Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1829-07-17


community An unrestricted commerce we re-
gard as the most important means of diffusino
through the world knowledge, arts, comforts.
civilization and liberty and to this great cause
we would have our country devoted. We will
add that we attach no Importance to what is
deemed the chcfbene6t of tariffs, that they save
the necessity 1T taxation and draw from n peo-
pie large revenue without their knowledge
In the hrst place, n large revenue is no blessing
revenue, vigorously proportioned To the wants
OF people, is as much can be trusted safely
to men in power The only valid argument a.
ga'nst substituting direct for indirect taxation,
| rs the difficulty Of ascertaining with precision
the property ofthe citizen. Happy would it be
for us, could tariffs be done away, for with them
would be abolished fruitful causes of national
leaousles, of war, of perjury, of smuggling, of
innumerabe f!auds and crimes, and of harrass-
nag restraints on that commerce which should
be free the winds
We consider many eff the remarks made in re.
terence 10 tariffs rs applicable to internal i'm.
proVements. These also involve constitution
al question ofno small difficulty and it seems
impossible that they should be prosecuted with
any degree of impartiality. We will not say,
that an extensive system of internal improve
ments, comprehending and connecting the whole
country, and promising great, manifest and uni
versal good may not be framed. But let Con-
gress propose narrow, local improvements, and
we need no prophet To forete!l the endless and
ever multiplying intrlgues, the selfish cninbina-
tons, the jealouSlcs and dlscontcnts which will
follow by necessity as sure as the laws of ma
ture. Irresistible temptation will be otfere to
unprincIpled bargains between states and leris-
lators, and the treasury, sending out partial
streams, will become fountain of bitterness
and discord
Let 1T not be said, that most of the proposed
improvements are designed to promote inter
course, and that thus they favour what we con-
Of l.
binding us together We answer that the Gen
erai Government already promotes intercourse
incomparably more than all other Causes com
bincd, and we are unwilling to put to hazard
this actual benciicent influence by striving to
extend It. Government already does more for
tins object than all the Canals railroads and o.
ther intcrna, improvements which human in
gcnuty can devise, and this it does by that ne
gatlve influence, which, as we have often said
is its chief function. This it does by making
ing us one people, by preserving us from be-
ing broken into different communities by pre.
venting those distractions from free inter
change of commodities, which, in case of disun-
ION, would at once rise up between US by pre-
serving us from national rivalries, from the war
OF tariffs and from open and luminous hostility.
We grant that cases may occur in which ma
tional advantage may be lost or ufeful objects
delayed for want of positive interference of GO
vernment in the work of internal Improvement
But the wisdom OF nations, like that of individu-
uals, consists very much in a Willingness to fore.
go near and inferior benefits for permanent Sc
| Curity. We have however little apprehension
OF much injury resulting from the forbearance of
government III this particular. Let Congress
mold us together, and keep in peace, and the
spirit OF the people will not sumbcr 1t will
pour itself forth through our state governments,
through corporations, and through Individual
enterprise; and who that observes " hat it already
has done can see limits to its efficiency? Since
tln Nf Al
thing has contributed so much to extend inter
/ course through the states, as the invention of
steamboats,. No leg islation, and no possible di-
trection OF the revenue to internal improvements,
could have effected much as the steam en-
CINE: and this was contrIved, perfected, and
applied to navigation by the genius and wealth
OF individuals Next to this agent, the most
important service to internal communication has
been rendered by the New York canal, and this
was the work of the state. With such exam
pies, need not fear, that our progress will
be arrested by the confinement of the General
Government to general objects. We are not
sure, that were every objection which we have
stated removed, we should be anxious TO interest
our national Legislature in public improvements
As people, we want no excitement
| Our dagger is from ovcr-acton, from impatient
or selfish enterprise, from feverish energy, from
too rapid growth, rather than from staonation
and lethargy. A calm, sober, steady govern
4
from the hands of theorists and spcculatcrs.
We have not yet exhausted the que stiop, how
government may best strengthen and perpctu-
ate our Union. There Is of its establish
mehts, which, in this point of view, we highly
value, and which we fear is not sufficiently priz-
cd ior the highest benefits which it conters. We
refer to the Post Office. The facilities which
this institution affords to the government f.,
communication with all parts oflhe country are
PROBABLY regarded by too many as the most i'm
porfant national service which il renders Rut
IL does IEcomparably more for us as a coInmuni
Ivy IL does much towards making us one, by
admitting free communication between distant
lparts OF the country, which no other channel of
intercourse could bring together. II binds the
whoie country In chain of sympathies and
makes IT In truth one great neiphborhood 1t
promotes Kind of society between the sea shore
ana the mountains 1t perpetua,es friendship
oetweeh Inose VINO are never to meet again. 1t
Dinds tne family IN the new settlement and half
Cleared forest TO the cultivated SPOT from which
IL emigrated. 1t facilitates beyond calculation,
IconineIclal connexions, and the interchange of
products. On this account, we always prieye to
see statement of the revenue accr1inG to gov
eminent from the Post Office. 1t ought not to
yie'o cent 10 the treasury. 1t should simply
support itself. Such importance do we ATTACH
70 the frccst communication between all parts of
the country, so much do we desire that the moor.
as We'll as the rich, may enjoy the means of in.
ltercourse, that we would sooner have the Post.
IOihce tax on the revenue, than one ofits sour
Ices.
we pass to another method by which the poy-
eminent is to strengthen the Union We know
not more important one 1t is, to give dignity
and Independence to the National Judiciary. =
Let Congress feel lot the people feel, that to this
department of the security of the Union is espe:
c'aly committed, that it is the great proservativo
power among our institutions, and that its sane
tity cannot be too iealously protected lis of.
flce is, to settle peacefully the questions between
the different States and their citizens, which,