Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-02-19
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SPEECH OF Mr.. SPRAGUE, Cor MAiNE,)
Upon the Remoral of the Deposites, delivered IN
tbo con1te. Jan. &c, 1884.

compelled by the Overwhelming testimony whch
is borne upon every breeze, to admit tnat tnere
is wide spread distress in the community, warn
ed ms not to mistake the symptoms for the dis
ease. His advice is wise and scientific; for when
q limb is convulsed from internal agony, to tie IL
down and keep it motionless can yleld no re-
lief What, then, is the disease? The genie,
man thinks it is found in that newly discovered
source of all the ills that flesh is heir to, that
"monstrum horreadwm injens, %intorme," the Unit
ed States Bank.
Sir. thereis a much deeper, more inveterate,
and all peryading disease; one which is felt IN
every fibre, and distorts every feature OF the DO
DIV polite; which penetrates the walls OF TINS
Capitol, and even here, mingles In our DEBATES,
and infects our legislation; which, like the insect
curses of Egypt, enters even our dwellings, our
he'd chambers and our kneading troughs; pol
soning the very atmosphere with a polltlcal MI
asmaoit is the disease of PRE-sIDENT-MAKING.
And this has a cause-a deep, aoldlng, growing,
aggravating, cause.
nronounced an elective monarchy the worst
form of government on earth2 Is 1t not that a
crown is too splendid a prize 10 De won OF ioSt
bv ~peaceful contests of electionsi And is not
the Presidency becoming so brilliant an oDJect
as to dazzle the eyes OF asplrants, ana us pa
tronaoe so powerful a stimulant as to lnHame,
nav t0 inf,riate the passions of friends and par
t;zans2 Does not the successful candidate and
all his official dependents, from the first moment
of his investiture with the robes OF once, look
to the succession2 Are not the political ele-
ments constantly agitated? The lashlng waves
are not permitted to subside before another
storm lowers in the horizon. And is there not
dancer that contest will succeed contest, con-,
vulsion follow CONFUSION, until the people, the
honest. single hearted, disinterested OF the peo-
nle. disgusted and exhausted by the endless re-
petition of f~ruitless conflicts, will retire from the
arena, and leave the great machine OF Govern
81 L~~l10f nao2u hungry and nrOt1l-
gate political adventurers? Is there not danger,
when the all-pervading disease is becoming
more and more inveterate; when the Importance
and the patronage of the Chief Magistracy is
is rapidly increasing? From the birth day OF
orr Constitution the march of Executive power
has heen onward. The course of Legislative ac-
ton has often been arrested: judicial decisions
have been questioned and denied: but the en-
largement of Executive p~rerogative has never
been STAYED. No power which it has once eX-
ercised, no claim of power once advanced, has
ever been yielded or wrested from its grasp. Its
precedents are tracks to the lions den, from
which there are no returning traces. DO you
want proof The examples are before us even
in this debate. The gentleman from Virginia
(Mr. RIvEs) held up the decision of 1889, in IA
vor of a constructive power OF removal from
Office in the President as conclusive authority;
at the moment he was denying any Welgnt 10
the decision of1791, in favor of the right of Con-
gress to incorporate a bank. And what rem
ders il not the less remarkable is, that the first,
giving constructive Executive power, was made
bv the casting vote of the then wee president,
the elder Adams, to whose political opinions the
gentleman accords so little Difference as to the
rights of other coordinate branches. He cited
Mr.. Madison's example when it tended to coun-
tenance the prerogative of the President to ar
rest the legislation Of Congress; but denied the
same authority when it sustained the right OF
the National Legislature in relation to this very
II. - 80. ,NnrN-a1 h w that Oroot M ~
charter, which was approved Dy tldt great man
himself.
Let us look at things as they exist: Was
there ever a period when the United States
Government was as strong as now?-When there
was so little ability in the States, or other ex-
trinsic bodies, to withstand the united co-opera-
ting action of all its Departments!
Ask the most Jealous, devoted friend OF State
Rights, they will tell you, they have told you,
that these rights are PROSTATE at the feet OF the
General Government, and exist only at It's
mercy.
Was there ever a time when Congress was so
weak2-when the Judiciary was so weak?-
when the Executive was so strongl-by any
comparison so strong as now2 Was there ever
a time when the balance and just distribution of
practical power was so utterly destroyed2
Let us not be deluded by names and theories;
but, like men, practical men, engaged in the at
fairs of a great nation, let us have the courage
TO look at the actual workings of this great ma
chine of government, and see results as they
are coming upon us. Is it not true in this re-
publican country, where one man should be no
thing, and the community every thing, that it
has come to pass that the community is nothing,
and one man is every thing? Do we not fee,
and know, that the destinies of this nation are,
.t This moment. in the hands of a single indivi-
duap Is it not matter of boast, boosted of here,
and that. too, by the gentleman from Virginia,
1Mr; r. that hat "a single ! rs irdistGaai n has on Pf sd U
ment7-ave, sir, a revolution, in which, the gen.
tleman exultingly told us that the will and poll
CIV of the nation, as to internal improvements,
had been resisted and defeated by one man; IN
which the great system of American industry,
built up. and consolidated, by the interests and
feelings of a vast majority of the people, has
been Frustrated by the will of one man; In which
the bank, strong as it was in its own energies.
and the unlimited confidence of the communl-
ty, has been struck down by the same iron hand,
and is crumbling into dust; and, he might have
added, in which the wishes and rights of a large
majority of the States, and their citizens, as to
the disposition of our vast national domain,