been made of private fortunes, or that difficulties should exist in meeting their engagements on the part of the debtor states.

"Apart from which, if there be taken into account the immense losses sustained in the dishonour of numerous banks, it is less a matter of surprise that insolvency should have visited many of our fellow-citizens than that so many should have escaped the blighting influence of the times.

"In the solemn conviction of hese truths, and with an ardent desire to meet the pressing necessities of the country, I felt it to be my duty to cause to be submitted to you, at the commencement of your late session, the plan of an Exchequer, the whole power and duty of maintaining which in purity and vigour, was to be exercised by the representatives of the people themselves. It was proposed to place it under the control and direction of a treasury board, to consist of three commissioners, whose duty it should be to see that the law of its creation was faithfully executed, and that the great end of supplying a paper medium of exchange at all times convertible into gold and silver should be attained.

"The board thus constituted was given as much permanency as could be imparted to it, without endangering the proper share of responsibility which should attach to all public agents. In order to secure all the advantages of a well-matured experience, the commissioners were to hold their offices for the respective periods of two, four, and six years, thereby securing at all times, in the management of the Exchequer, the services of two men of experience; and to place them in a condition to exercise

perfect independence of mind and action, it was provided that their removal should only take place for actual incapacity or infidelity to the trust, and to be followed by the President with an exposition of the cause of such removal, should it occur.

"It was proposed to establish subordinate boards in each of the states, under the same restrictions and limitations of the power of removal, which, with the central board, should receive, safely keep, and disburse the public monies; and in order to furnish a sound paper medium of exchange, the Exchequer should retain of the revenue of the government a sum not to exceed 5,000,000 dollars in specie, to be set apart as required by its operations, and to pay the public creditor at his own option, either in specie or Treasury notes, of denomination not less than 5 dollars, nor exceeding 100 dollars, which notes should be redeemed at the several places of issue, and to be receivable at all times and everywhere in payment of government dues, with a restraint upon such issue of bills that the same should not exceed the maximum of 15,000,000 dollars.

"In order to guard against all the hazards incident to fluctuations in trade, the Secretary of the Treasury was invested with authority to issue 5,000,000 dollars of goyernment stock, should the same at any time be regarded as necessary, in order to place beyond hazard the prompt redemption of the bills which might be thrown into circulation. Thus, in fact, making the issue of 15,000,000 dollars of Exchequer-bills rest substantially on 10,000,000 dollars; and keeping in circulation never more than 1 dollars for every dollar in spe

cie. When to this it is added that the bills are not only everywhere receivable in government dues, but that the government itself would be bound for their ultimate redemption, no rational doubt can exist that the paper which the Exchequer would furnish would readily enter into general circulation, and be maintained at all times at or above par with gold or silver; thereby realizing the great want of the age, and fulfilling the wishes of the people.

"In order to reimburse the government the expences of the plan, it was proposed to invest the Exchequer with the limited authority to deal in bills of exchange, unless prohibited by the state in which an agency might be situated, having only thirty days to run, and resting on a fair and bond fide basis. The legislative will on this point might be so plainly announced as to avoid all pretext for partiality or favouritism. It was furthermore proposed to invest this Treasury agent with authority to receive on deposit, to a limited amount, the specie funds of individuals, and to grant certificates therefore to be redeemed on presentation, under the idea, which he believed to be well founded, that such certificates would come in aid of the Exchequer-bills in supplying a safe and ample paper circulation. Or, if in place of the contemplated dealings in exchange, the Exchequer should be authorized not only to exchange its bills for actual deposits of specie, but for specie or its equivalent to sell draughts, charging therefore a small but reasonable premium, I cannot doubt, but that the benefits of the law would be speedily manifest in the revival of the credit, the trade, and business of the whole

country. Entertaining this opinion, it becomes my duty to urge its adoption upon Congress, by reference to the strongest considerations of the public interests, with such alterations in its details as Congress may in its wisdom see fit to make.

"I am well aware that this proposed alteration and amendment of the laws establishing the Treasury department has encountered various objections, and that among others it has been proclaimed a government bank of fearful and dangerous import. It is proposed to confer upon it no extraordinary powers. It purports to do no more than pay the debts of the government with the redeemable paper of the government, in which respect it accomplishes precisely what the Treasury does daily at the time, in issuing to the public creditors the Treasury notes which it is authorized to issue. It has no resemblance to an ordinary bank, as it

furnishes no profits to private stockholders, and lends no capital to individuals. If it be objected to as a government bank, and the objection be available, then should all the laws in relation to the Treasury be repealed, and the capacity of the government to collect what is due to it, or pay what it owes, be abrogated.

"This is the chief purpose of the proposed Exchequer; and surely, if, in the accomplishment of a purpose so essential, it affords a sound circulating medium to the country and facilitates to trade, it should be regarded as no slight recommendation of it to public consideration. Properly guarded by the provisions of law, it can run into no dangerous evils; nor can any abuse arise under it but such as the Legislature itself will be an

swerable for if it be tolerated, since it is but the creature of the law, and is susceptible at all times of modification, amendment, or repeal, at the pleasure of Congress. I know that it has been objected, that the system would be liable to be abused by the Legislature, by whom alone it could be abused in the party conflicts of the day.

"That such abuse would manifest itself in a change of the law, which would authorize an excessive issue of paper for the purpose of inflating prices and winning popular favour. To that it may be answered, that the ascription of such a motive to Congress is altogether gratuitous and inadmissible.

The theory of our institutions would lead us to a different conclusion. But a perfect security against a proceeding so reckless would be found to exist in the very nature of things. The political party which should be so blind to the true interests of the country as to resort to such an expedient, would inevitably meet with final overthrow in the fact that the moment the paper ceased to be convertible into specie, or other wise promptly redeemed, it would become worthless, and would, in the end, dishonour the government, involve the people in ruin, and such political party in hopeless disgrace.

"At the same time, such a view involves the utter impossibility of furnishing any currency other than that of the precious metals, for, if the government itself cannot forego the temptation of excessive paper issues, what reliance can be placed in corporations upon whom the temptations of individual aggrandizement would most strongly operate? The people would have to blame none but themselves for any injury that might arise from

a course so reckless, since their agents would be the wrongdoers, and they the passive spectators.

"There can be but three kinds of public currency,-first, gold and silver; second, the paper of state institutions; or, third, a representative of the precious metals, provided by the general government, or under its authority. The subtreasury system rejected the last in any form; and, as it was believed that no reliance could be placed on the issues of local institutions for the purposes of general circulation, it necessarily and unavoidably adopted specie as the exclusive currency for its own use.

"And this must ever be the case unless one of the other kind be used. The choice, in the present state of public sentiment, lies between an exclusive specie currency on the one hand, and government issues of some kind on the other. That these issues cannot be made by a chartered institution, is supposed to be conclusively settled. They must be made then directly by government agents. For several years past they have been thus made in the form of Treasury notes, and have answered a valuable purpose. Their usefulness has been limited by their being transient and temporary; their ceasing to bear interest at given periods necessarily causes their speedy return, and thus restricts their range of circulation, and, being used only in the disbursements of government, they cannot reach those points where they are most required.

"The credit of the government may be regarded as the very soul of the government itself-a principle of vitality without which all its movements are languid and all its operations embarrassed. In this

spirit the Executive felt himself bound by the most imperative sense of duty to submit to Congress, at its last session, the propriety of making a specific pledge of the land fund as the basis for the negotiations of the loans authorised to be contracted. I then thought that such an application of the public domain would, without doubt, have placed at the command of the government ample funds to relieve the Treasury from the temporary embarrassments under which it laboured. American credit has suffered a considerable shock in Europe from the large indebtedness of the states and the temporary inability of some of them to meet the interest on their debts.

"The utter and disastrous prostration of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania had contributed largely to increase the sentiment of distrust by reason of the loss and ruin sustained by the holders of its stock, a large portion of whom were foreigners, and many of whom were alike ignorant of our political organisation and of our actual reponsibilities. It was the anxious desire of the Executive that in the effort to negociate the loan abroad the American negociator might be able to point the money-lender to the fund mortgaged for the redemption of the principal and interest of any loan he might contract, and thereby vindicate government from all suspicion of bad faith or inability to meet its engagements. Congress differed from the Executive in this view of the subject.

It became, nevertheless, the duty of the Executive to resort to every expedient in its power to negociate the authorized loan. After a failure to do so in the American market, a citizen of high character

and talent was sent to Europe with no better success; and thus the mortifying spectacle has been presented of the inability of this government to obtain a loan so small as not in the whole to amount to more than one-fourth of its ordinary annual income, at a time when the governments of Europe, although involved in debt, and with their subjects heavily burthened with taxation, readily obtain loans of any amount at a greatly reduced rate of interest.

"It has now become obvious to all men that the government must look to its own means for supplying its wants, and it is consoling to know that these means are altogether adequate for the object. The Exchequer, if adopted, will greatly aid in bringing about this result. Upon what I regard as a well-founded supposition, that its bills would be readily sought for by the public creditors, and that the issue would in a short time reach the maximum of 15,000,000 dollars, it is obvious that 10,000,000 dollars would thereby be added to the available means of the Treasury without cost or charge. Nor can I fail to urge the great and beneficial effects which would be produced in aid of all the active pursuits of life.

"Its effect upon the solvent state banks, while it would force into liquidation those of an opposite character through its weekly settlements, would be highly beneficial: and with the advantages of a sound currency the restoration of confidence and credit would follow, with a numerous train of blessings. My convictions are most strong that these benefits would flow from the adoption of this measure; but, if the result should be adverse, there is this security in

connection with it,-that the law creating it may be repealed at the pleasure of the legislature, without the slightest implication of its good faith.

"I have thus, fellow-citizens, acquitted myself of my duty under the constitution, by laying before you, as succinctly as I have been able, the state of the union, and by inviting your attention to measures of much importance to the country. The Executive will most zealously unite its efforts with those of the legislative department in the accomplishment of all that is required to relieve the wants of a common constituency, or elevate the destinies of a beloved country."

The following is a statistical summary of the value of the exports of produce and manufactures of the United States for three years, 1838, 1839, and 1841. The exports of the produce of the sea had declined to 2,846,851 dollars, having in the year 1838 been as high as 3,175,576 dollars. The

exports of the produce of the forest show an increase; 1838 being stated at 5,200,499 dollars, 1839 at 5,764,559 dollars, and 1841 at 6,264,852 dollars. Of agricultural produce, including the raising of crops and the breed of cattle, the exports are stated at 9,104,514 dollars for 1838, 13,588,186 dollars for 1839, and 16,737,462 dollars for 1841. Of the tobaccocrop, in 1838 the value exported was 7,292,029 dollars; in 1839, 9,882,943 dollars; and 12,576,703 dollars in 1841. Of the cottoncrop, the value exported was 61,556,811 dollars in in 1838, 61,238,982 dollars in 1839, and 54,330,341 dollars in 1841. And the exports of manufactures are stated at 8,482,321 dollars for 1838, and 9,590,531 dollars for 1839, and 6,481,502 dollars for 1841. Of these general amounts, England, for herself and Colonies, took 850,540 barrels of flour, 850,865 bushels of wheat, 324,709 bushels of Indian corn and 96,810 barrels of pork.