Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1842-08-25
REPORT


10th instant, Dir. ADAMS read his Report
as follows:
The Select Committee, to whom was
referred the Message of the President ol
the United States. returning to this House
the Act, which originated in il, "to pro-
vide revenue from imports, and to change
and modify existing laws imposing duties
on imports, aud for other purposes, with
bis objections to il, with instructions to
report thereon 10 the House, have attend.
ed TO that SERVICE and respectfully re-
port
The Message is the last OF a series Of
Executive measures, the result Of which
has been TO defeat and nullfy the whole
action Of the Legislative authority of this
Union, upon the most important interest
Of the nation.
Al the accession Of the late President
Harrison, by election Of the People, 10
the Executive Chair, the finances, the
revenue, and the credit Of the country,
were found in condition SO greatly dis.
ordered and so languishlng, that tie first
act Of his administration was TO call spe.
cial session Of Congress TO provide REM
edy for this distempered state Of the great
body polite. Ii was even then a disease
OF no sudden occurrence, and Of no ordi-
nary maIigniiy. -Four years before, the
immediate predecessor of Gen. Harrison
had been constrained to resort to the same
expedIeni, a special session Of Congress,
the result of which had only proved the
first of succession Of pallia,ives, pur-
chasing momentary relief at the expense
of deeper seated disease and aggravated
symptoms, growing daily more intense
through the whole four years of that adj.
ministrnton. 1t had expended, from year
to year, from eight to ten millions of dol
lars beyond lis income, absorbing in that
period nearly ten millions pledged for de-
posite with the States, eight millions OF
stock in the Bank of the United States,
from five to six millions of trust funds,
and as much Treasury notes and was
sinking uLder the weight of its own i'm.
providence and incompetency.
The sentence Of suffering people had
commanded change in the Admnlstra-
ton, and the contemporaneous elections
throughout the Union had placed in both
Houses of Congress majoritics, the natural
opponents Of the principles which it was
the will of the people should be substitut-
ed in the administration Of their govern.
ment, instead Of these which had brought
the country to condition of such wretch.
edness and shame. There was a perfect
harmony of principle between the chosen
President Of the People and this majority,
thus constituted in both Houses of Con-
gress and the first act Of his Adminstra.
ton was to call special session of Con.
gress for their elaboration and action
upon the measures indspensably necessa-
ry for relief to the public distress, and TO
retrieve the prosperity of the great com
munity of the nation.
On the 3lst of May, 1871, within three
months after the inauguration of President
Harrison, the Congress assembled at his
call. But the reins of the Executive car
were already in other hands. BY an in
scrutable decree of Providence, the chief
of the Peoples choice, in harmony with
whose principles the mulorities Of both
Houses had been constituted, was laid low
in death. The President who had called
the meeting of Congress was no longer the
President when the Congress met. A sue
CT ssor to the Office had assumed the title,
with totally different principles, though
protesting the same at the time Of his cleo
ton, which, far from harmnnizing, like
those of his immediate predecessor, with
the majority of both Houses of Congress,
were soon disclosed in dametrical oppo.
silon to them.
The first development Of this new, and
most unfortunate, condition of the General
Government, was manifested by the fail.
ure, once and again, Of the first great mea-
sure intended by Congress to restore the
credit of the country, by the establish.
ment of National Bank--a failure caus.
ed exclusively by the operation of the We.
to power by the President. In the spirit
of the Constitution of the United States,
the Executive is not only separated from
the Legislative power, but made depend
ent upon and responsible to it. Until q
very recent period of our history, all re-
ference in either House of Congress TO
the opinions or wishes of the President re-
lalicg to any subject in delberation before
them, was regarded as an outrage upon
the rights Of the deliberative body, among
the FIRST Of whose duties 1t is TO spurn the
influence Of the dispenser of patronage
and power. Until very recently, it was
sufficient greatly to impair the influence
of any member to be suspected Of person
al subserviency to the Executive anc
any alluson to his wishes in debate was
deemed departure not less from deccncy
than from order. An anxious desire tt
accommodate the action Of Congress tC
the opinions and wishes of Mr.. Tyler, hat
led to notifications of the irst bill for thu
establishment Of National Bank, pre-
scented 10 him for his approval, widely die
lering from tho opinions entertained o
their expediency by the majority of boil
Houses Of Congress, but which failed t.
obtain that approval for the sake of which
they had been reluctantly adopted. A
second attempt ensued, under a sense o
the Indispensable necessity of fiscal cor
poraton to the revenues and credit of tn,
nation, to prepare an act, to which an in