Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-03-15
Ex1rayagauce OF GOvernment.---WhO
irresponsible fer Ett

III. srpenditures Of the last fiscal year are made
subiect Of serious complaint against the Democrat
io party by the opposition press throughout the
couutrv. eunite with our opponents in condemn
ing extravagance wherever it exists, but do pro-
tcst against this most unWarrantable attempt 10
hold US responsible for their own acts We have
examined the votes on the various expenditures Of
which the opposition complain and we defy them to
point to q single one of those expenditures which
was not made by majority of their own party in
defiance Of the votes and wishes of the DO Of the
Democratic party.
We present the issue fairly to the country. We
assert without fear Of contradiction, that the laws
which authorize and require these increased ex>
penditures Of the public money, nave been passed
BY the votes of a majority of the Opposition, and
have been resisted by majority Of the Democratic
members Of Congress
This being the case, how dares these Know Ncth~
ing and Black Republican demagOgues insult the
intelligence of the people by asking them to cons
denim the Administration, for sins which they them
selves have committed They pluudsr the treasury,
they squander the public money, and then raise a
clsmor against the Democratic party, because The
finances Of the countrysre deraDged and exhausted.
But they do not stop here. These very men Who
have squandered the revenues of the country esk the
people to en;rust them with the guardianship Of the
government, sno the keeping of the treasury. They
demand that the party which has attempted TO pro
tect the nation from their rapacity and prohigacy
shall be hurled from power, and give place to par
ty, which has constantly and uniformly supported
every scheme, to waste the property of tie nation
few days before the adjournment of Congress
JOHN BELL impudenlly nssailed the administration
for extravaganza and prOhigacy; aid yet after la
bOrious investigation we have been unable to ind
where JOHN BELL has ever, during his Senatorial
career recorded his vote against any eEtravagant,
useless or prcfigate appropriation.
On the other hand he has supported numerous
Wasteful and extTavagaut measures, which If sue
cessful would have burdened the country with debt
for hundred years. If all the bills for the expen-
dituIe Of money, which Mr. BELL has supported,
had become laws, the nation would now be burdsned
with q losd of liabilities from which the wise and
prudent legislation of a dozen generations could
scarcely relieve it.
We proclaim, then, in view of these facts that
all this cutlery on the part of Know nothing and
Black Republican leaders, against the extraysgsnt
administration 90 government, is mere cant and
hypocrisy 1t is an impudent attempt to shift the
responsibility of such extravaganza from their
shoulders where it should and does rest, and trans
fer the burden of their guilt to the Democracy.
Speaking of the government expenditures the
Washington Union says:
There are few who will dispute the general pro-
position that The ordinary expenditures Of :he gov
eminent ought to be brought within fifty millions
year. We do not believe that there any persons
who subscribe to this proposition more cordially than
the President and his cabinet; and We are confident
in the conyIc ion that the administration will make
q larger reduction in the amount of the ordinary
pendilures than has been made by any administrs-
tion since the foundation of the government 1t has
as yet got through but complete fiscal year. that
Of 1878. The appropriations for that year were
made by the Congress which expired before It's &C.
cessiou 10 the governments and the execution of the
orders OF that Congress were imperative upon aud
not optional vi it, As it wss, it expended less
than Congress appropriated for the year in questions
by sixteen millions Of dollars
There we're extrs ordinary circumstances, too,
which imposed heavier charge upon the admins
alton during that year than usual. The Utah ex
pedition and wars with some eight tribes Of
Indians on opposite frontiers Of the country had to
be carried on-at the same time the Secretary Of
War was attscked in he by Congressman, the
lobby, and the contract brokers here in Washington,
in manner more deadly thaa if it had been by as
many tribes of savages with their tOmahaWks and
soalpipg knives That year, toe, in which the
overland mail to the Pacific was first aolshed at
great cost under the orders of expired Congress
ever which the administration could have had no
sort Of control"