The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-01-15
THE EXCHEQUER PLAN.

After weary debate of about three weeks,
the reference of the Exchequer scheme to
Committee is at length determined. BY that
subsidiary body, we trust that it will meet at
least fair and candid investigation. We have.
s. the assertion made more than once, in a
lone Of self-gratulatng triumph, in the columns
of one or two of our cotemporrries, that when
the Exchequer bill was introduced into The Sc
nate, it would not find a single friend to greet
il. Though such may have been its fate among
the representatives Of the people, thas been re-
ceived in manner totally different by the PEG
lie themselves If we may trust to the evidence
of the press, the proposed plan is hailed in eve
nv section of the country as an efficient instru
ment to alleviate the distresses everywhere pre-
vaing, and to correct the vltiation so deeply
affecting the soundness of the currency. To
indicate the opinions Of the people themselves,
we have of late m de copous extracts from our
exchanges in relation to the measure. That
the reception it would at first meet from certain
Senators would greatly differ from that given it
by the people, might have easily been antici-
pa,ed. The great mass of the people are deeply
affected in their imnsd ate and pressing int
rests, by the utter prostration OF our CONNER
cial activity; the distress which weighs so hea
vily on them has neurazed the bitterness of
party luminosity, and taught them not to battle
for measure merely because it was the propo-
sition Of party leaders, and its support the watch
word Of party. Men who have hitherto been
in all appearance irreconcably ASSOCIATED have
been driven into fraternal union Of consulta
ton on the means best calculated to promote
their common interests, and party distinctions
have been necessarily forgotten in the anxiety
to effect the great object of devsing an effective
remedy for the evils which pervade the whole
country.
The Exchequer scheme, whatever be its in
rinsic merits or defects, is at least no party mea
sure Ii was not conceived in the spirit of
party it processes no adherence to the theories
Of either Oft the great parties which have divided
the country The motives Of Its conception
were the formation of scheme, which would
produce immediate and permanent benefit to the
people and the whole people. In the spirit in
which it was conceived, it has been received by
the people Attempts have been made to cast
odium upon it in certain quarters, not on &C
count of the Intrinsic defects discoverable in
supposed author. 1t is here unnecessary to re-
peat assertions we have already made in rela-
ton to its author. The people were not to be
bamboozled into the hasty rejection Of pro ;
position because it was blindy supposed to have
emanated from certain individual having many
enemies. They have looked at the scheme it :
self, and will examine it still farther, and they
will not suffer the dictaon of party lead n to
drive them into sentence Of condemnation of
tin contradiction to the deductions of their
own understanding.
All the members of the Senate cannot be sup
posed entirely exempt from the bias, which
views of self aggrandisement must necessarily
create. They are few in number and elevated
in position. The general interest, it may be
feared is too intimately associated in their feel
ings with individual interests--in some cases
they are felt to be identified.
If propositions are made for the adoption of
measures not strictly in accordance with the
doctrines professed by the party, they are often
resisted unhestatingly- because they may
not be beneficial to the country, but because they
are not party measures. The complete integrity
of the party is too frequently paramount to ev-
cry other consideration party must be adhered
to at all events, because on the party rest the
hopes of the qualification of ambition. We
could not therefore anticipate that any scheme,
which was not in strict conformity with party
doctrines, should meet the same favor with the
members of the Senate, who do not individually
'eel the severity Of the distress endured by the
great mass of the community as it would meet
from the people themselves.