But, Sir, how are we to get through the first experiment, so as to be able to try that which is to be final and ultimate, that is to say, how are we to get rid of the State banks?  How is this to be accomplished?  Of the Bank of the United States, indeed, we may free ourselves readily; but how are we to annihilate the State banks?  We did not speak them into being; we cannot speak them out of being.  They did not originate in any exercise of our power; nor do they owe their continuance to our indulgence.  They are responsible to the States; to us they are irresponsible.  We cannot act upon them; we can only act with them; and the expectation, as it would appear, is, that, by zealously co-operating with the government in carrying into operation its new theory, they may disprove the necessity of their own existence, and fairly work themselves out of the world!  Sir, I ask once more, Is a great and intelligent community to endure patiently all sorts of suffering for fantasies like these?  How charmingly practicable, how delightfully probable, all this looks!

I find it impossible, Mr. President, to believe that the removal of the deposits arose in any such purpose as is now avowed.  I believe all this to be an after-thought.  The removal was resolved on as a strong measure against the bank; and now that it has been attended with consequences not at all apprehended from it, instead of being promptly retracted, as it should have been, it is to be justified on the ground of a grand experiment, above the reach of common sagacity, and dropped down, as it were, from the clouds, “to witch the world with noble policy.”  It is not credible, not possible, Sir, that, six months ago, the administration suddenly started off to astonish mankind with its new inventions in politics, and that it then began its magnificent project by removing the deposits as its first operation.  No, Sir, no such thing.  The removal of the deposits was a blow at the bank, and nothing more; and if it had succeeded, we should have heard nothing of any project for the final putting down of all State banks.  No, Sir, not one word.  We should have heard, on the contrary, only of their usefulness, their excellence, and their exact adaptation to the uses and necessities of this government.  But the experiment of making successful use of State banks having failed, completely failed, in this the very first endeavor; the State banks having already proved themselves not able to fill the place and perform the duties of a national bank, although highly useful in their appropriate sphere; and the disastrous consequences of the measures of government coming thick and fast upon us, the professed object of the whole movement is at once changed, and the cry now is, Down with all the State banks!  Down with all the State banks! and let us return to our embraces of solid gold and solid silver!

THE PRESIDENTIAL PROTEST.

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE 7th OF MAY, 1834, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE PRESIDENT’S PROTEST AGAINST THE RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE OF THE 28TH OF MARCH.