The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-01-15

u
debtedness OF the country. To boast, therefore,
mat the American government is free from debt,
comparatively with other countries, Is merely to
repeat mat equlvocatlon, which we have, over and
over again, exposed. The federal government,
under those restrictions of its powers for internal
purposes, which have hitherto existed and which
President Polk lays some stress on the determina-
ton he has shown to maintain, can have very lit
tie use tor money, unless when it thinks fit to
engage in a war OF conquest and therefore
Of course, very little occasion to borrow it
could, that the States don't run deep into debt,
and that some of the most materially progressive
OF them don't run int debt, and then shirk pay
ment. "The damnIng blot of repudlation," OBJ
"still furnishes the national fame; and the four
years just passed, while they have that vast
crease on which Mr.. Polk insists, in the resources
OF the Union, have not seen single step taken
towards washing it out. The assets, indeed, have
increased, but the liabilities have not diminished;
and, consequently, while the Americans have
more money they have less honor One fact is
worth thousand assertions about the character
of the nation advancing" namely, that nOtwith-
standing the admitted and unparalleled resources
of America, her Federal Stock is to be had, at
this moment, at lower price than those of revo-
lutlonized France and distracted Austria" We
may take farther occasion of noticing some of
the Indifferent compliments President Polk thinks
proper to pay the old countrles-Or our own. at
least, whose reputation chiefly concerns us. We
allude to them now, to Justify our moderate re-
prisals on the blemshes of the republic.
From the London Times Dec. 221
when scarce day passes without bringing the
inauguration OF constituent assembly, the address
OF newly elected President, or the programme of
! President reads like a thing OF the past. BY the
rule of comparison, the United States will soon
| be an ancient polty. The successor of Washing
ton Is an old friend. One feels, therefore, some
| what more patience than usual for the annual tax
on our time which long series OF Presidents have
uniformly exacted. The court style of the Union
Is so well known to the taste of this natlon that
| we need only say 1t characterIZes the message.
We can, however, add that Mr.. Polk has given an
| account OF American progress which will excite
the interest and the admiration of the Old World.
In the history of States, there never was any thing
so rapid, and never did Preternatural growth APP
pear to rest on so solid foundation. All that
has ever read OF families multiplied as the sands
on the sea shore, OF swarmlng tribes, of rising
concentred and magnlfied in this modern pro-
Dizzy, whose Anglo Saxon origin suggests in US
so many regrets, and not little pride. President
Polk surveys with natural .complacency the
troubled scene OF European politics, from which a
vast ocean, and not less interval of institutions
and customs separates the model republic. He
halls the new burst of democracy IN France, and
the attempt at a federal union IN Germany; with
what grounds for his confidence time alone can
show; The vast resources of the Union, and the
sound footing of its ct mmerce and finances, have
saved 1t from any considerable participation in the
| commercial calamtles OF this and the continental
on the trade of the Union the President ascrlbes
much OF its safety and prosperity. Mr.. Polk then
hasIens to the strong point OF his Presldency-the
enormous acquisition OF territory effected within
these tour years by annexation, by treaty, or by
| war; Texas, Oregon, California, and New Mexico
| are exutngly measured and almost weighed In
| the balance. They contain so many square miles
and SO many acres, and are equal to such and
| such countries; but as the English Imagination
will not revel with SO much gusto on these various
measurements, 1t may be sufficient to state that
almostas large as all Europe. The President ex.
patlates with delight on the climate, the soil, and
other natura! advantages of the newly acquired
gions Their rivers, their harbors, their vlcntles
returns again and again. The mines or rather the
fields of gold and of quicksilver in California are
an inexhaustible fund OF agreeable discussion and
allnsion Paragraph after paragraph glitters with
gold-hunters wildly scraping the sands, and filling
their laps with solid wealth the greedy haste
with which whole crews desert their ships for this
Lotus shore; and all the other circumstances of a
real Ell Dorado are described with gloatlng exacy.
| A mint Is forthwith to be established Oh the West
ern coast, which is to deluge ASIA and Polynesia
with the glltterlng tokens OF the fortunate republic.
There was need of many mines to gid the Mexi-
can war, and to pay its expenses. Those acqui-
siions have cost the Union twenty-five millions of
our money. II IN the course OF twenty years the
| principal and the interest be repaid by the dust
collected from the rivers of California, the Union
| may deem itself most fortunate. Mr.. Polk, how
| ever, disdans to measure the war only by Its le-
suits He points to the energy, the military skill,
the administrative capacity, the martial SPIRIT the
indomltable perseverance,, and the dexterous tact
| by which 1t has been speedily brought to Its
desired consummaton under circumstances of
unparalleled difficulty. 1t is demonstrated that
the Union, at moments warning may under.
take war several thousand miles from home,
with forces competent to any occasion, conduct
that war with Promptness and unity of purpose,
and endure, without burden, all the necessary ex-
m he
OF that word, is found to be unnecessary. Two
million citizens, accustomed to arms, many of
them practsed in the rifle and hardened IN the Sc
veritles OF the forest. ambitious for distinction,
supply 8. neverfaing fund of volunteers. The
army OF republic consists not OF privates, but of
knights. Its very staple is heroic. What crowns
however, both the glory, the grace, and the abli-
ty of this conquest is, that all the States, all par
ties, and all professions equally contributed their
quota to the field, thus proving that Texas and
New Mexico belong not more to this or that State
than to all, and exhibiting also pledge to the
world OF that terrible unanlmity with which the
Union Will on future occasions prosecute its quar-
rels or its ends. 1t Is one of the virtues or the
vices of a republican Presidency, as Of the an
on his successor the long and banefu responsible
ties OF his career. With him the beginning is the
whole: He celebrates triumph, and lays down
ms ofiice. 1t remains tor another to carry out
the design The Union doubled, 30 to speak,
IN four years; and taking old populations and
semi-barbarous tribes into Its bosom, has not
few difficulties of legislation to solve. The
question OF slavery Is opened again, at least IN
an abstract form. Mr.. Polk is disposed to 20 softly
on this ground He is willing to believe these diff
ticulties are not practical that there WILL in fact,
be no slavery In the greater part of the new terri
tory, and that the questions of government and
laws can be easily settled, as they arise. We will
not follow him into this domestic ground, nor will
we allude to any mine of future. quarrels in this
united family Of States: 1t certainly IS for the ad-
vantage OF all nations that they should rema In the
"happy family" they are. They give us food and
the materials for clothing and take of our hands
wise men have predicted would impede the opera
tloa OF these services. But while we pass over
domestic and coniectural difficulties, It Is Impossl-
6le TO forget that The man who ID closing so bril-
liant pres ldency, who has stretched the cords of
his tabernacle to the Pacific ocean, and almost to
the lshmus of Panama, who boasts that by his
measures he has saved the commerce and the