S19th CONGRESS, 1st ESSION. dent, they must go to work upon his powers, and trim down these by statutory enactments, wherever it can be done by law, and with a just regard to the proper efficiency of the Government. For this purpose they have reported the six bills which have been enumerated. They do not pretend to have exhausted the subject, but only to have seized a few of its prominent points. They have only touched, in four places, the vast and pervading sys tem of Federal Executive Patronage the Press-the Post Office-the Armed Force-and the Appointing Power. They are few, compared to the whole number of points which the system presents, but they are points vital to the liberties of the country. The Press is put foremost, because it is the moving power of human action: the Post Office is the handmaid of the Press: the Armed Force its executor: and the Appointing Power the directress of the whole. If the Appointing Power was itself an emanation of the popular will-if the President was himself the officer and the organ of the People-there would be less danger in leaving to his will the sole direction of all these arbiters of human fate. But things must be taken as they are; statesmen must act for the country they live in, and not for the Island of Utopia; they must act upon the state of facts in that country, and not upon the visions of fancy. In the country for which the committee act, the Press, with some exceptions, the Post Office, the Armed Force, and the Appointing Power, are in the hands of the Presi dent, and the President himself is not in the hands of the People. The President may, and in the current of human affairs, will be, against the People; and, in his hands, the arbiters of human fate must be against them also. This will not do. The possibility of it must be avoided. The safety of the People is the supreme law;" and to ensure that safety, these arbiters of human fate must change pcs.tion, and take post on the side of the People. in his hands; but it is the business of statesmen to act upon things as they are, and not as they would wish them to be. We must then look forward to the time when the public revenue will be doubled; when the civil and military officers of the Federal Government will be quadru pled; when its influence over individuals will be multiplied to an indefinite extent; when the nomination by the President can carry any man through the Senate, and his recommendation can carry any measure through the two Houses of Congress; when the principle of public action will be open and avowed, the President wants xx vote, and I want is patronage; I will vore as he wishes, and he will GIVE me give me the office I wish for. What will this be but the Government of one man? and what is the Government of one man but a monarchy? Names are nothing. The nature of a thing is in its substance, and the name soon accommodates itself to the substance. The first Roman Emperor was styled Emperor of the Republic, and the last French Emperor took the same title; and their respective countries were just as essentially monarchical before as after the assumption of these titles. It cannot be denied, or dissembled, but that this Federal Government gravitates to the same point, and that the election of the Executive by the Legislature quickens the impulsion. Those who make the President must support him. Their political fate becomes identified, and they must stand or fall together. Right or wrong, they must support him; and if he is made contrary to the will of the People, he must be supported not only by votes and speeches, but by arms. A violent and forced state of things will ensue. Individual combats will take place; and the combats of individuals will be the forerunner to general engagements. The array of man against man will be the prelude to the array of army against army, and of State against State. Such is the law of nature; and it is equally in vain for one set of men to claim an exemption from its operation, as it would be for any other set to suppose that, under the same circumstances, they would not act in the same manner. The natural remedy for all this evil would be to place the election of President in the hands of the People of the United States. He would then have a power to support him, which would be as able as willing to aid him when he was himself supporting the interests of the country, as they would be to put him down when he should neglect or oppose those interests. Your committee, looking at the present mode of electing the President as the principal source of all this evil, have commenced their labors at the beginning of this session by recommending an amendment to the Constitution in that essential and vital particular; but in this, as in many other things, they find the greatest difficulty to lie in the first step. The committee recommend the amendment, but the People cannot act upon it until Congress shall propose" it, and, peradventure, Congress will not "pro-ed papers communicated to the Department of State, in pose" it to them at all. 66 The committee have also reported another proposition of amendment, intended to exclude Senators and Representatives from appointment to civil offices, under the authority of the Federal Government; and this proposition they will not despair of seeing referred to the consideration and decision of the People. They believe that every proposition to amend the Constitution, not frivolous, or flagrantly bad on its face, should be referred to the People. The People made the Constitution, and they can amend it. They are the only constitutional triers of the amendment. They alone have power to adopt it; and for Congress to refuse to propose the amendment, is to prevent decision, and to act upon the principle that the People are incompetent to decide. The committee must then take things as they are. Not being able to lay the axe to the root of the tree, they must go to pruning among the limbs and branches. Not being able to reform the Constitution in the election of Presi VOL. IL-S 4 Bill to regulate the Publication of the Laws of the Unit ed States and of Public Advertisements. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the first day of December next, the selection of newspapers for the publication of the laws of the United States, and of public advertisements, shall be made as follows: in each State the number selected shall not be less than three, and may be equal to half the number of Representatives to which such State may be entitled in Congress; in each Territory, one; in the District of Columbia, three. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the selection of newspapers for the above objects, within the respective States, shall be made by the Senators and Representatives in Congress, from such State, and the names of the select writing, signed jointly or severally, and a majority to govern, on or before the first day of January next, and on or before the same day in every two years thereafter; in default of which, the selection shall be made by the Secretary of State. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Delegates from Territories, respectively, shall, in like manner, each select the paper in which the publication of the laws of the United States and public advertisements shall be made in the Territory from which he comes; and in default of such selection being made, and communicated to the Department of State, the Secretary of State shall select the same. Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the selection of newspapers in the District of Columbia, for the publication of the like laws and advertisements, shall be made, at the same time, by the Secretary of State; and a preference shall be given, in the selection, to the papers which may have the greatest number of actual subscrib ers, to be ascertained by the affidavit of the editors, respectively. Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the public advertisements of the United States shall be published in such papers only, as may have been selected according to the terms of this act, and may be published in any number of them, according to the nature of the advertisement, and the propriety of giving to it a general, a partial, or merely a local circulation. [Senate. the appointments shall be so made in each State, as to take one Cadet from each electoral district when the State shall have been divided into such districts, or one from each Congressional district, when it shall not have been so divided, and two from the State at large. A Bill to regulate the Appointment of Midshipmen. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative from and after the of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That. Midshipmen to be appointed in the Navy shall be appor day of - next, the number of tioned among the several States and Territories, and the District of Columbia, as follows: to each State, a number equal to the whole number of Senators and Representtives to which such State may be entitled in Congress; t Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That, as soon as may be, after the first day of January next, and every two years thereafter, a copy of the list of newspapers selected, according to the terms of this act, for the publication of the United States' laws and advertisements, shall be communicated by the Secretary of State, to the Senate and House of Representatives, to the Heads of Depart-cach Territory, one; to the District of Columbia, ments, respectively, and to the Postmaster General. and the appointments shall be so made in each State, a the State shall have been divided into such districts, or to take one Midshipman from each electoral district, when one from each Congressional district, when it shall have not been so divided, and two from the State at large; and no person shall be appointed Midshipman unless he be, at the time of his appointment, above fourteen, and under twenty-one years of age. A Bill to secure in office the faithful Collectors and Disbursers of the Revenue, and to displace Defaulters. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in the first week of the month of January next, and at the same time in every fourth year thereafter, the President shall cause a statement to be laid before Congress of the accounts of all District Attorneys; Collectors of the A Bill to prevent Military and Naval Officers from being Customs; Naval Officers and Surveyors of the Customs; dismissed the service at the pleasure of the President. Navy Agents; Receivers of Public Moneys for Lands; Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Paymasters in the Army; Surveyors General of the Public of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Lands; the Apothecary General; the Assistant Apothe-commissions issued to the Officers in the Army and Navy caries General; the Commissary General of Purchases; of the United States, shall no longer be made out with a and of all others under the authority of the Executive Go-clause importing that they are "to continue in force during vernment of the United States, who hold any office the pleasure of the President of the United States for the time charged with the collection or disbursement of public being," but shall be made out with a clause, declaring moneys, and who shall have failed to account for all such that they are "to continue in force during your good tele moneys, on or before the thirtieth day of September pre-riour;" and no officer shall ever, hereafter, be dismissed ceding; and the offices held by all such defaulting offi- the service, except in pursuance to the sentence of a Court cers, shall be vacated, from and after the date of said Martial, or upon an address to the President from the two message. Houses of Congress. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, in all nominations made by the President to the Senate, to fill vacancies occasioned by an exercise of the President's power to remove from office, the fact of the removal shall be stated to the Senate, at the same time that the nomination is made, with a statement of the reasons for which such officer may have been removed. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the first and second sections of an act, entitled "An act to limit the term of office of certain officers therein named, and for other purposes," approved the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, shall be, and the same hereby are, repealed. A Bill to regulate the Appointment of Postmasters. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the day ofnext, no person shall be appointed Postmaster to any Post Office, the emoluments of which exceed the sum of hundred dollars per annum, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, upon a nomination from the President. A Bill to regulate the Appointment of Cadets. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the day of next, the appointment of Cadets to the Military Academy shall be apportioned among the several States and Territories, and the District of Columbia, as follows: to each State, a number equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which it may be entitled in Congress; to each Territory, one; to the District of Columbia, ----; and 1 EDUCATION AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. Mr. DICKERSON, from the committee to whom was refer- the subject as a due attention to their other duties would permit them to make, have come to the conclusion, that great advantages would result to the United States from an annual distribution among them, by some equitable poses of education and internal improvement, or for such ratio, of a portion of our national revenue, for the pur other purposes as the State Governments may respective ly deem most to their advantage. That the committee, from as careful an examination of Whether the United States shall devote the whole of their revenues beyond what are required for the usual expenditures of the Government, domestic and foreign, civil, military, and naval, to the reduction of our public debt, until the whole of it shall be extinguished; or whe posed, for the most important purposes, and thereby cause ther they shall apply a portion of those revenues as proa more gradual reduction of the public debt, resolves itself into a question of expediency. courses will most effectually promote the present as well It remains for Congress to determine which of these as future prosperity of the country. the States as proposed, would be invested in a way to give There can be no doubt that money distributed among them much greater profit, than the interest on such mo Senate.] Education and Internal Improvement. ney would yield at three, four and a half, or even five per cent. which are the rates of interest now paid upon the greater part of our public debt. As a large portion of this debt is payable to persons in Europe, to discharge it as fast as our means would permit, would be to send from the country sooner than necessary, funds that are wanted at home; the inconvenience of which would be sensibly felt in the present embarrassed state of our moneyed market, and most probably for several years to come. Money distributed as proposed, would give new activity to industry and enterprize in all the States, and that equally and simultaneously. It would create a vigilance on the part of the State Governments over the expenditures of the General Government, and thereby prevent the waste of money and the adoption of extravagant measures that might diminish the amount of the annual dividends. It would secure impartial justice to all the States in the distribution of the expenditures of our revenue, a failure of which, at present, is a subject of loud and just complaint. It would relieve the General Government of the serious inconvenience of an overflowing Treasury, which, if not provided for in the manner proposed, or by a reduction of our revenue, will impair the most important principles of our Constitution. It would relieve the two Houses of Congress of a large portion of legislation now devoted to the disposal of our surplus funds-legislation of the worst kind, calculated to produce combinations, sectional feelings, injustice, and waste of the public treasure. It would transfer to the States the regulation of the expenditures for internal improvements by roads and canals, which, if retained and exercised by the General Government, contrary, as is believed by many, to the spirit and letter of our Constitution, will, in time, so far decrease the powers of the State Governments, and increase those of the United States Government, as to destroy the federative principle of our Union, and convert our system of confederated republics into a consolidated Government. It would remove the cause of the great and increasing difficulties arising from an objection, on Constitutional grounds, to the exercise of the right claimed on the part of the United States of making roads and canals through the different States of the Union. It would enable the General Government to keep in operation an efficient system of finance and revenue with advantage to the States. And should the exigencies of the country require the application of all our means to some object connected with our national peace and prosperity, those means could soon be brought into operation by sus pending for a time the dividends to the States. By this our Treasury would be filled without a sudden resort to new taxes, which might be oppressive to agriculture, and which might create much inconvenience by interrupting the pursuits and industry of our citizens. Money collected from the sources which now give us our revenues, and distributed among the States as proposed, would produce a rapid and profitable circulation of our funds, from the centre to the extremities of the Union, and thus add to the force of the moneyed capital of the country. By the following calculation, it will appear that on the 1st day of January, 1831, the six per cent. debt may be extinguished, twenty millions of dollars divided among the States, and more than a million and a half of dollars left in the Treasury, and that thirteen millions of dollars might be annually divided among the States thereafter, should it be deemed expedient to leave the five per cent. and four and a half per cent. debt, as well as the three per cent. debt, unredeemed. The calculation, however, is continued under a pre sumption that it may be deemed expedient to extinguish the five and four and a half per cent. debt in the reasona ble time proposed. On the 1st day of January, 1838, the whole of the 6 per cent. 5 per cent. and 44 per cent. debt may be extinguished, amounting to $67,689,306 27; interest paid upon the same, and upon the 3 per cent. debt up to that date, to the amount of $23,428,021 03; and that dividends may be made amon; the States in that time to the amount of $89,666,734 48; in all $180,784,061 78. ky this calculation it appears that the sum for distribution on the 1st of January, 1838, falls short of the proposed amount of $10,000,00 $533,265 52; and that there will remain chargeable to the annual assumed fund of fifteen millions of dollars, the interest on the 3 per cent. debt, amounting to $398,886 94. These sums, however, may be provided for from retrenchments to be made before the year 1858, in the expenditures for the Navy and fortifications; and ten millions of dollars instead of the sum stated, may be divided among the States on the 1st of January in that year, and fifteen millions of dollars annually thereafter. In 1827, the appropriation of half a million of dollars a year for the gradual increase of the Navy, is to cease; and as our most expensive fortifications are nearly completed, there will soon be a considerable reduction of expendi tures under that head; and it is believed that important reductions may be made in other subjects of expenditure, by which the charges above stated may not only be provided for, but large additions made to the sums proposed for distribution. By making payments on the public debt quarter-yearly, there would be a reduction of the amount of interest not embraced in this calculation. As this plan, if adopted, will be an experiment, the distant operation of which cannot be foreseen, the committee do not think it advisable to provide, in the first instance, by law, for making the dividend proposed beyond the year 1831, by which time they believe that twenty millions of dollars may be divided among the States, and for that purpose they beg leave to submit a bill. Under a plan to distribute among the States a portion of our national revenue, and at the same time to provide for the gradual reduction of the public debt, it is proposed to divide annually, after the year 1827, one half of the amount appropriated for the sinking fund, to wit: five millions of dollars, among the several States, by some equitable ratio, until the funded debt bearing six per cent. interest shall be extinguished; after that, to divide among the States ten millions of dollars annually, until the funded debt bearing five per cent. interest, and that bearing four and a half per cent. interest shall be extinguished; and after that, to divide among the States fifteen millions of dollars annually; leaving the residue of the funded debt, bearing three per cent. interest, to be re deemed at some distant period. By the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 22d December, 1825, it appears that the funded debt of the United States would amount on the 1st day of January, 1826, to - $80,985,537 23 Annual interest on do. $2,331,446 35 Aggregate of debt bearing 5 per cent. interest Annual interest on do. -$38,857,439 21 12,792,000 20 €39,000 00 Total of 6, 5, and 4 per cent. debt $67,689,306 27 13,296,231 45 By the report, it appears, that, of the revenues of 1825, after paying the expenditures of the year, including the interest on the public debt to the 1st day of January, 1826, there would remain in the Treasury the sum of $5,284,061 78, of which $3,500,000 are subject to former appropriations, and one million of unavailable funds, leav. ing for the year 1826, the sum of $784,061 78; and by estimate in that report, of the receipts and expenditures of the year 1826, after applying the amount of the sinking fund ten millions of dollars to the discharge of the interest and principal of the public debt, there will remain in the Treasury on the 31st of December, 1826, a balance of $4,915,269 98, applicable to the same purpose, if deemed expedient. Although it is in contemplation to reduce the duties on tea, coffee, and some other articles, this measure, if adopted, will not produce a correspondent reduction of the revenues for there will be an increased consumption of the articles, in consequence of such reduction of the duties-wh le the revenue will be gradually augmented as our population shall increase, and with it, the consump tion of articles on which our duties are collected. pro Deduct one year's interest 11,000,000 u 692,334 49 15,000,000 00 15,692,334 49 3,431,727 29 12,260,607 20 5,000,000 00 7,260,607 20 7,000,000 00 260,607 20 15,000,000 00 $15,260,667 20 3,011,727 29 12,048,879 91 1st January, 1829. Deduct for distribu- It is, therefore, believed that there will be an increase, rather than a decrease of public revenue, for many years to come, and it may be safely assumed, that the two sums Deduct one year's interest mentioned, to wit: the amount of the sinking fund of ten millions of dollars, and the balance of $4,915,269 98, which may be taken at five millions of dollars, will be the 1st January, 1830. Deduct for distribuannual fund, from which may be paid the dividends posed to be made; the interest on the public debt, and the sums necessary for the gradual reduction and final extinction of the six per cent, five per cent. and four and a half per cent. debt; all of which debt, except such portions of it as are not yet due, may be discharged at such times, and in such portions, as may suit the convenience of the General Government; and the loans not yet due, may be discharged in like manner, as they fall due, the last of which will be in the year 1835. Upon this basis, the Committee of Ways and Means of Deduct one year's interest 7,248,879 91 7,000,000 00 248,879 91 15,000,000 00 15,248,879 91 2,591,727 29 12,657,152 62 5,000,000 00 bution per cent. interest, may be extinguished on the 1st day of 1st of January, 1831. Deduct for distri- The amount of the balance of 1825, ap- Applicable to payment of 6 per cent, and |