Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-01-08
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

| ''J "obsratuiate the country upon the pros
pect that this case, which has so long beer
pending before Congress, will soon be finally
disposed of. Long before the death Of the re-
markable man whose name it bears, it origi
mated in difference between the Post Office
Department and himself, with reference te
what was due to him for services rendered al
mail contractor. In his day he was by far the
| most extensive carrier Of the mails of the
United States, and was well known to the bus;.
ness men of the country from Maine to Louis.
lana, and from Delaware to the confines of Mis-.
souri, (for bis staging enterprises existed in all
quarters) as man Of great energy of charac-
ter, public spirit, and liberality and fairness
in all his relations in life. In fact the Ameri-
can world hailed him universally as the
staging. enterprise king of his time, in which
capacity he certainly effected much for the
future Of his country. But his transactions as
a mail contractor ultimately involved him in
really broke his heart; for he was a proud
man, and his spirit quailed before his uti.
mate difficulties with the Department, under
which he saw clearly that he could not mee'
his engagements to individuals Passing of
the stage of life, his property went, piece by
piece. to satisfy his creditors; until all but his
unsettled accounts With the Government had
been SO appropriated; leaving his widow and
children, and not few of his remaining cred
itors, to look to Congress ultimately to secure
what they have steadily since commended to be
their rights.
Resides widespread and really we'll de-
served fame has served to keep his case in the
mind of the public, until, when persons at q
distance read of the delays in the satisfaction
Of private claims by Congress which produce
ruinous consequences upon those who hold
them, their minds, Involuntary, as it were,
turn TO this case-more especially since tho
Government having sued his estate on claim
for an alleged balance due to it, the verdict
rendered established the validity of the Rec.
side claim as now pending before the Senate
We may add that that verdict has been en-
dorsed, first by the Court of Claims, and SUBJ
sequently by the House of Representatives Of
know much concerning the merits of the
points involved, may We not express the hope
since it has been so long pending and has
been subjected to so many ordeals, until it
has come to be regarded by the country as the
great Illustrative case-showing the difficult.
ties. trials and embarrassments in the way of
obtaining final Congressional action on pri
vate c'aims-thst the Senate will dispose Of it
when it shall next be reached?
qHtTer, discussing the tariff projects of Messrs.
Campbell Of Ohio, and Letcher, says:
"a surplus revenue is manifold wrong
1t Is wrong to the mass Of the people to ex-
tort an unnecessary tribute from their hard
earned substance, and thus to impose q bur-
den upon the exertions of their labor; it is a
wrong to the interests Of commerce to embar-
rass il by heavy imposts AMI to obstruct its
operations by diminishing the facilities of
trade it is wrong to the government to
create and perpetuate a fund Of corruption
which shall make il the prey of plunderers,
and the abomination of decent people
Everybody cries out for the abatement of
the nuisance of a redundant excaequer, but
done by raising the expenditure of govern
ment to level with the revenue, or by re-
ducing the revenue to level with the amount
Of necessary expenditure. Upon this point
there can be but one opinion among right
thinking men. The last is indisputable the
true policy of government, because the other
would only aggraVate the avails Of which we
now complain, would embarrass the operations
of commerce, burden the industry of the coun-
tru and ~
ton Of public affairs, besides perverting all
just views Of the object of federal legislation
and the limits Of federal power. 1t would be
more in harmony with the essential simplicity
CT Republican institutions, more conducive to
the prosperity of the people, and more in &C.
eordance with the peculiar nature Of our gov
eminent, to establish an equitable and easy
policy Of taxation on the basis Of the utmost
frugality in expenditure.
The Federal Government has right to
draw upon the country for an amount adequate
70 Its support under an economical admins.
tration, and Tor not farthing more. Nor
will the people tameiy submit to be robbed,
on the plea of protection or any other pre-
tence, of thirty millions of dollars year, of
which every cent goes to swell the evil Of polit-
ical corruption and persona! rapacity They
are not to be deceived by the sophistical sug-
gesticn that their money returns to them in
the end. They may not be conversant with
the principles of political economy, bu. they
have a sufficiently enlightened conception Of
their Own interest, to prefer that the thirty
millions year should remain in their pock-
cts, and be expended according to their indi-
yidual IDEAS Of convenience and policy
"a modification of the tariff we take to be
foregone conclusion but a very important
point is still to be determined, and that is,
upon what principle shall government reduce
the present rates Of impost? Upon the prin-
ciple of an equitable and impartial system of
taxation, or upon the principle Of "inciden-
tal'' protection to the manufacturing interest?
Shall the rates of impOst be reduced 80 as to
diminish the burdens of the masses of the
psCple-so as to benefit the entire South and
the great West-or shall they be SO reduced
as to bestow special bounty on the capital
OF New England?
"There is something quite plausible in the
idea Of incidentol protection from asrevenue
tariff; bat the policy is false in theory and
Ubiquitous in practice, because it involves two
incompatible principles, and because it is I'm.
equal and unjust in its operation. Disguise
it as we may, we cannot change the essential
e