Weekly national intelligencer., 1847-12-18

internal improvements for determining whether appropriations
from the National Treasury and their application to such OBJ
jecs constitutional There is the chemical test
referred to-day making all depend upon the fact whether
the waters be improved salt esh Ihep connected
with that, is what would call the hogcai test whether
the fish which frequent the habos rivers where you would
expend money, from the or ound only IN fresh
There is meteorological test sometimes proposed
to be found by watching the Of the tides and the dis
TO which they ascend and Gen Jackson less contract
ed in his views of the constitution than Young Hickory,
was willing to expend money freely for these purposes only
that 1T should all be below port OF entry That was gS
ice test and very convenient inasmuch Con-
gess has power by law 10 establish port OF entry where
will though it should be the OF the smallest
creek, the top ridge the Allegheny mountains We
have also Tie geographical test which determines the const
tulonaty OF work upon the question whether lies within
State or is cut by the dividing line OF two or more And
know not how many of these solvents oi constitutional
doubts and difficulties there may be but the President has
now hit on that is surely novelty If patent is to be
taken out for the discovery, trust that will interfere
with his claim In that part Of his message which seems to
treat of the definition Of the river and 'habo and
10 be, as far as could hear and undestand sort OF lecture
therefore on the elements Of geography and after he has taken
the bold ground that cannot help nature at ALL can make
Improvements aid Of navigation, he to the conclu
sion that the constitutional difficulty here harboE inlet
~ - snvugn 10 admit schooner, but then
you have right to deepen admit ships of heavier
burden and there power where boat in to do
any thing which might let in a schooner
Hereafter then, the constitution is to be measured only by
line and lead. laugh. vessel with deep keel must
but of your hatbotomed might get into the
habor and ride securely under the protection of the supreme
law, the great organic law Of the United States would bother
gentlemen exceedingly, think, to decide the character
and constitutional privileges of one Of those centre board
sells TO be found the lakes and in the bays the Atlantic
coast IN which the constitution could be let up or down
laughter at the pleasure of the navigator Hereafter all
vessels that navigate along the shores oil the United States
whether Of the lakes the ocean, instead of chart should
be provided with copy of this message, and your in
the bows as in the approach to land he TO soundngs
must heave the lead before, but instead Of the usual sailor
cries. "by the deep six by the mark fve.-" quarter
less ou-mnst cry, 'scon sti-tu-tion-aP'' su
ti0naas he the depth of which he is
sailing into port General merriment Then, at that last
fearful cry of warning, "Pu your helm down hard, will
shout Skipper Polk. And will only your little
COASTER but the ship ITSELF be saved from wreck
upon the shoals Of the constitution 1t will be objection,
suppose, that your constitutional powers under this rule of
navigation, will have TO rise and fall with the tide.
Mr.. Speaker, repeat, this is and new test dis
covery to constitutional appropriations and perhaps there
may be IN this IN nothing else, argument for sending
the message select committee Perhaps further examin
alton will lead tooer discoveries of views equally novel and
important.
In truth, we have nsw last ascertained what system of
protection our President and those OF his party who think
with him. are willing tofavor. Not protection by providing
for the safety of the HpeS and the property Of the people,
posed TO the pes of inland seaboad navgaton any
than protection OF their hor by discriminating legislation
another subject but the snags and rocks and sandbars in
your rivers the bars which obuc the entrance to your har
bos all these have extended them, according to
this modern creed of democratic construction the protecting
agis Of the constitution
H might say something here, Mr. Speaker, what
may consider slight inconsistency in the views Of the Ex
ecuve, whofnds such formidable such nsupeabe objections
10 expendng single dollar for works Of improvement home,
and Tor the development the great resources OF country
and nevertheless nsrucs his commissioner Mexico
goiae with the Government of that Republic he find any
here TO the right of way the hmus Of Te
huanepec Mr. s. said he hoped he pronounced the of
the place correctly We should all learn better he sup
when paIs
such "Mexcans gentlemen the way have sometimes
been pleased 10 hint abut real Mexican direct from the
" Halls Of the Monezumas coming here to take their
seats IN Congress OF the United States They would per-
haps teach thick tongued 10 give due utter
to what now, of US, very strange and hard
words And he particularly anxious about 1t,
he enjoyed the distinguished honor Of being chairman Of the
Committee Roads and Canals, and, for aught he knew,
that part Of the might be referred that committee
From that other executive light the second officer the
Government the public has learned that this right Of way
the sthmus is wanted for the purpose Of digging canal And
here is President who cannot let our little coasng
sells 60 along the shores of States without risk Of their
strandng the constitution, but who is able oycrleap
quarter of the continent and find authority dig canal
connect the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
And word about Of those other of the
stiuonaty of works OF internal Improvement Some decide
that there be appropriation which is to be expended
work lying entirely within the limits Of single State.
Such work. they say is necessarily hcqL Let this
objection and illustrate what il leads to by
plain instances There is the proposed canal aroundhe
falls the Sault Ste. Marie. As the settlements Lake
Superior increase, and the great mineral wealth of that region
is and made available there is improvement
short and easy of construction ship canal at that point
which would immensely affect the interests Of large
ton of this Union II is not only New York, Pennsy yvana,
Ohio, Michigan, and the country generally the lower
lakes, that to be benefited by such work, but through
them all the OF the East the West and the whole
country All will be deeply interested in clearing from OBJ
sucton and keeping open any such great of trade
and travel And yet that contemplated work lies all within
the State of Michigan, and would be termed local. and
within the purview Of national legislation ard appropriation
And there also is the canal around the falls Of the Ohio
II lies only in Kentucky, cutting dividing line Of States
But the whole Mississippi valley is deeply interested in that
work and the Mississippi valley the granary Of the Union
Every barrel of -four Of pork every pound Of tobacco of
hemp and all the rich productions which float down the Ohio
from upper Kentucky and Indiana from Ohio, Virginia. and
Pcnnsy ylvana pay tribute to that canal The tariff Of tolls
imposed there is laid upon every package of all the vasaount
Of merchandise ascending to the upper couny upon all the
sugar. cotton, and other staples Of the South Is the
people Of the whole wide country, well every farmer
and trader in the interior Sates interested having that
channel Of made free national thoioughfare
Then the navigabe waters Of the Maumee river and bay in
Northwestern Oho they say not he improved because
lying altogether within the limits Of my State. Yet il the
lines of the States into which the Northwestern territory
divided had been cast aud west instead Of north and
south, they ii the border difficulty between Ohio
and Michigan had been settled otherwise than was improve
cnts there would have been perfectly constitutional And
yet, in one in the other, the population, the
country, the interests would be affected aud bcne
f'ed by the improvement Why, Mr. Speaker,
every work OF internal improvement may be said to he local
There disputnI the trusm river every ca