essentially the same, but the audience was in many respects a more difficult one to reach. In the familiarity with financial questions Mr. Webster had shown himself second only to Hamilton himself, and in presenting the subject to a popular audience he reached the high-water mark of political oratory; there is no cant, no bluster, no personal abuse, but the dignity and simplicity of the simple and dignified friend of the people. On the 19th of August, 1840, he addressed the citizens of New York in a mass meeting at Saratoga. Of all the great speeches of this campaign this best represents the mind and art of Mr. Webster, and is especially interesting in this year (1892) when essentially the same questions--the tariff and the currency--are before the people, and when the nominee of the party, which is the child of the old Whig party, is Benjamin Harrison. [1]P. 331, l. 28. 1. The history of banking in the United States is interesting as a chapter in the general history of banking. It began with that great financier, Alexander Hamilton. When Secretary of the Treasury he conceived the plan of a great national bank, which should take charge of the disbursement of the revenues, and which should furnish a paper circulation,--founded on national resources,--which should be current all over the country. After a prolonged opposition by the Anti-federalists, who claimed that the establishment of such a bank would be unconstitutional, he prevailed upon Washington to sign the bill of incorporation, and in 1791 the bank began its work. It continued its existence until 1811, when the Anti-federalists refused to recharter it. Owing to the disordered currency resulting from the War of 1812, Mr. Madison brought the matter before Congress in his message, and in 1816 the second Bank of the United States was established. [2]P. 333, l. 27. 1. Cf. Sumner's _Life of Andrew Jackson_, Chs. XIII., XIV.