Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1844-04-05
Speech OF MIR. stewart. of
Pennsylvania.

10, 1874, IN iaVor OF Western In
provemeDts
Mr.. STEWART, OF Pennsylvania,
said that although he was not from a
Western State, yet the State from which
he came was as deeply interested in the
improvement Of The Western waters as
any State in the Union. These great
rivers were in fact but extensive feeders
Of those great lines Of improvement,
connecting the Atlantic and Western
States, made By Pennsylvania and Ma.
Tyland, al on expense Of some S50,0OO,
600, constituting debt which now rest.
ed with mountain weight upon their
people. These Sa'e works were alike
national in their character and their
benefits, and ought 10 have been made
by national means, and would have
been so made, with all the other great
works Of internal improvement which
had involved the States of this Union in
a foreign debt OF 5000 900 900, had that
great American System Of policy been
continued which had just been dcnonnc>
ed in such emphatic terms as AN impo-
sition an exploded humbug,' by the
gentlemen from Missouri. (Mr Jemeson,
Mr.. Kennedy, Of Indiana, and Mr. Flick
lin, Of Illinois, and over the 'eGplOSiOa'
Of which they had exulted in so much
triumph. True it had been involved in
the explosion, it had Ihrowed back this
great century from the point where it
would have now been, had that 'explo-
sion not occurred, and had involved the
States (and among the rest the States
represented by these gentlsmen) in
deblS and embarrassments from which
iif this denounced system was not spec
Oily resIored) they would not recover
for century to come.
The effect ofthe Van Buren SyStem on
the Interior and Western States,
Mr.. S. affirmed, and could demon
strate, that by adopting Mr.. Van Bu
Ten's system, the whole Of the great In
terror and Western States would be
now, hencsforlh and forever, excluded
from all participation in tho benefits Of
the disburse emenG Of the ample revenues
Of this Government, amounting 10 some
20 or 80 millions a year Without the
power Of Internal improvements, Ia pow
or which Mr.. Van Buren, expressly de-
nisd,) where, he would ask these
gentlemen, is the Objec2 He called on
them TO point their finger to a single
one 10 lhs Interior and Western States,
on which any portion OF the national
revenue could be constilutionalIy sx-
pended. Look at the great heads OF
appropriation: Where 10 your navy and
army, for which $l7,000,00O 10 this
year requiredf Where your forts and
torlifcationS?-your lighthouses, buoys
and beacons; your sea- walls, brSakwa-
ters and harbors; your custom houses,
foreign intercourse, surveying and 10 =
dian Departmental Were any Of these
in the interior? None-not one. These
were the objects on which The revenues
of the Government had been expended,
poured out like water; and, without this
power, must continue 20 bo expended, +,
now and forever. The people of the
great interior and The West were thus
doomed to be tax payers, 'hewsrs Of
wood and drawers Of water as they
had been for he sesboard. Their mo-
ney, like their vast rivers, might con-
,inue to flow in ample streams 10 the
Atlantic; and by denying this benef-
cent power, you blot out the sun which
slono could exbae and carry back in re-.
freshing showers, any portion Of these
vast contributions TO the interior sources
from which they come. Draw a line
five miles from the seaboard, the exter.
nal boundary of the United SlaIes, and
he believed he would be safe in saying
that there had not been expended, out Of
three hundred millions, as much within
this circle since the explosion OF Hhs
Wing system by the Msysvile and
Wabash river veloes, as had been sx
pended first and last, in the erection OF
these buildings for The accommodation
of Congress; g. even that amount small
as it was. must (accOrdlng 10 Mr.. Van
Buren, have been expended in violation
of The Constitution.
How gentlemen, who advocated these
appropriations, and represented the in
terror and Western States, so deeply in
ierssted in the policy Of internal i'm
prOvsmeulS could, consistently with
'thelr principles supper, Mr.. Van Bu-
rem, who expressly denied their consIi
iu,ionauy, he was al loss TO ina gino.
Here Mr.. Wentworth inquired by what
authority Mr. s. charged Mr. Van Bu'
rem with denying this power] Mr.. S.
said on the authority Of his own sigma.
lure, no! once, bu! repeatedly and, for