1786-1865, Ameri- can jurist who went from chief justice of Tennessee to an
appointment
by Jackson as associate justice of the U.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
.
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. As Indian silver . . . : In "Gold and
tangled webs spun to snare him. In "A Vis- iting Card" Pound wrote: "The Rothschilds financed the armies against the Roman Re- public. Naturally. They tried to buy over Cavour. Naturally. Cavour accomplished the first stage towards Italian unity, allowing himself to be exploited according to the custom of his times, but he refused to be dominated by the exploiters" [SP,327}.
39. Cavour: Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, 1810-1861, Italian statesman who became premier (1852-1859). Just as Jackson had to accept Van Buren's resignation as secretary of state, King Victor Emmanuel II was forced to accept a similar resignation by
Work," Pound, in discussing how "Usuro- cracy makes wars" one after the other [88:28}, wrote: " A t one period, in fact, silver fell to 23 cents per ounce, and was later bought by certain American idiots at 75 cents per ounce, in order to please their
masters and to 'save India'" [SP, 344].
48. Catron: John C. , ca.
1786-1865, Ameri- can jurist who went from chief justice of Tennessee to an appointment by Jackson as associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. He was an early supporter of Jackson in the bank controversy. Says Marquis James: "Catron suggested a democratic substitute for Mr. Biddle's monopoly: all directors to be appointed by the President and Congress; branches to be set up only on petition of state legislatures . . . " [Jackson, 558}.
49. Ideogram: Pi [M5! 09}, "certainly, must,"
50. Andy Jackson: Upon vetoing the rechar- ter bill, Jackson listed a number of objec- tions to the practices of the bank as well as to the idea of the U. S, government creating exclusive monopolies: "If our government must sell monopolies, it would seem to be its duty to take nothing less than their full value; and if gratuities must be made once in fifteen or twenty years, let them not be bestowed on the subjects of a foreign g'ov- ernment, nor upon a designated or favored class of men in our own country" [TYV, I,251}.
51. 70 million: Probank senators predicted that if the veto were sustained it would cause financial ruin on, a national scale. Ben- ton tried to show that the bank had engi- neered the conditions for panic in the West by increaSing its debts most in the West, from $40,216,000 in Dec. of 1829 to $70,428,000 in 1832, showing "an increase of thirty millions in the short space of two years and four months" [ibid. , 258}.
52. mehercule ventum! : P , "by Hercules' wind. " A Poundian oath [80:295].
53. with bowie knives: A reference to a barroom quarrel in 1813 between General
Cavour [61: 19]. Pound Cavourian [SP,312].
40. Auctor: L, "author. "
41. Borah: [84:6].
called
himself
a
? 518
89/592-593
89/593-594
519
Jackson and Benton's brother Jesse, while the Bentons were living in Tennessee [cf. 266 below]. Although relations had been cool between the Jacksons and the Bentons for a while, their beliefs and philosophy of government and democracy eventually made them strong mutual supporters. Nonetheless, Clay brought up the old quarrel by innuendo twenty years later ip his answer to Benton's defense of Jackson's veto of the bank rechar- ter bill. Said Clay: "I never had any personal rencontre with the President of the United States . . . I never published any bulletins respecting his private brawls . . . I never com- plained, that while a brother of mine was down on the ground, senseless or dead, he received another blow . . . 1 never declared my apprehension and belief, that if he [Jack- son] were elected, we should be obliged to legislate with pistols and dirks by our side;' Benton declared that the allegation going the rounds in the press that he said such things was "an atrocious calumny" [TYV, I, 263-264].
54. pre- not ex-officio: In contrast to the Clay-Randolph duel [88: 1-30], Pound no- tices that the Clay-Benton brawl took place before either were in office, not while in office.
55. Do our cottons: In arguing for tariff protection for cottons, Clay and his fol- lowers said that many u. s. products, "espe- cially the cotton, were going abroad . . . ; and sustaining themselves. _. against all competition;' Benton argued that if that were the case they didn't need any protec- tion: "Surely, sir, our tariff laws . . . are not in force in Bengal and China . . . if our cot- tons can go to these countries, and be sold at a profit without any protection at all, they can stay at home, and be sold to our citi- zens, without loss" [TYV, 1372].
56. Aurelian: Benton cites Emperor Aure- lian's order, "never to levy a contribution of salt upon a Roman citizen! " The wealth of the West went down the river past New Orleans, but the money for those goods went to the Northeast. According to a Ben- ton note, a military station called "Aure-
lian" was later corrupted into "Orleans" [ibid. , 273].
57. Mr. Taney: Roger Brooke T. , 1777- 1864, was first attorney general in Jackson's cabinet and then (1833-1834) secretary of the treasury. A former secretary refused to carry out Jackson's order to deposit U. S. money not in the Bank of the United States-which would not have its charter renewed-but in selected state banks. Taney carried out the orders and stood firmly with Van Buren and Jackson against the financial interests [37:76].
58. Burr . . . late: Aaron B. , 1756-1836 [32: II]. Line is prob. a Pound opinion that if Burr had killed Hamilton in a duel in 1784 instead of 1804, he wouldn't have been able to get the first U. S. Bank, modeled on the
Bank of England, started.
59. Monsieur Vebbstair . . . : F, "Mr. Web- ster liked to lounge. " The line is prob. based on Van Buren's opinion that Webster, who may have worked hard when young, had reached the state that a lot of "weather beaten politicians" reach: "the enjoyment of public stations exempted . . . from the cares and sacrifices often inseparable from a punc- tilious discharge of the duties attached to them" [MVB,Auto, 706].
60. Ut moveat . . . dilectet: L, "To move, to instruct, to delight [delectet]. " Pound at- tributes the phrase, in a different order, to Rodolfo Agricola [ABeR, 66] .
61. J. Q. A. : During his final years as a mem- ber of the House of Representatives, Adams fought steadily and at an increasing tempo against slavery [Pai, 6-2, 227-229], as op- posed to "Vebbstair," who liked to rest. Said JQA: "and what can I, upon the verge of my seventy-fourth birthday, with a shak- ing hand, a darkening eye, a drowsy brain . . . what can I do for the cause of God and man . . . for the supression of the Afri-
stop debate which "hogswoggled" (prob. "tied up" or "prevented action by") the House. JQA labored to get the "gag-rule" repealed in the House and succeeded on Dec. 3, 1845. His diary account for that day ends: "The question was then put on the resolution to rescind the gag rule; and it was carried-! 08 to 80. Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of God! " [ibid. , 573].
63. Old John: John Adams, JQA's father. On funding, he wrote: "Funds and banks I never approved, or was satisfied without fundings systems . -. . it was contrived to en- rich particular individuals at the public ex- pense" [71:35]. John Adams was against paper currency because it depreciated. He wrote to his wife, Abigail, Feb. 8, 1794: "Borrowing of banks for trading capital is very unmercantile" [62: 126]. "Vide infra": L, "see below. "
64. Mr Jefferson: TJ wrote to William Craw- ford on June 20, 1816, the year before Crawford became Monroe's treasury secre- tary, a letter that contains statements Pound thinks are essential to any understanding of U. S. monetary history. TJ writes of three measures needed to insure lasting prosperity. The third measure "should insure resources of money by the suppression of all paper circulation during peace, and licensing that of the nation alone during war . . . and if the national bills issued, be bottomed. . . on pledges of specific taxes for their redemp- tion . . . no interest on them would be neces- sary" [GK,345;SP, 159].
65. our own mines: Benton believed that the mines of the United States could provide enough money in specie so that no paper need be circulated by private banks: "In the year 1824 the product was $5,000; in the last year [1833] the product, in coined gold was $868,000; in uncoined, as much more; and the product of the present year [1834] computed at two millions; with every pros- pect of continued and permanent in- crease . . . But the great source of supply, both for gold and silver, . . . was in our for- eign commerce" [TYV, I, 439].
66. Napoleon . . . : When Napoleon was only a consul, he ordered specie payments to be- gin on a certain day, and they did. Benton said: "and a hard money currency has been the sole currency of France from that day to this" [ibid. , 440].
67. Mr. Hamilton . . . : In 1792 AH fixed the gold-silver ratio at 15 to I, while Europe and South American held to a 16-to-1 ratio. The result was to drain gold from the U. S. Complete extinction was delayed for a time: "The trade to the lower Mississippi con- tinued to bring up from Natchez and New Orleans . . . a large supply of doubloons" [ibid. , 442]. But the end was inevitable: "Gold goes where it finds its value . . . In Mexico and South America the value of gold is 16 to 1 over silver. . . It is not to be supposed. " that our own gold will remain with us, when an exporter can gain a dollar upon every fifteen that he carries out"
[ibid. , 443].
68. 6 suspensions: Benton showed Hamil- ton's plan was the eventual elimination of foreign coins, which would be replaced by an American currency. Since that didn't hap- pen, and the law to exclude foreign coins didn't work, Congress suspended it for three years. Six further 3-year suspensions became necessary and they didn't end until 1819
[88:75].
69. au TIS: H, "No one" [74: 17]. Used here as an intensive.
70. Nothing . . . West: The prohibition of foreign coins had a devastating effect upon the West: "for the coinage of trade and exchanges, to carry money from the Atlantic States to the West" [TYV, I, 446].
71. Brooks: B. Adams, 1848-1927, son the Charles Francis A. and brother of Henry Adams, 1838-1918. Both were American his- torians.
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. As Indian silver . . . : In "Gold and
tangled webs spun to snare him. In "A Vis- iting Card" Pound wrote: "The Rothschilds financed the armies against the Roman Re- public. Naturally. They tried to buy over Cavour. Naturally. Cavour accomplished the first stage towards Italian unity, allowing himself to be exploited according to the custom of his times, but he refused to be dominated by the exploiters" [SP,327}.
39. Cavour: Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, 1810-1861, Italian statesman who became premier (1852-1859). Just as Jackson had to accept Van Buren's resignation as secretary of state, King Victor Emmanuel II was forced to accept a similar resignation by
Work," Pound, in discussing how "Usuro- cracy makes wars" one after the other [88:28}, wrote: " A t one period, in fact, silver fell to 23 cents per ounce, and was later bought by certain American idiots at 75 cents per ounce, in order to please their
masters and to 'save India'" [SP, 344].
48. Catron: John C. , ca.
1786-1865, Ameri- can jurist who went from chief justice of Tennessee to an appointment by Jackson as associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. He was an early supporter of Jackson in the bank controversy. Says Marquis James: "Catron suggested a democratic substitute for Mr. Biddle's monopoly: all directors to be appointed by the President and Congress; branches to be set up only on petition of state legislatures . . . " [Jackson, 558}.
49. Ideogram: Pi [M5! 09}, "certainly, must,"
50. Andy Jackson: Upon vetoing the rechar- ter bill, Jackson listed a number of objec- tions to the practices of the bank as well as to the idea of the U. S, government creating exclusive monopolies: "If our government must sell monopolies, it would seem to be its duty to take nothing less than their full value; and if gratuities must be made once in fifteen or twenty years, let them not be bestowed on the subjects of a foreign g'ov- ernment, nor upon a designated or favored class of men in our own country" [TYV, I,251}.
51. 70 million: Probank senators predicted that if the veto were sustained it would cause financial ruin on, a national scale. Ben- ton tried to show that the bank had engi- neered the conditions for panic in the West by increaSing its debts most in the West, from $40,216,000 in Dec. of 1829 to $70,428,000 in 1832, showing "an increase of thirty millions in the short space of two years and four months" [ibid. , 258}.
52. mehercule ventum! : P , "by Hercules' wind. " A Poundian oath [80:295].
53. with bowie knives: A reference to a barroom quarrel in 1813 between General
Cavour [61: 19]. Pound Cavourian [SP,312].
40. Auctor: L, "author. "
41. Borah: [84:6].
called
himself
a
? 518
89/592-593
89/593-594
519
Jackson and Benton's brother Jesse, while the Bentons were living in Tennessee [cf. 266 below]. Although relations had been cool between the Jacksons and the Bentons for a while, their beliefs and philosophy of government and democracy eventually made them strong mutual supporters. Nonetheless, Clay brought up the old quarrel by innuendo twenty years later ip his answer to Benton's defense of Jackson's veto of the bank rechar- ter bill. Said Clay: "I never had any personal rencontre with the President of the United States . . . I never published any bulletins respecting his private brawls . . . I never com- plained, that while a brother of mine was down on the ground, senseless or dead, he received another blow . . . 1 never declared my apprehension and belief, that if he [Jack- son] were elected, we should be obliged to legislate with pistols and dirks by our side;' Benton declared that the allegation going the rounds in the press that he said such things was "an atrocious calumny" [TYV, I, 263-264].
54. pre- not ex-officio: In contrast to the Clay-Randolph duel [88: 1-30], Pound no- tices that the Clay-Benton brawl took place before either were in office, not while in office.
55. Do our cottons: In arguing for tariff protection for cottons, Clay and his fol- lowers said that many u. s. products, "espe- cially the cotton, were going abroad . . . ; and sustaining themselves. _. against all competition;' Benton argued that if that were the case they didn't need any protec- tion: "Surely, sir, our tariff laws . . . are not in force in Bengal and China . . . if our cot- tons can go to these countries, and be sold at a profit without any protection at all, they can stay at home, and be sold to our citi- zens, without loss" [TYV, 1372].
56. Aurelian: Benton cites Emperor Aure- lian's order, "never to levy a contribution of salt upon a Roman citizen! " The wealth of the West went down the river past New Orleans, but the money for those goods went to the Northeast. According to a Ben- ton note, a military station called "Aure-
lian" was later corrupted into "Orleans" [ibid. , 273].
57. Mr. Taney: Roger Brooke T. , 1777- 1864, was first attorney general in Jackson's cabinet and then (1833-1834) secretary of the treasury. A former secretary refused to carry out Jackson's order to deposit U. S. money not in the Bank of the United States-which would not have its charter renewed-but in selected state banks. Taney carried out the orders and stood firmly with Van Buren and Jackson against the financial interests [37:76].
58. Burr . . . late: Aaron B. , 1756-1836 [32: II]. Line is prob. a Pound opinion that if Burr had killed Hamilton in a duel in 1784 instead of 1804, he wouldn't have been able to get the first U. S. Bank, modeled on the
Bank of England, started.
59. Monsieur Vebbstair . . . : F, "Mr. Web- ster liked to lounge. " The line is prob. based on Van Buren's opinion that Webster, who may have worked hard when young, had reached the state that a lot of "weather beaten politicians" reach: "the enjoyment of public stations exempted . . . from the cares and sacrifices often inseparable from a punc- tilious discharge of the duties attached to them" [MVB,Auto, 706].
60. Ut moveat . . . dilectet: L, "To move, to instruct, to delight [delectet]. " Pound at- tributes the phrase, in a different order, to Rodolfo Agricola [ABeR, 66] .
61. J. Q. A. : During his final years as a mem- ber of the House of Representatives, Adams fought steadily and at an increasing tempo against slavery [Pai, 6-2, 227-229], as op- posed to "Vebbstair," who liked to rest. Said JQA: "and what can I, upon the verge of my seventy-fourth birthday, with a shak- ing hand, a darkening eye, a drowsy brain . . . what can I do for the cause of God and man . . . for the supression of the Afri-
stop debate which "hogswoggled" (prob. "tied up" or "prevented action by") the House. JQA labored to get the "gag-rule" repealed in the House and succeeded on Dec. 3, 1845. His diary account for that day ends: "The question was then put on the resolution to rescind the gag rule; and it was carried-! 08 to 80. Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of God! " [ibid. , 573].
63. Old John: John Adams, JQA's father. On funding, he wrote: "Funds and banks I never approved, or was satisfied without fundings systems . -. . it was contrived to en- rich particular individuals at the public ex- pense" [71:35]. John Adams was against paper currency because it depreciated. He wrote to his wife, Abigail, Feb. 8, 1794: "Borrowing of banks for trading capital is very unmercantile" [62: 126]. "Vide infra": L, "see below. "
64. Mr Jefferson: TJ wrote to William Craw- ford on June 20, 1816, the year before Crawford became Monroe's treasury secre- tary, a letter that contains statements Pound thinks are essential to any understanding of U. S. monetary history. TJ writes of three measures needed to insure lasting prosperity. The third measure "should insure resources of money by the suppression of all paper circulation during peace, and licensing that of the nation alone during war . . . and if the national bills issued, be bottomed. . . on pledges of specific taxes for their redemp- tion . . . no interest on them would be neces- sary" [GK,345;SP, 159].
65. our own mines: Benton believed that the mines of the United States could provide enough money in specie so that no paper need be circulated by private banks: "In the year 1824 the product was $5,000; in the last year [1833] the product, in coined gold was $868,000; in uncoined, as much more; and the product of the present year [1834] computed at two millions; with every pros- pect of continued and permanent in- crease . . . But the great source of supply, both for gold and silver, . . . was in our for- eign commerce" [TYV, I, 439].
66. Napoleon . . . : When Napoleon was only a consul, he ordered specie payments to be- gin on a certain day, and they did. Benton said: "and a hard money currency has been the sole currency of France from that day to this" [ibid. , 440].
67. Mr. Hamilton . . . : In 1792 AH fixed the gold-silver ratio at 15 to I, while Europe and South American held to a 16-to-1 ratio. The result was to drain gold from the U. S. Complete extinction was delayed for a time: "The trade to the lower Mississippi con- tinued to bring up from Natchez and New Orleans . . . a large supply of doubloons" [ibid. , 442]. But the end was inevitable: "Gold goes where it finds its value . . . In Mexico and South America the value of gold is 16 to 1 over silver. . . It is not to be supposed. " that our own gold will remain with us, when an exporter can gain a dollar upon every fifteen that he carries out"
[ibid. , 443].
68. 6 suspensions: Benton showed Hamil- ton's plan was the eventual elimination of foreign coins, which would be replaced by an American currency. Since that didn't hap- pen, and the law to exclude foreign coins didn't work, Congress suspended it for three years. Six further 3-year suspensions became necessary and they didn't end until 1819
[88:75].
69. au TIS: H, "No one" [74: 17]. Used here as an intensive.
70. Nothing . . . West: The prohibition of foreign coins had a devastating effect upon the West: "for the coinage of trade and exchanges, to carry money from the Atlantic States to the West" [TYV, I, 446].
71. Brooks: B. Adams, 1848-1927, son the Charles Francis A. and brother of Henry Adams, 1838-1918. Both were American his- torians.
