The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1838-06-12
WHO'S RESPONSIBLE2

The partZans of the late and present admin
isration have a very convenient apology for the
evils which their misrue has brought upon the
country They attribute them all to the oppo-
son--to the wings! They say that the Ma
tional Treasury would not now have been bank
rupt had it not been for the distribution OF the
Surplus Revenue among the States-and that
that measure was Wing measure. They have
constituted the dominant party in the nation for
the last 9years, & during all that period have had
the control of every branch of the Government
the Executive as well as the Legislative.
Equally as absurd is it, too, to attribute the pres
emf bankruptcy of the Treasury to This act. 1t
is true, if the thirty millions of dollars which
were deposited with de states had been permitted
TO remain in the custody Of Mr. Secretary Wood
bury, the administration might not have run
ashore quite so snou-they might have been able
TO hold body and soul together little while lon
ger. But pursuing tn measures which u has, no
amount of revenue could have kept the admins
tration from bankruptcy. Nay. if had an hum
dred millions, instead of forty, ofsnrplus, scatter
ed as it was in pet banks from Louisiana TO
Maine, the more helpless and embarrassed the
administrator would have been. The depose
net left surplus Of SIN millions in the treasury
for the use of the government, and this, had
Gen. Jackson let things, about which he knew
nothing, alone, would have been amply sufii-
cient 10 have prevented its present collapse-say
ing nothing about the nine mHtj0nS-the fonrth
nstalmeut-which was never paid over to the
States
Again tho tory journals assert that the wings
are responsible torall the misdOings ofthe pres
ent Congress-a Congress in which they (the
Whigs) ere in the minority in both branches
They charge them with having wasted the
sion in a proraced debate the duel ana other
frivolous matters. Who brought the matter of
the duel before the House? VAST not tory
member from Maine who procured the appoint
ment of committee to investigate the subject,
and did not this committee bring before the
House, what Mr. Adams justly denounced as Il
"rancorous partizans repurs 2" a report manu-
featured solely for party purposes, aud so gross
y vndicve and false that the more decent mem
hers ofthe party were themselves ashamed oft?
Were the wing members to sit still and permit
the tories TO eXpell one of their number-and to
make, las they boosted they would) 'the death of
Cilley do more for the Van Buren, cause than he
ever did while lvingm Such course, no
doubt would have been very convenient for the
tories. 1t would have saved them vast deal
of trouble. But the wing members of the pres
ent Congress are not the men to he nsuIted and
brow beaten by the minions Of the at!,n;nistra
ton. They know ther rights, and the rights OF
their constituents, and "knowng, dare maintain
them"
The truth is, the country is so deeply embar
assed and disgraced, that the ignorant dena- |
which way to turn. They would be glad to es
cape from the gnomuy ard infamy which now
rests upon their own shoulders, byechargng their
mlsdeeds upon Others. They cannot do 1t.
There is escape for them: No hole or cor
ner at which they can crawl out. They took
the responsibility and the responsibility they
must bear, until it brushes them mo oblivion.
In the language of another-of one too who was
lormely supporter of the administration
THIS ADMINISTRATION WILL BE RE
IN HISTORY, AS ONE OF
THE MOST PROFLIGATE, ARBITRARY,
AND TYRANlCAL,
PHAT EVER EXISTED, AND ITS Spec
by DOWNFALL WILL BE A CONCLU-
SIVE EVIDENCE OF THE VIRTUE, IN
AND INTELLIGENCE
Of THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED
STATES ATTHE PRESENT DAY"
DUEL IN MoNTREAL.-A duel was fought in Mon
real on the Oath ut. between Major Ward ofthe
British army and Irish gentleman. Ward was
titled