Independent Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1842-1844, 1842-10-01

spurns the sovereignty OF the states. No mat |
ter for that. the greater bankrupts, the mag.
nifcent milionares Of the paper system,
we're brought to bankruptcy, notify misfor-
tune in legitimate trade--not by acciden;
beyond the power Of discretion, but by the
eagerness of an avarice seeking to CRAFTY |
itself in the gambling of speculation, and
then wasting, in splendid profusion, all that
the fortune of the hazard placed within its
reach. As men already ruined and des-
perate, they had entered the contest of 40,
with the pledge of the federaists. that their
debts should be treated as gambling obliga-
tons and sponged by the law and an oath.
And this pledge alone, of the many made,
has federalism faithfully fulfilled.
Economy, let ii be remembered, had been
promised as policy proper in itself and
especially so, in the then necessitous state
of the treasury. And yet by this very con-
veniion of congress, at time not appoint
ed by the law, 1891 900 were wasted in
the payment Of its members, and other ex-
penses of the session.
$4,000 were next bestowed as gratu-
ity upon the widow of the late President,
and this, without any request from her, or
necessity found in her pecuniary circu n.
stances. So far from any such necessity
then existing, or likely to exist, it was fact
well known and declared at the time, that
the private fortune Of that respectable lady,
placed her above the humility Of asking
such favors, from any quarter whatever
Still the money was voted from the lreasu.
ry as if taxes were nothing TO the people;
and waste the duty of the government.
! AT its last session which closed on the
9TH Of March, 1s4l, the preceding con.
gress had made all the useful and needful
appropriations, and provided the means for
the public service of the ensuing year,
} But regardless of this...regardess alike Of
the condition Of the country, and Of their
, own promises, so solemnly given, the ruling
majority in the present congress. proceeded
but three months after, and before one third
of those appropriations were expended, to
appropriate, for the same year, an addition
Of foe millions and forty-three thousand
dollars. The name of economy was no
, longer heard, but when pronounced by the
democrats, 10 remind the federalists of what
they had pledged, aud TO rebuke them for
3 what they were about. Needless of this,
: the leaders, who projected these measures,
; seemed but the more digent to discover
} every excuse for extravaganza. that could
/ find impunity in the general pretext Of the
public good.
But those who expend, must also accu.
; mulate; and in the case of government,
: taxes and loans are the chief sources of
} supply. Hence it YVES that after, by this
additional expenditure, they had effectually
, picked the very bones of the treasury, they
next turned their attention to the increase
!, of taxes. Here was nerve TO be touch
ed, that ran through the body of the people
, and, therefore, it was important TO prepare
! them for the shock, by the soothing process
J of distribution. They had left in the cof-
} fers of the government, not an unappro-
priated dollar. The ordinary income was
! short of the extraordinary outlay. Taxes,
: had they been sufficient in amount, came
in too tardiy to meet the rapidity of ex
} penditure, and to borrow became, conse-
. gently, the only immediate resource. This
, state of things was known and acknowl.
, edged. because brought about by the ruling
, majority. What then did they dol In
aggravation of these evils, and, as if total
+, ly bent upon the utter bankruptcy and ruin
Of the government confided to their care,
r they proceeded to snatch every dollar ac-
! cruing to the treasury from the public do
main, and to cast it away in pittances to the
states. No consciousness of its folly--no
} barrier in the constitution-no "beggary
: account ofempty boxes" from the treasury
{ department--no terrors Of national debt,
, could possibly arrest them in this. Nor
: was the injustice Of augmenting taxes,
/. when the means of the people to pay, were
: diminishing, sufficient to retard, much less
7 to prevent this profigate waste of the ma
r tons resources. Distribute they would,
and that too, at the hazard Of the public
, execration. They conided in the craft Of
> the scheme and were willing TO risk its ex-
posure. One dollar was to be given by
: the government through the states, to the
, people, and for that, three paid back, by
! the people, through the custom house, to
r the government. The people would see
!, and might be tempted, by the amount they
I received; that which they paid, was to be
, taken from them, in the dark and at dis
; lance. The first process was to be direct
r and visible--the second circuitous and OBJ
, scure, and il was upon this obscurity, that
the federalists relied, for impunity against
! detection in the impos.ure. The act oil
) distribution was therefore passed, and then
r in an instant after, the same men who