The southern press., 1850-10-02
TIE SOUTHERN PRESS.
DEFERRED DEBATE.
In SENATE, Monday, September %
MEXICAN INDEMNITY.


fcoNcLppED.
Mr. BADGER. l desire TO say a few words
nnon this subject The honorable senator from
New Hampshire stated that could be SO
blind as not to see that tins appropriation was
asked for purposes not connected with the dis
charge OF public obligations and the saving Of the
pubc credit of this country Well, now, sir, If
,he honorable senator thinks he is able 10 see the
ex stence of some secondary, Interior, improper
purpose he must recollect that everybody is not
gifted with the extreme persp'caci,y which he pos
sesses. ] confess that am so blind as not to see
it, do not see il, however it may exist and
however well the honorable senator may know ii,
he has right to say that other people IN this
Senate besides himself aware of the existence
Of such a purpose, and are disposed to connive at
it. Sir, it is one thing for gentleman to enter
tain opinions of his own, ard to express them
which lie has right to do; but it is quite another
thing to say that those who are supporting mea-
sure see and know 1t is wrong, and continue to
support il notwithstanding
Again, the honorable senator says he thinks 1t
in vain to make any opposition to this measure,
because there lis specific gravity here which
ries through these appropriations Of money. Well,
sir, does the senator mean by that, that when an
appropriation is asked for in this Senate there IL
some unworthy or improper motive, or MUST con-
sideration which actuates members OF this body !!
Is that what he means by specific gravity Ii he
is prepared to make such charge AS that, think
he ought to be prepared to prove it aud if he
cannot prove it, he ought be prepared to retract
it. But it will not be, perhaps, improper or un-
becoming for me to say, especially after the ex-
perence of this morning, that there Is sometimes
likely To be specific gravity outside OF this cham-
ber, which reaches forward and attempts to inlu-
ence and control the movements that take place
within II.
Now, sir, let us cons der this subject like mem
bers of the Senate-like statesmen Let us look
at it, as the honorable senator from New York
yrt tbal lterlt .,f h1c tran IS
perfectly idle, very much OUT Of place, gratuitous
aud unjust, to bring forward any iisinuatioBs
which may influence the motives of gentlemen ON
this floor. suppose any gentleman here, whether
in favor Of or opposed to this bl and whether OPP
posed to the amendment offered by the senator
from Louisiana, is influenced by considerations
which to him appear to render his support or OPP
position in either case matter of duty.
Now, what is the case' What is the question:
What is all this difficulty about' 1t is the. custom
of Congress to appropriate money at one session
for the fiscal year expiring, and generally for the
next succeeding session. 1t is TIE custom of Con-
gress to appropriate money to meet ell the
sagements OF the Government that will become
due and payable during that fiscal year. We
have already passed an appropriation bill, which
makes appropriation for all the sums that will be-
come due and payable up to the end of the fiscal
year ending the 30th of June, 1851; and, as the
honorable senator from New York has stated i,
this bill would have gone into the appropriation
bill of the House, us AN amendment or otherwise,
but that they have rule which excludes from
the general appropriation bill appropriations for
money to be paid by the United States under the
obligation of treaty. Therefore, according to
the rules Of the House, this appropriation had to
appear in separate BILL That is the whole
matter. But for that rule, this would have come
here as a regular appropriation
And then, sir, the money is to fall due within
the fiscal year. Why should we not, then, make
an appropriation for it? Why, gentlemen speak
about British bankers--about the profits they
make They speak about the advantages give
them. They speak in dark and nsinuating Ian
guage Of some moral obliquity in the Executive
officers of the Government-the President of the
United States and his Cabinet Sir there are no
profits before the Senate. doubt whether there is
gentleman on this floor who really believes thai
any such purposes Of wrong and injury, of cor
ruption and NAL administration, are entertained
by the President and his Cabinet. The bills say
nothing about British bankers Itproposes to ap
proprate this money just exactly in the SAM
terms in which we appropriate all other moneys
Ii is put under the administration of the prope
Executive Department, whose duty and proper
office it is to see the appropriations applied to then
legitimate purposes. That is the whole matter
and really it seems to me it is a most ordinary
and simple proposition to discharge ordinary
and usual duty in appropriate and regular
manner.
The senator from New Hampshire says in re-
wanted from day to day. Some of the appro-
priations but with regard to those pay
ments account of mail steamers, and in regard
to all appropriations which propose payment at
a particular time of sum in soiido his compari-
son is not correct ; and there is more reason
for excluding this appropriation now than exclu-
ding any other appropriation, the sum of money
for which would be required from and after the
4th of March next. But, in my judgment, there
is "A peculiar and particular reason why this APP
preparation should be made now. We are to pay
Il large sum of money in Mexico, and we re-
qured by treaty to pay it in that city in the month
OF May next, in the coin Of Mexico. Now, sir,
il negotiations are necessary for the purpose OF
enabling the Executive Government to accomplish
the payment of this sum in this manner at that
distant point, what situation will it place the Ex-
ecutive In If you pass the appropriation on the Sd
day of March neXt' True, there some eighty
odd days before it is required but you cannot
despatch messenger with the money IN his
pocket-book to Mexico to make the payment.
All the arrangements will have to be made, and
the time will be exceedingly short for the Govern
ment to act. The arrangements will be made in
great haste, and to greater disadvantage than if
you allow more time. They cannot be made
without loss to the Government, for they cannot
be made as advantageously as If the appropra-
ton was now made, and the Executive Govern
ment knew with certainty upon what they could
depend.
whick will show the injustice Of the remark of
the senator from New Hampshire. The last in
stalment was made upon agreement by Mr..
Walker, then Secretary of the Treasury, more
than one year ahead, and it made under the
advice and sanction of Mr. Vinton, of the other
House, chairman of the Committee on Finance
a most stringent hnancier, whose integrity, | be-
lieve, was never suspected, and with whom MIR.
Walker certainly could have had no political SYM
pathy, whatever sympathies he may have had
There is much less time now than then. IL this
money had been appropriated, us it ought to have
been, it would have been appropriated before the
close OF the last fiscal year. 1t is always the
practice OF Congress TO appropriate before the
close OF the fiscal year any moneys to be used.
But we have sat here till September without doing
1t, and 1t is time we through with the appro-
priations.
MIR. PRATT. | must say few words upon
this subject, after what has fallen from the hon
orable senator from North Carolina. He argues
as II those who are opposing the passage of this