Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-03-31

WcTo lHIo the legislature OF this state
by Mr.. James j. Wilson, a gentleman of emf
nence and worth. No one will doubt or DISPUTE
his Democracy-a leader of the Democratic party
He was looked up to and much respected through
out the State. Not many years after this, how
ever, the party was rent asunder; one side took
with them the tariff thunder-it was all the
thunder they had-they would not allow the mat
ter to be settled, and thus it became party ques-
tion. How much more necessary tariff is at
at this time, let experience and facts show. With
an annual expenditure of fifty millions of dollars
staring us IN the face, can anything be more ri
dicuous than to quarrel about the yagaries of
free trade? This amount of expenditure will re-
quire an average duty Of thirty three per cent.
on all our importations We have no other re
sources for revenue Of any consequence but the
duties on imports What folly, then [ repeat
to be continually wrangling about the doctrines
of free trade! Fellow -citizens, my party robes
do not hang very heavy on my shoulders when
the welfare, the honor, or the interests Of my
country are at stake.
| have passed my grand climactcric, and can
have at best but few more years. live now III
and for my children IL | were to consult my
interest alone or my ambition would concern
myself little about the constitution or the laws
| would not be much concerned at what might
happen. speak not for myself, but for my chill
drens children, and, if it is not too much to say
| for my God and for my country. | desire peace
and liberty, and the maintenance Of religion and
the laws, as the only guarantees for the pcrpetuiy
of our free government.
Here, in this favored land, is the last and best
asylum Of liberty drive her from these shores,
and where will she find resting place?
Fellow-citizens, among the most important
means OF preserving our government in its
strength and purity is rigid economy III our
4 public expenditures. They have increased i'll the
last quarter of century from thirteen to fifty
millions of dollars; and if the augmentation or
increase should be the same during the next
twenty-five years, the cost of shis government
will be carried up to the enormous amount Of two
hundred millions of dollars--about three -fourths
of tho expenses Of the British Empire not in
Guiding the payment of the interest on her public
! debt. If this prodigality and wastefu expcndi
ture be not arrested, the country will be ruined
If corruption, with its hydra head and its long
train of evils, once begin to sap the foundations
of the republic, freedom is gone forever
| desire to see this government brought back
to the simplicity and economy of the days of JEFF
ferson. Such sentiments may seem strange to
some of my fellow citizens, but it must be borne
III mind that belong to the young and progress
siye school Of Democracy. 1t is true, | was
brought up at the feet of Gamacl among the
strictcst sect of Fedcralists. My father Fed
eralist ] was too young to take part in the
politics of those days. He was compccr Of
of those times he loved them when they lived,
and loved their memories when dead 1t was
his glory to follow where the footsteps of Wash
| ington led. If i had been old enough in those
days, would probably have been Federalist.
A purcr band Of patriots and more honest men
never ruled the destinies of any country: they
acted wisely in their day and generation.
} Our fathers knew well the impossibility OF
controlling the future; they did not attempt tc
stretch their arms into futurity to regulate the
conduct of their sons fifty years in advance, no
more than we will attempt to do the same thing
for the fifty years next to come. Since their
day our country has increased in Importance,
and wealth, and power, far surprising the most
sanguine expectations of the founders of the
republic. We must judge and act in regard to
public affairs for ourselves.
| do not like that principle which bids me
stand still because Washington stood still. This
is not just to the memory of that great man,
whose opinions were formed fifty years ago, under
an entire different state of things
In the days of Washington there was much
more to be apprehended from those dangers
which threatened a dissolution of the States, than
from those dangers which threatened consoli-
dation of the whole into one central government
The powers Of the general government should
be strictly guarded, and its patronage restricted
Everything that they can possibly manage should
be left to the control and direction of the several
State governments. The operations of the several
governments should be confined within the strict
est rule Of the constitution.
Our efforts should be now excrted to discmbar-
rass the general government from any intcrmed-
ding with the internal affairs Of the States, and
to put an end to prohigatc waste and extravaganl
expenditure. But will stop. j am obliged for
the compliment you have paid me- and the attcn-
tion with which you have listened to what have
had to say. bid you farewell