Chapter XLI

DIVORCE OF BANK AND STATE; DIVORCE DECREED.

This measure, so long and earnestly contested, was destined to be carried into effect at this session; but not without an opposition on the part of the whig members in each House, which exhausted both the powers of debate, and the rules and acts of parliamentary warfare. Even after the bill had passed through all its forms--had been engrossed for the third reading, and actually been read a third time and was waiting for the call of the vote, with a fixed majority shown to be in its favor--the warfare continued upon it, with no other view than to excite the people against it: for its passage in the Senate was certain. It was at this last moment that Mr. Clay delivered one of his impassioned and glowing speeches against it.

"Mr. President, it is no less the duty of the statesman than
the physician, to ascertain the exact state of the body to
which he is to minister before he ventures to prescribe any
healing remedy. It is with no pleasure, but with profound
regret, that I survey the present condition of our country. I
have rarely, I think never, known a period of such universal
and intense distress. The general government is in debt,
and its existing revenue is inadequate to meet its ordinary
expenditure. The States are in debt, some of them largely in
debt, insomuch that they have been compelled to resort to
the ruinous expedient of contracting new loans to meet the
interest upon prior loans; and the people are surrounded with
difficulties; greatly embarrassed, and involved in debt. Whilst
this is, unfortunately, the general state of the country, the
means of extinguishing this vast mass of debt are in constant
diminution. Property is falling in value--all the great staples
of the country are declining in price, and destined, I fear, to
further decline. The certain tendency of this very measure is
to reduce prices. The banks are rapidly decreasing the amount
of their circulation. About one-half of them, extending from
New Jersey to the extreme Southwest, have suspended specie
payments, presenting an image of a paralytic, one moiety of
whose body is stricken with palsy. The banks are without a
head; and, instead of union, concert, and co-operation between
them, we behold jealousy, distrust, and enmity. We have no
currency whatever possessing uniform value throughout the
whole country. That which we have, consisting almost entirely
of the issues of banks, is in a state of the utmost disorder,
insomuch that it varies, in comparison with the specie standard,
from par to fifty per cent. discount. Exchanges, too, are in
the greatest possible confusion, not merely between distant
parts of the Union, but between cities and places in the same
neighborhood. That between our great commercial marts of New
York and Philadelphia, within five or six hours of each other,
vacillating between seven and ten per cent. The products of our
agricultural industry are unable to find their way to market
from the want of means in the hands of traders to purchase
them, or from the want of confidence in the stability of things.
Many of our manufactories stopped or stopping, especially in
the important branch of woollens; and a vast accumulation of
their fabrics on hand, owing to the destruction of confidence
and the wretched state of exchange between different sections
of the Union. Such is the unexaggerated picture of our present
condition. And amidst the dark and dense cloud that surrounds
us, I perceive not one gleam of light. It gives me nothing but
pain to sketch the picture. But duty and truth require that
existing diseases should be fearlessly examined and probed
to the bottom. We shall otherwise be utterly incapable of
conceiving or applying appropriate remedies. If the present
unhappy state of our country had been brought upon the people
by their folly and extravagance, it ought to be borne with
fortitude, and without complaint, and without reproach. But
it is my deliberate judgment that it has not been--that the
people are not to blame--and that the principal causes of
existing embarrassments are not to be traced to them. Sir, it
is not my purpose to waste the time or excite the feelings of
members of the Senate by dwelling long on what I suppose to
be those causes. My object is a better, a higher, and I hope
a more acceptable one--to consider the remedies proposed for
the present exigency. Still, I should not fulfil my whole duty
if I did not briefly say that, in my conscience, I believe our
pecuniary distresses have mainly sprung from the refusal to
recharter the late Bank of the United States; the removal of the
public deposits from that institution; the multiplication of
State banks in consequence; and the Treasury stimulus given to
them to extend their operations; the bungling manner in which
the law, depositing the surplus treasure with the States, was
executed; the Treasury circular; and although last, perhaps not
least, the exercise of the power of the veto on the bill for
distributing, among the States, the net proceeds of the sales of
the public lands."

This was the opening of the speech--the continuation and conclusion of which was bound to be in harmony with this beginning; and obliged to fill up the picture so pathetically drawn. It did so, and the vote being at last taken, the bill passed by a fair majority--24 to 18. But it had the House of Representatives still to encounter, where it had met its fate before; and to that House it was immediately sent for its concurrence. A majority were known to be for it; but the shortest road was taken to its passage; and that was under the debate-killing pressure of the previous question. That question was freely used; and amendment after amendment cut off; motion after motion stifled; speech after speech suppressed; the bill carried from stage to stage by a sort of silent struggle (chiefly interrupted by the repeated process of calling yeas and nays), until at last it reached the final vote--and was passed--by a majority, not large, but clear--124 to 107. This was the 30th of June, that is to say, within twenty days of the end of a session of near eight months. The previous question, so often abused, now so properly used (for the bill was an old measure, on which not a new word was to be spoken, or a vote to be changed, the only effort being to stave it off until the end of the session), accomplished this good work--and opportunely; for the next Congress was its deadly foe.

The bill was passed, but the bitter spirit which pursued it was not appeased. There is a form to be gone through after the bill has passed all its three readings--the form of agreeing to its title. This is as much a matter of course and form as it is to give a child a name after it is born: and, in both cases, the parents having the natural right of bestowing the name. But in the case of this bill the title becomes a question, which goes to the House, and gives to the enemies of the measure a last chance of showing their temper towards it: for it is a form in which nothing but temper can be shown. This is sometimes done by simply voting against the title, as proposed by its friends--at others, and where the opposition is extreme, it is done by a motion to amend the title by striking it out, and substituting another of odium, and this mode of opposition gives the party opposed to it an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the merits of the bill itself, compressed into an essence, and spread upon the journal for a perpetual remembrance. This was the form adopted on this occasion. The name borne at the head of the bill was inoffensive, and descriptive. It described the bill according to its contents, and did it in appropriate and modest terms. None of the phrases used in debate, such as "Divorce of Bank and State," "Sub-treasury," "Independent Treasury," &c., and which had become annoying to the opposition, were employed, but a plain title of description in these terms: "_An act to provide for the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursing of the public money._" To this title Mr. James Cooper, of Pennsylvania, moved an amendment, in the shape of a substitute, in these words: "_An act to reduce the value of property, the products of the farmer, and the wages of labor, to destroy the indebted portions of the community, and to place the Treasury of the nation in the hands of the President._" Before a vote could be taken upon this proposed substitute, Mr. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, proposed to amend it by adding "_to enable the public money to be drawn from the public Treasury without appropriation made by law_," and having proposed this amendment to Mr. Cooper's amendment, Mr. Cushing began to speak to the contents of the bill. Then followed a scene in which the parliamentary history must be allowed to speak for itself.

"Mr. CUSHING then resumed, and said he had moved the amendment
with a view of making a very limited series of remarks pertinent
to the subject. He was then proceeding to show why, in his
opinion, the contents of the bill did not agree with its title,
when

"Mr. _Petrikin_, of Pennsylvania, called him to order.

"The Speaker said the gentleman from Massachusetts had a right
to amend the title of the bill, if it were not a proper title.
He had, therefore, a right to examine the contents of the bill,
to show that the title was improper.

"Mr. PETRIKIN still objected.

"The Speaker said the gentleman from Pennsylvania would be
pleased to reduce his point of order to writing.

"Mr. PROFFIT, of Indiana, called Mr. Petrikin to order; and
after some colloquial debate, the objection was withdrawn.

"Mr. CUSHING then resumed, and appeared very indignant at the
interruption. He wished to know if the measure was to be forced
on the country without affording an opportunity to say a single
word. He said they were at the last act in the drama, but the
end was not yet. Mr. C. then proceeded to give his reasons why
he considered the bill as an unconstitutional measure, as he
contended that it gave the Secretary power to draw on the public
money without appropriations by law. He concluded by observing
that he had witnessed the incubation and hatching of this
_cockatrice_, but he hoped the time was not far distant when the
people would put their feet on the _reptile_ and crush it to the
dust.

"Mr. PICKENS, of South Carolina, then rose, and in a very
animated manner said he had wished to make a few remarks upon
the bill before its passage, but he was now compelled to confine
himself in reply to the very extraordinary language and tone
assumed by the gentleman from Massachusetts. What right had he
to speak of this bill as being forced on the country by "_brutal
numbers_?" That gentleman had defined the bill according to
_his_ conception of it; but he would tell the gentleman, that
the bill would, thank God, deliver this government from the
hands of those who for so many years had lived by _swindling_
the proceeds of honest labor. Yes, said Mr. P., I thank my God
that the hour of our deliverance is now so near, from a system
which has wrung the hard earnings from productive industry for
the benefit of a few irresponsible corporations.

"Sir, I knew the contest would be fierce and bitter. The bill,
in its principles, draws the line between the great _laboring
and landed interests_ of this confederacy, and those who
are identified with _capitalists in stocks_ and live upon
_incorporated credit_. The latter class have lived and fattened
upon the fiscal action of this government, from the _funding
system_ down to the present day--and now they feel like wolves
who have been driven back from the warm blood they have been
lapping for forty years. Well may the gentleman [Mr. CUSHING],
who represents those interests, cry out and exclaim that it is
a bill passed in force by fraud and power--it is the power and
the spirit of a free people determined to redeem themselves and
their government.

"Here the calls to order were again renewed from nearly every
member of the opposition, and great confusion prevailed.

"The Speaker with much difficulty succeeded in restoring
something like order, and as none of those who had so
vociferously called Mr. P. to order, raised any point,

"Mr. PICKENS proceeded with his remarks, and alluding to the
words of Mr. Cushing, that "this was the last act of the drama,"
said this was the first, and not the last act of the drama.
There were great questions that lay behind this, connected with
the fiscal action of the government, and which we will be called
on to decide in the next few years; they were all connected with
one great and complicated system. This was the commencement, and
only a branch of the system.

"Here the cries of order from the opposition were renewed, and
after the storm had somewhat subsided,

"Mr. P. said, rather than produce confusion at that late hour
of the day, when this great measure was so near a triumphant
consummation, and, in spite of all the exertions of its enemies,
was about to become the law of the land, he would not trespass
any longer on the attention of the House. But the gentleman had
said that because the first section had declared what should
constitute the Treasury, and that another section had provided
for keeping portions of the Treasury in other places than the
safes and vaults in the Treasury building of this place; that,
therefore, it was to be inferred that those who were to execute
it would draw money from the Treasury without appropriations
by law, and thus to perpetrate a fraud upon the constitution.
Mr. P. said, let those who are to execute this bill dare to
commit this outrage, and use money for purposes not intended
in appropriations by law, and they would be visited with the
indignation of an outraged and wronged people. It would be too
gross and palpable. Such is not the broad meaning and intention
of the bill. The construction given by the gentleman was a
forced and technical one, and not natural. It was too strained
to be seriously entertained by any one for a moment. He raised
his protest against it.

"Mr. P. regretted the motion admitted of such narrow and
confined debate. He would not delay the passage of the bill
upon so small a point. He congratulated the country that we
had approached the period when the measure was about to be
triumphantly passed into a permanent law of the land. It is
a great measure. Considering the lateness of the hour, the
confusion in the House, and that the gentleman had had the
advantage of an opening speech, he now concluded by demanding
the previous question.

"On this motion the disorder among the opposition was renewed
with tenfold fury, and some members made use of some very hard
words, accompanied by violent gesticulation.

"It was some minutes before any thing approaching order could be
restored.

"The Speaker having called on the sergeant-at-arms to clear the
aisles,

"The call of the previous question was seconded, and the main
question on the amendment to the amendment ordered to be put.

"The motion for the previous question having received a second,
the main question was ordered.

"The question was then taken on Mr. Cushing's amendment to the
amendment, and disagreed to without a count.

"The question recurring on the substitute of Mr. Cooper, of
Pennsylvania, for the original title of the bill,

"Mr. R. GARLAND, of Louisiana, demanded the yeas and nays, which
having been ordered, were--yeas 87, nays 128."

Eighty-seven members voted, on yeas and nays, for Mr. Cooper's proposed title, which was a strong way of expressing their opinion of it. For Mr. Cushing's amendment to it, there were too few to obtain a division of the House; and thus the bill became complete by getting a name--but only by the summary, silent, and enforcing process of the previous question. Even the title was obtained by that process. The passage of this act was the distinguishing glory of the Twenty-sixth Congress, and the "crowning mercy" of Mr. Van Buren's administration. Honor and gratitude to the members, and all the remembrance which this book can give them. Their names were:

IN THE SENATE:--Messrs. Allen of Ohio, Benton, Brown of North
Carolina, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Cuthbert of
Georgia, Fulton of Arkansas, Grundy, Hubbard of New Hampshire,
King of Alabama, Linn of Missouri, Lumpkin of Georgia, Mouton of
Louisiana, Norvell of Michigan, Pierce of New Hampshire, Roane
of Virginia, Sevier of Arkansas, Smith of Connecticut, Strange
of North Carolina, Tappan of Ohio, Walker of Mississippi,
Williams of Maine.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:--Messrs. Judson Allen, Hugh
J. Anderson, Charles G. Atherton, William Cost Johnson, Cave
Johnson, Nathaniel Jones, John W. Jones, George M. Keim,
Gouverneur Kemble, Joseph Kille, Daniel P. Leadbetter, Isaac
Leet, Stephen B. Leonard, Dixon H. Lewis, Joshua A. Lowell,
William Lucas, Abraham McClellan, George McCulloch, James J.
McKay, Meredith Mallory, Albert G. Marchand, William Medill,
John Miller, James D. L. Montanya, Linn Banks, William Beatty,
Andrew Beirne, William Montgomery, Samuel W. Morris, Peter
Newhard, Isaac Parrish, William Parmenter, Virgil D. Parris,
Lemuel Paynter, David Petrikin, Francis W. Pickens, John H.
Prentiss, William S. Ramsey, John Reynolds, R. Barnwell Rhett,
Francis E. Rives, Thomas Robinson, Jr., Edward Rogers, James
Rogers, Daniel B. Ryall, Green B. Samuels, Tristram Shaw,
Charles Shepard, Edward J. Black, Julius W. Blackwell, Linn
Boyd, John Smith, Thomas Smith, David A. Starkweather, Lewis
Steenrod, Theron R. Strong, Thomas D. Sumter, Henry Swearingen,
George Sweeney, Jonathan Taylor, Francis Thomas, Philip F.
Thomas, Jacob Thompson, Hopkins L. Turney, Aaron Vanderpoel,
Peter D. Vroom, David D. Wagener, Harvey M. Watterson, John
B. Weller, Jared W. Williams, Henry Williams, John T. H.
Worthington.