Washington sentinel., 1853-12-08
THE PRESIDENTS MEssAGE-THE IN.
TERNAL IMPROVEMENT QUESTION.

1hiiibuih 10 SnaPioiu.
THE PRESIDENTS sMEssAGE-THE IN
TERNAL IMPROVEMENT QUESTION.
We are gratifed in saying that the views
which, as an independent press, we have pre-
sented upon the great question of constitutional
responded to substantially by the message.
We have endeavored to maintain, by the au-
thority of the great names which have made
the epoch of 1898, to which the President
alludes, memorable in the annals of the repub
ican party-by the contemporaneous history
of the foundation of the Constitution-and by
proper construction of that instrument ITSELF
that the powers reserved to the States are am
ply sufficient for the internal improvement
system of our whole country, without a resort
to powers by the federal government, of doubt
ful existence, to say the least, and, as We be-
lieve, condemned as unwarranted and i'm
proper.
The President refers to the power which has
been so often exercised of constructing roads
in the Territories by the grant of alternate
sections Of the public lands, and maintains
"that grants of land to aid in the construction
of roads should be restricted to cases where it
would be for the interest of proprietor, under
like circumstances, thus to contribute to the
construction of these works." He, at the same
time, guards his approval of this principle re-
sulting from mere proprietary rights, by de-
c1a hat tbo ,f
by no means, affords Encouragement to a
reckless or indiscriminate extension Of the
principle
This passage in the message is of great i'm
portance in placing proper restriction upon
the power Of the government in the disposition
of the public lands; thus indicating that the
constitutional limitations, on money appropria-
tions, are alike applicable to grants to land.
The declarations of the message upon the
subject ofmoney appropriations, for certain To-
cal improvements in the States, for harbors
and like objects, are entirely consonant with
views recently put forth by us upon that subject,
and shadow forth the adoption of the consti-
tional resort to tonnage duties, to be levied by
the States, with the consent of Congress, for
these important purposes. The President re.
ours with emphasis TO the famous action of
General Jackson in 1880, by which, admitting
the difficulty of doing so, he sought to bring
back the government " to the construction of
the Constitution in 1898, and marked it as an
admonitory proof of the necessity of guarding
that instrument with sleepless vigilance against
the authority of precedents, which had not the
sanction of its most plainly defined powers"
In seconding this patriotic effort, the Presi-
dent plainly asserts his own determination in
this language:
"Our government exists under a written
compact between sovereign States uniting for
specific objects, and with specific grants to their
general agent. If, then, in the progress of its
administration, there have been departures
from the terms and intent of the compact it is,
and will ever be, proper to refer back 10 the
fixed standard with our fathers left us, and to
make stern effort to conform our actions to it.
The President concludes this branch of his
message by suggestion, clearly referring to
the expedient of tonnage duties by the States
for local purposes, which few days since we
urged upon the attention of our readers.
II submit to you," says he, "whether it may
not be safely anticipated that, if the policy we're
once settled against appropriations by the gen.
eral government for local improvements for the
benefit Of commerce, localities requiring expen
ditures would not, by modes and means clearly
legitimate and proper, raise the fund, necessary
for such constructions as the safety or other in
terests of their commerce might require
With these more general views, the Presi
dent approaches the important subject of the
Pacific railroad. This point he maintains with
more caution than we could DESIRE but in such
manner as clearly to show the tendency, if
not fixed character, Of his opinions, to be in &C.
cordance with those which this press has uni
formly advanced. He nowhere indeed, pro-
nounces against the Pacific road as a present
enterprise, in so many words; while he seems
to intimate that there are circumstances in
which its construction for military purposes
might be Incidental TO, and INDISPENSABLE
TO the use Of the means expressly given to Con-
gress to provide for the common defence. But
still it is obvious, upon fair construction OF
the whole passage, that he repudiates the idea
of any administration by the federal govern
ment of any such improvement, and leaves to
future exigencies, as they may arise, the deter.
mination of the question, when it would be con-
stiiutional for Congress to aid by its means in
its consummation. And we say, without hesi.
tation, that regarding message, not as the
executive exposition of abstract constitutional
points, but as intended under the Constitution
to be summary Of recommendations to present
action, it was proper that the President should
indicate in clear terms his present views, and
leave TO the future the determination Of ques.
tions arising under different exigencies.
We shall cloEe our article by quoting these
parts of the message, which have led US TO the