Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-07-20
The Public Espenditures.

IhG TuDllc EXptRultuiOS'
| Who can close his eyes against the stubborn
facts that are now forcing themselves on our o.
servation9 Who can fail to see that our manu-
features. our commerce and our agriculture
have all been paralyzed9 Who can deny that oul
ships are rotting at our wharves-that our iac
tories are closed or languishug-that our work
shops no longer resound with the ring OF The
hammer, and the noise of the saw, the plane ano
the fle2 Our public works are suspended, OF
but feebly prosecuted-our interior banks are
curtailing, our exchanges are deranged, ana con,
idence destroyed; our teeming fields ylelo
abundant crops, but depressed prices disaPpoin'
the hopes of the farmer OF obtaining fair re
ward for his toll. Every branch of industry Is
paralysed, except such as are independent OF vhe
action of the Government. The cotton planter
and the tobacco raiser flourish, because their
productions seek foreign market of which the
constitutional provision inhibiting export duties
prevents their being deprived by the govern
ment. These branches of industry flourish, not
by reason of any aid afforded by the administra-
ton, but in spite of its blunders.
As general thing, distress, commercial re-
vulson Increased resort to courts OF justice to
coerce payment OF debts and individual bank
ruptcy pervade the land. Money is plenty at
the commercial centres, but it is the result Of
CONGESTION which arrests the healthfnl clrcula-
ton of the lite blood of trade. Stagnation, a
sort of national apoplexy, resulting from the I'M
due accumulation of circulation in the head, at
the expense of the extrenities, atflcts our coun
try
All these things we charge on the mal-admin-
istraton of the Government. But these are not
ALL
/
We charge that while the country is thus suf-
fering under industrial syncope, the government
is revealing in wasteful extravaganza!
As if in deiision, the President pirates to Con-
gress about economy, and the reduction OF the
governmental expenses. He is always ready
with PROFESSIONS! Practice is a very different
thing! His principle is economy-his practice
is extravaganza!
Is not this so? Let us look at, the facts
When Mr., Buchanan came into office there was
an accumulated surplus of hard money in the
treasury amounting to seventeen millions OF
dollars, which his predecessor and Others sup
posed would be augmented to thirty or possibly
fifty millions by the 1st of July, 1857. The pub
lie mind was agitated in regard TO the best
mode of disposing OF this enormous accumula-
ton. All concurred that it would be dangerous
to leave it in the treasury. Some were for DIS
tt5utingit among the States. The more sqeam-
ish were for following the jackson precedent OF
1886, and depositing the surplus with the States.
No one doubted that the surplus would exist
for the government was provided with cur
rent revenue, which, according to the Judgment
ola Democratic Congress, and q Democratic
President, was sufficient to pay all current ex-
penses.
But how did matters turn out2 What be-
came OF the boosted surplus2 Acting on the
principle of the Irish priest who, fearing that
keg of whiskey, which had been brought into
the parish, would corrupt his flock, drank it all
up himself, Mr.. Buchanan, unwilling totrust the
people with their own money, undertook to
spend it all himself, This was a very etfeetual
MEANS certainly, of defeating the measure OF
distribution among the States
Mr.. Buchanan and his party, therefore, have
not only spent all the current revenues, which
were estimated by Gen. Pierce and the Congress
OF 1856, as sufficient to meet the wants OF the
government, but they have spent all the surplus
of seventeen millions which they found in the
treasury
Nor is this the worst of it! Not satisfied
with spending all the current reyenue-and all
the seventeen millions OF cash on hand, Mr.
Buchanan and his party have spent twenty mil
they borrowed twenty millions more Of money,
which has also been spent, and they are now ad-
vertising for third sum of twenty millions more
to meet the expenses OF this virtuous and eco
nomical administration
Only think of it, fellow citizensl MIR. Buchan'
an has been in Office only since 4th March, 1857
IA period Of sixteen months, and, in that time
he has spent all the current revenue OF the ooun
try and in addition thereto seventeen millions
which General Pierce left in the Treasury, and
Twenty millions of treasury notes, and twenty
millions of borrowed money, and is now Dor
rowing third sum of twenty millions-makng
the grand aggregate Of seventy millions
of dollars over and above the current revenues
spent IN less than too years!! This is fair be-
ginning, certainly, Tor a party which is always
vociferous in favor of economy!
If this thing is tolerated by the people, when
and where will it end2 Van Buren, spent about
forty millions year, and the people rose up, al
most as one man, and hurled him from Office !
If he deserved such rebuke for his extrava
gance, what is to be the measure Of reprobatior
due to the present administration whose expend
Iitures are more than double2
In 1910 the people laid aside old party preju.
Idices-they harmonized differences OF opinion
on minor subects-they postponed, to q more
convenient season, the adjustment of subordinate
questions, and actuated by one great patriotic
impulse they came together, under the banner
of an honest old soldier, and achieved q glorious
political revolution.
Judging from the signs of the times, we be-
lieve they will do the same thing in 1860. They
are tired of 'principle,"- want 'naen"-
honest msn-they are tired of professions they
want eonduet-hoaest conduct They intend to
eject the unclean birds from the federal nest!-
They intend-the honest patriotic men Of ali
parties intend-to lay aside old differences-tc
forget old quarrels-to come together like breth-
rem under the banner of some trusted leader to
accomplish the great, and holy, and patriotic
purpose of purifying and regenerating the admin
istration of their government. Mr. Buchanan
is the disciple of Van Buren,. He was the apol-
ogist of Urn Buren, 1910. He has been treading
! in his footsteps ever since he came into office,
we are greatly mistaken if in 1860 he does not
share his fate-Richmond Wig.
News of the Telegraph.
The ship Alice Munroe arrived at Boston on
the 10th from Liverpool, bringing the first intel
ligence of the Atlantic Telegraph fleet. She met
the steamer Niagara on the 9th of June, and
was boarded by Cyrus W. Field, who furnished
the Captain with the following statement:
"The Telegraphic squadron experienced very
bad weather, and were sixteen days in reaching
their destination. Two unsuccessful attempts had
been made to commence the laying OF the cable.
The second attempt was on the Goth, and they
| had laid uDWar(s of forty miles and were prO-