““the " scramble of politicians and speculators " did more than anything else " to disgust Madison with the administration party and drive him into opposition." Madison himself, in writing to Jefferson, in July, 1791, said: " The subscriptions (to the bank) are consequently a mere scramble for so much public plunder, which will be engrossed by those already loaded with the spoils of individuals. It pretty clearly appears, also, in what proportion the public debt lies in the country, what sort of hands hold it, and by whom the people of the United States are to be governed. Of all the shameful circumstances of this business, it is among the greatest to see the members of the legislature (congress) who were most active in pushing this job openly grasping its emoluments.””
