The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-08-20

annual expenses Of the National Government never
will the people of any State in this Union have
the benefit of one dollar from this richest of mines
of inexhaustible wealth, bestowed upon them by
their bountfu Creator for the Improvement of their
own condition. but giren atceyyes, to the last cent
guen a,oay forever-o pamper the reckless extrava-
gance of Government forever preaching retrench-
ment and economy and forever heaping million upon
million of annual expenditures to suckle armies
and dry nurse the land"
The committee submit to the House their unhes-
tatng opinion that the appropriation of any part OF
the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the
ordinary annual expenditures would be the only eec-
tual and rreievable giving a,oay of that great and
inestimable inheritance Of the American people
that if that growing and inexhaustible fund shall
be doomed to form the whole any part of the
rdys and for the annual estimates of the re-
cepts and expenditures of the National Government
the people may bid farewell, long farewell to eve
ny hope of receiving dollars useful improve
men from that gift of God to them thus cruelty and
perfdiousy wrested from their hands.
Nineteen of the States of this Union, in the ar
dent-perhaps, in some cases. nconsiderately ardent
pursuit OF this Improvement Of their own cond-
ton, have become involved-some of them heavily
nvolvedin debt. The greatest portion OF this debt
has been contracted for the accomplishment of stu
pendous works. to expedite and facilitate the inter-
course of travel and of trade between the remotest
extremes of this great Republic, swarming, from
year to year. with redoubng millions of population.
1t is no exaggerated estimate of the value OF these
works TO say that the saving OF time, OF labor, and
Of expense, to individual citizens of the Union, ENJOY
ing the benefit of these public works, more than re-
pays in every single year, the whole cost OF their
construction.
But, while these immense benefits have been thus
secured To the people, community OF individuals
the States which authorized them have contracted
burden ofabies heavier than they are able to beaI
They need the assistance Of friendly and powerful
hand and where should they find it but in the sympa-
thies of the National Government Tin their fidelity
to the trust committed to their charge in this Immense
and almost boundless public domain :! The applca-
ton of the proceeds of the public lands to alleviate the
burden of these debts ressng upon the people OF a.
most all the States Isl if not the only the most unex-
ceptionabe 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 property--a relief furnishing them the
means of paying to the United States themselves nc
inconsideable portion ofthe debts due from the States
to them: that by one and the same operation, the
people Of the States will be relieved from the intolera-
bic pressure Of their debt, and the common treasury
of the Union will receive back in payment of debt no
small part of the allotted to the States as
their respective portions Of the distribution
The committee regret that the shOrtness OF the time
which they have allowed themselves for the prepara-
ton of this report cOnsrains them TO pass over hume
other considerations amounting to the clearesl
demonstration that the distribution among the States
of the proceeds of the sales Of tie public lands will bel
infinitely more conducive to The ends OF justice, and
to the relief of the people from their embarrassments
than the devotion of the same funds to be swallowed
in the insatiate gulf of the ordinary annual expen-
SEES of the Federal Government; to perish, in the
using like the nine millions of the fourth insalment
promised the States, the eight millions of
stock in the Bank of the United States, and the five
six millions of Indian trust and navy pension funds
all sunk, during the Van Buren, Administration,
without leaving wreck behind.
This review of the of the President for OBJ
L. ...ls 49, Hi
far into detail and all leading to the conclusion
that they are FEEBLE inconsistent, and unsatisfactory
II remains only for the House to take, by yeas
nays, the question upon the final passage of the bill
and the majority of the committee cannot indulge
alphabetically, the absurd hope Of majority a.
Their in this or the other House of Congress competent
to the enactment of the bill into law they leave the
House to determine what further measure they may
deem necessary and practicable, by the legislative
thoriy, in the present caamitous condition of the
country.
They perceive that the whole legislative power Of
the Union has been, for the last fifteen months, with
regard to the action of Congress upon measures of
vital Importance, IN state OF suspended animation,
stranglcd by the Ue times repeated structure of the
Executive cord. They observe that, under these un-
exampled distractions to the exercise of their high
and legitimate duties, they have hitherto preserved
the most respectful forbearance towards the Execu-
tive chief: that while he has, time after time, an
nulled by the act of his WILL their commission
|
fare they have forborne the expression of their
resentment for these multiplied insults and injuries
They believed they had high destiny to fulfil, by
administering to the people, in the form of law, rem
edies for the suerngs which they had too long en-
dured. The will of one man has frustrated all their
abors, and Frustrated all their powers. The major
ty of the committee believe that the case has occur
red in the annals of Union, contemplated by the
| founders of the Constitution by the grant to the
| House of Representatives of the power to impeach
| tho Of tha tied hut
aware that the resort to that expedient might in the
present condition of public affairs, prove abortive.
They that the irreconcileable difference of opn-
ion and of action between the legislative and execu-
tive departments of the Government is but sympa-
thetic 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 morti-
fcaton under the failure of all their labors to re-
deem the honor and prosperity of their country it is
cheering consolation to them that the termination
of their official existence is at hand that they
about to return to receive the sentence
of their constituents upon themselves that the egis-
atve power of the Union, crippled and disabled as
it may be, is about to pass renovated and revvi
fed by the will OF the people, into other hands, upon
whom will devolve the task of providing that RENE
dy for the public distempers which their own honest
and agonizing energies have in vain endeavored to
supply.
| The power Of the present Congress to enact laws
essential to the welfare of the people has been struck
with apopexy by the Executive hand. Submission to
his will, is the only condition upon which he will per-
nit them to act. For the enactment of measure
earnestly recommended by himself, he forbids their
action unless coupled with condition declared by
himself to be on subject totally different that he
will not suffer them to be coupled in the same law
With that condition, Congress cannot comply In
this state of things, he has assumed the committee
fully believe, the exercise of the whole legislative
power to himself, and is levying millions of money
| upon the people, without any authority of law But
the final decision of this question depends neither up
on Legislative Executive, but upon Judicial au-
thority nor can the final decision of the Supreme
Court upon it be pronounced before the close of the
present Congress In the time, the abusive ex-
IF he constitutional 70