The North-Carolina standard., 1842-04-13
HOUSE or REfREsENTATIvEs,

y
sage was announced from the President of the
United States
The Committee was broken up to receive i,
and the Speaker received the message.
MESSAGE.
To the Senate and House of = ,. sI..,s
Representative of The Eaited StGtes:
Notwithstanding the urgency with which
have, more than one occasion, felt It my duty to
press upon Congressthe necessity of providing the
Government with the means of discharging It's
debts and maintaining inviolate the public faith,
the increasing embarrassments of the Treasury
impose upon me the Indispensable obligations Of
again inviting your most serious attention to the
condition of the finances. Fortunately for myself
in thus bringing this important subject to your
view, for deliberate and comprehensive examI-
nation of it in all Its bearings, and trust may
add for final adjustment of it. to the common adj
vantage of the whole Union, l am permitted to
approach it with perfect freedom and candor AS
few of the burdens for which provision is now
quired to be made, have been brought upon the
country during my short administration of its af
fairs l have neither motive nor wish to make them
a matter of recrimination against any of my pre-
decessors / am disposed to regard, as am bound
to treat them, as facts which cannot now be un-
done, as deeply interesting to US ALL and equally
imposing upon all, the most solemn duties. And
the only use would make of the errors of the
past is, by careful examination of their causes
and character to avoid if possible, the repetition
ofthem in future The condition of the country
indeed is such, as may well arrest the conflict Of
parties The conviction seems at length to have
made its way to the minds of all, that the dispro
portion between the public responsibilities and the
means provided for meeting them, is no casual
nor transient evil 1t is the contrary, which
must, for some years to come, notwithstanding
resort to all reasonable retrenchmens and the
slant progress of the country in population and
productive power, continue to increase under ex-
isting laws, unless we consent to give up or i'm
pair all our defences in war and peace But this
is a thought which I am persuaded no patriotic
mind will for a moment entertain. Withont
affecting an alarm which do not fe, |, in re-
gard to our foreign relations, IT may safely be
affirmed that they are in state too critical and
involve too many momentous issues to permit us
to neglect in the least, much less to3abandon en-
tirely those means of asserting our rights without
which, negotiation is without dignity, and peace
without security.
In the Report of the Secretary Of the Treasury,
submitted to Congress at the commencement ofthe
present session, is estimated that after exhaust
ing all the probable resources of the year, therewiH
remain a deficit of SI4,oOo,0O0. With view
partlytoa permanent system of revenue, and partly
to Immediate relief from actual embarrassment THAI
officer recommended, together with a plan for
establishing a Government Exchequer, some expe-
dients of more temporary character, viz: the iG-
suing of Treasury notes, and the extension of the
time for which the loan, authorized to be negota-
ted by the act of the last session, should be taken
Congress accordingly provided for the issue Of
Treasury notes to the amount of 8 5000 900, but
subject to the condition that they should not be paid
away below par. No measure CONNECTED with the
last of the two objects above mentioned, was intro
duced until recently into the House, of Represen-
tatives. Should the Loan bill now pc nding before
that body, pass into law for its present amount
there would still remain a deficit Of 8 z, 500 OO0
1t requires no argument to show that such con-
dition of the Treasury is incompatible not only
with high state of public credit, but with any
thing approaching to efficiency in the conduct of
public affairs 1t must be obvious, even to the
most inexperienced minds, that, to say nothing of
my particular exigency, actual or imminent there
should be at all times in the Treasury of great
nation, with view to contingencies of ordinary
occurrence, surplus at least equal in amount to
the deficiency. But that deficiency, serious as It
would be in ITSELF will, / am compelled to say,
rather be increased than diminished, without the
adoption of measures adequate to correct the evil
at once. The stagnation Of trade and business in
some degree incident to the arrangement of the
national finances aud the state of the revenue laws
holds out but little prospect of relief in the ordin.
ary course Of things, for some tineto come =,
Under such circumstances / am deeply impres.
sed with the necessity Of meeting the crisis with
Ia vigor anddecision which itimperatively demands
at the hands of alentrusted with the conductof pub
E1c affairs The gravity of the evil calls for re-
medy proportioncd to it. No slight palIiatives,
or occasional expedients, will give the country
the relief it needs. Such measures on the con-
trary, will in the end as is now manifest to all,
too surely multiply It's embarrassments Relying,
as am bound to do, on the Representatives of a
People rendered iilustrious among nations, by
having paid off its whole public debt, shall not
shrink from the responsibility imposed upon me
by the Constitution, of pointing out such measures
as will, in my opinion, ensure adequate relief
am the more encouraged to recommend the
course which necessity exacts, by the confidence
which have in its complete success The rcsour-
ces of the country, in every thing that constitutes
the wealth and strength of nations, are SO abund-
ant the spirit Of most industrious, enterprising
and intelligent people, is so energetic and elastic
that the Government will be without the shadow
of excuse for its delinquency, if the difficulties
which now perplex and embarrass it, be not
speedily and efectually removed
From present indications it is hardly doubtful
that Congress will find il necessary to Law add.
tional duties on imports in order to meet the or