The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1856-12-12


our government. IL could not have legisated
otherwise without doing violence to another
great principle Of our institutions, the inpre.
seriptable right of equality Of the several
States.
| We perceive also, that sectional interests
and party passions, have been the great i'm.
pediment to the salutary operation of the
organic principles adopted. and the chief
cause of the successive disturbances in Kan
sas. The assumption that, because in the or
ganization of the Territories in Kansas, Con.
gress abstained from imposing restraints up
! on them to which certain other Territories
had been subject therefore disorders occur.
red in the latter Territory, is emphatically
contradicted by the fact that none have oc-
CURED in the former. Those disorders were
not the consequence, in Kansas, of the free.
dom Of sefgovernment conceded to that
Territory by Congress, but of unjust interfer-
ence on the part Of persons not inhabitants
of the Territory, such interference, wherever
it has exhibited itself, by acts Of insurrec-
tionary character, or of obstruction to pro.
cesses of law, has been repelled or suppress
ed, by all the means which the Constitution
and the laws place in the hands of the Ex.
ecutive.
! In those parts Of the United States where
|
mind. false rumors and misrepresentation
have the greatest currency, it has been as
sumed that it was the duty of the Executive
not only to suppress insurrectionary move
ments in Kansas, but also to see to the regu
| larity of local elections. II needs little ar
gument to show that the President has no
such power All government in the United
States rests substantially upon popular elec.
! ton. The freedom Of election is liable TO be
| impaired by the intrusion of unlawful votes
orthe exclusion of lawful ones, by improper
! influences, by violence, or by fraud. But the
| people of the United States are themselves
the all-sufficient guardians fiheir own rights
and to suppose that they will not remedy, in
due season, any such incdexts of civil free
dom, is to suppose them to have ceased to be
capable of selfgevernment. The President
of the United States has not power to inter-
| pose in elections, to see to their freedom to
! canvass their votes or TO press upon their le-
gality in the Territories any more thon in the
States. If he had such power the government
might be republican in form, but it would be
a monarchy IN fact and if he had undertaken
to exercise it in the case of Kansas, he would
have been justly subject to the charge of
usurpation, and of violation of the dearest
| rights of the people of the United States
Unwise laws, equally with irregularities in
elections, are, In periods of great excitement,
the occasional incident of even the freest and
best political institutions. But all experience
demonstrates that in country like ours,
where the right of self constitution exists in
the cnmpletest form, the attempt to RENE
| dy unwise legislation by resort o revolution,
is totally out of place; inasmuch as existing
| legal institutions afford more prompt and eff
| Hnan fnp ba nf
] confidently trust that now, when the
peaceful condition of Kansas affol ds opportu
nifty for calm reflection and wise legislation,
either the legislative assembly of the Terri
| tory, or Congress will see that no act shall
remain on its statute book volative of the
! provisions Of the Constitution or subversive
Of the great objects for which that was or
dained and established, and will take all
other necessary steps to assure to its inhabi
tants the enjoyment, without obstruction or
abridgement, Of all the constitutional rights,
privileges and immunities Of citizens of the
United States as contemplated by the organ
ic law of the Territory.
Full information in relation to recent events
in this Territory will be found in the docu-
ments communicated herewith from the De-
partments of State and War.
refer you to the repors tf the Secretary
of the Treasury for particular information
concerning the financial condition of the GO
vernment, and the various branches of the
public service connected with the Treasury
Department.
During the late fiscal year the receipts
from customs were, for the first time, more
than S64 900, 600, and from all sources, S73,
9ls, ,i4l; which, with the balance on hand up
to the lst July, 1855, made the total resonr-
e o n VI,
expenditures. including three millions dollars
in execution of the treaty with Mexico and
including sums paid on account of the public
debt, amounted to $50 2,4Ol; and includ.
ing the latter, to S72, ,94S, 1872, the payment on
this account having amounted to Sl2,776,S9O.
On the 4th of March, 1853, the amount of
the public debt was 500, 1879, 937 There was
subsequent increase Of S2,950,000 for the
debt of Texas-making total Of 81 ,S79, ,937.
OF this the sum of S45.525,3l9 including
premium, has been DISCHARGED, reducing the
debt to $50, 1877, 30; all of Which might be
paid within year without embarrassing the
public service, hut being not yet due, and
only redeemable at the option of the holder,
cannot be pressed to payment by the govern
ment.
On examining the expenditures Of the last
five years, it will be seen that the average,
deducting payments on account OF the public
debt and ten millions PAID by treaty to Mex
leo, has been hut about forty-eight million
dollars. 1t is believed that, under an econo'
mcal administration of the government, the
average expenditure for the ensuing five
years will not exceed that sum, unless extra
ordinary occasion for its increase should oc-
cur. The acts granting bounty lands will
soon have been executed, while the extension
of our frontier settlements will cause con
tinued demand for lands and augmented re-
ceipts. probably from that source. These
considerations will justify reduction OF the
revenue from customs, so as not to exceed for.
tv eight or fifty million dollars. think the
exigency for such reduction is simperative,and
again urge it upon the consideration oi Con-
gress.
manner Of effectng it, are questions OF great
and general interest; it being essential to in.
dnstrial enterprise and the public prosperity,
a. well as the dictate Of obvious justice, that
the burden of taxation be made to rest as
equally as possible upon all classes, and oil
sections and interests of the country
hive heretofore recommended TO your
consideration the revision of the revenue
laws, prepared under the direction Of the Sc
cretary of the Treasury, and also legislation
upon some special questions affecting the bu-
sness oftbat department, more especially the
enactment of law to punish the abstraction
of official books or papers from the files OF the
government. and requiring all such books and
papers, and all other public property to be
turned over by the out going officer to his
successor; of law requiring disbursing Off
GERS to deposit all public money, in the vaults
of the treasury or in other legal repositories
uhere the snne are conveniently accessible;