Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1816-03-19
71vo Hundred and Fifty. Seven mill

Tlvo Hundred and Fifty. Ssven mill
ions,
which has been received and expended by
Mr.. Jefferson and Mr.. Madison's admins
tiation, more Than all that was received 6y
she two former administrations. Besides,
ofthe
Seuenty.Eight Millions
which they received,
Seyenteen Millions
or about that sum- was appropriated TO the
reduction ofth publick debt.
The inquiry at once forces itself upon the
mind, what has become oithisenormous sum
OF the peoples money One thing is clear.
It is gone and we are still in debt
One Hundred and Fifty Millions /;
that therefore is no longer subject OF in.
quiry. We willnot, however, call II prod.
Igal expenditure ill we have inquired into
facts, and see whether indeed they will sup.
port 50 high acharge Perhaps it has been
ind ciously expended upon works oil general
uiiiyto the nation; as III building Publick
roads, opening publick canals, and in aiding
the inian, literary institutions Of our count
ry. Perhaps oul frontier. our seaport towns
and cities have been rendered more secure
against the desolning ra,ages ofwar. Per-
iaps our liberties have been enlarged, ma.
,ional injuries redressed, and questions OF
national right, which shs powers OF Europe
would never before yield, have been settled
and con6rmedi in our favour.
But 10 these. corresponding inquiries sug
gest themselves. Where are those puslick
roads and canals Where the literary in
stilu.ions that have felt the munihcent and
ioste ring hand OF the administration Of the
general government Why then, in the
lae war, was our frontier laid waste, our
sea port towns and cities threatened with
plumber and conflag, alton, which were avert.
ed only by the extraordinary exsrtions oil
he state governments In what respect
have our liberties been enlarged! What
national injuries have been rediessed! What
questions Of national right have recently
been decided in our favour ! The voice Of
all parties, the voice OF the whole country
responds in the negative.
surely then ii Washington snd Adams's
administration were too liberal Of the PEG
PIES money, Mi. JeHerson's and Madison's
nave been prodig al indeed.
National Bank.-The particular question
that occupied attention was an amendment,
proposed yesterday by Mr.. Calhoun, to ex-
punge from the bill that part which wen,
to empower the President to authorize, in |
cases oi urgent necessity, the Suspension Of
specie payments.-Mr. Forsyth opposed
The amendment yesterday, and continued
his opposition to !, to-day MIR. RandoihA
supported the amendment, and reprobated I
the remarks OF the Lonouruble gentlemen
who opposed il a. the most extraol binary
he had ever heard, Was that gentleman
yet to learn, he asked, that Congress sat UNI
der delegated power, by which they were
authorized to do that only which was found
specified in their charter, the constitution
The power 20 violate contracts between in
divitluals was not one Of those granted to
Congress, and enumerated in the constitu
,iop, and yet tina. was the amount of the gen
lleman's argument. Nor could he con
ceive case in which their power could ex-
extead to impair . contract. 1.-THE comps.
tency to suspend payments was to be vested
IN either OF them, he would rather trust il
10 tho President than TO that House, beca
no hing was SO shameless as q popular as
sembly. No crime had ever been commit.
ted that popular assemblies had not coun,e-
nanccd- de declared tina, il was as,onish-
ing and affecting TO him 10 hear principles
which he had ever been ,augh, TO consider
mons''ous and preposterous, openly and
with the greatest Indifference promulgated
IN the House for what less than mon.
strous and preposscrous was i, to insist that
government had right to make paper lc-
gal tender MIR. Websser said he should
be sorry it such notions as those of Mr.. Fo,.
syf" were to grow in general belief The
language Of the Constitution was, he said, |
thatwhat was no,deltgated was reserved. I'll
the power in question, therefore, was no,
delegated, 1t did not exist. He urged the
''npollcy Of retaining the clause on the
grounds that il would defeat the object of
the bill by adding to the depreciation of |
oank paper. If the power TO suspend spe. |
Gle payments were known TO exist by au. |
thos'ty' individuals holding it would, on the
slightest grounds, suspec, tina, it was inien. |
ded, aud press upon the Bank for their mo !
ney. In short the ingenuity oc man sonld