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•its father would seek in vain to comfort him by words of kind
ness, and clasping him closer to his lieart.
Ou Saturday, they met with another portion of the wreck,
nit which were Chickering and three others, whom they took
on their raft. Towards the close of the evening they had ap
proached within half a mile of shore, as they thought, and
!na:tv were *'<’«’>’ mixiotts to make an effort to land. This
was objected to by Major Heath, as the breakers ran very
bi h ami would have dashed the raft to pieces on the shore.
Mr. Greenwood, from Georgia, told the Major that he was
one of the best swimmers in the country, and that he would
tie i rope around him and swim to the shore. “No! No!”
replied the Major, you shall not risk your life for me, tin
ker these circumstances, and in such an attempt you would
lose your life.” “ No! lam the oldest man in danger, and I
w ill not increase the risk of others.” All hope of landing then
was shortly afterwards given up, as a slight breeze from the
shore was carrying them out into the sea. Despair now seem
ed to seize on some of them, and one suggested that if relief
did not soon reach them, it would be necessary to cast lots !
The firmness and decision of Major Heath soon put this hor
rid idea to flight. “We are Christians,” he told them “ and
we cannot innocently imbrue our hands in the blood of a fel
low creature. A horrible catastrophe has deprived hundreds
of their lives, brought sorrow to many a heart, and thrown us
fipon the mercy of the winds and waves. We have still life
left, let us not give up all manliness and sink to the brute.
We have all our thoughts about us, and should face "death,
which must, sooner or later, overtake ns, with the spirit which
becomes us as Christian men. When that hour arrives I will
'.i\ down mv life-without a muhnur, and 1 will risk it now for
the safety of any one of you, but I will never stand by and
»>” another’s sacrificed that we may drink his blood and eat
ins flesh.” With such words as these did he quiet them, and
r oticile them to wait the issue. The (lay wore away again,
w ihont the sight of a vessel to cheer their drooping spirits.
On Sunday morning it commenced raining, with a stiff
■eze from the Northeast, which soon increased to a severe
irate. Every effort was made to catch some of the falling
r.'.itt in the piece of canvass, which they had taken from the
mast, but the sea run so high that the little they did catch was
as salt as the water of the ocean. Still the rain cooled them,
ami in their situation, was refreshing and grateful.
Or Monday morning they saw four vessels. They raised
on a ptde a piece of the flag that was attached to the mast, and
waved it, but in vain. The vessels were too far off, and hope
was nearly lost, as they watched them, one after another, pass
from their sight. They had now been without food or water
for four days and nights; their tongus were dry in their
mouths—their flesh burnt and blistered by the sun and their
brains fevered with the sun, and many of them began to ex
hibit the peculiar madness attendant on starvation. They
could not sleep either, as the raft was almost always under wa
ter, and it required continued watchfulness to keep themselves
from being washed over by the sea. Major Heath tells us that
never f>r one moment did he lose his consciousness, and we
hear from others that his cherful spirit and encouraging con
versation kept alive the hope of safety in the breast of others,
ami banished despair from their minds.
On Tuesday morning, a vessel hove in sight, and her track
seemed to lie much nearer them, than those they had seen the
day before. They again waved their flag, and raised their
feeble voices. Still the vessel kept on her track, which now
appeared to carry her away from them.—“ She is gone,” said
one of the crew, a poor fellow who had been dreadfully scald
ed, and he laid himself down on one of the boxes, as he said
“to die”—Captain Pearson, who had been closely watching
the vessel ; cried out “she sees us.” And so it was. All
sails set, and full before the wind ; the vessel made for them.
I he schooner proved to be the Heniy Camerdon, bound from
Philadelphia to Wilmington, N. C. As soon as the Captain
came within speaking distance, be took his trumpet and cried
out “be of good cheer, I will save you?” It was the first
strange voice that had reached their ears for five days, which
were to them an age.
When the schooner came along side, they all rushed franti
cally on deck, and it was with some diflicnltv that the Captain
could keep them from the waler casks. He immediately gave '
each of them half a pint of water, sweetened with molasses,
and repeated it at short intervals. His prudence, doubtless, ;
saved their lives.
During the morning, Mnjor Heath, and his company had 1
seen another portion of the wreck, with several persons on it, j
and as soon as the Captain of the Henry Camerdon was told I
of it, he sailed in the direction it had been seen and shortly
after came in sight. On this wreck, which was part of the :
promiuade deck, were Miss Rebecca Lamar, Airs. Noah Smith, i
<»f Augusta, Master Charles Lamar of Savannah, and Air. j
Robert Hutchinson, also of Savannah. The two ladies were ;
much exhausted, anri Master Lamar was almost dead. Every
comfort that the schooner was possessed of was freely bestowed
by the Captain. Alajor Heath, on behalf of those who were
s i .ed with him, has asked us to return, thus publicly, to him,
the thanks, the deep and heartfelt thanks, of the beings whom
he rescued from a condition of such misery ami peril, that the '
cart sickens at the contemplation of it. Air. Hutchinson had
lost in this disaster, his wife and child. His wife was the
daughter of Mr. Elliott, formerly in the United States Senate
from Georgia.
When the promenade deck separated from the hull, manv
persons took refuge on this portion of it. Among them was
Air. G. B. Lamar, of Savannah, and two children, the Rev. '
Mr. Woart and lady, of Florida, and a child of Mr. Hutchi- ;
son, and the second inate of the Pulaski. On Saturday mor
ning, finding that there was no other hope of safety, the mate I
proposed to take the boat which they had secured, being the ’
2d deck boat—and with five of t)ie most able of those on the I
raft, endeavor to reach the shore, and to send out some vessel
to cruise for them. This being assented to, the mate with Mr. '
Lamarand four others, took their departure, and on Wednes
day morning they reached New’River Inlet, in safety, The I
passengers remaining on the raft, w ith the exception of the 1
lour mentioned as taken off by the Henry Camerdon, died j
from exhaustion—among them were the Rev. Mr. Woart and
lady, whoseh C'ristian resignation to their fate, excited the ad- .
miration of all around them. They expired within a few !
minutes of each other. Seven persons were reported to have
died on Monday. The body of Air. Parkman of Savannah,
floated to the raft, and was recognized by his friends.
It was ascertained at Wilmington on Wednesday morning,
hat eight other persons from the wreck had reached New Ri
ver inlet, but their names, with two exceptions, are unknown.
The passengers who escaped, were almost without excep
tion, in the clothes in which they were sleeping, and suffered
very severely from the blistering effects of the sun, and the
chilly wind of the night. They were entirely destitute of wa
ter or food of any kind. Those who were last saved were
most of them in a dreadful state of ulceration and debility.
The passengeis were every where teceived with the most
unbounded sympathy and kindness ; and the Wilmington and
Raleigh Rail Road Cojnpany, the Portsmouth and Roanoke
Rail Road Company, and Baltimore and Norfolk Steam
Packet Company, tendered to them, in the most liberal man
ner, a conveyance in their cars and boats to the various points
of their destination.
The cause of the disaster was obviously the neglect of the
second engineer in permitting the water to boil off, or to blow
off in the starboard boiler, ana' then letting in a full supply of
water, on the heated copper. One of the hands saved had, a
few moments before the explosion, examined the steam guage,
and found it fluctuating rapidly from 26 to 29 inches. An
other had just left the engint-roon.' when he heard the shrill
whistling sound of high pressure stea in as the engineer tried
the water-cock ; in a few seconds the explosion took place.
Capt. Dubois was seen asleep in the wheel house ten minutes
before the explosion. Capt. Pearson, the 2d Captain, was
blown out of his berth into the sea, as was also Chickering,
the first engineer. They both regained the bow of the boat.
The Baltimore Pafriot also gives a statement, derived chit fly
from the same authority, which concludes as follows:
“ Among ti e number saved in the small boats are two of
the crew, who state themselves to have been near the boiler
about «he lime of the explosion, and observed that the gleam
guage varied between 26 and 29. One of these men noticed
•the engineer touching the water guage cock, and instead of
the «Mial sound attending the escape of water, that a shrill '
whistling was heard, which is produced by a high pressure of
steam, and indicating the want of an adequate supply of water
in the boiler. The explosion is represented to have followed
this discovery in a few seconds.
“ The preuonption from these circumstances is, that the se
cond who was on duty at the time, in blowing off the
water, had neglected to close the escape-pipe—and perceiving
the slate of the boiler., had turued 4iu a full supply of water
from the feed pipe.
“ Major Heath and twenty-one others jsere rescued from a I
portion of the wreck of the Pulaski, after having been upon
it for four days and four night's, without food or water. The
suffering became so ihtense, as to produce a proposition to sa
crifice one of the party* by lot, for the sustenance and support
of the rest—hut was abandoned to Major Heath’s firm and
determined opposition,
“Major H. thinks the ladies cabin went down in a mass,
carrying down about fifty ladies, most of whom, he supposed,
had not risen from their berths.
“The surviving passengers, Major 11. represents, are unan
imous in charging the Chief Engineer with having caused
the dreadful calamity. He is reported to have declared previ
ous to leaving Savannah, that it should be the shortest trip
ever made between that port and Norfolk. There were four
parts of the wreck to which passengers clottg—two of them, it
is supposed, went down, from the other two, twenty-two were
thrown over board, having died with fatigue and excitement.”
We glean the following additional particulars from the Bal
timore American :
No baggage of any kind was saved. All the passengers
.had money, which was in their trunks, and it is estimated that
at least $150,000 in bank notes and specie have been lost,
and upwards of SIO,OOO in watches and jewelry,
“ Among ttiE incidents of this appalling disaster, the affect
ing one is mentioned that the Rev. Dr. Woart and wife, after
a most fervent prayer, clasped their child in a mutual embrace,
and in a few minutes the three sunk together resignedly i*”°
the waves of death.
“ The cause of the accident is attributed by the passengers
entirely to the improper conduct of the chief engineer, who
persisted in carrying a heavy pressure of steam in spite of re
peated remonstrances. One of the passengers examined the
steam-gunge frequently, and informed his friends that the boat
was carrying thirty inches of steam, which he insisted was
more than w'fts prudent. They, however, paid but little at
tention to the matter. The engineer was among those saved
on the same raft with Major Heath, and when questioned in
relation to the cause of the disaster, declared bis entire igno
nance of it. It is reported that before leaving Savannah, he
avowed his determination of making that trip the shortest one
ever made between Charleston and Baltimore, and Major
Heath distinctly heard him cautioned by some person on the
wharf at Savannah, ‘ not to make a ‘Home' business of it.’”
From the Courier and Enquirer,
New-York, June 22.
WEST INDIES.
Capt. Millay of the brig James, from St. Croix, has favored us
with a paper from that Island of the7th inst. which contains the fol
lowing account of a conflagration which has destroyed the town of
Marie Galante, in Guadaloupe, and of a fatal accident which has oc
curred at St. Croix by the upsetting of a sloop.
Fire in Marie Galante.— A conflagration, the progress of which
it was impossible to arrest, lias entirely laid waste the town of Ma
rie Galante, despite the zeal and efforts of the civil and military au
thorities, of the militia, seconded by the whole population, the garri
son and police. The Church, the Jail, and a few unvaluable hou
ses only, which formed a part of the suberb, have been spared by
the destructive element.
The fire broke out, by accident, at an inn, at seven o’clock on the
evening of the 17th of last month, and could not be overcome until
next day between five and six in the morning.
The country people who had hastened at the head of their work
men to the relief of the suffering inhabitants as soon as the flames
had been visible, gratuitously supplied them with piovision, and, in
conjunction with those who occupied the houses standing in the su
burb, offered them a shekel and other succour. Through the hospi
tality of Abbot Duvsis, who was seen during the moment of danger,
at all places wherehis presence could bring relief, and whose house,
from its p isition, escaped the almost general conflagration, an asylum
was likewise afforded to the homeless victims.
The losses on this occasion have been general ; the chief part of
the inhabitants saved nothing but the suit of clothes they had on, and
a great many persons have been totally ruined. It is lamentable to
record the death of the innkeeper’s wife, who lost her life in conse
quence of her wounds, on the evening of the 19th; three children
have likewise perished in the flames, two of whom were the inn
keeper’s, who is himself so seriously ill, that vety little hope is left of
his sin viving his multiplied misfortunes.
Such is the first account of the dreadful calamity that has hurled
so many beings into a crying misery; we will not omit publishing any
further details that may reaches hereafter.
Marie Galante, 19th May, 1838.
ST. CROIX, CHRISTIANSTED, JUNE 7.-
The melancholy duty devolves upon us of recording one of the
most distressing, and fatally terminating accidents, which this com
munity has witnessed for many years. The Sloop Caiib sailed yes
terday forenoon on an excursion of pleasure, with a party of gentle
men on board for Buck Island. About 3 o’clock in the afternoon,
the sloop being light,-and having no cargo on board, unfortunately
upset in a squall, between Buck Island and Green Quay, and the
hatches being open, she immediately filled and sunk, just leaving the
top of her mast above water, and the whole party and crew were
thus precipitated into the ocean, and left to struggle with the waves,
and it is with feelings of the most poignant regret that we have to
add that our much esteemed fellow townsman, B. Maj. Robert Smith,
F. Fotd, Esq. (a few months since from England,) and Messrs. Adam
Dirielsen and George Brewer, both natives of this town, together
with a colored lad and a servant boy, there met with a watery and
nnrimelv grave, and perished in the waves ! The survivors, William
Burt, Esq. owner of the Carib, .Joseph Abbott, Esq. D. B. Goold,
Esq. John Charles Krause, John G. Krause, Esq. together with Air.
Potter, and the Captain of the Carib, with two sailors, after being
in tl e water about two hours, were providentially rescued from a si
milar fate, and were picked tip by boats sent to their relief. Mr.
Goold was saved by clinging to the top of the mast, Messis. Burt
and Abbott were supported upon one of the sloop’s hatches, and
Messrs. Krausebv the aid of spars were kept above the water. We
understand that Mr. Potter did much to support the Messrs. Krause
by disembarrassing them of their clothes. On learning of the acci
dent, the boats of the Danish ships were immediately despatched to
the relief of the Carib, and every effort has been made to recover
the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers, but, hitherto, we understand,
without success. We sincerely sympathize with the friends of the
deceased, on the losses they have experienced—that of Major Smith,
from the various duties he so well performed, is both a public and
a private loss, and not easily repaired by this community.
We understand that most of the survivors declare that they’ could
not have held out much longer, when they were picked up such was
\ their state of exhaustion.
Great Fire at Binghampton.— On the way-bill which arrived this
morning from the West, was the following memorandum, from which
we are sorry to learn that that village has suffered a heavy loss by
fire.
Binghampton, June 20th.
“ The most valuable part of our Village was laid in ashes last
night—one entire block burnt.”
A Wealthy Corporation.— Trinity Church is a corporation which
is chartered lot §4,i ()0,00t), and holds property to the amount of 12
or 13 millions. It is managed by 40 trustees, who have appropri
ated SIOO,OOO as the Bishop’s fund, which makes bis salary about
S6OOO per annum, besides perquisites. This property is princi
pally in real estate, and as the charter does not pennit the institu
' lion to hold over SIOO,OOO in money, the bulk of the income is in
vested in various kinds of productive securities as fast as collected.
I The annual addition to the original fund, therefore, is very heavy,
i and will in a few years swell the sum total to an immense amount.
' If the trustees do not devise some means for spending the yearly
produce of this great estate, the iuflueice of Air. Biddle and his big
bank will soon be as nothing comparde with that of Trinity Church
and its dcpcndancies.— Sylvester's N. Y. Republican.
The I.ady and the Fish.— During the passage of the steam boat
Swan, through Prince’s Bay, on Friday, a young lady of 18, was
enjoying a pleasant siesta on the sofa of the cabin, when a great
rock fish or striped bass, suddenly jumped through a part hole and
fell in her lap ! .She sprung to her feet, and the rude intruder, who
had jumped into the wrong boat, paid for bis mistake with his life,
f A’cioarA: Daily Adv.
L_
Anecdote of the Last War.— Colonel Miller being ordered on the
I sortie from Fort Eric, in the last war, and finding that he had not suf
; cient force for the •nterprize, sent back to the commander for two
i hundred additional men. They were immediately despatched from
i the fort, under the command of the gallant, but rather headlong and
! eccentric Talbot Chambers. Eager to reach the scene of action in
| the shortest possible time, he marched ahead with such rapidity that
j he fairly distanced his soldier* ; and coming in to Colonel Miller, he
j said,“ Sir, 1 have the honor to report to you my anival, with two
. hundred men.”
“Two hundred men !” exclaimed the Colonel; “ where are they,
j Alajoi ?”
“ Iv’e left them behind sir,” said the Major, as he looked around
| and saw that not a single one of his men was in sight.
Newly'invented Carriage.— A light wagon was driven through th o
principal streets yesterday, with a view (f exhibiting some new im*
provernents in the construction of the axles and wheels, suitable foral)
kinds of wheel carriages. The vehicle in question has. what the inven
tor calls “ separate moveable crank axles,” so constructed, that when
the wheels strike a stone, the axles yield to the resistance a.'td abate the
su<ld< uoessor violence of the shock. The lowness of the axles likewise
renders the carriage less liable to be overturned than by the ordinary
construction. Ou rough roads, this invention will be invaluable, espe
cially iucities where the pavements are scarcely ever able to be travr lied
over in common conveyances. Hackney coaches ami oinnibusses fin
ing more used in largo cities, this improvement would be a great acqui
sition in their construction and should at least be tried. A committee j
of gentlemen of New-York have certified to its merits.. — N }'. R. Post, I
POLITICAL.
From the Washington Globe.
THE LAST SUB-TREASURY BILL.
It will be recollected by our readers that, on Saturday last, the
hill introduced by Mr. Webster to revive the old bank deposite
system, and the substitute offered by Mr. Buchanan, providing for a
special deposite in specie, having both been rejected on the previ
ous day, Mr. Wright intioduced into the Senate a bill so far to mo
dify a single clause of the deposite law of 1836 as to admit of the
receipt, in payment of dues to the Government, of the notes of
those State banks which have, siix’c the 4th of Julv, 1836, issued
notes of denominations less than $6; provided the banks shall cease
to issue, re-issue, or pay out such small notes after the first dav of
October next. It will also be recollected that this occasion was seiz
ed upon by Mr. Webster, that vibilant sentinel of Mr. Biddle, to
makn another effort, byway of amendment to this bill of Mr.
Wright, to legislate again into life and action this broken down and
exploded bank deposite system, this ruinous copartnership between
the Treasury of the people and l!it- business of bankers and stock
jobbers.
To carry' his point, Mr. Webster declaimed most pathetically up
on the inequalities which must result from the present action of the
old deposite law. He said that ell the banks of all the States
could no longer enjoy the free and profitable use of the public mo
ney ; because almost all, and in so ne entire States all of them had,
by their own voluntary action, di.-qualified themselves from being
deposite banks, and had rendered it impossible for the Secretary of
the Treasury to select them under the law.
Bo was answered by the friends of a separation of bank and
State, that the law was known to be substantially obsolete ; that it had
been .made so by the voluntary action of the banks themselves, and
not by any thing done by Congress, or any department of the Gov
ernment ; that the Treasury was yet suffering and in want from the
refusal of the banks to pay in any thing but irredeemable shinplas
ters, the money which was deposited with them, while this law was
in force, and they are qualified to receive deposites of money under
it; that there was no disposlion or the part of the people, or their
true represelatives, again to place he public money in these institu
tions, to be speculated with and gimbled upon, to the great danger
of the National Treasury and tie rights ol the public creditors;
and that, obsolete as the banks lad made the law, it would not be
marie less so by the votes of the republican Senators.
To these arguments against his poposed amendments, the godlike
answered, that if the Republicans dd not wish to have the law tore
main in force, they should propose is entire repeal; that its unequal
and partial operation in its present Hate should induce them to lake
this course; that they owed it to hemselves t<> meet the question
faitly, and if any one desired to flier such proposition, he would
withdraw his amendment to afford tie opportunity.
The New York Senator, wif.i a drectness which usually charac
terizes his legislative course, met tig paper money advocate upon
his own ground, and proposed to strke out the whole of Mr. Web
ster’s amendments, and to insert a cause to repeal the whole first
twelve sections of the deposite law, except a single clause which the
bill proposed to modify in the manne- above stated.
Here the opposition had an issue nude up at the invitation of their
leader in the Senate, and precisely according to his suggestion and
request; hut the proposition instantlybecame one of the most hor
rible and awful which the English anguage could characterize.
The imaginative powers of the god I ike proved wholly unequal to the
task of portraying its deformities and Gingers; and not until an im
passioned declamation from “ the Orapr of the West,” upon “ the
union of the sword and the purse in thi hands of one inan,” did the
Federalists of the body, or even the Conservatives of the State,
seem to be aroused to the conviction that the slender bridge was
about to bo stricken from under the (set of the “Spartan band,”
and they left in a more deplore,able sittlition than was the transpa
rent coffin of the ill-fated Sub-Treasury which a solemn procession
of Federal patiiots had, on the night previous, with funeral, and
even military, honors, committed to we waters of the mighty Ti
ber. This conviction, when thus brouglr home to the minds of the
allied Opposition, produced an ardent anl somewhat protracted de
bate; but the Republican phalanx of tie Senate stood firm, and
passed the repealing clause by a majority »f five votes. ’The bill was
then ordered to be engrossed, and on A'otiday was finally passed,
by the same majority, and sent to the Iloise.
On Tuesday it came up in that body, aid, pursuant to the orders
of a Federal caucus previously hell, a rally was made to defeat the
bill, or mould it to the form which Mr. Webster had labored to give |
to it in the Senate. The first vote was taken upon the repealing i
section, which, by the entire Opposition, strengthen?d by several
friends of an Independent Treasury, was stricken from the bill by :
a majority of some nineteen votes.
Then came the efforts to supply its place by some provision which
should re-enact, and put again into practical operation, the deposite
law of 1836 ; and Mr. Curtis, of New-York, familiarly known as
Mr. Webstei’s aid, was earliest upon the floor with thb
of his principal- A of propositions from Vai iovs quarters of
Tneiidtise followed ; but all those which had for their object the
safety of lite public money and its keening by the constitutionally
aujhorized agents of the Government, were promptly voted down.
Those proposing systems of special deposite in banks shared the
same fate, and the promise was fair to the minds of the bank men
that the bill would finally take the shape they desired.
At this stage of the proceedings, it was proposed by a Republican
member to add to Mr. C irtis’s amendment a provision, declaring
that the banks which should be entrusted with the keeping of the j
public money should not he permitted to use it for the purposes of \
banking. The vote was taken upon this proposition, ata late hour
in the evening, and, upon being canvassed by tiie Clerk, proved to
stand 101 for and 101 against it, being a tie. The Speaker
promptly cast the vote in favor of the provision, and it was there
fore inserted and made a part of the amendment which Mr. Curtis
had offered, and upon which novote had been taken. The conster
nation of the Opposition admits of no description, and their only
effort was instantly to adjourn the House, an effort which was not
resisted by the Republicans, and was of course successful.
Early in the day of Wednesday, the consideration of this bill
was again resumed in the House. The question was upon the adop
tion of Mr. Curtis’s amendment as modified by the vote of the
House in the manner above related. That amendment, notwith
standing the sound principle which the Republicans had succeeded
in incorporating upon it, still contained provisions radically objec
: tionable to them, and could not, therefore, have their support; and,
i when the vote came to be taken, it appeared that this sound prin
j ciple of separating the money of the people from the business of\
I banking had marie the whole amendment as unpalatable to the led- I
eralists as the defective parts of it were to the Republicans. The
consequence was, that poor Mr. Webster, in the person of his aid,
was voted out of the bill, and out of the House, almost nemine con
tra dicente.
The bill was thus left in the precise shape in which it was first
introduced into the Senate by Air. Wright, under the direction of [
the Committee of Finance, and in conformity with an assurance I
previously given in a report made by that committee. In this shape ■
it passed the House without organized opposition, and was returned I
to the Senate. The Senate, with little difference of opinion, con- !
curred with the House in its amendment, and thus Air. Wright’s bril, .
as originally introduced, and in the precise shape the Republican I
members of Congress proposed and desired to give to it, has become
a law, while every proposition of the Opposition to revive and re
enact the exploded deposite system has signally failed in both Houses
of Congress.
This late action es Congress presents to the country impmtant re
sults ; and as ail the questions, when; differences of opinion arise,
were forced upon the friends of the Administration by the voluntary I
movements of the Bank leaders and their instruments, their defeat ■
is the more mortifying to them and the more cheering to the friends ■
of sound principles. The bid presented by Air. Wright was per- i
fectly simple. It proposed a single modification of the deposite :
law, and one which almost every member of both Houses of Con- I
gress, of whatever politics, or whatever opinions on the subject of j
a financial system, approved, and was ready to vote for. All the
questions, therefore, of a disputable character, growing out of the
action of Congress in either branch, upon tins bill, wore raised by
I attempts on the part the Opposition to turn the hill into tire re
establishment of another general, open bank deposite system. The
following results are unavoidably deducible from this Congressional
action :
1. The Committee of Finance of the Senate have been sustained [
by Congress to the letter in their report upon Aly. Webster’s resolu- I
tion of inquiry. In that report the committee resist the establish
ment of the bank deposite system of 1836, defend the policy of the
gradual exclusion from circulation of bank notes of denominations
below five dollars, and recommend the deposite modification of the
law of 1836, which is made by the passage of Air. Wright’s hill.
2. The attempts of Mr. Webster and the bank party in the Sen
ate to revive the deposite law of 1836 were wholly defeated.
3. .The same atlemps by his man Curtis in the House were equally
unsuccessful.
4. The House of Representatives have declared, by a solemn
vote, that the money of the people ought not to, and shall not, so
far as the action ol that House is concerned, be again sitnendered
to the banks, to be made the foundation for bank loans. In oth. r
words, the House of Representatives has voted that a separation,
so far, ought to and shall exist between the pub ic Treasury and the
banks.
5. Flic Senate has, upon this and all other occasions, when die
question has been presented to it, since the suspension of specie
payments by the banks in May, 1837, made the same declaration.
6. These expressions from the representatives of the people in
the two Houses ol Congress prove, what we have constantly ascert
ed to be true, that the people of the country demand a separation
between Bank and State, at least so far as that the public money
shall be in no way connected with the business of banking.
7. They further show that the reason why no law has been passed,
or will be passed, during the present session of Congress, to pro
vide for the sale keeping and management of the public money, in
substantial conformity with the repeated recommendations of the
President, is not because there is a majority of the members of both
Houses favorable to the separation, but because there are differ
ences of opinion among the friends of the principle as to die pro
per details of a bill.
8. They further prove that the great object of the Republicans I
is the safety of the public money, and its convenient disposition
with reference to the public wants and public interests, and that
experience h is taught them that to surrender it to the uses of bank-
I ing is destructive of all these objects.
9. The vote of the House <r«ar«.s7 Air. Curtis’s amendment, after
■ the Republican members had so modified it as to deny the use but
not the keeping, of the money to the banks, conclusively proves
that the sole object of the Bank and Federal party is to give the
money of the people to the banks to be used and banked upon, re
gardless of the safety of the money, the wants of the public Trea
sury, or the rights of the public creditors.
.Such is the issue fairly made up between the two great parties
in Congress and in the country. Can there be any doubt upon which
side Republicans will be found I
REPEAL OF TiTedEPOSITE ACT.
I ho Senate on yesterday, by a vote of 27 to 23, passed the bill in
troduced by Mr. Wtight to repeal the Deposite Act of 1836, saving
one or two sections, of little importance in the present state of things.
We propose merely to place the prominent facts before the reader
in order that he may better understand the present state of this most
important question.
Ffst, then. By the 30th section of the act of 1789, establishing
the 1 reasury Department, it was expressly provided that nothing
but “ gold and silver coins" should be received in payment of pub
lic dues.
Second. By the same act, the Treasurer was made accountable
for the safe-keeping of the funds, and no provisions whatever were
made for their deposite in banks. The system was essentially that
which is now recommended, and known as the Sub-Treasury Sys
tem .
Third. By an extraordinary interpretation given by Secretary
Hamilton to this act, bank notes were received, instead of coins—
and the banks themselves became, under the practice of the De
partment, the depositories of the public moneys, without any express
provisions of law.
Fourth. The system remained without law until April, 1816,
when the Joint Resolution so much talked of during the last six years,
was passed. This resolution made no provision for the custody of
the public funds, but simply prescribed what media should be re
ceived in payment of the public dues.
Under these different acts, it seems, by the practice of Govern
ment, that the custody of the public money was left to the Executive
Department, with no restrictions or limitations other than those pre
scribed by the act of 1789, which made the Treasurer responsible in
bond and security. The reception of bank notes, which had pre
vailed previous to the joint resolution of 1816, without express law,
was legalized by that measure under certain conditions.
Fifth. In 1833 the public funds were removed from the Bank of
the United States, where, by the 16ih section of the chat tel , they
were required to be placed, (under certain conditions,) and deposit
ed in certain State banks. This was an exercise of Executive dis
cretion founded on the provisions of the bank charter, and defended
on the ground of necessity, growing out of lite expiration of the
charter. The public funds temained thus without express law until
June, 1836, when,
Sixth, Ihe Deposite act was passed prescribing the rules, regu
lations and' conditions on which the public moneys should be deposit- j
ed lor safe-keeping. These conditions, by the general suspension of
specie payments, and the issue of notes under the denomination of
five dollars, have been violated ; and the custody of the public funds
has, by necessity, reverted back, as if there were no law in existence
in reference to the matter save the act of 1789.
Seventh. The Specie Circular was issued in July, 1836, which
made a discrimination between the funds to be received in payment i
of the public dues. This has been repealed during the present ses- !
sion ; and as to the media of payment we are left where we were un- !
der the joint resolution of 1816. The whole of the matter then ■
conies to this ; that, as respects the custody of the public money we
are left to the act of 1789 ; and, as respects the media of payment, }
to the joint resolution of 1816.
Queries and remarks. Is not the Deposite act virtually repealed '
by the suspension of specie payments? So far as regards the cus- I
tody of the public money, this is certain. No existing bank (some ;
few small ones excepted) can be made depositories under that act. I
If it be lesired, then, to place all the banks on an equal footing—
those that exist now, or hereafter to go into operation—the deposite
act must be repealedpro tanto. Will this repeal give greater scope
to Execu ive discretion? If so, the Federal party, by their oppo
sition to the Constitutional Treasury bill, must bear the responsibili
ty. But the repeal does not give greater discretion ; —for under the
law as it stands, the Executive is authorized if not required to make
deposites in banks that h.ave not violated its conditions : such as the
new five million bank in New York, and others that have not suspend
ed or issued small notes. In either event, it seems that the pet bank
deposite system is liable to be re-established.
In this state of things—without the power to pass any positive act,
it appears to us to be the wiser course tn rniiml tU»— syr,
which might im consirtied ns requiring the Executive to reorganize
the pet bank system, and to throw the responsibility of adopting a
different policy on him, under the provisions of the act of 1789. If
sincere in his support of the Divorce, he will return to the constitu
tional system, and abolish that which has wrought so much mischief.
As to the media of payment. By the construction given to the
joint resolution of 1816, by the Department, it was deemed optional
whether notes or coins should be received. This construction has
not been expressly negatived;—the bill of Air. Webster only declar
ing that no discrimination should be made in the different branches
of the revenue. Should the present bill, therefore, to repeal the |
Deposite act, p.issthe lower House, it will be discretionary with the
Executive whether the constitutional, or the unconstitutional system
shall stand, both in regard to the custody of the public funds, and
the media of payment. —He will have no othei guides than the act of i
1789, and the resolution of 1816. We trust he will pursue both in j
their letter and spirit.
We throw out these hasty views in order to elicit the reflection of
the reader. We have not ourself, formed any decided opinion.
There are so many considerations connected with the subject, that
time and reflection are necessary to the formation of a correct judg
ment. We shall, therefore, suspend the expression of any fixed
opinion until we shall have had more time for reflection. We shall
recur to the subject again.— lb.
From the N. 17.I 7 . Evening Post,
MR. WEBSTER’S REWARD.
In the pending struggle of the whigs to remove all legal restraints
upon the unlimited issue of pap 1 r mone},andto vest in whig cot
porations an irresponsible control of the currency and the legislation
ot the country, no man has served the paper party better than
Daniel Webster. He has, indeed, contributed more intellect to the
cause than all the other senatorial advocates of the paper power
united. Clay stands nearest to him, but a long way behind. The
orator of the west is a mere orator, in the popular sense of the word, ■
and of the west; he can talk gracefully and fluently, and dress up J
poverty of thought and lack of argument, in such a style of florid
elocution, and recommend it with so winning a manner, that nine out
of ten shall forget to examine whether it has any substance, and he
can with.such audacity throw out the boldest invective, without cause I
or proof, against his adversaries that he finds sympathy in that nu
merous class whose political ptinciples are only prejudices, and their '
political opposition, personal antipathies. But for force of thought, i
learning, power of analysis, or even the simple capacity of arrang- j
ing and putting forth argriment, he is immeasurably below Mr. Web
ster, and indeed many other whigs. John Davis is by far an abler !
man. Besides the intellectual claim upon the whigs, Air. Webster j
has that of having suffeied more for them than any other principal
man on their side. Since he commenced canvassing for the Prest- ;
deucy with tfiern he has lost more character than ;my of their other j
fivoiites had to lose. The sin of his youth, his factious hostility to I
the war, had been almost lost in the distance, overshadowed by the |
great reputation he had built upfor himself, afterwards as a lawyer !
without superior, and a calm ; nd conscientious though erring states- 1
man. His high-toned federal notions were unsuited to the genius of
our people; until within a few years he commanded the lespect even !
of his opponents, for dignity of manner and force of personal cba- j
racter. In the service of the paper corporations, and indeed ever I
since he commenced the competition with Air. Clay for the candi- I
dateship of the whig! as President, he has been lowering himself in
finitely in public opinion. His attempts to rival Air. Clay in bitter
ness of invective against their common opponents, only degraded his
own better style of eloquence without approaching the practised skill
of the other, and his struggles for the superiority in embarrassing,
opposing and defeating democratic measures, have only involved
him in inconsistencies that have destroyed the dignity of his former
position, and embarked him in a eburse of factious partizanship, alien
to his habits, unworthy of his abilities, and degrading to his charac
ter. He lias been obliged to abandon, one by one, the sound doc
trines of currency held in his earlier and calmer days of judgment,
and become the special advocate of paper issues, and of the paper
manufactories who seek political supremacy by the power of issuing
them.
Thus much has Air. Webster dene and suffered for the whig cause;
and what is his reward? He got one portion of it at Alasonic Hall
as a token of what is to come. The active whigs met there to put
Air. Clay before him as a candidate for the Presidency, placing fore
most among the recommendations of their favorite the very merit
which Air. Webster most wants —support of the late war. It can
not be denied that this was a severe and most ungrateful rebuke.
If they had not meant to note this as a peculiar merit in Air. Clay,
they would hardly have risked the offence to Air. Webster ; if thev
had not considered opposition to the war, a great demerit, they would
not have exalted Mr. Clay so warmly for the contrary course. Nor,
if they are indifferent on that score, between Air. Clay and Air.
Webster would they have mentioned it, in terms which so much ex
alted the one, at the expense of the other. The indirect rebuke,
so severe, yet so true, of Air. Webster by the friends of Air. Clay is
the sign of a foregone conclusion; —The National Convention will
be stocked by the friends of Clay—and Air. We bster with everv
public manifestation of respect will be civilly thrown out in caucus
—because his opposition to the war will be said to make him una
vailable.
1 know very well that Air. Webster and some of his friends, with
a view to this matter, have attempted to qualify his opposition to the
war. as a liberal one, directed only against the manner of carrying it
on. The attempt is another proof of the lamentable change in Air.
Webster, for it is in direct conflict with history and the memory of I
! many living actors in that day—with his own recorded votes and
■ speeches. In fact neither Pickering, Hanson, Grosvenor or Quincy
overwent farther in denouncing the origin declaration and conduct
j of the war on rill occasions, tracing its disaster to “THE WANT
tH I ABE I1 ER CAUSE. 1 hese are his very words, which I
| do not remember to have seen quoted before, delivered at a time
when the war was gloomiest—when the frontier had been burned,
and Buffalo, Black Rock, Lewiston, and a whole line of American
villages were yet smoking in ruins. He interrupted the measures of
Congress for recruiting the army and defending the frontier, by calling
up an old Report into the causes of the war, and in his speech is
found the following paragraph. It should be premised that an en
quiry had been ordered into the causes of the failure of the cam
paign. He said :
“It was doubtless necessary to know whether there was not some
thing wrong or defective in the conduct of the war; and it was, at
least, equally important to inquire whether there was nothing wrong
or defective in the original commencement of it; for might it not
have been ill-judged and ill-timed in the commencement of it as
well as ill-conducted since? '1 here might be want of better armies
and better generds; the House ought to inquire, too, whether there
was not also the w ant of a better cause—a cause that the judgment
and conscience might better apptove.”
This paragraph was delivered on the 2d of January, 1814, and
was printed amohg the Congressional items in the public papers of
the day, from one of which 1 copied it. Whenever, therefore, Mr.
\\ ebster, or any of his friends, affects to conceal his hostility to the
war in its oriuiti and principle, Mr. Clay’s friends may point as a
sufficient reply to this assertion, “the want of a better cause.’’
MUTIUS.
> From the Washington Globe.
The National Intelligencer of this morning says of the bill which
j has just passed the Senate, relieving the State banks from the disa
■ biliiies incurred bv issuing small notes, and repealing the deposite law
|of 1836:
“ The bill proposes, in truth, to restore the reign of Jackson-
! ISM IN ALL ITS
The Editor should have added that, in putting the Treasury upon
the basis of the law of 1789, the reign of Washington as well as
Jackson was restored. President Washington did not suppose the
Constitution violated by the law of 1789, confiding the public trea
sure to the custody of the responsible Treasurer appointed under
the Constitution; nor did his difficulties commence, or party hostili
ties distract the country, until Hamilton, a few years after, created a
corrupt poli'.ical machine in the shape of a Bank of the United
States, to turn the public money’ into a means of corrupting Congress
and the public suffrages. So under Gen. Jackson, we found the reve
nue safe so long as the responsible officer of the Government held
to that responsibility, by being him ell, as well as his subalterns, sub
ject to punishment for their mismanagement; but the moment the
money was loaned »ut to the banks, and by them lent out to specu
lators", the treasure of the nation was confiscated.
Again, this morning’s Intelligencer, discussing Mr. Wright’s bill,,
says:
“It proposes to invest the President with nn uncontrolled powerto prescribe wha
sort of money shall be received in payment of dues to the Government, to the exten
of requiring (if he choose) the whole revenue of twenty or thirty millions of dollars
a year to be paid exclusively in specie.”
What a gross attempt at imposition! The resolution of 1816
first gave this discietion. The act of 1789 did not authorize it.
Air. Webster’s resolution, intended to repeal the Specie Circular,
revived the practical op'.ration of the resolution, and left to the dis
cretion of the Executive “ the uncontrolled power to prescribe what
sort of money shall be received in payment of dues to the Govern
ment,” provided he did not discriminate between the different brandi
es of revenues, but “ required the whole revenue of twenty or thir
ty millions of dollars a year to be paid exclusively in specie,” or ex
clusively in paper. The only restriction oir'this powei of the Exe
cutive, as recotinised bv Air. Webster’s first resolution, was that in
the deposite law of 1836, which prohibited the receipt of the paper
of banks which issued notes under five dollars.. This Mr. Web
ster’s last resolution proposed to repeal, so as to leave the Executive
discretion in this particular unlimited.
The Intelligencer is aware that the Senate has negatived the pro
position of Air. Webster to renew the deposite act, under the dispen
sations of which, the safe policy adopted by General Jackson was
destroyed. Every body knows that bill was forced on President
Jackson, and answered its object, in the explosion of the State banks.
The same party, for the same now openly avowed object, wish to
force it on Air. Van Buren. Bui Air. Webster himself admits that
unless it can be restored to its full sweep, in scattering the public
monev, the rump of the act might as well be repealed. As the Se
i nate has resolved not to revive the old contrivance for exploding the
State institutions again, ivhy does the Intelligencer hold fast to the
tump, against the better opinion of the Bank leader? Simply be
cause be would do a liultJiiisshicf-^ 1 *- 11 *"-
From the Georgia Constitutionalist.
Well ; the opponents of the present federal administration, sup
ported by a few seceders from the ranks of the republican party,
have succeeded in defeating the plan recommended by the President,
I for the establishment of an independent treasury. That the na
tional whigs should have opposed a republican measure recommend
ed by a democratic administration, is not very surprising; but that
men who pretended to belong to the republican party, should have
sacrificed their principles, and the best policy that could be pursued
under existing circumrtancess, in order to gratify resentful feelings
arising from disapj ointed ambition, is indeed most surprising, espe
cially when it is considered, that such men had a reputation to lose,
and bright political prospects to forfeit. They have lost and forfeited
the confidence ol the republican party; and they nevei can acquire
the full confidence of the party to which thex have attached themselves.
With regard to Messrs. Clay ami Webster, their opposition to an in
dependent treasury was to have been expected, though this opposition,
to use the language of a celebrated author, “ is a melancholy proof of
the errors into which the wisest and best statesmen are buried, when,
instead of considering important public measures calmly and dispas
sionately, they regard th in in the erroneous light, in which they are
presented, by personal feeling and party prejudice. Alen do not in
the latter case ask, whether the public will be benefited or injured by
the enactment under consideration, but whether their own party wilt
reap most advantage by defending or opposing it. For it is wonder
ful how people’s judgment is blinded by their passions, and how apt
we are to find plausible and even satisfactory reasons, for doing what
our interest, or that of the party we have embraced, strongly recom
mends.”
Why was ti e independent treasury system so vehemently and
successfully opposed in Congress, by the political leaders of the na
tional whigs and their new allies, the. consulvatives ? Was it because
such a system would be detrimental and injurious to the country I
Was it because Alessrs. Clay and Webster, Rives and Talmadge,
had found out by cool reflection and minute investigation, that they
once entertained erroneous opinions with regard to a paper or me
talic currency ? Not at all. The system was opposed because the
President had recommended it, and because if carried into operation it
would become a popular measure, and give additional stiengthto the
administration. Why was the independent treasury system opposed
by Mr. Webster, who once said, that “ the most effectual of all con
trivances for cheating the laborious classes of mankind, and for fer
tilizing the rich man’s field by the sweat of the poor man’s brow, is
the State banking system?” Why was lite system opposed by Mr.-
Clay, who once said, that “ that the whole property within the juris
diction of a State might be absorbed by these political institutions!”
Why was a system recommended by Washington, Jefferson and
Aladison opposed? Why was the money paper system advocated by
Messrs. Clay and Webster, a system which General Washington pro
nounced to be “ foolish and wicked?” The truth is, the indepen
dent treasury system was opposed because, if adopted, it would de
prive the opposition partv of the means of attaining power through
the influeuce of the banking interest of the country, and of estab
lishing a national bank as the m st efficient and formidable instru
ment they coidd employ to control the will of the people. To at
tain their end they appealed to the worst passions of the human
heart; they endeavored to show that money influence was not to b©
dreaded ; that the rich would always take care of the poor; that
bank influence was not so terrific as it was represented, on the con-,
trary that bank operations and hank capital properly managed, be
nefitted the industrious classes, while the bank stockholders derived,
but a very moderate interest from their investment ; and that, final
ly, the government of the country was safer in the bands of wealthy
men and moneyed corporations, than in the hands of vulgar demo
crats, who had neither talents nor wealth enough to care about a firm
and energetic government, able to check the presumption of any
class of men dissatisfied with the yoke imposed upon them. But the
opponents of an independent treasury may well exult at the v dory
they hive gained; they had better enjoy their success with speed,
for their triumph will be of short duration. The people of this
country are to proud and too independent, to let themsejves be ter
rified by money influence, and the distresses with which the country
is continually threatened by an array of upwards of eight hundred
hanks. The day is not far distant, when that people will require
their public servants in the legislative branch of the federal govern
ment, io act justly, impartially, and with a single eye to the public
good.
From the SVa shin if ton Chronicle,
REJOICINGS AND THE REASONS.
The Federal presses every where are making the welkin ring with
their shouts of tiiumph at the defeat of the Constitutional Treasury
bill. The result throws a blight light not only 011 their future hopes*
hut gives a present gratification to the avarice and cupidity ot the
sect. As stock-jobbers and money-changers, they reap a full harvest.
Look to the facts so vauntingly referred to, and no one can doubt
the considerations which enters so largely into their rejoicing. W o
copy one of the to, paans as ,tn example ol the rest. ,T. he U. S.
Gazette thus bominences one of its paragragps:—
“The Effect. It will b;; seen l>v reference tn the sales of stocks for two days
past, that the vote on the Sab-tiwisurv bill is understood bv the people, and that’ it
lias 1a l the efleet which was an icipatad. We really trust that no foolish scheme for
disturbing the public mind will be seriously proposed in Congress.”
“ Sale of stocks"— the only test of prosperity ! Why what have
sales of stocks to do with the prosperity of the great productive
classes of tin; country ? What is the whole matter but a swindling
contrivance of money-dealers to cheat and defraud each other, and
that the productive classes generally? And yet these " salte
of stocks" are quoted as evidence that "the people" are directly am)