The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-20 00:00:00

ewers
delegated by the States to the general Government
has arrayed itself from time to time against the rapid pro-
gress of expenditure from the national Treasury on works
of a local character within the States. Memorable as an
epoch in the history of this subject is the Message of Presi-
dent Jackson on the 27th of May, 1830, which met the
system of internal improvements in itscomparative infancy;
but so rapid had been its growth, that the projected appro-
priations in that year for works of this character had risen
to the alarming amount of more than one hundred million
dollars.
In that Meow the President admitted the difficulty of
bringing back the operations of the Government to the
construction of the constitution set up in 1798, and marked
it as an admonitory proof of the necessity of guarding that
instrument with sleepless vigilance against the authority'
of precedents, which had not the sanction of its most
plainly defined powers.
Our Government exists under a written compact between
sovereign States, uniting by specific objects and with spe-
cific grants to their general agent. If, then, in the progress
of its administration there have been departures from the
terms and intent of the compact, it is, and will ever be,
proper to refer back to the fixed standard which our fathers
left us, and to make a stern effort to conform our action to
it. It would seem that the fact of a principle having been
resisted from the first by many of the wisest and most
patriotic men of the Republic, and a policy having pro-
yoked constant strife, without arriving at a conclusion
which can be regarded' as satisfactory to its most earnest
advocates, should suggest the inquiry whether there may
not be a plan likely to be crowned by happier results.
Without perceiving any sound distinction, or intending to
assert any principle as opposed to improvements needed
for the protection of internal commerce, which does not
equally apply to improvements upon the seaboard for the
protection of foreign commerce, I submit to you whether
it may not be safely anticipated, that if the policy were
once settled against appropriations by the general Govern-
ment for local improvements, for the benefit of commerce,
localities requiring expenditures would not, by modes and
means clearly legitimate and proper, raise the necessary
fund for such construction as the safety or other interests
of their commerce might require.
If that can be regarded as a system which, in the expe-
rience of more than 30 years, has at no time so commanded
the public judgment as to give it the character of a settled
policy—which, though it has produced some works of con-
ceded importance, has been attended with an expenditure
quite disproportionate to their value, and has resulted in
squandering large sums upon objects which have answered
no valuable purpose—the interests of all the States requthe
ire
it to be abandoned, unless hopes may be indulged for
future which find no warrant for the past.
With an anxious desire for the completion of the works
which are regarded by all good citizens with sincere in-
terest, I have deemed it my duty to ask at your hands a
deliberate reconsideration of the question, with a hope
that, animated by a desire to promote the permanent and
substantial interests of the country, your wisdom may
prove equal to the task of devising and maturing a plan
which, applied to this subject, may promise something
better than constant strife, the suspension of the powers of
local enterprise, the exciting of vain hopes, and tho disap-
pointment of cherished expectations.
In expending the appropriations made by the last Con-
gress, several cases have arisen in relation to works for im-
provement of harbours, which involve questions as to the
right of soil and jurisdiction, and have threatened conflict
between the authority of the State and General Govern-
ment. The sight to construct a; breakwater, jetty, or dam
would seem necessarily to carry with it the power to- pro-
tect and preserve such constructions. This can only be
effectually done by having jurisdiction over the soil. But
no clause of the Constitution is found on which to rest the
claim of the United States to exercise jurisdiction over the
soil of a State, except that conferred by the eighth section
of the first article of the constitution. It is Ohm submitted
whether, in all cases where constructions are to be erected
by the General Government, the right of soil should not
first be obtained, and legislative provision bo made to
cover all such cases.
For the progress made in the construction of roads
within the territories, as provided for in the appropriations
of the last Congress, I refer you to the report of the Secre-
tary of War.
There is one subject of a domestic nature which, from
its intrinsic importance, and the many interesting questions
of future policy which it involves, cannot fail to receive
your early attention. I allude to the means of communi-
cation by which different parts of the wide expinse of our
country aro to be placed in closer connexion for tho pur-
poses both of defence and commercial intercourse, and more
especially such as appertain to the commucication of those
great divisions of the Union which lie on the opposite
sides of the Rocky Mountains.
That the Government has not been unmindful of this
heretofore is apparent from the aid it has :afforded through
appropriations for mail facilities and other purposes. But
the general subject will now present itself under aspects
more imposing and snore purely national by reason of the
surveys ordered by Congress, and now is the process of com-
pletion, for communication by railway across the continent,
and wholly within the limits of the United States.
The power to declare war, to raise and support armies,
to provide and maintain a navy, and to call forth the mili-
tia to execute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel
invasions, was conferred upon Congress as means to pro-
vide for the common defence, and to protect a territory and
a population now wide spread and vastly multiplied. As
incidental to, and indispensable for the exercise of this
power, it must sometimes be necessary to construct mili-
tary roads and protect harbours of refuge. To appropria-
tions by Congress for such objects no sound objection can
be raised. Happily for our country its peaceful policy and
rapidly increasing population impose upon us no urgent
necessity for preparation, and leave but few trackless de-
serts between assailable points and a patriotic people, ever
ready, and generally able, to protect them. These neces-
sary links the enterprise and energy of our people aro stea-
dily and boldly struggling to supply. All experience af-
firms that wherever private enterprise will avail, it is most
wise for the General Government to leave tio that and in-
dividual watchfulness the location and execution of all
means of communisation.
Tho surveys before alluded to were designed to ascertain
the most practicable and economical route for a railroad
from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. Parties are now
in the field making explorations where previous examina-
tions had not supplied sufficient data, and where there was
the best reason to hope the object sought might soon be
found. The means and time being both limited, it is not
to be expected that all the accurate knowledge desired will
be obtained ; but it is hoped that much and important in-
formation will be added to the stock previously possessed,
and that partial, if not full reports of the surveys ordered,
will be received in time for transmission to the two Houses
of Congress on or before the first Monday in February
next, as required by the Act of Appropriation. Tho mag-
nitude of the enterprise contemplated has aroused, and
will doubtless continue to excite, a very general interest
throughout the country. In its political, its commercial,
and its military bearings, it has varied, great, and in-
creasing claims to consideration. The heavy expense, the
great delay, amid times fatality attending travel by either
of the isthmus routes, have demonstrated the advantage
which would result from territorial communication by such
safe and rapid means e.s a railroad would supply.
These difficulties, which have been encountered in a
period of peace, would be magnified and still further in-
creased in time of war. But while the embarrassments
already encountered, and others under new contingencies
to be anticipated, may serve strikingly to exhibit the im-
portance of such a work, neither these nor all considera-
tions combined can have an appreciable value, when
weighed against the obligation strictly to adhere to the
constitution, and faithfully to execute the powers it con-
fers. Within this limit, and to the extent of the interest
of the Government involved, it would seem both expedient
and proper if an economical and practicable route shall be
found, to aid, by all constitutional means, in the construc-
tion of a road which will unite, by speedy transit, the
Populations of the Pacific and Atlantic States. To guard
against misconception, it should be remarked that, al-
though the power to construct or aid in the con-
struction of a road within the limits of a territory is not
embarrassed by that question of jurisdiction which would
arise within the limits of a State, it is nevertheless held
to be of doubtful power, and more than doubtful propriety,
even within the limits of a territory, fur the G eneral Govern-
ment to undertake to administer the affairs of a railroad, a
canal, or other similar construction, and therefore that its
connexion with a work of this character should be incidental
rather than primary. I will only add at present that, fully
appreciating the magnitude of the subject, and solicitous
that the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the Republic may be
bound together by inseparable ties of common interest, as
well as of common fealty and attachment to the Union, I
shall be disposed, so far as my action is concerned, to
follow the lights of the constitution, as expounded and
illustrated by those whose opinions and expositions consti-
tute the standard of my political faith in regard to the
powers of the Government. It is, I trust, not necessary
to say that no grandeur of enterprise and no present urging
inducement promising popular favour will lead me to dis-
regard those lights, or to depart from that path which ex-
perience has proved to be safe, and which is now radiant
with the glow of prosperity and legitimate constitutional
progress., We can afford-to wait, but we cmtnnot afford to
overlook the ark of our security.
It is no part of nay purpose to give prominence to any
subject which may properly be regarded as set at rest by
the deliberate judgment of the people. But, while the
present is bright with promise, and the future full of de-
mand and inducement for the exercise of active intelligence,
the past can never be without useful lessons of admonition
and instruction. If its dangers serve not as beacons, they
'Will evidently fail to fulfil the object of a wise design.
-When the grave shall have closed over all who are endea-
...Lining to meet the obligations of duty, the year 1850 will
reiirrea to as a period filled with anxious apprehension.
abn,!•easful war had just terminated. Peace brought with
AroBo,
'let augmentation of territory* Disturbing
questions
asemin • • •
of the asuf g upon the domestic institions of one ortion
racy, and involving the c tuonstitutionalp rights
of the state
opinion az.. But, notwithstanding the differences of
anteentiment which then existed in relation to
details
citizens, provisions, the acquiescence of dis-
tinguished
never be doubted, whose devotion to the Union can
sse, has •
stitutions, and redo given renewed vigour to our in-
a sense of repose and security
to the public mina ,11; ie!
shook the confederacy. That this
repose is to suffer no during my official term, if I have
power to avert it, those
mlyehnevhaaelaced me here may be as-
sured. The wisdom of
_ knewe what independence
cost—who had put all at
the revolutionary struggle- upon the issue of
to which I refer in the "
V of the subject
aaLl_ewwaiyth the mareh
consistent
with the union of these Stat.3ass,
adoption of the co
-us what we are
of power and prosperity which
atof the Revolutionn"
It is a significant fact that, from them
stitution until the officers and soldiers
had passed to their graves, or through the infirmities of
age and wounds had ceased to participate actively ha public
affairs, there was not merely a quiet acquiescence IA but
A prompt vindication of, the constitutional rights of the
State. The reserved powers were unscrupulously re.
spected. No statesman put forth the narrow views of
casuists to justify interference and agitation, but the spirit
of compact was regarded as sacred in the eye of honour,
and indispensable for the great experiment of civil liberty,
which, environed with inherent difficulties, was yet borne
forward in apparent weakness by a power superior to all
obstacles. There is no condemnation which the voice of
freedom will not pronounce upon us should we prove faith-
less to this great trust. While men inhabiting different
parts of this great continent can no more be expected to
hold the same opinions, or entertain the same sentiments,
than every variety of clime or soil can be expected to fur-
nish the same agriculture products, they can unite in a
common object and sustain common principles essential to
the maintenance of that object. The gallant men of the
South and the North could stand together during the
struggle of the Revolution ; they could stand together in
the more trying period which succeeded the clangour of
arms. As their united valour was adequate to all the
trials of the camp and dangers of the field, so their united
wisdom proved equal to the grater task of foundling, upon '
adeep ant broad basis, institutions which it has been our
privilege to enjoy, and will ever be our most sacred duty
to sustain. It is but the feeble expression of a faith strong
and universal to say that their sons, whose blood mingled
ao often upon the same field during the wax of 1812, and

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who have more recently borne in triumph the flag of the
country upon a foreign soil, will never permit alienation
of feeling to weaken the power of their united efforts, nor
internal dissensions to paralyse the great arm of freedom,
uplifted for the vindication of self-government.
I have thus briefly presented such suggestions as seem
to me especially worthy of your consideration. In pro-
viding for the present, you can hardly fail to avail your-
' selves of the light which the experience of the past casts

upon the future.
The growth of our population has now brought us, in the
destined career of our national histiry, to a point at which
it well behoves us to expand our vision over the vast per-

spective.
The successive decennial returns of the census since the
adoption of the constitution have revealed a law of steady
progressive development, which may be stated, in general
terms, as a duplication every quarter-century. Carried
forward, from the point already reached, for only a short
period of time as applicable to the existence of a nation,
this law of progress, if unchecked, will bring us to almost
' incredible results. A large allowance for a diminished pro-
portional effect of emigration would not very materially re-
duce the estimate, while the increased average of
tend
life known to have already resulted from the scieintrfiend.
to
hygienic improvements of the past 50 y ears w II t
keep up through the next 50, or perhvaepasleldo tohuer
same
add
ratio of growth which has been thus re
theprogress
influx; andof ltaobtohuer
ing
massesinfluence of
ft
rhoems e
E causesas t e mayra_A
,s
iin ba etotb cel
Pacific side of our possessions, together with the.. prob able
accession of the populations already existing in. other parts
of our hemisphere, which, withinrtehee periodatrunra qluaetsttiroano,.
will feel, with yearly increasing fo , h
tion of so vast, powerful, and prosperous a confederation of
self-governing republics, and seek the privilege of being ad-
mitted within its safe and happy bosom, transferring with
themselves by a peaceful and healthy process of incorpora-
tion spacious regions of virgin and exuberant soil, which
are destined to swarm with the fast-growing and fast-
spreading millions of our race.
These considerations seem fully to justify the presump-
tion that the law of population above stated will continue
to act with undiminished effect through at least the next
half-century ; and that thousands of persons who have
already arrived at maturity, and are now exercising the
rights of free men, will close their eyes on the spectacle of
100,000,000 of population embraced within the majestic
proportions of the American Union.
It is not merely as an interesting topic of speculation
that I present these views for your consideration. They
have important practical bearings upon all the political
duties we are called upon to perform. Heretofore our
system of government has worked upon what may bo
termed a miniature scale, in comparison with the develop-
ment which it must thus assume within a future so near at
hand as scarcely to be beyond the present of the existing
generation.
It is evident that a confederation so vast and so varied,
both in numbers and in territorial extent, in habits and in
interests, could only be kept in natural cohesion by the
strictest fidelity to the principles of the constitution as un-
derstood by those who have adhered to the most restricted
constructed of the powers granted by the people and the
States. Interpreted and applied accdrding to those prin-
ciples, the great compact adapts itself with healthy ease
and freedom to an unlimited extension of that benign sys-
tem of federative self-government, of which it is our glorious
and I trust immortal charter. Let us, then, with re-
doubled vigilance be on our guard against yielding to the
temptation of the exercise of doubtful powers, even under
the pressure of the motives of conceded temporary advan-
tage and apparent temporary expediency.
The minimum of federal government compatible with
the maintenance of national unity and efficient action in
our relations with the rest of the world should afford the
rule and measure of construction of our powers under the
general clauses of the constitution. A spirit of strict de-
ference to the sovereign rights and dignity of every State,
rather than a disposition to subordinate the States into a
provincial relation to the central authority should charac-
terise all our exercise of the respective powers temporarily
vested in us as a sacred trust from the generous confidence
of our constituents.
In like manner, as a manifestly indispensable condition
of the perpetuation of our Union, and of the realisation of
that magnificent national future alluded to, does the duty
become yearly stronger and clearer upon us, as citizens of
the several States, to cultivate a fraternal and affectionate
spirit, language, and conduct in regard to other States and
in relation to the various interests, institutions, and habits
of sentiment and opinion which may respectively character-
ise them. Mutual forbearance, respect, and non-interference
in our personal action as citizens, and an enlarged exercise
of the most liberal principles of comity in the public deal-
ing of State with State, whether in legislation or the exe-
cution of laws, are the means to perpetuate the confidence
and fraternity, the decay of which a mere political union
on so vast a scale could not long survive.
In still another point of view is an important practical
duty suggested by this consideration of the magnitude of
dimensions to which our political system, with its corre-
sponding machinery of government, is so rapidly expand-
ing. With increased vigilance does it require us to culti-
vate the cardinal virtues of public frugality and official in-
tegrity and purity. Public affairs ought to be so con-
ducted that a settled conviction shall pervade the entire
union that nothing short of the highest tone and standard of
public morality marks every part of the administration
and legislation of the Government. Thus will the federal
system, whatever expansion time and progress may give
it, continue and more deeply rooted in the love and con-
fidence of the people.
That wise economy which is as far removed from parsi-
mony as from corrupt and corrupting extravagance—that
single regard for the public good which will frown upon
all attempts to approach the Treasury with insidious pro-
jects of private interests cloaked under public pretexts—
that sound fiscal administration which in the legislative
department guards against tile dangerous temptations in-
cident to overflowing revenue, and in the executive main-
tains an unsleeping watchfulness against the tendency of
all national expenditure to extravagance—while they are
admitted elementary political duties, may, I trust, be
deemed as properly adverted to and urged, in view of the
more impressive sense of that necessity which is directly
suggested by the considerations now presented.
Since the adjournment of Congress the Vice-President
el' the United States has passed from the scenes of earth,
without having entered upon the duties of the station to
which he had been called by the voice of his countrymen.
Having occupied almost continuously for more than 30
years a seat in one or the other of the two houses of Con-
gress, and having, by his singular purity and wisdom,
secured unbounded confidence and universal respect, his
failing health was watched by the Nation with painful
solicitude. His loss to the country, under all the circum-
stances, has been justly regarded as irreparable.
In compliance with the act of Congress of March 2,
1853, the oath of office was administered to him on the
24th of that-month at Ariadne estate, near Matanzas, in
the island of Cuba ; but his strength gradually declined,
and was hardly sufficient to enable him to return to his
home in Alabama, where, on the 18th day of April, in the
most calm and peaceful way, his long and eminently useful
career was terminated.
Entertaining unlimited confidence in your intelligent
and patriotic devotion to the public interest, and being con-
scious of no motives on my part which aro not inseparable
from the honour and advancement of my country, I hope
it may be my privilege to deserve and secure, not only your
cordial co-operation in great public measures, but also those
relations of mutual confidence and regard which it is al-
ways so desirable to cultivate between members of co-
ordinate branches of the Government.
F RANKLIN PIERCE.
Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 1853.
After the Message was read, the usual number
of copies and the accompanying documents were
ordered to be printed, and also 10,000 additional
des.