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December 24, 1853.] THE LEADER. 1227
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The President's Message. The Canada Stea...
• f not absolutely , the solitary power of Christendom having WdIus revenue , drawn immediately ftoxn imposts-on coma ITce and therefore measured by the spontaneous enter'« p and national prosperity of the country , with such in-? Vect relation to agriculture , manufactures , and the proi Vrts of the earth and sea , as to violate no constitutional i ptrlne and yet vigorously promote the general welfare . Meit & er ' as to the sources of the public treasure , nor as to the manner of keeping and managing it , does any grave controversy now prevail , there being a general acquiescence in-IL wisdom of the present system , « The report of the Secretary- of the Treasury will exhibit . -i ji the state of the public finances , and the condition f the ' various branches of the public service administered by Lt department ofthe Government . . ;¦ . , V- ;
; ^^ "T he revenue of the country , levied almost insensibly to the tax payer ,, goes on from year to year increasing beyond either the interests or the prospective wants of the Governm 6 « At the close . of the fiscal year ending June 30 , 1852 , there remained in the treasury a balance of fourteen million hundred and thirty-two thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars . The public revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30 , 1853 , amounted to fifty-eight million nine hundred and thirty-one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive dollars from customs , and to two million four hundred ind five thousand seven hundred and eight dollars from public lands and other miscellaneous sources , amount ing to-. a-pther to sixty-one million three hundred and thirty-seven
thousand five hundred and seventyTtour dollars ; while the public expenditures for the same period , exclusive of payments on account ofthe public debt , amounted to forty-three million five hundred ana fifty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-two dollars { leaving a balance- of thirty-two million fourhundred and twenty-five thousand four hundred and forty-seven dolhirs of receipts above expenditures . " This fact , of increasing surplus in the treasury , became the subject of anxious consideration at a very early period of my administration , and the path of duty in regard to it seemed tome obvious and clear , namely , first , to apply the surplus revenue to the discharge ofthe public debt , so far as it could judiciously be done ; and , secondly , to devise means for the gradual reduction ofthe revenue to the standard of the public exigencies- '¦ . , . . :, , ' . in the of
" Of these objects , the first has-been course accomplishment , in a manner and to a degree highly satisfactory . The amount of the public debt , of all classes , was , on the 4 th of March , 1853 , sixty-nine million one hundred and ninety thousand and thirty-seven thousand dollars ; payments on account of which have been made sincethat period to the amount of twelve million seven hundred and three thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars , leaving unpaid , and in the continuous course of liquidation , the sum of fifty-six million four hundred and eighty-six thousand seven hundred and eight dollars . These payments , although made at the market price of the respective classes of stocks , have been effected readily , and to the general advantage of the treasury , and have at the same time proved of signal utility in the relief they have incidentally afforded to the money market and to the industrial and commercial pursuits ofthe country .
" The second of the above-mentioned objects , that of the tariff , is of great importance , and the plan suggested by the Secretary ofthe Treasury , which is to reduce the duties on certain articles , and to add to : the free lists many articles now taxed , and especially such as enter in manufactures , and are not largely , or at all , produced in the country , is commended to your candid and careful consideration . "
AUGMENTATION OF AKMY AND NAVY . " Among the objects meriting your attention will be important recommendations from the Secretaries of War and Navy . I am fully satisfied that the navy of the United States is not , iu a condition of strength and efficiency commensurate with the magnitude of your commercial and other interests . ; and commend to your especial attention the suggestions on this subject made by the Secretary of the Navy . I respectfully submit that the army , which , under ° ur system , must always be regarded with the highest interest , as a nucleus around which the volunteer forces of the nation gather in tho hour of danger , requires augmentation , or modification , to adapt it to tho present extended " nits and frontier relations of the country , and tho condition n tho Indian tribes in the interior of tho continent ; the necessit y of which will appear in tho communications of tho Secretaries of War and tho Interior . "
Tho report on the public lands shows the usual progress in their survey and Bale ; and also that hitherto they have formed a source of revenue . ¦ During tho past year upwards of ten millions of fierce have been brought into the public market ; and lor all purposes upwards of twenty-five millions of acrca have been disposed of . The President does not ' 'iivour the grant of public lands for roads and railways . INTKUNATIONAIj IMPKOVKMKNT rOT-ilOY .
'The subject of internal improvements , churning alike Hie interest and goodwill of all , has nevertheless , been tho subject of much political diacuB » ion , and haa stood us a ¦ ™ J > graven line of division between statesmen of groat unity and patriotism . Tho rule of strict construction of 'ill powers delegated by tho states to tho genoral govern"lent lias arrayed itself from tirno to time against tho rapid l > iop ; rosB of expenditures from tho national treasury on ^ orka of a local character within tho ntntoa . Meworablo » H an epoch in tho history of this Hubjoct is tho message of * readout Jackson , of tho 27 th of May 1880 , which mot ilio fiyfltem of internal iinprovomontH m its comparative ' . "fancy ; but bo rapid had been its growth ; that tho projected uppropriationn in that yoar for works of this character J | ' « l risen to tho alarming tunount of more than one hundred Millions of dolkra .
. . ' *» that moHHago tho President admitted tho difficulty of winging buck tho operations of tho Government to tho construction of tho constitution Bet up in 17 !) 8 and roarlud u an admonitory proof of the necessity of guarding that
instrument with sleepless vigilance against the authority of precedents , which , had not the sanction of its most plainly defined powers . ¦¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ " Oar Government exists under a written compact between sovereign states , uniting for specific objects , and with specific'grants to their general agent . If , . then , in the progress of its administration , thereJiave been departures from the terms' and intent of the compact , it is , and will ever be , proper to refer back to the fixed standard which our fathers left us , and to make a stern effort to conform our action to it . It would seem that the fact of a principle having been resisted from the first b y many of the wisest and most patriotic men of the republic , and a policy having provoked constant strife , without arriving at a conclusion
which can be regarded as satisfactory to its most earnest advocates , should suggest the inquiry whether there may not be a plan likely to be crowned with happier results . Without perceiving any sound distinction ^ or intending to assert any principle as opposed to improvements needed for the protection of internal commerce , which does not equally apply to improvements upon the seaboard for the protection of foreign commerce , I submit to you , whether it Tnay not be safely anticipated that , if the policy were once settled against appropriations by the general government for local improvements for the benefit of commerce , localities requiring expenditures would not , by modes and means clearly legitimate and proper , raise the fund necessary for such construction as the safety or other interests of their
commerce might require . "If that can oeregarded as a system , which in the experience of more than thirty years , has at no time so commanded the public judgment as to give it the character of a settled policy—which , though it has produced some works of conceded importance , has been attended with an expenditure quite disproportionate to their value—and has resulted in squandering large sums upon objects which have answered no valuable purpose—the interests of all the states require it to be abandoned , unless hopes may be indulged for the future which find no warrant from the past .
" With an anxious desire for the completion of the works which are regarded by all good citizens with sincere interest , I have deemed it my duty to ask at your hands a deliberate reconsideration of the question , with a hope that , animated by a desire to promote the permanent and substantial interests of the country , your wisdom may prove equal to the task of devising and maturing a plan , which , applied to this subject , may promise something better than constant ' strife , the suspension of the powers of local enterprise , the : exciting of vain hopes , and the disappointment of cherished ' expectations . "
The Message discusses the Pacific Kailway in a friendly spirit , but . holds out no other hope of assistance than such as can be given consistently with the provisions of the Constitution ; and , indeed , throughout the President inculcates a rigid adherence to the dictates ofthe fundamental law . America can afford to wait for a railway to the Pacific , he says , but cannot afford to neglect the " ark of her security , " the constitution . In this special case he admits the necessity of the contemplated road ; but points rather to private enterprise as the means than state aid-Two other sections of the Message we quote
entire . rARTIES . —NORTH AND SOUTH . —THE UNION . " It is no part of my purpose to give prominence to any subject which may properly be regarded as set at rest by the deliberate judgment of the people . But while tho present is bright with promise , and the future full of demand and inducement for the exercise of active intelligence , tho past can never bo without useful lessons of admonition and instruction . If its dangers serve not as beacons , they will evidently fail to fulfil the object of a wise design . When tho gravo shall have closed over all , who arc now endeavouring to meet the obligations of duty , the year 1850 will bo recurred to as a period filled with anxious apprehension . A successful war had just terminated . Peace brought with it
a vast augmentation of territory . Disturbing questions arose , bearing upon tho domestic institutions of one portion of the confederacy , and involving tho constitutional rights of tho states . But , notwithstanding differences of opinion and sentiment , which thon oxistcd in relation to details and specific provisions , tho acquiescence of distinguished citizens , whoso devotion to tho union can never bo doubted , has given renewed vigour to our institutions , and restored a sense of repose and security to tho public mind throughout itho confederacy . That this repose ia to suffer no shock during my official terra , if I have poWer to avert it , those who placed mo hero may bo assured . The wisdom of men , who know what independence cost—who had put all at stake jupon tho isBue of tho . revolutionary . struggle—disposed of . tho sujbjqct to which I rofor , in tho only wtyr conaiatont with the
union of those states , and with tho march of . power and prosperity which has mado ua what wo arc It ia a significant fact , that from tho adoption of tho constitution until tho olliccra and soldiers of tho revolution had paused to their gravoH , or , through tho infirmities of ago and wounds , had ceased to participate actively in public uiiuirs , there wan not merely a quii't acquicsconco in , but a prompt vindication of , tho constitutional rights of tho states . Tho reserved powors wero scrupulously , respected . No statesman put forth tho narrow views of casuists to jUHtify interference and agitation , but tho spirit of compact wuh regarded as sacred in tho oyo of honour and induspontmblfl for tho groat experiment of civil liberty , which , onvironod with inhoront difficulties , was yet borno forward in apparont woakneas by a power ¦ superior to all obstacles . There i . s no condemnation which tho voice of
freedom will not pronounce upon uo should wo prove faithless rto this groat trust . While men inhabiting different parts of thia groat continent can no moro bo expootod to hold tho Bamo opinions or entertain tho Bai ^ o Hoiitimonts tlrnu every variety of climato or soil can bo expected to furnish tho Hnmo agricultural products ,, they cau unifco in a common , object and tmatnin common principles essential to tho maintenance of that object . Tho gallant men of tho
south and the north could stand together during the struggle of the revolution ; they could stand together in the mocc trying period which succeeded the clangour of arms . As their united valour was adequate to all the trials of the camp and dangers ofthe field , so their united wisdom proved equal to the greater task of founding , upon a deep and broad basis , institutions , which it has been our privilege to enjoy , arid : will ever be our most sacred duty to sustain . It is hut the feeble expression of a faith strong and universal to say that their sons , whose blood mingled so often upon the same field during the war of 1812 , and who had more recentlyborne in triumph the flag of the country upon a foreign soil , will never permit alienation of feeling to weaken the power of their united efforts , nor internal dissensions to paralyse the great arm of freedom , uplifted for . the vindication of self * government , "
PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIC . "I have thus briefly presented such Suggestions as seen * to me especially worthy of your consideration . In providing for the present , you can hardly fail to avail yourselves of the light which the experience of the past casts upon the future . " The growth of om * population has now brought us , in the destined career of our national history , to a point at which it well behoves us to expand our vision over the vast perspective . " The successive decennial returns ofthe census since the adoption of the constitution have revealed a law of steady progressive development , which may be stated , in general terms , as a duplication every quarter century . Carried forward , from the point already reached , for only a short period of time as applicable to the existence of a nation , ihis law of progress , if unchecked , will bring us to almost incredible results . A . large allowance for a diminished . proportional effect of emigration would not very materially reduce
the estimate , -while the increased average duration of human life , known to have already resulted from the scientific and hygienic improvements of the past fifty years , will tend to keep up through the next , fifty , or perhaps hundred , the same ratio of growth which has been thus revealed in our past progress ; and to the influence of these causes may ba added the influx of labouring masses from eastern Asia'to the Pacific side of our possessions , together with the probable accession of the populations already existing ia other parts of our hemisphere , which , within the period in question , will feel , with yearly increasing force , the nafcnral attraction of so vast , powerful , and prosperous a confederation of self-governing republics , and seek the privilege of being admitted within its safe and happy bosom , transferring with themselves , by a peaceful and healthy process of incorporation , spacious regions of virgin and exuberant soil , which are destined to swarm with the fast-growing and fast-spreading millions of
our race . " These considerations seem fully to justify the presumption that the law of population above stated will continue to act with undiminished effect , through at least the next half century ; and that thousands of persons who have already arrived at maturity , and are now exercising the rights of freemen , will close their eyes on the spectacle of more than one hundred millions of population embraced within the majestic proportions of the American Union . It is not merely as an interesting topic of speculation that I present these views for your consideration . They have important practical bearings upon all the political duties we are called upon topperform . Heretofore , our system of government has worked on what may be termed a miniature scale , in comparison with the development , which it must thus assume , within a future
so near at hand , as scarcely to be beyond the present of the existing generation . 4 ii " lt is evident that a confederation so vast and so varied , both in numbers and in territorial extent , in habits and in interests , could only bo kept in national cohesion by the strictest fidelity to the principles of tho constitution , as understood by those who havo adhered to the most restrict el construction of the powers granted by the people and the states . Interpreted and applied according to 'thosje principles , the great compact adivpts itself with healthy ease and freedom to an unlimited extension of that benign system of federative self-government of which it is our glorious and , I trust , immortal charter . Lot ua , then , with redoubled vigilance , bo on our guard against yielding to tho temptation of the exercise of doubtful powers , oven under tho pressure of tho motives of conceded temporary advantage and apparent
temporary expediency . "Tho minimum of federal government , compatible with tho maintenance of national unity and efficient action m our relations with the rest of the world , should afford the rule and measure of construction of our powers under tho general clanses of tho constitution . A spirit of strict deference to tho sovereign rights and dignity of every state , rather than a disposition to subordinate tho states into a provincial relation to the central authority , should oharactoriso all our exorcise of tho respective powers temporarily vested in us . as a sacred trust from tho generous confidence of our
consti" In liko mannor , as a manifestly indispensable condition of tho perpetuation of union , and of tho realisation of that magnificent national future adverted to , does tho duty become yearly stronger and clonrer npon us , as citizens of tho several states , to cultivate a fratornul nnd affectionate spirit , language , and conduct in regard to other states , and in relation to tho varied interests , institutions , and habits ox sentiment and opinion , which may respectively ohuraefcoriae thom . Mutual forbearance , respect , and non-infcorl ' wence in our poi-Honal action an citizens , and an enlarged exorcisp of tho most liberal principles of comity in tho public dealing of otiito with state , whether in legislation or in tho execution of luwfl , « ro tho means to perpetuate that confidqneo and fraternity , tho decay of which , a moro political union , onjeo VJiflt a scalo could not long survive "In still another point of view , is an important practical
< luty HHggostiul b y this consideration of tho magnitude ot dimeiiHions , to which our political system , with its oorrc-Hnonding machinery of govornmont , ia so rapidly expanding . With increased vigilance . does it require ua to cultlvato the cardinal virtuen of public frugality and official integrity and purity . Tublic affaire ought to b « so conducted that a
December 24, 1853.] The Leader. 1227
December 24 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1227
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1853, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121853/page/3/
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