Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1858 — ABSTRACT OF THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. [ARTICLE]

ABSTRACT OF THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

The President in his Annual Message; oipens by congr.ittil it ng the country on the peace and quiet which now prevails. He refers to the Lecompton Constituti n and rc- ' affirms his positi.in ;>n that subject, ami thinks that il Kansas had been admitted with that Constitution the same quiet wpultihave b< . n secured at an early day. Being perlecti - , wiliutg to m quiesce in any uthei e.m-ti■ utional imide oi settlement he sigri'ii Mr. Iffniilish's bill, and probably when K uisas ' again app ys for admission she will have the pjipulati.Hi required by that bill. He goes at length into the subject of a general law so that no new Slate shall be admitted unhiss she lias a population sufficient to enti | tie her to one representative. He congrat- ! ulales Congress on the settlement of the ; Utah affair without the effusion of blood, lie compliments the officers of the army there, and expresses satisfaction with the course ol Gov. (.'ummitig, and honor; bly mentions Col. Lane. He refers to the importance of the treaties.recently negotiated with China and Japan, anq thinks the result in the 'ormer case justified our neutral policy. . He congratulates the country on the abandonment of the right ot search by -Great j Britain, and in relerence to Central Amer- ! ien, says that negotiations are still progressing, and he has net yet abandoned the hope ot.success, ne reiers to what was stated at the last session ol Congress in that con- I nection. and says that his views on the subject ot the Isthmus routes accord with the j policy heretofore annouced by Mr. Cass. ! Hjsonly desire to keep the routes open, and i he desires no other privilege for the. United ; States than we expect other nations to en- ! joy; will n it consent that they be closed bv the imbecility of nations which reside nei.i I them. IL? regrets tiial the Nicaraguan rout ! h iss been closed. He speaks of the necessity of enforcing oiiir I laims against Costa Rica and Nicaragua. He speaks of Mexico as being in a condi ion of civil war, with scarcely any h<»p» ] of;# restoration to a permanent government J

He refers to the causes which led to a rupi ture of the diplomatic relations there, and I speaks well of Mr. Forsyth's efforts. If not I for the hope of obtaining justice from the 'Liberals, who now appear approaching to power, he would recommend the taking possession of a portion of Mexico suffi ient to idemnii’y us for ail our claims and grievances in the Nor’h of Mexico bord -ring on out territory. There are other considerations which claim our attention. We are iit’erested in the peace ofthe npigborhood. I, :w----less Indians enter the sett lem"nts in Arizo nia. and there seems no other way th.it this difficulty can be removed than by ing .military p sts in Sonora ami Chihuahua. He recomends that this be done, regarding Mexico as in a state of imbecility and an rchy. As t > Sn >in .hi' refers tb the causes which delayed the tippoin*ment ol' a siircrstnr t> Mr. D >dge. and s ; ys that Mr. P est.tn will go out with power to settle the diffi'ulties I with S ; tin i possible. lies ys that Cuba I ought to b ■! mg to us, .nd recomm m Is 'h it i step.* be taken or its purch ise. As we ac j quire all n w territory by honorable n 'goii-' , a ions, this should n>tbe an exception. He re-;:flirins his, ’ormer opinions in favor of snecific. duties on ce t>in articles, and sub mils the whole tar if quest On to Congress. He calls their attention to the Pacific R tilroad. and refers to the overland snails as showing the practicability ofthe rout. Among ; other subjects he reiterates the recom oendation to establish a Territorial Gov,ennnen’ ' for Arizonia. On the subject of the Tariff the President says: When Congress met in December . last the business of the country had just been crushed by one of those periodical reIvulsions which are the inevitable consequence of our unsound and extravagant tsvs-t-'m ot bank credit ami inflated currency. With all the elements of national wealth tn abundance our tnmufa-'tories. were suspended, and our useful public and private enterprises were arrested, and thousand of laborerswere deprived of employment and reduced to' want. ’ Universal distress prevailed Am mg commerc 1a 1, in a n ifactu ring, an d ry,e ch•in ica P classes. Our manufacturers .everywhere suffered severely, not because of the reduction in the ta r iff of duties on imports, but because there was no demand, at any price, for their productions. The people were obliged to restrict them- ’ selves in their purchases toi articles of pr me necessity. In the general prostration of business the iron manufacttirers in the different States probably suffered more th n any otb-'r class, and .much destitution was the inevitable consequence among the great number of workmen who had been employed in this branch of’o ir industry. There could be no supply where there was no demand. To present an example, tilere could be no demand lor railroad iron after our magnificent system of railroads, extending its benefits to every portion ot the Union, h,ol been iir.mght to a dead pause. The same consequence have resulted, from similar auses, to many other brandies of useful, manu actiires. No Government, and especially a Government of such limiied powers as that of the U-iyied States, could have prevented the Lite revulsion. T e whole commercial world seemed for years to ib-v ■ been rushiim to this catastrophThe same ruinous consequence would have followed in th ■ United States whether the duiies on imports had 'remained as they were under the tanffof 1846, or had been raised' to a much higher standard. The tariff 0! 1857 had nothing f.o ido with the result. But tlie effect of the revulsion is now slowly but surely passing i away. The energy and enterprise of our , country, with our unbounded resmirtes, wili, within the period of another year, re.-tore a state of wholesome industry and trade. Capital Iris again accumulated in our large cities', the rate ot interest is there very low, confidence is gradually reviving, and so soon as it is discovered ihit tins capital can be profitably employed in c.omiiriercia 1 and inaliu'acturing en erprises and in the coiisrruci t on of railroads and other works o' public ■ iml priv.ite improv: ftieni, r.,speri v lit again sni’le thr. ugh-m: th -> nd l i U ’..on. however, to di.-guise tine ''Cl rum to- ve., that a speculative inti ,tmn ot our tairo n v. ' without a infl tion n other countries whose manufactures c.me in competition with our own, must ever produce disastrous results to our domestic munjulactures. No tarifl', short hf absolute pro- , ibition, cun prevent these evil consequen- ! ces-. In connection with this subject it is proper to refer o our financial condition; Tiie same causes which have produced pecuniary distress throughout the country, have so reduced the amount of imports from foreign countries that the revenue has proved inadequate to meet the necessary expenses of the Government to supply the deficiency. Congress, by the act ol the 23d of December. 2857, authorized the issue of ,§20,000,000 ol Treasury notes, and this p oving inadequate they au'horized, by actol June 14, 1858. a loan of §20.000,000 to he aplied to the payment of appropriations made by la\v.| No statesman would advise that we should go on increasing the? national debt to meet the ordinary expenses of the; Government.i This would-be a most ruinous policy. It] would be ruinous to contrive to borrow, j Besides it may be proper to observe that the !' incidental protection thus afforded by a rev- : enue tarifl' would at tho present moment, to ■ some extent, increase the confidence of the : manufacturing interest, and give a fresh im \ I uetus t.o our reviving business. „ To this, surely, no person will object, fii regard to the mode of assessing and collecting-euties uimer a strictly revenue tarifl, I have long entertained and often expressed the opinion that sound policy requires this should b< done in cases to which these can be promptly applied. They are well adopted to com-'

modifies which are usually sold by weight or by measure, and which from their nature . are of' equ il or of nearly equal value Such. I for ex miple, are the articles of ir >n ot different classes, raw sugar and foreign wines ; and spirits. In my deliberate judgment specie duties are the best, if not the only means of securing the revenue agiin-t false and frail 'uleT j invoici s, and su< h has l>< en the > ractice ! adonted f r this purpose by otlq f r commercial nations. B ’sides, specie duties would ,aff:>rd to the American manufacturer he m 'idental advantages to which he is fairly entitled ur;d 'r a revenue tarifl'. The present system is a sliding scale to this disadvantage. Under it, when prices are high and business p osperous, the dut es rise in [amount when he-least requires their aid. On the cm trary, wh"n prices tall, and he is ' struggling .igain-t a Iversify, tho du i s are .diminished tithe s nne proportion, greatly to his injury. N itli’T w >uld there be danger that a higher ale of duty th .n that inj U nted by 4 ' <’« ngress sh tiid be levied in tne I form >! spoeio du ie . If wou dbe easy to usceitain the average v due of any impo t'd articles' tor a series o' ve trs, and instead o' subjecting it to an idv .1 .rem duty, at a certain rate per centum, to substitute in its place an equivalent specie duly. By such an arr.ingouient the consumer would not be injured; It. is true he might, have to pay a little more duty on a given article in one year, but if so lie would piy a little le~s on another article, .and in a series ol'years these would counterbalance each ’ther afid amount to the same thing. So far as his interest is concerned the inconvenience would be trifling when contrasted w.i«th the aditional secu ity thus afforded agionst frauds upon the revenue, in which ever, is direct y interested. I have thrown out these .-u^gestions®as the fruit of my own ob.scr.vatio;’, to wutch Congress in their better judgment, will give ( such weight as they may justly de.-erve..-In rela'iou to the Transit route across rhe Isthmus the President savs, the Goverqment has no objections to a demand for i^ioif 'e<>m- ' pensation, but insists that h realter the route shall not be closed by an arbitrary decree. Recommends Co.ugress, to pass a law authorizing him to employ force„to prevent the obstruction < r closing of the I’ransit by .lawless violence. A similar nece:-eitv ex- ’ isis for the protection o' tiie Panama and T’-liuantepec route.