The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-06-08

lernal improvements III tauada, upon The imam
cial system just alluded TO, gives utterance to
some Instructive reflections applicable 10 our
own condition and circumstances. ss,rhe clear
sighted view Of the ultimate result of such an
operation expressed in the few lines quoted
above" says the .4tias, with whose remarks we
shall close this article, is not unworthy of our
own consideration; for, if we are not borrowing
money for the purpose of building useless rail-
roads, we are doing what is quite as absurd,
namely, running up great foreign debt, for
articles which are reduced into rags within
a year after they are imported And these inn
portations, Tor which Great Britain is accumu-
lating our promises 10 pay, are held up as un-
misakable signs Of commercial prosperity! A
heavy reckoning day viii come TO US for these
reckless Investments, as well as to Canada, if
she embarks in the railroad scheme; and the
whole of North America will find itself the
duped debtor of Great Britain, fooled into self
destruction by the weak, whiflling, but cunning
ministry which at present shapes the policy of
that country, and which has in view two ends
only first, TO keep the government in their
own hands-a matter with which we have no
ulitCl tOHCtlil, anu, SECOND, 10 lIdkc all Tie
world resort 10 England for all sorts Of manu-,
features. To effect the latter object, so far as
North America is interested, they lend us money
to pay for their calico, and we, short sighted,
easy souls, think it good trade, because we
are not called upon to pay down in gold; and,
finding the game goes so well with us, they are
now tempting the colonies with the same bait,
well hat d,,llar hau md
build roads with will be directly returned to
pay for manufactures, gether with every other
dollar that can be raised from other sources;
while iii both cases they will have national Sc
c'n1ties for payment of principal and interest.
On the other hand, we shall have stock for pa
per mills to show for our investment, and Can
ada will have old iron to show for hers"
The Washington Union and the ComprO-
mise.
The Union has had much to say of late
in regard 10 the Compromise" but notwith-
standing all it has said, the column which il
has piled upon column, on that interesting sub
ject, we are not sure that we clearly compre-
bend the precise meaning which il attaches to
the term. On Tuesday last, in replying to an
objection which Mr.. MEADE, of the House Of
Representatives, in letter addressed 10 the
editor, had urged against the Compromise, and
which objection was founded on something con
tanned in the Report of the Committee of Thir-
teen, the Union said:
"As to Mr.. Meade's fourth point, we beg leave
to say, without meaning by any means to give
offence, that we have answered this view some
eight or ten times in the last five or six weeks
We will not, therefore, our readers with a
repetition of what they have heard often. II is
sufficient for us merely to say, that the gis of the
matter is in the bills not in the reports that the
latter only gives the and views Of those
who reported the bills; but if they are not found
in the bills themselves, they are of less conse-
quence than even the preamble of bill, which is
no part of the enactment, and really carries with
it no force or virtue"
True, the Union did aver on the 10th of
May, that ''the report was one thing, and the
bills another" And on the 18th of the same
month, after declaring the same thing in the
same words, it proceeded To add:
'The former THAT is, the reportl assigns the rea
sons for the committees agreeing to the bills; but
the report is not Legislative action. II is the bills
which, embracing the measures to be enacted,
constitute the gist of the subject. 1t is the bills
stitute the law Of the land. If the measures
therefore, sound; if the system of compromise
which they propose should be wise, constitutional
and Legitimate, the country will be satisfied"
Here, the reader will remark, the Union ex-
plicitly limits the system of compromise to
the bills reported by the committee. and denies
emphatcally that the report constitutes any por-
ton of that system The reader will also bear
in mind that, on the three several occasions 10
which we have referred. and ON which the Union
vehemently protested that no portion Of the re-
port could be regarded as forming any part of
the compromise, that Journal was commenting
upon so much of the report as related TO the WI
mot prociso; it was seeking 10 make the com
promise acceptable to the South, by denying
not only that that particular portion, but that
any other portion whatever of the report, con
stituted part Of the compromise.
But on the 18th of May. the very next day
after il had first proclaimed that 'the report
was one thing and the bills another. !" the Union
held very different language. as will be seen
from the following:
Extract from The Union Of he l2h Of May
"The Compromise.
"The day Of action approaches. Tomorrow the
debate upon the Compromise bill. which was re.
ported by the special Committee Of Thirteen, il
expected to commence. II will probably continue
from day TO day. until this great measure OF adj.
justuent and pacifcation will have received the
regular Legislative sanction Of the Senate of the
United States.
1--WE have examined this plan Of settlement in
all its important bearings. We have conferred
with many Of the most profound, scrutinizug,
and patriotic Of whom tho Republic can
boast, and we gratifed 10 find that il meets
with their most cordial concurrence, and that n
confident hope is generally entertained Of is ult-
mate passage through both houses Of Congress
All the Abolitionsts aud Free Sellers the extr~me,
. Taylor Wings from the North, and few saem-
. bers from the South, will present @ lcss Of
opposition 10 this system Of compromise com
prising the bill for the admission Of California
and for tie establishment of territorial govern
: ments, without the Wilmot proviso, for Utah and
NJ H. a 4