The Arkansas advocate., 1831-01-05

All irregular expressions ol pdpl4e opinion are of necessity attended with some doubt as to lheir accuracy but. making full allowances on that account, l cannot, think, deceive myself ln be- lieving that the acts referred 10, as well as the suggestions which l allowed my self to make in relation to their bearing lupon the future operations Of the Goy- lernment, have been approved by the great body of the people. That those whose immediate pecuniary interests arc to be affected by proposed expendi- lures should shrink from the applications of rule, which prefers their moregen- eral and remote interests to those which arc personal and immediate, is to be ex- pected. But even suchobjectionS must, from the nature of our population, be '5ut temporary in their duration, and if. Fit were otherwise, our course should be the same for the time is yet, hope, far distant, when those intrusted with pow CT, to be exercised for the good Of the whole, will consider it either honest or wise to purchase local favors at the sa- crifice of principle and the general good.
 So understanding public sentiment, and thoroughly satisfied, that the best interest of our common country impe- riously require that the course which ] have recommended in this regard should be adopted, have, upon the most ma. lure deliberation, determined 10 pur- sue 1t.
 II is due to candor, as we'll as to my own feelings, that should express the reluctance and anxiety, which must at all times experience in exercising the undouhted right of the Executive to withhold his assent from biils on other grounds than their unoonstitutionality.
 That this right should not be exercised onslight occasions Twill admit. Etis on- ly in matters of deep interest, when the principles involved may be justly regard ed as next in importance to infraetions of the Constitution itself; that such a step can be expected to meet with the appreciation of the people. Such an occasion do l conscientiously believe the present to be. In the discharge of this delicate and highly responsible du- ty, am sustained by the reflection that the exercise of this power has been deemed consistent with the obligation of official duty by several of my prede- cessors; and by the persuasion, too, that whatever liberal institutions may have to fear from the encroachments of Exec utive power, which have been every where the cause of so much strife ard I bloody contention, but little danger Is to be apprehended from precedent. by which that authority denies to itself the exercise of powers that brings in their train influence and patronage of great extent, and thus excludes the op- eration of personal interest. every where the bane of official trust. ] derive, foo. no small degree of satisfaction from ibc reflection, that, if ] have ulistaixen the interests and wishes of the people, the Constitution affords the means of soon redressing the error, by selecting fer the place their favor has bestowed up- on me, a citizen whose opinions may ac- cord with their own. I trust. in the meantime, the interests of the nation will be saved from prejudice, by ri- 1 gid application of that portion of the public funds. which might otherwise be applied to different objects, 10 that high est of all our obligations, the payment of the public debt, and an opportunity be afforded for the adoption of some better rule for the operation of the Gov ernment in this matter than any which has hitherto been acted upon.
 Profoundly impressed with the lmpor- tance of the subject, not merely as it relates to the general prosperity of the country, but to the safety of the federal system, l cannot avoid repeating my earncsthopes, that all good citizens, who take aproper interest in the success and harmony of our admirable political institutions, and who are incapable of desiring to convert an opposite state of things into means for the qualification ot personal ambition, will, laying aside minor considerations, and -discarding To- cal prejudiees, unite their honest exer- tlons to establish some fixed general principle. which shall be calculated to effect the greatest extent of public good, in regard to the subject of internal im- proveinent, and afford the least ground for sectional discontcnt.
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