THOMAS LORING, J " the constitution and the unioiJ of the states they "must bf preserved." v s C QLyi. NO. 252.
editor and proprietor. ... . RALEIGH, N. C. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25,1840. '' ' . It&r'ee d&llars pek aknum.
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SPEECH OF MR. STRANGE,
OF NORTH CAROLINA,
In Senate, Thursday, February 27, 1840 On
the assumption, by the Federal Government,
of the debts of the States, and in reply to
Messrs. Clay and Crittenden.
Mr. President: I may say with honest Iago
hut with much more sincerity them he did,
"I do repent me th.u I did put it to you." I do
most sincerely regret the rashness which has
imposed upon myself a task to which my state
of health is so inadequate the undertaking
to address the Senate upon a subject which
opens and has already afforded so wide a field
of debate. But the good humored assaults made
upon me on yesterday by the Senator from Ken
tucky, Mr. Crittenden, excited me to a degree
that made me unmindful, for the time, of my
weakness. Perhaps he brought me somewhat
into the state of the Prince of Denmark when
witnessing the extravagances of Laertes over the
grave of his sister, he exclaimed, "Nay, an thoul't
mouth, I'll rant as well as thou." His pro
phetic visions produced a correspondent delirium
in myself, and tempted me to efforts to outpro
phesy him. Time must, as in other cases dis
close whether the four hundred who foretold
success to Ahab at Ramoth Gilead, or Macaiah
the son of Imlah, who prognosticated defeat, are
the truer prophets.
But neither of us, I fear, can boast much of
unction from above ; and while it is forbidden
to us to look even upon the shadows of coming
events, we must be content to speculate by the
riale light of reason, and to draw from the experi
ence of the past, analogical deductions for the
futu re.
When E said to the Senator from Kentucky
Mr. Crittenden on yesterday, that 1 differed
from bim vvith less regret than I did with the
Senator from Pennsylvania, Air. Buchanan, I
said it in no spirit of unkindness; indeed, had I
done so, I should have misrepresented my own
feelings. I am not one of those who cannot do
justice to a political opponent. No one, I am
sure, within this chamber, listens to that Senator
with more pleasure than myself; no one more
admires the dexterity with which he wields his
blade, although myself may sometimes feel the
keenness of Us edge. But I cannot but regret
that the same sagacity and skill with which he
wields it are not displayed in ihe selection of the
cause in which to draw it. I should be happy
to fii ht upon the same side with the Senator
from Kentucky, did not sad experience convince
taathat if I ever do so, I must be content to take
the wrong one.
As usual, the debate upon the report and re
solutions submitted by the chairman of the Select
Committee, the Senator from Tennessep, Mr.
Grundy, has taken a very discursive range, and
the whole field of party strife has been traversed as
suited the tastes of the various speakers. Upon
its first introduction, the report was met by the
most extraordinary fosilade ever witnessed in
this chamber, and the. vigor of the attack plainly
indicated the heart cherished value of the objecs
against which the report and resolutions were
levelled. And yet the resolutions contain four
simple propositions, which the report sustains
by able and un ins ver ible arguments. The
first three of these propositions are :
1. Resolved, That ihe assump'ion, directly or
indirectly, by the General Government, of the
debts which h ive been, or miy be contracted by
the State for local objects or State purposes, would
be unjust, both to the States and to the people.
2. Resolved, That such assumption would be
highly inexpedient, and dangerous to the union
of the States.
3. Resolved, That such assumption would
be wholly unauthorized by, and in violation of,
the Constitution of the United States, and utterly
repugnant to all the objects and purposes for
which the Federal Union was forced.
Neither of these propositions had anyone the
temerity openly to question, and with all the
fearlessness ascribed by the Senator from Ken
tucky Mr. Crittenden to American Senators, in
the discharge of official duty, and justly, as I
trust, no one here has bold enough to dispute the
truth of either of them.
But it is said their assertion in this form, and
at this time, is irregular, unnecessary, and im
politic. Irregular, because no legislative action
is proposed, either by the report or the resolu
tions. This is an extraordinary objection to
come from a parly who passed the resolution,
condemnatory of General Jackson, through this
body, by acclamation. It is true that resolution
was subsequently expunged, but the ground of
its expunction was not that it comternplated no
legislative action. But is it true, that our duty
here is confined to the mere passage of lairs 1
Does the steerage of the vessel of State depend
exclusively upon the passage of laws? And if
not, is 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
outpoint 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 constituents expect
us to perform; 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
! procl;
'th- i
um it to our iellow-citizens ? JJoes not
the v hole usage of the nation prove it to be so ?
In my opinion, sir, were, we to neglect this, we
should neglect the most important half of our
duty. The report and resolutions then are not
irregular, unless, as is further contended, they
are unnecessary.
They are denouneed as unnecessary because
the assumption of the State debts by the General
Government has never been contemplated by any
one. Who that has looked unon the signs ot
the times can feel this security? Are not the
newspapers of a certain class full of suggestions
upon this subject, and have not the circulars of
hankers been put forth indicating its propriety
and even its necessity? But the Senator from
Kentucky, who addressed us some days ago,
Mr. Clay, demands, with an. appearance of
scorn, if we are to pay any attention to newspa
per suggestions or bank circulars? I answer,
unhesitatingly, yes. He asks if our action is
to be at all affected by-lhem 1 Again.I answer
yes. The day has gone by when the press is
nothing, or money kings are to be despised.
The latter great personages plant their feet upon
the necks of those who control empires. How
long has it been since the stamp of a banker's
foot and his declaration that, if a vCertaiu 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 Europe? This happened on' the
other side the Atlantic ; but are we without si
milar experience on this ? Is it for us, yet pant
ing after a struggle with one of these mammoth
powers, to affect to despise them ? Is it for us,
who have lately witnessed bulletins and procla
mations and letters issuing from the marble pa
lace, agitating the vast political mass in our coun
try, as the ocean is stirred up by the breath of
the storm, to talk about bemg regardless of bank
ers circulars? And when we hear the murmur
of the coming tornado, are we to wait until it
strikes us before we prepare ourselves to meet it
in safety? When we see the opiates preparing
for the people, and the chains being forged which
are to bind them in endless slavery, is it our duty
to wait until the drugs have been administered
and the chains fastened not only upon their
limbs, but around their hearts, till they are bound
to the earth, manacled and fettered, before we
warn them of their danger? No one contem
plates assuming the Si -te debts by the General
Government 1 Did not ihe Senator fnrn Ken
tucky, who addressed us the other day, Mr.
Clav, pour forth notes of lamentation over the
hapless condition of the States, pressed down with
dent? One might have almost fancied them the
plaintive exclamations of the poetic King of Is
rael over the untimely fate of his soruAbsalom.
Did he not speak of the intimate relationship ex
isting between the States and the General Gov
ernment ? Were not the 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 suffering ? &c. And why was all
this? From the fulness ol the heart the mouth
speaketh. Why 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 detailing their grievances,
and appealing to the pity of those from whom
they expect nothing? A politician, as old, and
experienced, and skilful, as the Senator from
Kentucky, speaks not without an object; and,
to me, the inference is clear, that, like leaven,
his words are cast into the mass to create a
ferment in the public mind until it throws out
some food for the cravings of ihe States, or rather
of the British bankers. The objection, then,
that these resolutions were unnecessary, is as
groundless as the one that they are irregular.
And this is further conclusively proven by the
third objection brought against them, to wii,
that they are impolitic. How impolitic? Be
cause, forsooth, they will injure the credit of the
States. It cannot be ihe mere declaration lhat
the States owe so much money that can injure
their credit, because that was before a matter of
public notoriety. The debts of Governments,
and especially free Governments, can never be a
secret to any one who desires to know the truth.
They are contracted in the face of day, and are
evidenced by records continually spread open in
the broad light of the sun. What, then, is the
discrediting matter? It is the declaration that
this Government will not assume to pay them.
But if it was known and believed before that this
Government would not assume to pay them ; if
the conviction was firm and unwavering, would
a declaration to that effect operate in any way up
on any mind ? Surely not. Suppose this Gov
ernment were to declare that it would not as-
sume to piy ihe debt ot Urreat Britain; would
that effect the credit of Great Britain ? No I
And no one imagines that it would. Why?
Because the wildest visionary that ever lived,
never for a moment imagined that the Govern
ment of the United States would assume the
British debt. If, then, the public mind on both
sides of the Atlantic were equally clear of the
impression that the General Government would
assume the debts of 'he 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 argu
ment, then, that the credit of the States will be
affected by the declaration lhat ihe General.Gov
ernment will not assume their debts, must be
founded upon the supposition that such an - ex
pectation exist3 somewhere. Now, as it is ad
mitted 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"re
main under it? If no one entertains this ex
pectation, the declaration that it is erroneous is
at least harmless; and if any one does entertain
it.it is but just to apprize ihem of their error.
But the secret that such an impression does
exist somewhere, and the true origin of that im
pression, are disclosed farther by a metaphor re
sorted to by the opponents of these resolutions
to show their impolicy. They speak of this
Government being the father, and the States the
children. From this figure the principle of con
solidation 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 proereator or the offspring anterior in exis
tence? There can be but one answer to these
questions. Now as the States made the General
Government, & not the General Government the
State Governments, and as the State Govern
ments existed for years before the General Gov
ernment, the General Government cannot be
the father of the State Governments. But waiv
ing the correctness of the figure for the present,
for the sake of argument let it beconceded that
the relationship does exist as supposed. As
suming this, the argument on the other side is
that it is impolitic and unkind for a father to
proclaim the indebtedness of his children, aad
declare in advance that he will not assume their
debts. But in this argument two important facts
are overlooked in ihe case of the particular
family spoken of viz : in the first 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
without all the world hearing him.. The ques
tion then arises whether such a father, knowing
that his children were largely indebted, and that
designing persons were endeavoring to persuade
them that.it was the duty of the father and the in
terest e$4& whole family that he should assume
their debts, while he himself firmly believed
that such a step would be ruinous to all, and un
just to many branches of it, he ought not to warn
his children against listening to pernicious coun
sels counsels tending to render them indolent
and extravagant and distinctly to apprise them
thai, according to his views of justice, expedien
cy, and'lhe family relationship, such a thing
was totally inadmissible? So mnch for the first
three resolutions.
4. Resolved, That to set apart the public lands
or the revenues arising therefrom, for the before
mentioned purposes, would be equally unjust,
inexpedient, and unconstitutional.
And here the gentlemen on the other side
make their stand and fight against the resolu
tion, and insist that it is hoth constitutional, just,
and expedient, to distribute the proceeds of the
public lands among the Slates. On all these points
I take issue. 1. I say it is -unconstitutional.
Why? I assume it as a political axiom, dispu
ted 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 distri
bution among the Slates is not one of those pur
poses. Does it not follo w, as an inevitable con
clusion 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 distri
bution when the effect would be to create a ne
cessity for raising. further sums by taxation to
supply the place of those so diverted by distri
bution ? -
But I understood the Senator from Kentucky
who addressed us the other day, Mr. Clay, to
consider a portion of these lands as a specific
trust to be applied to certain purposes distinctly
pointed out in the deeds of cession.
The following is the language used in the
cession made by the Slate of Virginia, on the first
day of xMarch, seventeen hundred and eighty
four, to wit: "That all the lands within the ter
ritory so ceded to the United States, and not re
served or appropriated to any of the beforemen
tioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to
the officers and soldiers of the American army,
shall be considered as a common fund, for the
use and benefit of such of the United Slates as
have become, or shall become, members of ihe
Confederation or Federal alliance of said States,
Virginia inclusive, according to the usual re
spective proportions in the general charge and
expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide
disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use
or purpose whatsoever."
The language used in the deeds cf other States
is substantially the same. It is very obvious that
distribution is not one of the objects of the trust,
or it would have been set forth. The object, af
ter certain reserva'ions, is one, and that is "to be
a common fund for the use and benefit of all the
States, according to the usual respective propor
tions in the general charge and expenditure."
It is well known tint, at this time, our Federal
Constitution had not been adopted, and that each
State contributed by taxing and collecting from
her own citizens so much to the general charge
as Congress declared to be her quota. The ob
ject of the trust declared in relation to the public
lands, wis then manifest that a proportion e
qual to what each State contributed to the gene
ral charge and expenditure, of the proceeds of
the public lands, was to be applied towards her
quota of snch charge and expenditure, and dimin
ish to that extent her necessity for self-taxation.
The words "use and benefit" exclude the idea of
an actual surrender to the States; but simply an
application by a trustee to the particular use de
clared. And as if lo exclude any possibility of
mistake, the deed goes on to declare that it shall
be faithfully and bona fide, (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 gsneral charge and expendi
ture. Thus matters stood anterior to the adoption of
the Federal Constitution. But I understood the
Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Clay. to say that.
a fter that, the execution of the trust became im
possible, and ihe trust fund consequently result
ed to the original grantors. That the States no
longer contributed, by self-taxation, their propor
tions to the general charge and expenditure; but
the levy of taxes was made by the General Gov
ernment through imposts upon the' country at
large, and the measure of application, and the
subjects 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 proportions of the
public charge and expenditure, but this was a
mere, pracical operation. Potentially, both the
objects and measure of the application of the pro
ceeds of the public lands, were preserved in the
Constitution. In the first article, second section,
and third clause of the Federal Constitution, it is
declared :
"Representatives and direct taxes shall be ap
portioned among the several States which may
be included within this Union, according to their
respective numbers, etc."
The whole revenue, then, if thought expedi
ent, 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 in their respec
tive nronorlions. to liorhtenthe burden of direct
taxation upon each. Then both the object o
application and the measure of proportion would
stand out in bold relief. Reasons of policy and
c ivenience have induced the States to prefer
taxation by imposts to direct taxation, but in nei
ther form do they desire to be taxed beyond the
public necessities: and to no farther extent, in
either form, has power been conferred on Con
gressMo imnose taxes, and in neither form has
Congress the right fo impose farther taxes, while
a fund remains on hand applicable to the public
expenditures. The public lands, then, must be
used to lighten the burden of taxation, in what
ever form taxation is levied. Whether the fact
be strictly so or not. taxation by imposts is sub
mitted to, because it is supposed to approximate
the same proportion m contribution by the re
spective States, with direct taxation. The trust,
therefore, upon which the public lands were held,
stands in its full force, and unchanged in its na
ture and. o'cts. This is conclusively shown
by theStrking facts, that although the Federal
Constitution went into operation in March,
1789 and North Carolina made her cession
r I .i f.
in uecember or mat year, nine montns alter,
and Georgia made hers in 1802, about thir
teen years after the Federal Constitution went
into operation, both these States preserved
substantially the language used in the Virgin
ia deed of cession, which, it is now contend
ed, could then have no operative meaning, a nd
thereby declared trusts which it was obvious, at
the time they were declared, could never be exe
cuted. This is altogether too absurd to be sup
posed; and it must necessarily follow that it was
well understood that ihe adoplion of the Federal
Constitution produced no change in the opera
tion of thesegrants. This is further confirmed
by the second clause of the third section of the
fourth article of the Constitution, which declares
that:
"The Congress shall have power to dispose
of and make all needful rules and regulations
respecting the territory, or other property belong
ing 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 evidence that any oth
er territory, which could be called property of
the United States, was in contemplation. So far
from it, purchases of territory, since made, have
been seriously questioned as breaches of the Con
stitution. 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 hd resulted forthe-want of power
to execute it. It appears, then, that Congress
holds this fund underthe same trusts that it does
other property of the United States; and the
question recurs whether, if Congress cannot
constitutionally raise money for distribution a
mong the Stales, she can do so indirectly, by ap
plying the money which she holds for the pur
poses of the Government, to distribution among
the States, and thereby create a necessity for
raising other money for those purpose io which
the fund distributed ought to have been applied?
Every fair mind furnishes 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) case of the General Government hold
ing funded debts or stocks yielding an annual
interest snffiMent to defray its current expenses.
The enlightened and able Senator from South
Carolina, Mr. Calhoun in his argument on
the expediency ol this measure, has put the case
of the present state of the Treasury and the pro
spective revenue, showing that an abstraction of
the proceeds of the public lands must render an
increase of the tariff inevitable. Bui is it not
equally apparent that if, as he and I both think,
we have no right to lay a tariff lor any other
purpose than revenue, a distribution of money
in the Treasury, which would have the effect of
rendering a reduction ofthe tariff impracticable,
would be liable to the same objections. Both
would have the effect of causing taxation to sup
ply money which had been distributed. I thus
arrive at the conclusion, lhat a distribution ofthe
proceeds of the public lands as far transcends
the constitutional trust powers of Congress as
the assumption of ihe Stale debts, a measure
from the advocacy of which, as before stated,
every body shrinks.
2. Nor is the injustice of such distribution less
apparent. The truth is, the only thing which
recommends it to the favor of any one is its in
justice. What possible inducement could twenty-six
gentlemen have to contribute a sum, to be
i nmediately 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 collecting and distributing the money.
But if the distribution were to be in some differ
ent 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 jess.
This might commend ihe arrangement lo the fa
vor of those who were to be gainers by the oper
ation; and if it were uncertain which of the
parties were to be the gainers, ihe gambling
spirit to which every man is more or less sub
. ... ....i r
ject, would probably commend it t me iavor oi
all. But, yet the injustice ot the scheme is ap
pirent to every one; and if the distributor were
authorized to obtain imperceptibly from the
pockets of ihe twenty-six gentlemen sums of
money, according t3 the cost of what each
might eat, drink and wear, and ihen to divide
the money per capita, would not the inequality
of the plan shock a very blunt sense of jus
tice ?
3. As to the inexpediency of the distribution
objected to by the resolution, what can any man
say, after the luminous and forcible portraiture
made of its effects, a few days ago, by the Sena
tor from South Carolina? It is a vast subject,
and I will not overtask myself and 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 natur
ally to close j but the memory of man runneth
not to the contrary of the practice on this floor
of making every question of any magnitude to
bear upon the strife of party raging in this land.
Be it so: and if gentlemen will force them upon
us, I, for one, am not for.shrinking from such
contests. 1, for one, have such confidence in
my political principles, as to be willing to see
all
places ay, nnu 10 oeneve, too, iiiai injf can
bear some misrepresentation, without endanger
ing greatly their perpetuity.
"Truth, crush'd to earth, will rise again
Th' eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
-1 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
I belong, in our party strifes, is the preservation
of our own banner. Our adversaries are ever
striving to throw matters into confusion, and.
taking advantage of the tumult, to rob us of
our banner, and to thrust theirs into our unwill
ing grasp. Our names are seized upon, and ap
propriated to themselves, and others fixed upon
us, by which our forefathers never baptized us.
Thus occasionally are our own brethren and
kindred, men of the samtvfamily andiharino-
with us in the common-inheritance of sound
faith, made for a time to fight against us; and
mischief is perpetrated, difficult to repaid for it is
not every man "who knows the true prince by
instinct," like the fat knight, of facetious memo
ry. . . . ' . '
I do not know a better service that a man can
do to his country, than to hold forth, with a
ing arm, to the public view, the glorious
Democratic banner, in ils unadorned simplicity,
with its plain, pithy, intelligible mottoes. The
heory of Government, which should be the
plainest thing on earth, has been by artifice con
verted into a puzzle-fool, and its simple purpos
es mystified and defeated. The happiness of
man, through its tendencies to render him vir
tuous, is its sole office, if it has any worth the
trouble and expense that it costs. Its systems
are various, but they may be reduced to two
classes: that which addresses the reason of man,
and withholds from him temptations to be vi
cious, and that which seeks to control him by
his selfish passions, his hopes, his fears, his de
sire of gain. Very few Governments have been
based upon the former principles the mass have
dopted the latter. Perhaps the earliest and
rudest form of Government in which reason was
overlooked, was that in which priestcraft usurp
ed the control of every thing, and a god or gods
supposed to be speaking through ihe mouths of
men, dictated alike to individuals and nations.
The most rigid exactions were made ofthe mas-
ses ot mankind, and the most grinding oppres
sions imposed upon them, that ihe 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 oppressors might be
absolute and unqestioned. Exactions were
sometimes carried so far as to demand the fruit
of the body to appease imaginary deities for im-
iginary sins, and ihe products of the toil of mil-
ions were surrendered, that a few might luxu
riate in exhanstless abundance, and uninterrupt-
d ease. J his has been happily styled by the
celebrated John Taylor, whom I so much de-
ight to admire and quote, the hge of JupiuVr;
ne among ihe heathen gods who was most im
perious and extensive in his sway. But his tv-
ranny 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 the age of Mars, and heroes, clad
in steel, controlled mankind, tie 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 scatters
viih liberality what he gathers by his power.
Still heappealed not to the reason of mankind,
but controlled them, through their fears, with
the rustling banner and the bristling steel.
Afer him came Mercury, establishing domin-
la t- e If 1
ion by addressing himself, through fraud and
artifice, to the cupidity of mankind, or humb
ling them into submission by reducing them to
poverty. Finally, combinations were formed
among all these powers, and the science of Gov
ernment became complex and mysterious. It
was supposed that there was no other way of
correcting the evils, or rather to render them tol
erable, incident to these principles of Govern
ment, than to resort to checks and balances, and
to make the vices and passions of one man re
strain the vices and passions ol another. When
Government became a mystery, it was supposed
that it admitted but of three simple forms, viz:
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, and that
all Governments consisted of one or more of
these elements, controlled by one another, or a
combination of two or three, of the heathen dei
ties, before mentioned.
Such was the state of things in the old world,
but our sagacious forefathers saw the error of
principles on which those Governments were
based, and the battles ol our Revolution were
fought, that the whole heathen Pantheon might
be dethroned with its cumbrous and expensive
machinery, and that Goverments might be es
tablished in the new world, formed upon moral
principles. That man might be restored to his
native dignity a self-governing being, disen
thralled from the dominion of passions, and
yieding to the sway of reason and conscience
a reason and conscience on whose tablets are
written, by the finger of God himself, precious
and noble truths, which can never be erased,
but are refreshed by revelation from day to day.
They believed that man retains much of the ori
ginal image of his Maker; that something of His
purity is enshrined in the breast of woman ; that
mercy, that most interesting of His attributes,
beams forth from her eye in rays of tenderness,
or gently distils in dnops of sympathy. That in
the bosom of man His sterner attribute of justice
has a deep abiding place. Such were the prin
ciples upon which our beautiful system of gov
ernments were based. Corruption was exclud
ed by avoiding accumlations of power; justice
secured by establishing; a perfect equality of
rights among men ; and happiness placed within
the reach of all, by opening a fair field for virtue,
and talent, and industry, to reap their harvest,
while vice, and ignorance, and stupidity, and
indolence, were left to that curse to which a
righteous Providence has seen fit to expose
ihem.
But the devil came, as he has ever done to
each earthly paradise, disguised as an nngel of
light, or in some unobtrusive form, little calcula
ted to excite the alarm of those whose destruc
tion he meditates. Connate with our Constitu
tion were those who held to the old belief that
honest disinterested reason, was an unsafe gov
them sifted and examined at all times and in
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' prnor,-and that Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury
one, or all three, must be restored hence an es
tablished religion, standing armies, vast navits,
exclusive privileges and monopolies, and whole
hosts of eleempsynary dependants upon the. la
bor of others, had all their advocates. In all
this we perceive what constitute the warring ele
ments of party in our. land. But constant asso
ciation, even in strife, will assimilate men to each
other, and one may gather moral contagion from
another whom he hates and Ihus ha.ve these
parties been constantly varying: in the intensity
of their principles, so as even sometimes to ren
der 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 disavowed in
our constitutions, have exerted substantial con
trol in our public affairs. Of these, as miVht
M O
have been expected from his nature. Mercurv
j
las been by far the most successful. He has
not only given toneto our. Government, but-has
enthroned himseltin the hearts of our people, un
til, instead of increasing in virtue, and disinter
estedness, and patriotism, an eager haste to be
rich has become our distinguishing national
cnaracieriMic. rienee every individual is pur
suing riches as the chief good, and money, money,
money, currency, currency, currency, is-ihe con
tinual cry in the country, in the city, in private
conversation, and in the debates of this chamber.
To all this the Governments have been contrib
uting by example, and the stimulus of their mea
sures, tariff, internal improvements by the Gen
eral Government, lending revenues for banking
purposes, and other kindred operations.
The Senator from Kentucky Mr. Crittenden
has represented the friends of the Administration
as differing among themselves as to which of
these causes have produced these effects. He
will pardon me for saying there is no such differ
ence among them they all concur in believing
every one of them the offspring of the same pa
rent, and to have acted harmoniously in the ac
complishment of his designs. Some may sup
pose one of these causes more efficient than the
rest; others may have supposed another; but oil
jgree lhat ihe whole responsibility is to be shar
ed among; them: and in what exact DroDortions
it is not thought very material to inquire.
But what, after all, is the great evil they have
produced? Is it any actual diminution ofthe
resources of the country ? This, perhaps, they
have effected to a great extent; but that is little
or nothing compared to the real evils. These
are transferring by stratagem and fraud, from A
to B, the hard earnings ofthe latter, not by a
regular and slow process, but by the quick and
unseen movements of a mountebank ; defeating
that tendency to equilibrium at which our insti
tutions aim; leaving the one party overwhelmed
in amazement and distress at a poverty which
has rushed upon him like an armed man; the
other panting with that feverish thirst for wealth
which sudden success begets the deepest curse
of him who feels it resembling in kind and in
tensity that of the f ibled Tantalus; or wallowing
in an ostentatious luxury, at war with our Re
publican institutions provoking impotent envy
in some:
in ntKarc Icaca urtioltl-ivr rninnno j (V Trio
to
vie
in splendor. Individual and aggregate
misery is the inevitable consequence. A man
is fitted, by a gradual increase or reduction of
his means, lo bear the maximum or minimum
with calmness, while sudden reverses either way
bring in their train the loss of content, and, with
it, happiness. In either case, the passion of ava
rice is stirred to madness. This is the real
curse under which we are at present laboring.
This is the agony through which we are pass
ing, of which I spoke yesterday. A picture,
drawn by the hand of an ancient master, is not
inapplicable to our times. Sallust, in one of his
epistles to Caesar, thus expresses himself:
"In process of time, the ascendency of wealth
became complete. Its excellence was univer
sally acknowledged, and power and honors fol
lowed in its train. From the same era, the de
cline of virtue may be dated. Poverty was now
held as ignominious. Innocence of heart and
simplicity of manners were interpreted into a
satire on the times. Thus the youth, taught to
look up to riches as the sovereign good, became
apt pupils in the school of luxury. Avarice and
pride supplied their precepts. Rapacity and pro
fusion went hand in hand. Careless of their
own fortunes, and eager to possess those of oth
ers, shame and remorse, modesty and modera
tion, every principle, gave way. All rushed in
to a profligacy that heeded no restraint, either
divine or human."
And why, we are tauntingly asked on the
other side, did we not prevent these evils? In
turn, I will ask another question : Has not the
Democratic party been striving against them
inefficiently, it is true, but still striving from
time immemorial ? "We red a parable in Scrip
ture of a certain husbandman, who sowed good
eed in his held ; but, while he slent, an enemy
eame and sowed tares among his wheat. Would
it not have been an aggravation of the wrong,
had that enemy taunted him to his face, by ask
ing him why he suffered tares to grow pmong
his wheat? We are the desendants of those
(politically, I mean) who sowed the good seed of
Democratic principles in our constitutions, and
yonder are the desendants of those whi sowed
the tares of Federalism among it; and now they
ask us why we have noi prevented their growth.
They point exultingly to this and that bad mea
sure, which they have themselves cajoled or for
ced us into, and laugh at us for not having avoid
ed them, although, like struggling men, in at
tempting that which we would, we have been
forced to do that which we would not. Ihe
State bank deposits system, they know well, we
were pressed into by them in our efforts to es-
e I P . t
cape trom the more dangerous system oi me
United States Bank. It was to us a half-way
house, as they have endeavored since to make it
for themselves, between a United Slates Bank
and a total disconnection ofthe Government from
banking affairs.
But they ask ns farther why we do not cor
rect these evils, now that we are fully aware of
their existence. Mark again the insulting cruel
ty of this inquiry. They bind a man's bands
behind his back, and cast him into the water, and
ask him to swim. Have we not been endeavor
ing to remedy these evils, and have we not en
countered from them continual resistance ? Yet
the evils admit of no immediate remedy. The
poison of avarice has seized on the heart of the
nation, and that is'a malady which admits of no
radical cure during the. present generation. Of
him in whose bosom the serpent avarice has
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