The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-03-26
REMARKs OF MIR. RIvEs,
On proposing certain amendments TO the Resolutions
MIR. Clay, respecting the TniG, Public Lands &c
In SENATE U. S. March 24rn, 1872

DAYS ago that he desired at the proper unio " 'n
some amendments 10 the Resolutions oil tne iioho' "D''
Senator from Kentucky, (Alr Clay) AS 'hey were
intended as a substitute for portion oil those neso-
utons he presumed would not be III ORDER 10 ohei
,h., While the amendments already submitted by Inc
Senator from New York (Mr Wright were yet UNI
disposed Of He wished, however, TO put the Senate
in possession of them at this time that they might be
printed, and an opportunity be afforded to Senators
TO consider them, before the final action upon liie
subject of the Resolutions generally. He begged
leave in presenting them, to state very briefly inc
views and considerations which had determined nm
to offer them.
fully participate, said Mr. RTEs, in the feelings
Of deep modification and humiliation which nave
been so properly and forcibly expressed by the non
orabe Senator from South Carolina Mr.. Preston)
this morning, at the present deporable condition OF
the finances and public credit of this great nation
The evil demands immediate and practical re-
NEEDY The painful developments which have been
occurring from day TO day have brought my mind to
the thorough conviction that, IN the existing con
dtion of things neither the essential branches OF the
public service be carried on, nor can the public
credit be maintained, without the aid for the pres
ent form other of all the sources OF revenue
to which this Government has been heretofore accus-
toned What, MIR. President, is the Notifying situa-
ton to which we are reduced With current revenue
hardly equal to half of the current expenditures
of The Government we have been driven 10 every va
rety of desperate shifts and expedcns to meet the da
" demands of the public service Already since our
assembling the Secretary of the Treasury has been
compelled 10 come before US again and again with the
report Of an empty and bankrupt Treasury, showing
quarterly deficits of large amount, for each Of the FIRST
two quarters of the current year And how have we
been compelled to meet them Bya new issue OF the
IL = thau
put out though bearing per cent interest, have
been actually Sold learn, in the streets OF the Ma
tional Capital at discount Of from three 10 four per
cent At the same time, the Treasury notes which
had fallen due, have been protested, IN repeated in
stances, on the public mart, for nonpayment, with
the view, told, 81 recurring 10 the response
biity Of individual endorseIs, as having become bet
ter guarantee than the credit Of the Government it.
self! And last, though not least, pressing have be-
come the necessities of the Government and preca
nous the public credit that have seen the PROPOSE
ton seriously entertained TO put the stock of new
loan into market for whatever it will bring.
IL not this, Mr.. President, state of things humili-
ating to the national pride and does not call upon
every one, jealous of the honor of the American
name, to unite in applying prompt and eficacous
remedy And at what moment Ia It permitted to eX-
list In the presence of foreign difficulties, which, TO
say the least appeal to every sentiment of pride and to
every principle Of prudence To be prepared for what
may be their possible issue | am no aiarmist,
and least of all, an advocate of war. There is no
thing | more iervently implore for my country,
and all mankind, than the blessings of peace
But it would be- humbly conceive, greatly
to underrate the gravity of the questions pend
ing between and one fthe most powerful nations Of
the earth and to disregard the deep sensibity which
we have seen recently awakened elsewhere, well as
among ourselves, in relation to one OF the most deli
sate oftiese questions to say that there is, dan
ger in the future Of an interruption of that peace
which we all trust, alike anxious to preserve,
long as it be done consistently with the national
rights and honor. Peace, | sincerely hope, will be
preserved where there many motives of every
kind of feeling and Of interest, for It's
But while uncertainty rests on the subject, and at
moment especially when that uncertainty is rapidly
fastening to the crisis Of its final solution, is douby
incumbent to cherish vital and important an
element Of the national strength as the public credit
''the pillar Of the public safety, asst empha-
tically called by the great statesman who frs,
called to preside the finances of the nation
It is time, then said Mr.. Rves, that we should adj
dress ourselves all seriousness the establishment
of this main pillar of the public safety its only true
and solid basis-a sure adequate and sacred provision
for the discharge OF the public debt. Our debt had
gone on increasing with such sweeping velocity that
IL was dfiicultto keep pace with it, and few OF
now able to say to what amount it had already attain
ed AT the commencement of the present
sion, we had contracted by loan, under the au.
thorily of the act of the extra session.
debt of five and a half millions of dollars
The Secretary of the Treasury in his annual
of seven millions Treasury notes to be redeemed
in the course of the present year We have since
authorized new issue of Treasury notes to the
amount of five millions Of dollars more. How much
OF the former issue may have been redeemed and
how much of the new may not yet have gone out
know not but the probability is that the whole pub
lie debt of every kind is, at this moment between
fifteen and twenty millions proposition is now
pending, as we know, in the other wing of the Capt.
tol, for additional loans to the amount in the aggre-
of onl hale mill I'LL
President,will any gentleman consent to subject the
credit OF the Government to the risk of farther dsho-
nor, by going into the market with this new stock
without previously providing the means of its re-
demptlon' It's a cardinal maxim of public credit,
never departed from with mpuny that the crea-
ton of every new debt should be accompanied with
the means Of its eXtinguishment; :" and after the
shock which our public credit has already sustained
these means must, moreover, be nrioaby pledged to
that object and other. This was the principle
on which our system of public credit was originally
built up, and has the sanction alike of the great names
Of Hamilton and Jefferson
Where, then, is the fund which we can set apart
and pledge for the redemption of the public debt ,
The real estate OF the nation, in the absence
of an adequate current revenue, is the natl-
raj and proper security for the payment Of the
public debt. Ii has been so regarded from the orinu
Of our financial system. The Funding act, as has
been generally called which laid The foundation Of
our public credit, pledged the public lands, then be-
longing, or which should thereafter belong to the
United States, for the redemption of the public debt
and declared that they should be applied solely to
that use, until the public debt should be fully salts
fed" They are now the only certain accessible re-
source which we can command for the support Of
public credit. The condition. on which a distribution
of their proceeds among the States take place
having failed by the demonstrated necessity of raising
the duties on foreign imports beyond twenty per
cent, unless the land fund be restored to the Ma
tionai treasury, the distribution must stand sus-
of var
and in the mean time, the fund should, in my humble
judgment, be solemny pledged for the payment of
the interest, and the final extingushment of the prn
cipal, of the national debt. With such pledge the
risk in saying would be instantly redeemed from de-
preston and dishonor, Treasury notes and the stock
of the Government would recover at once their par
value, if they did not go above it, and there would be