Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-01-02

and faithfully discharged; if there have been
no failures in delaying the very large ex-
penditures growing out Of that long contin-
ued and salutary policy OF peacefully reno.
wing the Indians to regions of comparative
safety and prosperity; if the public faith has
at all times, and every where, been most
scrupuIousIy maintained by prompt dis
churge of the numerous, extended, and di-
versitied claims on the Treasury;--if all
these great and permanent objects, with |
many others that might be stated, have, for
series years. marked by peculiar obsta-
Giles and difficulties, been successfully &C
compIished without resort to permanent
debt, or the aid of national bank; have we
not right to expect that a policy, the OBJ
ject OF which has been to sustain the public
service independently OF either of these
fruitful sources OF dIscord, will receive the
final sanction of people whose unbiased
and fairly elected judgment upon public al.
fairs is never ultimately wrong?
That embarassments in the pecuniary concerns
Of individuals. Of unexampcd extent and dura.
tion have recently existed in this as in other com.
mercial nations, is undoubtedly true. To suppose
it necessary now TO trace these reverses to their
sources, would be a reflection on the intelligence
Of my lelow.citizePs. Whatever may have been
the obscurity in which the subject was involved
during the earlier stages Of the revuIson, there
cannot now be many by whom the whole question
is not fully understood.
Not deoming it within the constitutional pow.
ers Of the General Government to repair private
losses sustained by reverses in business having no
connexon with the public service, either by direct
appropriations from the Treasury, or by special
legislation designed 10 secure exclusive privileges
and immunities to individuals or classes in prefer
ence to, and at the expense Of, the great majority
necessarily debarred from any participation in
them, no attempt to do so has been either made
Recommended, or encouraged, by the present Ex-
ecutive.
1t is believed, however, that The great purposes
for the attainment OF which the Federal Govern.
ment was instituted have not been lost sight OF,
Entrusted only with certain limited powers, eau
tiously enumerated, distinctly specified, and de-
fined with precision and clearness which would
seem to defy misconstruction, it has been my con.
sta mt aim to conine myself within the limits SO
clearly marked out, and so carefully guarded.--
Having always been OF opinion that the best pre-.
servalive OF the union Of the States is TO be found
in total abstinence from the exercise Of all doubt.
ful powers on the part Of the Federal Government,
rather than in attempts to assume them by loose
construction Of the constitution, or an ingenious
perversion Of its words, have endoavored to a.
void recommending any measure which had rea.
son to apprehend would, in the opinion even Of a
considerable minority Of my fellow citizens, be re.
garded as trenchng on the rights of the States, or
the provisions Of the hallowed instrument of our
Union. Viewing the aggregate powers Of the
Federal Government as a voluntary concession
of the States, it seemed tome that such only should
be exercised as were at the time intended to be
given.
have been strengthened, too, in the proprioty
OF this course, by the conviction that all efforts TO
go beyond this tend only to produce dissatisfac-
ton and dstrust, 10 excite ealousies, and TO pro-
woke resistance. Instead Of adding strength to
the Federal Government even whsn successful
they must ever prove source Of incurable weak
ness, by alternating portion Of those whose adhe
sion is indispensable to the great aggregate Of
united strength, and whose voluntary attachment
is in my estimation, far more essential to the eff.
cheney OF a government strong in the best Of all
| possible strength the confidence and attachment
Of all those who make up its constituent ele.
menls.
Thus believing, it has been my purpose to Sc.
cure to the whole people, and to every member Of
the confederacy, by general, saluary, and equal
laws alone, the benefit Of those republican nsti.
tutions which it was the end and aim Of the con-
stution 10 establish, and the impartial influence
of which is, in myjudgment, Indispensable to their
preservation. cannot bring myself to believe
that the lasting happiness of the people, the pros
perity Of the States, or the permanency Of their
| Union, can be maintained by giving preference
or priority to any class Of citizens in the dstrbu-
ton of benefits or privileges, or by the adoption
Of measures which enrich one portion of the
Union at the expense Of another nor can see
in the interference Of the Federal Government
with the local legislation and reserved rights Of the
States remedy for the present, or a security a.
gainst future dangers.
The first, aud assuredly not the least important
step from relieving the country from the condition
into which it had been pl1need by excuses in
trade, banking, and credits oil all kinds, was to
place the business transactions OF the Govern
lncnt itself on solid basis giving and receiving
in all cases value for value, neither counenan.
cling nor encouraging in others that delusvc sys.
TEN Of credits from which it has been found so
difficult to escape, and which has left nothing be-
hind it but the recks that mark It's fatal career.
That the financial alIlhs Of the Government
are now, and have been during the whole period
Of these wide.sprcading difficulties, conducted
with a strict and invariable regard to this great
fundamental principle, and that by the assumption
and maintenance Of the stand thus taken on the
very threshold Of the approaching crisis, more
than BY any other cause or causes whatever, the
community at large has been shielded from the
incaIcu!abIe evils Of general and indefinite sus.
pension oil specie payments, and consequent
humiliation, for the whole period it might have
lasted, of just and inyariable standard Of value,
will, il is believed at this DeriOd scarcely he