exerted to deprive that great corporation of the support and countenance
of the Government in such an use of its funds and such an exertion
of its power. In this point of the case the question is distinctly
presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through
representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money
and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence
their judgment and control their decisions. It must now be determined
whether the bank is to have its candidates for all offices in the
country, from the highest to the lowest, or whether candidates on both
sides of political questions shall be brought forward as heretofore and
supported by the usual means.

At this time the efforts of the bank to control public opinion,
through the distresses of some and the fears of others, are equally
apparent, and, if possible, more objectionable. By a curtailment of its
accommodations more rapid than any emergency requires, and even while
it retains specie to an almost unprecedented amount in its vaults,
it is attempting to produce great embarrassment in one portion of the
community, while through presses known to have been sustained by its
money it attempts by unfounded alarms to create a panic in all.

These are the means by which it seems to expect that it can force a
restoration of the deposits, and as a necessary consequence extort from
Congress a renewal of its charter. I am happy to know that through the
good sense of our people the effort to get up a panic has hitherto
failed, and that through the increased accommodations which the State
banks have been enabled to afford, no public distress has followed the
exertions of the bank, and it can not be doubted that the exercise of
its power and the expenditure of its money, as well as its efforts to
spread groundless alarm, will be met and rebuked as they deserve. In my