In conclusion, the President must be permitted to remark that he looks
upon the pending question as of higher consideration than the mere
transfer of a sum of money from one bank to another. Its decision may
affect the character of our Government for ages to come. Should the bank
be suffered longer to use the public moneys in the accomplishment of its
purposes, with the proofs of its faithlessness and corruption before
our eyes, the patriotic among our citizens will despair of success in
struggling against its power, and we shall be responsible for entailing
it upon our country forever. Viewing it as a question of transcendent
importance, both in the principles and consequences it involves, the
President could not, in justice to the responsibility which he owes to
the country, refrain from pressing upon the Secretary of the Treasury
his view of the considerations which impel to immediate action. Upon him
has been devolved by the Constitution and the suffrages of the American
people the duty of superintending the operation of the Executive
Departments of the Government and seeing that the laws are faithfully
executed. In the performance of this high trust it is his undoubted
right to express to those whom the laws and his own choice have made his
associates in the administration of the Government his opinion of their
duties under circumstances as they arise. It is this right which he now
exercises. Far be it from him to expect or require that any member of
the Cabinet should at his request, order, or dictation do any act which
he believes unlawful or in his conscience condemns. From them and from
his fellow-citizens in general he desires only that aid and support
which their reason approves and their conscience sanctions.

In the remarks he has made on this all-important question he trusts
the Secretary of the Treasury will see only the frank and respectful
declarations of the opinions which the President has formed on a measure
of great national interest deeply affecting the character and usefulness