To have
foreigners
for partners.
A-Companion-to-the-Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound-II
.
It fixed, for ever, the character of the population in the vast regions northwest of the Ohio, by excluding them from invol- untary servitude.
.
.
.
Now, sir, this great measure again was carried by the north, and by the north alone" [TYV, I, 134?
135].
113. salt tax: This tax, imposed during a time of war, stayed on the books until Presi- dent Jackson got rid of it. It wasn't easy. Benton has a chapter entitled "Repeal of the Salt Tax" [TYV, I, 143-148].
114. A. J. 's first message: "It has been al-
103. Drew a knife
of Macon, Benton celebrates his steadfast? ness to friends. He "would stake himself for a friend, but would violate no point of pub- lic duty to please or oblige him. Of this his relations with Mr. Randolph gave a Signal instance. He drew a knife to defend him in the theatre at Philadelphia" [TYV, I, 117].
: Continuing his
praise
? 510
88/585? 586
88/586-587
511
ready shown that General Jackson in his first annual message to Congress, called in ques~ tiOD both the constitutionality and expedi~ ency of the national bank" [TYV, I, 158].
115. Maysville Road: [cf. 88 above].
116. To pull down . . . : Benton, writing on "Non? Renewal of Charter" of the Bank of the United States, said that it has "too much power" and should not "be allowed to exist in our country. But I knew it was not sufficient to pull down: We must build up also" [TYV I, 187].
117. hard money: The error made by those who refused to recharter the bank in 1811 was in not providing a substitute. Benton would avoid that error by proposing a gold coinage [ibid. ].
118. France . . . : [cf. 89 above].
. . .
[TYV,I,187? 188].
120. laid on Table: Referring to the fate of an earlier resolution he had brought against the bank, Benton said, "This report came . . . just fourteen days before" the end of a six months' session. "It had no chance at all of getting the Senate's attention. The report was, therefore, laid upon the table unanswered, but was printed by order of the Senate . . . " [TYV, I, 188].
121. pawn? broker: The charter of the Bank of England was to expire about the same time as that of the Bank of the United States-lS33. Nine years before that, debate about its renewal took place. Benton sum- marizes some points made in that debate: "Mr. Hume said . . . Let the country gentle- men recollect that the bank was now acting as pawn-broker on a large scale, and lending
money on estates, a system entirely contrary to the original intention of that institution"
[TYV, 1,189].
122. Ellice: Mr. Edward Ellice said: "It (the Bank of England) is a great monopolizing body, enjoying privileges which belonged to no other corporation [Pound's "contrap- tion" may be intentional}) and no other class of his majesty's subjects" [ibid. ].
123. stock? holders: Defenders of the bank said the debate was unfair as it would dimin- ish the value of their property. Benton said that was absurd, that American stockholders knew the charter had to come up for re- newal [TYV, I, 190].
124. real estate: Said Bentun of the stock? holders: "They have been dividing seven per cent. per annum . . . and have laid up a real estate of three millions of dollars for future division" [ibid. ].
125. at 46: Benton produced a case involv? ing the bank which was decided by the Suo preme Court. He read part of the case "showing that it was a case of usury at the rate of forty? six per cent" [ibid. ].
126. SCIRE FACIAS: L, "Make cause to know. " In law, "a judicial unit founded upon some matter of record and requiring the party proceeded against to show cause why the record should not be enforced, an- nulled, or vacated" [Webster's]; or "why letters patent, such as a charter, should not be revoked" [Oxford Universal Dictionary, 3d ed. ]. Continuing from 125 above: "so that the bank, being convicted of taking usury, in violation of its charter, was liable to be deprived of its charter, at any time that a scire facias should issue against it" [ibid. ].
127. institution: Said Benton: "Mr. Presi? dent, I object to the renewal of the Charter of the Bank of the United States, because I look upon the bank as an institution too great and too powerful to be tolerated in a government of free and equal laws" [TYV, I, 191].
128. Vice President: The vice'president ob? jected that Benton's statements were out of order under the motion he had made. Ben- ton insisted he was in order as he had asked leave to bring in a joint resolution: "The Vice President then directed Mr. Benton to
proceed" [ibid. ].
129. Direct power: Benton proceeded: "The direct power of the bank is now prodi- gious, . . . and. . . must speedily become boundless and uncontrollable. " Then listing its present power to issue notes up to "nine- ty million" with "an opening for an unlim- ited increase" with possible widening of powers, he said, "This opens the door to boundless emissions" [ibid. ].
130. To whom . . . : Benton asks and an? swers these questions in his speech, showing that such power must make the bank "the absolute monopolist of American money"
[ibid. ].
131. Gt Britain: Benton illustrates: "I speak of what happened in Great Britian, in the year 1795, when the Bank of England, by a brief and unceremonious letter to Mr. Pitt . . . gave the proof of what a great man? eyed power could do . . . to promote its own interest, in a crisis of national alarm and difficulty. I will read the letter. " The short letter says: "It is the wish of the Coort of Directors that the Chancellor of the Exche? quer would settle his arrangements of fi- nances for the present year, in such manner as not to depend upon any further assistance from them, beyond what is already agreed for" [TYV, 1,192].
. . .
which the government, for about ? 50 bor? rowed, became liable to pay ? 100. . . . It tends to create public debt, by facilitating public loans, and substituting unlimited sup? plies of paper, for limited supplies of coin"
[TYV, I, 192? 193].
133. 1694: Benton goes on: "The British
debt is born of the Bank of England. That bank was chartered in 1694, and was noth- ing more nor less in the beginning, than an act of Parliament for the incorporation of a company of subscribers to a government loan. The loan was ? 1,200,000; the interest ? 80,000; and the expenses of management ? 4,000" [TYV, 1,193].
134. GERM: Benton: "And this is the birth and origin, the germ and nucleus of that debt, which is now ? 900,000,000" [ibid. ].
135. It tends . . . : Benton: "It tends to be? get and prolong unnecessary wars, by fur- nishing the means of carrying them on with~ out recurrence to the people" [ibid. }.
136. aggravate: Benton: "It tends to aggra? vate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer. . . . It tends to make and to break fortunes, by the flux and reflux of paper" [ibid. ].
137. "To carry . . . Monopoly: These 19 lines come from a 12-point summary of Ben- ton's objections to renewal of the charter: "I. To carryon the trade of banking upon the revenue and credit, and in the name, of the United States of America. 2. To pay the revenues of the Union in their own promis- sory notes. 3. To hold the moneys of the United States in deposit, without making compensation for the undrawn balances. 4. To djscredit and disparage the notes of other banks, by excluding them from the collec? tion of the federal revenue. 5. To hold real estate, receive rents, and retain a body of tenantry. . . . 7. To estabHsh branches in the States without their consent. 8. To be ex- empt from liability on the failure of the bank. 9. To have the United States for a partner. 10.
To have foreigners for partners. 11. -To be exempt from the regular adminis-
119. Parnells
newal, Benton wrote: "In the speech which I delivered, I quoted copiously from British speakers-not the brilliant rhetoricians, but the practical, sensible, upright business men, to whom countries are usually indebted for all beneficial legislation: the Sir Henry Par? nells, the Mr. Joseph Humes, the Mr. Edward Ellices, the Sir William Pulteneys [sic]"
: In the chapter on
nonre?
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 . .
113. salt tax: This tax, imposed during a time of war, stayed on the books until Presi- dent Jackson got rid of it. It wasn't easy. Benton has a chapter entitled "Repeal of the Salt Tax" [TYV, I, 143-148].
114. A. J. 's first message: "It has been al-
103. Drew a knife
of Macon, Benton celebrates his steadfast? ness to friends. He "would stake himself for a friend, but would violate no point of pub- lic duty to please or oblige him. Of this his relations with Mr. Randolph gave a Signal instance. He drew a knife to defend him in the theatre at Philadelphia" [TYV, I, 117].
: Continuing his
praise
? 510
88/585? 586
88/586-587
511
ready shown that General Jackson in his first annual message to Congress, called in ques~ tiOD both the constitutionality and expedi~ ency of the national bank" [TYV, I, 158].
115. Maysville Road: [cf. 88 above].
116. To pull down . . . : Benton, writing on "Non? Renewal of Charter" of the Bank of the United States, said that it has "too much power" and should not "be allowed to exist in our country. But I knew it was not sufficient to pull down: We must build up also" [TYV I, 187].
117. hard money: The error made by those who refused to recharter the bank in 1811 was in not providing a substitute. Benton would avoid that error by proposing a gold coinage [ibid. ].
118. France . . . : [cf. 89 above].
. . .
[TYV,I,187? 188].
120. laid on Table: Referring to the fate of an earlier resolution he had brought against the bank, Benton said, "This report came . . . just fourteen days before" the end of a six months' session. "It had no chance at all of getting the Senate's attention. The report was, therefore, laid upon the table unanswered, but was printed by order of the Senate . . . " [TYV, I, 188].
121. pawn? broker: The charter of the Bank of England was to expire about the same time as that of the Bank of the United States-lS33. Nine years before that, debate about its renewal took place. Benton sum- marizes some points made in that debate: "Mr. Hume said . . . Let the country gentle- men recollect that the bank was now acting as pawn-broker on a large scale, and lending
money on estates, a system entirely contrary to the original intention of that institution"
[TYV, 1,189].
122. Ellice: Mr. Edward Ellice said: "It (the Bank of England) is a great monopolizing body, enjoying privileges which belonged to no other corporation [Pound's "contrap- tion" may be intentional}) and no other class of his majesty's subjects" [ibid. ].
123. stock? holders: Defenders of the bank said the debate was unfair as it would dimin- ish the value of their property. Benton said that was absurd, that American stockholders knew the charter had to come up for re- newal [TYV, I, 190].
124. real estate: Said Bentun of the stock? holders: "They have been dividing seven per cent. per annum . . . and have laid up a real estate of three millions of dollars for future division" [ibid. ].
125. at 46: Benton produced a case involv? ing the bank which was decided by the Suo preme Court. He read part of the case "showing that it was a case of usury at the rate of forty? six per cent" [ibid. ].
126. SCIRE FACIAS: L, "Make cause to know. " In law, "a judicial unit founded upon some matter of record and requiring the party proceeded against to show cause why the record should not be enforced, an- nulled, or vacated" [Webster's]; or "why letters patent, such as a charter, should not be revoked" [Oxford Universal Dictionary, 3d ed. ]. Continuing from 125 above: "so that the bank, being convicted of taking usury, in violation of its charter, was liable to be deprived of its charter, at any time that a scire facias should issue against it" [ibid. ].
127. institution: Said Benton: "Mr. Presi? dent, I object to the renewal of the Charter of the Bank of the United States, because I look upon the bank as an institution too great and too powerful to be tolerated in a government of free and equal laws" [TYV, I, 191].
128. Vice President: The vice'president ob? jected that Benton's statements were out of order under the motion he had made. Ben- ton insisted he was in order as he had asked leave to bring in a joint resolution: "The Vice President then directed Mr. Benton to
proceed" [ibid. ].
129. Direct power: Benton proceeded: "The direct power of the bank is now prodi- gious, . . . and. . . must speedily become boundless and uncontrollable. " Then listing its present power to issue notes up to "nine- ty million" with "an opening for an unlim- ited increase" with possible widening of powers, he said, "This opens the door to boundless emissions" [ibid. ].
130. To whom . . . : Benton asks and an? swers these questions in his speech, showing that such power must make the bank "the absolute monopolist of American money"
[ibid. ].
131. Gt Britain: Benton illustrates: "I speak of what happened in Great Britian, in the year 1795, when the Bank of England, by a brief and unceremonious letter to Mr. Pitt . . . gave the proof of what a great man? eyed power could do . . . to promote its own interest, in a crisis of national alarm and difficulty. I will read the letter. " The short letter says: "It is the wish of the Coort of Directors that the Chancellor of the Exche? quer would settle his arrangements of fi- nances for the present year, in such manner as not to depend upon any further assistance from them, beyond what is already agreed for" [TYV, 1,192].
. . .
which the government, for about ? 50 bor? rowed, became liable to pay ? 100. . . . It tends to create public debt, by facilitating public loans, and substituting unlimited sup? plies of paper, for limited supplies of coin"
[TYV, I, 192? 193].
133. 1694: Benton goes on: "The British
debt is born of the Bank of England. That bank was chartered in 1694, and was noth- ing more nor less in the beginning, than an act of Parliament for the incorporation of a company of subscribers to a government loan. The loan was ? 1,200,000; the interest ? 80,000; and the expenses of management ? 4,000" [TYV, 1,193].
134. GERM: Benton: "And this is the birth and origin, the germ and nucleus of that debt, which is now ? 900,000,000" [ibid. ].
135. It tends . . . : Benton: "It tends to be? get and prolong unnecessary wars, by fur- nishing the means of carrying them on with~ out recurrence to the people" [ibid. }.
136. aggravate: Benton: "It tends to aggra? vate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer. . . . It tends to make and to break fortunes, by the flux and reflux of paper" [ibid. ].
137. "To carry . . . Monopoly: These 19 lines come from a 12-point summary of Ben- ton's objections to renewal of the charter: "I. To carryon the trade of banking upon the revenue and credit, and in the name, of the United States of America. 2. To pay the revenues of the Union in their own promis- sory notes. 3. To hold the moneys of the United States in deposit, without making compensation for the undrawn balances. 4. To djscredit and disparage the notes of other banks, by excluding them from the collec? tion of the federal revenue. 5. To hold real estate, receive rents, and retain a body of tenantry. . . . 7. To estabHsh branches in the States without their consent. 8. To be ex- empt from liability on the failure of the bank. 9. To have the United States for a partner. 10.
To have foreigners for partners. 11. -To be exempt from the regular adminis-
119. Parnells
newal, Benton wrote: "In the speech which I delivered, I quoted copiously from British speakers-not the brilliant rhetoricians, but the practical, sensible, upright business men, to whom countries are usually indebted for all beneficial legislation: the Sir Henry Par? nells, the Mr. Joseph Humes, the Mr. Edward Ellices, the Sir William Pulteneys [sic]"
: In the chapter on
nonre?
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 . .
