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trated by the terms and principles governing a common copartnership. There a fund of power is to be exercised under the direction of the joint counsels of the allied members, but that which has been reserved by the individuals is intangible by the common government, or the individual members composing it. To attempt it, finds no support in the principles of our constitution. It should be our constant and earnest endeavor mutually to cultivate a spirit of concord and harmony among the various parts of our confederacy. Experience has abundantly taught us that the agitation by citizens of one part of the union of a subject not confided to the general government, but exclusively under the guardianship of the local authorities, is productive of no other consequences than bitterness, alienation, discord, and injury to the very cause which is intended to be advanced. Of all the great interests which appertain to our country, that of union—cordial, confiding, fraternal union—is by far the most important, since it is the only true and sure guarantee of all others."

Passing over several topics of the address, we copy the following paragraph: “I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility, are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers, and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time.”

President Harrison made choice of the following named persons as members of his cabinet : Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, secretary of state; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, secretary of the treasury; John Bell, of Tennessee, secretary of war; George E. Badger, of North Carolina, secretary of the navy; Francis Granger, of New York, postmaster-general; John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, attorney-general.

The state of the currency and finances being such as, in the opinion of the president, required immediate attention, he issued a proclamation on the 17th of March, convening congress on the last Monday (31st) of May.

No administration had a more auspicious commencement than that of president Harrison, and no other has had so brief an existence. Before it could be said to have acquired any positive character, it was terminated. After an illness of eight days, the new president died, on the 4th of April, at the executive mansion in the city of Washington. In just one month from the day the executive duties were assumed, they passed unexpectedly into the hands of an accidental successor. By virtue of a provision of the constitution, John Tyler, the vice-president, became the president of the United States. a

The inaugural address of Mr. Tyler was short; the usual opportunity of preparing one not having, under the peculiar circumstances which had brought him into office, been afforded him. In regard to foreign nations, his policy would be both to render and to demand justice. As the tendency of human institutions was to concentrate power in the hands of a single man, "a complete separation should take place between the sword and the purse. No matter where or how the public moneys shall be deposited, so long as the president can exert the power of appointing and removing, at his pleasure, the agents selected for their custody, the commander-in-chief of the army and navy is in fact the treasurer. A permanent and radical change should therefore be decreed. The right to remove from office, while subjected to no just restraint, is inevitably destined to produce a spirit of crouching servility with the official corps, which, in order to uphold the hand which feeds them, would lead to direct and active interference in the elections, both state and federal, thereby subjecting the course of state legislation to the dictation of the chief executive officer, and making the will of that officer absolute and supreme.

I will remove no incumbent from office who has faithfully and honestly acquitted himself of the duties of his office, except in cases where such officer has been guilty of an active partisanship, or by secret means—the less manly, and therefore the more objectionable—has given his official influence to the purposes of party, thereby bringing the patronage of the government into conflict with the freedom of elections."

He said, a rigid economy in all public expenditures should be observed, and all sinecures should be abolished. War between the government and the currency should cease. He “regarded existing enactments as unwise and impolitic, and in a high degree oppressive;" and he would “promptly give his sanction to any constitutional measure, which, originating in congress, should have for its object the restoration of a sound circulating medium, so essentially necessary to give confidence in all the transactions of life, to secure to industry its just and adequate rewards, and to reëstablish the public prosperity. In deciding upon the adaptation of any such measure to the end proposed, as well as its conformity to the constitution,” he would " resort to the fathers of the great republican school for advice and instruction, to be drawn from their sage views of our system of government, and the light of their ever glorious example.”

No change in the cabinet as constituted by Gen. Harrison, was made by Mr. Tyler.

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Pursuant to the proclamation of president Harrison, the 27th congress assembled in special session, on the 31st of May, 1841. The principal subjects presented in the message of the president, were those of the revenue, and of a suitable fiscal agent, capable of adding increased facilities in its collection and disbursement. The deficit in the available funds in the treasury to meet the wants of the government for the year, was estimated at nearly eleven and a half millions; for which some temporary provision was necessary. He advised congress, in providing for the wants of the treasury, not to alter the compromise act of March, 1833. He reviewed the course of the two preceding administrations in relation to the public moneys, and stated the effects of that policy. As to the question whether existing evils would be remedied by a national bank, he expressed no opinion. He considered Gen. Jackson to

. have been sustained by the popular vote in his opposition to the bank. The employment of the state banks as fiscal agents had been abandoned by its early advocates, and, he believed, had also been condemned by popular sentiment. And, lastly, the sub-treasury had been condemned in a manner too plainly indicated to admit of a doubt. He concludes this part of the message as follows:

“What is now to be regarded as the judgment of the American people on this whole subject, I have no accurate means of determining but by appealing to their more immediate representatives. The late contest, which terminated in the election of General Harrison to the presidency, was decided on principles well known and openly declared; and while the sub-treasury received in the result the most decided condemnation, yet no other scheme of finance seemed to have been concurred in.

“To you, then, who have come more directly from the body of our common constituents, I submit the entire question, as best qualified to give a full exposition of their wishes and opinions. I shall be ready to concur with you in the adoption of such system as you may propose, reserving to myself the ultimate power of rejecting any measure which may, in my view of it, conflict with the constitution, or otherwise jeopard the prosperity of the country—a power which I could not part with even if I would, but which I will not believe any act of yours will call into requisition.

“With the adoption of a financial agency of a satisfactory character, the hope may be indulged, that the country may once more return to a state of prosperity: measures auxiliary thereto, and in some measure inseparably connected with its success, will doubtless claim the attention of congress. Among such, a distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, provided such distribution does not force upon congress the necessity of imposing upon commerce heavier burdens

than those contemplated by the act of 1833, would act as an efficient remedial measure, by being brought directly in aid of the states."

John White, a whig member from Kentucky, was elected speaker of the house of representatives. The election was made viva voce. The vote was for White, 121; for John W. Jones, of Virginia, 84; scattering 16. There was also a whig majority in the senate.

Bills were introduced for the repeal of the sub-treasury, and for the incorporation of a “fiscal bank," as the proposed institution was to be called. The former of these bills was ordered to be engrossed in the senate, by a vote of 30 to 16; and was afterward passed, (June 9,) 29 to 18. It passed the house on the 9th of August, 134 to 87, and became a law by the approval of the president on the 13th. This act contained a provision making it a felony for any officer charged with the safe-keeping, transfer, or disbursement of the public revenue, to convert it to his own use; or to loan it with or without interest; or to make an investment of it in any manner.

This section was designed to prevent defalcations, of which there were so large a number, and for so very large an amount, during the administration of Mr. Van Buren. [Appendix, Note M.]

The secretary of the treasury, in his report accompanying the president's message, recommended the establishment of a bank. The president having signified to some of his friends a desire that the secretary of the treasury should be called on for a plan, a call to this effect was moved in both houses: in the house, on the 3d of June; in the senate, on the 7th. The report of the secretary was accordingly made on the 12th. With a view to free the proposed bank from constitutional objection, it was to be incorporated in the District of Columbia, with power to establish branches only with the assent of the states. Its title was to be « The fiscal bank of the United States."

In the senate, that part of the message relating to the currency and fiscal agent for the government, was referred to a select committee, of which Mr. Clay was chairman, who, on the 21st of June, reported a bill based on the plan of the secretary. The leading features of the bill were the following:

To guard against the exercise of any undue government or official influence, or the imputation of any unworthy transactions, the parent bank was prohibited from making discounts or loans, except loans to the government authorized by express law.

The capital of the bank was to be thirty millions, to be increased, if congress should find it necessary, to fifty millions.

To guard against undue expansion of the currency, the dividends were limited to seven per cent., the excess, beyond losses and contingencies,

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to be paid into the treasury. The debts due the bank were not to exceed the amount of the capital stock paid in, and 75 per cent. thereon. It was not to contract debts exceeding twenty-five millions over and above its deposits. A free examination of its books was secured. It prohibited the renewal of loans, thus confining the bank to fair business transactions. Discounts or loans were to stop whenever its notes in circulation should exceed three times the amount of its specie in its vaults.

To protect the community and the stockholders against mismanagement, loans to its officers were forbidden. Voting by proxy was restricted. Dealing in stocks, and all commercial operations by the bank, were prohibited. A majority of the whole board of directors was necessary to transact business. Embezzlement of the funds of the bank by any of its officers or agents was made a punishable offense.

The bill was under debate in the senate until the 28th of July, when, after some amendment, it passed that body, 26 to 23. It passed the house of representatives on the 6th of August, 128 to 97. It was retained by the president until the 16th, and returned with a veto. This was not altogether unexpected, as it had been ascertained by private interviews with him, that he was not satisfied with the bill.

The following were the objections of the president to the bill:

It created a national bank to operate per se over the union. The power of congress to incorporate such a bank had been in dispute from the origin of the government. He had for twenty-five years uniformly proclaimed his opinion to be against the exercise of such a power. With a knowledge of his opinions, the people had elected him to the office of vice-president. He had providentially become president; he was sworn to support the constitution; and it would he criminal to give his sanetion to the bill.

He objected to its being made a bank of discount. The right to discount was not necessary to enable the government to collect and to disburse the public revenue, and incidentally to regulate the commerce and exchanges. Local discounts had nothing to do with this business. To be free from constitutional objection, it must be confined to dealing in exchanges.

Another objection was, that the assent of the states was not sufficiently secured. The directors were required to establish an office of discount and deposit in any state in which two thousand shares should have been subscribed; and it might be done in any state giving its assent; and such assent was to be presumed, if the state did not at the first session after the establishment of such office, unconditionally declare its assent or dissent. And once established, whatever might prevent a state from speaking within the time prescribed, its assent was to be