Juliet signal., 1862-06-17

lie debt being public blessing :" that the
stock representing IT was a creation of ac.
tive capital for tho ailment OF commerce.
manufactures, and agriculture. This par
adoz was well adapted to the minds Of he
hevers in dreams, and the gulis Of that size
entered bona fde into it."
We are warranted, then, io Affirming
that this parody on the principles OF pub
Tic debt being public blessing, and its
mutation into the blessings of private in
stead Of public debts, is as ridiculous as
the original principle ITSELF"
And again, in letter TO Albert Gallatin.
this profound statesman and political phil
osopher says.
But if the debt should un.e more Se
swel!ed to formidable size, its entire dis
charge will be dcspaired Of, and we shall
be committed to the English career of debt,
corruption, rottenness, closing with revolu
ton. The discharge of the debt, there
fore, is vital to the destines Of our govern
ment, and il hsngs ON Mr. Madison, and
yourself alone"
But, sir, i am well aware that I will he
met here BY the famiiia cry that these
terrible expenditures are necessary to
maintain the existence tf the government
and to carry on the war in which we are
engaged. To this assertion | return a
plain and explicit denial. From whatever
quarter it comes, whether from high places
or low places, il ia not true. The public
debt up to this hour, and to the extent IL
its fearful proportions, has not been the
work of q national necessity, nor the crea.
tion Of honest hands. The Mexican var,
though foreign and dis,en; one, in which
we paid the soldier substantially the sstne
that we pay him now, cost this government
under the wise and honest administration
OF James X. Polk, in proportion to the
numbers epgaged-man for man-but lit
tie more than one-fourth the amount now
being expended on war waged at our
very door steps. OF course, / do not deny
that heavy expenses have been properly
incurred but that fraud and crime in their
darkest bues have swollen 10 an overwhel-
ming amount the pecunisry liabilities of
the people, l stand ready TO prove shall
ask no man to decide without the evidence
to sustain so serious a charge. ! make il,
sir, with no pleasure! ] delight not in
such things. love to speak Kindly of nv
tellow-man. | would rather praise than
censure. Before ny great Judge / car
say that there is nothing 10 my heart which
desires TO dag down or wound any human
being in the wide world. | would rather
hit men up, II in my power. than abuse
them. / love. too, their appreciation. But
when these wishes and desires Of nv heart
stand in the way of my public duty, they
must all be suppressed. The duty, how
ever ungracious and unpleasant, must be
performed and in the case now under con
sideratiOn II seems, 10 my mind. that right
eOus justice demands the task before me.
The authors of q grinding extortion from
the weary hands Of honest labor are enc
mics to the human race, aud should be so
treated.
Sir, as early as last July, when this Con.
gress first met in extraordinary session, the
taint Of Corruption was perceived in the
atmosphere OF the capital, and a committee,
since so celebrated, was raised to inyesti-
gate and to expose. The result Of a por-
ton of the labors of that committee is be-
fore the country in the shape of volume
of over eleven hundred pages. The ma
jority of that committee are friends to the
party now in power, and the evidence
which they have furnished is entitled to full
credit. Would that q volume of it could
be placed in the hands of every tax paying
voter of the couTtry. Its dark labyrinths
every inttllrgen. mind. By the solemn
testimony Of this committee no branch Of
business connected with the military an!
naval affairs of this government seems to
have escaped the hungry grasp Of unlawful
avarice and peculation. From the smallest
article of food which enters into the sol =
! dier's ration to the purchase of cattle for
| an entire army from the blanket on which
the tired soldier sleeps at night to the vas;
Notifications for the defence of a city :
from the pistol at the soldiers bcIi to the
! cannon at whose breech he stauds IN the
day of battle; from the meanest transpor,
sloop to the mightiest man-Of-war afOat,
everywhere and ON every thing we find the
impress of favoriteism and fraud
| Sir, there was but Cne thing more needed
| to complete this wretched picture Of public
| debauchery and crime, and that, uuhappily
was furnished. The following extract frcm
the report Of the committee shows thai
! Major General John C. Fremont conspired
to overthrow the constitution OF hiS country
and trample under loot the liberties Of hi.
| government:
The statements or these witnesses-of-
ficers Of unimpeachable integrity and intel
ligerce-will, we are sure, be heard by the
| government with equal astonishment and
SORROW. General Fremont proclaims, on
! assuming his command, that There were
no longer any civil rights tha. there was
no government except that outside of the
constitution, which had teen suspended
| that it was his determination to administer
his department without reference to Law ur
regulations /; that the people Of the United
States were 10 the field, and that he was al
their head, and that he meant 10 carry oui
such measures rs they, the peOple, xpect.
ed him 10 carry out, without regard tC
the red tape" of the Washington peoI Be >
that is, the President and Congress. Ii
is singular how perfectly these sentiment,
harmonize With those held by the usurJ er:
who in this and other ages Of the world
have sought and established absolute power
upon the ruins Of public liberty. Some oi
these usurpeTs, taking yet higher ground
than that assumed in the interview with
Colonel Andrews, have claimed for them
selves mission to carry out" the will oI
Gud. but none Of them have sunk theil
preteusiJrs below a special mission tC
"carry out" the will Of the people Caesar
when he stood upon the banks of the Rubi
con and waved to his veterans to advance
did not make bolder dsolaraticn sgains
his country than this. The words, 50 earn
estly and so often spoken, announced
revolution conceived. but which, happily
most happily for the country, the I,aren
had not the strength to bring forth. n,
man has lived in tn, .ide of times wise anC
pwe enough to be intrusted with such g
power as is here claimed. Military chief
tsins who cut "red tape" always do it with
their swords. and history proves that th,
throat Of their country suffers quite al
much as does the .'tape" in the operation
As free ins,iluti,ns have their foundation
in law, and in the obedience Of the peopl,
and their representatives, civil and mill
tary, to it, this expression of purpose Il
east aside all political and Constitutions
restraints. made in the halls of Legislation
even. would alarm but when made in tn,
field by chieitsin, at the head Of grea