in decisions both for and against.  The country has been and still is deeply agitated by this unsettled question.  It will suffice for me to say that my own opinion has been uniformly proclaimed to be against the exercise of any such power by this Government.  On all suitable occasions during a period of twenty-five years the opinion thus entertained has been unreservedly expressed.  I declared it in the legislature of my native State; in the House of Representatives of the United States it has been openly vindicated by me; in the Senate Chamber, in the presence and hearing of many who are at this time members of that body, it has been affirmed and reaffirmed in speeches and reports there made and by votes there recorded; in popular assemblies I have unhesitatingly announced it, and the last public declaration which I made—­and that but a short time before the late Presidential election—­I referred to my previously expressed opinions as being those then entertained by me.  With a full knowledge of the opinions thus entertained and never concealed, I was elected by the people Vice-President of the United States.  By the occurrence of a contingency provided for in the Constitution and arising under an impressive dispensation of Providence I succeeded to the Presidential office.  Before entering upon the duties of that office I took an oath that I would “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”  Entertaining the opinions alluded to and having taken this oath, the Senate and the country will see that I could not give my sanction to a measure of the character described without surrendering all claim to the respect of honorable men, all confidence on the part of the people, all self-respect, all regard for moral and religious obligations, without an observance of which no government can be prosperous and no people can be happy.  It would be to commit a crime which I would not willfully commit to gain any earthly reward, and which would justly subject me to the ridicule and scorn of all virtuous men.

I deem it entirely unnecessary at this time to enter upon the reasons which have brought my mind to the convictions I feel and entertain on this subject.  They have been over and over again repeated.  If some of those who have preceded me in this high office have entertained and avowed different opinions, I yield all confidence that their convictions were sincere.  I claim only to have the same measure meted out to myself.  Without going further into the argument, I will say that in looking to the powers of this Government to collect, safely keep, and disburse the public revenue, and incidentally to regulate the commerce and exchanges, I have not been able to satisfy myself that the establishment by this Government of a bank of discount in the ordinary acceptation of that term was a necessary means or one demanded by propriety to execute those powers.  What can the local discounts of the bank have to do with the collecting, safe-keeping, and disbursing