Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1836-10-20

greed To by the Committee. as some Of the
members oi II declared IN the ilunsr. But 1t
was too late to deliberate and the hill was
passed.
As soon AS it was found lha, the t.is,rhn
tou Of the Surplus money VAS seriously con
i"mplatcd. the chief Government agent. and
the snpcrlhionGans Of the great national
works were summoned to Washington from
all quarters, to make on, their estimates, and
show how much at the money they could use
up. 4 great number of projects were stalled
in both Houses tnI working np the u"nry aud
preventing the distribution al II. In the :,
ate, one leading member proposed thn, the
money shauld be- expended by the Executive
in erecting Notifications all round the whole
frontier Of the United States. Anuther mcm-
Der Mr.. Grundy) strcnuously advocated the
proposition that The whole should be- put at
the disposal of the Postmaster Gen,rm Amos
Kendall. at prcscni,) to be expended III aid
ing in the construction of railroads, SC. all
over the u States, to facilitate the ,ranSp"r
,ation Of the mail. One of tie New York
Senators, Mr.. Wright proposed to invest
the money IN State stocks and securities;
meaning the New York siock.-that being
the only State, we believe, which has any
aud thus throwing the money into the hands
of the N. Y. safety fund bankers, and the
brokers. This, we presume, was Mr.. Van
Buren's own plan, Mr.. Wright being well
known as his interpreter in the Senate. Ma
ny other desperate plans were laid to work
up the money and prevent the distribution Of
it; as we learn from the following complaints
of their failure contained in the Executive "a
zette:--"U (says the Globe) The bill 10 pnr-
chase four millions Of French and .N0bOiitdn
gold had passed; with The bill TO mdkr free he
Louisville Canal; to JuiM He Nae Orit0nS
Custom House; to erect Tie EcSi1n .3,mO,y;
and 10 'riend Me Cumberland road .jrom tie
Mississippi TO The weStern line Of Missouri;
to M The ranks Of The army; 10 erect The netc
Qualifications aid 10 built drmories IN He States
,chich haze none, the real surplus" Sc. &c.,
would have been not worth distributing. We
see here how many snnres were arlnIIy land;
how many tempting bats thrown out to Sc
ducc the members from different sections
from their duty to the country, by appealing
| To their local interests. Thus we find what
they would Lave done with the snrp plus rath-
er than let j, be distributed. 1t was their in
tenion that there never should be any sur
plus. Whatever II might amount to,or howcv-
er little wanted, the President was always to
find or make use for it. Mr.. Van Buren,in
his letter, calls the surplus San unexpected
surplus" How was it unexpected: The
sources of the revenue, and the large surplus
already in the Treasury, were known, and
the amount to be received during The remain
der of the year sufficiently asccrtaincd. 1t
was an unexpected surplus to Mr.. Van Burcn,
because the projects for swallowing it up had
unexpectedly failed. Mr.. V. b. ought to have
called it an unintended surplus. The products
of the land sales made part of the surplus;
and not a small part; and so much Of II be-
longed to the States: it was their property
But Mr.. " b. was for keeping the Whole
But Congress, this time, was not to be mllml-
dated or scduced: the Representatives of the
people were Gcte rmined that the immense a.
mount Of surplus money should not remain at
the disposal of the Executive; to be employed
as it evidently would be.
1t might have been hoped that, when the
National Legislature had passed law, with
great unanlmlty in both branches, that law
would at least have been respected by The
Executive. But instead of this, from the day
the act was passed to the present, we have
seen the whole Executive, Office party, Will
Mr.. Van Buren, at their head, employing
themselves unrcmittingly, to cry down ano
defeat the law so enacted. In the first place
nine millions, when it is well asccrtaned IL
be over thirty millions. They Immediately
took measures to obstruct the sales of the
public lands; and have constantly refused to
\ receive into the Treasury nine millions be-
ing the present value of the stock belonging
to the u. s. in the Bank Of the United States
which they destroycd-General Jackson in
sisting that nothing was to be counted upon
from that quarter,-that the Bank was bank
rupt and would never pay cent, although at
the very time, the President of the Bank was
in Washington, ready and offering to pay i'll
to the Treasury the whole amount belonging
10 the United States.
| When the Bank of the United States clos
cd its concerns, its stock was at thirty pei
cent advance. But the Executive would no,
allow it to be sold, and thereby subjected the
country to a loss of about ten per cent upon
the whole amount of their stock. This con
duct has been pursued partly to countenancc
! the charge Of Gen. Jackson, that the Bans /;
insolvent, and partly to keep that nine mil
lions out of the distribution, and reserve it fo
the future disposition of the Executive.
Il Another loss Of Sl50,OC0, has recently
been made by the cost, in insurance, &C, II
getting home part of the French indemnlt,
| money, in specie, instead Of receiving it ii
cash drafts which would not have been sub
iect to any such charges. This has beef
done to keep up the farce Of gold and sdUe
currency. And SO much the people have t.
! pay for the dust that is thrown into their eyes
The Secretary of the Treasury (Woodbu
ry) is also iniccently displaying his hostility
to the law which il is his duty to execute
: without murmuring. In letter, recent,
published, he says, "Our overflowing trcasu
ry which is SO often prayed for, will, | fear
prore curse" 81 have many misgirings al
10 its (the distribution law's) fatal influence %
The sound relations hitherto eristing bct,ceen h
States and he General Gope,nmc'L' Wha
docs he mean by he GorernmenR There