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limitation; another enlarging the time of redemption on the foreclosure of mortgages, which has already been repealed; and a memorable act, happily never carried into effect, but, nevertheless, still remaining a precedent in our statute-book, delegating to certain public officers the power to borrow on the credit of the state six millions of dollars, to be loaned to individuals, and to banking institutions enjoying chartered privileges and carrying on their operations for their own profit. It would seem that suf ficient time had elapsed, since the adoption of the Constitution, for the general government to determine the currency in which its taxes should be received. Permit me to express the hope, that since that government has ascertained that its financial business can be conducted without a bank, it will speedily adopt some fixed and permanent system for the collection and disbursement of its revenues; a system that will neither bring our liberties into jeopardy, nor spread alarm for their security by the creation of a banking institution in any form, whether corporate or an engine of the executive department; which will not again exact that impracticability, the payment of the precious metals for duties, taxes, and other revenue; nor again embarrass and derange all the operations of business by rejecting for its demands the only currency which, in the present condition of the civilized world, can be maintained-a mixed currency of gold, silver, and redeemable paper. Our great city is the centre of American trade. The state, always solicitous for its prosperity, is abundantly willing and competent to provide for its moneyed interests and secure its currency against depreciation and loss, and repels, as she ought, the suggestion that she consents to be dependent upon the policy or magnanimity of any other member of the confederacy for her currency or facilities of commerce; nor can she be incited to hostile action against any such member or its institutions. In the exercise of her constitutional sovereignty to promote the prosperity and welfare of her citizens, she asks of the federal government to be let alone. She pays as cheerfully as largely, the contributions exacted, but rightfully demands that the government shall consult the public interest, by preventing that unfaithfulness of its financial agents which is impoverishing the treasury and staining the national character. For the rest she will, with the blessing of God and in the spirit of our institutions, depend upon herself. Acting on this principle,

the state has repealed the restraining laws and adopted a system which, establishing proper safeguards for the currency to be issued, authorizes the business of banking by associated individuals, without the special and exclusive feature of legislative charter. Under this law, certificates have been filed by thirtytwo banking associations, with an aggregate actual capital of $8,883,175. A safer currency than theirs is unknown in the commercial world. These operations are yet too recent and limited to enable us to determine the practical effects of the system. It seems certain, that with the general revival of confidence in the community, associations under this law will be multiplied, converting a mass of dormant wealth into active capital, giving new impulses to industry and enterprise, and working a mighty change in the condition of the country. In view of these consequences, I respectfully recommend a revision of the law to correct defects and guard against abuses, and especially to prevent the associations from putting into circulation the doubtful paper of the moneyed institutions of other states.* The reciprocal benefits of our trade with other states, as well as the spirit of our national Union, require that no impediment should be interposed to such a circulation of their paper as its intrinsic worth may secure in the regular course of business. But our citizens must necessarily be ill-informed of the condition of the moneyed institutions of sister states. To induce an extensive circulation of their bills by permitting apparent or real engagements for their redemption within this state, will expose us to hazard of loss by frauds, and an enlargement of the paper currency, beyond all control of the government, and banish, at the same time, the better known and safer currency of our own institutions.

The test of the qualifications of electors, and the form of applying it, have been found deplorably deficient in our populous cities. Notwithstanding all existing preventives and penalties, there are crying abuses of this precious right. It is violated by every vote of an unqualified person, and every such vote tends to endanger not merely the peace and prosperity of society, but the security of republican institutions. Anarchy will surely follow the discovery that the ballot-boxes are an uncertain organ of the

*These suggestions were promptly adopted by the legislature. See Laws of 1839, p. 328.-Ed.

will of the people. Conscientiously holding the principle of universal suffrage, and indulging no apprehension of evil from its practical operation, if fairly carried out, with proper safeguards against its abuse, I am yet free to confess my fears, that it will prove a fatal franchise, unless such safeguards be applied.

There have been periods of debasement when it was believed that the energies of man were unequal to greater achievement, and his character susceptible of no further improvement; that inexorable laws frustrated all efforts to increase his security or mitigate the evils of his condition; and that his destiny would be speedily completed by destruction sent from the presence of an offended Deity, upon him and the earth he had polluted. The tendencies of the present age vindicate a more cheering theory. The light of the human intellect increases in brilliancy and reveals new mysteries to man's persevering investigation. His passions become more equable and humane; his energies break through the restraints of power and prejudice, and the democratic principle is leading in the way to universal liberty. This generation would be froward indeed to ask for other signs than it enjoys, that our race is ordained to reach, on this continent, a higher standard of social perfection than it has ever yet attained; and that hence will proceed the spirit which shall renovate the world. The agency of institutions of self-government is indispensable to the accomplishment of these sublime purposes. Such institutions can only be maintained by an educated and enlightened people. It requires national wealth to dispense effectually the blessings of science, and social ease and independence, to produce a desire for their enjoyment. But education and national prosperity are reciprocal in their influence. If it were asked why knowledge is generally diffused among the American people, the answer would be, because wealth is more generally diffused. And if it were inquired why the solaces and enjoyments of life are found in our dwellings, the reply would be, that it is because education has been there. The augmentation of both prosperity and knowledge may be indefinite, and the security of republican institutions be constantly increased, if that augmentation be impartially distributed. The spirit, therefore, that pervades our country and animates our citizens to seek the advantages of competence, is to be cherished rather than repressed. It resists the inroads of aristocracy and demolishes all its defences.

It annihilates the distinctions, old as time, of rich and poor, masters and slaves. It banishes ignorance and lays the axe to the root of crime. To enlarge, therefore, national prosperity, while we equalize its enjoyments and direct it to the universal diffusion of knowledge, are the great responsibilities of our age. Out of these responsibilities arise the systems of internal improvement and education.

Our country is rich, beyond all she now enjoys, in latent, unappropriated wealth. The minerals within the earth are not more truly wealth hidden and unused, than the capabilities of its surface to yield unmeasurable fruits to sustain the steps and gladden the hearts of the children of men. Emigration from the older states tending westward with constantly increasing numbers manifests the resources of native labor we possess to render these capabilities productive. There is another resource which is ours, but not by inheritance, nor by purchase, nor by violence, nor by fraud. It is the surplus labor, the incalculable surplus labor of the European states. This is wealth, and the moral energies of those who bring it hither are an element of national greatness. They come to us under the same law which controlled the colonists in their emigration and settlement here. They force themselves upon us even though we inhospitably resist them. The surplus capital of Europe, too, is seeking our shores with the same certainty and in obedience to the same law. Though it be anathematized from our high places, and denounced by those who, removed by fortune beyond the general necessities, desire to maintain the power derived from what remains of inequality in our social condition, it still flows unseen over our land, and abounding prosperity vindicates its presence and its usefulness. This tide is now acquiring increased volume and velocity from the reduction of the distance between the two continents by Atlantic steam navigation. They who would roll it back, must change not merely the relations existing between this country and Europe, but the condition of society on both continents. They must reinvigorate the energies of Europe, substitute democracies for her thrones, and religious toleration for her hierarchies. They must subvert the institutions, and break down the altars. of liberty in America, arrest the prosperity of the nation, deprive enterprise of its motives, and deny to labor its rewards. If all this is not done, the settlement of our western regions will go on;

new states will demand admission into the Union; their trade and commerce will continue to augment our wealth; and their citizens, no matter whence they spring, to claim us as brethren. If the energies of the new states already planted adjacent to the shores of the lakes be seconded and sustained by a wise and magnanimous policy on our part, our state, within twenty years, will have no desert places-her commercial ascendency will fear no rivalry, and a hundred cities enable her to renew the boast of ancient Crete.-The policy of this state includes every measure which tends to develop our own resources, or those of the regions which can be made tributary to our commerce, and every measure which invites the labor and capital of Europe. It requires that we welcome immigrants among ourselves, or speed them on their way to a western destination, with all the sympathy which their misfortunes at home, their condition as strangers here, and their devotion to liberty, ought to excite. If their inclination leads them to remain among us, we must assimilate their principle, habits, manners, and opinions, to our own. To accomplish this, we must extend to them the right of citizenship, with all its inestimable franchises. We must secure to them as largely as we ourselves enjoy, the immunities of religious worship. And we should act not less wisely for ourselves, than generously toward them, by establishing schools in which their children shall enjoy advantages of education equal to our own, with free toleration of their peculiar creeds and instructions.

Thirteen years' experience has proved the inadequacy of all our thoroughfares for the transportation of persons and property between the frontier and tide-waters. It is submitted whether sound policy does not require that the enlargement of the Erie canal be completed as speedily as may be consistent with the public convenience. This generation may as well participate in its manifold advantages as resign them. The loss of interest upon partial expenditures during a long term of years, is an item not unimportant; and the expenses of transhipment and other inconveniences resulting from the navigation of different parts of the canals with boats of different forms and magnitude, are auxiliary arguments to prove that the public interest requires the earliest feasible enjoyment of the cheapness and expedition of the improved navigation.

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