reference to the pretended evils which our system was to entail upon the nation, been verified; and, on the contrary, that all the good, and more, that was predicated of the system, by its advocates, have been realized in the short epoch of its trial;-all this I might do, but I should feel it to be, at this day and in the presence of this Institute, a supererogatory labor; the subject has been better handled by more competent advocates. I will, however, ask you to indulge me, before I conclude this address, with the privilege of briefly presenting the restrictive system to your minds in its connection with a very important interest belonging to the national

concern.

No department of the action of the government is more profoundly interesting to the welfare of the people, than that which relates to the preservation of a sound currency. The maintenance of the public confidence in the stability of the currency depends upon the adherence to the principle of payment in the precious metals: this principle alone can retain values at a permanently equal standard, or, at least, at a standard so nearly equal as to be subject to no other changes than those which occur in the precious metals themselves. Our circulation of bank paper is professedly founded upon this basis; and the amount of this paper thrown into current use, is nicely adjusted by a rule, founded upon experience, which restrains the issue within the limits of a fixed proportion between the paper and the amount of specie in the country. This proportion may perhaps allow, in a period of prosperous trade, the emission of paper to five or six times the amount of specie applicable to its redemption. By such a rule, twenty millions of the precious metals would justify an aggregate emission of one hundred, or one hundred and twenty millions of paper. If, therefore, the demands of trade and domestic exchanges require a circulation of paper to the amount of one hundred millions, and the safe proportion of emission should be five of paper for one of gold or silver, it is obvious that the nation will stand in need of a specie deposit to the amount

of twenty millions. All over this amount will be a surplus, useless to the currency, and applicable to the purposes of exportation or manufacture. It is obvious, if this proposition. be true, that the subtraction of every dollar from the twenty millions, must be followed by a withdrawal of five dollars from the paper circulation, or else that the proportion between paper and specie must be increased beyond the limits of what is deemed a safe relation.

The past experience of the United States has shown that, by the operation of excessive production of manufactures in Europe, especially in England, resulting from the existence of a great mass of pauper labor in these nations, we are singularly exposed to the evils of importation much beyond the value of our exports. The practice of sending in upon us large amounts of merchandise upon foreign account, and the aid which this species of trade derives from our auction system, rendering the first enjoyment of our market a matter of eager and destructive competition between our own merchant and the foreigner, have greatly contributed to increase this liability to an over supply. The inevitable consequence of this state of things is a withdrawal of our specie to pay the difference in value between the export and the import;-in order words, a continuing unfavorable balance of trade steadily abstracts the precious metals from our coffers. By the balance of trade I do not mean the balance apparent in figures in the treasury reports;-I am aware that that is a false guide to the fact;-I mean that real, unreported balance, which is grounded upon the actual cost of our imports in the places where they are bought, and upon the actual value of our exports in the places to which they are carried,-of which may be said, that the difference between them is rather felt in the state of exchange, than seen in any form of official exhibition. Until this difference is paid by a new supply of exports which shall, in their turn, exceed the imports, the equilibrium cannot be restored, and there will be no return of the precious metals to supply the vacuum created by this

it

course of trade, and, consequently, until that period, no restoration of the paper circulation to its former condition. The inevitable effect of this state of things will be to occasion great and destructive changes in the money values of all the commodities of commerce. With what melancholy consequences such changes visit the world of debtor and creditor, it need not be told to an intelligent mercantile community like this to whom, in part, I now address myself. I refer to the fact, in this brief form of comment, merely to indicate what I think a paramount principle of policy in regulating the concerns of our domestic industry, namely, that it should be a fundamental purpose, in the administration of the affairs of our government, to adopt such a system of duties as shall invariably confine the value of our imports to a sum within the capacity of the exports to pay; and that this is the only sure method of preserving the currency in a sound and trustworthy condition, compatible with its expansion to the amount required in the operations of commerce. By a necessary law of political economy, that system of duties would never fail to afford all the encouragement and protection to our domestic labor which its friends could desire.

I have forborne, gentlemen, to expatiate upon the principles and facts involved in this problem, because it would lead me into a larger discourse than the present occasion would justify; and I have, already, too much reason to be thankful for the patience with which you have borne the tax I have put upon your attention, to vex it with a further burden. The topics with which I have engaged your minds, have necessarily led me into inquiries better suited to the retired study of the closet than to a popular forum ; and, in the labor to adapt them to the brief hour I have allowed myself, I am sensible I have run the risk of rendering them obscure. I could not, however, look around me, from the position I at present occupy, without finding persuasions to solicit me into the range of discourse which I have pursued. Both within the walls of your exhibition-room, and beyond its doors, these topics have been

too prominently cast upon my notice to render it proper in me to avoid them. There, within, as in a casket, are the jewels of our policy-the bright and beautiful evidences of the value of our system; without, are the din and murmur of a great city, where every thing is instinct with life. The crowds that hurry through her avenues; the tumult of incessant transportation; the thronged harbor and the busy wharf, tell us that we sit at the great gate of the nation. Through these portals are conducted the exchanges of foreign and domestic trade; and their mutual reliance is here signally made manifest. It would not be wonderful if you, gentlemen, accustomed as you are to look daily on this spectacle, and to inhabit in the midst of it, should forget, in the stupendous display of commerce around you, that there is a still greater and infinitely more valuable field of enterprise in the interior country. The existence of this Institute shows that you have not forgot it; and the liberal zeal with which you pursue the great purpose of your association, declares that here, no less than in the bosom of the land, the true interests of America are clearly seen and ardently sustained. May the same intelligent and patriotic spirit take possession of every avenue of our republic, and dwell at every threshold may it equally pervade the North and the South, the East and the West, the present and all future times!

*

A DISCOURSE

ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF WILLIAM WIRT, LATE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES; PRONOUNCED AT THE REQUEST OF THE BALTIMORE BAR BEFORE THE

I

CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE, ON THE 20TH OF MAY, 1834.

T is the custom of the world to count that a melancholy occasion which is dedicated to the remembrance of the dead. The melancholy, at least, is not unmingled with emotions of pleasure: it is grateful to the mind to call up to the glass of memory the features of the departed, that we may scan them when sober meditation has purified our passions, and when thoughts of rivalry may no longer disturb our judgment. Such retrospects chasten and temper our natures and overcome that fear of death which the ordinary currents of opinion, the habitudes of our lives and the common lessons of worldly education all tend too cogently to fortify and confirm. Incongruous as it may seem to a rational mind, we are accustomed to tremble at the thought that mortal man should die. This is the error of a sickly world, the offspring of a coward conscience. The realms beyond the grave are peopled with tribes that wisdom, affection and virtue need not regret to join. Thither, since creation's dawn, have repaired, without one backward step, the innumerable crowds whose little interests and earnest toils have ever made this orb a wondrous theatre of life and passion. Thither all complexions, natures and tempers have hurried with inevitable haste-the wise, the brave, the beautiful; the stately crowned king and the unfurnished beggar; the calm sage and the impetuous slave of