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132. Political
"What are the tendencies of a great moneyed power, connected with the government, and controlling its fiscal operations? Are they not dangerous to every interest, public and private-political as well as pecuniary? " He answers: "Such a bank tends to subjugate the government. . . . It tends to collusion between the government and the bank in the terms of the loans . . . and insults upon the understanding, called three per cent loans, in
DEBT:
Benton
asks,
? 512
88/587-589
89/590
513
tration of justice fQr the violations of their charter. 12. To have all these privileges se- cured tothern as a monopoly, in a pledge of the public faith not to grant the like privi- leges to any other company" [TYV, I, 193- 194].
. . .
139. That it failed . . . (for the Bank): These 11 lines are based on Benton's summary of Jackson's remarks in his annual message of 1829 about the bank's practices. It "had failed in furnishing a uniform currency. . . . It had in fact issued an illegal and vicious kind of paper-authorized it to be issued at all the branches-in the shape of drafts or orders payable in Philadelphia, but voluntari? ly paid where issued, and at all the branches; and so made into a local currency, and COD- stituting the mass of all its paper seen in circulation; and as the greatest quantity was usually issued at the most remote and inac- cessible branches, the payment of the drafts were well protected by distance and difficul? ty; and being of small denominations, loi- tered and lingered in the hands of the la- boring people until the 'wear and tear' became a large item of gain to the Bank, and the difficulty of presenting them at Philadel? phia an effectual bar to their payment there" [TYV, I, 220] .
140. It was invented: Benton continued: "The origin of this kind of currency was thus traced by me: It was invented by a Scotch banker of Aberdeen, who issued notes payable in London, always of small denominations, that nobody should take them up to London for redemption" [ibid. ].
141. Mr Benton asked: "Mr. Benton rose to ask leave to bring in his promised resolution on the state of the currency. . . . He made his resolution joint in its character, that it might have the action of both Houses of Congress;" [TYV, I, 220-221].
142. "Are they signed . . . cost: These 10 lines are based on a summation Benton gave to show "the incompatibility between the characteristics of this currency, and the re- quisites of the charter" by asking and an- swering 14 rhetorical questions. Pound chooses 5 for emphasis. The "president" is the president of the bank [ibid. ].
143. And as for the charter: The fight to prevent rechartering the bank went on with increased intensity, the proponents in both houses seeking to do it as quietly as possible. Benton wanted a public investigation into its activities to determine whether it had lived up to the terms of its charter. The propo- nents did not. Calls for investigations were treated to the parliamentary tricks of tabling or postponing. Finally, Benton wrote a list of "twenty-two heads of accusation" involv- ing both violation of the charter and abuses of bank power. "Mr. Clayton, a new member from Georgia," read out to the House these accusations in defense of Mr. Polk's motion for an investigation. In reading, Clayton tried to conceal Benton's handwriting in the manner described [TYV, I, 235-238].
144. And/fifty/2: Pound saw the playing cards printed on the shirt of one of his visitors to St. Elizabeths. He interpreted it as an evil omen that the printer placed the Ace of Spades upside down" [EH, Pai, 2, 1, 143]. The lore? of playing cards ramifies in all directions to many cultures, East and West. Here they echo the spring-autumn mo- tif of "no righteous wars" [82/525; 78:139].
CANTO LXXXIX Sources
Dante, Par. V, XXV, XX, XXIV; Thomas H. Benton, Thirty Years' View . . . , 2 vols. , New York, Appleton, 1854 [TYVj; Martin Van Buren, The Autobiography ofMartin Van Buren, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, Washington, D. C. , Government Printing Of- fice, 1920 [MVB, Auto] ; Allan Nevins, ed. , The Diary o f John Quincy Adams, 1794-1845: American Political, Social and Intel? lectual Life from Washington to Polk, New York, London, Toron? to, 1928; Andrew Lipscomb and Albert Bergh, eds. , The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. X, Washington, D. C. , 1905; C. H. Douglas, Economic Democracy, New York, Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920; Alexander Del Mar, History ofMonetary Systems, Chicago, Charles H. Kerr & Co. , 1896 [HMS]; Alexander Del Mar, Ancient Britain . . . , New York, Cambridge Encyclopedia Co. , 1900; Alexander Del Mar, The Middle Ages Revisited . . _ , New York, Cambridge Encyclopedia Co. , 1900; James Legge, The Four Books, Shanghai, 1923 [Legge], Elizabeth Benton Fremont Recollections of Elizabeth Benton Fremont, New York, Freder- ick H. Hitchcock, 1912 [Fremont, Recollections]; John Charles Fremont, Memoirs ofMy Life, Chicago, 1887 [Memoirs];Sopho- cles, Ajax, 1105-1106; Homer, Od. I; Alexander Del Mar,Money and Civilization . . . , London, G. Bell & Sons, 1886; Jessie Fre? mont, Souvenirs of My Time, Boston, 1887 [Jessie Fremont, Souvenirs]; EP, CON, 59-60; James Parton, Life of Andrew
Jackson,3 vols. , Houghton, Mifflin and Co. , 1859-60. Background
EP, GK, 274, 345, 254, 30, 31,264,47,40-41 ;SP, 457-459, 327, 312,344,159,307,355; SR, Ill;1MP , xiv; Emanuel Sweden- borg, Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell, 1758: D. G. Bridson, "An Interview with Ezra Pound, "New Directions 17; M de R, Discre- tions 166, 190-192; Raphael Pumpelly, My Reminiscences, New Y ork, 1918; Robert McNair Wilson, The Mind o f Napoleon: A Study of Napoleon, Mr. Roosevelt, and the Money Power, G. Routledge & Sons, London, 1934 [Wilson,Napoleon]; William Cabell Bruce, John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833, 2 vols. , New York, G. P. Putnam's 1922 [Bruce, Randolph]; William M. Meigs, The Life o f Thomas Hart Benton, Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1924 [Meigs, Life ofTHB] ;JW,Medieval Song: An Anthology of Hymns and Lyrics, E. P. Dutton and Allen & Unwin; Chris- topher B. Coleman, Treatise o f Lorenzo Valla on the Donation o f Constantine, Yale Univ. Press, 1922 [Donation]; J. F. C. Fuiler, The Generalship ofAlexander the Great, London, 1958; Claude Bowers, The Party Battles of the Jackson Period, Houghton, Mifflin, 1922 [Bowers, Party Battles]; Marquis James, The Life o fAndrew Jackson, Babbs. Merrill, 1938 [James,Jackson].
138. Yeas:
expected to treat Benton's brilliant speech with contempt and silence and defeat his resolution with a show? of? hands vote. They were shocked to find they were defeated. Pound records the vote.
Nays: The
probank people
? 514
89/590
89/590-591
515
Exegeses
CFT, Pai, 6-2, 227-229; Bosha, Pai, 4-1, 99-100; Grieve, Pai, 4-2
& 3, 471, 492; Korg, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 301-313; Michael Reck, Ezra Pound: A Close-up, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1967, 174-175.
Glossary
of the intelligence of the country was with him! and sustained him in retrieving the country from the deplorable condition in which the 'enlightened classes' had sunk it! "
[TYV, I, 113].
16. grave yards: Benton eulogizes Macon
[88: 15, 101] for wanting his grave put where it would not waste good land [ibid. , 114]. Pound found this to be a good Con- fucian attitude: "Nothing cd. be more false than the idea that Kung was preoccupied with the dead. He was concerned with the living. Cemeteries shd. be on high ground, hills least use for cultivation" [GK,274].
17. Mr Webster: On a question of the availa- bility of fertile lands to settlers, Mr. Benton supposes Webster was against a bill to give land to settlers and says, "The bare reading of these passages . . . shows how erroneous Mr. Webster was" [TYV, 1,134]. Since Web- ster was in favor of the bill, Benton is wrong.
18. Obit Picabia: Francis Picabia, the weal- thy, French-born Cuban painter died Dec. 2, 1953, as reported in Time magazine as well as in other media. Pound thought highly of Picabia [cf. 87:31;SP, 457-459].
19. And paper . . . metals: A return to Ben- ton's first speech against rechartering the bank [88:89].
20. Public debt increased: A return to theme of government dependence on the bank [88:131] and the Bank of England's notice to the British government not to deM pend upon it for "further assistance" [TYV, I, 192].
21. Profuse issues . . . : Benton described the extraordinary effect a great moneyed power run by a few men in a private corporation could have on the nation. Profuse issues of paper money, followed by limitation of credit, could be dangerous.
22. power of "construction"; Concerning the government's deposits in the bank and the bank's misuse of the funds, Benton said the bank had construed the intent of a previ- ous bill into its opposite effect: "I wished to
repeal this section, which had thus been con- strued into the reverse of its intention"
[TYV, 1,195].
23. Branch forced on Alabama: From a Ben-
ton speech against the bank's practice of forcing branches on states that didn't want them [TYV , I, 199].
24. Hence WAR: Pound's opinion that the financiers of the North were a major cause of the War Between the States [88:28].
25. Prototype . . . : Said Benton: "Let no one say that the Bank of the United States is too great to fail. One greater than it, and its prototype, has failed, and that in our own day, and for twenty years at a time: the Bank of England failed in 1797, and the Bank of the United States was on the point of failing in 1819. The same cause, namely, stock jobbing and overtrading, carried both to the brink" [TYV, I, 200].
26. Our OWN money: About the way the U. S. Government acted as a partner with the bank, Benton said: "I pass over other inM stances of the damage suffered by the United States on account ofthis partnership; the immense standing deposits for which we receive no compensation; the loan of five millions of our own money, for which we have paid a million and a half in interest" [ibid. ] .
27. the POlitical: Benton said further that, from a money angle, troubles enough could accrue to the U. S. when borrower and lender got together. But there was a greater danger: "suppose they agree to drop rivalry, and unite their resources. Suppose they combine, and make a push for political power: how great is the mischief which they may not accomplish! " [ibid. ].
28. hug . . . blow: Sir William Pulteney [88: 119] had warned England against pos- sible collusion between the bank and the government. Benton named Pulteney's ob- ject and said: "And this is my object also. I wish to secure the Union from all chance of harm from this bank. I wish to provide against its friendship, as well as its enmity-
1. Ideogram: Shu [M5857] ; Ideogram: ching [MI123].
The odes collected by Confucius known as The Book ofHistory or The His- tory Classic; or variously (in French, 19th- century, Mathews, or other transcriptions) as Chou King, Shoo King, Shu King, or Shu Ching. Confucius believed that if one knew the histories one would know good from evil. Hao [M2062] means "good. " Thus, Ching Hao says, the Shu Chl'ng is good. Ornar Pound tells me the sentiment rhymes with the Shakespear family motto "Fide sed cui vide" (L, "have faith but see in whom"). His source is marginalia made by DP in her copy of The Cantos.
2. Chi crescera: I, "Who will increase. " From "EeeD chi crescera Ii nostri arnori" ("Behold the man who will increase our loves") [Par. V, 105].
3. Swedenborg: [77: 126]. In describing the division and arrangement of angels in heav? en, Swedenborg wrote: "The angels of each heaven are not together in one place but are divided into larger and smaller societies. . . . Moreover, every society of heaven increases in number daily, and as it increases it beM comes more perfect. Thus not only the saM dety becomes more perfect, but also heaven in general, because it is made up of sociM eties" [Heaven and Its Wonder and Hell, 23,36].
4. Mr. Jefferson . . . : In a chapter entitled "Visit of Lafayette to the United States," Benton tells about a conversation he had with Jefferson in which TJ said Lafayette predicted the transition to a constitutional monarchy. That happened when Louis Phil- ippe became the "citizen king" in 1830
[TYV, I, 31].
5. M. de Tocqueville: [88:84].
6. Privilege: Benton wrote of his early years in the Senate: "I felt it to be a privilege to . . . erve in the Senate with three such senators as Mr. King, Mr. Macon, and John Taylor of Carolina, and was anxious to improve such an opportunity" [TYV, I, 57].
7. King: Rufus K. [62:134], U. S. Senator 1813-1825.
8. Macon: [88: 15].
9_ John Taylor: [67:112]. He was from Caroline County, Va.
10. Entangling . . . : A return to the conflict over the proposed Panama mission [88:5], in which those against the mission said the U. S. should avoid entangling alliances.
11. would be . . . : A repetition of Benton's theme that the state would derive more reve? nue from the donation of the wildlands to settlers than from their sale to the highest bidder [88:82,96].
12. Freedom . . . : Benton: "Tenantry is un? favorable to freedom . . . . The farming ten- ant has, in fact, no country" (TYV, I, 103-104].
13. Abbas Mirza: [88:96].
14. Indian treaty: After the Cherokee Indi- ans had been removed to the territory of Arkansas, a treaty to cede some territory to them was presented to Congress. Benton was against the treaty and raised several ques- tions, such as "whether a law of Congress could be abolished by an Indian treaty? "
[TYV, I, 107].
15. "enlightened classes": Replying to
the
Tocqueville's
[88:84] that the enlightened classes were opposed to him, Benton said: "but the mass
charges against
Jackson
T
L
? ? "T
516
against all danger from its hug, as well as from its blow" [TYV, I, 201}.
29. Name . . . king: Benton: "I wish to pro- vide against all risk, and every hazard; for, if this risk and hazard were too great to be encountered by King, Lords, and Com- mons . . . they must certainly be too great to be encoontered by the people of the United States, who are but commons alone" [ibid. }. The line seems to be an echo of the "cheng ruing" or "right name" concept, according to which a king should do things appropriate to a king. Benton, after quoting Pulteney, said: "The downright and upright people of that unsophisticated region [the West} be- lieve that words mean what they signify, and that 'the Bank of the United States' is the Bank of the United States. How great then must be their astonishment to learn . . . that this bank . . . is just as much the bank of foreigners as it is of the federal government"
[ibid. }.
30. Ideogram: Wang [M7037}, "a prince or king. "
31. Foreigners . . . :, Benton goes on: "the report of the Committee of Ways and Means . . . admits that foreigners own seven millions of the stock of this bank; and every body knows that the federal government owns seven millions also" [ibid. }.
32. usury at 46: [88:125}. "It is a case of usury at the rate of forty-six per cent. , in violation of the charter" [ibid. , 202}.
33. if beneficial . . . : In talking about the twelfth exclusive privilege held by the bank, Benton says: "To have all these unjust privi- leges secured to the corporators as a rhono" poly, by a pledge of the public faith to charter no other bank. -This is the most hideous feature in the whole mass of defor? rnity. If these banks are beneficial institu" tions, why not several? " [ibid. }.
34. Adams match . . . : In answering charges of Tocqueville [88:84} that the House of Representatives was made up of incompetents whereas the Senate (then elected by state legislatures) had good men,
89/591-592
Benton cites the case of JQA: "The late Mr. John Quincy Adams . . . after having been minister to half the great courts of Europe, a senator . . . Secretary of State, and President of the United States . . . was refused an e1ec" tion by the Massachusetts legislature to the United States Senate . . . he was taken up by the people, sent to the House of Representa- tives, and served there to octogenarian age- attentive, vigilant and capable-an example to all, and a match for half the House to the last" [TYV, 207; 34:71}.
35. Randolph: "The brilliant, incorruptible, sagacious Randolph . . . scourge and foe to all corruption . . . had merely the same fate"
[ibid. }. Benton fails to mention his own case. After 30 years in the Senate, he was refused re-election by the legislature but ran for the House and was elected by a big popular majority.
36. An advantage: In the political struggles between President Jackson and Vice- President Calhoun, Van Buren, the secretary of state, became a pawn. After Van Buren led the resignation of the cabinet [37:1], Jackson nominated him to be ambassador to Great Britain. He took up his post before confirmation by the Senate. Vice-President Calhoun engineered the vote of confirmation to be a tie so that he could cast the dedding ballot against him and cause the most embar- rassment. Benton says: "[When} all the Lon- don newspapers heralded the rejection of the American minister, there was a great party at Prince Talleyrand's . . . Mr. Van Buren . . . was there, as if nothing had happened; and
received distinguished attentions, and com- plimentary allusions. Lord Aukland . . . said to him, It is an advantage to a public man to be the subject of an outrage" [TYV, I, 218- 219; see Van Buren, Auto, 457-458 for his version}.
37. 2 buffer states . . . : [86: 10].
38. ea'our, tessitore: I, "Cavour, weaver. " Since Cavour [cf. 39 below}, was not liter- ally a weaver, the epithet probably has a metaphorical intent to suggest Cavour's po- litical adroitness in working his way through
89/592
517
the
42. "Borrowing , . , : Recurrent theme in Pound. Benton said: "it is incontestable, that the United States have been borrowing these undrawn balances [the government's own money on deposit} from the bank, and paying an interest upon their own money"
[TYV, 1,194].
43. Randolph: [87: 10}.
44. Tariff . . . : [88:93,95]. Benton saw the idea of protective tariff as the source of the doctrine of nullification, "from which a seri- ous division . . . between the North and the South" dated. He said: "The question of a protective tariff had now not only become political, but sectional" [TYV, I, 97}.
45. Excessive issues: [88: 18, 78}.
46. Treasury wd/pay . . . : Part of the bank's ploy to retire stock of a revolutionary war debt at 100% on the dollar when it had obtained it for less: "it was clear that the treasury would pay one hundred cents on the dollar on what could be then purchased for sixty-odd, losing in the mean time the interest on the money with which it could be paid" [TYV, I, 242}.
47.