Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-08-20


In conformity with this policy an efficient sinking
of $40 600 900 annually provided for the pay
of the principal and interest Of the debt with the
povso that all moneys remaining IN the Treasury at thu
end of each year exceeding So should be carried
TO its aid-TVde Memoirs of Calhoun by r. M. 7. Hun
ter This scheme of sinking fund originated with Mr.
Lowndes. are informed by Mr.. Calhoun, who, III
his speech the bill TO prevent the interference of
tain federal officers in elections delivered February
$780, said in reference the discharge OF the fund
ed debt: s'For this important STEP at early period
the country is indebted 10 friend, unfortunately
morethe amiable the talented the patriotic Lowndes
the author of that simple but effective measure the Sink
ing Fund act passed shortly after the termination of the
late war;
In the year 1910 Mr.. Lowndes visited Europe, his
health being delicate Thomas, in his "reminiscences re-
ates that he happened to be in England the time
and that the first question put 70 him all occasions
was, do you know Mr. Lowndes 2" and gives the follow
ing anecdote on the authority of Mr.. Roscoe:
Mr. Lowndes very early riser and arranged mat
tiers with the porter of the Aheneum that he could have ad
msona early hour here he whiled away the time
until breakfast. One morning when he thus engaged,
another gentleman entered, and they came in contact
and into conversation neither having knowledge Of
the other They forgot their breakfast and
how passed until they found great in which
they were rapidly filing up when they separated m igno
rant Of each others Upon Change some hours AFTER
the EngshmaR Gr Roscoe and related to him his morn
ing interview with the great unknown and observed that be
the taest ana the uuassumng man he ever
and Of the greatest intellect he ever heard speak
Mr. Roscoe Immediately replied, 1T i the great American,
Lowndes, have been conyersing with Come and Dine
with will introduce to
Thomas's "reminiscences, vol. ?, p. 1867
II was during the last term of Mr. Monroe's admnistra
ton that Adams Crawford Jackson Lowndes, Clay and
Calhoun presented to the public for the Presidential
office Lowndes being brought forward by South Carolina
and Calhoun by Pennsy lvania But the health OF Mr.
Lownes completely broken. lie resigned his seat In
Congress- and determined to try again the benefit OF
vayage to Europe, but died at October ls IN the
4lst year of his age.
These are all the facts we have been able to collect
concerning the of statesman who at the period Of
his DEATH stood pre-eminent among the distinguished men
of the nation His relatives and personal friends must
surely possess of materials of the most interesting
kind Slr. Lowndes member of Congress during
most exciting period, when party spirit mountain
lgh and threatened to overflow the barriers of the Con-
ututon and the Union During the war he was at the
read of the Naval Committee its conclusion he
made chairman OF the Committee of Ways and Means
porting the famous tariff of 1876 and then originating
hat admirable system the Sinking Fund oct. These Ia
,ors have immortazed him What historian Of the last
var with England shall neglect to mention with great
the Of the chairman of the Naval Committee
Who established that branch OF the service and made
orious And in case Of future war; involving great
Expense the fnancier win know how to discharge its
ebt By reviyng and reenacting the Sinking Fund act
1916 These things belong the country Of which he
vas bright ornament. But, after all these
,er materials Of such William Lowndes. We
however that better day is about dawn for the
south, and that her viii rise and shine again in all
heir original brightness.
In other words believe that in the revolution which
going in this great age Of progress not the slightest
# the benefits will be the rescuing the deeds of our
worthless from oblivion patriotic citizen of the South
recently rescued from old repositories the original
etters of Marion and Sumter, Greene and Harry Lee,
Iorry and Rutledge and the amented Col Isaac Hayne
he sword Of the destroyer is rusng in its scabbard
the pen Of the preserver is destined hope give
the present all that excellent in the past and trans
MT the past and to postery as the most endur
ne and lasting legacy Of the nineteenth century-the
ives and fortunes OF its statesmen, soldiers poets pa
riots, and ph;lanthropsts.