party,
who were too honest to permit a slander so foul to go unrebuked and unpunished. The man who acted the Woodbury
of the West in this plot, is named David Thomas. I think
proper not to shroud the glory of such a calumniating agency,
nor deprive those who seek to revel in its magnificence of any
of the benefits it may confer on them.
it
A
was made on the Louisiana Branch. The
it was put in circulation,
He
to
in Philadelphia.
repaired
Washington, and met the
foul imputators face to face.
Win. B. Lewis can bear testimony, if he will, to the flat denial of their truth, and to the
like onset
Cashier happened to be, at the time
frank and
full offers
made by the Cashier to
disclose the entire
transactions of the Bank, to any agent that might be sent,
and to undergo any examination that it might be thought
proper to order.
And so
can General Jackson himself. The
this functionary to be embodied,
charges were requested of
nothing of the sort was
the
and
was
granted.
calumniating Wooddropt,
of
lies
the
whoever
he
secreted, perhaps in
was,
bury
South,
the specifications to be made, but no
The
affair
executive confidence, without the honour of a public exposure; or perhaps he may, like Woodbury, be basking in the
17
rays of Presidential favour, as a "reward" for his good intentions to fasten a calumny on the Branch Bank at New Orleans.
I will
conclude
this
No. by a few remarks on the issue of
the trial between truth and falsehood, in the
Mr.
Woodbury case.
of the Bank,
repaired to Portsmouth.
Immediately on their arrival, a
note was addressed to each of the persons who signed Isaac
Biddle,
accompanied by one of the
officers
Hill's paper,
implicating Mr. Mason and the Bank, in which
the object of the visit was stated, accompanied by a request
that the charges, &c. might be made, with a view to their
examination, &.c. There were two petitions addressed to the
United States Bank. To convey the idea that they were not
the work of one mind, one was addressed "to the Directors of
the
Bank
of the United States,"
dent and Directors of the
Bank
and the other "to the
Presi-
of the United States, at Phi-
"
The first dealt in implications of "the course pursued" by the Bank, and remonstrated against the reappointmentof Mr. Mason, and asked that the concerns of the Branch
ladelphia.
in future placed under the immediate control of
well acquainted with the business and character of
the trading community, and well disposed to manage the af-
might be
officers
Branch with impartiality, &c. &c. &.c.
the Branch with similar defections from
a right course of action, and making a sweeping hit at "the
head of the board" passed off into a most generous recommendation of suitable persons, out of whom to form the direction, &c.
The first list was signed by fifty-eight names, and the last
fairs of the
The other charged
To each of these co-operators of the
fifty-seven names.
Woodbury plot, Mr. Biddle addressed a note, as I have stated.
Now, if these men were honest, and knew what they stated
to be true, and were
really in earnest to relieve the commuby
nity of Portsmouth, from the evils charged, as proceeding from
the mal-administration of the Bank, is it not reasonable to
suppose they would, when thus invited, and when the opportunity was thus given them to substantiate their charges, come
forward, and
make them?
not personal honour
Nay, was
demand
3
it?
it
not their duty, and did
Well, reader, not one of
them responded, or under any forms came forward to make
the charges for examination, which they had been so free to
subscribe to on the papers mentioned, in obedience to
bury's schemes, and Isaac Hill's request.
Wood-
But if these men, one and all, should thus indirectly commit themselves of calumniating the Branch and its President,
it were
hardly to be supposed that a Senator of the United
and an Ex-Governor, would flinch from so high an obligation, and skulk in shameful and degraded cowardice from
the duty he had imposed on himself.
But he did so yes
reader, even Woodbury, who had essayed to move the powers
at Washington, and did move them by enlisting them in a
crusade against the President of the Bank at Portsmouth, and
to bring down
upon him the strong arm of the Mother Bank
States,
Philadelphia, skulked from the proffered opportunity of
making good his charges, and now stands out before the eyes
in
world as a blighted and blasted recreant, to warn in
future times the unprincipled and reckless, who would, like
him, to serve his party, and aggrandize himself, stab an ho-
of the
nourable citizen to the heart, and turn the tide of a monied
benefit, which like the waters of the Nile, contribute to make
every thing
fruitful, into
himself and
poisoned waters, refreshing, only to
ARISTIDES.
his friends.
'
No. 5.
I
have developed the plot of the dominant party, on which
relied to possess itself of the Bank of the United States.
It was, as has been shown, by the agency of such instruments
it
Woodbury and Hill, to prize out the officers of the Bank,
then charged with its management, and fill their places with
the creatures of " the party? The power and influence of
as
the administration were relied upon, together with a secret
fawning and professions in favour of the Bank, conveyed to its
President, to procure that to be done in regard to turning out
the officers of the Bank, which has been carried so extensively
into practice with the officers- of the
Government.
That no
19
time might be lost, or chance given to the Bank to make
other appointments, " suitable" names were handed in for its
adoption by "the party." It needs no illustration to convince
the most illiterate of the fatal issue of a yielding, on the part
of the Bank, to such a course.
Nothing put a stop to similar
movements upon all the branches, (for a Woodbury could
have been found ready to blow the same foul breath upon
each of them,) but the answer of the President of the mother
Bank, to the accusations against Mr. Mason. That answer
was not expected. It was to the hopes of the party what the
blight and the mildew are to the harvest it was entirely out
;
of the line of action of " the Government," in all that related
to those within its power.
It was only necessary with it for
some party tool, or some office-seeker, to whisper a charge
against an innocent and unsuspecting incumbent in an office
of the Government, when out he went, no matter how serviceable he was, or what his experience, or how ruinous it
should prove to himself and family; and if he dared to inquire
into the cause, or lift up a voice. of complaint, the press,
having been subsidized for the purpose, was ready to blacken
him all over, and hold him up as worthy, not only of just such
treatment, but of the hate and execration of society, whilst it
lauded every new appointment, and cursed it in turn, as it was
found necessary to make the change, in carrying out the views
of " the party." " Ever and anon," as one after another of
those victims to party violence, was thrust from
" the work
goes bravely on /"
press shouted,
office,
the
Scarcely a doubt was entertained by the Woodburys and
when senators and comptrollers should
Hills of the party, that
make
charges, and ask for the removal from office of the
Banks, especially when backed by the Secre-
officers of the
tary of the Treasury, under, of course, the sanction of the
President of the United States, the request for the removal
would, (as was the practice with " the Government"} be
forthwith complied with, and an order issued for the expulsion
But the United States Bank did not chime
The President and Directors acted not
the
of
this
new and reckless party, but on the
upon
principles
of the accused.
in with this practice.
20
" This
communication, (Woodsays Mr. Biddle in
principle of eternal justice.
bury's confidential letter to
answer
Mr. Ingham,)
Mr. Ingham, " has been submitted
to the board of
not fail to examine the allegations of'
Mr. Woodbury, and should they appear to be well founded, to
This was worm-wood!
apply an appropriate corrective."
to
directors,
It
was
who
ivitl
precisely,
what Woodbury would
not wish,
it
was
moreover what he did not expect, and doubtless when he
heard that his secret influence, conveyed " confidentially"
to the Secretary of the Treasury, had not resulted in an
immediate dismissal of Mr. Mason, but that
be done that
he
justice
was
to
the misgivings of that period
when he, and his coadjutors should be summoned to appear,
and give in, and substantiate their charges, and trembled,
caitiff-like, in view of the disgrace in which his calumnies
officer,
felt all
would involve him and mourned
;
his deep-laid scheme.
in spirit
over a failure of
In the conclusion of the same letter,
Mr. Biddle says, "I shall be happy to hear from you, whenever you obtain the communications from Kentucky and Louisiana, which shall receive immediate attention."
Not a whisper from
those quarters
was heard against those
This examining process, this fixed purpose to give
the accused a hearing, silenced the political blood hounds,
who were held in readinesss to seize and devour those whom
Banks.
their keepers
knew
to
be
as
innocent as they were unsuspect-
ing.
The plot to get possession of the Bank by the same process
that obtained "the party" such uncontrolled use of the offices
of the government, was exploded by that single letter of
Mr. Biddle's, which indicated that whatever might be the
practice of "-the
government"
in killing off the federal officers,
their places with mercenaries, and tools, that those who
assisted in administering the affairs of the Bank, should, at
to
fill
least, \\a.vejustice
done them.
The
reader will bear in mind, that although the same movement that was made on the New Hampshire Branch, was, as
Mr. Ingham's letter of llth July, 1829, discloses, to be made
upon "other branches," particularly those in Kentucky
also
21
and Louisiana, yet it was not made until 1832 and then, it
was made, not in aid of the plan to get possession of the
as at first designed, by a change of officers; but in aid
of the elections! The same foul calumny was employed, it
Bank,
another object.
have now arrived at that point in the history of this
shocking business, in which a new movement upon the Bank
was to be made. The first was, as I have shown, to get
is
true, but for
I
but the Bank not being willing to
possession of the Bank
unite with f( the government" in its plan of proscription, and
all
hope
party,"
failing
to
from
that quarter,
was resolved by " the
it
DGP DESTROY THE BANK
!
!
!
and profligate
1
ask
I
this
to
resolved
question only in the
destroy
party
relation which the now doomed institution stood, at that
very time, to the government of the country not in the
And what was
relation in
it, 1
which
class of society.
it
ask, that this infuriated
stood to merchants, traders, and every
useless incumask?
it, I
A
What was
A
fungus on the body of the government ? Was
Did it oppose,
it a restless, distracting, and wicked agent ?
or co-operate in all the great measures which lawfully con-
brance ?
nected
it
Let Mr. Ingham, then Se-
with the government?
cretary of the Treasury, and the fiscal organ of the govern" the
ment, and a member of
party" and a disciple of the
school
of the proscribers, answer.
connexion between the extracts
I
am
To keep up
going to give
a proper
from Mr..
Ingham's correspondence with the Bank, I will take a paragraph from the letter of Mr. Biddle to him, in which Mr.
Biddle vindicates the character of the Bank, and shows not
how entirely aloof it kept
how sincerely desirous it was
only
itself
but
to
of the administration, and further
its
from party politics,
promote the just policy
views in whatever related
connexion which existed between the government on
the one hand, and the Bank on the other.
Mr. Biddle says to
to the
Mr. Ingham,
in his letter of Sept. 15, 1829: "The earliest
operation of the treasury, since you were charged with it, in
which the Bank had any share, was the reimbursement of the
public debt on the 1st July
last.
This was your
first
essay
22
department, the first important measure of the new
administration; and if it had occasioned any inconvenience,
or any pressure, these would certainly have been made the
in the
pretext of great reproach against yourself, and your political
associates and undoubtedly much inconvenience and much
;
pressure would have been felt, if- the Bank had not laboured
to avert them with a promptness, a cordiality, and an efficacy,
rare even in its own active history.
Before determining on
the measure, you did the board the honour to consult them,
and certainly
if
they had listened to considerations merely
pecuniary, they would have discouraged it ; if they had desired
to shun the responsibility of an operation, of which the result
might be doubtful, they would have been silent; and, if it
had been possible for them to feel any reluctance to aid the
new administration, it would have been sufficient merely, and
irreproachably, to have done their duty. But regarding only
what they considered the enlarged interest of the country, and
too conscious of their
own independence
to fear that their
zeal in the public service should be mistaken for a devotion
to the public servants, they at once assumed all responsibility,
within their proper sphere, of encouraging the operation, and,
from the commencement to the termination, watched and
guarded its progress with an unwearied attention, which the
most zealous friend of the administration could not have surpassed."
Was
any of
this
denied
?
Hear Mr. Ingham,
in
his
am fully sensible of the dispoletter of the 6th June:
sition of the Bank to afford all practicable facility to the fiscal
"I
contained in your
operations of the government, and the offers
On the 19th
letters, with that view, are duly appreciated."
June he again writes
" I cannot conclude this
:
communica-
without expressing the satisfaction of the department at
the arrangements which the Bank has made for effecting these
tion
payments
so
little
in a
manner
so
accommodating
to the treasury,
and
the community." Again, on the 1 1th
embarrassing
"I
take the occasion to express the great satisfaction
to
July
of the Treasury Department, at the manner in which the
President and Directors of the Parent Bank have discharged
:
23
their trusts inall their immediate relations to the government,
&c., and especially in the facilities afforded in transferring the
funds of the government, and in the preparation for the heavy
payment of the public debt on the 1st instant, -which has-been
board
effected by means of the prudent arrangements of your
at a time of severe depression on all the productive employments of the country, -without causing any sensible addition to
the pressure, or even visible effect upon the ordinary operations
of the State Banks.'
1
''
This, reader, was the fiscal agent, the efficient, effective,
and valuable agent, which was marked as the prey of "the
party," and which that party had now resolved, at all hazards,
to destroy
The
!
however, had not yet become general. True, the
refusal to expel Mr. Mason, and to give up the Portsmouth
Branch to the management of the Woodburys and Hills of
stir,
that quarter, and thus open the way for like changes elsewhere, had acted upon their feelings like the arrow that
The bleeding caterers for their royal
the sting, and run back into his presence, but
the royal beast was not yet himself hit.
He heard their
cries, but had yet to learn the quarter whence the arrow
wounds the
Jackall.
master had
felt
came, and
A
to
know
the hand that sent
it.
period soon after arrived, however,
in
to trespass
when
upon a domain not
the royal beast,
own, received
his
attempting
a shaft himself, and then, and not till then, the forests resounded
with his roar, and all the lesser, congenial, and sympathising
animals, set up a cry
!
This particular event, with some of
shall form the subject of my next.
its
subsequent
results,
ARISTIDES.
No.
The
forest, 1
beast, in
have
was not made to roar until the royal
trespass on a domain not his own, was
said,
attempting to
G.
24
himself hit.
I
drop the
The
figure.
sequel will furnish the
illustration.
Out of
the
move upon
the
New
Hampshire Branch, and
Mr. Ingham, arose
Woodbury's
a correspondence between the latter, as Secretary of the
Treasury, and Mr. Biddle, as President of the Bank, of unusual interest. It were worth while, did the limits which
from.
"confidential" letter to
are forced upon these essays, by newspaper rules, permit
to give this correspondence entire.
But there is not room.
The
defeat of
Woodbury,
as has been shown,
and the
it,
dis-
became involved in their
grace
from
the
had
themselves made, and
skulking
charges they
under
to
forms,
declining,
any
appear against the accused,
was too signal, and too humiliating, to be allowed to pass
without an effort by the party to screen them from the odium
in
which he and
that awaited them.
his coadjutors
The
vernment" determined
charges they had made, "the go-
and by thus dividing the
from bearing it all.
The swell that had been made to roll over the New Hamp-
odium, relieve
its
to
respond
to,
faithful servants
and that was intended to engulph Mr. Mason,
back upon Washington, and gurgled and foamed, and
agitated those who were watching from that common centre
shire Branch,
now
fell
its final effects
upon those
whom
it
had been commissioned
to
This gave impulse to the fiscal organ of the party,
and hence the continued correspondence referred to between
destroy.
Mr. Ingham and Mr. Biddle, or the Treasury and the Bank.
It was Mr. Ingham's drift to ply, and he did it very adroitly,
implications, against the Bank, on the grounds of its political
This was the flimsy covering which it was
partialities.
thought proper to throw over the shoulders of Woodbury and
Mr. Biddle met, and denied the existence of
his coadjutors.
any such
the administration
partialities in all that related to
In his letter to Mr. Ingham, of
of the affairs of the Bank.
July 18, 1829, he says
"The
infusion of the spirit
of party
into every
thing around us, causes a constant effort to draw
the institution within the sphere of what we called politics.
{jWlTH
THESE THE BANK DISCLAIMS ALL CONNEXION."
the time, when, if "the party" had proof
Here was
to
the
25
it should have produced it.
That it had not a parhas been demonstrated in its refusal to appear when
invited, to make good its charges against Mr. Mason, and the
contrary,
ticle,
New
Hampshire, and Kentucky, and Louisiana Branches.
Biddle overlooked that little streamlet that mean-
Had Mr.
dered through Mr. Ingham's correspondence, and which it was
designed to increase, and widen, and deepen, until it should
"boil, and foam, and thunder through," and whelm, and over-
whelm
all before it, the struggle
might not have begun when
between "the Government" upon the one hand, in its
attempt to crush the Bank; and the Bank on the other, in its
efforts to save itself, and preserve the country from the fatal
consequences of its overthrow. And what was that little
it did,
streamlet?
A
disclosed
purpose, I answer, on the part of
party" to exercise over the affairs of the Bank a control which neither the charter, nor any laiv gave it the
right to exercise; and with the sole view of driving the Bank
One power assumed
into a compliance with its mandates.
about this time, was to take from the Bank its agency in the
Pension Department And Mr. Eaton, then Secretary of
11
the
War, always ready to comply with the orders of "the party,"
and with his characteristic inefficiency, did actually order a
transfer of the Pension Agency from the Branch Bank at
Portsmouth, to a small Bank at Concord, of which before Isaac
Hill
to Washington to act as Comptroller, he was PreThis was a movement, as has been since decided, and
went
sident!
as all intelligent
It
men knew
was got up by Isaac
at the time, in violation of law!
Hill himself, in
a memorial which was
circulated among, and signed by "divers of his political partisans, and (^J others especially interested in the matter."
This was the
to play;
sort of game that these bold adventurers
had
overawe
'the
and thus was
it
to
attempted
begun
Bank, and drive it from the position in which the laws had
placed it, when Mr. Biddle, in connexion with the above extract from his letter of June 18th, says: "Belonging to the nation, and feeling that its prosperity and its usefulness are destroyed, the
moment
it loses its
independence; the Bank owes
26
NO party, and
allegiance TO
(p WILL SUBMIT TO
NONE."
This bold and honourable independence that ought to have
inspired even such a party with respect for the Bank, produc-
ed a directly contrary
effect,
and henceforth the resolve to
And why
destroy it? Not because it had not
been faithful and zealous, as I have shown it was, in co-oper-
"destroy
it !"
ating with, and aiding the new administration, but because
the bank refused to throw itself into the arms of the party to
be used by it for party and political purposes. Because it
chose to exercise
its
powers within the circle prescribed by
its own
legitimate sphere.
contrast
with the officers of the
strong
These had all yielded up their just ac-
the laws, and to confine
It
presented
itself in
federal government.
its
action to
and
losing sight of the object of their origin, had fallen
to
victims
the withering blight of that baleful influence which
tion,
Jacksonism had
now
infused into
them
all.
This bright, steady
from the bank, could not be looked upon by men who
preferred and acted in such darkness. The great plan had
been devised the purpose was fixed the decree had gone
forth, that the "party" would possess ALL, (as for example it
light
has the post office department,) or if any should dare to think
or act for themselves, whether corporations or individuals, the
decree had
now gone
tire history of the
moment Mr.
forth that they should perish.
party is fruitful in proofs of this.
Biddle, in the
name
The
From
en-
the
of the bank, declared that
"would not submit," from that moment the whole country,
through the officers and expectants of the new administration,
and the press, was put in motion, and the welkin was made
it
to ring with the shouts of "the party," urging it upon all true
jriends, to aid in producing the downfal of the bank.
"The Bank orves allegiance to no party, and -will submit to
none" was
predating
like,
to the party,
what the barbed arrow
lion; it set it in
when unopposed,
How comparatively
is
one general " roar."
the monarch of the
gentle,
unchafed, upon lands
filled
when he
with
is
spoils.
is
to the de-
How
Lybian
lambdesert.
permitted to trespass,
How
little
he regards
27
the limits that bound his domain,
beyond. So with this new party
if
he perceive inducements
this Jacksonism, that
had
now gone
forth, regardless of the limits which law and justice had set to its movements.
To be checked with " the
bank owes allegiance to no party, and will submit to none"
and at the moment too when every other province in its dominion had yielded, (save two*) was not to be borne. Hence
the war cry "down with the bank!""
And this annunciation
("will submit
himself.
to none") crossed the
path of President Jackson
This was the shaft in the side of the royal animal.
He had been
taught that he was "monarch of all he surveyed'*
and that none would dare to "dispute his right." He believed and acted on the principle. No wonder the effect should
be what it was!
Up to this moment the bank had the power of making itself as great a favourite with the party, as it was now detested by it. It had only to yield and turn out any officer, who
might be marked by the party, as not suited to the purposes
of the party; to surrender the pension and other treasures that
the laws and individuals, had put in its keeping, and in all
things to acquiesce in the dictates of the party, to have been
the most constitutional, the most useful aye, indispensable establishment in the Union. Mr. Biddle would have been lifted,
press, as high as any of Gen. Jackson's favourites, and
shouted to as one of the most wonderful men of this or any
by the
other age.
But, alas, for him, standing as his position required he should, in the front rank of this warfare, and being
and defending it ably and nobly, he was
the
destined to receive
discharges from the opposing ranks, of
no matter what material composed, and to be in very spite,
faithful to his trust,
impotent malice, dubbed "Nick Biddle"
my next commence the calumnies which the party, from this moment determined to invent, and send among
the people, by the agency of its presses, with a view to dis-
and
in
I shall in
affect
stroy
them towards the bank, and thus undermine and deIf, before I have done with these men, and their
it.
*
The Senate and Supreme
Court.
28
acts, the honest of every party, will not
feel disgust at their
conduct even to loathing, I mistake the quality of public virtue, and have overrated the power and influence of truth.
ARISTIDES.
No.. 7.
I
set
beg the reader's attention to a short review of the right
up by "the party" to exercise an agency over the affairs
of the Bank, other than that which
is*
provided for by law.
what I have denominated "the little streamlet" that
the Bank detected running through Mr. Ingham's correspon-
This
is
dence.
"After," says Mr. Biddle in his reply to
Mr. Ingham
and we hope
"a very
of
a very
deliberate,
Sept. 15th, 1829
dispassionate consideration, &c. &c. the Board of Directors
think it evident that the Secretary of the Treasury believes
1st. That "the relations between the Government and the
Bank" confer some supervision of the choice' of the officers of
the Bank to the "proper management" of which his interpo-
sition is authorize^!.
2d. That there is some "action of the Government on the
Bank" not precisely explained, but in which he is the proper
and
agent
That
finally,
his right and duty to suggest the views of
the administration as to the [XJ^'OUTICAL OPINIONS and CON-
3d.
DUCT oithe
Now
it is
officers
of the Bankf*
this is precisely
the sort of supervision the administra-
had determined on exercising over every other office or
institution within its reach, and it thus sought, by the same
tion
levelling process^ to
bring the
Bank
also
at
its feet.
The
assumed were promptly and spiritedly, though respect"The Board of Directors of theBank
fully met, and denied.
of the United States, and the Board of Directors of the
rights
Branches of the Bank of the United States, says Mr. Biddle,
acknowledge not the slightest responsibility" to the Secretary
of the Treasury, touching the political opinions of their offi-
29
cers, that being a subject
never desire to know
on which they never
consult,
and
the views of any administration."
Nothing but the limits prescribed to these essays keeps me
from giving, entire, the masterly exposition of the views of the
Bank on
those three levelling and corrupting assumptions of
the Secretary.
[The reader is referred to the appendix of
Reports of the Committee of Inquiry, appointed March 14,
1832, by the House of Representatives
pages 139 to 147,
inclusive.]
I have recurred to this subject merely for the sake of demonstrating that the "new administration" didset up a claim
of rig hi to meddle with, and control the Bank, for political
ends, precisely as it had resolved on doing, and has done, with
all the departments and offices of the federal government.
I
consider the settlement of this point essential to a right com-
prehension,
1st. Of the plot, and
2d. Of the cause for excitement in which the party
and
head were thrown, when the Bank resisted.
I now proceed.
" 7 his world was made
for Caesar," would seem
its
J
to have
been one of the early lessons of President J^pkson. Flattered
as he was by the sycophants around him; hearing from their
lips,
what afterwards broke out in public,
was " The second Washington" (i the Rock of
then, in private,
that he
Ages"
"the greatest
and
the best"
and DC/3 that "his po-
pularity would stand any thing"
it was natural for him,
with his early impressions, derived from the motto
"This
world was made for Csesar," to infer, that "the government"
was made
and that whatever power he might choose
whether lawful or unlawful, to perpetuate his
government, he had the right to employ. That he has acted
on this principle, whether he reached the conclusion through
for hint}
to exercise,
the channel
I
have suggested, or by any other, no well
in-
formed
citizen, if he be honest, will deny.
Irritate, or cross
the path of such a man, and what limits will bound his re(i
venge? Besides the annunciation that the Bank owes alto
no
will
submit
and
legiance
to"none, which as I
party,
have, said, was the shaft in the side of the Lion, there were
30
divers smaller arrows that stung no less keenly.
One of them
the
entire
of
''the
especially passed through
phalanx
party"
wounding
in its
lodging at
last,
passage the whole array of proscribers, and
in the President himself! It is preserved, as
a
that
same
relic, in
This
letter of Mr. Biddle's of the 15th June.
is it:
"The Bank
strong enough to exercise the noblest prerogative
is
afraidof being just to its officers,- and content that they
perform their duty, it will not y^/" PURSUE THEM INTO PRIVATE LIFE WITH
INQUISITIONS INTO THEIR FRIENDSHIPS, NOR WILL IT EVER SACRIFICE THEM,
of strength, not
to be
EITHER TO APPEASF. ANT CLAMOR, OR PROPITIATE ANT AUTHORITY!"
This was a scortcher!
went
very heart of the foul
and
in connexion with
administration,
to
have
driven from the
discharge, ought
It
to the
new
practice of the
what preceded
its
of proscription which was at that moment pursuing unsuspecting and innocent men, "with inquisitions into their friendships," and sacrificing them, Molochlike, to appease (party) clamour, and 'propitiate' party au-
party that
thority,
fell spirit
and promote party ends.
who knows
there any one
Is
son
its
impatience at restraint
the spirit of Andrew Jackits violence when resisted
and the desperate issue which he has always made with even
a fancied antagonist, who does not see in all this the elements
of those vindictive and lawless acts with which he has pursued the Bank, with a view,
in
his
own
words, to "crush the
any body at a loss now to know the cause of
But that vengeance, to be effectual, must
his vengeance?
not break forth prematurely. There lives hot a man who knows
General Jackson, who does not know that he hides the incipient fires of the most consuming vengeance with a covering
monster?""
Is
he carry the pistol, or the dagger, they are carefully concealed under a robe, and never drawn, but when a vantage
ground justifies him in concluding that the stroke, or the shot,
or, if
when made,
this
by
will
facts.
be
were easy to illustrate and prove
first move against the Bank did not
fatal. It
Hence
his
was the flame of his revenge permitted
then to burst forth. It was covert Before 1 state what it
was, I will prove, from under his oivn hand, that he had not
sparkle, nor hiss, nor
been, before the events which
I
have
stated, the
enemy
of the
31
Bank
nay,
prove that he considered
I will
it
a valuable in-
worthy of his patronage, and meriting to be extended for the benefit of the people. The following is his own let-
stitution,
when
ter addressed to Mr. Cheves in 1821,
that gentleman
was President of this same Bank. He seems to have thought,
when he wrote it, that the mother Bank in Philadelphia was
a "Branch!"
PENSACOLA, Aug, 15, 1821.
At the request of the citizens of this place, I have taken the liberty of enclosing you a memorial addressed to the President and Directors
of the Branch of the United States Bank at Philadelphia, which has been
"Sir
generally signed by the respectable inhabitants of this city.
"The advantages to be derived from the establishment of a Branch of
Bank in Pensacola have been ably set forthin the memoand
I
have
no
doubt that a branch here, under a judicious direction,
rial,
would not only prove convenient to the inhabitants in this section of the
the United States
country, but also beneficial to that institution.
'I have the honour, &c.
ANDREW
JACKSON."
Langdon Cheves, Esq.
* I shall
be excused
for introducing here a letter
from General Jackson's
Mr. Biddle, asking to have
extended, for the benefit of the citizens of Albany, a branch of this same
bank. The remark that Mr. Noah makes on this letter of Mr. Van Buren,
chosen successor, written
five years after to
"Had the Branch been
is,
established at Albany, at^hat time and under
the signers,) control (these signers are, among others, Wm.
L. Marcy, M. Van Buren, B. F. Butler, Charles E. Dudley, and Nathan
Sanford,) 03* the Safety Fund would have been unknown, and the United
their
(i. e.
States
Bank
re-chartered."
What
a figure this letter
makes Van Buren
"UNCOMPROMISING HOSTILITY TO THE BANK OF
THE UNITED STATES," flying out of his mouth. It was/gs then, but
cut, with his
thistles
now
very wholesome bread indeed in 1826, but a serpent, now!!!
ALBANY, July
Dear
17, 1826.
At the instance of
a highly respectable portion of the good
people of this city, I have signed, and now transfoit, the enclosed. Per'
sonally 1 neither have nor desire any connexion with Banks!.'!! and the sole
Sir
object of
my agency
is
to gratify the wishes of our citizens,
and
to promote
the interests of the city.
Of
know
the fitness of the proposed measure
it
would be
idle for
me, who
nothing, to speak to you, who know every thing, upon the subject.
I will, therefore, only say that the applicants are men of the first character
in point of business
and
credit,
of unexampled prosperity.
1
and that the present
shall be
happy
to
state of the city is that
hear from you as soon as
convenient.'.'
M.
N. BIDDLE, Esq.
VAN BUREN.
32
No hostility towards the Bank is discovered in any of General Jackson's acts, or sayings afterwards, until in 1829, it refused, as has been shown, to become tributary to the political
schemes of "his administration." The first act of General
Jackson, which, however, conceals his wrath which was kept
then from bursting forth, only by the agency of those around
we
"The
him,
find in his messagfe to Congress, of December, 1829:
Bank of
charter of the
the United States, says that
message, expires in 1836, and its stockholders will, most proIn order to
bably, apply for a renewal of their privileges.
avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy, in a measure involving such important principles, and such deep pecuniary
interests, I feel, that I
ed, too soon present
cannot
it
in justice to
the party interest-
to the deliberate consideration of the
Legislature and the people. Both the constitutionality and
the expediency of the law, creating this Bank, are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow citizens, and it must
3 HAS FAILED in the
great end of
a
and
sound
establishing uniform
currency"
There is only one charge reade in this against the Bank,
and that relates to its agency in effecting "a uniform and
sound currency." As to the reference io the "constitutionality
and expediency of the law creating the Bank," the President
be admitted by
all that it
DC/
assumes -nothing, except to say they "are well questioned by
a large portion of our fellow citizens."
business is
He does not say that he questions them.
with the unqualified assertion touching the currency. This
It is even more
is an executive calumny
against the Bank.
barefaced than were the calumnies of Woodbury and Hill,
My
and
others.
It
was made
in
the face of the whole nation and
the world, and of facts no less notorious than are the revolutions of the seasons, or the shining of the sun by day, and the
It were almost as great an outrage
stars by night.
the people, had the President
the
common
of
sense
upon
said the Bank had not faithfully and effectually fulfilled its
moon and
obligations to .the government, or that it had issued no bills,
made no discounts, or that there was no Bank in existence.
The
flame which
Woodbury and
Hill,
and the under cabi-
33
had kindled in the President against the Bank, must, howAt first it was not intended to be of
ever, have some outlet.
much moment, but passing oflfat some remote quarter, it would,
net,
after answering that end, by easing somewhat the President,
an earnest to those who had him in charge, as to what
furnish*
they might count 'upon for the future.
I shall demonstrate in my next, the absolute ignorance of
the state of the currency, which such a calumny disclosed;
expose its wickedness, and then pass off to others emanating
from the same high source; treating each with as much respect as its nature and object will permit, but with that inde-
pendence which truth demands, and which, as a
have the right to exercise.
citizen, I
ARISTIDES.
No.
8.
all the assurance of the worst men, and all the
and
corruption upon which that assurance operated,
ignorance
to force out through a Presidential message to Congress, an
assertion so utterly devoid of truth, as that "the Bank had
I hazard
failed to establish a uniform and sound currency."
It
required
nothing in saying that those
it
to
be put forth only as
who contrived this calumny, caused
a.
feeler, or a decoy duck, to ascer-
tain the sta'te of the public mind, and how far the President
might go in the desperate effort which it was now resolved
to
make,
to
be revenged of the Bank for the firm and honourhad taken, and its refusal to lend itself as a party
able stand
it
tool to the
new
administration.
The assertion was
not intend-
ed to operate
upon the enlightened and virtuous, but only
upon the ignorant and vicious. To give it effect, those whom
the President had "rewarded," as also all who were promised
to be rewarded, together with the press that had been subsidised for the purpose, were all required to echo whatever the
President might say, and back him in the attitude which he
now assumed, of personal hostility to the Bank. The plan
of operations
was agreed upon
the advances upon the Bank,
34
with the mode of attack, were
all settled.
The
leader of the
a personage than the "hero of two wars"
"the second Washington," and the head of "the party
conflict
was no
less
?
who, in the victory that was promised over the Bank, was to
be crowned with a new chaplet, and those who should aid him
in the enterprise, with " re-wards"
But the Bank was at that time deeply seated in the affections of the great body of the people.
Pennsylvania was
unanimous for a re-charter, and proved this, by passing in her
The people every
Legislature corresponding resolutions.
where enjoying the benefits of thejifty millions which were
and no portion of the country feeling any distress, but, on the contrary, every portion of it improving and
flourishing, it was necessary in taking a first step of hostility
to do it with great caution.
A breath was to be blown upon
in circulation,
the almost extinguished embers of "constitutional" objections,
to be revived touching the "expediency" of
aud doubts were
the Bank. But
it was
necessary, at that time, not to commit
the President upon either of these points.
He had a second
term of office to cater for, and those who basked in the sun-
who announced
his in-
tention to serve but one term,) were solicitous to remain
they were, during, at least, two Presidential terms.
where
Hence
shine of his favour, (except Kendall,
the extreme caution necessary to be observed in touching
those points of "constitutionality" and "expediency" and the
absolute necessity of avoiding any committal in regard to
them by him who was, henceforth, to be the leader in this
war. There was nothing
bold and daring calumny.
left,
at
that time, but to issue a
yet, upon which it was deemed safe
a direct charge against the Bank, or the personal
honour of those who administered its affairs. The "spies" had
not yet got to work, nor a party committee appointed. It had
been certified by the Secretary of the Treasury (one of the
There was no ground
to rest
party) that it had ably and efficiently fulfilled all its obligations to the Government, and the people every where felt its
agency, as the earth feels the influence of the vernal year.
But something must be
said
the
Bank must be
struck
and
35
man
who must say
the President was the
any
thing,")
(for *'his popularity could stand
the word, and give the blow. The
;
attempt was certainly hazardous especially as Woodbury
and Hill, and others, the scouts, had been driven back in disthe voice of Jackson
grace. But the onset must be made
must be heard his finger must point the way and he must
be seen now in the van. Then let him, who dare, of all in
or
office, and of all who expected to participate in the spoils
;
any press, having flying over
let
a moment,
if
At such a
it
the Jackson flag, falter for
they dare, they knew better.
of doubt and desperation, and in such an
crisis
emergency, "revenge! revenge!" was sounded when up went
the Presidential Banner, with the foul and calumniating inscription :
" It must
(C^
end of
be admitted,
establishing a
BY AH,
UNIFORM
that the
and
Bank
has failed, in the great
SAFE currency ."D
At sight of it, every intelligent citizen, "who was honest,
ashamed marvelled at the ignorance of the President
and was startled at the wickedness of the declaration! All
felt
previous proofs to the contrary, were now to be utterly disregarded; and all subsequent evidence trodden, by the party,
under
What,
foot.
if
the Secretary of the Treasury, had only
about a year before, said
:
"That during the four years preceding, the receipts of the Government
had amounted to more than ninety-seven millions of dollars, and that all the
payments had been punctually met; that
it is the
preservation of a sound
currency, that can alone impart stability to property, and urevent those
fluctuations in its value, hurtful alike to individuals and the nation; and that
(/
this
It
advantage
THE BANK has secured to the community."
was
Now,
as though such testimony had never been borne.
either the President uttered a calumny against the Bank,
in ignorance, or
knowing
it to
be one; or the Secretary of the
Treasury palmed upon Congress and the people, in an official
There is no escaping one or the other
report, a. falsehood!
horn of this dilemma. Let us now see which of the parties
is
sustained.
Congress, in 1829, had both the President's and Secretary's
declaration before it and indeed whatever else bore on the
;
question.
The Committee
of
Ways and Means
of the House
36
of Representatives, (Mr. M'Duffie, Chairman,) to whom was
referred that part of the message relating to the Bank, "decidedly dissented" from the President's assertion, that the
Bank had
failed to establish a uniform and sound currency.
on
the contrary, and in this respect, "been productive
had,
of results, more salutary, than were anticipated by the most
It
sanguine advocates of the policy establishing
it.
{J
IT
HAS
ACTUALLY FURNISHED A CIRCULATING MEDIUM MORE UNIFORM THAN
&C.
Committee of the Senate, also, upon the same subject, in
1829, says "The Government had, for ten years preceding
SPECIE,"
A
:
the 1st of January, 1830, received from 9,000 agents, $230,068,855 17. This sum has been collected in every section of
widely extended country. It has been disbursed at other
it
points, many thousand miles distant from the places where
this
was
collected,
and
buted without the
yet,
it
has been so collected, and distrias the Committee could learn,)
loss (so far
of a single dollar, and -without the expense of a single dollar
to the
Government"
The committee
of the Senate proceed
" That the
currency by which the government has been enabled to collect and transfer such an amount of revenue, to pay its army
and navy, and all its expenses, and the national debt, is UNSAFE, or UNSOUND, cannot readily be believed."
Now
let
the reader, adding to
all this his
own
experience,
and comparing the condition of the currency before the Bank
of the Unifed States was organized, with the state of the currency when General Jackson said it was neither "uniform nor
and decide what reliance ought afterwards to be placed
on any thing which that high functionary might assert touchand especially when it was
ing the anairs of the Bank,
safe,"
that vengeance was sought of it, for refusing to become
the creature of "the party."
does the reader believe Andrew Jackson, upon his
naked assertion, or the Secretary of the Treasury, backed as
known
Who
he
is
own
by a committee of each house of Congress, and by his
For where is the man who does
personal experience?
not know, that he could have travelled, at that very time,
37
whole country, and found in Bank Notes, of the
its Branches, a medium as uniform
as the light and a safety as unquestioned as the consciousness
over
this
United States Bank, and
;
own existence.
The -wickedness of the President's assertion need
exposed. The dimmest eye will perceive it in the
of his
not be
injury
which doubts, even touching the "soundness" of the currency,
were calculated to inflict on the government itself, by lessening the value of the seven millions it owned of the bank stock,
and that owned by every individual stockholder. Such a foul
breath, blown over the reputation of the Bank, was calculated to produce (coming from a President of the United States)
effects not less fatal than the incendiary seeks to produce
Whether it be for
fires and lays waste property.
his
not
the character of
or
to
glut
revenge, changes
plunder,
the act.
There is no law of morals that exempts the former
when he
from the weight of public indignation, to the benefits of which
the latter is not equally entitled. In my eye they occupy the
same level, and are entitled to like punishment. It was not
any agency of the President, nor to any motive in
fall in bank stock did not occur, of
deep and lastto
those
who
owned
but
to
unshaken
the
it,
ing injury
public
confidence in the Bank, and in the wisdom and discretion of
those to -whom its interests were confided.
owing
to
him, that a
I will
show, in
my
operated, and what
next,
how
results
it
this first Presidential
'
No.
The
President had struck his
were required
I did
to follow
not notice in
ARISTIDES.
9.
first
blow, and his retainers
up.
my last, one part of the Presidential plan
of attack on the bank.
in these essays, is
it
calumny
produced.
I omitted
it,
because
my
business
with the calumnies, and their authors.
But the appeal which it made to the speculators and plunderers, was so direct, and so intimately connected with the pro-
38
fligacy of the plot, that I beg leave to mention it here.
formed part of the same Presidential message of 1829. It
It
was
a proposition for another Bank, in place of the present, to be
founded on the resources of the Government. The design
to make it easier for men, who were willing to go with
the President, but who, like ^Pennsylvania, at that time, was
not prepared to keep him company in his crusade against the
was
currency of the country, and the war that was commenced
against the prosperity of the nation, to fall in with, and cooperate with him. "Oh, well, it was argued, it's no matter
the Bank ofc the United States shall go down, it's only
overthrowing a monopoly, and a power that is made potent,
if
and hurtful by foreign capital, and put in its place a genuine
American Bank founded on the resources of the government;
in a word, an institution that will consent to go with our
party" The bait sure enough took, even to the silly prejudice against foreign capital, which has just the same reason
in it, as would be a hatred of the sun's light, because it comes
from the solar, and not the mundane system. Even Pennsylvania began, under this calumny, and this silly delusion which
was born with it, to relax her hold on the Bank, and to place
herself in an attitude of rebellion to her own best interests.
Tidings of alt these workings and heavings, in the minds of
men, were transmitted like so many rays of light through the
appropriate organ, the under cabinet at Washington, to the
President, who was told that nothing could exceed the greet3 " the
ings with which his plan had been received by QC/
people."
Well
then, at the next session of Congress, in 1830, the
President in his message, having become delighted with the
which he was assured, there never was any thing
to equal it, and in the face of the rebuke which Congress had
uttered at the previous session, repeated his views; and so
success, of
by the same means,) in 1831. Meanwhile
the executive machinery, under the direction of the under
cabinet, had been so extended, and the press had become so
again, (encouraged
and the office holders were so thoroughly
with
the
nature of the service that was required of
impressed
effectually drilled,
39
them, as not to dare, even to think, much less speak, except
were commanded, that no two voices could be heard
as they
extreme south; no inharmonious tone from
from Maine,
to the
the Hills of
New Hampshire,
but
all
to the
Bentons of Louisiana,
united in harmonious concert, to sustain the "venerable
President" in his "enlightened, and patriotic design" upon the
Bank!
The new Bank was
able of all designs
yet held out as one of the most invalustamped, in its very features, with the
impress of Presidential wisdom, and dandled on the lap of his
own personal favour, it must be of all things in the world, in
the eye of " the party," the very best adapted to promote
not the interests of the people, but of "the party" Of
course every party man was taught to believe that it was for
htm it was intended, and that from its paps, he should draw,
for the remainder of his life, the most nourishing benefits.
Pennsylvania was half persuaded to apply her lips to this
fountain, but one of her eyes not being, yet, quite closed to
interests, she saw a design in her sister, New York,
It became
her
aside, and take the -whole to herself.
push
and
it -was done!
a
film
that
to
over
eye
bring
necessary
" THE PARTY" has
always been expert in blinding certain
her own
to
people ; and certain states.
This scheme of a national Bank, was so monstrous
was
so improbable,
the
and
ridiculous, that every inthing
in
man
and
of
out
it, treated it with conCongress,
telligent
"
not
I
that
after
need
say,
tempt.
answering, like the
gold
recent
the
its
bill" of more
delusive end of
creation, it
origin,
itself
was permitted to sink into oblivion.
But to the calumnies, and their authors.
I have no intention of enumerating and exposing all the
calumnies against the Bank, or naming all their authors. I
had just as well attempt to count the stars. It will not be
expected of me to enumerate the number of members of Congress, whom the Bank has been charged with bribing; nor
those who, having been stabbed in party broils, it has been
asserted, owed their wounds to the agency of this institution
nor shall I number the dead, who have been sent to their
40
long home, by
a
ders, as
its
man
agency.
in battle
I shall treat these,
would the
and
like slan-
bites of musquetoes, or the
presence of toads ; or, as would the physician those agents of
his art which are used to expel only the ordinary causes of
when
the stomach had lodged within it, deadly poison.
True, those miserable contrivances, as venomous as they are
disease,
have not been without their use. "The party" have
kept them buzzing and hopping in every body's path ; and
many have yielded themselves up to the fatal influence of
odious,
They were generated for the grog shop genbe used at party meetings, to operate upon and
influence minds incapable of relishing any thing more pure,
their presence.
try;
and
to
comprehending any thing more
thing more
My
intricate, or of digesting
any
substantial.
business
is
with Presidential calumnies
and with
and with those of
those of his Secretaries of the Treasury
his " spies;" and such sort of people.
It will be seen before
1 have done with these, that what those men have said and
by the press, and their party
Government was enough, not
to destroy a Bank, but, when applied in the same spirit, the
liberties of a -whole people.
How far the use of the same
done, aided, as they have been,
army; and the patronage of the
by a like spirit, may ultimately effect this
a
few
years more will determine, perhaps, a few
object,
agencies, prompted
months.
have named "the spies" last but their employment was
among- the earlier movements of the President. How long
they worked in their disgraceful and secret employment, I
have not the means of knowing. That they were employed
1
by President Jackson,
I
have
his
these also prove the nature of the
"duty"
to perform.
to notice
I will pass
a witness procured
H. Benton
;
own
letters to
work that
it
prove
was made
and
their
over the spies for the present,
for the occasion,
by
Col.
Thomas
and who came forward prepared, as the sequel
damn the Bank to damn its President and
will prove, to
to
blow a mildew over the reputation of the whole of the
officers.
It was fitting that he who could write such
Bank's
a
letter as did Col.
Thomas H. Benton, about
the East room
41
of the President's House, should be found in fellowship, and
urging on to this work of destruction of both the currency of
the country, and the reputation of men, such a man as
Reuben M. Whitney.
I
say this witness was sent on to ap-
pear before the Examining Committee, by Col. Benton.
Adams
says, in his
it
Mr.
unanswered, and unanswerable Report
:
That Mr. Whitney, upon being asked,
be readj
(Let
" What had been his motive for
?"
gave
giving the testimony
the answer, that " he did not recollect, whether it had been
1
voluntary, or asked of him ;" but on being further questioned,
he answered, "that Judge Clayton (the Chairman of the Com-
him by a letter from
" birds
DCr Mr. Benton. Here then we have these
of a
feather?' What sort of bird Col. Benton is, can be shown by
mittee,)
had been recommended
to
3
certain North Carolina and other reminiscences, and
by that
particular reminiscence touching the East room letter, &c. &c.
What sort of bird Reuben M. Whitney is, the reader will
judge for himself, for I shall give him to him, just as I find
him, in his character of witness, giving his testimony against
the Bank, and in favour of the President's war upon it,
his oath!
I will further premise, that this is the
[f* upon
same Reuben M. Whitney, who has been ever
since such a
special favourite of the President, and "the party."
Reuben M. Whitney, before the Committee.
But
to
"Whispers, says Mr. Adams, it now appears had been in
circulation even from the year 1824, ripening for a term of
seven years, in rumours of combined and concerted frauds and
embezzlement of the funds of the Bank to the {J private
purposes of the President of the Bank and the principal Brokers of Philadelphia." "The charges against the President
of the
Bank were,
that
Thomas
Biddle, a distant relative of
and one of the most eminent Brokers of Philadelphia, had
been in the habit, by permission of the President, of taking
his,
money out
of the
drawer, leaving in its place cerkeeping the money an indefinite number
first teller's
tificates of stock; of
of days, and then replacing the
certificates of stock, without
money and
taking back his
interest upon
of
payment
the monies of which he had had the use.' The quintessence
6
of the charge was, the use by Mr. Thomas Biddle, of the monies of the Bank without interest." (See Mr. Adams' Report
for this, and for what follows.) To all this Reuben M. Whitney STvore! He swore also that he went to the President's
room, and finding him alone, told him what he had discovered,
&c., and requested that no such transaction should be repeated whilst he was a Director of the institution. He swore also
that the President did not deny the facts as he stated them.
He swore that the President coloured up very much, and
promised that no such thing should happen again. Now this,
was enough to kindle a fire sufficient, not only to dethat was favourable towards the Bank in public opibut
to consume to ashes the fair fame of Mr. Diddle.
nion,
was
worse
than an attempt to murder
It
Well, was all, or
if true,
stroy all
!
NOT A WORD OF
IT, reader!!!
(Mr.
any of this true?
Whitney made other charges, the nature of which will appear
in their refutation.)
Mr. Adams, in commenting on this act
of shocking depravity, says
"The instinct of calumny
is inventive in details,
(Mr.
had
and
torn
memorandum
of
a
tattered
produced
Whitney
much of this, and dealt in minute detail) precisely because
make their way most easily to the credit of the hearer,
has been long remarked by keen observers of human
action, that he who accustoms himself to make a truant of his
details
and
it
memory, is often times the first
to credit his
own lie." Mr. Adams
does not pretend to say this was the case with R. M. Whitney.
But he does say, "that the charges respecting the notes (this
relates to the other charges referred to) which he (Whitney)
had discovered in the Teller's drawer, and which he swore had
not been entered^ on the books when he discovered them, but
which were so entered when he discovered them, and that
3
they were so entered by his direction, was QCr RETRACTED BY HIMSELF after the statement had been blasted by
the production of the entries upon the face of the books themIt also turned out that Whitney's pretended interview with the President, Mr. Biddle, at the time he rebuked
selves!"
him, and
when he received
the confession, accompanied by a
blushing promise of future amendment, that this identical
Biddle was absent from Philadelphia!!.' When this fact
Mr.
was
43
proven, Mr. Adams says "Mr. Whitney was not prepared
with any substituted invention of details to supply its place."
I ask, of the leaders
Which,
of "the party;" which of
its
pensioned presses; which of its "rewarded" officers, and which
of the expectants, ever sought to disabuse the public mind of
this foul
and damning calumny?
Nay,
I ask
which of them,
(except Judge Clayton, the Jackson chairman of the committee who revoked all his agency against the Bank in the horrible fraud
committed by
his report
on the public confidence,
by a speech confessional on the floor of Congress) omitted to
send the testimony of Whitney, blasted as it was, round among
No, the poison of the slanders was not only
work upon its victims, but channels were cut to send
"the people?"
left to
it
over the land
!
most daring attempt to slay men's reputation,
and entail infamy on themselves and families, that President
Jackson holds by the hand, to this hour, and with all these
Is it for this
same Reuben M. Whitney? If not,
Let no man suppose I cherish a particle
of personal hostility towards Mr. Whitney. I do not even
know him, and so far as I know, never saw him. I am discussing his official acts, and demonstrating the foulness of the
calumnies which have been invented to destroy one of the
If they immolate him, he
best institutions that ever existed.
has nobody to blame but himself. I feel in common with all
the humane, sympathy for his family and so did the public
facts before
for
what
him,
else
this
is it?
when by his defection he sought to
on
down
ruin
our
country and its hopes. But the traitor
bring
was blasted
for the family of Arnold,
!
I shall in
my
next pay
my
respects to "the spies," and to
their testimony.
If any ask, as
some have, why this re-opening the wounds
of the past, and in defence of an institution that is destined to
go down ?
I
answer by referring to
quoting the couplet with which
masterly report,
" When
The
my
first
number, and by
Mr. Adams concluded
his
truth, or virtue, an affront endures,
affront
is
mine,
my
friend,
and should be yours."
ARISTIDES.
44
No.
10.
t
I
am
next.
not ready for the spies yet.
I
have a few words
to say
I
,
reserve them for
on the
issue of the
my
exami-
Bank bv
the committee before
*
^1
which Whitney was sent by Col. Benton to appear. The
chairman of that committee, the reader knows, was Judge
nation into the affairs of the
Clayton, of Georgia, a leading
member
of the Jackson party.
His report, which, as the reader also knows, was responded
to by the minority of that committee, at the head of which
was Mr. M'Duffie, and by a report from a member of that
committee, Mr. Adams and so effectual were these reports,
and the facts on which they were based so overwhelming so
;
Bank from
the charges and
contained
in
implications
Judge Clayton's report, that a bill
both
of
Houses
passed
Congress to re-charter the Bank.
entirely did they vindicate the
Goaded almost
by such a succession of defeats,
own, the President gave
out that the Bank had bribed Congress! The Globe sent
round the charge. The affiliated presses echoed it. " If I
had been venal, said the President, I should have sold myself
to desperation
from Woodbury's and
to
its
designs."
Having
Hill's to his
How mad
he got
Bank,
!
failed to secure the
to
be used as a
political
instrument to carry on the designs of "the party," as have
been the post office, the land office, and the whole official
patronage of the government,
it
became
necessary, on the
principle which prompts the incendiary, haying fired the
house and thrown the torch from his hand, to cry "fire;" and
the thief to join the cry "stop thief," for the President and
his associates to set up the cry that the Bank had joined the
league against him, and was employing its power to prevent
This was as much as to
his re-election to the Presidency.
now is your antagonist,
"here
say to his army of office holders,
you are supine, or neglect to give all
diligence in circulating what the Globe and its associates
" The
shall publish, and I shall say, we shall be defeated."
will be no longer ours,
spoils" to which we have succeeded
therefore be up and doing, and let every office holder go forth
as well as
mine
:
if
45
armed with newspapers, and pamphlets, and speeches, and
convince the people that the Bank is employing its great
power for the overthrow of our party. He who shall not
prove zealous
by
losing
it,
(in
from him by
not only jeopard his office
of the cause,) but / will wrest it
in this struggle, will
the loss
virtue of my
own power
to
do
so.
I will
"pun-
ish" any officer of mine who shall not prove zealous in assistBank."
ing me to carry out my designs against the
This was well understood. Hence, when the public press
remonstrated against the interference of the officers of the
federal government with elections, so far from exciting in the
President a disposition to practice upon the doctrine of his
inaugural message, in which he inveighs against this very
practice, it served to fix every such zealous officer more firmly
in his affections,
and secure
to
him
additional claims to " re-
wards."
But to the Report of the Committee, of which Judge Clayton was Chairman. It was sent over the whole country, with
notes and anotations.
Stage loads of the Globe, filled with
every description of poison that could be extracted from that
and other, sources, accompanied it. Every where the
report,
charges were reiterated, Whitney's and all, blasted as he
was, until the people were every where literally drugged
with them. In vain did the press strive to scatter the proper
among the people. A cloud of darkness had been raised,
and the power and patronage of the Government, headed by
Presidential authority, and guided by it, gave support to those
light
who were engaged in increasing its darkness. It was of no
avail that Congress passed its judgment of condemnation upon
the proceedings of the party, and upon Judge Clayton's Report, in a re-charter of the
was
and
Wherever,
charged
whenever truth, in regard to these calumnies, showed itself,
it was hacked and cut to
pieces, and trampled in the dust.
At last, and in 1834, alarmed, and justly so, at the usurpations of the President, and at his disregard of Congress, (and
to
Bank
Bank. This, as
and
to bribery.
influence,
I
have
said,
contempt for the President's slanders against that body)
of law, and of justice, and
witnessing the encroachments by
the President upon the constitution,
Judge Clayton was roused
feeling
46
into a review of the part he had acted, and stung with reof
morse, no doubt, yielded to the most honourable
impulse
He
House of Represenhis
with
own
and
hand
the head from his
severed
tatives,
own report, and throwing its lifeless trunk into the arms of
the party, admonished it, President and all, to ponder on what
The following is the speech on that occathey had done
our nature.
rose
in-
his place in the
!
sion:
"Mr. Speaker,
to
make
this is the first fair
satisfaction for
opportunity that has presented itself
wrongs which
I
believe, I myself, have committed;
not from malice, for I entertain that passion against no human being, but
from an overwraught and incautious zeal. In my opposition to the Bank,
on a former occasion, I have carefully reviewed my remarks, and find reflections which are unworthy of me, and the cause they were designed to
They were calculated to wound the feelings of many high and
support.
honourable men, in, and out, of the Bank, and if such has been the effect,
I can offer no higher reparation than the public expression of my regret.
I retract every thing personal, whether in fact or tendency, &c.
neither
a dictate of false pride, nor a dread of even deserved punishment, shall
ever interpose between the injury, of which I have been the unguarded
I do not
cause, and the due retribution necessary to its full atonement.
pretend that
to
this is
a sentiment peculiar to myself it exists in every
later, is apt to exert its just control.
mind
some extent, and, sooner or
Sir,
may yet come when
the present chief magistrate shall feel and
own its sway. When he shall have reached the repose of private life, removed from the tempests of political strife when he shall have ceased to
the day
iojlat/erers and sycophants, and standing on the confine where
the time past of a long life is to be reviewed in the short span of that
which is soon to end if no other wrong, of which he has been the author,
be useful
shall extort his merited confession, that at least to the injured
Duane
will
wring a repentant sigh. His imagination must wander into the innocent
family of that abused individual, from whose quiet bosom he was reluctantly
withdrawn, and surveying the peace which he has disturbed, the feelings
he has tortured, the friendship with which he has sported, the integrity
he has
distrusted, the independence he toas despised, and, above all, that
if his heart shall
spotless reputation his minions have attempted to defame
not obey the dictates of the generous sentiment I have described, it will
be wanting, greatly wanting, in a principle with which even his fame in
battle cannot compare, and will justly reduce the glory of his military for-
tunes to an empty pageant."
would seem, ought to have sufficed to silence the
calumny against the Bank. But like all previous defeats, it
served only to increase it.
Which of the presses, in the pay
This,
it
47
of " the
Government," dared
Where
to send this
speech among the
who dared
to lift his voice
people?
to disabuse those, into whose minds poison from the Report
of Judge Clayton had been injected ? Where was the expectis
the office-holder
ant in waiting for his "reward," for the part he had taken in
making it tributary to the overthrow of the Bank, who did
not shut his eyes to this speech, and continue, in spite of it,
to repeat the foul implications of " the party" against the
Bank?
That
the reader
may
understand something of the bitter-
ness of spirit which operated with the majority of the committee, of which Judge Clayton was Chairman, against the President of the Bank, who had been brought out as standing in
the attitude of personal hostility to General Jackson, I extract the following from Mr. Adams' report.
Speaking of
Mr.
Biddle,
Mr. Adams
says
"No
scruple had crossed the mind of any President of the United States
(during ten years) to deter him from nominating him year after year as a
Government Director. Not a voice had ever been raised in the Senate to
cause their hesitation to confirm his appointment, and so perfectly in harmony with this confidence, has Keen that of the public, that not a rumour has
ever been raised of a prospect, or even of a project for the election of any
other person as President in his place.
After ten years of fair fame, thus
sustained, without an adverse whisper being heard, it has been a source of
to the subscriber to see the character and feelings of
such a citizen treated by a committee of the House of Representatives, as
deep mortification
if
he had been an inmate fresh issued from a penitentiary, to preside over
Bank of the United States!"
the
a specimen of the spirit of that report which
on
reflection, seized with his own hand and
Judge Clayton,
tore in pieces, and dashed to the ground, as " unworthy of
This, reader,
is
and the cause it was designed to support."
But as I have said it had been circulating over the country, and poisoning the minds of the people for about two years
before its author discarded it. And thus was public confidence sported with and abused
And thus were the foundations of the Bank undermined, and thus its
presiding officer,
and his associates, were covered all over with party political
himself,
!
venom,
the
lips
principal and most disgusting stream issuing from
of President Jackson himself.
its
ARISTIDES.
48
No. 11.
"Directors!" exclaimed Mr. Calhoun, in his powerful
speech in the Senate, on the removal of the deposites, and in
reference to H. D. Gilpin, John T. Sullivan, Peter
"Directors, did I say?
Co.
No
(J
Spies,
is
Wager
&
their proper
'
designation."
have shown that Reuben M. Whitney was the chosen
Thomas H. Benton I will now show that
the "spies" were the chosen instruments of President Jackson.
What sort of work they were commissioned to perform, will
be exposed in the sequel.
How long these "spies" had been secretly at work, and in
conveying to their employer the result of their labours, and
under whose influence, I have no means of ascertaining but
their regular, and published commissions, bear date, the first,
"April 14, 1833," the second, "August 3, 1833." Both are
signed "Andrew Jackson." That there may be no mistake
touching the object of these commissions, and the nature of
I
instrument of Col.
;
the employment required by them, I will copy so
these notable documents as will illustrate both.
The
following
is
the whole of the
first,
which
much from
is
dated at
It is addressed to " Messrs. Sullivan, Gilpin,
Washington.
and Wager, United States Bank Directors."
" Your letter of the 8th instant has been received.
i
been
at
work,
tion requested
beyond
the
it
is
for
me
my
In reply,
I
knowledge of the Government Directors.
lation of the charter,
If the CC7"
(They had
have to remark, that the informaown satisfaction, and I do not wish it extended
appears.)
rumours
I
In case of a gross vio-
duty to issue a scirc facias against the Bank.
have heard be true, it will probably be incumbent on
it is
my
and those rumours relate to proceedings which must have
come within the personal knowledge, or (/* observation, of some of you.
If they shall be confirmed by your report, I shall not only be able to judge
to
do
so;
my particular duty, but may, if thought proper, cause to be made,,
through the Secretary of the Treasury, that more formal and thorough investigation- Q^ which you suggest.
of
" In
conclusion,
would remark, that the discounts granted to indivito constitute those private accounts, which by the
charter are so carefully guarded? but that provision only embraces the
debtor, and creditor ACCOUNTS of individuals on QC/" the books of the Sank.
If any discounts be CORRUPTLY, or improperly granted, it is not only
duals, are not
I
deemed
49
deemed
right, but, in aggravated cases, the
fact to
communicate the
tors to
duty of the government direc-
THE GOVERNMENT."
ANDREW
(Signed)
REMARKS
In the
first
President's
wish
was
Off
THIS FIRST COMMISSION TO
THE
JACKSON.
"SPIES."
place, the information requested was for the
satisfaction; but in getting at it, he did not
own
to excite the attention of the other directors
to
hence
it
be so secretly managed, as not to extend beyond "the
knowledge of the government directors."
In the next place, the President announces what, under a
particular state of the case, he understands to be his ''duty."
It is in case of a gross violation of the charter to issue a scire
facias.
The
President has, in instances almost without
num-
ber, and under forms as various as the prismatic hues, charged
"
upon the Bank, not only a gross violation of the charter,"
but gross violations of it but that keen sense of " duty" has
never been sufficient to induce him to fulfil its requirements.
The
the
reason
Bank.
is
obvious.
Hence no
There was no evidence to commit
scire facias
was
sued.
In the third
place, "rumours" had reached this functionary. This nobody
doubts.
They fell upon the President like snow flakes, and
were made
to sound in his ears like
could not have been otherwise,
rumbling thunder.
It
when he
stood always ready
such as were prepared to
with "rewards" in his hand to pay
join in his crusade against the Bank.
He proceeded to pin
a knowledge of the truth of those rumours upon his selected
"
says
they must have come within the personal
or
of some of you." Not to " know"
observation
knowledge
of
them
after
that, would be to belie the President;
something
and not to have " observed' 7 them, would indicate supineness
and inattention. In either case, they very well knew they
spies.
He
would
lose their employer's favour, and be forever thereafter
excluded from executive "rewards." So they had, as the
sequel will show, to "know" even more than had ever been
rumoured, and to have "observed" what had been not only
the most revolting and criminal, but until then, unimaginable
proceedings, &c.
In the fourth place, these
"
7
spies"
had themselves been
50
secretly conveying something, for they had suggested before
their commission arrived, a thorough investigation " through
the Secretary of the Treasury ."
In conclusion, the President shows that he had been in close
communion with Reuben M. Whitney.
He
did not
want
to
know any
thing about discounts granted to individuals.
But that (although " the charter so carefully guarded these
private accounts,) was afterwards made by the President,
through one of his examining committees, an indispensable
part of the meditated examination." He wanted, it seems,
know what discounts had been made that had not been
entered on the books of the Bank, or which had been " corruptly" or "improperly" granted. Here then is a direct reto
I have treated in No. 9, and
which Reuben M. Whitney swore so awfully about.
These are the sort of things the President considers his, by
telling the "spies" it was their duty to communicate to the "government" that is, to Andrew Jackson, for he said he want-
ference to the cases of which
;
ed
this
information for his
This then
no
loss to
is
the
first
understand
of the second as
may
own
satisfaction.
commission.
The
scope and object.
further illustrate the
reader will be at
Now
its
"Rip Raps, August 3, 1833."
Messrs. Sullivan, Gilpin and Wager.
at the
first.
It is
for so
This
is
much
dated
addressed also to
"Gentlemen, I am informed that there is a book of expenses kept at
the Bank, which comes before the dividend committee semi-annually. If
any of you have had, or can have access to that book, I should be glad to
were the expenses of the last year, and also the preceding year,
what particulars incurred. ALL directors have a right to see, and
inspect this book, and if it is refused to (XJ^THK GOVERNMENT DIHECTOES,
OCj* report the same to ME.
" Mr. Walsh admitted in his
paper, that his publisher had received about
learn what
and
for
$1,000 for printing newspapers, calculated to operate on Jj' the elections.
This leads me to believe that a considerable sum of the expenses of the
Bank has been incurred in this way."
President goes on then to expatiate upon " his duty,"
and to tell his "spies" what agency he is bound to exercise over
The
the business of the
fl
desire that
you
Bank he then
;
will obtain
says
and furnish
:
me
a statement of the
Bank
51
They are the accounts of a public institution's exand proper appropriation of which must dethe
honest
penditures, upon
pend, to some extent, the confidence which the administrators of Govern-
account of expenses.
repose in it. I should consider it proper, and
an examination of these accounts should be denied, by the officer keeping them, to demand a view of them by motion at
the board of directors. If it be refused, then report the same forthwith to
ment may
feel at liberty to
even Qj" YOUR
ME
DUTY,
and, at the
same
if
time, give
me ALL
the information and knowledge,
in the discharge
regard to the accounts which you may have acquired
of your duty, as directors," &c.
in
ANDREW
(Signed)
JACKSON.
REMARKS ON THIS SECOND COMMISSION TO THE "SPIES."
first
place we are to infer, that if General Jackson
"
had not been informed" that the Bank kept an expense account, he would never have considered such a book as makIn the next place he seems to coning part of its records
sider it an affair of so mysterious and private a character, as
In the
!
to
make
access to
it
it.
doubtful whether the "spies" had, or could have
He seems to have fancied that the discoveries
which that mysterious " expense book" would lead, would
not only conclude the whole matter of the Bank's iniquity,
but that these secret sins, when discovered, would be of a
character so damning as to enable " the Government," wheto
ther at Washington or the Rip Raps, to whistle down the
in a jiffy.
This expense book was a beautiful vision,
Bank
wag had "informed" the President was kept by
and
of the existence of which he hastened to inform
Bank,
"Get that book, if you can you have a right to
spies.
and in case of its being refused to
it, and to inspect it
that some
the
the
see
the
Government directors, report the same to me !"
Thunder and lightning what vengeance was gathered
!
under that idea of refusal
ment Directors
!!
!
to report that
It
it
needed only
for the
Govern-
was refused to them for the
break out and consume the
wrath to
whole concern. "Report the same to ME!" When the
book was all the while as open to all the directors, as was the
This indeed was a tempest in a tea pot.
light of Heaven.
lightning of Jackson's
In the next place,
among YAe rumours
that had reached
the President, was one of a most unforgiving character.
A
52
thousand dollars he says upon the admission of Mr. Walsh,
had been paid to him for printing newspapers. Out of this
pops the inference, that "a considerable sum of the expenses
of the bank has been incurred in this way for the purpose of
operating on the elections!"" The reader may be surprised, perhaps, on being assured, that Mr. Walsh never ad(fcj
mitted any such thing!!!
We
"
shall see in the sequel
what a marvellous use the
how grateful their
returns were to "the government."
The only "duty" of the
President growing out of his relations to the bank, was that
spies"
made
of this expense book, and
which bound him, in the event of a violation of its charter,
to sue out a scire facias.
Yet we find him tumbling like a
blind man pursued by an alligator, or stung by reptiles, into
apartments where his presence was no more justifiable than
would be that of an elephant, whose keeper should lead this
unwieldly beast into the President's own drawing room.
Yet harping upon the doubt whether his "spies" could get
a sight of these accounts, that were as open to them, as was
the door through which they entered to take their seats at
the board, he enforces it, as a "duty" binding them, "should
they be denied, not by the board of directors only, but even
officer keeping them," to report the same forthwith to
him! And lastly, whether they can get a sight of them or
" the
not, (for
such
is
the sense of the reading,) the "spies" are re-
quired to give all the information
and knowledge,
in regard
them, which they may have acquired.
Having thus opened the way, and shown the sort of power,
and whence it emanated, which was conferred on the "spies,"
I shall in my next proceed to show how faithfully and satisJUSTICE and TRUTH,
factorily to every thing except HONOUR,
to
they executed the trust reposed in them.
ARISTIDES.
53
No. 12.
"
have shown the commissions under which the
spies"
acted.
It were difficult to conceive it possible, on a review
of them, how men, professing to be honourable, and to be influenced by those principles which uphold the moral and soI
compacts, could, for a single moment, hesitate as to the
course which it became them to pursue; or question the oblicial
gation which the spirit and object of the commissions imposed
upon them which was, indignantly and with contempt, to
throw them under their
not possible to conceive
how, without some overpowering inducement, the work required to be performed could be undertaken. Subsequent
events demonstrate what that inducement was. As in the
case of Sullivan,
who was
Presidential favouf,
It
feet.
is
'rewarded' for the part he took, by
and by
official
station
and emoluments
has Mr. Gilpin, the active spiarmy;
paymaster
rit of the league, in the nomination for the office of Governor
of Michigan.
It is true, *he Senate rejected both.
But hisin the
as
tory has not been
more
which Judas agreed
Arnold consented to
than
it
will
which the
be
in
'spies'
so
faithful in
recording the price for
and that for which
to betray his Lord,
struggling and bleeding country,
the
nature of the 4 rewards' for
recording
consented to obey the requisition of Presisell his
dent Jackson. Even General Jackson questioned the propriety
of his demands upon these men.
He certainly saw the de-
grading nature of the work in which he sought to
enlist their
and apprehending that they might refuse to comply,
enforced his claims upon them by insisting that obedience on
their part was their 'duty.'
The same as if he had said
'I know,
this
is a low business
that it involves
gentlemen,
services,
degrading services
man knows
the character and offices of a spy, no
how to appreciate than I do but, gentlethere
are
times
when the country needs the services of
men,
in
which
spies
emergency, it is 'the duty' of those who love
better
engage even in such employment. 'The
menaced. The Bank has made war upon it. 'Ru-
their country to
party'
is
mours' confirm
this.
I
exact
it
of you, therefore, as 'Govern-
54
ment
Directors,' to
need not repeat
FRIENDS
that
'
they
to
engage
in the service I
you my maxim
1
have planned.
WILL REWARD
I
MY
nor hint to you, (having read the Scriptures,)
and if you
not for us, are against us'
who are
refuse to be 'for us' in this business, especially where duty'
binds you, you will be numbered with my enemies and * pun'
ished' accordingly. .For
and punishes
his
Andrew Jackson 'rewards
his friends,
enemies."
The
revelation of the President's will being thus made, and
being fully invested with his commissions, and after consultation and agreement, as to the course they should pursue in
the SECRET examination
now
to
be made of the acts of the
Bank, and especially of the 'Book of Expenses,' the spies began the work.
I fancy I see them enter the Bank.
They are mailed in
a
but
cloak of seoresy is thrown over
Presidential authority
it and them.
They seat themselves at the board, and bow,
and smile, and pass round among their unsuspecting and honourable associates, the usual salutations. Not a whisper of
their design is breathed to any other Director of the Bank,
whilst each of these honourable men sit in unsuspecting con-
fidence
their sides.
by
Stealthily do they go to work.
This
part of their commission was never for a moment lost sight of.
All was to be "confined to the knowledge of the Government
Directors."
There,
too,
were the
officers of the
Bank, each
employed* at his desk, faithfully and honourably, and without
Even the clerk who had attracted so much of
suspicion.
General Jackson's attention, and who was looked upon in the
light of some stiff, uncomplying confidential fellow, who it
was thought was the sworn keeper of that 'expense book,'
not even did he suspect who they were that were coming in
and going
out,
wearing the exterior of Directors of the Bank,
when in fact they were the secret and commissioned spies of
Andrew Jackson
Never did sleeping innocence lie in more
unconscious state, when the robber hung over her with the
drawn dagger, to strike home the fatal blow, should she awake
!
and to a sight of the ravages that were going
did
than
the
President and the other Directors of the Bank,
on,
to consciousness,
55
these " spies" were secretly
and silently engaged in picking out from the acts of the board,
and from that " expense book," such items as they supposed
and
its
officers
and
when
clerks,
would most effectually serve their employer, and gratify his
taste, and bring down destruction upon the Bank, and all that
related to
it
!
For nearly two months were these men thus employed, before their unsuspecting associates were awakened to an observation of
what was going
man
on.
During
know what
this period, it is
not
and doubles were
resorted to by the "spies;" nor how, when an occasional ray
from the almost extinguished light of honour, would dart in
upon their minds, they recoiled from the business they had
given to mortal
to
shifts
How stirring, sometimes, was a glance from
How cutting the rebuke, when the
President Biddle's eye
honest labours of thfi other Directors, (headed by their efficient President, all of whom the " spies" knew to be honourundertaken.
!
able men,) were witnessed. Meeting the first, there was no
alternative but to drum with the fingers on the table, or perhaps to whistle ; and on beholding the last, to bow, or yawn.
Or when a
clerk would pass, and they
were hurrying
secretly
through the papers, hunting for items, there would be a sudden huddling of the whole together, and a bow, accompanied
with a smile, or some act to turn aside suspicion as to what
these
men were
about.
At
last, and at about the expiration of the eighth week of
suck labours, the newspapers revealed the plot? Instantly
the cloaks which had hitherto secreted their design, fUl off;
and the "spies" had
character.
sions.
to
They were,
meet
it is
their associates in their true
by their commishowever, against
men feel, when a spy
true, screened
These furnished but a
flimsy shield,
the justly excited indignation, which all
detected in the camp. Flash after flash, like lightning,
blazed in upon the consciences of these men ; and a deadly
is
sinking of all the moral energies foreboded the judgment, not
of the board, only, but of all civilized and Christian people.
This was a horrible hour
it.
But the best was to be made of
About the persons of the spies hung dangling the items
!
56
they had abstracted, thus secretly, from the records of the
Bank; and
in their faces
men ?
fortunate
was
visible that peculiar hue,
What now was
succeeds detection.
left for
which
these truly un-
That was made
was feared, if they had avowed
Board would not have permitted its exeNothing but confession
!
in the declaration that "it
their objedf, the
cution!"
A
report of their proceedings
was now
to
be made
to their
employer. Any undertaking commenced, and prosecuted
under such hurried and flurried circumstances, could not, of
There could be neither order, regucourse, be well done.
larity or correctness.
They had, however, kept the secret,
duty of a spy. President Jackson could
not reproach them with divulging it.
But it seems to have
been thought, even by themselves, that what they had done,
and that
is
the
first
was not well done.
of time"
Hence the
"
" the
spies" speak of
want
and of the "labour," which the mode imposed upon
them
required. They could only prosecute their object, they
"
and OPas
say,
they had "time, and opportunity."
PORTUNITY!" These words, in such like business, are
TIME
extremely ominous, as well as confessional. What else does
the highwayman seek ? Any thing but " time and opportudo they not seek for
nity!" or the slanderer, or calumniator
was all that Arnold wanted, when
of Andre. Both occurred, but "time"
"time and opportunity*?"
It
he sought the services
was denied the unfortunate youth to escape with the hellish
was refused him to get
plot of his seducer and "opportunity"
out of the hands of the three patriots who intercepted, and
;
captured him.
The "
spies" say, they
made "enquiries, but they were
partial" Of course, if they had been general, there would
have been a disclosure and then the truth, and the whole
truth, would. have been told, which was exactly, as the sequel
will prove, what these men were not in quest of, and what
;
their
employer did not want.
When, however, they came
across any expenditures, they take care to say they were
"discovered by US." As a matter of course, then, the infer-
ence was intended to be incontrovertible, that they had been
57
Sometimes, when they requested any thing
not as spies but as directors, and the good
sense of the board led it to withhold its assent, why then they
excuse themselves, by saying, they had " to depend on their
concealed before
!
of the hoard
own partial enquiries."
,
From this very partial picture, the reader may-infer, how
much of honour actuated these men. I will pursue the subject in
my
next.
ARISTIDES.
No. 13.
necessary that I should inform the reader that, in discussing the acts of public men, the actors must, themselves, be
spoken of? Can the criminal be separated from his crime?
Is
it
Or if he can, ought he to be? Who can separate the shadow
from the substance? Tell me not of that mawkish sensibility
that, when the acts of public men are spoken of, would whisper "silence" as the names of the perpetrators are about to
be pronounced. If men in official stations will employ themselves in undermining the great principles of honour, of justice,
and of truth, let them not take it amiss when public opinion
resolves to hold
them
responsible for such outrage^.
Those
who would throw over such the mantle of concealment, little
think how much they contribute to destroy those safe-guards
upon which society has been taught to rely for protection
against wrong and outrage. What hide the public plunderer
from the public gaze separate him from all connexion with
the public judgment and denounce his acts only? discourse
only about the evil he may have committed, and not name the
author of it? Establish this doctrine, and where, 1 a^k, shall
!
we
go
for
a shield to protect either property, character, or
life?
I
have named "the Government Directors"
Jackson employed
whom President
perform the office of "spies." 1 have
shown by their commissions, under which they consented to
act, and did act, that the "duty" required of them was to be
to
58
\
performed secretly, and without the knowledge of the other
These commissions required it of those to whom
were
addressed, to spy out, and report to Andrew Jackthey
acts
as "rumour" had informed him the Bank was
such
son,
which
acts, he took special care to tell his "spies,"
guilty of,
Directors.
know something about. Believing that these men
moved Andrew Jackson to commit upon the Bank the outrage
they must
he
removal of the Deposits, and in separating the
which bound him to the laws, and the laws to him, I consider it a high and solemn duty, in some one, to trace out their
conduct, and expose the means they adopted to produce such
did, in the
ties
a
result.
the
this.
The violated rights of
assailed characters of the Presi-
Public justice requires
Bank plead
for
it.
The
dent and officers of the Bank, have a high claim to be vindiand the violated honour of the nation demands it.
cated,
I
have
said these
men moved Andrew Jackson
to
commit
the outrage he did commit on the Bank. I derive my proof
from himself. He says, explicitly, that the reports of these
men, to him, decided the question in his mind, and produced
How fearful, then, is
the resolve to remove the deposits.
responsibility that rests upon th'em!
the
given a glimpse of the honour which actuated these tnen, in "the mode" they consented to adopt in
Let us look,
complying with the terms of their commissions.
I
have, in
my
a moment,
and Truth.
for
last,
at
the relations in which they stand to Justice
What is it? That principle, I answer, which
man
a
to do to others, that, which he would have
prompts
others do to him.
Let us try the "spies," first, by this standJustice!
They knew that a
against the Bank and its
ard.
They
ke w also
party political
officers,
that this spirit
its
President.
They had all
own party had taken to de-
was
witnessed the course which their
spirit
particularly
was excited
vindictive.
Bank, and implicate the honour of its officers. There
not one of them that did not know that all this was the
an
result of a refusal on the
part of the Bank to lend itself as
stroy the
was
instrument to promote the ends of "the party." They were,
as "Government Directors," in a situation, in which, they
,
59
could increase this excitement, or allay it.
Justice, under
such circumstances, made to them a direct appeal. On their
report, on the truth or falsehood of the charges, was destined
to turn, the personal
and
official
judgment of
their employer.
Facts, under such circumstances, ought alone to have been resorted to.
They were alone competent to decide the question.
Here then stood these men. Can the reader conceive
a position more responsible, or one in which honour, and justice,
and truth, could all more effectually combine, to enforce their
demands. They were made by their position, and by their
commission (as they chose to respect it as such, and act under it) not the judges only, but executioners of the Bank! I
know Col. Ben ton claims this honourbut Andrew Jackson
awards it to his "spies." He says, they decided him.
fancy I see these men
port to President Jackson.
when engaged
in writing their reBefore their judgment passed the
claims of the stockholders, who were entitled to all the benefit
which a just and true report would ensure to them. By one
I
dash of the pen, the value of the stock was to be affected.
for the
Bank,
it
be depressed.
would enhance
it;
if
against
The government was here
it,
If,
the stock would
interested, or in
other words, the people, for they held a fifth of the stock.
Then came the characters of the officers of the Bank. These
assailed
Next came the general embardeeply.
rassments of the whole country, the failure of men, and the
necessarily prostrating effects that must attend upon the
had been
withdrawal of
the country.
fifty millions
from the circulating currency of
of the Auctioneer was seen to
The hammer
rise and to fall; the rich were seen buying up the
buildings
and other property, at a reduced price, which the mechanic
had built, and purchased, partly on credit, for his family
manufacturers were seen to stop, and commerce tolanguish
and public confidence every where shaken, and men every
where in embarrassment and trouble! All this, and more,
was present, when the report was to be made. There was,
no doubt, an occasional twinge of the conscience, as one after
another of the points were decided on and when it was determined so to colour the report as to convince General Jack-
60
was right, and the Bank was all, and a good deal
more than he had suspected, even when assisted by his "rumours," there Was, doubtless, that shiver felt, which attends
upon men's last agonies, wh'en they die a forced and ignomison that he
nious death!
The
report signed, and the work done, it only remained for
the "spies" to watch the effects of that mildew which they
knew
it
would enable the President
Bank and its affairs.
to
breathe over
all
that
related to the
Let the reader pause hgre
for
a moment, and contemplate
the position of the Government Directors, and theif power for
evil, and for good, and ask himself if an obligation was ever
more binding, or more holy upon men to do JUSTICE.
There lives not a stockholder, nor an officer of the Bank, that
would not have said, "Justice, gentlemen, is all ice ask"
But was it justice to go in and out for eight weeks, with the
other Directors, appearing to be of them, and watching, like
them, over the great interests of the Bank, with which were
so intimately connected, the great interests of the country,
when they were employed, under a
secret commission, in ab-
stracting detached items from the records of the Bank, upon
which
ing in
to base charges for its condemnation?
Was this actto
that
would
that men
conformity
golden rule, "as~ye
Was it not rather
should do to you, do ye even so to them!"
of
that
rule?
Was it not rank injustice?
a subversion
If the other directors had been convicted felons, in league,
ach with the other, to exclude their acts from all eyes but
their own, and the government directors had reason to believe such to
and that their acts were working
Bank, and to the interests of the stockwould have been their 'duty' to adopt any
be the
fact,
prejudicial effects to the
holders, then
it
practica^ mode
a knowledge of the real condition
its managers.
But were
On the contrary,
the President, and Directors, such men?
were they not, and are they not, all of them, honourable
to arrive at
of the Bank, and of the conduct of
men
now
capable men and did they not then, and do they not
devote themselves to promote the interests of the stock-
holders,
and the welfare of the dealers of the Bank?
Were
61
they not even then, as now, careful to watch the calumnies
that were sent among the people to injure the Bank, and to
send truth after them, as fast as they could, to neutralize, and,
if possible, put a stop to their ruinous tendency and effects?
Are not these gentlemen, in a word, in all their private, and
social, and official relations, among the most estimable of our
Then what do these high minded and honourable men
race?
say of the reports of the "spies" to their employer? But first,
what did the "spies" report? Why, among other things, that
theiy examination which President Jackson referred to them
to make, [I have shown in my last what sort of 'examination'
it was, and how it was
conducted] (jl^^'tJndoubtedly presents
circumstances which in our opinion, warrant the belief you
have been led to entertain.' And what was that belief? Why,
that the Bank had employed itself and its means in a way to
influence the elections
the
General Jackson's re-election, among
rest.
The
commission was to elicit something
on
press, urged
by General Jackson, might rest
the charge. Every circumstance, therefore, had a channel
sole object of their
on which the
cut for
Comit, to swell the general tide upon this point.
were
made
the
other
Directors.
plaints
against
They were
charged with concealments, &c. In a word, every thing was
reported that could be
an implication of the
fered in the elections.
The
made subservient to the .ggeat end, viz:
Bank on the charge of having interI
could prove this by numerous
quo-
may find what I say substantially confirmed in the report of the "spies" to their employer.
What say the other Directors?
tations.
reader
"Nothing was concealed no one designed to conceal
no one could conceal this whole matter. The resolutions of the board
were on the minutes the expenses under them were all recorded in the
book the vouchers all referred to, by number, in that book; and all of
them, minutes, expense book, and vouchers, were (C/'ALWAYS to be
seen and examined by the Directors, so that the whole
process of discovery was to dj'ask for the books and vouchers, and to receive them."
Is
one
there a
to
whom
man
living that doubts the truth of this?
Not
known, on
There was the open
the character of the Directors
whose veracity the statement
rests.
is
C2
which honourable men would have preferred to
But truth was not the object of either President JackIf it had been, why did he enjoin secrcsy
son or his "spies."
on them; and why, with these means all open to their inspecPresident
tion, did they choose to climb up some other way?
Jackson knew, and his u spies" knew, that the truth would be
door, into
enter.
death to the scheme, which was to implicate the Bank on the
charge I have named, of interfering to control the
This was, as I have said, the great object; and for
were the "spies"
Now
They
set to
elections.
t-his
duty
work.
what sort of use they made of one sum.
"Under the head of stationary and printing, they
let us see
say:
have discovered charges for the first half of the year 1831,
amounting to the enormous sum of $29,979 92." The inference intended to be conveyed t6 General Jackson was, that
this "enormous sum" bore on the point of their enquiry, and
that it had been employed in connection with the charge of
interfering in elections.
how do you suppose this "enormous sum" was
for
what? 1 will tell you.
and
expended?
$1080 32 was for common stationary,
"
443 76
printing blank forms and rules,
"
267 68
books,
Well, reader,
179
4178
+. 300
2886
:
91 %
"
37
"
00
"
67
1421 94
2121 64
"
788 13
10 00
"
"
newspapers,
engraving bank notes,
paper,
silk for
making paper,
sheeting for
silks
silks
do.
do.
do.
subscription to the Coffee House.
$13,678 42
Well, now,
how much
of these items, which,
I
assure the
reader, forms part of the 'enormous sum' of $29,979 92, is it
believed was expended with the remotest design to operate on
the elections? Look at the items.
Sullivan, one of the Go-
vernment Directors, who signed the report that carried
this
63
'enormous sum' to General Jackson, and which was sent purposely to implicate the Bank in the charge I have stated, had
himself received of these very expenditures, under one of its
heads, $302 37
or for
what
!
!
But every item, no matter to whom paid,
hy whom received, was essential to swell
!
paid, or
the sum, and
make
the
amount 'enormous'
hence, although
pocket, for articles in his own
line of business, furnished the Bank, hg was willing that it
he had put $302 37
in his
own
should form part of the 'enormous sym' that the President
was left to INFER the Bank had paid in furthering the ends of
those who opposed the election of Andrew Jackson, and of his
I will not stop to inquire where a man's conscience,
party.
or sense of common honesty, is, who would lend himself to such
an act as
this.
The balance
of the $29,000 and odd, had about as
little to
do with controlling elections, as that which was expended, as
above stated. Nearly $4000 of the residue was paid for printing and circulating Mr. Gallatin's able work on Banking; and
the residue on documents essential to be sent among the people
to disabuse them of falsehoods uttered by President Jackson
against the Bank, and reiterated by his presses and his party
but for which falsehoods, and the levelling doctrines on
which they were made to rest, there would not have been one
cent expended. The crime is, to be sure, a curious one, that
so constituted by the act of an individual, or corporation,
taking measures to repel calumny and refute injurious and
is
vicious falsehoods.
and figures for my next, in further
and demonstrative of the absence
of
from the consciences
these men of both justice and truth,
I
have some other
facts
illustration of this subject,
while in the performance of the service assigned to them by
President Jackson.
ARISTIDES.
64
No. 14.
I
am aware
that the light in
tors' are put, is repulsive.
I
which
'
know,
the
also,
government
it
is
direc-
calculated to
sympathy but it can, of course, be that species of
sympathy only, which men feel for the criminal, when the
sentence of the law, which he has violated, is enforced.
But
excite
shall this species of
a shield
to
sympathy be permitted
interfere
to operate as
between the culprit and
his
merited
He who
says YES, has not well considered the
It
had
as
well be decided, that there ought to
subject.
just
be NO law; or, what amounts to the same thing, no penalty.
punishment?
What
is
a law without a penalty
and penalty,
?
And what
are both law
they be not enforced.
Does the reader think, I do not myself feel deeply for these
"spies?" If he do, he wrongs me. I do, from my very
if
soul pity them!
monstrating the
But having undertaken
arid
this business of de-
outrage, that
have been committed
CHARACTER
of men, and upon the
wrong,
on one of the best fiscal agents that this or any other country
ever possessed, and through it, upon the rights and interests
of
its
stockholders, and the
general prosperity, painful as it is, I shall proceed, until I make
manifest to all who are intelligent and honest, (I expect no-
thing from the fool or the knave,) that a most damning fraud
has been committed by 'the party,' through its INSTRUMENTS,
that fiscal agent; upon the rights and interests of its
stockholders; upon the character of its officers, and upon the
upon
general prosperity.
If, in the further prosecution of
do not mean any thing shall turn
light
my
me
purpose, from which I
throw a
aside, I shall
even more repulsive, upon 'the government directors,'
and cast even a more odious shade upon their doings, they
will find the elements which I may embody, in their own
acts,
and the colouring matter I
use, in their
own
party reck-
lessness.
Some may suppose
meant
to
convey
it
to their
impossible for the "spies" to have
employer, that the $29,979 92 had
been employed for the purpose of controlling the elections.
EdA
Iso
CSB variants:
UCSB
Lila.
181 rev.)
arpocket, and wliich he knew liau ucen paid lor
ticles of his trade, which the Bank bought of him.
in his
own
1
9
of
ge
111.
thi
hae
up<
sto
get
]
do
ligl
and
wil
acts
les<
5
me;
(^v^
1
been employed
for the
purpose of controlling the elections.
65
For
the. satisfaction
of such,
I
will prove,
by their own words,
that they did so intend; and that they intended
NOTHING
ELSE.
Hear them:
."
We deemed
it
gation to that portion which
expedient, at presenf, to confine our investi-
EMBRACED expenditures
QCj"
CALCULATED
TO OPERATE ON THE ELECTIONS."
Now, what
does the reader think?
Almost- the
first
ques-
were all these
tion that an intelligent reader will ask, will be
items for stationary, printing blank forms; for books, for engraving bank notes, &c. &c. 'calculated to operate on the elections?' and especially, were the three hundred and odd dollars
were paid by the Bank to Sullivan, for articles in the line
of his business, and which formed a part of this very 29,000
and odd dollars, 'calculated to operate on elections?'
^
But this is not all. The "spies" tell their employer that
" All
expenditures of (J THIS kind, (made to operate upon
that
the elections,) introduced into the expense account, and discovered by us, we found to be, so far as regards the institution in this city,
embraced under the head of Stationary and
Printing."
Now let
us analyze this a
little.
Not only were expendi-
tures made, according to the "spies," Ho operate
tions,' but they were entered under the head of
on the elec'
Stationary
and Printing' and though thus ingeniously contrived, the
true nature and object of these expenditures, were DCf3 'discovered by us.' But this was not all.
The drift of the information was intended to convey to -their employer's mind the
belief that
ness of
ALL the branches were engaged in the same busito operate on the election/ for
making 'expenditures
what the "spies" reported, regarded only, 'THE INSTITUTION
IN THIS CITY.'
there will be no more doubt on any body's mind as
what were the object and aim of the "spies." Thus it was,
that "the enormous sum" of 29,000 dollars was
reported as
been
to
the
on
the elechaving
Bank,
expended by
"operate
tions," even to the 300 and odd dollars that Sullivan had put
I trust
to
in his
ticles
own pocket, and which he knew had been paid for arof his trade, which the Bank
bought of him.
9
66
A
most remarkable feature in this case is, that the miscellaneous expenses in the item of 29,979 92 could not, as the
Board of Directors very appropriately remarks, 'have been
spent on elections, from the fact that in the first half year of
1831, no elections of any kind, in which the
Bank
could,
by
possibility, have any interest, were impending for eighteen months .to come, or even in remote agitation.'
But no
" Rumour" had told President Jackson
matter,
otherwise, and
any
were compelled, by virtue of their employment,
hoped for "rewards," to sustain it.
I said I had some more facts and figures for this number.
If they were not facts and figures, I would myself discard them.
But they are. Either these are lalse, or the "spies" are. The
his "spies"
and
its
reader shall decide.
The "spies"
Bank for
the
" It
say
appears by the expense account of
the years 1831 and 1832, that upwards of
$80,000 Were expended"
" STA-
For what?
TIONARY AND PRINTING"
head
that
and charged, under that
the head so denominated, but which, as "disThe
us," was to. "operate on the elections."
is,
covered by
"spies" further "discover" that a "large proportion" of this
80,000 dollars was paid to the proprietors of newspapers, and
periodical journals; and for the printing, distribution, and
postage of immense numbers of pamphlets and newspapers."
Let the reader connect
with their
own
this
"discovery" of the "spies"
declaration that they
"deemed
it
expedient to
confine their interrogatories to that portion which embraced
expenditures calculated to operate on elections/' and then decide whether the charge was not distinctly made that the
Bank had employed these 80,000 dollars, or a "large'portion
If this concluof it," in electioneering against "the party."
denied, then does he who denies it implicate the understanding of President Jackson himselffor he so interpreted
sion
it,
is
and he so said
functionary are:
in his
famous manifesto.
" The
The words
expenditures purporting
to
of this
have
been made under authority of these resolutions, (resolutions
of the Board authorising the President of the Bank to expend
money
to
detect and expose calumnies,) during the years
67
1831 and 1832, were about 80,000 dollars." Now suppose
had been true, which, by the way, it happens not to be>
it would
prove no more than that calumnies had multiplied ;
this
it required an "enormous" expenditure on the part
But it was false
of the bank to detect and expose them.
and that
(I
do not mean
false, as
calumregards the multiplication of
on which the sum was expended)
nies, but as to the objects
for of this very
sum
there were paid for
printing bank notes,
Printing blank forms, and other necessary
Making and
1,848 OS
6,053 8
papers,
Books and
stationary,
Various miscellaneous expenses,
Total,
This
is
demonstration.
$24,591 96
653 25
$33,147 17
Euclid himself could not more
clearly detect a falsehood in figures/than this simple statement
detects and exposes the rank falsehood of the "spies."
A few
words on the cause of the expenditure of a cent by
for any thing else except for its necessary materials.
It is to be found exclusively in the calumnies which commenced in 1829, and which followed its refusal to throw itself into the arms of "the party," to be used by it as a tool.
At every point was its credit, its honour, and the fair fame of
Driven by the necessity of the case, the
its officers assailed.
the
Bank
in its own defence, in the years 1829, 1830,
and
1832,
1831,
1833, $58,265 04, or an average of between
eleven and twelve thousand dollars af year, not in interfering
Bank employed
in elections, but in detecting
and exposing calumnies.
Now
the "spies" knew.
The use they made of it, I have
On
the
question which ignorance and prejudice
exposed.
have started as to the right of the Bank thus to defend itself,
all this
whether against calumniators of counterfeiters, I will dismy next, promising, meanwhile, to demonstrate,
as
between
calumniators and counterfeiters, the forthat,
course in
mer
required to be watched with ten-fold vigilance; and
that of the two, in moral guilt, and infamy, and ability, to injure the Bank, the counterfeiter was the less exceptionable
character.
ARISTIDES.
63
No. 1C.*
The
reader will "be at no loss to discover what has been
my object in-tracing as
have
partisans
how
assailed
effectual they
have done, the calumnies with which
Bank; and all the world knows
I
the
have proved
This is a
undermining that incomcommentary on the
moral condition of the public mind! It would seem that
when men, otherwise estimable, good citizens, kind husbands, affectionate brothers, and faithful friends, become inparable institution.
vested with a
little
brief
in
fearful
Governmental authority, there passes
over them a blinding influence, which closes their eyes to
every thing, except that which may promote their own and
their employer's ends.
Or, why,
deavoured
if it
Now, why,
(and whether
be so
ask, should this be so?
I
it is
so or-not, I have en-
to let facts decide) should there be the slightest objection in those who permit themselves to bethus blinded, or
in the mind of any just and honest man, to such a discussion
of the subject as shall expose it in its deformity, and in the
recklessness with which the spirit that sustains it manifests
itself.
It
was
intention in this
my
number
to institute a
compari-
son between the evil effects of calumny, and of counterfeiting,
and to demonstrate that in the relation which these two bear
to the
and
to
Bank, that calumny
that if
it is
its
expend
ing
money
more dangerous enemy;
Bank-j-(and who will deny this?)
is a
right in the
tenfold
in detecting counterfeiters,
itself agsinst their dojngs, the obligation is
and protect-
no
less
binding
expend money,
detecting and exposing
upon it,
calumnies. But I waive, this point for the present, to expose
the origin and analyze the cause of these calumnies, which
have been so multiplied of late, and employed with such efalso, in
to
fect against the
I
have no
commenced,
Bank and
engine against the
*
its interests.
They were not
difficulty in finding their origin.
however, with any view to use this monstrous
Bank
Erroneously numbered.
{J
It
but to break
should have been 15.
series, or to disturb the references,
16
is
preserved.
down
Not
the party
to break the
69
then in power and build up another.
The
success of the
experiment was so complete, that when the Bank was to be
assailed, calumny was resorted to, and employed, as the great
instrument to produce its downfal.
I trace the first bold and reckless calumny, the calumny
which may be denominated the fruitful mother of the thousands that have since been sent around the country, to Col.
Thos. H. Bentor, of the U. S. Senate. It is to be found in
famous letter, usually denominated the East Room Letter.
" The
party," the present dominant party, I mean, was then
his
its
just beginning
struggle for the ascendancy.
It
was daily
and hourly employed in finding out causes of complaint
Truth could not be employed
against the administration.
because there was no cause of offence in its acts
against it
in any of its measures, when ftirly told, to which
the people could take the slightest exception.
It therefore
and nothing
became necessary to try a new experiment, and one that had
never before, in the history of this government at least, been
INVENT
FALSEwas, in plain language, to
employ presses, subsidized for the purpose,
to send them around among the people for truths!
It required
attempted.
HOODS,
It
and
to
a daring spirit, a reckless partisan, to
commence
a war, which,
the first demonstration should prove successful, was afterwards to be carried on by the same instrument.
all know
if
We
how extremely
sensitive the people
were
at
that period on
the subject of the right and economical use which they expected the Executive to make of their money; and how (as
it was
right they should) they resented the slightest departure
from the most rigid economy. Well, the
to lash into fury this feeling; and by bringing
in the expenditures
purpose was
all its
force to bear
on President Adams,
turn their favourite leader
all
those guards
which
to turn
him
out,
and
Col. Benton, throwing aside
honourable partisans take care to set
in.
round their acts, came boldly out, and in the very face oT truth,
and in utter contempt of what Twenty Thousand persons at
moment personally knew, (ior there was not a man in
the District of Columbia, and no visiter to the President's
mansion, that did not know better,) penned and published a
that
70
letter setting forth, in substance, that President
at
immense
had,
in
famous East room!
make
Adams
a most gorgeous style furnished that
The reader sees the object It was to
and
cost,
the people believe that thai Administration
made
a
wanton use of their money, and that republican simplicity
was discarded in a word, as the slang of the day was, Mr.
Adams was King John; and he must therefore live in regal
splendour!
!
How strange
to tell
that
calumny was successful
!
Whilst
not a dollar had been spent on that room, and a studied economy characterized all the expenditures of Mr. Adams, as the
world knows. This fabrication usurped the place, and exercised the
power of
reeled before
fierceness,
it,
truth
and from
which
itself.
The
people every where
arose a flame of unextinguishable
ctually consumed to ashes that Adminisit
tration.
Here then
the party
calumny could, when
possess.
It
became,
knew what power, an
artfully invented
spiritedly, and perseveringly employed,
from that hour, the chosen instrument
of the party, as much so as was the battering ram with the
people of old, when the wall of a city was to be battered
And
down.
like that ancient engine,
be formidable and
The Bank had been
it
has proved itself to
variously beset.
same out
It
passed through
triumph of the Woodbury
drove back the assailants, even including the ExaminIt
siege after siege.
plot
it
irresistible.
in
ing Committee, of which Judge Clayton was chairman
It
came out -unscathed of the deep plot of a witness sent, as I
have shown, by this same Col. Benton, to bear testimony
against the President of the Bank, and whose testimony must
have, like the lightning, killed the fair fame of President
Biddle, and mutilated, if not destroyed the Bank, had not a
conductor most happily conveyed the fluid from the line of
its direction.
I have illustrated this in a previous number.
The Bank came
and more than
I have enumeand had, by a surprising unanimity, considering the party character of the times, its charter renewed.
There remained no hope now of the downfal of the Bank,
rated, in
out of
triumph,
all this,
71
That was of easy
but in the veto of President Jackson.
He
complishment.
that the
Bank was
had by this time been taught
ac-
to believe
That was enough. But stilj
him out in his pur-
HIS enemy.
there would be wanting reasons to bear
pose.
older calumnies, though exploded by the action of
Congress in the renewal of the Charter, were kept, nevertheless, in perpetual circulation by the presses that had been
The
subsidized for the purpose, by the office-holders, who knew
that their tenure of office, was limited to their exertions; and
by those who expected
rewarded
to be
for assisting in their
circulation.
Among
the calumnies originating in this object was that,
that the Bank was not a safe depository of
which announced
the public money.
This annunciation was ushered amidst
the shouts of' the party.'
It was attempted, by means of this
to
down
the
batter
Bank, officers and all. Nothing,
calumny,
of course, was supposed to be strong enough to withstand the
effects of the doubts intended to be created by this declaration,
in the
minds of the people.
It
was
as
much
as to tell
them
in danger!'
'your money
Upon this point the people had
It was^intended to confirm
to
be
sensitive.
themselves
proved'
is
the truth of the charge; and Mr. Toland, a personal and political friend of the President, was charged to examine and re-
He was
port upon it. The conspirators mistook their man.
honest.
No political cawl covered the sight of his eyes;- no
He reported the truth;
political bias warped HIS judgment.
the
Bank was
view, a perfectly safe depository of the
This was, for the moment, a stumper. But
in his
public money.
though sustained by a report of the Committee of the House
of Representatives, it was still kept going the rounds among
the people, that the Bank WAS
public money^and that Gen.
NOT
a
safe depository of the
JACKSON HAD SAID
At
when
SO.
calumny was uttered, the Bank,
as the documents pr.ove, was in the full power of its
strength.
I would insert the
proofs in figures, but am relieved from this
the very time
necessity,
by the
namely, that the
this
promulgation of an opposite calumny;
Bank was
TOO STRONG,
3
and therefore,
'DANGEROUS TO THE LIBERTIES OF THE PEOPLE!!'
game
calumny was made to operate just as if not a word
said
been
about the feebleness of the Bank, and the inse-
even
had
Instead of awakening public suspicion as to the
was playing with the public confidence,
that 'the party'
this
curity of the public funds.
As in the case of Col. Benton's attack on
.
digal waste of the public
Mr. Adams' proby him in a most
which the East room
illustrated
money,
extravagant exhibition of the manner in
was said by him to be furnished, when not a dollar had been
laid out
upon
it,
There was not a
nor, in fact, was
so with these calumnies against the Bank.
particle of truth to support either of them;
needed.
it
The
presses, the office-holders
the expectants, were now all firmly leagued, to say every
thing was true, that the President might choose to utter, or
In vain- did truth lift up her
supporters to fabricate.
voice in this' war of falsehood
in vain did justice plead
and in vain did the consciences of the abettors in this nefarious
his
The charges were still sent round.
human
Every appeal jthat
ingenuity could invent, was made
to inflame the public mind against the Bank.
It was a monowork, smite them.
among its stockholders it was opJackson, who for that reason and for no
poly-
itjiad foreigners
posed
to
Andrew
as
"a monster."
other,
denouncedjt
"The
party" told the people so
And was
it
a
monster?
under every form of speech-
making, and by its press. Some poor ignorant souls, fancied
it was a living thing, with horns and a forked tail, and club
"Down with
feet, and having fire issuing from its mouth.
the monster," -was kept going the rounds of the country.
Engravings were got up, representing^ President Jackson and
Mr. Biddle, as engagetl in. personal combat. All this, like
the fire fanned, or blown upon by strong winds, ignited every
combustible material, until the purpose was formed, and the
plan devised, to throw President Jackson in the foreground
of this commotion, where, having taken his stand, he was to
of
against the decision
responsibility
the
and
Mr.
of
the
Toland,
against
Congress against
report
unqualified report of the committee of the House of Repre-
decide on his
own
73
(though proved to be
the
He did so.
would
he
remove
public deposites.
false,)
He did this in violation of law; and by the usurpation of a
sentatives, that for the reasons stated,
power more threatening
to
Republican Liberty, than any thing
that has ever occurred previous,or subsequent to the formation,
and adoption of the Constitution.
But there was one incentive that has not yet been named.
It was the
prospects which these movements opened, of pecu-
niary gain among those who were in the secret of what the
President had resolved to do.
ed as not to
know how
this
Is there a reader so
Bank Stock was
I will not pursue this
demoralizing
view
uninform-
speculated in,
further, nor will
name the speculators, at least at present, but will conclude
this number by again referring to the
power of calumny and
falsehood; and how, when they are employed as they have
I
been, by the profligate, in regard to the Bank, the public may
be duped, and deeply, if not irretrievably injured! The
very same combination, and the same weapons if employed
against our Liberties,
would make slaves of us
all.
ARISTIDES.
No.
A
17.
few, and very few words on Counterfeiters and CaI hold them to be alike criminal. I verily be-
lumniators.
lieve, nevertheless, that
men
will, as politicians,
as 1 have demonstrated they have done,
thousand deaths, rather than counterfeit.
calumniate
who would
My object
die
is
a
to
expose the gross delusion under which men labour, who, acting
on the maxim, that "all's fair in politics," will utter a ca-
lumny, and contemplate it in the light of an innocent device,
either to obtain or retain power.
A
counterfeiter, suppose he gets into circulation all the
notes he may prepare, injures the Bank, whose notes he represents, to a very trifling extent, for the operation
the spurious issue
is
detected, to
10
make people more
is,
when
cautious
74
in ascertaining the genuineness of the notes offered.
falls
individuals,
The
loss
who may have been
upon
upon the Bank, except
partially. It
cheated, and not
has rarely occurred, that
the annunciation that counterfeit notes of any Bank were in
circulation, produced any depression in the value of the stock
Not so with calumnies. They operate upon
the stock, as immediately, and as sensibly, as does the atmoNow let us see what effect the
sphere upon mercury.
of the Bank.
have exposed, and the action of President
Jackson, who was influenced by them, had on the stock of
the Bank. Mr. Calhoun says in his masterly speech on the
calumnies that
I
removal of the deposites, that "the value of scares was reduced from 130 to 108," a Senator near him said, "much
more." Now let me ask if all the counterfeiting that has
been carried on, of the notes of
this
Bank, from
its
origin to
day, ever injured so deeply, the interests of the stockHas any body ever questioned the right, or duty, of
holders?
this
Bank to expend money in detecting counterfeiters? Nobody. Can any body assign a single good reason why the
Bank should not be equally bound to expend money in disthe
abusing the public mind from calumnies which tend so immediately, and to such vast extent, to injure every individual
I will
suppose a case. Suppose a person, or
be appointed by President Jackson, to give him secret information of the acts of the Bank, whether in regard to
its expenditure of money, to detect counterfeiters, or rebut
stockholder.
persons, to
And suppose he should be written to in reply,
and told that the Bank had expended a large portion of the
enormous sum of $80,000 in controlling elections; and that
calumnies.
President Jackson, on the faith of such a statement, should
promulgate his purpose to veto any bill that might be passed
for a recharter of a Bank that would thus act?
Suppose the
Bank to remain perfectly indifferent as to the
stock should fall from "130, to 108,"
and
the
Supcharge,
Directors of the
pose that a stockholder, feeling himself aggrieved, should appear at the Bank, and expostulate with the President and Directors, against a conduct so extraordinary, and that he should
be shown the proofs that the Bank had done no such thing.
75
Suppose it had never occurred to the Board to disabuse the
public mind, except by relying on its denial in Congress, and
on the circulation of public documents, and this stockholder
had
said
"Why, gentlemen,
if
the people in
my neighbour-
hood could be convinced, as I am, that this is a calumny, their
confidence would be restored in the Bank; and its stock, so
would be restored to the point
calumny dislodged it, and from which it has
fallen." Suppose the President of the Bank to reply, "Why,
my dear sir, this has been done. Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun,
Mr. Binney, Mr. Webster, and others, have all declared the
charge to be false, and proven it to be false, and fhe Board
far as they are concerned,
whence
this
have sent to Washington copies of the very documents I have
shown you." Well, I will suppose the stockholder to reply,
"That may be, but my neighbours know nothing of all this
they do not get the public documents, and very few of any,
except our little country papers. Suppose the Board should
pass a resolution giving you authority to publish and circulate
extra copies of these proofs, used by Mr. Calhoun and others,
going to vindicate the Bank, and that you send a few hundred or a thousand to me, for distribution?" And suppose
some one to move such a resolution at the Board, and that it
was NOT carried and for the want of these very facts, the
exhibition of which had satisfied the stockholder of the falsity
of the charge made against the Bank, stock should, under the
influence of public opinion,, (for that is the mimosa pudica,
or the Mercury, which indicates the touch of depressing or
elevating influences,) continue thus depressed; and that stockholder being in want of the amount of his stock, for which
his stock
might be pledged, and he compelled, under such
I ask, would he not have reason to
sell it
circumstances, to
Nay, to denounce the President
and Directors as unworthy of their trust, and unfitted to
manage the great concerns of the Bank?
complain of rank injustice?
Well, the Board of Directors being intelligent men, competent and just men, and having an eye to the interests of the
Bank, instead of refusing to comply with the suggestion of
the stockholder, as I have supposed, did NO MORE by comply-
76
for extra Speeches, and extra
of
the Bank, and vindicating it
Documents, exculpatory
of
effects
the
calumny, than was its solemn and saagainst
cred duty a duty it owed alike to the government and all
ing, in the
money expended
very course, I have no
doubt, that public opinion was enabled to sustain the Bank,
its
other stockholders.
It
is
to this
and that the stock of the Bank maintained, against all the
attacks upon it, and in spite of the plans of the Speculators,
who
known
have been in the secret at Washington, its
But for this, it would have been the subject
of perpetual fluctuation;. and the "buyers and sellers," men
not a whit better than they whose tables once disgraced the
temple at Jerusalem, and which the purest and holiest of
sell"
beings, overturned, would have continued to "buy and
and "make gain;" because they were in the secret, and knew
when the spring was to be touched, and when the pressure
are
price as
it
to
did.
upon it was to be withdrawn.
I have now briefly endeavoured to illustrate the comparative injury which may be done to a Bank, by Counterfeiters
and Calumniators; and the DUTY of the Bank, to guard its inboth
terests against
but as the greater enemy of the two,
against the Calumniator.
ARISTIDES.
No.
18.
object for which the Bank made these expenditures,
which the Government Directors asserted to have been made
The
to control the elections, are
natural was
it
for these
men
now
to
penditures the same object, viz
:
obvious.
How
have perceived
to defend the
easy,
how
in these ex-
Bank
against
calumny, and protect it against counterfeiters. How unnaAnd how equally natural to see them in any other light
tural, and at the same time easy of comprehension was it,
that when larger expenditures were seen to have been made
during election periods, that they were called for by the mul!
*
tiplicity of
calumnies that were sent round, at these periods,
77
But no having been, in their own lanthe people.
as
devised
instruments? and commissioned to perguage,
form specific duties, and under a stipulated form, that is,
among
'
'without the knowledge of the other Directors,' there was no
medium through which the acts of the Bank could be seen,
by them, but that which went to 'impair its credit,' and to
odium against the other Directors.' One leading deof by these
sign would seem never to have been lost sight
Government Directors, and that was, by the scintillation of
'excite
spark after spark, to fire the magazine of President Jackson's
vengeance. They succeeded, as has been before stated, for
he says himself they 'decided him.'
I will pursue, in this No., some of the means resorted
to,
The Government
Directors say, 'Publications have been prepared, and extensively circulated, con3
the Officers of the
taining the grossest invectives against
Government and the money which belongs to the stockholdr
to effect this object.
[O
;
ers,
and
to the public, has
been freely applied
in efforts to
who were
supposed to be
degrade,
instrumental in resisting the wishes of this grasping and danin public estimation, those
gerous
institution.'
What is the answer of Messrs. Willing, Eyre, Bevan,
White, Sergeant, Fisher, Lippincott, Chauncey, Newkirk,
Lewis, Holmes, Biddle? Hear it: "IT IS NOT TRUE,
that any publications have been prepared and extensively
'
circulated, containing the grossest invectives against the offi"
are they that say it is true ?
cers of the government.'
Who
H. D. Gilpin,
T. Sullivan, and Peter Wager.
J.
will, of course,
decide for
itself
which party
The
public
to believe.
Again the same three assert, that The fact has been
RECENTLY disclosed, that an unlimited discretion has been, and
'
is
now
vested in the President of the Bank, to expend
its
funds
payment
preparing and circulating articles, and purchasing pamphlets and newspapers, calculated, by their contents, to OPERATE on Elections, and secure a renewal of its
in
for
charter.'
What is the answer to this assertion?
that ANY
power
is
"NOR IS IT TRUE,
vested in the President
'for
preparing and
78
circulating articles,
and purchasing pamphlets and newspa-
by
their contents-, to operate on elections.'
pers, calculated,
NO SUCH POWER
IS
GIVEN, AND
NO SUCH POWER
EXERCISED."
IS
Here, again, the public will decide which party tells the
and which not. That both do, NONE will believe.
truth,
The twelve gentlemen whose names
in saying
are given above, unite
what the power given actually
is.
<
The
power,'
actually given, which has been exercised, and
they say,
continue to be exercised,
is,
CALUMNIES
against- the
institution has
been pursued.'
The three Government Directors say: The
Bank controls, and in some cases substantially
Once more.
fact that the
will
fcjthe defence of the Bank
with which, for four years, the
for
'
and
otcns,
by its money supports some of the leading presses
of the country, is NOW more clearly understood.'
What is the answer to this by those twelve gentlemen ?
DCT'THIS
WHOLE ALLEGATION
IS
DENIED.' They
proceed in detail thus and put the extinguisher of Truth,
upon each point of Calumny, in order. They say, 'The Bank
does not now control, and never did control any press whatever
-the
the Bank does not OWN, and never did own ANY press
Bank does not SUPPORT, not did it EVER support, by its
money, ANT
press.'
This,
it
must be confessed,
is
a stumper
!
They proceed 'Created for the purpose of giving aid to every
branch of industry, it has not presumed to proscribe the conductors of the press from their share of the accommodation
and industry. Of the extent and security
claim the exclusive privilege of
Directors
of these loans, the
due
to their capital
judging.'
very plain, very honest, and very just. Who
that reads what these twelve honourable Directors say, doubts
Now
this
is all
a particle of it?
But no matter. The source whence these charges sprung,
was prepared with a channel, and a reservoir, whence again
they were to be issued, by means of conduits already made
The reservoir was " the
Government" Mr. Taney made much use of these charges.
for the purpose, all
over the land.
79
I will
conclude this number by showing what sort of reception
the charges met at the hands of Mr. Calhoun, in his famous
speech in the Senate. He says:
" The
the
alleges that the Bank has interfered
Treasury)
Secretary (of
with the politics of the country. If this be true, it certainly is a most
heinous offence. The Bank is a great public trust, possessing, for the
it
purpose of discharging the trust, great power and influence, which
could not pervert from the object intended, to that of influencing the po-
In
of the country, without being guilty of a great political crime.
truth
to
the
countenance
I
not
intend
to
these
do
remarks,
any
give
making
litics
of the charge alleged by the Secretary, nor to deny to the officers of the
Bank the right which belongs to them, in common with every citizen,
in their private capacity,
freely to form political principles, and dtt on them
without permitting them to influence their official conduct. But it is
it did not occur to the Secretary, while he was accusing and punishBank on the charge of interfering in the pqjitics of the country,
strange
ing the
Government also was a great trust, vested with powers still more
extensive, and influence immeasurably greater than that of the bank, given,
to enable it to discharge the object for which it was created; and that it
that the
has no more right to pervert-its power and influence into the means of
controlling the politics of the country than the Bank itself. Can it be un-
known
to
him
that the
own
officer in his
Fourth Auditor of the Treasury (Amos Kendall) an
department, the
in this transaction,
was
daily,
man who
has
made
and hourly meddling
so prominent a figure
and that he
in politics,
is one of the principal political managers of the administration!
Can he
be ignorant that the whole power of the government has been perverted
into a great political machine, with a view of corrupting and controlling
the country? Can he be ignorant that the avowed and open policy of the
government is, to reward political friends, and punish political enemies?
And
that, acting
on
this principle,
it
has driven from office hundreds of
honest and competent officers, for opinion's sake, only, and filled their
places with devoted partizans? Can he be ignorant that the real offence of
the
Bank
(/
WOULD NOT INTERMEDDLE ON THE
is
not that
it
has intermeddled in
politics,
but because
it
SIDE OF POWER!
" The"
Secretary next tells us, in the same spirit, that the Bank had been
That it had spent some thirty, or forty, or
wasteful of the public funds.
fifty thousand dollars in circulating essays, and speeches, in defence of the
institution,
Well,
sir, if
of which sum, one-fifth part belonged to the government.
the Bank has really wasted this amount of the public money,
(say $12,000,)
cent.
But
I
it is
must
the Executive,
it
a grave charge. It has not a right to waste a single
defence of the Bank, that, assailed as it was by
say, in
would have been
holders and to the public, had
power
to defend
its
unfaithful to
its
trust
both to the stock-
not resorted to every proper means in its
conduct, and among others, the free circulation of able
and judicious publications.
it
.
80
" But admit that the Bank has been
guilty of wasting the public money
to the full extent charged by the
Secretary, I would ask if he, the head of
the financial Department 'of the Government, is not under as
and sohigh
lemn obligations to take care of the monied interest of the public, as the
Bank itself? I would ask him to answer me a few simple questions: How
has he performed this duty in relation to the interest which the
public
holds in the Bank?
Has he been less wasteful than he has charged the
Has he not wasted thousands where the Bank, even
according to his own statement, has hundreds. Has he not, by withdrawing the deposites, and placing them in the State Banks, where the public
Bank
to have been?
receives not a cent of interest, greatly affected the dividends of the Bank
of the United States, in which the Government, as a stockholder, is loser
to the amount of one-fifth of the diminution?
sum which I will venture
A
to predict will
expended
" But
many
fold
exceed the entire amount which the Bank has
in its defence.*
this is a small, a
very small proportion of the public
loss, in
con-
sequence of the course which the Executive" has pursued in relation to the
Bank, and which has reduced the value of the shares from 130 to 108,
(a Director near me says much more,) and on which the public sustains a
corresponding loss on its share of the stock, amounting to seven millions
of dollars, a sum more than two hundredfold greater than the waste which
he has charged upon the Bank. Other Administrations may exceed this
in talents, patriotism and honesty, but certainly in AUDACITY, in EFFRON-
TERY,
The
it
stands without a parallel."
public
now
see with
whom
the reasons of the Secre-
tary, such as they are, originated.
I will in my next point -out a few more of these sparks
which the Government Directors sent in the direction of the
*
Mr.
Adams goes
into detail
upon
this point.
He
says:
"The
people of the United States own Seventy Thousand Shares of the
stock of this Bank.
When the President of the United States declared
war against this institution, every one of these shares was worth one hun-
dred and thirty dollars. What are they worth now? At the utmost one
hundred and five dollars a share. Every share of the Bank stock owned
by the people of the United States, has lost twenty-five dollars of its value
to thenv, by this electioneering of the President of the United States against
the Bank and for himself.
Twenty -five dollars a share upon seventy thousand shares
and
is
this is the
One Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars,
sum which the President of the United States has levied
upon the people by
his electioneering against the
*
Bank, and for himself.
*
*
Whilst the Bank has expended forty-eight thousand dollars of the money
of the stockholders, the President of the United States has taxed them to
the amount of seven millions of dollars."
81
magazine of President Jackson's vengeance; and show the
light in which Mr. Binney viewed both the design and the
execution.
ARISTIDES-
nothing with which. men profess to he familiar,
that is better understood by the intelligent, of all parties, and
even by the well informed in countries other than our own,
There
than
man
is
is
the character of
questions, for
Andrew Jackson.
a moment,
No
well informed
that passion, and not reason,
has been, I am aware, when he was
supported by honourable men, who hoped otherwise. But
whatever of hope may have remained on this point, his con-
The time
governs him.
duct towards the
pated
it;
Bank
of the United States,
must have
dissi-
there were any lurking remains of it, they
disposed of for ever, by the recent ravings and
or, if
must be pow
acts of that functionary towards Senatoj Poindexter. The
power and influence of the Presidential station, governed, as
all men know,
by passion, were employed, and successfully,
to overthrow the great financial system of our. country; and
the same power and influence, governed also by passion, and a
thirst for vengeance, have been put in requisition to assassi.
That this memmoment prostrated, with the
curses of millions upon him, with a name riven, and blasted,
and damned, is no fault of Andrew Jackson, or those who
cater for his passions. But is he, who handled and circulated
the poison, or they who mixed it, 'the lesa excusable? Is the
nate the character of Senator Poindexter!
ber of the Senate
is
not at this
physician, who, as the metaphysician, REED, illustrates, less
the murderer of his patient, because the-pills, made of spiders,
with a view to kill him, worked his cure? Certainly not.
This plot against Senator P6indexter is but another bursting forth, in another place, of the same covert strfam, whose
principal source
room.
It is
no
is
Col. Benton's
less
calumny respecting the East
it is
decidedly more
bold and daring, but
11
82
wicked.
It
however, of the same family.
is,
The whole
of
resolvable into one simple element, viz:
the wrath of
Andrew Jackson, kindled by those around him, against ANY
it is
thing and ANY body, that he is made to believe is HIS enemy.
Look how its flames were tossed about, when Martin Van
Buren kindled it against Mr. Calhoun. See how it consumed
the first Cabinet
even to Mr. Branch, who, in an unfortunate hour, had denominated Andrew Jackson "the greatest
and
Mark how
has ravaged the financial system, in
the overthrow of the Bank, consuming in its course both laws
best."
it
and chartered rights; -with what unrelenting fury it consumed the unbending Duane, rmd how it has blazed out for
the destruction of Senator Poindexter.
Where,
I ask, is
the
man, I care not how close his fellowship with Andrew Jackson, and where is the institution
(the Senate and Supreme
Court YET excepted) that artful, and designing, and corrupt men, could persuade him was HIS enemy, that he did not
attempt utterly to destroy? Let any man name one of cither,
he can. Here lies the secret of that subserviency to the
if
man which
will
is so
degrading to his followers. They know his
MUST be obeyed, or they must, as was Mr. Duanc, be im-
molated, to appease his vengeance.
As to the recent attack upon Senator Poindexter, it is even
more characteristic of Andrew Jackson than the attacks upon
and upon members of the Cabinets which
have succeeded. I call upon the citizens of Tennessee to
say, whether "the Affidavit System" was not his favorite one
Let Wm. B. Lewis answer. How deeply to be dethere?
is it, that Andrew Jackson CANNOT lose himself in the
plored
his first Cabinet,
President of the United States; but that this high office should
be sunk and degraded, and lost in Andrew Jackson! I take
no pleasure
such an exposition.
the sort of man who commissioned "the GoThis, then,
vernment Directors," and "devtsed them as (his) instruments,"
in
is
to
examine
What
into
did *he
and report
want?
to him, the conduct of the
Reasons, I answer, to send
people, whether good or bad was of no moment,
in wreaking his
vengeance on this institution.
Bank.
among the
him
to justify
They were
83
required, or as
Mr. Binney has
it,
"coerced," to furnish
them.
I have
shown the nature
of the reports
made
tinder the
have gone
There remains one
tke public, and which was
commissions conferred, in part; and
what sort of reasons Were furnished.
as far as I
other scintillation to expose to
fire the magazine of President Jackson's
alone sufficient to
wrath against the Bank. It was that which exploded it or
What was it?
in other and his own words, "decided" him.
The representation, I answer, by his chosen ones, that they
were
treated, whilst
employed
in.
the business entrusted to
them, and under the forms which he had prescribed, with in-
dignity!
That was enough*
upon himself.
direct assault
treated
It
He
amounted, in his view, to a
so considered it, and he so
it.
The complaint made by
the
Government
Directors, (after
they had implicated both the Bank and its officers, as I have
shown, and with what truth I have shown, also,) was, insubstance, that they were excluded from important Commit-
Bank, and were, in effect, treated with contempt!
Mr. Binney, in his admirable speech in the House of Re-
tees of the
presentatives, disposes of the claim of right set up
men
by these
put on committees, thus:
"Their right," he says, "tobe members of arty committee, has no more
legal support than the right of a member of this House (the House of Reto be
upon a committee appointed by this House. In this
depends upon its pleasure, or upon the pleasure df the Speaker.
In the Board of Directors, on the pleasure of the Board either directly
or indirectly, as they may make the appointment themselves, or give the
power of appointment to the President of the Board."
Where is the man, or set of men, not intent on exciting
presentatives) to be
House
it
some revengeful passion of some despot, or who should not
be grossly misled, that woujd ever have thought of making a
grave charge against the President and Directors of a Bank
for not preferring them over experienced Directors, to repre-
Bank on important committees.
The complaint might have come with some grace from the
sent the great interests ofthe
Neckers, the Gallatins and Biddies of the world (though
they would have scorned to make it;) but coming from those
84
;
who made it, however well qualified they might be for the
duties of their callings, or estimable in private life, the complaint is, in all eyes except their own and President Jackson's, truly ludicrous.
What
Government Directors thought of themselves, I
reader know.* They were exalted, in their own
The other Directors were even as
estimation, as gods!
Hear them (after an amplifigrass-hoppers in their sight.
must
these
let the
cation of their attributes:)
"And yet (they say) we are told with a hardihood which nothing but the (j*pride of purse can explain, that the PUBLIC Directors,
(that is themselves) ^hus devised for NATIONAL purposes; thus desig-
HIGHEST NATIONAL AUTHORITY; thus invested as
NATIONAL OFFICERS, with NATIONAL trusts, and RESPONSIBILI-
nated by the
TIES, have no
The
other attributes, or duties, than^the <j~other
foregoing"
is
a true quotation,
the Government' Directors.
It is
Directors!
!
!"
from "the memorial" of
a marvellous illustration of
the fable of the frog and the ox. But I forbear? and will leave
it to Mr.
Bianey to throw upon these extraordinary preten-
and no less extraordinary principles and conduct, the
of
his powerful mind.
light
sions,
"Heretofore," says this great man, (in the speech to which I hare referred) "in the history of the bank, the directors appointed by the President of the United States, have mingled in all the transactions of the Bank,
mutually giving , and enjoying universal confidence, and being in no re^
sped U;Ao/euer.distinguished from tjie other directors. Mr. Biddle himself
1
was
a director, appointed
by the President,
for
many
years,
and particu-
important years of 1829, '30, '31, and '32; and other gentlemen have, from time to time, acted upon all the important committees,
including the committee of Exchange, so as to give the Bank the benefit
larly in the
for, it must always have been a question of
if
was
not qualified for a particular post, it is
and
a
director
qualification,
not probable, whatever was the source of his appointment, that he would
of their peculiar qualifications,
be placed
"But,
in
sir,
come upon
it.
government directors, a change has
and upon the Bank, of a very important kind, and it is not
in the lime of the present
us,
surprising that it has affected those directors also.
"It was vehemently suspected, sir, at the time of their appointment, that
their notions of duty and right were peculiar,- that they deemed them-
selves bound, or entitled to use their posts for the purpose of making representations to the President of the United States, tending to dj'excite
odium against their co-directors, by impeaching their motives and acts,
and thus to impair the credit of Ike Bank, that they deemed themselves at
85
liberty, &c. to
they were not
to avow; and which
pursue objects which they did not care
to avow,- and finally, sir, (hat in some way, by
PERMITTED
some unexplained theory of
their appointment, they
had come
to the opi-
nion that they possessed political powers in the institution which they
were authorised to use far political purposes. All this, sir, was vehemently
the propriety of placing them
suspected; and if the suspicions were just,
in posts of trust and confidence in the Bank, was not so clear, particularly, as, if
they were so placed,
other gentlemen to
sit beside
it
might have been
difficult to
them in the occupation of those
persuade
(Jj*!
posts,
might have been extremely difficult to persuade gentlemen of
character, having some feelings and reputation of their own, to sit in a post
of trust and confidence by the side of directors holding such- notions of
duty and right, and carrying them out, without avowjng their objects, into
measures of extreme personal annoyance, as well as discredit to the Bank.
say, sir,
it
what was at that time, perhaps, no more than vehement suspicion,
now, and for some time past has been, matter of (^UNQUESTIONABLE CERTAINTY; and the certainty is derived from the best possible
"Sir,
is
the CONFESSION OF THE VERY PARTY."
Mr. Binney here called the attention of the house
authority
to
"a
part of a letter addressed by three of the government directors to the President of the United States on the 22d April,
1833, which is annexed to the letter of the Secretary."
They .say
"Without considering any portion of our remarks as falling within the
limits of those private accounts, which, as you state, the charter has so
carefully guarded, since the whole relate to the antion of the Board upon
matters fully open, and discussed, before them, and extend, in no instance
to the private debtor and creditor accounts of individuals, yet we may be
much gratification at your assurance that the information requested is for your own satisfaction^ and that yo% do not wish
it to extend beyond our personal knowledge.
may be permitted also
excused for expressing
We
to add, that the wishes and opinions
which we took the
liberty of expressing in our former letter have been since more strongly confirmed, and that
we should not only feel more satisfaction ourselves, but be enabled to
convey to you more full and correct information, were we to proceed in
an investigation, "WHOSE OBJECT IS AVOWED, and if we were
strengthened by that official sanction which we suggested."
"Then, sir," exclaimed Mr. Binney, "they were not altogether comfort-
new position; and I do not wonder at it. Then, their object
was not avowed, and ttrey Zj'were not PERMITTED to avow it, but were
COMPELLED, by their own sense of distress, to ask for an official sanction
under which they might avow it. Then, further, they were practising
able in their
concealment themselves
avowing
its
object,
and trying to prosecute an
when
that object
is
now known
investigation, without
to have
been to
incul-
pate the Board, and particularly the gentleman at the head of it, and by
means of the odium thus excited, to justify to public prejudice an act of
86
deadly hatred to the Rank, of which they were Directors the removal of
the public deposites; and then, sir, I say in conclusion that there is not an
honourable man in this House, or IN THIS COUNTRY, who will respond
to the sentiment that they
were treated
at least as well as they deserved to
performance of these remarkable labours.
With this confession of concealment by the Government Directors, to
which they were coerced by the Executive, the Secretary of the Treasury
arraigns the Board for concealing its operations from them; he charges the
Board with concealment, in violation of their charter, and in contempt of
be,
by not being
assisted in the
the Government,
(Ej> that
when
the head and front of their offence
is
this,
only
they would not consent to be the dupes of concealment that
was practised by others."
bespeak the public attention to a continuation of Mr.
Binney's remarks* with which I shall commence, and perhaps close, the next number. They are upon a most extraI
ordinary part of the memorial of the
Government
Directors.
ARISTIDES.
No. 20.
The
reader
is
respectfully solicited to follow out in con-
nexion with .the foregoing number, this further extract from
Mr. Binney's speech:
Mr. Binney, "this is not all. The memorial of the Gothis House, for the doctrines of which we are, I
presume, indebted to the professional gentleman (H. D. Gilpin) whose
name is at its* head, cannot be too much adverted to, in connexion with
both the charge of concealment by the Board, and CC/" another charge here-
"But
sir," said
vernment Directors to
It is a document that may be
after to be noticed, of a graver description.
considered as a sort of small martyrology a history of the sufferings incident to disappointed efforts and mortified pretensions; and it contains, as
is
by which the sufferers have been
where thev have placed themselves."
natural, a confession of the faith
tained at the stake,
sus-
"I beg permission," says'Mr. Binney, "to exhibit it to the
House." And I beg the reader's particular attention to it.
This
is it:
,
-"It has pleased the majority of the Board of Directors, (says
the memorial,) in the document to which we refer, in order, we suppose,
in
some degree,
to extenuate their conduct, in systematically nullifying the
dj'RErHESEHTATivEs of the Go VEHEMENT and the PEOPLE, (meaning themselves,) to deny that the public directors are seated at the board in any
87
other relation than themselves to deny the existence of any difference in
*
*
the official character and duty of themselves and us.
Nothing can be plainer than that the public Directors were
AS INSTRUMENTS
beg the 'House,
(I
CCj"
DEVISED
said Mr. Binney, to advert to
'were devised as instruments.') Nothing,
felicity of the language
(proceeds the memorial,) can be plainer, than that the public directors
were devised as instruments for the attainment of public objects; that their
the
being insisted upon in the charter itself, was in obedience to the will of
who elected the Legislative body by which it was passed; and that
their appointment was given to the President, with the advice and consent
those
of the Senate of the United States, (not to the mere fiscal representative,)
them with all the character of official representatives,
and to OC? EXACT from them a discharge of ALL the duties, public, POLITICAL
in order to clothe
and
cal
we
are mistaken in this,
and morals, the practiBut WE KNOW
purity and freedom of our countrymen, has misled us.
patriotic, incident to a trust, so conferred.
we acknowledge that our
that
we
If
solicitude about the rights,
are not."
*
Mr. Binney proceeds:
" Devised
as instruments,
them a discharge of ALL the
dent to a
plete,
sir,
trust so conferred!
though the
and given to the President, to 'exact' from
duties, public, POLITICAL, and patriotic, inci-
The
sense would not have been more comwould have been more perfect, if they
extending to ALL duties, public, political,
alliteration
had described their functions
patriotic, and FAHTY."
as
One word here though I regret to make a breach in Mr.
Binney's onset upon such a train of absurdities. I am only
surprised with such high notions of their superior dignity,
these men consented to sit at the same board with "the other
directors;" or
were easy
to
upon
show
seats
made
that this
tory of the world and
of the same materials.
was not the
its afiairs,
that
first
men
were" not only
"dizzy," by a call to places of trust, &c., but argued
selves into the belief that but for them, creation itself
be embarrassed by
fill.
But
to
a
vacuum
that nothing,
It
time in the his-
made
them-
would
merely human,could
Mr. Binney.
"
Now, sir," says Mr. B. "without at present saying whether
theory was true, the other directors had a right to counteracting theory
for themselves: and if it is true that the government directors were devised
this
as instruments, and that they are by their creation political directors, the
other directors, who have not been so devised, are entitled to consider themselves as antipolitical directors, and not bound to assist the political operations of the other branch; but rather, by the momentum of their
greater
numbers, to keep them from moving the Bank out of place.
.
88
.
"But,
the heads of the memorialists have been
sir,
made
dizzy by their
Their theory has no foundation in reason, or in the charter. I
deny, says Mr. Binney, that they were devised as instruments, (^whatever
they may have made of themselves. There is not a shadow of difference
elevation.
between the
rights
and
duties, the powers, or the obligations of any of the
directors; they are qll directors, neither more, nor
same duties
to all the interests confided to
them.
less,
The
and owing the
directors appointed
by the President, owe a duty to the nation, and so do the others, and in my
poor judgment, they (the others) have performed it. The directors elected
by the stockholders, owe a duty to the Bank, and so do .the directors appointed by the President, but they (the directors appointed by the President) have neither performed, nor acknowledged it.
They are not placed
enquiries for the President. The President has no authoenquiries to be made by them. This is a question of charter
power, of power over a corporation, all of whose privileges are rights of
property. The charter gives to the President no such right. It expressly
there to
make
rity to direct
gives to the Secretary of the Treasury a right of limited enquiry, &.c."
Mr. Binney here shows what powers are given by the
He then procharter, not by implication, but expressly.
ceeds:
But here is a power to be implied greater than all, and worse than all,
a power to be exercised oCj" secretly, and without avowal, ex parte, without notice, without opportunity of reply or explanation being given to those
whom it affects, and by persons who are holding, to all appearance, the reand pro-
lations of amity with their co-Directors, setting
on the same
same general objects.
"
Sir, the Board did right not to aid them;
resist them, and I inquire of the members of
would have done right
House, and ask them
seats,
fessing the
it
this
to
to
follow out their honourable feelings into the reply Q^j" Would they consent to sit in Committee by the side of men who professed principles like
these,
AND SUBMITTED THEMSELVES TO THE WILL OF AN-
OTHER,
as to the
Q3" manner
in
which they should carry them
into exe-
cution."
The reader will need no further enlightening on the assumed
nature of the rights and duties of the Government Directors.
Nor will he need ever again to be told why the Senate rejected
these
men, when put
for another
term; or
nomination as government directors
why the Senate rejected the nomination
in
of one for Paymaster in the
Army; and
another for Gover-
nor of the Michigan Territory.
Whether the minds of these men be peculiarly constituted,
or whether, by reason thereof, they arrive at conclusions so
preposterous and unjust, as those into which they reasoned
89
themselves touching the relations they bore to "the other Directors," and the right of the President of the United States
to use them as "instruments," or whether they were uncon-
by other
were not the
sciously governed
influences, the Senate saw,
doubt
however harmless
Government
with
to
be
as
invest
authority,
citizens,
they might
or to put in commission for the discharge of responsible Government trusts. The same train of reasoning would have
less, that they
sort of persons,
money put in his
of
the
right, to himself;
troops, belonged,
pay
and the other that the good p'eople of Michigan were like those
led one of
them
to believe that "all" the
possession to
"other Directors," entirely beneath him; or that they were
and reported about, as were the acts of
to be operated upon,
the Bank and its officers, and to be, with their laws, judged,
and condemned, and executed accordingly.
Well has Mr. Binney alluded to the condition of these men
to
be one of their
own
choosing.
They
are "at the stake,
where they have placed themselves."
ARISTIDES.
No. 21.
Throughout the whole progress of this war of calumny
against the Bank, the party prosecuting it, never, for a moment,
lost sight
ance, viz:
of one of the principal parts of the contrivnew, and successive suspicions in the
to create
and send round, by its presses, not only new,
and exploded calumnies. This was done by holding
public mind,
but old
Bank up, always, as a corrupt institution, and needing to
be constantly watched, and examined, either by agents, appointed by the Treasury, or by instruments,' appointed by
the
'
the President, or by committees, appointed by Congress. It
was reasonable to suppose, that after the public treasure,
which the Law had confided to the safe-keeping of the Bank,
had been wrested from it by President Jackson; and its agency,
which the Charter had conferred, was, by that same functionary, dispensed with, that there would be no more agents of
12
90
appointed, further to misrepresent, calumniate, and
criminate the Bank. But the character of this party perse-
any
sort
cution against the Bank, being of the same quality with that
of individual persecution, it sought to justify itself, after the
commission of the wrong, by some new discovery, of some
sort,
on which to rest some
new charge
of guilt, and justify
the outrage that had been committed.
Where is the officer
of Government, upon whom the fangs of proscription have
been fastened, who has not been pursued by 'the party,' and
presses, with personal abuse,
blacken his character?
its
tion, to
I
answer,
fice.
and
missiles of
And what
to public opinion, the act that
Just so with the Bank.
It
was
every descrip-
To
for?
justify,
drove him from
'proscribed.'
of-
The same
lawless violence that has been exerted for the destruction of
hundreds, nay, thousands of individuals, had been exerted
against the Bank. It had been rifled of the treasures confided
by Congress and the agency which the Charter conupon it, together with its connexion with the Government the one had been dispensed with, and the other rupBut those high-handed and lawless
tured and broken up.
proceedings were not carried on without producing in the consciences of the actors, an occasional stir, which startled them
to
it
ferred
;
with the apprehension that the people, catching a glimpse of
the enormity of the wrong and outrage which had been committed, would speak in a voice of terrible rebuke, and' drive
them from their positions into that ignominy which they felt
Hence, as was, and is their conduct, in purthey merited.
the
victims
they 'proscribe,' and drive from office, so
suing
was, and
is their
conduct towards the Bank.
to this hour, the lifting of the curtain that shall
They
dread,
expose to public
and the corruption of their
plans and purposes towards the Bank.
It was this feeling
and when the country, alarmed, and
view the lawlessness of their
acts,
embarrassed, from one extremity to the other, as it was
it beheld the President of a free
people, professing to
when
Laws of this Republic, wrestwithout law, and against law, the public treasure from
the place where the laws had placed it, that prompted the
act under the Constitution and
ing,
'
91
party* to get
up a Committee
in the
House of Representa-
tives, and place Mr. Thomas, of Maryland, at its head. The
sole object of this manoeuvre was, to keep alive suspicion
against the Bank, and to feed the public mind with such ex-
citing food, as the plan of operations determined upon might
place within their reach. It was, in a word, a shield thrown
guard Andrew Jackson and his followers
from the indignation of an insulted and outraged people.
The reader will bear in mind, that the Bank had been examined and reported upon, by a committee, of which Judge
up by
'the party,' to
Clayton was chairman, and of which committee Mr. Thomas
was a member. It will also be borne in mind that Judge
Clayton, after making his report, criminating both the bank
and its officers, made ample atonement, on the floor of the
House of Representatives, for the wrong which he had done
its officers.
The able counter reports
of Messrs. M'Duffie and Adams, and others, will also be borne
in mind, nor will it be forgotten that when Judge Clayton
actually repudiated his report, it left the report of Messrs.
both to the Bank and
M'Duffie and Adams,
to stand not
on their own merits only,
but supported by the testimony of Judge Clayton himself.
This committee, designed as a shield to protect "the party,"
was formed for the avowed purpose of "ascertaining the cause
of the commercial embarrassment and distress complained of
by numerous citizens of the United States in sundry memo-
&c. and "whether the charter of the Bank has been
and what CORRUPTIONS, and ABUSES have
violated
existed in its management ;" and whether it has used its corrials,"
;
porate power, or money, to control the press, to interfere in
politics, or influence elections, and whether it has had any
agency, through
Now
here
management, or money,
&c. &c.
its
existing pressure,
we have
ness entrusted to this
in
producing the
The only new feature
new committee, that was
it
!.
in the busi-
not on the
face of the committee, of which Judge Clayton was chairman,
is that which relates to the cause of the commercial embar-
rassment
by
;
and
this
was got up
make the people believe,
Bank was the author of it.
to
implication at least, that tHe
92
I sincerely wish the limits to which I feel bound to confine
these essays, permitted a detailed history of the proceedings
of this committee.
professing to
he
Never
intelligent
in the world's history, did
and honest,
so
weaken
men,
their claims
The whole
on public opinion, to both these characters.
af-
the intelligent eye, must look like some low farce.
In the first place they refused the aid of a committee of the
fair, to
Bank, or to permit it to be present in the room while they
were overhauling the books and papers of the Bank. Now I
put the question to every intelligent reader, and ask, if the
Board had not appointed such a committee, whether the examining committee ought not to have asked it to do so? If
their object was truth, could not such gentlemen as the board
named as its committee have pointed the way to it better
than a set of men could find it from books and papers with
which they could not be supposed to be familiar ? Or would
the presence of the committee of the Bank have changed in
the slightest degree, a single entry, or overshadowed a single
fact?
The
room with the Bank committee,
which they
were charged, can be regarded in no other light, than as a
confession of a purpose to pick, and cull, and work up such
colouring matter, (as had been before prepared by men of
refusal to
sit
in the
or to conduct, in their presence, the inquiries with
the same party,) as to
make
the
Bank
look to the eyes of the
people just as Andrew Jackson and his followers wished it to
look.
Being so seen, he, and they, calculated on being sus-
which they had been guilty.
examining committee was to demand
tained in the lawless acts of
The
next move of
this
have the Bank's books and papers sent through the streets,
and all custody of the officers of the bank over them to be
surrendered, to the North American Hotel
I am bound to believe that when this demand was made,
to
!
!
!
not a single member of the committee believed it would be
complied with. The object was, to make a charge against
the Bank, and through the party and subsidized presses, to
make the people believe that the Bank refused to have its
93
conduct examined, out of which, by implication, the sentence
GUILTY was to come.
of
The last act of this farce was to command, through the
Marshal, the personal presence of Nicholas Biddle, and the
other Directors, before the examining committee, at their
room, at Mrs. Yohe's North American Hotel. I never heard
but one feeling among enlightened people on
ceeding, and that was CONTEMPT.
this
whole pro-
conclude this number, and this sketch of
and doings of this famous committee, by
saying, if any opinion can be deduced from the action of Congress on this report, it was in corroboration of that which was
It
may
suffice to
reference to the acts
and expressed out of Congress, for so far as I have been
able to ascertain, the report, with the recommendation with
felt
it closed, were
(except to print it) left to expire in its.
utter worthlessness. Not a muscle of it has been stirred,
which
own
nor a breath perceived to expand its chest, since it was presented to the House. There it lies a monument of the weakness of its authors, and of the recklessness and wickedness of
" the
party.".
I shall notice Mr. Tyler's report in my next ; and show
from
it
that all
Bank, and
its
calumniators,
I
have
said in these essays in defence of the
integrity,
is
and great public
utility,
and of
its
true.
ARISTIDES.
No. 22.
The
reader need not be reminded, that, upon the Senate
of the United States has devolved the high and sacred duty of
preserving what remains to us of our free institutions, and
the liberty which these confer.
intelligent people
know
Profligate party leaders,
it;
it
and
is
The
all
true,
fact
is
notorious.
honest citizens admit
denounce and
call
it
All
it.
the
"refractory Senate," and their instruments echo the denunciation.
But in this very opposition to the Senate, and in the
attempts to degrade
it
in the eyes of the people, in
connexion
has taken against Presidential usurpation, lies the proof of its devotion to liberty and the constitution, and to the "general welfare."
with the glorious stand
The Senate
it
witnessed the repeated onsets
made by
Jack-
sonism upon the rights of the citizen, the constitution, and
the laws,
one of the most alarming of which was, its utter
contempt of the rights of the Bank of the United States, in the
war which was waged upon* it, and in the removal
vindictive
of the public deposites.
"UNCOMIt heard the war cry:
PROMISING HOSTILITY TO THE BANK OF THE
UNITED STATES,"
it
saw the measures resorted
to for
the overthrow of that Bank, and along with it, the prostration
of the best interests of the people
and it was acquainted, as
it to be, with the
workings of the entire
was
in
to
motion,
put
produce all these consemachinery
the
Yes, from
Woodbury plot, down to the Thomas
quences.
Committee, the Senate saw the workings of that mischievous
its
position enabled
that
and vindictive
spirit, that, regardless of consequences, though
should involve the very liberties of the country, had resolved on crushing (as Gen. Jackson denominated the Bank)
it
"the monster."
It was most natural for this august body, amidst the shower
of disgraceful rumours, which 'the party' had caused to fall
all over the United States, implicating the integrity of the
Bank, and the character of
its
officers, to resolve
on having
the whole matter put forever to rest, by an examination, to
be conducted by a committee of its own. If what had been
so boldly charged against the
Bank be
true, the Senate doubt-
less reasoned, let the facts be disclosed to
prove it; if false, let
those who seek to
for
time
high
the truth in this matter, to be possessed of the means
the world
know
know
for reaching
it.
It is
it.
The
Senate determined, therefore, to confide this important examination to its own Committee on Finance.
Instructions
were accordingly given to that Committee, in a resoluJune last, when it, (Mr. Tyler, of Virginia,
tion of the 30th
being
Chairman,) immediately
after
the
adjournment of
95
commenced
Congress,
the investigation with
which
it
was
charged.
We
all know the confusion into which the appointment of
Committee threw the calumniators of this abused and
There was a quailing that the dimproscribed institution.
mest eye could not fail to discover; and a blanching was
visible in the faces of even the most hardened Bank denouncer.
Nobody doubted the honour of this Committee; none its
this
intelligence.
Every body looked to its report with confiwho had falsely implicated the Bank, knew,
those
whilst
dence,
that
now
though justice had been slow
to be awarded.
in
overtaking them,
it
was
deeply regret that I have not the power to put this report,
I feel
entire, in the hands of every citizen of the Republic.
I
that in the analysis I propose to make of it, I shall be doing
It ought to be sought after,
injustice to both it and the reader.
and read by every one who takes any interest in this great
question, (and who, as an American, is not interested in it?)
or who has been influenced by any thing that has hitherto been
written, or said, in regard to the subject of it.
The Thomas report contains a charge against DC/3 " the
President and Board of Directors of the Bank of the United
REFUSING
States, for
papers of the
COMBINED
to
frustrated
it.
Now what
to
Bank"
submit for inspection the books and
and otherwise
it
implicates,
FRUSTRATE the examination, and
as
them
as
having,finally,
says the report of the Tyler Committee?
"
They deem it proper to say, that, in the examination which
they have made, every facility was afforded by the officers of the institution,
which the committee could have desired. No hesitation or reluctance was
manifested in furnishing any book or paper which was requested, and
every avenue to a full and free investigation, not only at the Bank, but at
the several branches visited
by the committee, or any member of it, was
promptly
What
laid
open."
One
the text of the Thomas report?
of two conclusions must be arrived at by every reader
either the Thomas report is false; or the committee so cona
comment on
itself as to make it
obligatory on the President and
Directors of the Bank, from
the
self-respect, or to secure
ducted
96
from some heavy calamity, which that committee
must have been discovered meditating, to take the ground
they did. There could have been nothing personal against
institution
But the Thomas
the one committee, or n favour of the other.
that the Bank,
is
its own best comment.
It
needs
not
report
i
or any one for it, should explain why such a charge was made
The report explains,
against the President and Directors.
and to any honest mind, justifies the course which that committee compelled the President and Directors to take.
It is
enough
for the public to
know
of committee, one carrying with
that
when another
sort
just notions of right and
it
Bank, the whole bank, books,
papers and all, were thrown open to its examination, and it is
on an examination thus made, that the Tyler committee rests
justice, presented itself at the
its
report.
The "Government
could see
many
Thomas committee,
Bank which had "violated its
Directors," and the
acts of the
charter." This, though continually harped upon and enforced,
was never believed, if by these men, by those who held the
key of President Jackson's purposes for if it had, even in a
its charter,
single instance, as was so often asserted, violated
there
man
no
is
common
of
sense
who
will for a
moment
steps, such as are provided for in the charter, would
have been instantly taken, and the work of the Bank's over-
doubt that
throw been made
declarations "were
known
as
sudden
NOT
as complete.
It
was because the
and because they were
TRUE,,
be not true, that a scire facias was not sued out
to
simultaneously with their being made.
The
first
examine
question which the Tyler Committee propose to
is:
" Has the Bank
violated
its
charter?"
In the examination of this question, the several acts of the
Bank, in which it was charged
were minutely examined.
to
have violated
These are embraced under the following
1. The
Exchange Committee.
2. The Branch Drafts.
3.
The
Contract with the Barings.
h'eads.
its
charter,
97
It will
be borne in mind that the "instruments" of Presi-
dent Jackson, under all their forms, including his official
organ, near him, at Washington, and its subordinates all over
all pressed these points upon the public; and
even Mr. Secretary Taney, and the President, asserted and
enforced the declaration, that the Bank had violated its char-
the country
But
ter.
have
as I
or rather,
it
1
said, there
was not a man of them believed
should say, those
who managed President
knew that the
Jackson, and kept the key of his purposes,
charges were
false.
But they were necessary
to the plan,
and "the party."
Hear the conclusion of the Tyler report on the question
the Bank violated its charter"
" Has
"
The language
Bank
is almost in substance the
language
United
States, in reference to the two
employed
f
Houses of Congress, which declares that a majority' (of each House) shall
be necessary to constitute a quorum to do business. With as much pro-
of the
charter
in the Constitution of the
and House of Representatives had
priety might it be urged that the Senate
violated the Constitution by creating committees, or appointing agents to
execute the laws, as that the directors, 'seven of whom are necessary for
the transaction of business,' had violated their charter by the exercise of a
power. The committee of Exchange was created at the same time
with the committee on the offices, and other committees, has continued ever
since, (it is almost coeval with the Bank itself,) and exists, as your comsimilar
WITH THE
mittee believes, (j>not only in STRICT CONFORMITY
CHARTER, but with advantage to the Bank, and QCj* CONVENIENCE
TO THE PUBLIC."
The reader will lose
the masterly, and demonstrative illusthe
committee to this conclusion. He
tration which brought
will miss also the sight of that consumingfire which has burned
to cinders the declarations of those
effort, strove,
and succeeded
lieve, that this
in
who, with such varied
making many,
too
many, be-
committee was not only unconstitutional, but
used by the Bank for corrupt purposes. If ever the agents
of any plot were discomfited, and disgraced, those are, who
joined the hue and cry against the Bank, on the acts of this
exchange committee,
The second head of examination was:
THE BRANCH DRAFTS."
The issuing
of these drafts
was denounced
13
as violating the
98
charter.
Under
this
head the committee make an exposition
that must put the subject
to rest forever.
They
say:
"
The committee purposely avoid an elaborate argument on either side.
They content themselves with stating the general principles on which their
several opinions are founded, and submitting them to the Senate and the
country. Those who maintain the legality of these issues are sustained by
high, legal opinion, (Mr. Binney, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Wirt) and in a
great degree by the fact, that for years past, the government has taken
those drafts; uniformly, as money, in the payment of its dues; thus virtually
acquitting the Bank from all liability to forfeiture, and giving the drafts
themselves the impress of a legal currency. Nor do they perceive that the
country has, by the proceeding on the part of the government, sustained
any loss. These drafts are, every where, current, are redeemed by the
Bank with promptitude and
readiness,
and answer
commerce all the pur-
to
poses of an unquestionable legal currency."
Here again
I regret, that it is
not practicable for me to give
branch of the committee's
to the reader, the exposition of this
detail.
I urge it upon those who seek a full enthis
on
lightening
subject, to get, and read the report, and the
documents on which it rests.
enquiry in
The third branch of enquiry under the charge of u the
Bank has violated its charter," is, "the contract with the
Barings."
I
defer this to
my
next, and painful as
it
will be,
have to send round a palpable falsehood, which the
committee pin, (and which it doubtless gave them great pain
to do,) on President Jackson himself
I will not say falsehood,
I shall
for
when he came
across the declaration,
which was written
assume that he believed it
was true. But then, as he had "his foot on the neck of the
monster," why did he not slay it at once by a scire facias. It
in his address to his cabinet, I will
Who
was, as I shall show, nevertheless, false.
palmed this
it concerns him, not me, to know.
falsehood on the President,
ARISTIDES.
No. 23.
I
have said the Committee of the United States Senate
have, in their report, under that decision of
it,
headed
"The
contract with the
Barings," pinned a falsehood on President
99
The Committee
What is it?
Jackson's address to his cabinet.
direct allegation against the
Bank."
call it
Here
"a
it
is:
"The agent (Gen. Cadwallader) made an arrangement (with
the Barings, in relation to the 3 per cents) on terms, in part, which were
iu
DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE CHARTER;
and when some
inci-
dents connected with this SECRET negotiation (^ACCIDENTALLY came
to the knowledge of the Public, and the Government, then, and not before, so
much
as
was palpably
in violation of the Charter,
was disavowed."
must remark, that the writer of this, (I
take for granted it was not Gen. Jackson,) I care not who he
was, KNEW that what he asserted, as to the violation of the
Charter, was not true; and the conclusion is forced upon me,
that if Gen. Jackson believed it was true, there were those
Now,
here again
I
who knew
it was not,
having
him
from sueing out
prevent
end,
at
once,
to the
Bank.
sufficient control
over him, to
a scire facias, and putting
Does
it
an
not constantly occur to
Bank
had violated
Charter, as President Jackson, and Mr. Taney, and the
Government Directors, and the Globe, and all the affiliated
every reasonable mind,
that, if the
really
its
it had, that, if they believed what
they said, they would not have struck it out of existence by
Would men carry on a strife, such as they
a scire facias?
presses constantly asserted
conducted
expose themselves to the
effects of a
warfare so
protracted, and finally to the heavy judgments of an insulted
people, for usurping a power for the Bank's overthrow,
a simple legal process, provided for in the Charter,
the destruction of the object of their hate and vengeance,
could have been made complete? I answer
No; and I shall
when, by
be responded to by
all
men, of
all parties,
who have
sense
enough
comprehend the clearness of the proposition, and
honesty enough to speak what they think. But hear the
to
Committee on
this
grave charge:
"The charge
thus made," (says the Committee,) implicates most
strongly the character of the Directors of the Bank not only as unworthy,
but DISHONEST agents." It is no more or less than a charge, that if the
negotiation could have been kept a profound secret, they would have
sanctioned it in all its parts; but that they were driven from this purpose
by the fact, "that some incidents connected with this secret negociation
accidentally
and that
in
came to the knowledge of the public and the government,"
order to save themselves from public odium, and the Bank
100
from the effects of
this violation of its Charter,
they dishonoured, so far
the agent (Gen. Cadwallader) whom they had employed, by disavowing his act. "If this charge" (proceed the Committee)
"be well founded, the Committee have no hesitation in saying, that the
as they could
do
so,
Bank
is not only responsible for the conduct of the Exchange Committee,
Committee having acted in the matter under a resolution of the
Board, investing them with full authority, but that the Directors connected
that
with the transaction have proved themselves unworthy of their places."
From this opinion of the committee the reader may infer
how rank and deadly was the poison that was thus attempted
to
he infused
DCPby
President Jackson himself, into
fiscal agent of
the characters of honourable men, and into the
the country!
again, I feel how important it is for the reader to
the details of this case.
They are no less satisfactory
Here
know
than abundant and well attested.
I
must beg
to
employ
so
much
of them, as will settle the question of the truth or falsehood of the direct allegation made against the bank by the
President of the United States to his cabinet, as above quoted.
"Two
of the
members of the Exchange Committee,"
says the report,
"men
of acknowledged probity and honour, were examined on oath before a Committee of the House of Representatives, in February, 1833, and
in reply to the following questions; 'Had the President of the Exchange
Committee any intention
to
disavow Gen. Cad wallader's authority to make
the contract he did, until after the appearance in the New York papers
of the llth or 12th of October last, of the circular of the Baring's to the
foreign stockholders of the United States three per cent, stocks, announcing to them that they had the authority of the bank to purchase or nego" Answer of Mr.
tiate a postponement of the stocks held by them?'
Eyre
"I can say YES, POSITIVELY. I recollect it perfectly well. When I
read this letter of Gen. Cadwallader (of 22d August) I said it was not
first
proper, and disavowed
Answer
of Mr.
it."
Bevan
"I never did see, myself, the notice referred to in the New York
was received giving inpapers, but well recollect the moment the letter
The Presiformation of the proceedings in relation to that negociation.
dent of the Bank, with the approbation of the Exchange Commitfee, imof that arrangement
mediately wrote, disavowing the nature
been made under a misapprehension."
These, say the Committee, are the
facts,
which
satisfactory history of the case,
transaction.
this
which
on
to insert)
attend
most
it
having
then, (including a
I
have not room
If reference
be
had to the letters of instructions, continues the report, under
101
which the agent acted, those instructions look to an arrangement for the postponement of the period of redemption of
=
the stocks, and OC/ not a word is said about a purchase.
"If, says the Committee, Mr. Eyre and Mr. Bevan are to
be believed, when testifying on oath before a Committee of
Congress, then,
connected with
is
there no reason to believe that "incidents
this secret negotiation, accidently
coming
to
the knowledge of the public and the government, induced the
Bank to disavow the act of its agent in opposition to its own
views and previous intentions."
And
if
here
let
the reader pause and ask himself, especially
he be of the number of those
who have been
led astray
by
such glaring and mischievous falsehoods, what it is he owes
to the men who have thus misled him, and to himself? If after a just analysis of this matter,
lous slanderers
who make
he can
feel for those libel-
their business, as
is
proved they
and thrust at the reputation of honourable
citizens, andpour on their "good name" one constant stream
of malignant slander, and to level to the ground by such
have done,
it
to cut
means, one of the most useful public monied institutions that
has ever existed; I say, if after this, he can entertain for them
any other
feeling than
contempt and loathing, he must have a
medium through which
to contemplate such acts, other than
which high-minded men are accustomed to
look.
The duty every man owes to himself under such cirHe cannot do else than resume
cumstances, is no less plain.
that
through
the ground he may have occupied before he was seduced from
by such reckless and wicked instruments, without sharing
in the infamy of their doings.
it
There is in such an exposure, cause of deep grief. Blushes
must suffuse the cheeks of every American citizen, at home
and abroad, when he sees the chief magistrate of his country
lending himself to his own 'instruments/ to be used by them
for the destruction of what is more dear to men than their
'good names, '^nd for the prostration of a
of the wisest counsels, and of the
the
creation
agent,
most patriotic hearts. But shall these doings not be exposed?
lives
viz: their
fiscal
Shall
men
be permitted to intrench themselves behind the
102
bulwarks of such malicious slanders
as these?
pull to pieces,
without cause, all that is good around them, and leave the
garden of our liberty a wild} and that, which, through the
1
toils
and blood of the revolution, was made a
fit
and glorious
residence for the free, not only of the present, but future geInstead of that harmony that should
nerations, a desert?
characterize the citizens of the republic, a discord
more
fell
than any that has ever disgraced the most corrupt governments
of the old world, has been introduced by Jacksonism, exhibiting as one of its
first fruits,
a scramble for office and a lust of
place, that gives to its prescriptive character, all the ferocity
This is the secret of
that belongs to the beasts of the forest.
that professed regard
'for the people,'
which under cover of
Jackson in the front
keep the power and
that false pretence, has placed Andrew
rank of his followers, to defend, and
places they hold; and to trample down any thing, and every
thing that is suspected, even, of controlling, or regulating their
outrageous proceedings, and to secure a succession.
Painful as the task is which I have imposed on myself, and
lead to
what consequences
it
may,
I shall
go through with
it.
grieves me to say, I have yet other demonstrations to give
of the vindictive character, and disreputable acts of those who
It
have
rallied
under the standard bearing the motto
"UNCOMPROMISING HOSTILITY TO THE
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES."
ARISTIDES.
No. 24.
4
These,' say the Committee, 'are ALL the charges against
the Bank, tending to implicate it in a violation of its charter,
into which the Committee deemed it necessary to enter.'
The
intelligent reader will
understand the committee as exa
whole
mass
of
cluding
insignificant implications made on this
head, by the government directors, and the Thomas Committee, and by the President of the United States, and his hosts
of retainers and followers.
All but the ignorant, and those
103
who knew better, but chose- to employ this charge against
the Bank, knowing it to be false, I mean the enlightened portion of the community, knew, while these 'instruments' were
employed
in this
branch of the war, that there was no foun-
support their assertions but they were
relied upon as a part of ' the party' scheme to delude the
dation in truth, to
people.
We
to do
illustration of the readiness of
have had a remarkable
Gen. Jackson's 'instruments'
what he commands
:
in
two most remarkable
First, in
cases,
the readiness with which
the government directors undertook the business entrusted to
them, MODE and all ; and second, in the readiness of another
set of instruments to
back him
He commanded,
ter.
as if
in his
war upon Gov. Poindex-
by magic, the ready assent and
labours of each, having the same object in view, viz :
the
He procured mutilated and false
utter destruction of both.
reports from the one, (as I have proven in these essays,) and
OATHS from the other, and he made the same use of both: and
And yet,
both have turned out to be as false as vindictive.
with proof piled upon proof, and demonstration upon demonstration, there are found men who continue to harp upon the
worn-out charge that 'the Bank has violated its charter.' I
would commend
to all such, a daily use of the
" That
to
prayer
gie us,
see ourselves as others see us."
gift
To
The
tee,
is,
next point of inquiry, in order, by the Tyler Commitinto the charge made by President Jackson, and in-
stantly backed by his retainers, that the public deposites were
not safe in the keeping of the Bank. I have adverted to this
charge in a previous number, and would pass it over here,
were
it
not that I desire to introduce a few figures, for the
At the very moment when
confirmation of the wavering.
this
charge was made
that the
liabilities
and that
to
to
resound through the land, it is proven
Bank amounted to $60,059,909 85
of the
;
meet them the Bank had resources amounting
$67,931,511 36, or a surplus of $7,871,601 51.
It is
to
further
shown by the Committee, that after deducting all losses, real
and probable, the Bank had, on the 1st November last, an
actual surplus of Four Millions, Eight Thousand, Five
dred and twenty Dollars and sixty-six cents.
Well does the Committee remark,
after
making
this
Hunexhi-
bit, that they 'might well take leave of this branch of the
but as there are facts of high import bearing on this
subject'
the
Committee give them. I will glance at them
question,
first
premising, that when this branch of the machinery for the destruction of the Bank was put in motion,
not doubting its results, the President, in anticipation, came
presently
to the conclusion, that
he had
so
effectually
institution, as to justify the assertion, that the
a place of safe-keeping
lays a train to
man who
weakened the
Bank 'was not
for the public deposites.
Like the
a house, and runs away, saying
that the house, doubtless, is burned down; or, like he who
gives the stab to a man, or administers poison to him, goes off,
and asserts that 'there can be no doubt he is dead 7 just so
fire
with President Jackson, after he and his .'instruments' had
set in motion the following plan for the Bank's overthrow.
"It began to
committee
work
'From the
in 1832.
fall
of that year/ the
Bank
has been put to the severest trial.'
The Secretary of the Treasury led the van of the attack, and
in his report of the 5th day of December, 1832, questioned
say, 'the
Bank! Congress was informed that
an agent was appointed to inquire into the security of the
Bank; an examination into its concerns was suggested; the
the responsibility of the
Bank in regard to the three per cents was reCommittee of the House of Representatives. Out
conduct of the
ferred to a
Bank with having made
monster of an assertion
of this report, (after charging the
deceptive reports,)
'It
was born
this
hence appears that the Bank
seven
and a half
when,
it is
is
millions, than
admitted on
all
worse condition, by
was in March, 1832,
have been under pres-
in a
it
hands, to
sure.'
Who
gave birth to this monstrous design? The minority
committee, who, says the Tyler report, "were regarded at
the time as holding sentiments somewhat congenial with
those of the Executive department."
yes and if angels
from Heaven had denied the truth of the statement and its in-
105
ference, and brought down wrth them truth, lighted
rays from the source of truth, they would have been
party,' denounced as devils, and their
up with
by 'the
light, absolute dark-
ness.
This minority committee
felt
awkward
in
making such an
assertion; hence they must, further to gull the people, and
furnish material for their presses, and party, explain the rea-
son why, under such a state of things, there was so
little
The reason was given and what does the
pressure felt.
"the Bank has so arranged its afreader think it was? why,
evade making payments which were required by
the government."
But this was not enough: these blows were not considered
to be hard enough.
Another was given by the same committee: "the condition of the bank is no more favourable than
fairs, as to
most perilous moment of its existence." But this was
Then comes another and here wa have a world
of doubt, whether the Bank can be any longer trusted.
"There is not time left, says the Jackson committee's report,
in the
not enough.
for the further action of Congress, with a
fect information at the present session.
view
to a
more per-
JO^Whether
exist-
THE
ing facts, (such as the above) are sufficient to justify
in taking any step against the Bank, author-
EXECUTIVE
by the Charter, is a matter for the decision of the proper
officers, acting upon their own views, and responsibility. An
opinion by Congress, can make it neither more, nor less, its
ised
duty to act."
This suggestion contains the germ of that notable affair,
which resulted in the removal of the deposits. Even this
committee looked only to an action by "the proper officers"
of course none could be meant other than such as the laws
had designated. But when the act was consummated by an
improper officer, viz: President Jackson, over the head of
'the proper officer,' and with his feet
upon his neck, for he
prostrated
Mr. Duane,
to get at the
Bank, with
this final
blow, these same men, followed by the army of office holders, and expectants, harked on by the presses in pay of the
14
106
former, shouted "well done
it's all
right,
down with
the
bank."
But President Jackson was not content with the blows that
preceded his last and final blow so it was secretly continued
anterior to that last blow, to make a concerted run upon one
of the Branches
that at Lexington, being supposed to be the
easiest of conquest, was selected; all these brought the President to the conclusion, that the Bank was ruined, and hence
he asserted the deposites were not safe. But before they were
withdrawn, that assertion, as I have in a previous number
stated, was contradicted, and the same lips pronounced the
Bank
to
be too strong
!
.
!
!
The Tyler committee
question, in
view of
all this,
"whe-
ther any other monied corporation in the world, could have
stood up against trials so severe."
And for what, I ask, was all this falsehood, and shuffling,
and violation of law resorted to? Wherefore should men
thus combine, and plan a conspiracy against such an institution as the Bank of the United States has proved itself to be?
In revenge, I fearlessly answer, for its refusal to throw itself
arms of Jacksonism, to be used by it as a political
tool in the support of his measures, 'right or wrong,' and in
the ulterior hope that was relied on, that "the party" might
into the
employ
its
means
Here
freely, in the election of
Andrew Jackson's
Mr. Duane
says that the Administrative department was actuated, in all its measures
And
against the Bank, by a spirit of VINDICTIVENESS.
successor.
who
doubts
it?
is
the secret.
Who
noramus, that does not
is
there, in fact,
know
this to
who
is
not an ig-
be true?
These measures of vindictive hostility having been consummated by the final blow of President Jackson, given on
his own responsibility, and for which in any other country,
and among any other people, he would have been made suit"
ably to atone, and the work of
pilfering," as Mr. Calhoun
has it, and of destruction being done, this same party, knowing that great distress would grow out of this rash and lawless
course, tacked about, and occupied one of the strangest and
most contemptible positions, that ever disgraced any party, in
107
From this position, they deand
with
main,
might
body and soul, through their
and
its
office-holders, and expectants, that there
press,
through
was
"PRESSURE;" and in the same breath deor in any other country.
this,
nied,
(pANY
clared,
"THE BANK CREATES THE PRESSURE."
high minded and honourable men of, I care not
if ever such a position was occupied by
I appeal to
what
party, and ask
men
pretending to be honest, before?
leaders shouted "there
And
yet,
when
the
no pressure," it is panic; so shouted
their army of subsidized followers; and when they shouted
again "The
followers.
mingled
is
Bank creates the pressure," so shouted these same
The very echoes of this contradictory shouting
!
What was this position taken for? I will answer. Those
who had committed the rash act, knew there would be
pressure; and they knew there was pressure; but it answered
their ends to
deny
When
it.
proof upon proof,
when twelve
men from
thousand of as honourable
the city of Philadelphia,
as ever graced a city, told the President to his face, there
was pressure; and when the cry arose from all parts of the
country, and was made to resound in the Halls of Congress,
and over the land, then, answered the king on his throne,
and then shouted his followers, "The Bank makes it,"
"Go
to
Nick Biddle."
It mortifies
revolting, and
ment
one to show
to see
to a set of
men
men
human
nature under an aspect so
do every day professing attachthat has so trifled with their confidence,
as I
and degraded them. Men may think of this business as they
please, but let them take my word for it, there is no coming
in contact with such doings, and giving them support, without contracting some of their bad odour; and participating in
ARISTIDES.
their disgrace.
No. 25.
Yes
"
Go
to
.
Nick Biddle," was
the insulting re-
ference of President Jackson, to the free citizens of 'this
108
Republic, who, goaded by the pressure inflicted on them by
own hand, sought, from that same hand, the relief of
which they stood so much in need. Thousands upon thou-
his
sands, as the world knows, through the mediums of petitions
and committees, endeavoured by appeals to his head and his
heart, to quench the fire of his wrath against the Bank, and
thus save the country from the devastating evils which
threatened
The
it.
plan had been
laid.
These
evils
were foreseen by the
prompters; and when the time should arriye
when they would be felt, it was arranged for the President
and his back*ers, boldly and impudently to charge them to the
President's
Bank.
" Go
to
Hence the courteous and gentlemanlike
Nick Biddle."
reference,
the strangest of all the strange events of these
strange times, that a people professing to be intelligent, and
to have some discretion and will of their own, should have
It is
among
permitted the charge, that the
live a single hour.
They
all
Bank
knew
caused the pressure, to
that there was nothing
but mutual confidence and prosperity, that the whole country
was
flourishing from one
extreme to the other, before that
confidence was prostrated, and that prosperity blighted, by
the measures of the President preceding and accompanying
the act of removing the deposits
and it is no less universally
began and advanced with these meawas consummated by the last and final blow
which took from the bank nine millions of its means; and
known,
sures,
that a pressure
and that
it
which, of course, carried with it the proclamation, that as
many millions would be required by the Bank, of its debtors,
to supply the place of those removed.
No sensible man could
arrive at any other conclusion
of course, all who were caof
on
the
pable
reasoning
subject, came to that conclusion.
The
was
weaken and destroy that confidence
between men, without which fiscal operations cannot be suseffect of this
to
tained; and to lead every man who might be proximately, or
remotely, indebted to the Bank, to act in reference to a de-
mand upon him.
The cabal who surrounded
the President, therefore, pro-
109
vided him with
a shield, to
ward from himself and
it,
the ex-
cited and apprehended vengeance of an injured aud deeply
He was told to say to the people, that the
people.
wronged
sufferings they endured
were caused by the Bank.
so tell them, and then to
make good
his
own
He
did
belief in the
truth of the charge, he told them to " Go to Nick Biddle,"
called the Bank
Monster," and then left his press at
Washington, and its affiliated tribe, and his 100,000 office-
"A
make the people believe that
own measures were produced by
the effects produced
holders, to
his
by
of
the Bank!
The Tyler Committee look into this charge, under the head
" What has been the conduct of the Bank since
1832, in
regard to the extension and curtailment of its loans and disIt is impossible for me to give in detail this matcounts?"
Never were
ter of fact division of the Committee's labours.
so conclusively proved to be acts of
were those of the Bank, in placing itself
in an attitude to meet this new position which the Executive
of the United States had taken against it; nor were ever any
proofs more conclusive of the studious purposes of any insti-
acts of
any
institution
self-preservation, as
tution to avoid
manded
The
taking a single step beyond what was de-
on the principle of SELF-PRESERVATION".
reader will bear in mind that the Executive and PARTY
of
it
hostility to the
Bank, were not confined
to a
removal of the
Nine Millions and upwards,
public deposites, amounting
but that it contemplated the annihilation of the Bank. Schemes
were concerted, and plans laid, to make runs upon its branches;
and every measure was adopted that could be made to weaken
to
claims to public confidence, at home and abroad.
Who, I
but
a
reckless
or
a
ask,
politician,
maniac, would expect it of
the Bank to continue its business, under such circumstances,
its
or remain idle, and adopt no measures for its preservation?
What was the first step of the Bank, in front of such an
enemy
as this?
On
the 13th August, 1833,
First, That the discounts of the
it
decided:
Bank and
the Officers
should not be increased.
Second, That domestic
days
to run.
bills
purchased, should have but 90
110
Third, That the five Western
officers
should
purchase
only, on the Atlantic
cities, except when
ninety days
taken in payment of debt, when they might be taken at any
These orders were issued on the 12th
place at four months.
bills
October, 1833.
To
the five
Western branches the President of the Bank
" It
wrote thus.
is
a subject of regret to be obliged to im-
on your business, especially on your opepose any
rations in exchange, to which we attach particular value. The
measure will, however, I trust, be only temporary, and will
restraint
not be continued
when
the circumstances
expedient have passed."
To
which render it
it was said
the other officers
" These
resolutions make, as you perceive, but little
your
present
arrangements of business, and whatever
change
restrictions they contain, will, I trust, be temporary, and
only:
in
cease with the causes
which have rendered them expedient
at
present."
Could any mode have been adopted
tender, or
more
sees in this
any
lenient to
in
such a
the dealers of the
thing else than a
purpose
crisis,
Bank?
to place the
more
Who
Bank
marauding array of mercenaries in its front, who, pirate-like, had hoisted the bloody
flag? or any thing beyond a cautious regard for the welfare of
those who were its debtors?
As the Executive continued to press on the Bank, the Bank
in a state of safety, against the
continued to guard itself but only then. This is proven by
the action of the Bank having, in the first division of its
movements, called in, of the Nine Millions Eight Hundred
President JackSixty-eight Thousand and odd Dollars, that
son had ordered to be removed from the Bank, only $5,825,906 74. At another period, g3, 320,000 were called in. This
was under
directions
from the President of the Bank,
in these
words:
and the new measures of
present situation of the Bank,
to be in contemplation, make it expedient
to place the institution beyond the reach of all danger; for this purpose I
am directed to instruct
office to conduct its business on the foot-
The
hostility
which are understood
your
ing,
&c,"
The
total
amount
curtailed
between October, 1833, and
Ill
of seven
January, 1834, was $9,145,905 74, being upwards
had
Jackson
than
President
less
dollars
hundred thousand
orthe
the
Bank.
from
Meanwhile,
ordered to be removed
ders for reduction were from time to time relaxed,
where they
bore heavily on the community.
secure position, on the 27th June,
take into con1834, a committee of seven was appointed to
sideration the present state of the Bank, and to inquire whether any further measures be necessary, in consequence of the
Having placed
itself in a
without taking any steps
expected adjournment of Congress,
resolution
on the subject of the removal of the deposites.
was adopted, revoking all orders for the reduction of loans,
A
and authorising the
bills,
on
where
the
it
officers to
might
commuuity.
expand their
loans,
be necessary to relieve
and purchase
any pressure
This gave rise to a new chime among the assailants. If the
Bank, in its own defence, forced by executive acts, and executive threats of vengeance, took a position of security, it was
Having gained that
charged with causing the pressure.
of
the
and
for
the
condition
people, and Confeeling
point,
when
gress not doing any thing, it gave relief where it could,
of
and
was
started
the
whole
the
exactly an
cry
pack,
up
opposite sort!
Was there ever such a profligate set of men?
furnish any thing like a parallel to their acts?
Does history
And yet by
impudence and patronage, they succeeded in imposing
upon a deluded people, and inducing them, even at the cost of
their own degradation, and ultimate sufferings, to sustain all
this conduct, together with the President's lawless acts, and
their
contempt for the petitions of those who sought to
have what he himself had made wrong, put right.
I shall glance rapidly, in my next, over the
remaining points
his utter
of enquiry by the Tyler committee; and afterwards
give a
picture of the relations in which Gov. Wolf, and Geo. M.
Dallas,
men
and others of 'the party,' stand
will, for the
sake of
office,
"instruments" of themselves, and
deluding the people, a duty
to this subject.
or the hope of
arises,
office,
in that capacity,
If
make
succeed in
and should be recognized
112
and respected by some one, to expose their conduct.
duty I have assumed.
That
ARISTIDES.
No. 26.
With
the next question, in order, proposed and examined
" What has been the
the
Tyler committee, viz:
by
management of the Bank?" I have but little to do. It is true, " the
party" assailed
eyes,
by
upon
own
itself ridiculous in all intelligent
which was known to be inevery blow struck the assailants
a point
and especially
vulnerable
in their
and made
it
its efforts
as
The "management"
faces.
of the Bank,
whe-
ther for good or for evil, could affect only three partiesFirst
The Government.
Second
Third
I
The
public, generally.
Itself.
have shown
vernment.
I
in a previous number, how it affected the Goto repeat the testimony here.
It is true,
beg
from the same quarter, it will be
deemed good by " the party," only whilst it served " the
party;" but when it stands opposed to "the party," it will,
Honest men will not
in their eyes, be no testimony at all.
Here it is. Mr. Rush,
fail, however, to give it due weight.
like all other testimony
1-828, then Secretary of the Treaas
of
the
Bank,
agent of the Treasury for paying
sury, says
" In this
off the public debt
manner, heavy payments of the
on the 13th of December,
debt are, in
effect,
being thrown
at
made
gradually, instead of the whole mass
once upon the
money
market, which might
and in other
produce injurious shocks. So prudently in this^
of
the
the
Bank
aid
in
does
operation
paying off the
respects,
debt, that the
is
community hardly has
a consciousness that
it
going on."
It is true, this
just tribute
vailed
known
was paid before Jacksonism pre-
be considered, especially since Mr. Rush is
to occupy other ground now, as the testimony of an-
and
may
other administration
as a
mere Adams
trick
a sort of trap
113
to catch
Ingham
Bank gudgeons.
He was
says.
Well, then,
Jackson, up
let
us see
what Mr.
He swam in
to the hub.
found no resting place until a bough
from the hickory tree was protruded for him to repose upon.
Being there, hear him. He writes in July, 1829, thus:
Jacksonism
his feet
" I take the occasion
to express the great satisfaction of the Treasury
Department, at the manner in which the President (that same 'Nick Biddie') and Directors of the parent Bank have discharged their trusts, in
03" ALL their immediate relations to the Government. So far as their
transactions have come under my notice, and especially in the facilities
afforded in transferring the funds of .the Government, and in the prepara-
tion for the heavy
payment of the public debt on the first inst., which has
management of your board, at a time of severe
been effected by the prudent
depression on all the productive employments of the country , without causing
any sensible addition to the pressure, or even visible effect upon the ordir
nary operations of the State Banks."
An
honest
man would
think this was a faithful Bank, and
But it had not yet been felt by " the
a very useful Bank.
on
the
question of becoming its tool. Next comes the
party"
of
President
Jackson himself. This, we all know,
testimony
now,
it
is
esteemed to be good, or applicable, only so long as
and the plans of his party. He is
suit his purposes,
may
man
him to-morrow; advocates a
one time, and condemns it at another. He came
into power for one term, and so announced it, as did his beloved friend and co-worker, Amos Kendall: then he goes for
for a
measure
two.
to-day, and against
at
He
is
shocked
officers interfering
of his
at the bare suspicion of the
with State elections, and
army of office-holders to bring all
upon them, and
actually
comes out
Federal
now
requires it
their influence to bear
at last
under his
own
hand, to hector and bully those who may dare to stand in the
way of the election of his chosen successor. I know very
well the testimony of such a witness in behalf of the Bank,
may well be considered as worthless but hear him in 1829
hear him:
"
It
banks
was apprehended that the withdrawal of so large a sum from the
which it was deposited, at a time of universal pressure in the
in
money market, might cause much
bank accommodations.
But
to the interests dependent on
was wholly averted by an early anti-
injury
this evil
15
114
cipation of
it,
at the
the officers of the
I leave
it
Treasury, Qj' aided by
of the United States."
tfie
judicious arrangement of
Bank
for the report of the
Tyler committee
solve
to
there be any) touching the " management of
the Bank," under the two remaining heads, viz: towards the
the doubts
(if
public and
itself.
"The summary
of all which is," says the committe, "that
the Bank, in the last eleven years, has overcome all difficulties
which stood in its way, has given to its notes a universal
circulation, redeemable wheresoever presented; has increased
the circulation from four to twenty millions, has
purified the general currency, and has doubled the profits of the
fj
Bank
itself."
There need not be another word added
to this
testimony.
was
"
the party" sought to secure the
"
Bank as one of its instruments." The Bank nobly spurned
the attempt upon its honour. Then devices were formed to
It
after this that
destroy it; and then were causes hunted after to justify the
crusade which it was resolved to set on foot for its overthrow.
The postponement
of the period for the redemption of the
three per cents, was seized upon, as was the expansion of its
operations in 1831; and then in order, all the rest that I have
named, including the notable duties assigned to Messrs. Gilpin, Sullivan, and Wager; and those other duties undertaken
by the Thomas committee, &c.
Among the charges against the Bank, was that of establishing its branches in the States. At this point a hue and cry
was raised. The hair of every " instrument" was made to
bristle with fear, and every such tongue was loud in its anathemas against the Bank,
"
rights of the States."
for thus daring to interfere
The
with the
land resounded with the cry,
?
"the Bank
is extending its influence
stop it stop it.'
the
into
this business, and
look
Well,
Tyler committee
what do they find? Why, reader, that the leaders of this very
cry were the petitioners to have branches sent among the
States, and into the territories named by them.
They find
the Bank was not " intrusive," and very conclusively say,
"
It
is
difficult
to
conceive
how
it
could
in
any way enlarge the
115
sphere of its influence by locating a branch where neither the wants of
commercial men, or of any other class, required increased banking facilities.
The want of borrowers would seem to be as fatal to the spread of its influence, as the want of
money
Every body knew
to assail the
But the
who
it
to lend."
this;
Bank on
this
and even "the party"
ground,
knew
foul purpose is disclosed
who
chose
it.
by the proof that those
thus waylay the Bank, were the very
men who
invited
come among them!
to
Eight original branches have been established within the
NASHVILLE, Natchez, St. Louis,
Mobile, Portland, Burlington, Utica, and Buffalo.
last sixteen years, viz: at
The
people of Nashville began so long ago as 1817, to earbranch. First, by a petition signed by FELIX
nestly solicit a
GRUNDY, and others. -Grundy was very importunate he
wrote often and. pressingly meetings of the citizens were
a committee was appointed to urge upon the Bank
called
to send them a branch.
There were " only six persons who
refused to sign" the petition for a branch. George W. Campbell
urged
it;
so did
John
SON! The Bank
and
at last sent
Bell, late
Speaker of the House of
3
Representatives; and
so, reader, did QCJ
ANDREW JACK-
declined, notwithstanding, for several years,
a branch, but not until the Legislature
them
virtually asked for
it.
The Natchez branch was sent on
invitation of the Legisla-
ture.
That
upon the application, of the citizens of
that town, aided by a letter from Mr. RUSH, in reply, say
the committee, to a letter from Mr. BENTON, (not Jesse,
but Thomas, the Senator,) and transmitted by Mr. BENTON
at St. Louis,
to the President of the
Bank.
The branch at Natchez was twice urged upon the Bank by
Mr. RUSH, who also urged the establishment of another at
Detroit; but the Bank, believing Buffalo to be a better place,
and seconded
in this
by
C. C.
CAMBRELENG, who
took a
thousand dollars fee for looking into the superior fitness of
Buffalo over Detroit, and reporting upon it.
116
The Mobile and Portland branches were
also
called for,
says the committee, by letters from the Treasury Department.
Of the eight branches established within sixteen years, says
the committee, only two, those at Burlington and Utica, were
by the Bank.
established
" if the
But, as the committee very conclusively remark,
Bank had sought, by multiplying its offices, to exert a controlling influence over public sentiment, it would have been
furnished a fair apology in the numerous applications addressed to it from every quarter, to have multiplied them almost
ad infinitum. Those applications have been sustained by
men of the most exalted character." Among the names applying for a branch at Lynchburg, (Va.) Mr. Jefferson's is
one. Among those for a branch at Fredericksburg, (Va.) are
Judge P. P. Barbour, Mr. Madison, James Barbour, Hugh
Nelson, and James Pleasants.
Among the -names applying
SON'S.
Among
3
ANDREW JACK-
found OCf
those asking for a branch
for a branch at Pensacola,
is
at Albany, is
same personage who
fills the office of Vice President of the United States, and has
been chosen by President Jackson as his successor; and who
" Uncomhas, for wily, and fox-like reasons, proclaimed
to
the
the
United
States"
Bank
of
promising hostility
Many reasons operate to make me wish that Mr. Rush ocI contemplate
cupied the ground now, he occupied in 1828.
his present position, and his relation to his new associates,
(0" MARTIN VAN BUREN'S, the
with pain!
He was never
monize with the
born to occupy the one, or
to har-
other.
I will not follow up the rejections by the Bank, of applications for branches, but will merely add, that sixty-three ap-
plications
"
were
rejected, though, as the
pressed upon by the memorials and
Tyler committee say,
petitions of most re-
spectable citizens of the several places from
whence
the ap-
plications proceeded."
then, let the candid reader ask himself, what sort of
judgment an insulted people ought to award those political
Now,
instruments? Can they be regarded as entitled
Are such men, in party political matters, to be
to confidence?
trusted?
And
117
that has been
things, should not an institution
in
find
crushed by the weight of calumny alone,
every honest
above
all
heart, a friend?
I
meant only
to
make
a
summary
of what remained of the
committee's report, but found I could not do the reader justice by any such analysis. I shall come to a close soon. I am
in quest of nothing but truth;
nor do
I
seek for any thing bemay enable
yond such an enlightening of public opinion, as
it
to exercise itself
upon
a great question, according to truth
and justice.
ARISTIDES.
No. 27.
Who
is
there that has not heard the denunciations of "the
party" against the Bank on account of the course it has pursued in relation to the French Bill? Over what part of this
Union has any man travelled, without coming in contact with
President Jackson's delectable organ, the Globe, and its serpouring forth their poisonous streams of abuse
vile copyists,
and detraction, and
diffusing their tainted
matter every where,
hope (alas that hope has been too fatally realized) of
innoculating people with that VENGEANCE against the Bank
which their employers had wreaked upon it? The French
in the
Bill
!
was?
!
Does the reader know what sort of transaction this
Has he informed himself? If he have, then if he be ho-
he can feel nothing but loathing for a set of men who
would implicate the Bank for its action on the case.
For the information of such as may not have had access to
nest,
the documents, I will copy the summary made by the Tyler
Committee of the history of the Bill. The Committee say:
" The
The Government has
state of the case is as follows.
simple
a Bill of
Exchange on
Paris for sale.
In consequence of the magnitude
of the sum, it would, in order to meet with a purchaser in the person of
a private individual, have had to be divided into several sums. This would
have been attended with delay, which the Government sought to avoid,
and probably with loss, by effecting a reduction in the price of Exchange.
The offer of the bill, under these circumstances, is made to the Bank, and
the Bill
PURCHASED by the Bank. It is duly presented, and protested
and the purchaser demands the USUAL damages arising
is
for non-payment,
under the protest. The Attorney General, (Taney) expresses the opinion
that the purchaser has no title to damages, and says he will give his reaHe is asked the reasons for his opinion, at another
sons at another time.
time, by the party most interested in knowing them, and he declines giving them! The Bank urges the claim upon the Treasury, which is ultimately decided against it; and having no recourse against the Government
by suit, retains an amount, arising out of the dividends of the Government,
one of the stockholders, equal to the damages. The President of the
Bank
addresses a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, advising him of
and stating the object to be to carry the question before the Courts,
and expressing his readiness to adopt any other course of proceeding upon
the subject which would be more agreeable to the Government, which is
this,
altogether declined by the Government.
"are the FACTS in the case."
These," say the Committee,
I will not occupy the reader's time by giving the reasons
of the Committee justifying the Bank in the course it adopted.
None hut a man devoid of common sense would require rea-
sons to satisfy
him upon a case
so self-evident
;
and none go-
verned by a feeling of common honesty would deny to the
Bank the right to the damages claimed by it. But some who
have common sense and pommon honesty, may, possibly, doubt
the right of the Bank to retain the damages.
The Committee
may
enlighten such
:
" The
doctrine of retainer," says the Committee, "well understood by
the Courts, applies as well to a corporation as to an individual; and when
that retainer is avowedly made in order to procure a submission to the
Courts and Juries of the country, and would have been waived, as is plainly
intimated in Mr. Biddle's letter to Mr. Woodbury, if the submission could
any other way be secured, your Committee are unable to see why there
should be either clamor or objection raised to the course pursued by the
"
directors.
in
Let this suffice. There is one other reference, by the
Committee, to this case, which I cannot omit introducing. It
ought to cover with shame those conspirators against the
Bank, and awaken in every honest bosom a feeling of contempt
for
them.
I
commend
to the reader's attention the
following quotations from the same report
" The Government has often
purchased Bills
:
of Exchange on fo-
reign countries, and the Committee i ignorant of a single case of protest
in which it has ever remitted the damages!"
119
The Committee
then cite the case of Stephen Girard, one
of the largest stockholders of this very Bank.
ment bought a bill of him. It was protested.
Mr. Girard remonstrated.
demanded.
was inflexible. The damages were
of which this same Girard is a large
turn,
a
bill
paid.
The GovernDamages were
The Government
The same Bank,
stockholder, buys, in
its
of the Government.
are charged
when,
Government
refuses lo
lo!
It is protested.
Damages
in the plenitude of its justice, the
The reasons are asked
pay them
Mr. Taney, General Jackson's tool for re-
for this refusal.
!
!
but after castto give them
to serve his emas
he
was
well
well
about
him,
ing
dispose'd
ployer, declines giving them. Resort is proposed, by the Bank,
moving the Deposites, promises
Does the GoWherefore? For the
to the Courts, as the final arbiter in the case.
vernment accept the proposition?
No.
reason, I take the liberty of answering, that Andrew
Jackson declined to sue out a Scire Facias on the charge
same
made by
violated
himself and his " instruments," that the
its
to rest the charge.
CONFESSIONS
Bank had
There were no grounds upon which
charter.
In this
EXTORTED
way are reluctant, though indirect
from those assailants of the Bank,
that their clamor and abuse are employed for OTHER PURPOSES
than those they proclaim. And yet, with a conduct so pal-
pably degraded, and a course of proceeding so spotted with
infamy, these men have the hardihood to present themselves
before the American people, and to ask their support, their
confidence,
Now
and
their RESPECT
!
!
!
another movement by this crusade army of the
Executive, against the Bank. The throats of the office holdthe
ers, upon this tack, were strained almost to splitting;
for
press fulminated clouds of the most appalling aspect.
The
very welkin was made to ring with the shouts, and to wear,
What's the matby the fumes of "the party," a lurid hue
!
ter? the unconscious
stranger
asked
And why
is all this
cla-
mor? inquired the unsuspecting farmer, and the busy mechanic
who had not watched the movements of these Bank pirates.
The answer was given in a tone of thunder
"THE BANK
IS
INTERMEDDLING
IN POLITICS!"
120
"
"
DOWN WITH IT !" was shouted from those same mouths.
Down with THE MONSTER !" exclaimed Andrew Jackson.
"Uncompromising HOSTILITY to the
States !" screamed little Van Buren.
"
Bank
of
the United
The Bank
is
intermeddling in Politics !" came hack in
and anon the charge rose again, and rolled over the
land like waves over the bed of the ocean.
The Tyler Committee look into this clamor, and the causes
of it. They analyze it, and state that " the way in which
such power and influence would be most likely to display
itself," would be
echoes
;
1st. In the appointment of Directors for the several branches,
with reference chiefly to their political sentiments.
2.
In an injurious discrimination between persons
accommodations to some, and refusing them
:
to others,
granting
on party
political grounds.
3. In the
granting of large and unusual loans, on insufficient
or doubtful security, to persons supposed to have political influence ; and extending indulgencies to such, not extended to
others.
4. In efforts of direct bribery, by the donation of its money.
5. In rendering the press its stipendiary, by bestowing gra-
making to them extravagant loans.
and unusual loans, and accommodations to members of Congress, and other public functionaries, on insufficient
tuities
on
editors, or
6. In large
security.
7.
sition
In paying for publications not necessary for a true expoof its condition, or to defend itself against injurious
charges.
On the
first of these heads, the Committee say, they "have
no reason to believe that any other motives have operated
with the Bank, than those having reference, mainly, to the
The object seems to have been,
interests of the institution.
to place at the board of directors,
men of character and stand-
ing, acquainted with the circumstances of the citizens composing the community in the midst of which the office was
Let this suffice.
and of business habits," &c.
have felt the
directors"
must
"the
keenly
government
situated,
How
121
rebuke
arising out of the following quotation
from
(It refers to the selection of directors friendly to
this report.
the Bank.)
" It would be
" if this were not
so;
strange," say the Committee,
commit its [the Bank's] management to the hands of those who
were opposed to it, and djr" SOUGHT ITS DESTRUCTION, would be an act of
madness and folly, for which it could have neither excuse nor apology.
No man of lofty or correct feelings, would assume a guardianship, when he
found in his breast, upon self-examination, none other than a feeling of
for to
placed under his control, and a desire to DESTBOT,
of a wish to sustain, and uphold."
hostility to the object
in place
If
any man has a
vision
keen enough
to detect in
General
Jackson's "devised instruments^' though acting as directors of
the Bank, any other purpose than to " destroy" it, he sees
quicker, and truer, than is usually given to mortals to see.
Under the second head, the Committee say:
"
We
have carefully
several branches which
examined the discount books of the Bank, and the
it
the purpose of ascertaining the course
The
to be HOSTILE to the Bank.
visited, for
pursued towards those who are
result of that examination
is,
KNOWW
that
many who
are
known
to
be
hostile to
it;
and privately, who have co-operated in measures to PESTBOT
IT who, in short, are its most uncompromising opponents, are among
those who, at some period or another, have received accommodations at
the Bank, or some one of its branches. This remark embraces men in pubOC/" publicly
lic
and private
life-,
EXECUTIVE,
in the
LEGISLATIVE
as well as
de-
partments; in high, as well as in subordinate offices."
Let
this suffice.
But
let
not the reader peruse this decided
testimony, demonstrating the Bank's entire political impartiwho may have seduced
ality, without holding those traducers,
him
into
a belief that
this
charge against the Bank was true,
And let him bear in mind, how
responsible for the deception.
widely such a liberal and just policy differs from that proscriptive policy, which, at the same time, distinguishes and
disgraces the very party that has the impudence thus falsely
to implicate the
Guilty
itself
How common
by their own
it
is
Bank
charge of
in the-
would involve the Bank
this
acts,
political
partiality.
same disgrace
the
profligate. Debased
practice among
they
make
it
in the
a business
to
!
seek to involve
Jacksonism made a political inothers in a similar disgrace.
strument of the government, and conscious that all honest
men would
hold such conduct in contempt,
16
it
became part of
122
duty to implicate the Bank in like conduct ; and thus lessen the weight of that load of infamy upon itself which it was
foreseen must, sooner or later, become too intolerable to be
its
borne.
remark upon the remaining heads
I shall
in
my
next.
ARISTIDES.
No. 28.
I
27.
proceed with the remaining points, as enumerated in No.
The next in order is " Unusual loans, on, insufficient
security, or unusual indulgencies fo persons supposed to possess enlarged political influence."
give the answer of the Committee on this question,
I will
it embraces it, entire.
I do this because it is short,
and because it sweeps away thousands of the most inveterate
falsehoods which "the party" extracted from this very question, and fastened, like so many blister-plasters, upon the
so far as
Hear the Committee
public credulity.
:
" The Committee has discovered
nothing in the proceedings of the
Bank to induce a belief that it has adopted ANT policy of the kind. Each
borrower
is
held to comply with the rules of the Bank. When these rules
is followed by a protest, or such other proceed-
are violated, the violation
ings as are usually adopted in other cases.
borrower has
failed to
renew
his note at the
vertence, or from circumstances
beyond
In some instances, where the
proper time, either from inad-
his control; or has
neglected to
pay the discount upon each renewal; or has changed his endorser, by suba draft on one
stituting one name for another, equally good; or has drawn
who
declines accepting it, and offers another already accepted by a person,
or persons, entirely responsible, the Bank may have failed to have the note
protested. In such cases, to protest, would be but a useless proceeding,
injurious to the individual, and without benefit to the Bank. It (the Bank)
seeks to secure its debt, and if that be done satisfactorily, all is accom-
plished which
it
could desire.
"The Committee
are not aware of a loan to
ANT one possessed of an
or, in fact, of ANT
enlarged political influence, of an unusual amount,
amount resting on insufficient security," &c.
Now
such as may have permitted themselves to be
with
the slanders of the official organ of President
drugged
let
123
Jackson, the Globe, at Washington, whose slang is continued
to this hour, reflect a moment, and compare those swarms of
wicked and malicious falsehoods which were made
to infest
the land, as did the frogs, and locusts, and disgusting vermin
of Egypt, with this flat and unqualified declaration of the
and then ask, if such reckless propagators of cafoul conspirators against the Bank, its officers,
such
lumny
and the currency, ought not t be held up to the indignant
rebuke of all honest men, and to the execration and contempt
Committee
;
It would seem from the complacency with
which President Jackson contemplates the calumnies of the
Globe, and its aids, that he delights in breathing the atmosphere filled with such a moral pestilence, and, unlike the
Pharaoh of Egypt, he cultivates the closest familiarity with
those frogs, and locusts, and disgusting political vermin. How
humiliating is such an exposition
" Efforts of direct
The fourth head of the inquiry, viz
of the world.
!
:
donations of
its
(the Bank's) money."
bribery, by
Let it be borne in mind, that President Jackson himself
made
this
charge, direct. It originated in his own heart, and
formed, out of his own mouth. It was seconded
came,
and sustained, of course, by
full
just as was his declaration
tols at him, that "it is that
said this,
his
sycophants and followers,
when Lawrence spapped
his pis-
He
rascal, Poindexter."
His "instruments" were im-
damn'd
and that was enough.
mediately in motion to prove it. The conspiracy exploded,
and master and men, all alike stand transfixed by the spear
being given to their assertions, by a committee of the Senate, and to their OATHS they cry out against
PERtheir OWN witnesses, procured by themselves,
of truth, and the
lie
(J"
JURED VILLAINS." What
a spectacle
!
!
Just so with this charge of bribery against the Bank.
Pre-
announced it, and intimated that, but for his
He
special purity, the Bank would have bribed him too
had not a doubt but it had bribed Congress Oh, no and
whenever a member, a little more honest than some of the
Jackson members have proved themselves to be, would give
sident Jackson
!
a vote according
to his oath,
and
his conscience, (things get'
124
ting
now most
fearfully out of vogue,) out
with a pretty strong implication that
Bank" "the Monster !"
it
comes the Globe
was "bribery"
Now what says the Committee ? Hear it
(/ "NO CASE of this sort is known to the Committee;
"the
no such case
appears (of course where such would appear) on the books of the bank."
was not enough.
For it had been already, by
the
Bank,
Whitney, charged against
touching other matters,
that it paid out its money without making any entries at all.
But
this
Well, the committee
summon
before
them the two Govern-
Directors, Messrs. Macalister and Ingraham, and put
the question "Could any morttey go out of the Bank without
ment
the same appearing on the books?"
do not think it could."
Answer "
We
Now what becomes of President Jackson's favourite and
cherished charge against the Bank of " bribery ?" Where
shall honest men go to find even the atoms of this broken up
and scattered calumny ? No where within the range of truth,
or justice, or honour, I answer but even to this hour, the
whole may be found, in an embodied form, in President Jackson's keeping, alongside the Poindexter affidavits; and in the
;
Globe, and in
its affiliated
lingers in the
presses
yet
dalous falsehood was invented.
The
aye, and perhaps it even
whom the scan-
minds of those, to delude
"In rendering the press its (the Bank's) stipendiary, by bestowing gratuitous rewards on editors, or making
to
5lh
them extravagant loans."
The Committee know of no case of gratuity
"
to any."
The Committee go over the old grounds of the Jesper HardWebb and Noah loans, and the loans to Gales
ing, and the
and Seaton. The Committee take a range from New York
to Norfolk,
and
from, editors in
ington,
state the loans
New
made
to,
and balances due
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash-
Richmond, Va. and Norfolk.
"
Some
of these loans
(says the Committee) at a period too remote
from the present times to be subject to any suspicion of im-
were granted
propriety, while others
to
be
hostile to the
have been obtained by editors known
" Loans made to
itself."
Again
Bank
125
have existed from the origin of the Bank." But which
of the Presidents, except President Jackson, saw, or even suspected in the Bank, a design to render the press its stipeneditors
by it? But
men, had so
an
editor of a newspaper got a note discounted
any one of those high minded and honourable
far forgot the honour due to his character, and
diary, because
if
by "reof
the
the
editors
and
otherwise,
press; and
warding" publicly
the
this
hour
into
into
the
as
to
he
forces
Globe,
forcing
press
and as his office-holders are compelled by him to force into
the Globe's allies, thousands of the public money, he might be
supposed dishonourable enough to originate a charge, as has
to the nation, as to have, as has President Jackson,
General Jackson against the Bank, of bribery of the press,
when the Bank, acting in the business of its calling, (which
is to loan money, and to
judge of the proper amount and of
the security,) loans a portion of its funds to editors.
As with other things, so with the press. Does General
Jackson disgrace the country by appointing in the face of his
own published denunciation of the practice, subservient members of Congress to office?
Does he, in this way, destroy the
independence of that body, as he has, most effectually, the
independence of the House of Representatives? He directly
charges the Bank with a like interference, and a like purpose,
to make Congress subservient to its ends.
Does he reward
editors and pay them out of the public treasury for their
fidelity to
cry
rest.
himself and his measures ?
"the bank
is
It is as old as the
times, loosing his
Instantly he starts the
And so of all the
buying up the press."
own
days of
tail in
./Esop, that
a trap,
set to
an old fox of
to have
work
his
all
the foxes appear in a like disgraceful predicament. The old
fox of modern times has had the luck to make a good many
silly
is, is
ones believe that the fashion set by himself, odious as it
followed by others, especially by so dignified an institu-
tion as the
To have appeared a solitaire
was more than even the old Roman, or the
United States Bank.
in this disgrace,
hero of three wars, could bear. The public can be at no loss
to understand this whole business.
If it were cheap, or did
not cost the country too
much
in
suffering
and
in dishonour,
126
the cunning of the scheme might be laughed
at.
But
it
is
too serious a matter for a joke.
The Committee bestow much
space
in describing the
labour and occupy
6th point in order, viz
:
much
" Loans to
members of Congress and functionaries of the Government."
Here the Committee meet President Jackson and his host
of calumniators face to face. And what does the Committee
tell them?
"The same remark, says the Committee, which
was made in regard to editors, is applicable also to members
of Congress and other public functionaries loans have been
obtained by them of the Bank at every period of its existence.
The remark applies to those who now hold executive offices,
as to those who now are, or have been, members of Congress,
and
this
without regard to the political predilection of the
borrowers."
This every honest
how
let us see
man might have
expected.
But now
far President Jackson's charge of bribery
is
true.
If the aggregate sum had been increased, to any considerable amount, then a disingenious mind like his, might
have some ground for its suspicions. But if, instead of this,
the loans to members of Congress, and public functionaries,
are diminished, by a comparison between present and former
times, showing a less sum loaned now, than previously, I
should like to
know
if
that fact, clearly set forth, ought not
shame these bold and reckless calumniators ?
us see what the committee bring forth. Let the
to cover with
Well,
let
committee speak
:
1826, the loans to members of Congress at the Bank and
the branches, then in existence, amounted to 237,437 dollars; and in
the present year, with the addition, since 1826, of several branches, and
"In the year
all
the number of members of Congress, to 258,227 dollars.
of loans during the present year is less by 111,539, (deducting
from the loans of 1833 a large loan on stock, and drafts in this office, than
an increase
in
The amount
by $69,826, than in 1832; and by $63,971, than in the year 1831;
and that there has been a similar declension in comparison with the loans
of each of the officers with the exception of one, at which the amount is
not extravagantly large, whilst at many others no loans for any amount exist
and
in 1834.
It is
proper to remark, that the amount at Philadelphia
Washington in the year 1832, over succeeding and preceding years, arises
from the fact, that in that year, a loan on stock, amounting to 100,000 dolin 1833,)
127
lars,
was granted to one member, now dead,
at Philadelphia,
Washington, discounts to the amount of 50,000
acceptances, &c. were granted to another."
The committee vouch
dollars,
and that at
on Post Office
for the correctness of this statement.
Now what
becomes of the cry of "Bribery Corruption
Congress bought by the Bank, &c." I will answer what
is
become of it. It will rebound, laden with all the
disgrace and infamy it was sent forth to heap upon others,
and settle, in noisome, and festering, and corroding effects,
destined to
upon those who sent
it
forth
;
and upon those who gave
it cir-
History will preserve these men, not in the gums
and spices of Egypt, but in the offensive and disgusting materials from the laboratory of their own calumnies.
culation.
On the seventh and last point, I shall make but a few remarks; referring the reader to my 17th number, he will find
there, perhaps, reasons enough why the Bank should publish
and circulate documents and speeches for its defence. The
committee think the Bank was extravagant. So might a
made by desperadoes, of another sort,
a
He might suppose the inmates, whose
mansion.
upon family
all was at hazard, would have been equally successful in
driving back the assailants, by a discharge of ten, instead of
looker-on, at an assault
a hundred guns in which case, there would, of course, have
been saved ninety rounds of powder and ball. But those
within, to whom the defence was entrusted, and whose all
;
was
jeopardy, would, nevertheless, choose to judge in that
matter, for themselves. So with the Bank.
in
The committee would seem
counts, or
its
the Bank acmode and names
to desire that
President, should disclose the
&c. by whose agency counterfeiters were deThe Bank had just as
tected and calumnies were exposed.
well surrender all its power, and every future attempt to
detect and expose either. It is a branch of police. Suppose
of the
officers,
the Mayor of the city, and the High Constables, were to expose to the public their plans for detecting the plunderers of
property, and give the names of those they employ to guard
the city from the ravages of the incendiary? Would it not
be, virtually, surrendering all their power,
and giving the
128
city
up?
Just so with the Bank.
It
has to contend against
a double enemy; and to adapt its operations and expenses to
On the one hand, it has to meet
these double movements.
the calumniator; and on the other the counterfeiter; and then
again, to
to
upon,
$4,040
watch the
break
its
incendiaries, in
branches!
their attempt,
In 1832 the
Bank had
by runs
to pay
for protecting the Western Branches from the hirewhich
"the party" employed to make a run upon, with
lings
a view to break them
!
Upon the point of disclosing the objects of the Bank's expenditure, the President of the Bank has satisfied every man
who knows what he averred to the committee his willingness
And what was it ? Why, reader, " to verify under
to do.
of solemnity, in any way agreeable to the commitform
any
for
what
the expenditure had not been made;" and "that
tee,
no portion of it had been made to subsidize any portion of
the public press, or to tamper with, or affect the purity of
any
public functionary."
This will silence for ever, among honest and honourable
men, all the clamor which has been raised against the Bank
on these heads for lives there a man who would not believe
Nicholas Biddle on his word?
Who
then would for a
moment
question his oath?
In my next I shall review the conduct of Governor Wolf,
George M. Dallas, Joel B. Sutherland, and others, on this
subject; and then, with an appeal to the public, close these
essays.
ARISTIDES.
No. 29.
The
position occupied
by the leaders of the Jackson party
one which no high-minded or honourable
Pennsylvania,
man can contemplate without disgust. "Poor human nature!"
Here we have it sunk many degrees below its ordinary conin
is
with Pennsylvania selected for the theatre on which
to exhibit the excess of its degradation.
dition
129
Let us
tion of
now
first,
and fora
Gov. Wolf,
stands to his
I
moment
only, contemplate the posiin the relation which he
do not mean
own
party, and to those
whom,
at the ex-
pense of principle, he patronized. He is in rougher hands
than mine. His own creatures have clutched him by the
throat,
and hold,
at this
moment, the nauseous cup of his own
mixing to his lips forcing it upon him till he shall drink it
to the very dregs.
This is retributive justice, and may be
regarded as a specimen of what these Jackson patriots hold in
reserve for one another in detail.
As deserters from prinfrom
and
the
constitution,
ciple,
liberty" as men in close alliance with the grossest selfishness, following after the loaves
and fishes, in utter recklessness of what may befal their coun-
when SUCH men get by the ears, there is no quarter.
Like the Kilkenny cats, they never fail to devour one anI have nothing to do with their family quarrels, nor
other.
try,
with the loathing exhibitions they make of each other.
is with their leaders, when they acted in concert,
My
business
FOR the Bank, and then AGAINST the Bank. Let us to
Gov. Wolf.
It is very well known, nor will the most illiterate deny
first
the truth of the position, that
down
to
1832, the policy of
three cardinal
democratic Pennsylvania, was formed of
THE BANK; DOMESTIC PROTECTION;
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT." That man who
points, viz:
and
might have attempted, down to that period, and even for some
time after, to sever these, would have been denounced as a
traitor,
tion.
not to the State only, but to his party, and to .the naUpon this ground, we find George Wolf. What did
he say, so
late as his
message of December, 1832?
cannot omit," he says, " whilst bringing before
your notice such measures of national policy, as it is believed
Pennsylvania OUGHT to sustain, to take a passing notice of
"
I
one that has excited no ordinary state of feeling," &c. He
then adverts to the resolutions which passed both branches of
the Pennsylvania Legislature, " with great unanimity," calling upon their Senators and Representatives in Congress to
" use
their exertions to obtain a renewal of the charter of the
17
130
Bank of the United States." He next speaks of the bill which
had passed Congress for that purpose, and of the President's
veto; and cannot believe that the same fate awaited every bill
that
might pass both Houses of Congress on that
subject,
and
then adds:
" The Bank of the United
States, whatever may be alleged to the
It has established a
contrary, has CERTAINLY done the country service.
circulating medium, in which the people have confidence. It is not denied,
I believe, that it has
greatly facilitated the operations of the General Government, so far as its pecuniary transactions were concerned; and it is
admitted, that
it
has materially aided individuals in their pecuniary arrange-
ments with each other, and especially in the transmission of money to distant parts of the Union.
It would (he continues) be a subject of deep
regret, therefore,
if
a too strict adherence to a critical construction of the
its expediency, in a moral or
should have the effect to prevent a renewal of
thus unsettling that which has heretofore been considered
constitution, &c., or a too critical analysis of
political point of view, 8cc.
charter
its
PART of the established policy of the country."
So much for Governor Wolf,
and as he had been antecedent
as
he was in December, 1832,
In previous
to that period.
messages, he advocated the Bank, and urged upon the Legislature its .excellence, and the importance of its continued
existence.
Now
soll.
let us
take a bird's-eye view of Charles Jared Ingerfind him in the
at him in 1831.
We
Let us look
House of Representatives of Pennsylvania,* upon
his feet, bolt
upright, offering the following resolution:
" Resolved,
as the sense of this House, (of his
own
as a
member of
it,)
that the constitution of the United States authorizes, and near a half century's experience sanctions, a
Bank
of the United States, as necessary and
proper to regulate the value of money, and prevent paper currency of an
unequal and depreciated value."
There is no mistaking this. It is true, it was offered when
Governor Wolf was for the Bank; when the Legislature was
for the Bank; and when Andrew Jackson was not understood
The ground, therefore, felt pretbe altogether against it.
ty safe. C. J. Ingersoll never risks any thing except principle.
find
Let us take a look at Doctor Jesse R. Burden.
to
We
him plump up by
the side of Charles Jared Ingersoll, flourishing a resolution in the same Legislature, in these words:
"Resolved, That whereas the Bank of the United States has tended, in
131
a great degree, to maintain a sound and uniform
currency, to facilitate the
financial operations of the Government, to regulate foreign and domestic
exchange, and has been conducive to commercial prosperity, the Pennsylvania Legislature recommend a renewal of its charter, under such regulations
and
restrictions, as to the
may deem
power of the
respective States, as Congress
right and proper."
On
the question on this resolution, it passed 75 to 11.
During the same session of the Legislature, but at an earlier
period, viz: June, 1832, the following resolution was passed
UNANIMOUSLY:
"Resolved, That, connected as the prosperity of agriculture and manuis, with the successful financial operations and sound currency of
factures
the country, we view the speedy rechartering of the Bank of the United
States, with such alterations as may secure the rights of the States, if any
be necessary,
as of
(}>
VITAL IMPORTANCE TO THE PUBLIC WEL-
FARE."
Quitting the Legislature, we go to Congress. Let us see
stands up there in support of those resolutions, and in favour of a recharter of the Bank of the United States. Fore-
who
most stands GEORGE
M.
DALLAS.
He was Chairman
of the
Committee of the Senate, and reported a bill, rechartering
the Bank of the United States. The bill reported, he stood
it, defending and sustaining it, at every step ; and at last
records his vote in its favour. Mr. Wilkins was no less ardent
by
in supporting the bill, than Mr. Dallas.
Through
the Senate, the bill finds its way into the House. It goes
through that body, and next in the hands of President Jack-
and active
son,
when
it
was made
to share the fate of other bills, since
by being VETOED,
return to the House, to see by whose special agency
the bill was fostered and taken care of there. Foremost we
that time,
We
find, in all the ardour of one anxious to support this branch
I must
of Pennsylvania policy, JOEL B. SUTHERLAND.
of
that
on the
reader
of
some
the
to
the
words,
beg
possess
9th January, 1832,
fell
from the
lips
of this consistent per-
Hear him
sonage.
" There was one
point on which he
felt bound to put a question to the
Honourable gentleman from Georgia. Did that Honourable gentleman
mean to assert that the president and directors of the United States Bank,
residing in Philadelphia, (men of as lofty character, of as strict honour and
respectability, as any set of
men
in this country, in this
House or out of it;)
132
mean
did he
to say, that these
men were
influenced to bring this measure
forward by Ihe movements of a political party?
ment," &c.
It
was no
political
move-
If there was any one man, in either House of Congress,
more ardent than any other in defending the Bank and in advocating its recharter, that man was Joel B. Sutherland. The
whole Pennsylvania delegation in Congress, with only a single
Even Henry
exception, advocated the bill for a recharter.
Horn, who "cannot
lie," said
the
Bank was good, and must be
preserved.
Now
then,
we have Gov. Wolf, the whole of the Legislature
of Pennsylvania, Ingersoll, Burden, and Petrekin, as its leaders.
All the Delegation except one, in Congress, with Dallas, Wilkins, Sutherland, and Horn, as leaders, ALL warmly and zea-
Bank, and calling loudly
sudden they all change
lously advocating the
On a
ter.
!
!
for its rechar-
!
Like the tide that bears onward the materials when
it
and back again when it ebbs, so we find the whole of
these men, borne by a current of another sort, in the diAll FOR the Bank, as we have seen
rectly opposite course.
and anon, all, not only against it, but bitter and reproachful
enemies real hunters, blood-hounds, in full run after its de-
floods,
;
struction
!
Were
there no inducements to this change? Wilkins has
got his 18,000 dollars for the first year, and will get his 9000
dollars for each remaining year that he may fill the appoint-
ment which he has received as his "reward" for his defection
from himself, from principle, and from his country's good and
his country's honour.
Jesse R.
Burden has never been known, even
in the affair
of the State Loan, to act without inducement; and whether
he comes under the denomination of a seeker after office, under
General Jackson's promise to "reward his friends," those who
know him better than I do, may determine.
Mr. Dallas can
assign one good reason for his conduct, I
be happy to hear and record it. The school in which
he was instructed, never taught a conduct so liable to damn
the reputation of a citizen for consistency, and to establish a
If
shall
133
preference of self over a love of country. And if he can show
that he has not had the promise of several offices, (although
disappointed to this hour,) he will go far towards shaking
public opinion touching the motive which prompted him to
such mysterious and humiliating conduct; and for myself, I
shall be happy to record it.
As
to Sutherland,
his political creed.
he has written
He
in ever-during characters
has avowed that he is " a man of
principle according to his interest" It would seem that
after having made a tool of Governor Wolf, he has used him
since pretty much to his own liking.
He can command a
much ease as a bird can pick from its stem
a cherry; and he can drop it as quickly when a riper, or
more inviting object strikes his eye.
As to Governor Wolf's motives for his conduct, besides securing a' permanence of office for a son at Washington, they
Judgeship with as
can be resolved into nothing but those which demonstrate his
abandonment of the State, and its honours and interests, into
the hands of a party, whose object is to surrender all that is
Pennsylvanian to him of Kinderhook, and to the rulers of the
Or, in other words, as has been said by
another, he has condescended to surrender his guardianship of
the state, and its interests, and come down from the elevated
Albany regency.
position of Governor, to hold the candle whilst
Buren writes the will of the State
Martin Van
!
A
few words
to the
men
I have thus arraigned at the bar
Governor Wolf. For which of the
of public opinion.
First to
benefits conferred
by the Bank, as avowed
in
your Message
of December, 1832, as quoted, have you become the enemy
" whatever
of the Bank ?
Is it because the Bank,
may be
Or
alleged to the contrary, has done the country service?"
is it because " it has established a
in
medium,
circulating
which the people have confidence?" Or because (there being
no "denial") "it has greatly facilitated the operations of the
General Government?" Or, as "it is admitted," "that it has
materially aided individuals in their pecuniary arrangements
with each other and especially in the transmission of money
to distant parts of the
Union?"
For which of these confessed
134
and recorded
benefits, I ask,
is it
.
that
you consented
to seize
the dagger of your official station, and plunge it in the vitals
of this great public and private beneficiary? Or did you thus
Either you were honest then, or you
eulogise it in derision ?
are not honest now; or you are honest now, and were dishonest
Do you
have exposed, in your
You can
Sir, you knew they were calumnies.
justification
take no refuge there. Take, then, the reward of your inconthen.
resort to the calumnies I
!
your perfidy the pay of the time-serving politician
the contempt of all honest men.
I will not
pursue the men, your co-workers, who are transfixed with the poisoned arrows of their own make.
They are,
sistency
one and
all, in
On them
the same predicament.
devolves the
and explain
to a disand
act
how
could
the
gusted
injured people
they
parts they
have acted, in behalf of the Bank of the United States, and
duty
to justify their recreant conduct,
then turn, as one man, to cut and hack it in pieces
These acts may be, for a while, screened from the public
ire by the .shield of party and party success
but a day will
!
arrive, in this world,
all
that
and the
when a wasting
pestilence will unnerve
may now seem to be bold when
office seeker, who have united to
;
the office holder,
carry on this iniquitous war upon the currency, the very life blood of the
country, will tremble in the presence of men, who, breathing
a higher and purer atmosphere, will dart from their eyes indignant glances of contempt upon all such conduct, and when
a patriotic and renovated people will consign to merited disgrace all such time, and party serving men.
ARISTIDES.
No. 30.
have gone, generally, over the field of this Bank controI have found it filled with official and pensioned
versy.
Like all mercenaries, their labours
calumniating enemies.
in the cause of their master, have been, in the precise
I
ratio of the "
rewards" promised to them.
At
this point
135
Some will have it that the supto
the
the
high-handed acts of this party
people
port given by
even in its war on the Bank, and the atrocious plunder of
the Post Office Department, is owing to the personal poputhe secret of Jacksonism.
lies
larity of
Andrew
This
Jackson.
exclusively, to the proofs
is
an
error.
It is
owing,
"reward,"
the competent, but however
he has given that he
not the virtuous, the intelligent,
incompetent, or vicious, or ignorant, those
will
who
will
throw
feet, shout to his honour, and commend,
or
his
acts.
This, and this alone, is the secret
"right
wrong,"
of Jacksonism, and of this debasing lure, comes the power of
themselves at his
Cunning men men versed in human nature,
and who know the springs which control it, in its most degraded state, planned this contrivance, and Andrew Jackson
was the very man on whom they knew they could rely for
the consummation of their debased and debasing schemes.
The avenue to his favour is that of the grossest flattery. This
is
easy to be administered, especially by those who have the
honour of his respect and confidence, and any man can secure
It is only
these by administering a copious dose of flattery.
necessary for an intelligent mind to survey the men (with a
few, and only a few, exceptions) that are in the service of
"the party."
the present administration, to perceive at once, the motives
It is a
that led to their adhesion and their appointment.
question with me, whether, if the crusade set on foot against
the Bank, had been organized against the Constitution and
Liberty, direct, the same men who have been employed to
produce the downfal of the former, would not have been just
as ready to engage in a
It
ter.
God,
I
is
war
a question, did
I
of extermination against the latI recall this, and before
say?
body of them would have
overthrow the one, as they have been
declare, I believe the great
been found as ready
to
active in destroying the other. The only inducement neces"
sary to this, would, at this moment, be additional rewards."
I
copy the following paragraph, from a public journal. It
what the charm of Jacksonism consists. It shows
illustrates in
in
what Gen. Jackson's popularity
consists.
Strip
him of
this
"rewarding" and bribing power, or confine him to a constitu-
136
tional exercise of
Executive patronage, and to a decent re-
spect for himself, in
the use of
it,
man who would be
any where, a
and there would not
exist,
so universally despised.
And
"rewarding" system alone, that keeps alive, and imaction
and power to "the party;" and it is this that opeparts
rates upon the SORT of men who surround the person of their
it is
this
Chief,
But
to
and who are heard shouting
the paragraphs
to
him over the country.
:
"The appointment
of Kobert T. Lytle, the Cincinnati Representative in
Congress, to the Surveyor Generalship of Ohio, by the President,
before his seat in Congress, from which he had been indignantly rejected
by his abused constituents, had got fairly cold, affords another striking evi-
the
last
dence of the regard which the President entertains for
He
to the people.
his
declared previous to his election, that
solemn pledges
when such ap-
pointments were practised, "corruption would be the order of the day," and
he would render members of Congress ineligible to any such appointment
during the term for which they were elected, and two years thereafter,
by amending the constitution. Yet he does not hesitate to add another
to the numerous precedents which his administration has afforded of Executive bribery, or what he declared to be bribery.
"Another case, in the appointment of Mr. Kavanagh, to a high diplomatic station, in less time after his seat in Congress became vacated, than
it would require for his
journey to his constituents. Lytle and Kavanagh
were both members of Congress, both were candidates for re-election, both
rejected by the people for supporting the corruptions of the administration, and both returned from Congress, with their appointments in their
pockets, to show their constituents that
when
the people
would not
sustain
them, the power of the President would.'"
A power like
this, and thus prostituted, requires to be overthe
come,
prevalence of Roman virtue, and the employment
Can Patriotism
of the opposite and counteracting means.
combat
successfully
if
those
this
who
power, or drive back this stream of
are influenced by it keep back any
corruption,
part of the sacrifice required to make its efforts effective? Is
it rational to see an evil, and feel its effects, and sit
quietly
with folded arms, and mourn over, and expect
it
to retire?
Are the
key
rich in this great contest justifiable in turning the
upon their treasures, when money may be required to
scatter light
the people, and employ the appropriate
and
meeting
driving back the armies of mercenaries
that are laying waste the land?
power
for
among
137
It is to the government patronage, prostituted as it is, and
the use of the public money, in employing and rewarding
officers, and to the calumnies they are, in these ways, paid
for
that we must look for the secret of the success
circulating,
of Jacksonism
and
;
and
we may
find
in
our
own want
of union
of action, the secret of the failure of our designs, so far,
to save the country.
The
friends of the constitution
have
to encounter
a fearful
They must surrender sectional and personal
and forego what they would desire, for what
they can obtain, or as certain as their is a sun in the Heavens,
all will be lost
Thrown by the power forced by the stream
responsibility.
predilections,
!
of corruption from their position, the patriots of the Republic
have nothing left but to get footing where they can. The
question at present is, not whether Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, or Daniel Webster, or any other great man, shall be
President of the United States, but whether Liberty and
shall be, or cease to be.
If general Jackson shall suc"
ceed, by his system of
rewards," in buying up enough of
Swiss power to elect his successor, as he has been in sustain-
Union
ing himself, I would not give a pinch of snuff for our Liberty,
our Constitution, or our Union. Success here, and under the
circumstances of the case, would amount to a virtual aban-
donment of the first, and a dissolution of the last. It would
be so, since the evils we endure now, are borne, not because they are not destructive of Liberty, but from the hope
that there is enough of virtue in the Republic to save it.
This hope once extinct, and the power of General Jackson to
entail upon us a successor of his own choice, being clearly
shown, there will be an end to the Republic.
Let
patriots, therefore, in
view of
this horrible
catastrophe,
Let them, with the proofs I have given in these essays,
of the power of Jacksonism, and of the mode of its operation,
unite.
when brought
to bear on the great monied interests of the
country, take the alarm, and with one eye on this war on the
Bank, and the other on the rank corruptions of the Post Office Department, and all the departments, resolve, to throw
18
138
of despotism, and restore to the country, its
peace, and its hopes.
So utterly corrupt has the whole mass of "the Government"
back
this title
honour,
its
become, that
it boasts of it
Bribery purchase of votes
the exercise of the Federal patronage in state affairs, who
As well might it be attempted to deny
pretends to deny?
!
that night and day succeed each other, or that light
manifest.
J\o longer able to hide the corruptions on
the minions of the government fatten, they are held
the party as purity personified.
sweet
Who
bitter.
Bitter
is
makes
which
up by
and
called sweet,
was more honoured at the
late Jefferson
dinner in Philadelphia, than Wm. T. Barry, upon whose horrible administration of the Post Office Department, a unani-
mous vote of the Senate cast a censure
And what awaits him?
it
ing against
!
even Isaac Hill vot-
A mission to Spain
!!
!
Eighteen thousand dollars for one year, and nine thousand dollars a year afterwards, for what ? For carrying out to the letanswer, the scheme of rewarding partisans; and making
public money subservient to the perpetuation of Jacksonism.
ter, I
Well might Mr. Calhoun say that the very demonstration of
this corruption went to increase the power of the party. Let
any man look this matter full in the face.
I have shown him in these essays how
see?
What
this
does he
profligate
party moved upon the Bank. First, by slanders the most
then
foul, to get rid of an honest and honourable direction
to
put in
tools
of their
own
selecting
this failing,
calumny
was made the great instrument for battering it down men
were commissioned to act as "spies" committees were formed
to implicate
a
man was
selected to swear
away
the good
of President Biddle, and to impeach the honour of the
other officers of the Bank. Every resort was had to break
name
down the system
of currency which has no equal on the face
of the earth, because the Bank,
tained
it,
would not bow down
which gave it being, and susto, and become the tool of
I have proved all this. What next? The Senate
a
unanimous
vote, has demonstrated the corruptions of the
by
Post Office Department. The records demonstrate the shock-
Jacksonism.
ing depraVity of the
Land
Office,
and of the Indian Depart-
139
ment.
A
smell has gone forth
!
It
sickens every
man
of ho-
Laws are violated the Constinest or honourable feelings
Marshals are subservient and a Secretution spurned at.
!
tary of the Treasury, for daring to be honest, is kicked out in
the face of all the people, and a tool put in his place to do the
will of his master.
All
this,
and more,
is
as visible to all eyes
is it the
as the sun at noon-day.
people do not rise and
of
this
state
from
them
cast
Because, 1 answer, they
things?
of
are made the victims
calumny!
Why
Look
ple
at these charges
all
sent round to deceive the peo-
!
Extract from the President's letter to one of
his Secretaries.
Deposites must be removed before Congress meets, or the Bank
BRIBE enough of the MEMBERS to prevent it."
"The
will
Extract from the Government Press.
" Senators
Clay and Webster are the feed lawyers of the Bank, and hence
their great exertions in
its
behalf."
From
the same.
" Senator Calhoun
instigated the assassination of the President."
From
the same.
" Senator
Tipton has valuable kinds on the Wabash, and hence he is
trying to get an appropriation to improve the navigation of the latter, with
a view to improve the value of the former."
Extract from the letter of a Washington correspondent.
" Senator Webster
gets a fee of $5,000 to aid in passing a
the French claims."
From
bill to
off"
the same.
"Governor Tazewell, of Virginia, pure and immaculate as he
dered, has received $50,000 from the United States Bank."
From
pay
is
consi-
the same.
"Representative A. S. Clayton, who was so violent against the Bank,
has received an accommodation from that institution, and it has glued his
tongue to the roof of his mouth."
These, reader, are the sort of things that have been conThis is the stream of poison, and
triyed to gull the people.
this its quality, that has been kept constantly running from
the lips of President Jackson, and from the Globe, his chosen
and "rewarded" organ and on
;
these,
and the
like,
have the
140
people been taught to rely for intellectual, and moral, and
political nourishment.
So
have been employed against the
have exposed them. I defy successful contradiction.
From the Woodbury and Hill scheme, to get possession of the
Bank, to the Thomas Committee, contriving to destroy it, I have
followed the "devised instruments" of the party, and exposed
them, and -their degrading and degraded agencies. Aye, and
Bank,
far as these calumnies
1
I have shown the
position of your Wolfs, and your Ingersolls,
and your Burdens, and Dallases, and Sutherlands; and what
sort of positions do they occupy? Such as must degrade them
in the eyes of all
and
I
honourable men,
I
answer, in the present
in all future time.
have done
my
duty
faithfully,
but feebly.
In abler
men
professing
hands, the exposition of this foul conduct, of
be honourable, must have shaken "the party" to atoms
that is, if corruption be not an overmatch for purity, and
to
licentiousness for liberty.
ARISTIDES,
APPENDIX,*
ARISTIDES TO THE PUBLIC.
PHILADELPHIA, February 20, 1835.
The
following address appeared in the United States Gazette of this
morning:
TO THE
PUBLIC.
PHILADELPHIA, February 19, 1835.
My attention was called, a few days since, to two essays in the Pennsylvania Inquirer of the 10th and 12th inst. ; the effusions of a writer who assumes and disgraces the signature of Aristides. They are obviously the
production of a false and malignant libeller, venting personal slander, under the pretence of political discussion. With the assistance of the editor*
frankly afforded, so far as he conceived his own position allowed, I endeavoured immediately to ascertain the namejof this concealed traducer. He
has baffled
my
efforts,
Nothing therefore
on pretexts the most shuffling and contemptible.
me but to make this statement, from which my
is left
may appreciate the character of a slanderer, who, to the
baseness of anonymous defamation, adds the meanness of evading that responsibility which no honest or honourable man would hesitate to assume.
fellow citizens
H. D. GILPIN.
That the public may judge of the truth and candour of H. D. Gilpin's
assertions, Jlristides begs leave to submit the following copies of letters
which have passed on the subject:
PHILADELPHIA, 14th February, 1835.
To
the Editor of the Pennsylvania Inquirer.
Sir:
My notice has been called to two essays, published in the Pennsylvania Inquirer of the 10th and 12th instant, under the signature of Aristides.
are obviously to me the productions of a false and malignant liwho, while venting his long-brewed venom, strives to avoid responsibility, by mingling personal slander with political discussion.
As you disclaim the authorship in your editorial columns, I demand that
They
beller,
name of a writer, who has thus wantonly assailed my character, shall
be communicated to the bearer of this note, Gen. A. M. Prevost.
Your obedient servant,
H. D. GILPIN.
the
*
To
complete
this
work, the publishers include the correspondence, which the
essays, at a certain stage of their progress, gave rise to.
pndence under the
title
of Appendix.
They
give that corres-
142
Mr. Morris, the Editor of the Inquirer, having communicated the above
letter to Aristides, Aristides immediately
answered
it
as follows:
PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1835.
To
R. Morris, Esq.
Dear Sir: I have read and reflected upon the papers you have sent me,
namely, a letter from H. D. Gilpin to you, demanding the author of certain essays in the Inquirer, and a copy of your answer.
I have been engaged, and yet am, in the discussion of a great public
question, involving the conduct of important public functionaries. That
conduct I have spoken of freely, but in no instance have I placed it in a
which admitted facts, or official documents, would not justify. I have
yet to learn that a free exercise of the right of a citizen to examine
the conduct of public officers creates a personal responsibility to every
individual officer who may find himself incommoded by the exposure.
light
Such, from the tone of H. D. Gilpin's note, and the channel by which
reached you, I take to be the responsibility which he contemplates.
it
It
I must, at present decline.
have said in No. 13 of my essays, that "nothing shall turn me aside"
from the prosecution of my plan for exposing to the public the calumnies
against the Bank. But when the series shall be completed, my position
is
one, that
I
be changed, and I shall be willing to waive the ground taken in the
part of this letter upon one indispensable condition.
I consider the three individuals, namely H. D. Gilpin, J. T. Sullivan,
will
first
and Peter Wager, as jointly referred to
in
my
essays,
and so blended to-
gether, by the very nature of their own acts, that they cannot be severed,
and that it is impossible to decide what cause of offence may have been
given to either, separately. It follows that I cannot recognize the separate right of either, to personal satisfaction. If, however, these three persons will sign a paper, pledging themselves, after the conclusion of these
essays (which will be within two weeks) jointly to call upon me for the
sort of satisfaction which the tone of H. D. Gilpin's note, and the
same
it was delivered, authorize me to infer he contemplates,
hereby authorize you, on the receipt of suck paper, to give up my name.
I pledge myself upon the receipt of such a joint invitation, promptly to
accept it, and to render satisfaction to each; and in order, to be determin-
channel by which
I
ed by
lot.
I
have the honour to be,
With
great respect, your ob't serv't.
ARISTIDES.
the receipt of the foregoing, Mr. Morris sent a copy of it to General
Prevost and soon after he received from the General, the following note,
On
which he communicated, forthwith, to Aristides.
Dear Sir: I have carefully read the copy of your correspondent's note,
which you put in my hands at 5 o'clock this afternoon.
It conveys no answer to the demand of Mr. Gilpin, and my confidence
in your
own
character and sense of justice, leads
me
to expect such a
143
prompt and explicit communication on the subject of that demand, as a
man of honour should give, and can alone consent to receive.
I
am
respectfully yours,
A. M.
PUEVOST.
ROBERT MORRIS, Esq.
February
14, 6, P. M., 1835.
Aristides then addressed the following note to Mr. Morris.
Philadelphia, February 15, 1835.
R. MORRIS, Esq.
Dear Sir: I will not permit any occurrence to drive me from my purpose of exposing the calumnies against the Bank of the United States. I
To
do not mean
to
be shot
off,
on account of
my
labours to defend truth and
therefore prohibit the annunciation of the
name of the writer of " Aristides" to the party " demanding" it, or to any
These being finished, you
other, until I shall have concluded the essays.
justice, at least, yet awhile.
have
it
I
my free consent to give up
necessary or proper to do so.
my name
I
am
to General Prevost, if you
deem
yours, &c.
ARISTIDES.
Mr. Morris, after reserving some time for consideration, and availing
himself of such counsel as he thought necessary, addressed a letter to General Prevost, of which the following is a copy:
Dear
Sir:
Philadelphia, Feb. 16, 1835.
After the receipt of your letter of Saturday, announcing that
" Jlristides"
(of which I handed you a copy) was unsatisfachad a further interview with that individual. In the course of the
same day, I received from him a note, at the close of which he gave his
the answer of
tory, I
free consent to the surrender of his
period, provided
"
I should then think
at the expiration of a certain
necessary or proper to do so."
name,
it
This answer of course threw upon me the responsibility of deciding
in such circumstances, I ought, as the conductor of a public
whether,
press, to give
up the name of my correspondent.
It is
proper here to say,
with him, both before and since your application,
he has denied any motive of personal enmity, or any design to go beyond
the official character and conduct of public agents and that if I had given
that in
all
my intercourse
to his articles a different construction, they should not have been admitted
into the columns of the Inquirer, as will be seen on reference to the editofirst essay was introduced.
a writer avowing such motives, and discussing a subject manifestly proper for public examination, ought voluntarily to leave his con-
rial
paragraph with which the
Whether
cealment, and present himself as a
mark
as an editor, with or without his consent,
I
for personal assault;
should place him
ment, are questions of such delicacy and moment, that
I
and whether,
in that
predica-
would not decide
144
them, without ample time for reflection, and the aid of the best advice
within my reach.
They involve the rights and independence of the press,
I am bound, as a citizen and a professional man, to protect,
so long as they may not interfere with the rights and just demands of
others.
They involve the sanctity of the relation between editors and
both of which
correspondents, which being impaired, the press must lose its just influence
with the community. To the time thus necessarily devoted to reflection
and counsel, you are to attribute the delay of which you complain.
That the whole matter might be brought before those whom I deemed
it proper to counsel, and wJiose names are at
your service, if required, the
following queries were propounded to them, by me:
"
Query 1. Aristides having distinctly averred that in the papers complained
of,
that
tors
he meant to speak of the official acts of the Government Direche has not referred to their private character, nor designed to
implicate that character beyond what was inseparable from a free investigation of their public conduct, is he bound to authorize the surrender of
his
is
name upon the demand of one
of the individuals whose public conduct
thus criticised?"
"
Query
2.
Should Mr. Morris give up the name upon a similar applica-
tion?"
Upon both
negative.
the points thus submitted,
I therefore feel it
ing you with the
my
my
friends have answered in the
duty, very respectfully to decline furnish-
name demanded.
The decision of my friends has been given on the ground that the subject
of the articles being unquestionably a proper one for public discussion, and
the writer having disclaimed allusion to any thing but public and official acts,
of which every citizen is free to speak and think as he pleases, he has incurred no personal responsibility to the parties named, and I therefore
would do wrong to him, to the community, and to the profession of which
I am a member,
by any act tending to dislodge him from his position.
Very
respectfully,
ROBERT MORRIS.
Upon the foregoing correspondence, Aristides confidently leaves his
case with the public.
His essays speak, and will continue to speak, for
themselves. Their nature cannot be changed, nor their proper effects
diminished, by the impotent epithets which H. D. Gilpin has pressed into
his service.
In conclusion, Aristides begs leave to remark that whether his name shall
become known, is to him a matter of perfect indifference. He is
finally
influenced by no apprehensions of H. D. Gilpin's vengeance.
His first
impulse on hearing of II. D. Gilpin's application, was to request Mr. Morris to surrender his name
immediately. He would do so now, but for one
consideration.
Bank
Director,
Believing that his remarks on
owe
II.
their seventy to their intrinsic
D. Gilpin's conduct as a
and unanswerable truth,
145
he
feels
no obligation,
at this stage
of the
affair,
and IH comiExioif WITH
to vent
WHAT HAS PASSED, to gratify that individual with an opportunity
his own passions, or divert public attention from his own merits by
private
warfare.
ARISTIDES.
The foregoing appearing, Mr. Gilpin addressed the following note to
the Editor of the U. S. Gazette.
To
the Editor of the United States Gazette.
PHILADELPHIA, 21st Feb. 1835.
"Aristides" has mutilated the correspondence published in the
Pennsylvania Inquirer of this morning, by suppressing six letters. I an.
Sir:
nex a complete copy
for publication.
Very
respect'y, your ob't serv't,
H. D. GILPIN.
No.
1.
PHILADELPHIA, 14 February, 1835.
To the Editor
of the Pennsylvania Inquirer.
two essays, published in the PennMy
sylvania Inquirer of the 10th and 12th inst, under the signature of ArisSir,
notice has been called to
tides.
are obviously to me the productions of a false and malignant liwho, while venting his long-brewed venom, strives to avoid responsibility, by mingling personal slander with political discussion.
As you disclaim the authorship in your editorial columns, I demand that
They
beller,
the
name
of a writer,
who
has thus wantonly assailed
my
character, shall
be communicated to the bearer of this note, Gen. A. M. Prevost.
Your obedient servant,
H. D. GILPIN.
No.
2.
luauiREB OFFICE,
Saturday morning, Feb. 14, 1834.*
Sir:
Your note of this morning, has just been placed in my hands by
Gen. Prevost. I will immediately wait upon the author of the articles
alluded to, who will cheerfully and promptly, no doubt, assume all proper
I will embrace the earliest opportunity, after
an interview with him, of communicating further with your friend, Gen. P.
responsibility in this affair.
Very
respectfully,
ROBERT MORRIS.
HENBY D.
GILPIX, Esq.
Error in the original.
19
146
No. 3.
IsaumER
OFFICE,
Feb. 15, 1835.
Dear
Immediately after you left me this morning, I called upon
the author of Aristides; handed him Mr. Gilpin's note, also a copy of my
reply to it. At 3 o'clock, he called upon me with the original of the enSir:
closed, which
I
hasten to communicate to you.
Very
truly,
ROBERT MORRIS.
Gen. A. M. PBEVOST.
No.
4.
(COPT:)
To
PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1835.
R. MOBHIS, Esq.
Dear Sir: 1 have read and reflected upon the papers you have sent me,
namely, a letter from H. D. Gilpin to you, demanding the author of certain essays in the Inquirer, and a copy of your answer.
I have been engaged, and yet am, in the discussion of a great public
That
question, involving the conduct of important public functionaries.
conduct I have spoken of, freely, but in no instance have I placed it in a
which admitted facts, or official documents, would not justify. I have
yet to learn that a free exercise of the right of a citizen to examine the
conduct of public officers creates a personal responsibility to every indi-
light
who may find himself incommoded by the exposure. Such,
from the tone of H. D. Gilpin's note, and the channel by which it reached
you, I take to be the responsibility which he contemplates. It is one, that
vidual officer
I
must, at present, decline.
I have said in No. 15 of my essays, that "nothing shall turn me aside"
from the prosecution of my plan for exposing to the public the calumnies
But when the series shall be completed, my position
be changed, and I shall be willing to waive the ground taken in the
first part of this letter; upon one indispensable condition.
I consider the three individuals, namely, H. D. Gilpin, J. T. Sullivan,
and Peter Wager, as jointly referred to in my essays, and so blended together, by the very nature of their own acts, that they cannot be severed,
and that it is impossible to decide what cause of offence may have been
against the Bank.
will
given to either, separately. It follows that I cannot recognize the separate right of either, to personal satisfaction. If, however, these three
persons will sign a paper, pledging themselves, after the conclusion of
these essays (which will be within two weeks) jointly to call upon me for
the same sort of satisfaction which the tone of H. D. Gilpin's note, and the
channel by which
it
was delivered, authorize
me to
infer
he contemplates,
hereby authorize you, on the receipt ofsuch paper, to give up my name. I
pledge myself upon the receipt of such a joint invitation, promptly to acI
147
cept
by
it,
and
to render satisfaction to each,
and
in order, to
be determined
lot.
1
have the honour to be,
With
great respect, &c-
ARISTIDES.
You
are especially enjoined to
Prevost a true copy of it.
keep
No.
this original,
and tender to Gen.
5.
Dear Sir: I have carefully read the copy of your correspondent's note,
which you put in my hands at 5 o'clock this afternoon.
It conveys no answer to the demand of Mr. Gilpin, and my confidence
in your own character and sense of justice, leads me to expect such a
prompt and explicit communication on the subject of that demand, as a
man of honour should give and can alone consent to receive.
I
am respectfully
yours,
A. M.
Feb. 14,
Robert Morris, Esq.
No.
PREVOST,
6, P.
M. 1835.
6.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 16, 1835.
"Aristides" declines authorizing me to give up his name
for the present. I hold the subject under consideration will immediately
consult a friend, as to the course it becomes me to pursue under the cir-
Dear
Sir:
cumstances, and inform you of the result of the conference at the earliest
opportunity.
Very
respectfully,
ROBERT MORRIS.
Gen. A. M. PREVOST.
No.
7.
PHILADELPHIA, 16th Feb. 1835, 11, A. M.
have received your note of this morning, in reply to mine
of Saturday evening. Mr. Gilpin specially directs me to say, that he considers the evasive course of your correspondent as pitiftally shuffling as his
He still looks to you for his name, and after the delay
libels are false.
Dear
Sir:
1
which has already occurred,
cannot reach
ponement is
me
a
moment
I have a right to expect your answer, which
too soon, as on such a subject, protracted post-
inadmissible.
Respectfully yours,
A. M.
ROBERT MORRIS, Esq.
PREVOST.
148
No.
8.
TUESDAY, 17 Feb. 1835, 10, A. M.
have waited three entire days for a reply to my just demand on
who assumes and disgraces the name of Aristicles. I
believe further effort to be vain with this concealed and dishonourable
Sir:
I
your correspondent,
slanderer.
still
I shall,
evades
my
however, wait
demand,
I shall
until four o'clock this afternoon.
If lie
take such course as the circumstances
require.
Your
ob't serv't.
H. D. GILPIN.
ROBERT MORRIS, Esq.
Editor of the Pennsylvania Inquirer.
No.
9.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 17, 1835.
Dear
Sir:
author of "
regret that any further delay should occur in relation to the
Aristides." I am anxious to act in this affair as becomes my
I
character as the editor of a public journal, and at the same time, with due
consideration for the rights of all parties concerned. Unwilling to trust
altogether to my own judgment in a question of considerable delicacy, I
1
two highly respectable gencomplained of, together with
the correspondence that has grown out of them, yesterday afternoon, and
unable to agree in opinion, called in the counsel of a third person. The
three will meet together at ten o'clock this morning, and I will hasten to
referred the whole matter to the decision of
tlemen of this
city.
They read the
communicate to you their
is communicated to me.
articles
decision, which will also be mine, the
moment
it
Respectfully,
ROBERT MORRIS.
Gen. PBEVOST.
No. 10.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 17, 1835.
After the receipt of your letter of Saturday, announcing that
the answer of "Aristides" (of which I handed you a copy) was unsatisfacIn the course of the
tory, I had a further interview with that individual.
Dear
Sir:
same day,
I
received from him a note, at the close of which he gave his
name, at the expiration of a certain
free consent to the surrender of his
"
I should then think it necessary or proper to do so."
This answer of course threw upon me the responsibility of deciding
whether, in such circumstances, I ought, as the conductor of a public
It is proper here to say,
press, to give up the name of my correspondent.
period, provided
that in all
my
intercourse with him, both before and since your application,
149
he has denied any motive of personal enmity, or any design to go beyond
and that if I had given
official character and conduct of public agents
to his articles a different construction, they should not have been admitted
into the columns of the Inquirer, as will be seen on reference to the editorial paragraph with which the first essay was introduced.
the
Whether
a writer avowing such motives, and discussing a subject mani-
proper for public examination, ought voluntarily to leave his concealment, and present himself as a mark for personal assault; and whether,
festly
as an editor, with or without his consent, I should place
him
in that predica-
ment, are questions of such delicacy and moment, that I would not decide
them, without ample time for reflection, and the aid of the best advice
involve the rights and independence of the press,
bound, as a citizen and a professional man, to protect,
so long as they may not interfere with the rights and just demands of
others.
They involve the sanctity of the relation between editors and
within
my
reach.
both of which
I
They
am
correspondents, which being impaired, the press must lose its just influence
with the community. To the time thus necessarily devoted to reflection
and counsel, you are to
attribute the delay of which
you complain.
That the whole matter might be brought before those whom I deemed
it proper to counsel, and whose names are at
your service, if required, the
following queries were propounded to them, by me:
"
Query 1 Aristides having distinctly averred that in the papers complained of, he meant to speak of the official acts of the Government Direc.
.
that
tors
he has not referred to their private character, nor designed to
beyond what was inseparable from a free investi-
implicate that character
gation of their public conduct, is he bound to authorize the surrender
of his name upon the demand of one of the individuals whose public con-
duct
"
is
thus criticised?"
Query
2.
Should Mr. Morris give up the name upon a similar applica-
tion?"
the points thus submitted, my friends have answered in the
therefore feel it my duty, very respectfully to decline furnish-
Upon both
negative.
I
ing you with the
name demanded.
The
decision of my friends has been given on the ground that the subject
of the articles being unquestionably a proper one for public discussion,
and the writer having disclaimed allusion to any thing but public and official
acts, (of which every citizen has a right to speak and think as he pleases,)
he has incurred no personal responsibility, and I, therefore, would do wrong
to him, to the community, and to the profession of which I am a member,
by any act tending
to alter his position.
Very
respectfully,
ROBERT MORRIS.
Gen. A. M. PHEVOST.
150
To
the foregoing-, Aristides thus replied:
PHILADELPHIA, February 23 % 183
.
To R.
Sir: I
Morris, Esq. Editor of the Pennsylvania Inquirer.
find in the United States Gazette of this morning, a further com-
munication from H. D. Gilpin, alleging that a certain correspondence,
(which appeared in your paper of Saturday last) had been mutilated by
me, and professing to give "a complete copy" to the public. On a comparison of H. D. Gilpin's "complete copy" with the correspondence pubby me, as above stated, it will be* seen that his additions consist of
lished
unimportant notes between him and yourself, with which I had
no concern; which throw no light on the question before the public, and
several of which grew out of H. D. Gilpin's inability to be calm and patient
under a reasonable delay, the cause of which you explain in your letter to
five or six
General Prevost.
It will
be seen,
too, that
my
communication
in the In-
quirer, did not profess to give all the correspondence, but only so much
as was necessary to explain the case. Whether I did so, or not, I cheerfully leave to the public to decide.
But
in H. D. Gilpin's communication of this morning he does promise
complete copy' of all the correspondence. Let the public judge of his
candor and love of justice, from the fact, that, in his 'complete copy,' my
letter to you of the 15th February, (authorizing you freely to give up my
'a
you thought it proper and right to do so,) does not appear! That
which was published in your paper of Saturday, and which H. D*
Gilpin must have seen, and which is indispensable to a right understanding
of the case, is SUPPRESSED by H. D. Gilpin, at the very moment when he
is professing to lay the whole correspondence before the public, and is
charging me with mutilation, because, forsooth, I deemed it of no importance to let the public see how much he fretted and foamed, whilst you
name,
if
letter,
were
(after the receipt of my letter) deliberating upon a reply; the very
cause of which delay, you explain in your letter to Gen. Prevost.
I forbear comment upon a fact that speaks for itself; and only ask you,
in conclusion, to republish my letter to you of the 15th inst. as referred to.
ARISTIDES.
Philadelphia, February 15, 1835.
To
R. MORRIS, Esq.
Dear Sir: I will not permit any occurrence to drive me from my purpose of exposing the calumnies against the Bank of the United States. I
do not mean
to
be shot
off,
on account of
name
other, until
have
it
my
labours to defend truth and
therefore prohibit the annunciation of the
of the writer of "Aristides," to the party "demanding" it, or to any
justice, at least, yet awhile.
I
shall
I
have concluded the essays. These being finished, you
to give up my name to General Prevost, if you deem
my free consent
necessary, or proper to do so.
I
am
yours, &c.
ARISTIDES.
151
QjfThe Editor of the United
States Gazette very kindly essayed to account
for Mr. Gilpin's omission of the 15th February, in his "complete
copy" of
the correspondence, by saying Mr. Gilpin did not, and could not, have
known of that letter. But the public saw differently and that the kindness of the Editor of the United States Gazette, or some other feeling ,
led him astray, since the very paper which Mr. Gilpin asserted to furnish
1
only a mutilated copy of the correspondence, contained that very letter.
therefore must have seen it. The publishers have no other object in
He
this note
but to put the matter in
its
true light.
x-
@FedFRASER