This result has been
alike salutary to the true interests of agriculture, commerce, and
manufactures; to public morals, respect for the laws, and that
confidence between man and man which is so essential in all our
social relations.
The contrast between the suspension of 1814 and that of 1837 is most
striking. The short duration of the latter, the prompt restoration
of business, the evident benefits resulting from an adherence by
the Government to the constitutional standard of value instead of
sanctioning the suspension by the receipt of irredeemable paper, and the
advantages derived from the large amount of specie introduced into the
country previous to 1837 afford a valuable illustration of the true
policy of the Government in such a crisis. Nor can the comparison fail
to remove the impression that a national bank is necessary in such
emergencies. Not only were specie payments resumed without its aid, but
exchanges have also been more rapidly restored than when it existed,
thereby showing that private capital, enterprise, and prudence are fully
adequate to these ends.
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