Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1838-06-01
NO. 80.

nloIe III TIE way OF TeiOIn COuIu pe uone W
them, until the People should drive from tho
! citadel Of power those who then held it, and
place it under the control of these Jealous
reformers. This was done This spacious
report, like its twin-sister of the Senate, was
trumpeted aloud by its friends, and at public
expense under the order ofihe House, many
thousand copies of il were scattered through
out the country. The People read, and,
honestly believing it, took the alarm and
placed these reformers in power
And now, Mr.. Speaker, after your undis-
turbed possession for nine years, what has
been done ? Have you reduced any expen-
diture, corrected any abuse, or provided any
restraint on the power of patronage? No.
sir, no. But, on the contrary your party
in power have made all public expenditures
greater than before; you have practsed tho
very abuses Of power Of which you COM
planned, and have not provided any restraint
on Executive patronage We have thus
practical illustration oithe abuse ofthe ident-
lcal power of which your friends when
sounding the alarm, gave only a theoretio
description.
Mr.. b. said the resolution now under con-
sideration still looked TO reform, and espe-
cially TO the correction of the abuse of power
in regard to the public printing The gen.
tleman who offers it, (Mr. Hopkins,) though
acting with the Administration generally, is
not blind 10 the abuses which may be COM
milted He is still demanding reform from
principle, and is not satisfied that abuses
have been corrected by simple change of
men. am surprised, Mr.. Speaker, to find
this resolution opposed by the Administra-
| tion. The gentleman from New Hampshire
! (Mr Cushman,) resists ii on most extraor-
binary grounds. He admits abuses, but says
it is impracicabe to correct them, and there
fore useless 10 pass the resolution. 1t is inn
possible that such an objection can be openly
avowed and sustained here2 The gentle
man says it is the usage OF party to dispose
of this patronage in its own way, and that be
never heard any complaint against Mr. Ad-
ans Administration for so doing. Here.
sir, is another open avowal Of the doctrine.
" that the spoils belong to the victors"
| [Mr. Cushman here explained. and OBJ
served he had not said the spoils belong to
the victorsl
MIR. Bond admitted that the gentleman had
not used those identical words, but this was
The doctrine of the party with which he act
ed, and distinguished member of that par
ty, now the Governor Of New York, (Mr.
Nlarcey,) had when member OF the Senate
of the U. States, openly used these terms.
and justified this usage ofparty. The friends
of the Administration uniformly practised
under this precept, whatever may be their
theory | do not wish to do the gentleman
of New Hampshire any injustice, and will
read from his remarks as published, and he
will then have an opportunity of correcting
them, if enormously printed. The gentle
man is reported as having said
/ at was well known, that since the eslab-
lishment of the Government the dominant
party, which ever it might be, had nvaria-
bly, employed what has been called, if you
please, partisan printers and partisan editors
But why should they not do so? So long
as the Opposition had the predominancy.
they used 10 supply their own partisan prin-
tiers, and no complaint was made about it
and why should any complaint arise now
He saw no reason for it,"
i Here, then, think, sir, position is taxi
en- and terms used in effect the same, and
tending directly to the doctrine that "spols
belong to the victors" Mr. Bond said he
proposed to prove by this debate that the
present Administration came into power de-
claring that the printing patronage OF the
government was inordinate and dangerous;
that it ought to be restrained and regulated
lby law and in fine, promising, if elevated.
to withdraw its exercise from Executive
hands. The mover of that resolution mir
Saunders) said:
II trust | shall not be accused of getting
up this call for purposes of effect, nor be-
told that this is small business" "ae was
not to be told that the pecuniary amount in
volved in this matter was too small to inhu-
ence the editors of this county" "The to-
tai sum thus distributed could not amount TO
less than between twenty and thirty thou
sand dollars" There were eighty two pa
pers employed in publishing the laws" at
was not OF the expense that he complained
but of the purpose by which it was controll-
ed" at was thus calculated TO operate, and
did actually operate and did actually opc-
rate, so far as it went, TO control the freedom
of the press, and to enlist, throughout the
country, that powerful instrument in behalf
, the views of the State Department In
this respect, il was much more eaectual and
much more dangerous than the iar-famed
4 alien and sedition laws"
Mr. Saunders concluded by saying that il
was his "intention TO take this power from
the Stale Department, and place it elsewhere.
A member from Tennessee, (Mr Housion,)
afterwards Governor ofthat State. and now
the President of Texas sustained Mr. Saun-
der's resolution, and denied the right of the
Secretary of State to change the publication
of the laws for opinions sake. He alleged