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CHAP. XIX.

UNITED STATES-Proceedings regarding the dispute with France— Extinction of the National Debt-The National Bank-Bill for the expence of fortifications-Lawless proceedings against the advocates of Slave Emancipation-SOUTH AMERICA-MEXICO-Unsuccessful altempts against the Government of Santa Anna-Establishment of a Central, instead of the Federal, Constitution-PERU-War by the President and Bolivia against the insurgent General—VENEZUELAMilitary insurrection put down by Paez-NEW GRANADA-The EQUATOR-BRAZIL-Insurrection of the negroes at Bahia-Capture of Para by the Indians-BUENOS AYRES-Appointment of a governor with extraordinary powers-Murder of General Quiroga-Attempts

at insurrection.

E have already had occa

hostility might render incurable a

WE history of wound which as yet was scarcely

France to state the progress of the dispute between that country and the United States regarding the payment of losses sustained by subjects of the latter under the pretext of the Berlin and Milan decrees. We have seen, that, in the message of December, 1834, in which the President communicated to Congress the rejection of the bill by the French Chamber of Deputies, the promises of the government to convoke the Chambers, and again bring forward the measure, and its alleged failure to fulfil their engagements, he suggested to Congress the propriety of retaliatory measures, and of vesting the executive with such powers as an approaching emergency might require. The message altogether breathed a somewhat warlike spirit, but the public mind was much more pacifically disposed. Independent of the consideration that any step of positive

visible, the conferring of new powers on the executive, and the producing a state of war which necessarily augments the influence of that branch of a government, were consequences by no means agreeable to the very influential party, which formed, in Congress, the opposition to the administration of President Jackson. Their party politics coincided, in this instance, with common wisdom and the public good. The Senate referred the message, in so far as it concerned other countries, to its committee of foreign relations. The report of the committee, drawn up by Mr. Clay, took a much more favourable view of the conduct of France than the President had done, and set altogether aside his threats of hostile retaliation. As it was admitted to have been arranged between the two governments, after the rejection of the first bill in 1834, that America

should await the farther proceedings of the French Chamber before adopting any other step, the committee professed itself unable to discover on what grounds the President now recommended action without waiting. They could not find in the correspondence that supposed pledge by the French mi nisters for an extraordinary convocation of the Chambers, on which the President had insisted. The correspondence, in their opinion, amounted to nothing more than an assurance that the earliest practicable opportunity would be seized again to press the bill upon the Chambers; and if the President, when he penned his message on 1st December, had been aware of the French Chambers having been convoked on that very day, a month sooner than had been originally in tended, they did not think that he would have used towards France the language contained in the message. The reasons assigned by the French ministry for not calling an extraordinary session of the Chambers were plausible, at least, and, although they might not command conviction, would justify acquiescence in the course of the King, if, as the committee entirely believed, throughout the negotiation, and on all occasions, before the treaty and after the treaty, the King had invariably shown an anxious desire for the satisfactory adjustment of the differences between France and the United States. The opposition to the execution of the treaty had not proceeded from the King of France or his ministers, but from the Chamber of Deputies. Whilst these exertions were making by the French government, the policy of America was to strengthen and second them, and, above all, to do

nothing to impair the force of them. The refusal of one branch of a government to execute a treaty might, no doubt, be regarded as the refusal of the whole government; but when the head of the government evinced the earnestness, which had been shown in this case by the political head of the French government, such a conclusion ought not to be hastily drawn. Upon the whole, the committee were of opinion that the time had not yet arrived, when Congress was called upon to go into the consideration of the very serious question, whether they would enter into any measure for the purpose of taking into their own hands redress for wrongs by France. They were of opinion, that Congress ought to avoid any resort to war, or to measures which might lead to it, and rather wait to see the result of the exertions which the French King was undoubtedly making to carry the treaty into full effect. The Senate, accordingly, unanimously adopted (14th July) the following resolution: "That it is inexpedient at present to adopt any legislative measures in regard to the state of affairs between this country and France."

In the House of Representatives the adherents of the President were more numerous, and commonly formed a majority, though not a large one, on party questions. On the present occasion, however, they anticipated being left in a minority, especially after the unanimous resolution of the Senate ; a resolution moreover which showed that no opinion of an opposite character in the House of Representatives would be allowed to become the foundation of any legislative measure. The committee and the

House, therefore, adopted a middle course; the former declining to enter at all on the consideration of the suggestions or propositions contained in the President's message, and the House confining itself to a simple declaration that the treaty already concluded with France for the payment of the money should not be departed from. Two resolutions-1. That, in the opinion of this House, the treaty with France of 4th July, 1831, should be maintained, and its execution insisted upon; 2. That the committee of Foreign Affairs should be discharged from the farther consideration of so much of the President's message as relates to commercial restrictions, or to reprisals on the commerce of France," were unanimously agreed to. The recal of the French minister by his government did not alter the course of affairs thus de termined, for it was accompanied by an assurance that the bill would nevertheless be presented to the Chambers. Mr. Livingston was merely instructed, in the event of the Chambers refusing the money, to return to America in a ship of war, which would be dispatched to bring him home. The money, we have seen, was not refused; but the bill granting it was passed with a clause which suspended payment, till satisfactory explanations should be given to France of the President's language. Livingston returned to Washington. The President met Congress in December, and declared that there was nothing to explain, and even if there was, he would never submit to allow a foreign power to take notice of, or found demands upon, the interior and official communications of one department of the American government with

Mr.

another. Great Britain then tendered her mediation, and both parties accepted the offer.

It appeared from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, that the United States had now paid off the whole of their public debt. At the commencement of the present year, the only portion of the 4 per cents, remaining unredeemed, was the trivial sum of 443 dollars, the money to pay which was still in the bank, where funds had been deposited to pay off the whole of that stock. A part of the five per cent stock, created in March, 1821, amounting to 4,712,060,29, was the only portion of the 123,000,000 dollars of debt existing in 1816, and of the subsequent additions to it which was left to be redeemed. It did not become payable till the 1st of January, 1835, but as there was sufficient money in the Treasury for the purpose, and it was considered beneficial to the public to save, as far as practicable, all the accruing interest, agents had been employed by the Treasury in 1834, to purchase, at par, if possible, the whole of the remaining debt. Between that time and the end of the year, they had purchased about 491,258 35c. of it; and in October, 1834, notice had been given that the whole of this debt unredeemed after the 1st of Jan. 1835, would cease to bear interest, and would be promptly paid, after that date, on application to the Commissioners of Loans in the several states. Ample funds had been provided for this purpose; and thus, the whole was to be redeemed in the course of the present year: and the "United States," said the Secretary of the Treasury, "will

present the happy, and probably, in modern times, unprecedented spectacle, of a people substantially free from the smallest portion of a public debt."

President Jackson, encouraged by the addition which the elec tions of 1834 had made to his small majority in the House of representatives, continued his determined hostility to the bank of the United States. The secret of his animosity to that institution was the conviction that the bank and its influence, widely disseminated by its numerous branches, were in opposition to his administration. We have had occasion to mention, in our last volume, the strong measures which he had adopted against it, and which the senate had voted to be illegal. In his message at the opening of the present session, he attacked it in language most virulent and abusive, which would have been applicable only to some traitorous conspirator against the state. "Created for the convenience of the government," said the President," the bank has become the scourge of the people. Its interference to postpone the payment of a portion of the national debt, that it might retain the pub lic money appropriated for that purpose, to strengthen it in a political contest the extraordinary extension and contraction of its accommodations to the communityits corrupt and partizan loans-its exclusion of the public directors from a knowledge of its most important proceedings-the unlimited authority conferred on the President to expend its funds in hiring writers, and procuring the execution of printing, and the use made of that authority-the retention of the pension money and books after the selection of new agents-the

groundless claim of heavy damages, in consequence of the protest of the bill drawn on the French Government, have, through various channels, been laid before Congress. It seems due to the safety of the public funds remaining in that bank, and to the honour of the American people, that measures be taken to separate the government entirely from an institution so mischievous to the public prosperity, and so regardless of the constitution and laws. By transfering the public deposits, by appointing other pension agents, as far as it had the power, by ordering the discontinuance of the receipt of bank checks in payment of the public dues after the first day of January next, the executive has exerted its lawful authority to sever the connexion between the government and this faithless corporation." He recommended that Congress should farther prohibit the receipt of the notes of the bank in payment of taxes, until the withheld dividends were repaid, and should repeal all laws connecting the government or its offices with the bank,directly or indirectly.

However decidedly the Senate was opposed to the conduct which the executive had adopted in regard to the bank, the President's majority in the House of Repre sentatives insured to him ultimate success in the contest, for the existence of the bank depended on a

renewal of its charter: that renewal could not be effected without the concurrence of both Houses; the House of Representatives had already adopted, in the previous session, although only by a small majority, a resolution to the effect, that the bank should not be rechartered; and the subsequent election had added to that ma

jority. The Directors, therefore, being now convinced that the charter would not be renewed, were occupied, during the present year, in winding up its affairs in the manner least likely to be de

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38,787,793 57. 36,792,975 37..........1,995,181,80 Bills of Exchange24,854,852 47....18,351,282 66....6,503,569 81 Foreign Funds .. 2,007,146 45.... 212,272 58....1,794,873 87 Specie ... 13,912,577 47.... 8,749,920 656....5,162,56 81 Deposits.......12,358,958 68.... 5,381,698 42......6,977,260 26 Circulation......22,009,474 40....22,113,902 66.... 104,428 26 Debts of State Banks 2,326,366 95.... 4,535,924 54....2,209,557 59

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