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relieve it from all dependence on the will of irresponsible individuals or corporations; to withdraw those moneys from the uses of private trade, and confine them to agents constitutionally selected and controlled by law; to abstain from improper interference with the industry of the people, and withhold inducements to improvident dealings on the part of individuals; to give stability to the concerns of the treasury; to preserve the measures of the government from the unavoidable reproaches that flow from such a connection, and the banks themselves from the injurious effects of a supposed participation in the political conflicts of the day, from which they will otherwise find it difficult to escape.

These are my views upon this important subject; formed after careful reflection, and with no desire but to arrive at what is most likely to promote the public interest. They are now, as they were before, submitted with an unfeigned deference for the opinions of others. It was hardly to be hoped that changes so important, on a subject so interesting, could be made without producing a serious diversity of opinion; but so long as those conflicting views are kept above the influence of individual or local interests; so long as they pursue only the general good, and are discussed with moderation and candor, such diversity is a benefit, not an injury. If a majority of Congress see the public welfare in a different light; and more especially if they should be satisfied that the measure proposed would not be acceptable to the people; I shall look to their wisdom to substitute such as may be more conducive to the one, and more satisfactory to the other. In any event, they may confidently rely on my hearty co-operation to the fullest extent which my views of the constitution and my sense of duty will permit.

It is obviously important to this branch of the public service, and to the business and quiet of the country, that the whole subject should in some way be settled and regulated by law; and, if possible, at your present session. Besides the plan above referred to, I am not aware that any one has been suggested, except that of keeping the public money in the state banks, in special deposit. This plan is, to some extent, in accordance with the practice

of the government, and which, except, perhaps during the operation of the late deposit act, has always been allowed, even during the existence of a national bank, to make a temporary use of the state banks, in particular places, for the safe-keeping of portions of the revenue.

This discretionary power might be continued, if Con gress deem it desirable, whatever general system may be adopted. So long as the connection is voluntary, we need perhaps anticipate few of those difficulties, and little of that dependence on the banks, which must attend every such connection when compulsory in its nature, and when so arranged as to make the banks a fixed part of the machinery of government. It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress so to regulate and guard it as to prevent the public money from being applied to the use, or intermingled with the affairs, of individuals. Thus arranged, although it would not give to the government that control over its own funds which I desire to secure to it by the plan I have proposed, it would, it must be admitted, in a great degree, accomplish one of the objects which has recommended that plan to my judgment-the sepa ration of the fiscal concerns of the government from those of individuals or corporations.

With these observations, I recommend the whole matter to your dispassionate reflection; confidently hoping that some conclusion may be reached by your deliberations, which, on the one hand, shall give stability to the fiscal operations of the government, and be consistent. on the other, with the genius of our institutions, and with the interests and wishes of the great mass of our constituents.

It was my hope that nothing would occur to make necessary, on this occasion, any allusion to the late national bank. There are circumstances, however, connected with the present state of its affairs, that bear so directly on the character of the government and the welfare of the citizen, that I should not feel myself excused in neglect ing to notice them. The charter which terminated its banking privileges on the fourth of March, 1836, continued its corporate powers two years more, for the sole purpose of closing its affairs, with authority "to

use the corporate name, style and capacity, for the pur pose of suits, for a final settlement and liquidation of the affairs and acts of the corporation, and for the sale and disposition of their estate, real, personal and mixed, but for no other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever." Just before the banking privileges ceased, its effects were transferred by the bank to a new state institution, then recently incorporated, in trust, for the discharge of its debts and the settlement of its affairs.

With this trustee, by authority of Congress, an adjust ment was subsequently made of the large interest which the government had in the stock of the institution. The manner in which a trust unexpectedly created upon the act granting the charter, and involving such great public interests, has been executed, would, under any circumstance, be a fit subject of inquiry; but much more does it deserve your attention when it embraces the redemption of obligations to which the authority and credit of the United States have given value. The two years allowed are now nearly at an end. It is well understood that the trustee has not redeemed and cancelled the outstanding notes of the bank, but has re-issued, and is continually reissuing, since the 3d of March, 1836, the notes which have been received by it to a vast amount.

According to its own official statement, so late as the first of October last, nineteen months after the banking privileges given by the charter had expired, it had under its control uncancelled notes of the late bank of the United States to the amount of twenty-seven millions five hundred and sixty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six dollars, of which six millions one hundred and seventyfive thousand eight hundred and sixty-one dollars were in actual circulation, one million four hundred and sixtyeight thousand six hundred and twenty seven dollars at state bank agencies, and three millions two thousand three hundred and ninety dollars in transitu: thus showing that upwards of ten millions and a half of the notes of the old bank were then still kept outstanding.

The impropriety of this procedure is obvious; it being the duty of the trustee to cancel and not to put forth the notes of an institution, whose concerns it had undertaken

to wind up. If the trustee has a right to re-issue tnese notes now, I can see no reason why he may not continue to do so after the expiration of the two years. As no one could have anticipated a course so extraordinary, the prohibitory clause of the charter above quoted was not accompanied by any penalty or other special provision for enforcing it; nor have we any general law for the prevention of similar acts in future.

But it is not in this view of the subject alone that your interposition is required. The United States, in settling with the trustee for their stock, have withdrawn their funds from their former direct liability to the creditors of the old bank, yet notes of the institution continue to be sent forth in its name, and apparently upon the authority of the United States. The transactions connected with the employment of the bills of the old bank are of vast extent; and should they result unfortunately, the interests of individuals may be deeply compromised. Without undertaking to decide how far, or in what form, if any, the trustee could be made liable for notes which contain no obligation on his part; or the old bank, for such as are put in circulation after the expiration of its charter, and without its authority; or the government for indemnity in case of loss, the question still presses itself upon your consideration, whether it is consistent with the duty and good faith on the part of the government, to witness this proceeding without a single effort to arrest it.

The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, which will be laid before you by the secretary of the treasury, will show how the affairs of that office have been conducted for the past year. The disposition of the public lands is one of the most important trusts confided to congress. The practicability of retaining the title and control of such extensive domains in the general government, and at the same time admitting the territories embracing them into the federal union, as co-equal with the original states, was seriously doubted by many of our wisest statesmen. All feared that they would become a scource of discord, and many carried their apprehensions so far as to see in them the seeds of a future dissolution of the confederacy. But happily our expe

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rience has already been sufficient to quiet, in a great degree, all such apprehensions. The position, at one time assumed that the admission of new states into the Union on the same footing with the original states, was incompatible with a right of soil in the United States, and operated as a surrender thereof, notwithstanding the terms of the compacts by which their admission was designed to be regulated-has been wisely abandoned.

Whether in the new or the old states, all now agree that the right of soil to the public lands remains in the federal government, and that these lands constitute a common property, to be disposed of for the common benefit of all the states, old and new. Acquiescence in this just principle by the people of the new states has naturally promoted a disposition to adopt the most liberal policy in the sale of the public lands. A policy which should be limited to the mere object of selling the lands for the greatest possible sum of money, without regard to higher considerations, finds but few advocates. On the contrary it is generally conceded, that while the mode of disposition adopted by the government, should always be a prudent one, yet its leading object ought to be the early settlement, and cultivation of the lands sold; and that it should discountenance, if it cannot prevent, the accumulation of large tracts in the same hands, which must necessarily retard the growth of the new states, or entail upon them a dependent territory and its attendant

evils.

A question embracing such important interests, and so well calculated to enlist the feelings of the people in every quarter of the Union, has very naturally given rise to numerous plans for the improvement of the existing system. The distinctive features of the policy that has hitherto prevailed, are, to dispose of the public lands at moderate prices, thus enabling a greater number to enter into competition for their purchase, and accomplishing a double object of promoting their rapid settlement by the purchasers, and at the same time increasing the receipts. of the treasury; to sell for cash, thereby preventing the disturbing influence of a large mass of private citizens indebted to the government which they have a voice in

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