The republic., 1851-01-01
The Tr...ury R.por, and tho Union.


proftableness of Mr.. PoLK's iavorite mea-
sures. He is beginning to be anxious lest the
closing account should show a balance on the
wrong side. No other hypothesis will ex-
plain his unceasing attempts To cover up, or
wink out of sight, the actual cost of what he
Processes to consider SO invaluable
Two or three articles have recently appeared
in the Union in which desperate effort is
made to relieve the Mexican war from the
charges SO indelibly fixed upon it by the plain
facts and unerrng figures of Mr.. CoRwIN's
admirable report eve are willing To admit"
saysthe Union, THAT the cessofexpenditures,
during the war may be chargeabe to the war"
This is certainly liberal. But the Union can
not understand, or will not understand, how
moneys paid out since the war was ended should
be chargeable to the same account; and out of
this lack Of understanding arises the whole
structure OF its rickety argument. A single
item, selected from great many, may perhaps
serve Tor It's enlightenment. On the 4th of July,
lS4S, the proclamation of peace was issued,
and, according to the Union's logic, all expend-
lures chargeable to the war ceased On the
18th of July, lS4o, a law was passed granting
three months extra pay to the officers non
commissioned officers, and privates, who served
in the war with Mexico, and the sum OF three
millions of dollars, based upon estimates Of the
Pay Department, was appropriated for that pur-
pose Now it is possible that the Union may
believe that this and other similar expenditures
are not justly chargeabe to the war; but it can
never make intelligent readers believe so.
But the Union has another object in view
besides defending its beloved Mexican war. 1t
endeavors to '.kil two birds with one stone;"
and, having proved to its own satisfaction that
the increase OF expenditure is not chargeable to
the war, it concludes that, as matter of course,
it is chargeable to ''Whg extravaganza"
With due Difference to the logic of the Union,
we beg leave to deny the sequence of its con-
cluslon. If the war, and what the war has
brought with it, do not account for the increase,
it remains to be proved what will account for
it. 1t is an unsolved problem which the Union
should at once proceed to study. 1t is useless
to attempt to deceive the people by barefaced
assertions. Even the Union's readers think for
themselves They know how laws are passed
and how appropriations are made, and how they
are expended. When the Union tells them that
''Mr. CoRwIN may pay twenty prices for subsis-
tence and forage, and waste wherever it is posi-
bic to waste" they laugh in their sleeves; for
they know perfectly well that Mr.. CoRwIN has no
more to do with the purchase ofsubsistence and
forage than the man in the moon they know
that the superntendence of these and similar ex-
penditures is entrusted to the same Chiefs of
Bureaus to whom il was entrusted under Demo
cratic administrations in most OF them, in
the Quartermaster's Department, for instance,
where the principal increase of expenditure is
found to officers who have always belonged to
the party opposed to the Wings. They know
too that these officers furnish the data on which
the estimates are based, and make up the ac-
counts and reports by whch they are explained.
If, therefore, the Union desires to make out
case of ''Whig extravaganza" it must do
something more than defend the Mexican war.
1t must show that the expenditures have been
made under Whig laws, with Whig appropria-
tions, by Whig agents; and it must go still fur
ther and point out where the alleged extrava-
gance is to be found. This the Union knows it
cannot do; and so it wastes its energies. in at
tempting to refute Mr.. CoRwIN's report, and
imagnes that its readers will take the 50 ex-
travagance" for granted.
AS we do not suppose that argument on
these matters will have any effect on the
Union, we propose to cite ain authority. We
~
believing that the sectional preiudices of Mr..
RITcHIE will prevent him from impeaching
such testimony. At the last session of Con
gress, an attempt was made to charge the re
sponsibllity for the increased expenditure OF
the public money upon the Committee of
Ways and Means, precisely as the Unin now
seeks to cast it upon ''Whig extravaganza"
Mr.. BAYLY, the Chairman Of the Committee.
in an able speech, repelled the charge, vndi-
Gated the Executive from all insnuations of
extravaganza, and placed the responsibility
where it belongs, with the Legislative power
AS the Legislative power was not, and is moi
Wing, it is of little consequences to us whether
they cast the burden upon the Mexican war or
upon their own "extravagance." In neither
case will it fall upon Wing shoulders. We
quote from Mr.. BAyLY's speech delivered in
the House of Representatives on the 10th of
August, 1850:
"But there is one other point which desire to no
tice. There has been great deal of complaints
sort of side bar complainant the large amount of
appropriation bills that have been brought into the
House from the Committee of Ways and Means.
And most ingenious effort has been made by gen
temen who know nothing of what they talking
about to cast censure upon that committee Our
duty is to appropriate money to carry out the
listing laws; cannot repeal the law. If Congress
pass laws which require money to carry them into
execution, this House may repeal them, is truc
they may, if they think it wise, refuse to make
the necessary appropriation; but the Committee o
Ways and Means have no such power. There are
scarcely any of the items of these bills certainly
none of any large amount-which not author
lied by laws of Congress; and for these laws of