to
light by the aid of a public proceeding at the board of directors. The
board when called on by the Government directors refused to institute an
inquiry or require an account, and the mode adopted by the latter was
the only one by which the object could be attained. It would be absurd
to admit the right of the Government directors to give information and
at the same time deny the means of obtaining it. It would be but another
mode of enabling the bank to conceal its proceedings and practice with
impunity its corruptions. In the mode of obtaining the information,
therefore, and in their efforts to put an end to the abuses disclosed,
as well as in reporting them, the conduct of the late directors was
judicious and praiseworthy, and the honesty, firmness, and intelligence
which they have displayed entitle them, in my opinion, to the gratitude
of the country.

But if I do not mistake the principles on which the Senate have recently
rejected them, the conduct which I deem worthy of praise they treat as
a breach of duty, and in their judgment the measures which they took to
obtain the informations and their efforts to put an end to the practices
disclosed and the reports they have made to the Executive, although true
in all their parts, are regarded as an offense and supposed to require
some decisive mark of strong disapprobation.

If the views of the Senate be such as I have supposed, the difficulty of
sending to the Senate any other names than those of the late directors
will be at once apparent. I can not consent to place before the Senate
the name of anyone who is not prepared with firmness and honesty to
discharge the duties of a public director in the manner they were
fulfilled by those whom the Senate have refused to confirm. If for
performing a duty lawfully required of them by the Executive they are
to be punished by the subsequent rejection of the Senate, it would not
only be useless, but cruel, to place men of character and honor in that
situation, if even such men could be found to accept it. If they failed
to give the required information or to take proper measures to obtain
it, they would be removed by the Executive. If they gave the information
and took proper measures to obtain it, they would upon the next
nomination be rejected by the Senate. It would be unjust in me to place
any other citizens in the predicament in which this unlooked-for
decision of the Senate has placed the estimable and honorable men