The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-07-21
,,nxs OF Ma. r.. M. I. hun
OF VIRGINIA, ILL
an THE TEMPOhhN' INITIATIVES
pEL'Sh"'' JULY A, dressed the Ho,

ON Il
,,yrarp IN THE house or
phl'AA JULY A., dressed the House al
Mr.. HUNTER 'ss.tribution bill ofthe last SEES
sllnws: ted, which suspended The ope-
M, SPEAKER leneyer the duties upon i,nPons
-, I. oroviso Ser cent. upon their value ~ "a
.,;an OF the time that without TINS On wy
AL ayaave received the assent OF the 'e''-
shou' q nied States Indeed, the gentleman
un UNI Ana Mr.. Lane] has assured us that 'he
bus as introduced mainly 10 avoid this obstacle
a was supposed TO exist, II Congress were 70
IS II in any other form Recent events nave oe-
nonstrated that the impression then prevailing, as TO
the Presidents opinion, correct. Late, very late
in thu, session two bits were taken up which pro-
yideJ uermanent tariff of duties greatly exceed ng
20 Der cent and each ot which contained clause
repealing The suspendng proviso in the Distribution
bill Owing to the Iaeness of the period at winch
these bills we're taken up it was manesty imp sslbe
TO mature them before the first of july al which time
il supposed that the compromise act could not De
carried fully into operation, without some iutner ie
gslaIi,e provisions, Ia give II complete effect nese
bills then laid aide; and, about the middle Of
June this BILL which is the subject OF debate,
was passed with the most preciPnate haste Ihe
Chairman of the Committee OF Ways and Means
proposed take it out Of the COMMITTEE OF the
Whole on the very day OF It's introduction Anu
when the Senate returned it tn ameLdment,
ton Of The previous question, without one word OF
debate, and almost W thout examination. The bill,
passed. raised the duties above ~ per cent Tor
month, and still reserved to the States the right
the proceeds of the sales Of the public lands dunng
that month but the actual payment was also post
poned for the same period. Il was in effect, tempo
rary repeal of the suspending provso in the dstrlou-
ton and the supplies which il proposed to raise
offered upon that condition All he circumstan-
which attended this transaction seemed to indicate
D.. ..tn.t all hsa hnr, r.NT-
victons in relation this proviso Of the Land bill,
and to stop the wheels of Government so tar as Con-
gress could do it, unless he would agree to what was,
fleet, absolute surrender OF the public DOMAIN
to the S ates In the event of his refusing to sign
the bill only he, Lut the Government itsclt, was
thus to be surrounded by every difficulty and enbar-
rasslent which Legislative ingenuity could devise
IL was to be said that tbs compromise act was incom
pele, and the LIST of July at hand that II
impossible then to perfect 1t, or to ADJUST any ELI
cient system In time 10 meet The emergency.
II was also be said that he had arrested bill which
provid, the of ina attaining the Government,
and was attempting, by The of the Veto power, to
coeIce Congress upon revenue mcasu c. The Veto
power Itself was 10 be denounced as arbitrary ana
mschievous; and both the and the measure
were to receive the most unspariDg vituperalion But
on the other hand these dfficu,tIes which grew out
of the time at which this bill passed. were created
by the President, but by Congress itself They alone
had the power of originating this measure and was
under these very difficulties and embarassnens that
they chose to adopt 1t. They were difficulties which
he did not create, and could no. remove, unless he
willing to sign the bill under circumstance
which would force hun to to the absolute and
unconditional surrender of the public domain TO the
States 1t was known that the permanent tarh bill,
II il passed at al would exceed 20 per cent, and
would contain repeal of the suspending proviso in
the distribution act. If he signed the FIRST he could
not refuse his assent to the latter they were in
principle the same; and would be said al, if such
his opinions, he ought to have back the first
BILL as To notify Congress in time of his views in
relation TO this subject He was, therefore, aced by
Congress itself In situation in which he could not
take the means thus offered for month only unless
he prepared to agree to The absolute repeal Of the
saving clause in the distribution act. What he
then 10 do 2 He was assured by his legal advisers
that the compromise act, although not complete
legislative provisions might and should have made IT,
could still be executed and the amount of revenue
which il would furnish would not be very far diffe-
rent from that which the proposed bill would afford.
And was he to consent to the absolute alienation Of
his important of Federal venue, for the ad
dltiona piliance which this temporary would
give him 7 He acted, IN my OPP nion with states
manlike fof ecast and with the firmness which bee
his station when he refused to accept this scanty
sure Of relief, upon conditions 20 runOus to public
credit and to the Federal Government itself. Icon
gress would consent TO separate the two measures,
there was still time to complete The provisions of the
compromise act; and the Democratic party exhibited
its willingness, the morning after the Veto mes
sage, 10 unite with the ma ority in eecting that OBJ
ject. Such a bill might have pa ,sed in an hour but
the majority refused to permit the consideration
Of THIS separate measure. If difficulties there
fore, should arse, from The want of further le-
gslative proeiions in relation to the ccmpro-
mise act the responsibility will rest here, and
not upon tie President This House has no
right 10 coerce the Executive into signing i'm
provldent measure ofappoI ration by lacking to the
bill! for raising revenue to carry the q ,vernment.
The President did right to such attempt If
the poIuon OF It which In effect appropriated the pro
ceeds of the sales of The public lands tie States,
could not have received The assent Of twothrds OF
Cong ress, or Of the President, it unjust to the
mlnuri In Congiess, and to the President himself
to force him either to agree to such Appropriation
or else to veto a revenue measure which, OF itself
won have received The sanction of all. The at
tempt has IA led and it is lucky for the Executive
that the responsibility for any mischief which may
result from that failure rests here, and not with hun
But Mr.. Speaker, the veto message has been vehe-
menlIy assalled here upon the grounds that the
promise act itself requires tina, the proceeds Of the
pubic lands shou not be applied 10 The expenditures
of the Federal Government that the ands belong tc
the States; and that Is improper OF the veto
10 apply 1t to measures of mere expedency, Thu,
was, upon the Presidents admission--and es
peciaily, too when 1t Was revenue measure, which
this House alone originate. My colleague from
with all of The Ingenuity for which he is dis nguished
lie referred to the history of conemporaneous events
10 show that tho manufacturing interests, in assent
ing to the compromise act Understood one of its con-
dons to be the appropriation OF the proceeds of the
public lands to he States. In confirmation Of this
view, he referred to the 81 section of the compromise
act, which provides that from and after the 3Oth OF
June, 1912, "such duties shall be laid for the pur-
pose of raising such as may be nece sary TO
an economical administration of the Government ;
and he maintained that this pledged the Governm-n,
10 support Itself by duties upon imports alone. The
reason for this stipulation, he thinks was that the
manufacturing interests require stability 10 the sys-
TEN of imports which was TO be obtained only by
alenai ing the lands to The States and by maintains
the Federal Government upon customs alone. Now
| think, DIR Speaker 1t may be shown that such
stipulation never was made; that it would not have
attained the end for which he thinks il designed
aud that, in connexion with other provi-ons OF the
compromise act it would have becn positively injur
Gus to the very interests which he maintains 1t wa: