Indiana Palladium, Volume 6, Number 23, Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County, 12 June 1830 — Page 2

PRESIDENT'S PflCSSSAgg.

From the United Suu Telegraph. MAYSVILLE ROAD BILL. .House of Representatives, Miy 27, 1830. The following M'g was received from the Present of the United States, returning "to the Housa of Representatives the enrolled bill entitled "An act authorizing a subscnp tion of stock in the Mysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turspike Road Company," rith his objections thereto. To th? Hvise of Representatives ; ' Gentlemen: I u&ve matrjrely considered (hi Dill pi poing to authorize "a subscrip ion of stock in the Maysville, , Washington, Piris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company, "and-now return the 'samt? to the IL use of Rjpreentatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its passage. Sincerely friendly to the improvement of oar country by means of roads and canal, I regret that any difference of opinion in the mode of contributing to it should exist between us, and if in atating this diff rence, I beyond what the occasion may be deemed to call for, 1 hope to find an apology in the great importance of the subject, an unfeiened respect Pr the high source from which this branch of it has emanated, and an anxious wish to be correctly understood by my constituents in the discharge of all my duties. Diversity of eentiment among public functionaries, actuated by the same general motives, on the character and tendency of particular measure, is an incident common to all Governments, and the more to be expected io one which, like ours, owfs its existence to the freedom of opinion, and must be upheld by the same influence. Controlled, as we thus are, by a higher Iriound, before which our res pectative acis will be canvassed with the indulgence due to the imperfections of our nature, and with that intel ligence and unbiassed judgment which are the true correctives of error, all that our responsibility demands is, that the public good should be the measures of our views, dictating alike their frank expression and honest maintenance. Li ibe message which was presented to Congress at the opening of its present sessioo, I endeavored to exhibit briefly my views upon the important and highly -interesting subject, to which our attention is now to be directed. 1 was desirous of presenting to the Representatives .of the several States in Congress assembled, the inquiry, whether some mode could not be devised which would reconcile the diversity of opinion concerning the powers of this Government over the subject of interDai .improvement, and the manner in which these powers, if conferred by the Constitution, ought to be ex-rcised. The act which 1 am called upon to consider, has therefore, been passed with a kuowledge of mv views on this question, as these are expressed in Ihf: message refeired to. In that document the following suggestion will be found "At. it me extinction of the public debt, it 13 not probable that any adjustment oi the tariil, upon principles satisfactory to the people of the Union, will, until a remote period, if ever, leave the G verninent without a considerable surplus in the treasury, beyond what may be required for its currentservice. As then the period approaches when the application of the revenue to the payment of debt will cease, the disposition of the surplus will present a subject lor the serious deliberation of Congress, and it may be fortunate for the country that it is y t to be decided Considered in connexion with the d fliculties which have heretofore attended appropriations for purposes of internal improvement, and with those which this experience tells us will certainly arise, whenever power over such subjects may be exercised by the General Government ; it is hoped that it may lead to the adoption of some plan which will reconcile he diversified interests of th Stales, and strengthen the bonds which u-iite them. Every member of the Union, in peace a 'id in war, w ill be benefitted by the improvement of inland navigation aud the construction of hignwa a in the several States. Let us then ei'dvavor to attain this benefu in a mode which will be satisfactory to all- That hitnerto"adopted has been deprecated as au infrV Uoi?of the Constitution by many of ourfeltbw citizens; while by others it has been vrewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils ;,v and adver'iugl the Constitutional power of Congress to make what I consider a pioper disposition of the surplus revenue, I subjoin the following remarks: "To avoid these evils, it appears to me that the most safe, jjst and federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenire, would be its apportionment among the several States according to their ratio of representation; and should this measure not be found warranted bv the Constitution, that it would be expedient to propose to the States an amendment authorizing it." The constitutional power of the Federal Government to construct or pro

mote work3 of internal improvement, presents itself in two points of view: the first, as bearing upon the sovereignty of the States within whose limits their execution is contemplated, if jurisdiction of the territory which they may occupy, be claimed as necessary to the:r preservation and use: the second, as asserting the simple right to appropriate money from the national treasury in aid of such works when undertaken by State authority, surrendering the claim ofjurisdiction. In the first view, the quesiion of power is au open one, and can be decided without the embarrassment attending the other, arising from the practice of the Government. Although frequently and strenuously attempted, the power, to this extent, lias never been exercised by the Government in a single instance. It does not, in my opinion, possess it; and no bill, therefore, which admits it, can receive my official sanction. But, in the other view of the power, ihe question is .differently situated. The ground taken at an early period of the G vernment, was, "that whenever money has been raised by the general authority, and is to be applied toa particular measure, a question arises, whether the particular measure be within the enumerated authorities vest

ed in Congress. If it be, the money require for it may be applied to it; if not, no such application can be made' The document in which this principle was first advanced is of deservedly high authority, and stuuld be held in grateful remembrance for its immediate agency in rescuing the country from much existing abuse, and for its con servative effect upon some of the most valuable priuciplesof the Constitution. The symmetry and purity of the Government would, doubtless, have been better preserved, if this restriction ot '.he power of appropriation could have been maintained without weaknii-g its ability to fulfil the general otjet ts of its institution: an efleci so likely to at tend-its admission, notwithstanding it apparent ft'ness, that every (subsequent administration of the Government, embracing a period of li.irly out of the forty-two years of its existence, has adopted a more enlarged construction of the power. It is not my purpose to detain you by a minute recital of the act;? which sustain this assertion, but it is proper that 1 should notice some of the most prominent, in order that the reflections which they suggest to my mind, may be better understood. la the administration of Mr. Jefferson we have two examples of the exercise of the right of appropriation, hich, in the consideration that led to their adoption aud in their effects upon the public mind, have had a greater agen cy in marking the character of the power, than any subsequent events. 1 allude t'i the payment of fifteen millions of dollars for the purchase of Louisaua, and lo the original apprupria. tion for the construction of the Cum berland Road; the latter act deriving much weight from the acquiescence and approbation of three of the most powerful of the original memhers cf the confederacy, expressed through their respective Legislatun-s. Although the circumstances of the latter case may be such as to deprive so much fit as relates to -the actual construction of the road, of the force of an obligatory exposition of the Constitution, it mus, nevertheless, be admitted that, so fai as the mere appropriation of money is concerned, they present the principle in its most imposing aspect. N" les? than twenty-three different laws have been passed through all the forms o. the Constitution, appropriating up wards of two millions and a half of dol lars out of the National Treasury in support of that improvement, with the anprobation of every President of the Uiited States, including my predecessor, since its commencement. independently of the sanction given to appropriations for the Cumberland and other roads and objects, under this power, the administration of Mr. M idison was characterised by an act which furnishes the strongest evidence of his opinion of its extent. A bill was passed through both houses of Congress, and presented for his approval, "setting apart and pledging certain funds for constructing roads and canals, and improving the navigation of water courses, in order lo facilitate, promote, and give security to internal commerce among the several States; and to render more easy, aud less expensive, the means and provisions for the common defence." Regarding the bill as asserting a power in the Federal Government to construct roads and canals within the limits of the Stales in which they were made, he objected to its passage, on the ground of its unconstitutionality, declaring that the assent of the respective States, in the mode provided by the bill, could not confer the power in question; that the only casesin which the consent and cession of particular States can extend the power of Congress, are those specified and provided for in the Constitution; and superadding to these avowals, bis opinion, that "a restriction of the power Ho provide for the common, de

fence and general welfare, to cases which are to be provided for by the expenditure of money, would still leave within the legislative power of Congress, all the great and most important measure s of Government, money being the ordinary and necessary means of carrying them into execution." I have not been able to consider these declarations in any other point of view, than as a concession that the right of appropriation is not limited by the power lo carry into effect the measure for which the money is asked, as was formerly contended. The views of Mr. Monroe upon this subject, were not left to inference. Dining his administration a bill was passed through both Houses of Congress, conferring the jurisdiction and prescribing the mode by which the Federal Government should exercise it in the case of the Cumberland Road, He returned it with objections toils passagp, and io assigning them, took occasion to say, that in the early stages of the Government, he had inclined to the construction that it had no right to expend money, except in the performance of acts aulhorzed by the other specified grant of power, according to a strict construction- of them; bat that, on

further reflection and observation, his mind had undergone a change, that his opinion then was, "that Congress have an unlimited power to raise money, and that, in its appropriation, they have a discretionary power, restricted only by the duty to appropriate it lo purposes of common defence, and of general, not local, national, not State bentfii;" and this was avowed to be the governing principle through the residue ofhi3 administration. The views of the last administration are of such recent dale as to render a particular reference to them uunessaary. It is well known that the appropriating power, to the utmost extent which had been claimed for it, in relation to internal improvements, was fully recognized and exercised by it. This brief reference to known facts, will be sufficient to show the difficulty, if not impracticability, of bringing back the operations of the Government to the construction of the Constitution set up in 1793, assuming that lo be its true reading, in relation to the power under consideration: thus giving an admonitory proof of the force of implication, and the necessity of guarding the Constitution with sleepless vigilance, agaiust the authority of precedent which have not the sanction of its most plainly defined powers. For, although it is the duty of all to look to that sacred instrument, instead of the statute book, to repudiate, at ail times, encroachments upon its spirit which are too apt to be effected by the conjuncture of peculiar and facilitating circumstances; it is not L3ss true, that the public good and the nature of our political institutions require, that individual differences should vield to a we'll settled acquiescence of the people and confederated authorities, in particular constructions of the Constitution, on doubtful points. Not to concdp this much to the spirit of our institutions, would impair their stability, and defeat the object! of the Constitution itself. The bill before me does not call for i more definite opinion upon the particular circumstances which will warrant appropriations of money by Congress, to aid works of internal improvement, f r although the extension of the toer tn apply money beyond that of currving into effect the object for which it is appropriated, has, as we have seen, been long claimed and exercised by the tederal Government, yet such grants have always been professedly under the control of the general priuciple, that the work3 which might be thus aided, should be "of a general, not local national, not State" character. A disregard of this distinction would of necessity lead to the subversion of the federal system. That even this is an unsafe on, arbitrary in its nalure, and liable, consequently, to great abuses, is too obvious to require the confirmation of experience. It is, however, sufficiently definite and imperative to my mind, to forbid my approbation of any bill having the character of the one under consideration. I have giveu to its provisions all the reflection demanded by a just regard for the interests of those of our fellow citizens who have desired its passage, and by the respect which is due to a co-ordinate branch of the Government; but 1 am notable to View it in any other light than as a measure of purely local character; or if it can be considered national, that no further distinction between the appropriate duties of the General and State Government,, need be attempted; for there can be no local interest that may not with equal propriety be denominated national. It has no connection with any established system of improvement; is exclusively within the- limits of a state, starting at a point on the Ohio river, and running out 6ixty miles to an interior town ; and even as far a3 the state is interested, conferring partial instead of general advantages. Considering the magnitude and im

portance of the power, and the embarrassment to which, from the very nature of the thing, its exercise must, necessarily, be subjected; the real friends ol internal improvement ought not to be willing to confide it to accident and chance. What is properly national in its character, or otherwise, is an inquiry which is often extremely difficult of solution. The appropriations of one year, for an object which is considered national, may be rendered nugatory, by the refusal of a succeeding Congress to continue the work, on the ground that it is local. No aid can be derived from the intervention of corporations.

The question regards the character of the work, not that of those oy wnom u is to be accomplished. Notwithstanding the union of the Government with the corporation by whose immediate agency, any work or internal improvement is carried on, the inquiry will still remain, is it national and conducive to the benefit of the whole, or local, and operating only lo the advantage of a portion of the Union? Rut, although, I might not feel it to be my official duty to interpose the executive veto, to the passage of a bill appropriating money for the construction of such works, as are authorized by the Stales, and are national in their character, I do not wish lobe understood as expressing an opinion, that it is expedient at this time, for the General Government to embaik in a system of this kind, and anxious that my constituents should be possessed of my views, on this, as well as on all other subjects, which they have committed to my discretion, I shall stale them fiankly and briefly. Besides many minor considerations, there are two prominent views of the subject, which have made a deep impression upon my mind, which, I Ihink, are well entitled to your serious attention, and will, 1 hope, be maturely weighed by the people. From the official" communication submitted to ou, it appears, that if no adverse and unforeseen contingency happens in our foreign relations, and no unusual diversion be made of the funds set apart for the payment of the national debt, we may look with confidence to its entire extinguishment in the short period of four years. The extent to which this pleasing anticipation may be indulged, is dependent upon the policy, which may be pursued in relation to measures, of the character of the one now under consideration, must be obvious to all, and equally so, that the events of the present session are well calculated to awaken public solicitude upon the sub ject. By the statement Irora the Treasury Department, and those irom the Clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives herewith submitted, it appears that the bills which have passed into laws, and those which in all probability, will pass before the adjournment of Congress, anticipate appropriations which, with the ordinary expenditures for the support of Government, will excted considerably the amount in the treasury for the year 1830: Thus, whilst we are diminish ing the revenue by a reduction of the duties on tea, coffee, and cocoa, the appropriations for internal improvement are increasing beyond the available means of the Treasury ; and if to the calculation be added the amount contained in bills which are pending before the two Houses, it may be safely affirmed, that ten millions of dollars would not make up the excess ove r the Treasury receipts, unless, the payment of the national debt be postponed, and the means now pledged to that object applied to those enumerated in these bills. Without a well regulated system of internal improvement, this exhausting mode of appropriation is not likely to be avoided, and the plain consequence must be, either a continuance of the national debt, or a resort to additional taxes. Although many of the States, with a laudable zeal, anil under the influence of an enlightened policy, are successfully applying their separate eflorts to works of this character, the desire to enlist the aid of the General Government in the construction of such as from their nature ought to devolve up on it, and to which the means of the in dividual States are inadequate, is both rational & patriotic; and, if that desire j is not gratihed now, it does not follow that it never w ill be. The general intel ligence and public spirit of the American people, furnish a sure guarantee, that, at the proper time, this policy will be made to prevail under circumstances more auspicious to its successful prosecution, than those which now exist. But great as this object undoubtedly is, it is not the only one which demands the fostering care of the Government. The preservation and success of the Republican principle rests with us. To elevate its character, and extend its influence, rank among our most important duties; and the best means to accomplish this desirable end, are those which will rivet the attachment of our citizens to the Government of their choice, by the comparative.

lightness of their public burden?, and l J 1 A A. . 11.

oy ine attraction which the superior success of its operations will present to the admiration and respect of the world. Through the favor of an overruling an. indulgent Providence, our country is blessed with general prosperity, and our citizens exempted from the pres3ure of taxation which other, less favored portions of the human family, are obliged to bear; yet, it is true, that many of the taxes collected from our citizens, through the medium of imposts, have, for a considerable period, been onerous. In many particulars, these taxes have borne severely upon the laboring & less prosperous classes of the communitv, being imposed on the necessaries of life, and this, too, in cases where th burden was not relieved by the consciousness, that it would ultimately contribute to make us independent of foreign nations for articles of prime necessity, by the encouragement of their growth and manufacture at home. They have been cheerfully borne, because they were thought to be necessary to the support of Government, and the payment of the debts unavoidably incurred in the acquisition and maintenance of our national rights and liberties. But have we a right to calculate on the same cheerful acquiescence, when it is known that the necessity for theircontinuance would cease, were it not for irregular, improvident, and unequal appropriations of the puhlic funds? Will not the people demand, as they have a right to do, such a prudent system of expenditure, as will pay the debts of the' Union, and authorize the reduction of every tax, to as low a point as the wise observance of the necessity to protect that portion of our manufactures and labor, whose prosperity i3 essential to our national safety and independence, will allow? When the national debt is paid, the duties upon mose articles which we do not raise, may be repealed with safety, and still leave, I trust, without oppression to any section of the country, an accumulating surplus fund, which may be beneficially applied to some well digested system of improvement. Under this view, the question, as to the mauner in which the Federal Government can, or ought to embark iti the construction of roads and canals. fand the extent to which it may impose ourtnens on the people lor these purposes, may be presented on its own merits, free of all disguise, and of every embarrassment, except such as may arise from the Constitution itself. Assuming these suggestions to be correct will not our constituents require the observance of a couife by which they can be effected? Ought they not to. require it? With the best disposition toaid,a3 farts 1 can conscientiously, in, furtherance of works of internal improvement, my opinion b, that the soundest views of national policy at this time point to such a course. Besides, the avoidance oi an evil influence upon the local concerns of the country, howsolid is the advantage which the Government will reap from it in the elevation of its character? How gratifying the effect, of presenting to the world the sublime spcvtable of a republic of mora than twelv e millions of happy people, in the fifly-fourth year of her existence, after having passed through two protracted wars; the one for the acquisition, and the other for the maintenance of liberty free from debt, and with all her immense resources unfettered! What a salutary influence would not such an exhibition exercise upon the cause of liberal principles & free Government throughout the world? Would we not ourselves find, in its effect, an additional guarantee, that our political institutions will be transmitted to the most remote posterity, without decay? A course of policy destined to witness events like these, cannot be benefitted by a legislalion which tolerate3 a scramble for appropriations that have no relation to any general system of improvement, and whose good effects must, of necessity, be very limited, fa the best view of these appropriations, the abuses to which they lead, far exceed the good which they are capable of promoting. They may be rasorted to as artful expedients, to shift upon the Government the losses of unsuccessful private speculation, and thus by ministering to personal ambition and self aggrandizement, tend to sap the foundations of public virtue, and taint the administration of the Gi vernment with a demoralizing influence. In the other view of the subject, and the only remaining one, which it is my intention to present at this time, is involved the expediency of embarking in a system of internal improvement, without a previous amendment of the. Constitution, explaining and defining the precise powers of the Federal Government over it: assumirg the right to appropriate money, to aid in the construction of national works, to be warranted by the cotemporaneous and continued exposition of the Constitution, its insufficiency for the successful prosecution of them, murt be admitted by all candid minds. If we look to usage lo dc-