to notes of one hundred dollars to be issued
by the government. This limit is higher than that adopted in France and
England, but the general principle that a circulating medium is sound
only as it is strong in gold and silver, and that gold and silver can
only be retained permanently by making a place for them in the
circulating medium by a restriction of paper issues, will yet find
favor even in this paper-loving country.

In 1832 Mr. Gallatin accepted the presidency of a bank in New York, the
subscription to the stock of which, $750,000, was completed by Mr. John
Jacob Astor on condition that Mr. Gallatin should manage its affairs.
The direction of its concerns, without absorbing his time, kept him in
the financial current. The bank was called the National Bank of New
York. But not in this modest post was he to find the financial path
smooth. It is true he had lived in the flesh to see the financial
millennium. The rapid growth of the country and the faithful adherence
of his successors in the Treasury Department to the funding principle
had at last realized his dream. The national debt was extinguished. The
last dollar was paid. Louis McLane, secretary of the treasury, on
December 5, 1832, in his report on the finances, said that the dividends
derived from the bank shares held by the United States were more than
was required to pay the interest, and that the _debt_ might therefore be
considered as substantially extinguished after January 1, 1833.

On December 3, 1833, Roger B. Taney, secretary of the treasury, reported
to Congress that he had directed the removal of the deposits of the
government from the Bank of the United States and placed them in banks
of his own selection. He gave a number of reasons for this extraordinary
exercise of the power which he obtained by his appointment on September
23, 1833. He received his reward in June, 1834, being then transferred
by President Jackson to the seat of chief justice of the Supreme Court.
In his annual report Taney named, among his elaborate reasons for the
removal, that the bank had used its money for electioneering purposes,
and that he "had always regarded the result of the last election of
President of the United States as the declaration of a majority of the
people that the charter ought not to be renewed." He further expressed
the opinion "that a corporation of that description was not necessary
either for the fiscal operations of the government or the general