Litchfield enquirer., 1842-08-25


duous works to expedite and facilitate the
intercourse of travel and of trade between
the remotest extremes of this great republic.
swarming, frcm year to year, with redouo-
ling millions of population. il is no exagge-
rated estimate of the value of these works to
say, that the saving Of time, of labor, and OF
expense to individual citizens of the Unions
enjoying the benefit Of these public works,
more than repays, in every single year, the
whole costOf their construction.
But while these immense benefits have
been thus secured to the people as commu-
nifty of individuals, the states which author
lied them have contracted burden of liabl-
lities heavier than they are able to bear
They need tho assistance of friendly and
powerful hand, and where should they find
it but in the sympathies of the National Go
vernment! in their fidelity to the trust com.
mitted to their charge in this immense and
almost boundless public domain! The ap.
plicaiion of the proceeds of the public lands
to alleviate the burden of these debts pressing
upon the people of almost all the states, is, il
not the only, the most unexceptionable, mode
of extending the mighty arm of the Union to
relieve the people of the states from the
pressure of the burden bearing upon them
"a relief consisting only Of the distribution
among them of their own property-a relief
furnishing them the means of paying to the
United States themselves no inconsiderablc
portion of the debts due from the states to
them so that by one and the same operation,
the people of the States will be relieved from
the intolerable pressure of their debt, and
the common treasury of the Union will re
ceive back in payment of debt no small part
of the same sums allotted to the states as
their respective portions of the distribution.
The committee regret that the shortness of
time which they have allowed themselves for
the preparation of this report constrains them
to pass over numerous other considerations
amounting to the clearest demonstration that
the distribution among the states of the pro.
ceeds of the sales of the public land will be
infinitely more conducive to the ends Of jus.
tice and to the relief Of the people from their
embarrassmentS, than the devotion of the
same funds to be swallowed up in tho insa.
tiate gulph of the ordinary annual expenses
of the Federal GOvernment-to perish in the
using like the nine millions Of the fou:th in.
stalment promised to the states, the seven-or
eight millions Of stock in the Bank of the
United States, and the five or six millions of
Indian trust and Navy pension funds, all
sunk, during tho Van Buren, administration.
without leaving wreck behind.
The review Of the reasons of the President
for objection to the passage Of the bill might
leading to the conclusion that they are feeble,
inconsistent, and unsatisfactory. 1t remains
only for the House to take, by yeas and nays,
the question upon the final passage of the bill,
and as the majority of the committee cannot
indulge, even alphabetically, the absurd
hope of a majority either in this or the other
House of Congress competent to the enact.
ment of the bill into n law, they leave the
House to determine what further measure
they may deem necessary and practicable
by the legislative authority in the present Gu.
lamatous condition of the country.
They preceive That the whole legislative
power of the Union has been for the last tif.
teen months, with regard to the action OF
Congress upon measures of vital Importance,
in state of suspended animation, stranglcd
by the five times repeated structure OF the
Executive cord. They observe that, under
these unexampled distractions to the eXer.
else of their high and legitimate duties, they
have hitherto preserved the most respectful
Performances towards the Executive chief;
thnt while he has time after time annulled by
the mere act of his will their commission
from the people to ennct; laws for the com.
mon welfare, they have forborne even the
expression of their resentment for these mul.
tipled insults and ihjuries-they believed
they had high destiny to-fulfil, by admin
istcring to the people. in the form of law
remedies for the sufferings which they have
long endured. The will of one mnA has
frustrated all thci: labors and Frustrated all
their powers.
The majority ofthc Committee believe that
the case has occurred in the annals of our
Union, contemplated by tho founders Of the
Constitution by the grant to the House
of Representatives Of the power TO impeach
the President of the United States but they
are aware that the resort to that expedient
might, in the present condition of public af.
fairs prove abortivc. They see that the ir-
reconcilable difference of opinion and of &C.
ton between the Legislative and Executive
Departments of the Government is but SYM
pathetic with the same discordant views and
feelings among the people. To them alone
the final issue of the struggle must be left
In the sorrow and modification under the
failure of all their labors to redeem the hon.
or and prosperity of their country, it is a
cheering consolation to them that the termi.
nation of their own official existence is at
hand that they are even now about to return
to receive the sentence of their constituents
upon themselves; that the legislative power
Of the Union crippled and disabled as it may
now be, is about to pass, renovated and revi-
vitied by the will of the people, into other
hands, upon whom will devolve the task of
providing that remedy for the public distem-
pers which their own honest and agoniZing
energies have in vain endeavored to supply.
The power Of the present Congress to en-
act laws essential TO the welfare of the people
has been struck with apoplexy by the Exec
utive hand. Submission to his will 10 the on
ly condition upon which he will permit them
to act. For the enactment of a measure ear
nestly recommended by himself he forbids
1hoSw n1o1 l.,..