12 Doc. No. 2. In pursuance of a pledge given to you in my last message to Congress, which pledge I urge as an apology for adventuring to present you the details of any plan, the Secretary of the Treasury will be ready to submit to you, should you require it, a plan of finance which, while it throws around the public treasure reasonable guards for its protection, and rests on powers acknowledged in practice to exist from the origin of the Government, will at the same time furnish to the country a sound paper medium, and afford all reasonable facilities for regulating the exchanges. When submitted, you will perceive in it a plan amendatory of the existing laws in relation to the Treasury Department—subordinate in all respects to the will of Congress directly, and the will of the people indirectly—self-sustaining, should it be found in practice to realize its promises in theory, and repealable at the pleasure of Congress. It proposes, by effectual restraints and by invoking the true spirit of our institutions, to separate the purse from the sword ; or, more properly to speak, denies any other control to the President over the agents who may be selected to carry it into execution, but what may be indispensably necessary to secure the fidelity of such agents ; ■and, by wise regulations, keeps plainly apart from each other private and public funds. It contemplates the establishment of a board of control at the seat of Government, with agencies at prominent commercial points, or wherever else Congress shall direct, for the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public moneys, and a substitution, at the option of the public creditor, of Treasury notes in lieu of gold and silver. It proposes to limit the issues to an amount not to exceed $15,000,000, without the express sanction of the legislative power. It also authorizes the receipt of individual deposites of gold and silver to a limited amount, and the granting certificates of deposite, divided into such sums as may be called for by the depositors. It proceeds a step further, and authorizes the purchase and sale of domestic bills and drafts, resting on a real and substantial basis, payable at sight, or having but a short time to run, and drawn on places not less than one hundred miles apart—which authority, except in so far as may be neces- sary for Government purposes exclusively, is only to be exerted upon the express condition, that its exercise shall not be prohibited by the State in which the agency is situated. In order to cover the expenses incident to the plan, it will be authorized to receive moderate premiums for certificates issued on deposites, and on bills bought and sold; and thus, as far as its dealings extend, to furnish facilities to commercial intercourse at the lowest possible rates, and to subduct from the earnings of industry the least possible sum. It uses the .State banks, at a distance from the agencies, as auxiliaries, without imparting any power to trade in its name. It is subjected to such guards and ■restraints as have appeared to be necessary. It is the creature of law, and •exists only at the pleasure of the Legislature. It is made to rest on an actual specie basis, in order to redeem the notes at the places of issue—produces no dangerous redundancy of circulation—affords no temptation to •speculation—is attended by no inflation of prices—is equable in its operation—makes the Treasury notes, which it may use along with the certificates of deposite, and the notes of specie-paying banks, convertible at the place where collected, receivable in payment of Government dues ; and, without violating any principle of the Constitution, affords the Gov- ■ernment and the people such facilities as are called for by the wants of both. Such, it has appeared to me, are its recommendations, and in view
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