Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1837-12-11
EXTRACTS FROM MR.. FETCH
FR'S SPEECH

EXTRACTS FROM MR.. FETCH
Frs SPEECH.
| We give below some good extracts
! from the speech ol The Hon. RICHARD
FLETCHER is member of Congress from
| Massachusetts, delivered 10 his constituents
in Fanue Hail on the 9th OF November.
# is the plan Of the President Ia de ach
the Government cutierly rom inc people
The people ask too much" The office
holders are To he elevated off hand -
seated upon thrones of gold and silver;
while the people are to grovel beneath in
rag money AMI shin paslers - When,
therefore, the people applied for remedy,
they were told that nothing could be done?
that there is no remady ;--meaning that
nothing could be done-ihat nothing should
be done except for The Government!
The proposed remedy, it seems then,
consists in The relief OF the Government, at
the expense OF the people. Let us now look
moment, Mt the manner in which this rem
edy was administered.
During the session, the business projects
upon which the House was called To act,
came almost entirely from the Committee
on Ways and Means. There are nine
| members Of that committee, only two of
whom are understood TO be opposed TO the
policy OF the administration. ] suppose
you would like To know The manner in
which the business was arranged for The
House. | will tell you The Ways-the
Means you will all see in due time. You
doubtless suppose that this committee ol
Ways and Means has some duty to do;
some ways to devise, some means to find
out some plans TO originate and mature
for the action orthe House. The commit
tee you imagine look over the message, see
what isl recommended to be done for the
benefit ofthe country consult toge'he" as
TO the hest measures and lay The result OF
their deliberations before the House. Is
this your idea, Mr.. President? Is this what
you think fellow citizens? II it is, | am
sorry 10 inform you, that you labor under
a very great mistake. | once entertained
TIE same ideas but soon found my error.
No such thing, sir--no such thing. The
chairman Of the committee Steps up 10 the
White House and there receives from
the President or the Secretary Of the Treas
ury, such bills as they wish 10 have passed
by the House. The chairman puts the
bills into,his pocket; takes them to the COM
mittee without any examination, the ma
iorily Of the committee approve them; the
minority can do rOthing the bills are pre-.
senled TO The House, and received as the
doings Of the committee.
] aver TO you that every important bill
passed by the House, came to the House
ready dra,cn, from the Executive. The
Representatives are mere machines. Eve
ry measure is an Executive measure. /
mean by the Executive, the President, land
the heads Of the Deparlmenls-the Cabi
net. They originate every thing, put eve-
ry thing in the precise shape they wish,
word for word, letter for letter, comma for
comma and The Executive majority in the
House pass each bill forthwith, without al
ieralion--and so far as depends upon them,
without debale-iust as il comes from their
master at the White House.
! | had heard Of Executive dic'ation-or
Executive usurpalion-or Executive pat,
ronage-I thought ha1 seen something of
| it--but till visited the seat of Government,
| had no conceptions Of its true nature, or
its vast extent, ! solemnly warn you a.
gainst its terrible concentration of power
in the hand of the Executive see in it
a most alarming danger, threatening, lear
/ fully threatening the liberties Of the coun-
try Executive power has become a very
Colossus, which beslrides the country from
one end Of it 10 the other land fellow cit
liens, if we do not overthrow it, most as
sured'y twill crush us and in crushing ms,
in crushing the people, il will crush liberty,
it will crush The constitution!
A resolution was introduced into the
House, from the committee on WAYS and
Means, declaring that il is inexpedient 10
charter a national bank. You may feel
some interest To know how that question
was got up. | will tell you. You will
recollect that there were only two opposi-
ton members on the committee. The ma.
joriy WOULD do nothing for the people, and
the minority COULD do nothing, to
report the dongs of their masters in The
Committee and the House, 10 their masters,
The pcople-and this at least, for one am
resolved TO do. Very many petitions, from
almost all The States, were sent into Con-
nress Tor the establishment Of national
bank These petitions as they were pre-
scented, by a mutual understanding, were
referred 10 the Committee Of Ways and
| Means, aud suffered 10 lie on the table till
| the whole should come in when, as was
supposed, they were TO be taken up and con-
sidered. SO the matter stood when on the
la 1t day but one, on which that committee
sat, the chairman, without preface or eX-
PLANTATION, introduced the anti-5ank resou-
ton. 1t was opposed by one opposition
member-lhe other being absent-and the
chairman was asked what had become Of
the pelilionsH They yet lay on the table
but the majority passed the resolution with
out opening or reading them. The resoln-
ton was sent in, and by the help Of The
previous question, was forced through The
House. No doubt can be entertained that
/ this resolution came down from III, Exc
cuive in the precise form in which it was
/ passed Here was great and most mani