Year: 1862




at this moment is equal to that vast
amount will hardly be denied dy any in
telligent and candid person who has had
the opportunity to observe the protusion
and rccklcssness with which the resources
and the credit Of the Government have
been used since this most unnatural strife
fell like u blight upon the and. A little
more than one year ago we beheld the in
llamed and wrathlul vissage of civil war
for the first time disturb, like balcful
comet, the peace of this Republic. Since
then battles have been fought, equal in
numbers engaged, in heroism Of conduct,
and in the ghastly heaps Of the slain, to
the renowned conflicts of ancient story.
Victory, too, under an overrulng Provi-
dcncc, has chosen the standard Of the Gov
ernmcnt, and our armies are steadily pen
ctrating that immense scope of country in
which the banner ofrcvol. has been reared.


But assuming that the smiles of for.
tune will continue to rest upon our arms,
and that no rcverscs are in store for our
troops, yet nothing is palmer to the
thinking mind which resolves the future
by considering the past, than the fact
that the expenses of this Government
for the ensuing year will fully equal, and
most likely surpass, what we have wit
messed in the year that has Just closed.
AS our armies push forward their columns
into the distant parts of desoatcd and
impoverished and hostile country, the
difficulty and cost Of their su port will
rapidly multiply. The value OF trans,
portation will almost double the price Of
the stores transported. There has been
much undigcsted and crude defamation
on this floor in regard to subsisting our
forces on the products Of the country we
invade. This, however, is simply one
OF those unsubstantial theories which,
unhappily for the country, have so pTcn-
tilully abounded in this body since our
national calamitics came upon us. All
the great authors on the art Of war show
It's absurdity, and our own experience has
already exploded it. 1t has already been
found that where one army has swept over
a country, but barren reception awaits
another; and especially is this the case
when retreating army is impclled by
the strongest military reasons to leave
nothing for the subsistence Of its victo
rious pursuer. Destruction then marks
every field, and war, with its iron mailed
hand, scourgeS the bosom of nature her.
self into sterilty. Attia, the fierce bar
barian conqueror, at the head Of his raw
aging horJcs, announced to atrightel i
Europe that grass would never grow
again where the hoofs Of his war horse
had left their mark. Scarcely less blight.
cd will be the track of defeated and re
treating southern armies, when no longer
able to meet US in general engagements
But little will be left after their own
wants are met, and that little will be
destroyed. Our supply trains will have
to move with our armies from the loyal
States, thus augmenting the public eX-
penditures at every step. 1t is safe, then,
to conclude that the year that is to come
and on which we are just entering-thc
second year of the war-will swell the
Indebtedness of this Government to the
alarming sum of $4,000, 100000. This
amount will have accrued about the time
the toiing citizen is fairly called upon to
commence the weary task Of meeting its
awful proportions by taxation. 1t is a
task, sir, which no eye which now be-
holds the sun will ever see completed.
The child is not born, and will not be
for more than a hundred years, who will
escape the visits of the Feleral taXgath-
ora in l,n luh Of G,fp ~
generations to wear away by the steady
droppings of perpetual tax this noun
tain of debt. This is no high wrought
or extravagaut statement, but the sad and
melancholy truth, as each succeeding
year OF the approaching future will but
too truly bear witness.


1t is said, however, here and elsewhere
throughout the country, that we are q
nation Of ineNhaustible resources, almost
fabulous wealth, and that burdens which
would cause other Governments to reel
and stogger are as light as feathers to US
This is pleasing tribute to our national
vanity; it sounds well in our selfcom
placent ears. We have been so long ex-
altcd in happiness over all other people,
so long blessed in every enjoyment above
what God has ever vouchsafed to any
other nation, that We arc even now un-
willing or unable to realize tho fact that
the hand of aiilction has at last fallen
upon us with force almost as cruel as
that which visited Jerusalem when Titus
was encampcd before her walls. 1t is
true, however, that wo abound in wealth.
1t is true that our lap has been filled
with treasures; but things in this world
exist principally by comparison. That
which constituted immense wealth little
moro than year ago, in view of a. public
debt of less than fifty millions, dimin-
ishes rapidly when brought to bear on a
debt Of forty times that amount.


By the census report of 1860 we find
that the assessed value of all the real and
personal property OF the entire United
States, both loyal and rcbellions, is
ST., ,005, 1856, ,5S5. Thus it will be seen
that our public debt is now equal to one
twelfth of all the taxable property OF
the Government, and that in one year
from now it will be equal to onc-sixth
of everything the people possess. No
cunning and studied speeches made to
miolead and deceive can hide the naked
fact that this is the peoples debt, and
that they will have it TO pay. Every
sixth acre Of land, every sixth OK, every
sixth horse, every sixth sheep, every