Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1842-08-24
~, PA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST "a, ls4a

with the duty ofpreparing the bill, and the Pres
| ident ofihe United States himself, might secure
by compliance with his opinions pledge in ad-
vance OF his approval Of the BILL whenit should
be presented 10 him. That pledge was obtain
ed. The bill was presented 10 him in the very
Terms which he had prescribed as necessary TO
obtain his sanction, and it met the same fate
with lis predecessor: and it is remarkable that
The reasons assigned fer the refusal 20 approve
the second bill are in direct and Immediate con-
fiict with those which had been assigned for the
refusal 10 sign the first.
Thus the measure, first among those deemed
by the Legislature Of the Union indispensably
necessary for the salvation of lis highest inter-
ests, and for the restoration of its credit, its
honor, its prosperity, was prostrated, defeated,
annulled, by the weak and wayering obstnacy
of one man, accidentally, and not by the will of
the People, invested with that terrible power,
as if propheticaly described by one Of his own
chosen ministers, at this day, as 'fhe right TO
deprive the People of seif-goyernment."
The first consequence Of this Executive leg
islaion was not only TO PROSTATE the efforts OF
the Legislature itself, to relieve the People from
their distress, to replenish the exhausted Treas
! ury and call forth the resources OF the country
10 redeem the public faith 10 the fulhlment OF
The national engagements, but to leave all The
| burdens and embarrassments OF the public
Treasury. brought upon it by the improTidence
of the preceding Administration, bearing upon
the People with aggravated pressure. The ia
tai error of the preceding Administration had
been an excess Of expenditure beyond its in
come That excess had been an average OF
| eight millions Of dollars year, at least du-
ring the four years of its existence. The prac-
tical system of It's fiscal operations had been a
continued increase of expenditures and diminu-
ton of revenue, and it left as bequest TO its
successor no effective reduction of expenses,
but double reduction of revenue TO the amount
of millions, to occur, Of course, by the mere
lapse of time, unless ayeried, within fifteen
months, by subsequent legislation.
By the double exercise of the Presidential inter
Dict upon the two bills for establishing National
4 Bank this legislation was prevented. The ex-
cess of expenditures beyond the revenue continued
and increased The double reduction Of revenue,
/ prescribed by the compromise OF 1893, was suf-
fered to take its full effect-no reduction of the
expenditures had been prescribed; and IN the
course Of eighteen months, since the Inauguration
of President Harrison, an addition Of at least ff-
teen millions to the enormous deficit already ex-
listing in the Treasury at the close OF the last Ad
ministration, is now charged upon the prevailing
/ party in Congress, by those who had made it the
/ law, while the exercise of the veto power alone
disabled the Legislature itself from the power Of
| APPLYING the only remedy which it was within the
| competency of legislation itself to provide!
| The great purpose for which the special ses-
sion of Congress had been called was thus de-
feated by the exercise of the veto power At
the meeting Of Congress, at the regular annual
session, The maiori,es of beth Houses, not
Welding 10 the discouragement OF disappointed
! hopes and baflied energies, undertook the task
of raising, by mpost duties, revenue adequate
to Tie necessities of the Treasury, and to the
fulfmen. Of the national obligations.
By tie assiduous and unremitIing labors of
| the committees of both Houses charged with
the duties of proyidngfor the necessities Of
the revenue, and for the great manufacturing IN
terest of the Northern, Central, and Western
Estates, which must be so deeply affected by
any adjustment OF a tariff, to raise exclusively
revenue adequate to the necessary expenses
/ Of the Government from duties on imports, a
tariff bill believed 10 be nearly, # not wholly,
sufficient for that purpose, was elaborated and
amply discussed through long series oil weeks
in both branches of the Legislature, The pro-
cess of CESSATION through which alone such a
complicated system could be organized, neces-
sarlly consumed many months of time; nor
were the committees or the House exempted
from severe reproach, which the purchased
presses of the Executive Chief are even yet
casting upon Congress, without rebuke or re-,
slraint from him. The delays were occasioned
by the patient and unwearied investigation of
the whole subject by the appropriate commit-
tees. As the period approached when me so
called compromise tariff was 10 be cousunlma-
ted, leaving The Government without any rev.
enue tariff sanctioned by the law, the prudence
of Congress, without precipitalipg their deci-
sion upon the permanent system which they
fondly hoped 10 establish, provided and sent 10
the President temporary expedient, limited in
its operation 10 the space Of one month, during
which 10 avoid, as they tkonght, the possibility
of collision with the apprehended anlipalhies
of the President, they had suspended for the
same month the distribution of the proceeds Of
the sales OF the public lands, which, by a pre-
vious law, was 10 take effect the day after the