The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-04 00:00:00

tike a proper interest in the success and harmony of our
admirable political institutions, and who are incapable of
desiring to con vrrt an opposite state of things into means
fur the gratification of personal ambition, will, laying
aside minor considerations, and discarding, local prejudices,
unite their honest exertions to establish some fixed general
principle which shall he calculated to effect the greatest
extent of public good, in regard to the subject of internal
improvement, and afford the least ground for sectional Ells.
content.

The general ground of my obj,etion to local appropria-
tions has berg heretofore expressed ; and I shall endea-
vour to avoid a repetition of what has been already
urged—the importance of sustaining the State Sovereign!,
as far as is consistent with the rightful action of the
federal Government, and of preserving the greatest attain-
able harmony between them. I will now only add an
expression of my convictiou,—a conviction which every
day's experience serves to confirm,—that the political
creed which inculcates the pursuit of those great objects
as a paramount duty is the true faith, and one to which
we are mainly indebted for the present succexs of the
entire system, and to which we must alone look for its
future stability.
That there are diversities is the interests of the diffe-
rent States which compeso this extensive confederacy,
must be admitted. Those diversities, arising from situation,
climate, population, and pursuit, art doubtless, as it is
natural they should be, greatly exaggerated by jealousies,
and that spirit of rivalry so inseparable from neiehbour-
ing communities. These circumstances make it the duty
of those who are intrusted with the management of its
affairs to neutralize their effecns as far as practicable, by
making the beneficial operation of the federal Government
as equal and equitable among the several States as can be
done consistently with the great end of its institution.
It is only necessary to refer to undoubted facts, to see
how far the past acts of the Government upon the subject
under consideration have fallen short of this object. The
expenditures heretofore made for internal imprexonents
amount to upwards of 5,000,000 of dollars, and have been
distributed in very unequal portions amongst the States.
The estimated expense of works of which surveys
have been made, together with that of others projected and
partially surveyed, amount to more than 96,000,000 of
dollars.

That such improvements, on account of particular cir-
cumstances, may be more adrautageously and beneficially
made in some States than in others, is doubtless true ;
but that they are of a character which should prevent an
equitable distribution of the funds amongst the several
States, is not to he conceded. The want of this equitable
distribution cannot fail to prove a prolific source of irrita*
tiun amongst the States.

We have it constantly before our eyes, that professions
of superior teal in the cause of internal improvement, and
a disposition to lavish the public funds upon objects c,f
that character, are daily and earnestly put forth. by aspi-
rants to power, as constituting the highest claims to the
confidence of the people. Would it be strange, under
such circumstances, and in times of great excitement, that
grants of this description should fine their motives in
objects which may not accord wiih the public good ?
Those who have not had occasion to see and regret the in-
dication of a sivister influence in these matters in past
times, have been more fortunate than myself in their
observation of the course of public affair.. If to these
evils lie added the combinations and angry contentions to
which such a course of things gives rise, with their baleful
influence upon the legislation of Congress, touching the
leading and appropriate duties of the federal Government,
it was but doing justice to the character of our 'people to
expect the severe condemnation of the past which the
recent exhibition of public sentiment has evincod.

Nothing short of a radical change in the action of the
Government upon the subject can, in my opinion, remedy
the evil. If, as it would be natural to expect, the Stites
which have been least favoured in past appropriations
- should insist on being redressed in those hereafter to be
made at the expense of the States v,•hich have NO largely
and disproportionately participated, we have, as matters
now stand, but little security that the attempt would do
more than change the inequality from one quarter to
another.

Thus liewing the subject, I have heretofore felt it toy
duty to recommend the adoption of some plin for the dis-
tribution of the surplus funds which may at any time re-
main in the treasury after the national debt shall have been
paid, among the States, in proportion to the number of
their representatives, to be applied by them to objects of
internal improvement.

Although this plan has met with favour in some por-
tions of the Union, it has also elicited objections which
merit deliberate con‘ideration. A brief notice of these
objections here, will not, therefore, I trust, be regarded
as out of place.

They rest, as far as they have come to my knowledge,
on the following grounds :—I st, an objection to the ratio
of distribution ; 2d, an apprehension that the existence of
such a regulation would produce improvident and oppres-
sive taxation to raise the funds for distribution ; 3d, that
the mode proposed would lead to the construction of works
of a local nature, to the exclusion of such as are general,
and as would consequently be of a more useful character ;
and last, that it would create a discreditable and injurious
dependence on the part of the State Governments upon the
-federal power. Of those who object to the ratio of re-
presentation as the basis of distribution, some insist that
the importations of the respective States would constitute
one that would be more equitable ; and others, again, that
the extent of their respective territories would furnish
a standard, which would be more expedient and sufficiently
equitable. The ratio of representation presented itself to
my mind, and it still does, as one of obvious equity, because
of its being the ratio of contribution, whether the funds
to be distributed be derived from the customs or from di-
rect taxation. It does not follow, however, that its adsp.
ton is indispensable to the establishment of the system pro-
posed. There may he considerations appertaining to the
subject which would render a departure to some extent,
from the rule of/ contribution, proper. Nor is it abso-
lutely necessary the basis of distribution be confined to one
ground. It may, if in the judgment of those whose right
it is to fix it be deleted politic and just to give it that cha-
racter, have regard to several.
In my first message, I stated it to be my opinion, that
"it is not probable that any adjustment of the tariff upon
principles satisfactory to the people of the Union will,
until a remote period, if ever, lease the Government with-
out a considerable surplus in the treasury, beyond what may
be required for its current service." 1 have had no cause
to change that opinion, but touch to confirm it. Should
these expectations he realized, a suitable fund would thus
be produced for the plan under consideration to operate
upon ; and if there he no such fund, its adoption will, in
any opinion, work no injury to any interest; for I cannot
• assent to the justness of the apprehension that the esta-
blishment of the proposed system would tend to the encou-
ragement of improvident legislation of the character sup-
posed. Whatever the proper authority, in the exercise of
constitutional power, shall, any time hereafter, decide to
be for the general good, will, in that as in other respect.,
deserve and receive the acquiescence and support of the
whole country ; and we have ample security that every
abuse of power in that regard, by the agents of the people,
will receive a speedy and effectual corrective at their
hands. The views which I take of the future, founded
on the obvious andlincreasing improvement of all classes
of our fellow citizens, in intelligence, and in public and
private virtue, leave me without much apprehension on
that head.
I do not doubt that those who come after us will be as
much alive as we are to the obligation upon all the trus-
tees of political power to exempt those for whom they act
from all unnecessary burdens, and as sensible of the great
truth, that the resources of the nation beyond those re-
quired for the immediate and necessary purposes of go-
vernment, can no where be so well deposited as in the
pockets of the people.
It may sometimes happen that the interests of particular
States would not be deemed to coincide with the general
interest in relation to improvement within such States.
But if the danger to be apprehended from this source is
sufficient-to require it, a discretion might be reserved to
Congress to direct to such improvements of a general
character as the States concerned might not be disposed to
unite in, the application of the quotas of those States,
under the restriction of confining to each State the expen-
diture of its appropriate quota. It may, however, be
assumed.as a safe and general rule, that such improvements
as serve to increase the prosperity of the respective States
in which they are made, by giving new facilities to trade,
and thereby augmenting the wealth and comfort of their
inhabitants, constitute the surest mode of conferring per-
manent and substantial advantages upon the whale. The
strength as well as the true glory of the confederacy is
mainly founded on the prosperity and power of the several
independent sovereignties of which it is composed, and the
certainty with which they can be brought into suocessful
active co-operation, through the agency of the Federal
Government.
' It is, moreover, within the knowledge of such as are at
all conversant with public affairs, mat schemes of internal
improvement have, from time to time been proposed, which
from their extent and seeming magnificence, were re-
garded as of national concernment, but which, upon fuller
consideration and further experience, would now be re-
jected with great unanimity.
That the plan under consideration. would derive im-
portant advantages from its certainty, and that the moneys