Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-03-28

issued in the absence Of appropriations.
which. tcitlout binding The Government as 6y con-
tract, merely set forth the fact of service rem
-dered, and the compensation due under ex-
listing law, or usual in such cases ii
AT all events we are satisfied that the
Administration will endcavor to avoid, n pos
sible. resort Objectionable to the great body Of
the Democracyof tie country as an extra session.
and that il Will only determine upon such
measure under the compulsion OF absolute
necessity"
We here have an official exposition of the
logic by which it is sought to sustain this
anomalous procedure. 1t is doubtful, urges
the writer, whether Congress can be conven-
ed in time TO 0UeYt the erlis tcIich the Department
must atTer by the failure OF the annual postal
BILL" That is, since an extra session may
not be athletic repair all the mischieis caused
by the negligence of the last session. 1t is
clearly expedient to depend on no such meas
ure for the repair of any. But it is doubtful,
adds the Union, whether Congress, If conoe1-
ed m the summer, would address itself prompt
ly and efficaciOusly to the e8igency which
called it together" That is. because Con-
gress .nOy not properly discharge the duty
constitutionally reposed in its hands, the Pres
ident should take the responsibility of
evading his clear constitutional function in
the premises.
of the Administration is doubtless that as
signed by the Union when it says that that
decision may be safely presumed to concur
with the opinions OF 'nine-tenths of the DeIItO-
cratic members of the next Congress who were
also members of the last" The interests of
"the party" we suppose, are not likely to
fare very well at the hands of the next House
of Representatives and perhaps there was
abundant reason for this prudent borror of
the Peoples Representatives. if it is appre-
Blended that the prestige of " the party"
might suffer greater disasters in the next
Congress than in that which has recently
terminated. 1t may be that, influenced by
these views. the Administration was anxious
to ''avoid, if possible. a resort so Objectionable
10 the great body Of the Democracy of the country
as extra session.
Not to speak in deserved apprehension ofa
Governmental policy which is avowedly
based on considerations of partisan ex-
pediency, we are not little curious to know
how the hard money Denocr0cy will receive and
relish this paper certificate currency, which has
been hit upon by the Adminisi ration as the
alternative proposition employed to ward off
the dreaded presence of the Peoples Re
representatives. in Congress. While we write.
the voice OF Tennessee Democracy. in State
Convention assembled. reaches us through the
press of that State, proclaming "that it was
intended by the trainers OF the Constitution
that gold and silver should he the legitimate
currency of our people" While the Tennes-
faithful were TINS embodying their
traditional hatred of paper money" De-
mocratic Administration was devising an ex-
pedient by which an irredeemable and legally
invalid paper currency is made the means of
providing for the maintenance of one of the
great arms of the Government service! We
can fancy that those who have so sturdily
impngned the rag money" OF the United
States Bank, with all the guards thrown
around that Institution. will be not little
puzzled to find a reason by which il shall be
demonstrated that this Departmental currency
is highly Constitutional and Democratic.
And we are at some loss to know what now
becomes of the proud boast made by Mr..
Buchanan in his annual message OF 1851,
when, in abiding to the financial embarrass
ments of the trading and laboring classes, he
pleasantly adverted to the gratifying fact
that, "honks 10 the independent Treasury, the
GoUernnent had not suspended payment"
At what waste this certificate currency is to
be negotiated in the money markets. and by
what agencies and influences it is to be redeem
ed, we leave our readers to infer when We
cite the fact that these unauthorized mani
festoes. according to the representations OF
the official paper. do not bind the Govern
ment. and are taken at the risk of contrac
tors, subject to all the offsets of the Depart
meIlt anu 10 all the aDuOydnceS WHICH must
attend their recognition by Congress which
will be little likely toIbe forward in giving
validity to this Executive assumption of a
make shift eXpediency, resorted to in partial
derogation of its peculiar rights in the
premises, ard in obvious neglect of the plain
constitutional remedy. 1t remains to be seen
whether the Congress will give its sanction
to procedure which might have been SO
easily avoided by simple adherence to the
plain path marked out in the Constitution of
the country. If ii does, there will be little
necessity hereafter for the passage of appro-
priation bills, as Congress can hardly be eX-
pected at the same time to occupy itself i'll
the business of auditing The certified accounts
of one year and authorizing appropriations
for the next.
1t might perhaps be accepted, as some
atonement for this remarkable departure
from the obvious resort dictated by the Con
stitutiOn. il the eXpedient which the Admin
istration has finally settled might be expect
ed to keep the postal service of the country
on a secure and adequate footing; but such is
not the fact, as the Department will doubt
less be obliged greatly to curtail the facil-
tiles il has heretofore afforded, because OF the
pr, carious nature of the means on which il is
reduced TO depend. Thus ii will be found,
we fear, that this policy will prove as incon-
venient in practice as il is anomalous in the
DRY. and will conduce as little to the wants of
the people as to the credit of the party in
Difference to whose presumed wishes it has been
auopted.