The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-22

and b. the terms Of their eontTaots-those for rail-
road routes only excspted-fixty days more must
elapse before the'r accounts can be ausIly settled.
Which would postpone the day Of payment tin the LIST
Of December, within less than a wsek som the re
ulpr meeting Of Congress. iii. shorld be deemed et-
| visable, Congress might be convened for the middle a
November, In ample time to provide for the payment Of
THAT will DO due contractors for the first quarters SO, Vice
q the next fiscal year, before It win be, in fact, payable.
Tt's statemsnt makes it manifest, therefore, that had thS
appropriations proposed in the bill which failed been in
tended to meet only the liabilities of the next fiscal year,
there would have been no sufficient reason for calling
Congress together before the regular period of its assem-
bling,
Such, however, is not the Gaze. That bin also proyi-
del "that the sum of SO, s9s, 72s lie, epd tho 1me $
hereby, appropi, al d, out Of any money n the trcesuy
not othe.a Sise appropriated. to supply deicic-cies in the
revenues of the Post Office Department for the yea end
ing the 30th Jrue, 1859" Upon a careful exawination
and Investigation, it hrs been escerta'ned that the de
fciency win amount TO about the sum of s4,3S5, 2SI 80.
1t ought, however, to be obssrv 4 that, efsr the Both
June next, the sum of 500, 600 scented to the depart
meqt by the eets of March Sd, 1919, end March 80, 1851,
for tho transportation end delive of free mail matter
for Congress and the executive depas tnents, may be APP
Piled in part - the ext;nsu'shment of this deficiency.
This viii leave the bacnce to DO provided for So, $685.
Isl 80. OF this sum OF 1885, 2sl SO, the deficiency
which existed in the quarter ending on che 3lst Decem-
Der amorut,d S749, Sal 6s
That for the quartr ending slst March to- / 1854, 1856 rs
That for the qrqrt + ending 30th June toll GIL 285 OIL
si,3s6, 2s1 %
The S749,s 41 Cs-being the unpaid balance of the
quarters liabilities olos'ag 3lst December, aud payable
28th February-con and WI l. pod by the deper tmcnt
within sixty days rom this datl; the payment of the
principal part of it viii be male within tt'l.y days. The
effect of this VIII DO to divide the entire deficit of s4,-
1856, 2sI 90 between the qrsrts,S ending 3lst March aud
SOth June, aud payable 3lst May aud 3lst AusSst, SO
that the Suspension of pay ment on no paIs of tbs indebt-
edness win exceed, beyond a few days, six months before
the regular meeting Of Congress on nearly one helf of it
the suspension VIII TO but for a few days more than three
months.
1t is a elieyous m'ssoa line 70 the contractors that the
department hes been left without the means of ~disoharg-
ing this debt at its maturity. Under existing circum-
| stances, however, it would be impossible to convene Con-
gross in tine TO meet these responsibilities without yittu-
lily excluding from that body the representatives, of sew
eral of the sovereign States Of this confederate govern
ment. qnis would be a jrst cause of serious complaint.
lne choice of the President hes been undoubtedly a
choice betw, en- great evils; but, in his judgment,
the lesser evil would be 10 wait until the FIST Moneay of
| December, when Congress VII be fell.
The debts due, end 7, become due, to the contractors
are of a secrsi charr3tsr. The contra9.s, out of which
| these debts er,ee, have been entered into under the ex-
pres autho,it y of existing laws of Cons ress, To appro-
pr.at money for their payment i rs obligatory and bind
ing upon Congress as 1t Is to provide for The principal
aud interest OF tae national debt. There never VIII be-
| there never en- "a reputation OF this debt by the
representatives of the Ameiicen reople. After the
amount due II o,h contra tor shall have | on fscer-
| tained c1d fnally settled 6 'prding to Jaw, this amornt
| bccomel q specific debt of +, sord agr'ast the United
sta ) Its pay nent IS ',eti Bile, E I'd 70 the c,ntrs tor
desires to bol.ow money upon 1t the lender could have
no bettor { GRITTY. T sidcs, q Cong. = ere in default
for not h, z ne 10 en- appropi alton " meet this debt,
\ it would be no more then 81 let jrstice for them ID Pre-
| vide for the payment of interest ON thee p counts from
the time Of thei~ f~ff lrstment by the 6 rnt'lg Off
GERS Of the dep nent, I'd when a WE -elt word have
issued for the pay nent brt en- appropriation d IN made.
r..ys-,-~.t 4a.i-aia un N-ew tlins ~ sn,o Sras,eaa
now in the c " of Ply .nent, end applying on the itt
July, 10 the exs ~. shnent of the pi ncpa', the 500, 900
for zee matt y, which WILL then va''ablo-- should Con-
efc-s th'Tk proror t, GLOW it, would a-nount to les than
500, 0O0--a sum not IL be comp I'd with the great diff
culiics md embarrassment of a public and p.-yat, che
a.tr which world resr't rom holding a S cel session
of Congress, Z, say nothing of the exponcs tt1t world
nec,ssa ly lie incu, lcd, even thoryh the members shopld
rec i've no 2 idi,iopal pay.
A s,st m of reaenchmelt,G 90 r as it may be practi-
| cable under eEssi rg Jaws, . now al imperative duty IN
the ? lmin'9nation of the department. BY TIE act ap-
prov, / June ID, 1868, Constss ~establ'sh.i SIX hundred
and ~rilety-hve new pot routes, the SCI fics of which
inclue.,g the st. Paul's eud Puget Sound route, es.ab-
fish d in March, 1855, but not yet put into operation
il has been estimated would require an annual a%ppropla-
ton from the treasury of $500, 0ss, over and above the
receipts ,oru'ng there ON. Not a dollar, however, has
been appropriated for thu purpose, aud, as q n ,,ssary
result, the contracts for these routes, though they have
b an lver ised ED proposals received, cannot be closed
until the necesso = ,inds shsu have been provided by
law.
Very resi- eauty, your obedient servant,
J. HOLT.
To GEORGE MATTlSGLY, Eo,