The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-05-11

now the expenditure rose to an average
of forty -four millions, chiefly bestowed
}. on the army and navy. Large, however,
as was the amount to be extended, not a
dollar could 60 for the promotion of the
peaceful improvements of the North; when
in 1645, Congress appropriated about
million of dollars for improvements in the
: lakes and western rivers, the bill was
vetoed by Mr.. Polk as unconstitutional;
and when, in 1916, still more modest
bill was sent to him, appropriating only
half million to all such purposes, he
310cketcd it and it failed to become law.
;, The same difficulty occurred in regard
to bill for the payment of the debt ow-
ing by the nation to the unfortunate
claimants on account of French spolia-
tions. Passed by Congress, it was veto
ed by the President because it was M
conUenient to pay such claims while en-
gagged in a war for the extension of terri
tory on our southern & southwestern bor-
ders. To secure that extension, we had
to support an expensive war, and finally
to pay fifteen millions to the Mexican
Government; but happily "squatter gov
ernment" secured to the Northern States
a portion of the territory, for 80 nearly
all'of which they had been required to
pay.
Texas had been dragged into the Union
by Mr.. Polk, and in 1850 the people of
the North were required to unite in pay
ing ten millions for the enlargement of
slave territory.
The expenditure seems now to be fixed
at from forty to fifty millions of dollars,
of which the military and naval depart
ment, exclusive of the contracts for mail
steamers, require more than twenty, or
one half more than araS expended By NJ.
ADAMS for all purposes, internal and ex-
ternal. Having purchased Louisiana,
Florida, Texas, and New Mexico for the
South. we have but escaped paying twen-
ty millions for an enlargement of the a.
rea of Slavery arranged by Gen. Gads
den, and yet no appropriations can be
obtained for removing Instructions from
the great rivers of the West, or for i'm
proving the harbours of the lakes. Any
amount may be lavished upon foreign
missions, having for their object a re-
moval of restrictions on the tobacco trade
of France and Germany, because that in
terests the South, but the treasury is
Theoretically sealed against the claims of
the North for any aid in developing the
resources Of its territory, or in faci!itat-
ing intercourse between the States of the
| East and the West.
! We beg our readers to reflect careful
ly upon these facts and to study how much
expenditure would be required for the
North alone. We need scarcely any
army, for we desire no extension of ter
ritory; while the Southt is always a. work
to obtain territory by purchase, or by
force of arms. But recently it offered a
hundred millions for Cuba, to be paid out
of revenues contributed by all the States;
and the chief reason for so doing was the
danger that the slaves of that island,
might, at some future time, become free,
and thus be placed in situation that
would render them dangerous to their
slave-holdiDg neighbors of Florida and
Carolina. The North could not be al
lowed to accept, free of cost, the British
possessions with two and half millions
of free inhabitants, and yet the South
does not hesitate at buying Cuba at hun
dred millions, nor would it hesitate about
involving the whole country in a war that
might cost twice that sum for the purpose
of preventing any movements in the is
land looking to the enfranchisement Of
its negro population.
The North, as We have said. scarcely
needs an army. 1t has but little need
for navy; but even admitting that five
millions were required for that purpose,
it is difficult to see how the expenditure
of Mr.. Adams could be much exceeded
The Post Office of the North could sup
port itself at lower rates than those now
paid; for We have thrice the population
capable of maintaining correspondence
and three times the quantity of exchanges
while the organised territory of the South
, is greater by almost one half than that
of the North The diplomacy of the
, North would require small expenditure
t for we have nothing to ask for, and there