Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-07-19

dangerous to liberty.
J, Besides making the necessary legislativ,
!, Eproyisions for the execution Of the treaty
: and the.establishment of territorial govern
ments in the. ceded country, we have, upol
4 the restoration of peace, other importaln
& duties to perform. Among these, I regare
j none as more important than the; Adoption
; Of proper measures for the speedy s.extin
guishment Of the national debt. 1t is a
gainst sound policy and the genius Of oul
institutions, that public debt should be per
mitted tossxist asdayss longer than the means
Eef ths tleasusy sgnzE
We should adhere to the wise policy laid
down by President Washington, of '"savoid-
ing the accumulation of debt, not only shun-
ming occasions Of expense, but by vigorous
exertions in time of peace to discharge the
debts which unavoidable wars have occa-
stoned, not ungenerously throwing upon
posterity the burden we ought ourselves to
bear F"
At the commencement of the present adj
ministraton, the public debt amounted to
SIT ,7SS, ,799 g.. In consequence of the
war with Mexico, it has been necessarily in
creased & now amounts to $65, IT'S, ,45O Al
including the stock and treasury notes
which may yet be issued under the act Of
January %, lS47, and the sixteen million
loan recently negotiated under the act of
March 81, 1848. .... ..
In addition to the amount of the debt, the
treaty stipulates that twelve millions Of dol
lars shall be paid to Mexico in four equal
annual instalments of three millions each
the first of which will fall due on the 30th of
May. l949. The treaty also stipulates
that the United States shall assume and
pay' to our citizens "the claims already
liquidated and decided against the Mexican
republic" and "all claims not heretofore de-
cided against the Mexican government" to
an amount not exceeding three and one
quarter millions of dollars" The "iquida-
ted" claims of citizens of the United States
against Mexico, as decided by the joint
board of commissioners under the conven-
ton between the United States and Mexico,
of the llth of April, 1889, amounted to $2,-
026,l39 6S. This sum was payable in
twenty equal annual instalments. Three of
them have been paid to the claimants by
the Mexican government, and two by the
United States; leaving to be paid of the
principal of the liquidated amount assumed
by the United States, the sum of 81 ,619,-
6O4 rs, together with the interest thereon.
These several amounts of 'sliquidated" and
uniquidated claims assumed by the United
States, it is believed may be paid as they
fall due out of the accruing revenue, without
the issue of stock or the creation of any ad-
ditional public debt.
I cannot too strong ly recommend to Con-
gress the importance of husbanding all our
national resources, of limiting the public ex-
penditures to necessary objects, and of ap-
plying all the surplus at any time in the
treasury to the redemption of the debt. I
recommend that authority be vested in the
Executive by law to anticipate the period
of reimbursement of such portion of the debt
as may not be now redeemable, and to pur-
chase it, at par, or at the premium which
it may command in the market, in all cases
in which that authority has not already been
granted. A premium has been obtained by
the government on much the larger portion
of the loan; and if, when the government
becomes purchaser Of its own stock, it
shall command premium in the market, it
will be sound policy. to pay it, rather than
to pay the semi-annual interest upon it. The
interest upon the debt, if the outstanding
treasury notes shall be funded, from the end
of the last fiscal year until it shall fall due
and be redeemable, will be very nearly e
quail to the principal, which must itself be
ultimately paid.
Without changing or modifying the pre-
sent tariff of duties, SO great has been the
increase of our commerce under its benign
operations, that the revenue derived from
that source, and from the sales of the public
lands, will, it is confidently believed, ena-
BILE the government to discharge annually
several millions of the debt, and at the same
time possess the means of meeting necessa-
ry appropriations for all other proper OBJ
jects. Unless Congress shall authorize large
ly increased expenditures, for objects not of
absolute necessity, the whole public debt ex-
isting before the Mexican war, and that
created during its continuance, may be paid
off, without any increase cf taxation on the
people, long before it will fall due
Upon the restoration of peace we should
adopta policy suited to state ofpeace. In
doing this, the earliest practicable payment
of the public debt should be cardinal prin-
ciple Of action. Profting by the experience
of the past, we should avoid the errors into
which the country was betrayed shortly af-
ter the close of the war with Great Britain
in 1915. In few years after that period,
a broad and latitudious construction of the
powers of the federal government unfortu-
nately received but too much countenance.
Though the country was burdened with
heavy public debt, large, and in some in
stances unnecessary and extravagant ex-
penditures, were authorized by Congress.
The consequence was, that the payment of
the debt was postponed for more than twen-
ty years; and even then, it was only ac-
complished by the stern will and Anbending
policy of President Jackson, who made its
payment leading measure of his admins
tration. He resisted the attempts which
were made to divert the public money from
that s<eat object, and apply it in wasteful
and extravagant expenditures for other OBJ
jects, some of'fhem of more than doubtful
constitutional authority and expediency.
If the government of the United States
shall observe proper economy in its ex-
penditures, and be confined in its action to