Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

phia, and receive from it all bonds hereafter given to the United States, which are payable on or after the first day of October next, and deposite them for collection in the aforesaid State bank. I send you, herewith, an order on the Bank of the United States for that purpose.

When the contract shall have been executed by the State bank, you will forward the enclosed letters to the collectors, at Bridgetown, Burlington, Great Egg harbor, and Little Egg harbor, who have heretofore deposited the money received by them in the Bank of the United States.

You will continue to deposite as usual, in the Bank of the United States, until the thirtieth of this present month of September, inclusive.

You will keep a copy of the contract executed by the bank, and, from time to time, advise this department of any thing you may deem material to the public interest, connected with the change of the deposites.

[blocks in formation]

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
September 26, 1833.

SIR: The Girard Bank has been selected by this department as the depository of the public money collected in Philadelphia and its vicinity; and the collector at Philadelphia will hand you the form of a contract proposed to be executed, with a copy of his instructions from this department.

In selecting your institution as one of the fiscal agents of the Government, I not only rely on its solidity and established character, as affording a sufficient guaranty for the safety of the public money intrusted to its keeping; but I confide also in its disposi

tion to adopt the most liberal course, which circumstances will admit, towards other moneyed institutions generally, and particularly to those in the city of Philadelphia.

The deposites of public money will enable you to afford increased facilities to commerce, and to extend your accomodation to individuals; and as the duties which are payable to the Government arise from the business and enterprise of the merchants engaged in foreign trade, it is but reasonable that they should be preferred in the additional accommodation which the public deposites will enable your institution to give, whenever it can be done without injustice to the claims of other classes of the community. I am, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,

R. B. TANEY, Secretary of Treasury.

To the PRESIDENT OF THE GIRARD BANK,

Philadelphia.

No. 91, Taney to the Bank of the United

States

September 26, 1833

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
September 26, 1833.

SIR: You will deliver to the collector at Philadelphia all bonds to the United States, payable on or after the first of October next, which may be in your possession on the receipt of this order. I am, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,

R. B. TANEY,

Secretary of the Treasury.

NICHOLAS BIDDLE, ESQ.,

President of the Bank of the United States, Philadelphia.

No. 92. Contract between the Girard Bank

and the United States

September 28, 1833

Ist. The said bank agrees to receive, and enter to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, all sums of money offered to be deposited on account of the United States, whether offered in gold or silver coin, in notes of the Bank of the United States or branches, in notes of any bank which are convertible into coin in its immediate vicinity, or in notes of any bank which it is, for the time being, in the habit of receiving.

2. If the deposite in said bank shall exceed one-half of its capital stock actually paid in, it is agreed that collateral security, satisfactory to the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be given for its safe keeping and faithful disbursement: Provided, that, if the said Secretary shall at any time deem it necessary, the bank agrees to give collateral security when the deposite shall not equal one-half the capital.

3. The said bank agrees to make weekly returns of its entire condition to the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the Treasurer of the United States of the state of his account, and to submit its books and transactions to a critical examination by the Secretary, or any agent duly authorized by him, whenever he shall require it.

This examination may extend to all the books and accounts, to the cash on hand, and to all the acts and concerns of the bank, except the current accounts of individuals; or as far as is admissible without a violation of the bank charter.

4. The said bank agrees to pay, out of the deposite on hand, all warrants or drafts which may be drawn upon it by the Treasurer of the United States, and to transfer any portion of that deposite to any other bank or banks employed by the Government within the United States, whenever the Secretary of the Treasury may require it, without charge to the Government for transportation or difference of exchange, commission, or any thing else whatever; but the Secretary of the Treasury shall give a reasonable notice of the time when such transfer will be required.

5. The said bank agrees to render to the Government, when

ever required by the proper authority, all or any portion of the services now performed by the Bank of the United States, or which might be lawfully required of it in the vicinity of said contracting bank.

6. If the Secretary of the Treasury shall think proper to employ an agent or agents to examine and report upon the accounts and condition of the banks in the service of the Government, or any of them, the said bank agrees to pay an equitable proportion of his or their expenses and compensation, according to such apportionment as may be made by the said Secretary.

7. Whenever required by the Secretary of the Treasury, the said bank agrees to furnish, with all convenient despatch, bills of exchange on London, payable at such sight as may be required, at the usual market price for the time being, without commission or advance for the profit of said bank, or any charge whatsoever beyond the actual cost; the payment of said bills to be guaranteed by said bank.

8. It is agreed that the Secretary of the Treasury may discharge the said bank from the service of the Government whenever, in his opinion, the public interest may require it. In witness whereof, the said The Girard Bank in the city of Philadelphia, has caused to be affixed its corporate seal, attested by the signatures of its president and cashier, on the day and year first above written.

[L.S.]

JAS. SCHOTT, President.
WM. D. LEWIS, Cashier.

No. 93.

Constitution of the American
Anti-Slavery Society

December 4, 1833

A CALL for a convention to meet Dec. 4, 1833, at Philadelphia, to form an American Anti-Slavery Society, was issued Oct. 29 over the signatures of Arthur Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, and Elizur Wright, Jr., officers of the New York City Anti-Slavery Society. About sixty delegates assembled at the appointed time and adopted a constitution, together with a "Declaration of Sentiments," the original draft of the latter being drawn by William Lloyd Garrison.

REFERENCES. Text in a pamphlet entitled Platform of the American Anti-Slavery Society and its Auxiliaries (New York, 1855), pp. 3, 4. The fullest account of the convention is in William Lloyd Garrison: Story of his Life told by his Children, I., 392-415, where is also a copy of the Declaration The Declaration is also in the pamphlet above cited. For Whittier's account, see Atlantic Monthly, XXXIII., 166-172 (February, 1874).

Whereas the Most High God "hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth," and hath commanded them to love their neighbors as themselves; and whereas, our National Existence is based upon this principle, as recognized in the Declaration of Independence, "that all mankind are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; and whereas, after the lapse of nearly sixty years, since the faith and honor of the American people were pledged to this avowal, before Almighty God and the World, nearly one-sixth part of the nation are held in bondage by their fellowcitizens; and whereas, Slavery is contrary to the principles of natural justice, of our republican form of government, and of the Christian religion, and is destructive of the prosperity of the country, while it is endangering the peace, union, and liberties of the States; and whereas, we believe it the duty and interest of the masters immediately to emancipate their slaves, and that no scheme of expatriation, either voluntary or by compulsion, can remove this great and increasing evil; and whereas, we believe that it is practicable, by appeals to the consciences, hearts, and interests of the people, to awaken a public sentiment throughout the nation that will be opposed to the continuance of Slavery in any part of the Republic, and by effecting the speedy abolition of Slavery, prevent a general convulsion; and whereas, we believe we owe it to the oppressed, to our fellow-citizens who hold slaves, to our whole country, to posterity, and to God, to do all that is lawfully in our power to bring about the extinction of Slavery, we do hereby agree, with a prayerful reliance on the Divine aid, to form ourselves into a society, to be governed by the following Constitution:

ARTICLE I. — This Society shall be called the AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY.

ARTICLE II. The objects of this Society are the entire abolition of Slavery in the United States. While it admits that each

« ПредишнаНапред »