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The Works of Daniel Webster ...: Speeches in Congress
The Works of Daniel Webster Speeches in Congress Author:Daniel Webster Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE CONTINUANCE OF THE BANK CHARTER/ Mr. President, — I rise, pursuant to notice, to ask leave to bring in a bill to continue for six years the act incorporat... more »ing the subscribers to the Bank of the United States; and I shall hope for that indulgence of the Senate which is usually granted on such occasions, if I accompany its introduction with some remarks on the general state of the country, as well as on the nature of the measure proposed. If leave be granted, it is my purpose to move to refer the bill to the Committee on Finance, that it may take the usual course, and come up for the consideration of the Senate in due season. Mr. President, in the midst of ample means of national and individual happiness, we have, unexpectedly, fallen into severe distress. Our course has been suddenly arrested. The general pulse of life stands still, and the activity and industry of the country feel a pause. A vastly extended and beneficent commerce is checked; manufactures are suspended, with incalculable injury to those concerned in them; and the labors of agriculture threatened with the loss of their usual reward. Our resources are, nevertheless, at the same time, abundant, and all external circumstances highly favorable and advantageous; such as fairly promised us, not only a continuance of that degree of prosperity which we have actually enjoyed, but its rapid advancement to still higher stages. The condition of the country is, indeed, singular. It is like that of a strong man chained. In full health, with strength unabated and all its faculties unimpaired, it is yet incapable ofperforming its accustomed action. Fetters and manacles are on all its limbs. If we could but unbind it, if we could break these iron chains, if we could once more set it free, it would in a moment resume its...« less