right in demanding that repeal.  It is true, if repealed now, the relief will come late.  Nevertheless its repeal or abrogation is a thing to be insisted on, and pursued, till it shall be accomplished.  This executive control over the currency, this power of discriminating, by treasury order, between one man’s debt and another man’s debt, is a thing not to be endured in a free country; and it should be the constant, persisting demand of all true Whigs, “Rescind the illegal treasury order, restore the rule of the law, place all branches of the revenue on the same grounds, make men’s rights equal, and leave the government of the country where the Constitution leaves it, in the hands of the representatives of the people in Congress.”  This point should never be surrendered or compromised.  Whatever is established, let it be equal, and let it be legal.  Let men know, to-day, what money may be required of them to-morrow.  Let the rule be open and public, on the pages of the statute-book, not a secret, in the executive breast.

Gentlemen, in the session which has now just closed, I have done my utmost to effect a direct and immediate repeal of the treasury order.

I have voted for a bill anticipating the payment of the French and Neapolitan indemnities by an advance from the treasury.

I have voted with great satisfaction for the restoration of duties on goods destroyed in the great conflagration in this city.

I have voted for a deposit with the States of the surplus which may be in the treasury at the end of the year.  All these measures have failed; and it is for you, and for our fellow-citizens throughout the country, to decide whether the public interest would, or would not, have been promoted by their success.

But I find, Gentlemen, that I am committing an unpardonable trespass on your indulgent patience.  I will pursue these remarks no further.  And yet I cannot persuade myself to take leave of you without reminding you, with the utmost deference and respect, of the important part assigned to you in the political concerns of your country, and of the great influence of your opinions, your example, and your efforts upon the general prosperity and happiness.

Whigs of New York!  Patriotic citizens of this great metropolis!  Lovers of constitutional liberty, bound by interest and by affection to the institutions of your country, Americans in heart and in principle!—­you are ready, I am sure, to fulfil all the duties imposed upon you by your situation, and demanded of you by your country.  You have a central position; your city is the point from which intelligence emanates, and spreads in all directions over the whole land.  Every hour carries reports of your sentiments and opinions to the verge of the Union.  You cannot escape the responsibility which circumstances have thrown upon you.  You must live and act, on a broad and conspicuous theatre, either for good or for evil to your country.  You cannot shrink from