Litchfield enquirer., 1832-02-02

danger, perhaps, is not that it will not fairly meet its engagements, but that from an inOr- dinate avidily, arising from temporary causes, it may bring discredit upon itself by imprOvi dent arrangements, which nO prudent man, in the management of his private affairs, would ever think of adopting.
 Ofthe residue of that twenty -four millions of debt, after deducting the thirteen millions of three per cent, less than two millions are due, and of right payable within the present year. Tito that sum be added the mOiety which becomes due On the S1st December next of the S4,454. .727, created by the act of 36th May. 1894, we have but sum of about four millions which the public credit can law
 fully demand, or which the Government is bound to pay in the course of this year. IT
 mOre is paid, it can only be done by antlcl- pating the periods of its payment, and going 1 into the public market to purchase the stuck. l Can it be doubted that if you do so, the vi- glant holder of the stock, taking advantage of your anxiety, will demand a greater price 1 than it's value? Already we perceive that 1 the three per cents. have risen {" the extra ordinary height of 96 per cent. The differ l ence bctw cen payment of the inconsldera-
 ble portion remaining of the public debt, in
 one, two, or three years, is certainly not so important as t" justify a resort to highly dis advantageous terms.
 Whoever may be entitled tO the credit Of the payment ofthe Public Debt, I congratu' late yon sir, and the country, most cordially, that it is SD near at hand. It is SD near be- ing totally ex,inguished. that we may now safely inquire whether, without prejudice to any established policy, we may not relieve the consumption of the country, by the re- peal or reduction of duties, and Curtail con
 siderably the public revenue. In making this
 inquiry, the first question which presents it. self is, whether it is expedient t0 preserve the existing duties in order to accumulate sur plus in the Treasury for the purpose of sub sequent distribution among the several
 States I think not. If the collection, for the purpose of such surplus, is tO be made ] from the pockets of one portion ofthe people, 1 to be ultimately returned to the same pock- cts, the process would be attended with the
 certain loss arising from the charges of col 1 lection, and with the loss also of interest
 whilst the money is performing the nnnecess.
 ary circuit; and it would therefore be un-
 wise. lift is to he collected from one portion
 of the people and given to another, 1t would
 he unjust. If it is to be given to the States, in their corporate capacity, to be used by
 them in their public expenditure. know of no principle in the Constitution which au-
 thorizes the Federal Government to become
 such a collector for the States, nor of any
 principle of safety or propriety which admits l of the States becoming such recipients of gra- 1 tuity from the General Government.
 The Public Revenue, then, should be regu-
 lated and adapted to the proper service of
 the General Government. It should be am-
 pie; for deficit in the public income, always
 to be deprecated, is sometimes attended, as
 we know well from history. and from what
 has happened in our own time, with fatal con. sequences. In a country so rapidly growing as this is, with such diversified interests, new wants and unexpected calls upon the public treasury must frequently occur. Take some examples from this session. The State of Virginia has presented claim, for an amount | but little short ofa million, which she presses with an earnestness demonstrating her con- yiction of it's justice. The State of South Carolina has also claim for no inconsdera- blc sum, being upwards of Sl00,00O, which she urges with equal earnestness. The gen tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Wilkin,) has brought forward a claim, arising out of French Spalations previous to the Convention of
 1900, which is perhaps not short of i've mill ions, and to some extent have no doubt it has just foundation. In any provision of n public revenue. Congress ought SO to fix it as to admit of the payment of honest and proper demands, which its justice cannot re- ject or evade.
 hope too that either in the adjustment of
 the public revenue, or, what would be prefer able, in the appropriation of the proceeds of l the public lands. efFsctual and permanent
 provision will be made for such Internal Im- provements as may be sanctioned by Con-
 gress. This is due to the American People.
 and emplaiically due to the Western People Sir, temporary causes may exact a reluctant aequiescence from the People of the West, in tho suspension of appropriations to objects of internal improvements, but as certain as you preside in that Chair, or as the Sun per- forms its diurnal revolution, they will not be satisfied with an abandonment of the policy. | They will come here and tell you, not in tone of menace or application. but iu the language of conscious right, that they must 1 share with you in the benefits. as they divide | with you the burthens and the perils of common Government. They wlll say that they have no direct interest in the expendi- l tures for the Navy, the Notifications, nCr even the Army. those greatest absOrbants of the public treasure. That they are not in- different, indeed, to the safety and prosperity 1 of any part of our common country. On 1 the contrary, that every portion of the Re public is indirectly, at least, interested in the welfare ot the whole; and that they ever sympathize in the distresses and rejoice in the happiness of the most distant quarter of the Union. And to demonstrate that they are not careless or indifferent to interests not indirectly their own, they may triumphantly
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