Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-04-15
FRIDAY, APRIL Is, 1859.
.btrktng the Responsibility.

The fearful exposures which are being
mrde of the extravagant use which has been
made of the public treasure by the present
administration il causing the stoutest hearts
to quail and the hardest cheeks to blancn
among the leaders Ofthe Democracy. Wholly
unable to justify these enormous sexpendl-
lures, they are now seeking to shirk the re-
Eponsiblity by urging that all these monstrous
appropriations were voted for by the Opposl-
ton me nlbers of Congress. If this were true
and we have not taken the time to analyze
the votes on these bills-does it, in the least,
exonerate the democratic administration from
the responsibility On the contrary was not
the Opposition bound to vote these appro-
priations, or subject themselves to the charge
OF factiously opposing the supply OF means
necessary to carry on the government! 1t
is we'll known that the estimates are made
up and furnished by the officers OF the adj
ADMINISTRATION, and that the appropriate COM
mittees of Congress are charged with prepar-
ing ard presenting the bills to supply these
estimates. These have all been in the hands
of the Democracy. 1t is equally well known
70 have d. en the custom to delay these bills
till a late day OF each session, and that 1t has
been the habit of those who manage these
matters to render minute and thorough ex-
animation impossible, and to rush them
through under this impossibility, and with
certainty that the wheels OF government
would stop on a failure Of their passage. In
the matter of these appropriations, Congress
i1xyh oc CLAW in the hands
of these Department potters, and forced to
vote the estimates without choice and without
particular examination E -s
Mr.. BUCHANAN, on a preteKt of economy,
siVni6ed his intention to the last Congress not
to approve any of these bills that he did not
have time to examine. Yet he, with the veto
power in his hands, approved them, we be-
lieye, without exception. Why did he not
place himself between Congress and this
wholesale plumber of the Treasury, which 1t
is now asserted that Congress through the in
strumentality of Opposition votes, outraged
the people withal? No; this was not the
policy of Mr. BUCHANAN He knew that this
money was going into the hands Of his own
political friends and retainers, and he knew
its mower and influence in elections. be
knew that his army of dependents and para
sites were to be supported, and the estimates
were made and voted for accordingly. The
charge that au Opposition Congress would
voluntarily place these excessive appropria-
tions ia his hands, knowing that they would
be used to build up and strengthen politi-
cal power with which they were at war, is
-nI
been really DESTROYS of retrenchment and re-
form. he would have commenced the work
where it would have been effective.
But the truth is that in the inception of
this scathing exposure the democratic leaders
fatty contradicted the charge ofextravagance
and justified the expenditures. This was
done first 10y JOHN LErcHER, now candidate
for Governor of Virginia, on the floor of the
House Of Representatives, in labored speech
In reply TO Mr.. SHERMAN, of Ohio. Another
reply in the beginning was. that the admins
tration of Mr.. FILLMORE had cut out work
which PIERCE and BUCHANAN had to finish up,
and that this the true source OF these I'M
paralleled expenditures. Both these positions
were incontinently exploded and this charge
Of Opposition consent Is an aiter-thought,
which is even more fallacious and less en-
titled TO serious refutation than either of its
predecessors. 1t is the merest clap-trap, to
heave dust in the eyes OF an Indignant and
outraged people. We tell them they may
analyze votes till doomsday, and yet they
will not be able to avoid the terrible weight
of responsibility which rests upon the adj
ministration. Hit were so much attributable
to the Opposition the people will inquire why
did you not begin the cutlery against course
of plumber which had already become in
tolerabIe? An honest people cannot be long
deceived by pretenses SO shallow. They
will hold the guilty parties to punishment.
They Will hurl them from power, and there's
an end OF it.