346
TEXAS STAT.El LIBRARY. '
stock - Congress elect the President, Cashier and Directors, annually, and likewise appoint Commissioners to examine into the state and conduct of the Bank as often as may be thought necessary, and report the same to Congress at its next succeeding session, through the Secretary of the Treasury; which last named person should have the power upon the recommendation of said Commissioners, of sus- pending from his connexion with the Bank, until the meeting of Congress, any officer found to be guilty of fraud, or gross impropriety of conduct. It is impossiblue so to frame any Charter for a bank which shall be entirely exempted from those objections arising out of an appre- hension of mismanagement of the institution, or jealousy of political power being exerted by it to an extent more or less obnoxious. No such perfection has ever characterized any Bank Charter that I know any thing about, - no such perfectibility attaches to the principles of the Banking System. After the last degree of vigilance and cir- cumspection has been consulted; when all the ~afeguards, the "checks and balances," the limitations and restrictions, which the most saga- cious and practical statesman may invent, shall be incorporated in the Charter - still, in the government of the Banlc, we must rely, measurably, upon human fallibility, for the safety, rectitude and impartiality of its administration. Do we not, in like manner, habit-. ually rely upon the integrity of civil officers of the government? Do. we not confide, in a great degree, in our Chief Magistrate? Is [ } not trusted to the Treasurer, and other custodiens of the public money?
[Endorsed in pencil] On Taxation & Bank.
No. 948 1838 Dec. 21, III. B. LAMAR. l\IESSAGE TO BOTH HOUSESH Message of the PRESIDENT, Submitted to Both Houses, December 21, 1838. Published by order of Congress. Houston 1838.
General Lamar's first Message to Congress. Communicated December 21st. 1838.
Fellow Citizens of the Senate,
and House of Representatives. In the remarks which I had the honor to make on mv induction to office, I promised to present at an early period, some ~f the leading- "Pamphlet. A copy in Lamar's hand in no. 361.
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