The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1841-02-11

mary expenditures of the Government
Yet in the short space of month, the
lie IS given to these hatiering statements,
by demand for five millions of dollars I!
What are we to think of men who could
endeavor to impose upon the country
s'lca false statements as those contained
in the Message of the President, and the
Report Of the Secretary of the Treasury.
Indeed a more disingenuous, dishonest
paper than the Message. or one displaying
more Of the traits of the low demagogue,
never emanated from a high public func-
''onary, if we except, perhaps, the repos,
OF the report of the Secretary of the Trea-
sury Which accompanies it. The object
o! both was 10 mslead and deceive the
public; and the eloquent denunciaions Of
the evils of national debt by the Presi-
dent, was an attempt, fraudulent attempt
10 conceal the debt which the proAigacy
Ioi his administration had sadJled upon
the country. But this at,emp, on the part
i"I the President, will fail to succeed. The
lime OF demarcallon between the expend-
lures of the prcsen, and coming admins
It:alion, will be plainly marked. The
debts which II has incurred, as they be-
come ascer;aiiled (for many are not ascer-
tained,) will be charged to ii, upon its
own books. They will not be suffered
TO be mingled up with the proper expen-
id'tures Of the new administration and
charged to it; they will be kept separate,
and the responsibility Of contracting them
be cast upon the shoulders of their legit-
mate authors, Mr. Van Buren, and his Adj
minislralion.
For the honor of the country, am
sorry that the President in passing off the
stage, should have resorled to such dis
honorable arlifice, as that Of mixing up a
false record, in relation to the condition
of the country. His Message is fa!<i
tication OF the current history Of the coun-
try; its statements are falsehoOds, which
are contradicted by the almost cotempo-
raneous acts of his own official agents; as
is proved by the demand of the Chair
man of the Committee of Ways and
Means, at the instance of the Secretary
.of the Treasury for FIVE millions of Trea-
.sury notes. few short weeks after the
glowing and ha,tering expose of the fl
nancial prosperity of the country, made
by the President to Congress, at the COM
mencement Of the present Session. l
repeat, am sorry that the materials for
the future history Of the country should
have been rendered spurious by the Pre-
sident of the United States. TO invade
the archives of the country and rifle them
of their contents is less evil than to de-
posite false records. In the absence of
National records the historian NAV CLEAN
facts from other sources; but false records
mislead him, and he deceives poslerty.
His excuse, however, | suppose is to be
found in the overwhelming character of
his defeat. A weak man, elevated by for
tuitous circumstances to the dignity of the
Presidency, he could not contemplate his
expulsion from power with that magnan-
imous composure which is the attitude
of nobler and more exalted minds. Such
man could never realize any part Of the
truth, taught by one of the ancient sys-
TENS Of philosophy, and repeated by
modern poet, that ''the good can never be
unfortunate"