Newspapers / The North Carolinian (Wilson, … / April 25, 1840, edition 1 / Page 1
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l)f CHARACTER IS A3 IMPORTANT TO STATES AS IT IS TO INDIVIDUALS; AND THE GLORY OP THE STATE IS THE COMMON PROPERTY OF ITS CITIZENS." T t HOLMES, Editor ana Proprietor. FAYETTEVILLE, SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1840. VOJL. 2. XO. 8. Whole Number 61. cents tor nSTi N S -f the Editor '"hiu ion recc.vcd for less TERMS ,,m if paid in advance; $3 if paid at o. SO tier anmu") r , the end of six mon , inserted at the rate oi j ,. er square, lor me iirsi., buu luiriy nfsixtv cents t ges are paid, than twelve '".i.Uaments and Sheriff's sales, will be conn ..i, than the usual rates. rllts v onjhouid .ferEtlSr inserted until forbid, iliei.., ,i:l r Sonnected with this estab- VS-J"1" .l,Ipd II. L- HOLMES, Jill- Iisbm,en Tr,: ,1 nian.and in all cases post- tur OI U1B"" ' - , In "SPEECH OF MR. STRANGE, Of North Carolina, Senate, Thursday', February 27 1S40 th assumption, by me r euerai uv- ernmenf, of the debts of the States, and iu replv to Messrs. Clay and Crittenden. Mr. President: I may say with honest Ian-o but w ith much more sincerity than he did, "I do repent me that I did put it to you." I do most sincerely regret the rashness whicft has imposed upon myself a task to which my state of health is so inadequate the under taking to address the Senate upon a subject which opens and has already afforded so wide a field of debate. But the good humored as saults made upon me on yesterday by the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Crittenden, i 1 . . ...... !,.. in ! 3 (-1 ma iinmitirl- fu!, for the time, of my weakness, .remaps Le brought me somewhat into tne siaie oi me Prince of Denmark when witnessing the ex travagances of Laertes over the grave of his siiteri he exclaimed, "Nay, an thoul't mouth, Iil rant as well as thou." His prophetic vis- J 1 .-nitiiliiiif rll ti-lnm in 10HS prOUHLCU a twic"""." vv,. .. ....... ... myself, and tempted me to efforts to outpro- )hev him. Time must, as in other cases J r l 111 disclose whether tne tour nunareu wno iore- told success to Ahab at Ramoth Gilead, or ILifiViiSi the son of Imlah, who prognostica ted defeat, are the truer prophets. But neither of us, I tear can boast much ot sracti-Ki bom aoove; auu nunc " i hji uiu deu to us to look even upon t'le shadows of coming events, we must be content to specu late bvthe pale light of reason, and to draw from the experience of the past, analogical deductions for the future. When I said to the Senator from Kentucky "Mr. Crittenden on yesterday that I dif fered from him with less regret than I did r, r " I rll. with the Senator tiom rennsv ivama, iur. Buchanan, I said it i:i no spirit of unkind- ' - . r i I l 1 indeed, had 1 done so, i snotiso nave misrepresented my own feelings. J am not one ot those who cannot do jounce io apo litical opponent. ISo one, I aiw ship, within this ehjm'-.er, ItMeus to that Senator witn . i,- . ,i more uleasoie mail myseii; no one nunc ciw- mires i'iv; dfst-.ity wish which he wields his il, al'h .u-.h myself may sometimes feel the .keenness of its cdue. lint I cannot but re- ret that the sa.ii'i sagacity aiid .-kill with hich he wields it are n.t displayed in the i . ti i of the cause in which to draw it. shusiid be h.ippy to fiiiht upon the same side lth the Senator Irom Kentucky, did not sad xperience convince me that if I ever do so, must he content to take the wrong one. As usual, the debate upon the report and ?! ::!if'i-: submitted by the chairman of the Select Committee, the Senator from J ennes- see, Mr. Grusdy,! has taken a very dis- cursive range, and the whole neid oi pa'i tiife has been traversed as suited the tastes of the various speakers. Upon its first in troduction, the report was met by the most extraordiiiai v fusilade ever witnessed in this hainber, and the vigor of the attack plainly indicated the heart cherished value of the ob- fts aiaiust which the report and resolutions levelled. And yet the resolutions con- pain four simole propositions, which the report bv able and unanswerable . The first-three of these propositions ire: 1. Resolved, That the assumption, direct or indirectly, by the General Government, N the debts which have been, or may be, rontraeted by tho Stat- lr.ral opieets or jState purposes, would be unjust, both to the States and to the peopie. t 2. Resolced, That such assumpuou wuu.u it . rlarirfrnii- to the a hinfeiv luexoeaieui; rv'"7 " r . , union of the States. .ij 3. Resolved, That such ass"H t j , be wholly unauthorized by , of, the Constitution, oi n .nn!.nt to all tne ornau " r : ' rZ?.:C Federal Union was woses lor ui - Neither of these propositions naaauyu the temerity openly to question, anj wdh aU the rM.iMno:j nttrnneu ov ucu,"v' ""V lVtll HyOOO'J" . Kentucky Mr. Crittenden to s ' L v,0 rfisrharse ot official duty, "'""""l . 1 Kph andju'stly, as I trust, no one uc. c o bold enough to dispute the truth of either of "Krt 5t ; s;d their assertion in this form, and at this time, is irregular, unnecessary, nfi ; 1;.: Trrocrular because no legisia- tive action is proposed, either by the report .u i...: ThU ia an extraordinary i me rcuiuuuu3 - , i rvKU.:. Trorn a nartv who passed the resolution, condemnatory of General Jackson through this body, Vx acclamation. It w true it,. a shpnuentlY expunged, uai i cauiuiiu v-' i - I - K u nA it esbunction was not tnai "Ul UIXZ mUUHU v. L . . . , . . i 1 :lrtw oMinn. HUl U contemplated no legiaiai.-uv...... -- .w Aitiv here is confined to tne Congress to leave that steerage to other hands, and take no thought of the direction in which the vessel is tending? If, from the look out point which it occupies, it beholds rocks and shoals, and whirlpools, and quicksands lying before her, is no warning voice to be lifted up? Can there be a doubt that this is one of the most important duties which our constitu ents expect us to perfom; that we should make diligent use of all the talents which God has given us, and of the advantages of our position, to search out political truth, keep it steadily in view, and proclaim if to our fel low-citizens? Does not the whole usage of the nation prove it to he so? -In my opinion sir, were we to neglect this, we should neglect the most important half of our duty. The re port and resolutions then are not irregular, unless, as is further contended, they are un necessary. They are denounced as unnecessary be cause the assumption of the State debts by the General Government has never been con templated by any one. Who that has looked upon the signs of the times can feel this se curity? Are not the newspapers of a certain class full of suggestions upon this subject, and have not the circulars of bankers been put forth indicating its propriety and even its necessity? 13ut the senator horn Kentucky, who addressed us some days ago, Mr. Clay, demands, with an appearance of sccrn, if we are to pay any attention to newspaper sus- ns or bank circulars? I answer, uuhesi- tatinsly, yes. lie asks as li our action is to be at all affected by them? Again I answer, yes. 1 he day has gone by when the press is nothing, or money kings are to be des pised. The latter, great personages plant their feet upon the necks of those who con trol empires. How long has it been since the stamp of a banker's foot and his declara tion that, if a certain war was declared, he would not be seen again for many months upon 'change, had an important bearing upon the measures of one of the first powers in Eu- lhis happened on the other side of the Atlantic; but are we without similar expe rience on this? Is it for us, yet panting after a slrujrgle with one of these mammoth pow ers, to affect to despise them? Is it for us, who have lately witnessed bulletins and proc lamations and letters issuing from the marble palace, agitatiug the vast political mass in our country, as the ocean is stirred up by the breath of the storm, to talk about being re gardless of bankers' circulars? And when we hear the inuimnr of the coming tornado, are we to wait until it strikes us oetore we prepare ourselves to meet it in safety? V hen we see the opiates preparing for the people, and the chains being forged which are to bind ihem in endless slavery, is it our duty to wait intil the drugs have been administered and he chains fa.-teisc d not only upon their limbs lnit around their hearts, till they are bound to the earth, manacled and fettered, before we warn them of their danger? No one con templates asti'ri)ii)g the State debts by the Generd (iDVeriini-hl! Did m l the Senator from Kentucky, who addressed us the other day, Mr. Clay. pour foith notes of lamen tation over the hapless condition of the States, pressed down wish dt-Uf Oie might have almost fancied them the plaintive exclama tions of the pop-tic King of Israel over the untimely fate of his son Absalom. Did he not speak of the intimate relHliom-hip exist ing between the States and the Geneial Gov ernment: ere not ihe States commended to our sympathy, and spoken of as bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh? That if one suffers, all partake of the sufiei ing? &c. And why was all this? friomthe fullness ot the heart the mouth speaketh. VN hy speak to us of the woes of the States, and the sympathy due to them, if we were not expected to bring relief? Do men spend their breath in dctail- ng their grievances, and appealing to the pity of those from whom they expect nothing? A politician, as old, and experienced, and kilful as the Senator from Kentucky, speaks not without an object; and, to me, the infer ence is clear, that, like leaven, his words ere cast into the mass to create a ferment in the public mind until it throws out some food for the cravings of the States or rather of the British banks. Ihe obiection, ibon, lilcnu rcruraiiuira -ncitr uuuecessiry. is as groundless as the one that they are irregu lar. And this is further conclusively proven by the third objection brought against them, to wit, that they ate impolitic. How impolitic? Because, forsooth, they will injure the credit of the States. It cannot be the mere declara tion that the States owe so much meney that can injure their credit, because that was be fore a natter of public notoriety. The debts of Governments, and especially free Gov ernments, tan never be a secret to any one who desires to knoy the truth. . They are contracted ii the face of day, and are evi- denced ov records continually spread open in the broad ht of the sun. What, then, is the discrecUag matter? It is the declara tion that fuistiovernment will not assume to pay them Bt if it was known and believed before tnt win, trovernmeut would not as- some topay nen,- it the conviction was firm and uDveringi wouirj a declaration lo that effec .1 1 w . 1 .1 v i . to fBCiare u .ou-u . fa ot lireai Axitt' It v Whys ifcauseu,J ever vt, never rfpeKte in a-, way upoQ arJV mind? not. pappose ; Government xvere edit -r n.t Bntai ol - , , serines mat . . ,,- iiV ihe wildest vis ona? G V tor a iu"--- - vwouid assuurew jam- is it truethat our duty here ,is .conedto ff - tfa ublicr OM nt laws' .Loes u "''"tr" l ;iK aem. v .: oniiallV ci' ofvesTel of State : ' upon the passage of laws? And if not, both impression that the General Government would assume the debts of the States, as that it would assume the debts of Great Britain, could the credit of the States be any more affected by the declaration that she will not assume their debts, than would be the credit of Great Britain by a similar declaration? Surely not. The argument, then, that the credit qt the States will be affected by the declaration that the General Government will not assume their debts, must be founded upon the supposition that such an expectation exists somewhere. Now, as it is admitted on the other side that no one ought to have the folly to contend for such assumption, it follows that such an expectation is erroneous. And is it right and just to suffer any one to remain un der it? If no one entertains this exnectation the declaration that it is erroneous is at least harmless; and if any one does entertain it, it is but just to apprize th-.m of their error. But the secret that such an impression does exist somewhere and the true origin of that impression, are disclosed farther by a meta phor resorted to by the opponents of the reso lutions to show their impolicy. They speak of this Government being the father, and the States the children. From this figure the principle of consolidation is distinctly seen peeping out, and its fallacy ought to be at once exposed. Does the son beget the father, or the father the son? Is the procreator or the offspring anterior in existence? There can be but one auswer to these questions. Now as the States made the General Government and not the General Government the Stale Governments, and as the State Governments existed for years before the General Govern ment, the General Government cannot be the father of the State Governments. But waiv ing the correctness of the figure for the pres ent, for the sake of argument let it be conce ded that the relationship does exist as sup posed. Assuming this, the argument on the other side is, that it is impolitic and unkind for a father to proclaim the indebtedness of his children, and declare in advance that he will not assume their debts. lut iu this ar gument two important facts arc overlooked iu the case of the particular family spoken of, viz: in the firt place that the indebtedness of the children is known to every one before the father speaks, and in the next place that the father cannot speak to his children w ith out all the world hearing him. The question arises whether such a father, knowing that his children were largely indebted, and lhat de signing persons werts cudeavoring to persuade them that it was the duty of the father and the interest of the w hole family that he t-hould assume their debt, while he himself firmly believed that such a step would be ruinous to all, and unjust to many brandies of it, he ought not to warn his children against li.-len-ing to pernicious counsels counsels tending to render them iudolent and extravagant and distinctly to apprise them that, according to his view of justice, expediency, and the family relationship, such a thing was totally inadmissible? So muih for the first three esolutious. 4. Resolced, That to set apait the public 1 inds, or the revenues arising theiefioiu, for the beforementioiied purposes, would be equal ly unjust, inexpedient, and unconstitution al. And here the gentlemen on the other side make their Maud and right against the resolu tion, and insist that it is both constitutional, just, and expedient, to distiibute the proceeds of the public- lands among the S'ates. On all these points I take issue. 1. I say it is un constitutional. Why? I assume it as a political axiom, disputed by no one, that this Government has no power to raise money for any other purposes than those set forth in the Constitution which gave that Government existence. I assume further, what I suppose no one will question, that distribution among the States is not one of those purposes. Does it not follow, as an inevitable conclu sion of right reason, that whatever might be the constitutional power of Congress over a fund on hand, which it was evident could never be absorbed in the proper outlay of the Government, it would be a manifest breach of all constitutional trust to make such a dis- necessity for raising further sums by taxation to supply the place of those so diverted by distribution? But I understood the Senator from Ken tucky, who addressed us the other day, Mr. Clay, to consider a portion of these lands as a specific trust to be applied to certain pur poses distinctly pointed out in the deeds of cession. The following is the language used in the cession made by the State of Virginia, on the first day of . March, seventeen hundred and eighty-four, "to wit: "That all the lands with in the territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved or appropriated to any of the beforeinentioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American aimy, shall be considered as a com mon fund, for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become, or shall become, members of the Confederation or Federal alliance of said States, Virginia in clusive, according to the. usual respective proportions in the general charge and expen diture, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other U3e or purpose whatsoever." . The language used in the deeds oC other obvu.;s substantially the same. It is very jects of the -distribution is not one of the bb foith. The ofy, ofit would have been set id one, and that is "ftftr certain reservations, the use and benefit of all tnommon fund for accord ing to the usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure." It is well known that, at this time, our Federal Con slitution had not been adopted, and that each State contributed by, taxing and collecting trom ner own citizens so much to the general charge as Congress declared to be her quota. The object of the trust declared in relation to the public lands, was then manifest that a proportion equal to what each State contribu ted to the general charge and expenditure, of the proceeds of the public lands, was to be ap plied towards her quota of such charge and expenditure, and diminish to that extent her necessity for self taxation. The words "use aud benefit" exclude the idea of an actual surrender to the States; but imply an applica tion by a trustee to the particular use declar ed. And as if to exclude any possibility of mistake, the deed goes on to declare that it shall be faithfully and bona fids, (appropriate words as applicable to a servant or trustee.) disposed of for that purpose, and no other use or purpose whatsoever. Nothing can be more specific and exclusive of every other use and purpose than contribution to the general charge and expenditure. Thus matters stood anterior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. But I under stood the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Clay, to say that, after that, the execution of the trust became impossible, and the trust fund conse quently resulted to the original grantors. ihat the States no longer contributed, .by self-taxation, their proportions to the general charge and expenditure; but the levy of taxes was made by the General Government through imposts upon the country at large, and the measure of application, and the sub jects of application were thereby annihilated. It is true that, in practice, after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the States were no more called on to contribute their propor tions of the public charge and expenditure, but this was a mere practical operation. Po tentially, both the objects and measure of the application of the proceeds of the public lands, were preserved iu the Constitution. In the first article, second section, and third clause of the Federal Constitution, it is declar ed: "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, accord ing to their respective numbers, etc." The whole revenue, then, if thought ex pedient, might be raised by direct taxation, (and would probably be the most equitable mode,) and if so raised, clearly the proceeds of the public lands ought, according to the terms of cession, to be applied in aid of the States iu their respective proportions, to ligh ten the burden of direct taxation upon each. Then both the object of application and the measure of proportion would stand out in brld relief. Reasons of policy aud conve nience have induced the States to prefer taxa tion by imposts to direct taxation, but in neither form do they desire to be taxed beyond the public necessities; aud to no faither ex tent, iu either form, has power beeu confer red on Congress to impose taxes, ai-d iu neither form has Congress the right to im pose faither taxes, while a fund remains on hand applicable to ihe public expenditures. The public lands, then, must be used to ligh ten the burden of taxation, iu whatever form t.i.xation is levied. Whether the fact be strictly so or not, taxation by imposts is sub mitted to, because it is supposed to jipproxi mate the same propoition in contribution by the respective States, with direct taxation. The trust, therefore, upon which the public lauds were held, stands in its full force, and unchanged in its nature and objects. This is conclusively shown by the striking facts, that although the Federal Constitution went into operation in March, 17S9, aud North Carolina made her cession in December of that year, nine months after, and Georgia made hers iu 18C2, about thirteen years after the Federal Constitution went into operation, both these States preserved substantially the language used in the Virginia deed of cession, which, it is now contended, could then have no operative meaning, and thereby declared trusts which it was obvious, at the time they u-oro doc larpd, could never be executed. This is altogether too absurd to be supposed; and it must necessarily follow that it was weli understood that the adoption of the Federal Constitution produced no change iu the ope ration of these grants. This is further con firmed by the second clause of the third sec tion of the fourth article of the Constitution, which declares that. "The Congress shall have power to dis pose of and make all needful rules and regu lations respecting the territory, or other property belonging to the United States." Now what territory was there belonging to the United States, other than the lands ceded by the States? And there is no e'idence that any other territory, which could be . called property of the United States, was in contem plation. So far from it, purchases of terri tory, since made, have been seriously ques tioned as breaches of the Constitution. It follows, then, that these public lands were deemed the property of the United States by the framers of the Constitution, and not that the trust had resulted for the want of power to execute it It appears, then, that Congress holds this fund under the same trusts that it does other property of the United States; and the question recurs whether, if Congress can not constitutionally raise money for distribu tion among the States, she can do so indirect )y,.by applying the money which she holds for the purpose of the Government, to. distri bution among the States, and thereby create a necessity for raising other money for those ' v tat s purposes to which the fund distributed ought to have been applied? Every fair mind fur nishes a ready answer to this question. And is it not equally obvious, that while the Government continues in operation, such must be the effect of every distribution, unless we can suppose the improbable (and certainly not now existing) cases of the General Gov ernment holding funded debt or stocks yield ing an annual interest sufficient to defray its current expenses. The enlightened and able Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun, in his argument on the expediency of this measure, has put the case of the present state of the 1 rcasury and the prospective revenue, showing that an abstraction of the proceeds of the public lands must render an increase of the tariff inevitable. But it is not equally appa rent that if, as he and I both think, we have no right to lay a tariff for any other purpose than revenue, a distribution of money in the Trea sury, which would have the effect ot render ing a reduction of the tariff impracticable, would be liable to the same objections? Both would have the effect of causing taxation to supply money which had been distributed. I thus arrive at the conclusion, that a distribu tion of the proceeds of the public lands as far transcends the constitutional trust powers of Congress as the assumption of the State debts, a measure from the advocacy of which, as before stated, every body shrinks. 2. Nor is the injustice of such distribution less appareut. The truth is, the only thing which recommends it to the favor of any one is its injustice. What possible inducement could twenty-six gentlemen have to contri bute a sum, to be immediately divided out among them in the same proportions in which they had contributed? None.- Still less would they be in favor of such a measure, if they were required to pay some one for col lecting and distributing the money. But if the distribution were to be in some different ratio from that in which the contribution had been made, then would it be inevitable that some of the parties must withdraw more than they contributed, and, consequently, others less. I his might commend the arrangement to the favor of those who were to be gainers by the operation; and if it were uncertain which of the parties were to be the gainers, the gambling spirit to which every man is more or less subject, would probably com mend it to the favor of all. But, yet the in justice of the scheme is apparentto every one; and if the distributor were authorized to ob tain imperceptibly from the pockets of the twenty-six gentlemen sums of money, accor ding to the cost of what each might eat, drink and wear, and then to divide the money per would not the inequality of the plan shock a very blunt sense of justice? 3. As to the inexpediency of the distribu tion objected to bv the resolution, what can any man say, after the luminous and forcible portraiture made of its effects, afewlays ago, by ihe Senator from Soutn Carolina? It is a vast subject, and I will not overtask myself aud the patience of the Senate by going into it. I leave it as left by the Senator from South Carolina. I will not attempt to gild a sunbeam. And here, sir, the subject would seem na turally to close; but the memory of man nin- neth not to the contrary ot the practice on this floor of making every question of any magnitude to bear upon the strife of party ra gir.g iu this laud. Be it so: and if gentle men w ill force them upon us, I, for one, am not for shi ii.kii g from such contests. I, for one, have sum conncience in my political principles, as to be willing to see them sifted and examined at all times aud iu all places ay, aud to believe, too, that they can bear some misrepresentation, without endanger ing greatly their perpetuity. "Truth, crush'd to earth, will rise agnin Tb' eternal years oi God are hers; But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies amid her worshippers." So may error ever perish, and, among other errors, those of Harrisonian Federalism. The great difficulty of the cause to which 1 belong, in our party strifes, is the preserva tion of our own bauner. Our adversaries are ever striving to throw mattersinto confusion, and, taking advantage ot the tumult, to rob us of our banner, and to thrust theirs into our unwilling grasp. Our names are seized up on, and appropriated to themselves, and oth ers fixed upon us, by which our forefathers never baptized us. Thus occasionally are . .i i i. :.. J 1 ' . r- .t our own nreinrea auu Kiuoreu, men oi me same political family, and sharing with us in the common inheritance of sound faith, made for a time to fight against us; and mischief is perpetuated, difficult to repair: for it is not every man "who knows the true prince by in stinct," like the fat knight, of facetious me mory. I do not know a better service that a man can do to bis country, than to hold forth, with a strong arm, to the public view, the glorious Democratic banner, in its unadorned simpli city, with its plain, pithy, intelligible mottoes. The theory of Government, which should be the plainest thing on earth, has beeu by arti fice converted into a puzzle-fool, and its sim ple purposes mystified and defeated. The happiness of man, through its tendencies to render him virtuous, is its sole office, if it has any worth the trouble and expense that it costs. Its systems are various, but they may tw reduced to two classes: that which addres ses the reason of man, and withholds from him J temptations to be vicious, and that whm seeks to control him by his selfish jtlions, his hopes, his fears, his desire of in. Very few Governments have bebased upon the former principles uVjass have adopted the latter. Perhaps--10 earliest and rudest form of Government in which reason was over looked, was that in which priestcraft usurped the control of every thing, and a god or gods supposed to be speaking through the mouths of men, dictated alike to individuals and na- tious. The most rigid exactions were made of the masses of mankind, and the most grin ding oppressions imposed upon them, that the favored few might enjoy wealth and ease, and honor and renown. The treasures of the coffer and of the heart were alike wrung from their possessors, that the dominion of their op pressors might be absolute and unquestioned. Exactions were sometimes carried so far as to demand the fruit of the body to appease imagiuary deities for imaginary sins, and the produces of the toil of millions were surren dered, that alfew might luxuriate in exbaustless abundance, and uninterrupted ease. This has been happily styled by the celebrated John Taylor, whom I so much delight to admire and quote, the age of Jupiter; he among the hea then gods who was most imperious and ex tensive in his sway. But his tyranny became so oppressive, that mankind could no longer endure it, and bold spirits penetrated his temples, and discovered and exposed the frauds of his priests. ."Next came ihe as-e of Mars, and heroes, clad in steel, controlled mankind. He is among the' most noble of the heathen gods, and has about him a generosity of character which disdains to trample on the weak and defenceless, and scat' lers with liberality what he gathers by his pow er. Still he appealed not to the reason of man kind, but controlled tbero, through their fears. with the rustling banner and the bristling steely Alter him came Mercury, establishing domin ion hy addressing himself, through fraud and artifice, to the cupidity of mankind, or humbling' litem into submission hy reducing them to pov erty, t inallv, combinations were f rmed among all these powers, and the science of Gov ernment became complex and mysterious. It was supposed lhat there was no other way of correcting the evils, or rather lo render them tolerable, incident to these principles of govern" ment, than to resort to checks and ha lances, and to make the vices and passions of one man restrain the vires and passions of another. When government became a mystery, it waa supposed that it admitted but -of three simple forms, viz: monarchy, aristocracy, and democ racy, and that all governments consisted nf one or more of these elements, controlled by one another, or a combination of two or three, of the heathen deities, before mentioned. Such was the state of things in ihe old world, but our sagacious forefathers saw the error of principles on which those governments were based, and the battles of our Revolution were fought, that the whole heathen Pantheon might he dethroned with its cumbrous and expensive machinery, and that Governments might be established in the new world, formed upon mor al principles. That man might be restored t his native dignity a seligoverning being, dis enthralled (iom the dominion of passions, and yielding to the sway of reason and conscience a reason and cosiscier.ee on whose tablets are written, by ihe finger of God himself, precious and noble truths, which can never be erased, but are refreshed by revelation from day today. They believed ihat man retains much of the original image ofhis Maker; that something or ilis purity is enshrined in the breast of woman; that mercy, that most interesting of his attri butes, beams fbrih from her eyes in rays of tenderness, or .gently distils in drops of sympa thy. That in ihe bosom of man His sterner attribute of justice has a deep abiding place Such were the principles upon which nurbeau- i'nl system of governments weje based. Cor ruption was excluded hy avoiding accumula tions of power; justice secured by establishing a jierfect equality of rights nnioiig men; nd hap piness placed wiihin the reach of all, y open ing a lair field for virtue, ar.d talent, and indus try to reap their harvest, while vice, and ipnor since, and stupidity, and indolence, were left to" that curse to which a righteous Prividence has seen fit l expose them. But the devil came, as he has ever done to each earthly paradise, disguised as an angel of light, or in some unobtrusive form, little calcu lated lo excite the al.nm of those whose destruc tion be meditates. Connate with our Constitu tion were those who held to the old belief that honest disinterested reason was an unsafe gov ernor, and lira t Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury one, or all three, must be restored hence an established religion, standing armies, vast na vies, exclusive privileges and monopolies, and whle hosts of eleemosynary dependants upon the labor of others, bad all iheir advocates. Iu all this we perceive what conntitute the wnrrinj elements of party in our la nil. But constant association, even in strife, will assimilate men to each other, and one may gather moral contagi on from another whom he hates and thus have these parties been constantly varying in the in tensity of their principles, tut as even sometimes to render it doubtful which was which. The result has been that Jupiter, and Mars, and Mercury, have all been imperceptibly regaining in part their lost empire; and, although disavow ed in our constitutions, have exerted substantial control in our public affairs. Of these, as might have been expecied from his nature, Mercury has been hy far the most successful. He has not only given tone to our governments, hut Nias enthroned himself in ttie hearts of our peo- people, until, njsieau oi increasing in virtue, and disinterestedness, and patriotism, an eager haste to be rich has become our distinguishing na tional characteristic. Hence every individual is pursuing riches as the chief good, and money. money, money, currency, currency, currency, ia tne conunuai cry in me country, m the city, to private conversation, and in the debates of ibis chamber. To all this the government have been contributing by exam Die. and the stimulus of their measures, tariff, intet'K'' improvements by the General overninit, lending revenues for hanking purpose d other kindred opera tions. The Senr from Kentucky, rMrCriiten- denj hjKrreprescnted the friends of the Admin jswiion as differing among themselves as to which of these causes have produced these ef fects. He will pardon me for saying- there is no such difference among them A hey all concur in believing every one of them the offspring of ' " the same parent, and to have acted harmonious ly in the accomplishment of bis designs. Some may suppose one of these causes mote efficient
The North Carolinian (Wilson, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 25, 1840, edition 1
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