Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-07-03

DOuy Claims ana cXCrClScS us largest pOWcTSs
The practical exposition of this clause APP
pears to have been that Congress, when not
otherwise restricted by the fundamental law
of the land, may lcgislatc on all subjects, in
which the acholc people have common inter-
est. With the exception Of comparatively
unimportant difficulties with the diantribcs,
VIC have enjoyed period of about twenty
five years of profound peace. Tho harvests
have in general been exubcrant, foreign cap
ital has flowed in abundantly for permanent
investment, the public revenue of the nation
has in general greatly exceeded the wants of
the government, and the people have been
orderly and industrious. With these clc-
mcnts, it should seem not difficult problem
so to govern a free people as to render them
prosperous and happy. What then have the
present and late administration done to pro-
mote the welfare of people, which ten
years since was the frccst and the most pros
porous upon the face of the globe? To
what cause but the acts and ncglects of our
government can we ascribe tho notorious
facts, that the national Treasury, which lately
overlooked, is now bankrupt; that every
branch of industry is Frustrated; that the
price of every article of American growth or
produce, and even ofabour itself, is reduced
to rates ruinous alike to tho labourer, the
agriculturist and the manufacturer; that the
pccuniary credit of the union, and Of the
states, is at the lowest possible ebb; that
we arc wholly without an adequate circulating
medium, and that spirit of mutual forbear-
ancc alone liza, hitherto saved botli creditor
and debtor from common ruinl 1t is idle to
ascribc the universal prostration of the ener-
gies ola youthful people to the trifling, partial,
and inadequate causes by Which the subsidized
presses and partizans of the present dynasty
attempt to explain it. The people know the
causes, and the authors, and they will redress
themselves by the speedy removal of both.
"To secure the blessings Of liberty, to our
selves and our postcrity."
We come now to the chief grievance of
which the American people have to complain.
The other evils to which VIC have alluded are
cndurablc, because they are in their nature
temporary, but when the foundations on
which rest all our free institutions are sappcd,
when the constitution itself is shaken, when
the utter pcrversion and misapplication of all
the powers conferred upon the federal gov
crnmcnt lead men to question the utility of a
central power, and TO calculate the value of
the union, it is time to rccur to first principles,
and to inquire whether it is yet too late to
repair what it may otherwise soon be out of
our power to rebuild. We use no idle words,
when we say tlatthc downward progress and
tendency of our system of government has
for the last ten years filled the friends of ra-
tional liberty with dismay, and that many of
the wiscst observers among us do now look
forward with more of fear than of hope.
The prodigious increase of the power and
patronage of the federal government, the
daring usurpatlons of the executive and of
Congress, the reckless and pronigate expen-
diturc of the public moneys, the shameless
adoption and avowal of the principle that
public Office is the appropriate reward for
party services, the regular and constant en-
ployment of the entire power and resources
of the government in maintaining the ascen-
dancy ola party, and, as in the late case Of
New Jersey, the abandonment Of forms of
proceeding to which obvious necessity and
long use had given the force of law, these in
deed, when considered as the fruits of but ten
years ofmisrule by a. government elected BY
| tic people, arc enough to excite the jealousy,
and rouse the vigilance, of the most confident
and sanguino admircr of republican institu-
tons.
But the past ten years have been years of
fcverish excitement, and the people are now
awaklng as from distcmpcrcd DREAM
| The whole nation had been infected with a
rccklcssncss and Impotence of spirit, which
finally found vent in a career Of reckless
speculation; and the propensity to indulge in
these adventurous schemes was most unfor-
tunately countenanccd by the policy of the
government in relation to the public domain,
and the currency. Vast tracts of land were
thrown into the market, and made bject to
entry at government prices; settlers were
induced to occupy these as well as unsurvcy-
cd lands by the promise of presumption
laws; emigration to the more inaccessible
and remote territories was encouraged by the
expectation that rail roads, canals and artificial
harbours would be constructed throughout
the mighty west at the national expense, and
for all these enterprises the means were
abundantly supplied by the mushroom banks,
which it was tho policy of the dominant par
ty to substitute for the Bank of the United
States. Ovcrtrading with Europe was pro-
NOTED by connivancc at frauds on the rcvc-
nue. laws SO extensive as to be of themselves
sufficient to ruin all the manufactures of the
nation. But these decisions have passed
away with the administration which ushercd
them in, and the approaching crisis will show
our rulers that there is point, beyond which
the people can neither be driven nor led.
The imposing personal character and distin-
guished military services Of Gen. Jackson
covered and atoned for multitude of polit-
ical errors, but his successor can avail him.
sclfof no such mantle for the disguise of his
own failures. A man of the commoncst
grade of talent, the originator of no conspc-
uous measure of public policy, possessed of
no shining qualities, and who can be charac-
tcrizcd only as being charlottesville mustbo
content ~ bo Judged by the rnsmltS of his adj
ministration, and the man who was not asham-
ed to avow himself to be the head, not of his
people, but Of his party, will speedily find
that party to be but a lean minority.
We have thus, fellow citizens, in accor-
i 4 Il