Governors or the Legislatures of the several States, in He would request the Secretary of the Senate to read [SENATE. The States, or to be levied by taxes off the people. objects are not of a nature to be dispensed with, and the money to complete them must be got somewhere. This is material information to give to the States, and to give to them now, while their Legislatures are occupied with the question of our deposite act, and some for treating it as a deposite, and some as a distribution. With this document before them, no State can treat it as a distribution; no one can look upon the deposite as money for which the Government has no use; but every one will see that there is indispensable need for it; and by looking at the date of each appropriation, they will see that this unavoidable surplus was forcibly created by keeping off appropriations until it was too late to expend them. Every body knew that the struggle of the last session was to keep off appropriations, and that the organization Missouri, it seemed to him that this document was in of committees gave the opposition the power to keep some way or other to have some effect upon the depos- them off. In this way, the unavoidable surplus was vioite bill of the last session; but he could not see in what lently and forcibly produced. Several millions were de way the communication of these documents to the Legis-feated altogether: namely, the anticipation of the foreign ⚫ latures could have any effect whatever upon their action indemnities, by which the United States would have on that bill. Congress has passed that bill; it was to bought four millions of gold, bearing an interest of 4 and take effect within a very few days-on the 1st day of 5 per cent.; the army inrcease bill was defeated; the January next. The money then in the Treasury was to new fortification bill defeated; the New Orleans custombe set apart, and to be taken, under the direction of the house; the bill for the purchase of the Louisville and Secretary of the Treasury, from the deposite banks, and Portland canal, and others, to the amount of six or seven transferred to the State treasuries for deposite and for millions. From the beginning to the end of the session, safe keeping, in pursuance of the particular provisions of he stood upon the ground that, if the proper appropriathe bill itself. tions were made, and made in time to be used, there would be no more surplus than had often been in the Bank of the United States, without exciting the least alarm in the bosoms of those who could now see nothing but corruption, danger, and ruin, from the like sums in the ninety different banks which now hold the public deposites. The United States Bank often held fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen millions of public money, and not a word is said about corruption; not more than that amount would have remained in all the deposite banks, if the necessary appropriations had been made, and made in time to be used. He wished this document to go to the people of the States, that they might see these facts. He knew it was somewhat ungracious to ask this Senate, so many of whom had voted for the deposite act, to furnish this evidence of the error under which they legis lated; but certain it is, that many of them voted for it as a deposite law, in fact as well as in name, and not as a distribution law, under a false title, in derision of the constitution. Such Senators should have no objection to sending this document to the State Legislatures, to let them see the objects for which a reimbursement of this money must be made, or unnecessary taxes kept up to supply its abstraction. But of one thing be was certain, whether the Senate sent the document to the States or The printing of the document may be useful to the Senate; it may be important to them, for their information and guidance with reference to the bill presented by the Senator from South Carolina, to continue in force the deposite bill. But it could not be of any practical benefit to the Legislatures of the States, in relation to the bill of the last session. Whether wisely or not, Congress had passed that bill, and the States were soon to receive the benefit of it; and he would suggest to the Senator the propriety of so amending his resolutions as to confine the printing for the use of the Senate, and not to require that printed copies of this document should be sent to the Governors and Legislatures of the several States. With a knowledge of what probably would be in the Treasury on the 1st day of January, as the unexpended balances of former appropriations are very great, and a decided majority of the Senate gave their votes in favor of the deposite bill of the last session, it certainly would not be difficult to show that this document fails to give correct information. The gentleman from Missouri, he presumed, could not desire to have this document communicated to the State Legislatures, unless he believed it would impart useful information to them. And, for one, he could not but believe that it was calculated to make an erroneous impression upon the public mind; to misguide and to mislead the action of those Legislatures in relation to that bill. Without saying more at this time, he did hope that the Senator from Missouri would amend his motion as had been suggested. Mr. BENTON asked the Secretary to read the caption of the document. The Secretary read it; and Mr. B., inviting the attention of the Senate to the words of the caption, and that the 1st day of January next was the time to which the unexpended balances were computed, pointed out that this was exclusive of sums which might be in the hands of disbursing officers, and which, though still charged to them, might be all expended, and would be by the end of the quarter. The sums in the hands of disbursing officers was no fund to meet these fourteen and a half millions, but were intended to be expended by the last day of the present quarter. The five millions left in the Treasury will be a fund, as far as it goes, to meet the fourteen and a half millions; but nine and a half millions will still remain to be reimbursed by the not, it would go to the States. After this attempt to suppress it, all must desire to see it. Mr. CALHOUN remarked that he found the information which the gentleman from Missouri was so anxious to give the country was already before the Senate in a very authentic form. It was to be found in the table of estimates accompanying the report of the Secretary of the Treasury. He argued that, according to the assertion of the Secretary of the Treasury, who estimated the unexpended balances of appropriation at $14,636,062, the sum of $3,013,389 would not be wanted. The Senator, therefore, in sending out a document, setting forth that $14,500,000 were required for outstanding appropriations, would mislead the public, and make a false impression. Mr. C. contended that, taking the five millions which must be left in the Treasury, on account of the deposite act, from the eleven and odd remaining of the fourteen millions, together with the money at present in the hands of the disbursing officers, there would be funds enough on hand, within a small amount, to meet the outstanding appropriations. Now, when it was admitted by every one that the surplus which would be on hand at the end of the next year would amount to at least twenty-five millions of dollars, (and for himself he entertained no doubt that it would be thirty, unless the country should be disturbed by a war, or some other unforeseen catastrophe,) he would seriously ask, was there a Senator on that floor, of any party, who would say, in a time of profound peace, (for he would not call the Seminole war interrupting the peace of the Union,) and recollecting the fact that this administration came in as a reform administration, that a tax should be raised, or that the money distributed under the deposite bill, should be refunded in order to make extravagant appropriations? He (Mr. C.) could not believe it. He knew that attempts would be made to prevent the renewal of the deposite act, though he could not say that this was one of them. But let him tell gentlemen that these attempts would only produce a reaction, and end in their defeat. Mr. C., in conclusion, adverted to the subject of a reduction of the revenue, and the necessity of bringing it down to the legitimate wants of the Government. He insisted that the Committee on Finance, to whom was referred the consideration of this matter, were bound to show, in a satisfactory manner, either that there would be no surplus next year, or to admit the necessity of making an adequate reduction of the revenue. [DEC. 28, 1836. be wanting, of which five millions remain in the Treas ury, and about nine and a half go to the States. It is certainly desirable to the States to know at once that these nine and a half millions will be wanted in two years, and part of it the first year. This is the intimation in the President's message. Mr. B. read the pas sage: The unexpended balances of appropriation on the 1st day of January next are estimated at $14,636,062, exceeding by $9,636,062 the amount which will be left in the deposite banks, subject to the draft of the Treasurer of the United States, after the contemplated transfers to the several States are made. If, therefore, the future receipts should not be sufficient to meet these outstanding and future appropriations, there may be soon a necessity to use a portion of the funds deposited with the States." Mr. B. said, here was a clear declaration that these unexpended balances were to meet these outstanding appropriations; and if the future receipts into the Treas ury did not meet them, the States might soon be called upon for a part of their deposites. Now, here was a question, first for the Finance Committee, and afterwards for Congress. Would they keep up unnecessary taxes to meet these balances, or call upon the States to refund? He, for one, should be against keeping up the taxes for this object, and should be for calling on the States, and therefore would show them at once the specific objects for which the money was wanted. Mr. B. read another passage from the President's mes sage to show that these moneys must be refunded by the States, or taxes, otherwise unnecessary, must be kept up to supply their place; so that, in no event, could they be called and treated as an unavoidable surplus for which the Government has no use: A very "No time was lost, after the making of the requisite appropriations, in resuming the great national work of completing the unfinished fortifications on our seaboard, and of placing them in a proper state of defence. In consequence, however, of the very late day at which those bills were passed, but Ettle progress could be made during the season which has just closed. large amount of the moneys granted at your last session accordingly remains unexpended; but as the work will be again resumed at the earliest moment in the coming spring, the balance of the existing appropriations, and in several cases which will be laid before you with the proper estimates, further sums for the like objects may be usefully expended during the next year." Mr. BENTON said the document which had been read, to wit: the estimate of appropriations for 1837, was not unknown to him. He was no stranger to the document itself, or to the laws under which it was annually framed. One part of it, that of the estimates for the service of the ensuing year, was framed under an act as old as the Government; the other part of it, that which related to the unexpended balances, was more modern, and was framed under an act of 1820, to carry into effect more completely an act of 1795, relative to unexpended balances. This act of 1795 continues all appropriations in force for two full years after the year in which they are made; and at the end of those two years directs any balance that may remain to be carried to the surplus fund. The act of 1820 was to facilitate the understanding and use of these balances; and for that purpose it directed the Secretary of the Treasury to annex them to his annual estimate of appropriations, divided into three heads, according to the act of 1795; one head was to show what part of the unexpended balances of the expired year would be wanted in the first of the two next years, and what part in the second of them, and what part would not be wanted at all; and so would go to the surplus fund. Thus the unexpended balances are now, and, ever since 1820, have been shown in three columns, headed as directed by the eighth sec. tion of that act. Thus they stand in this estimate; and the amount under each head is, first, for the service of 1837, there will be wanted of these unexpended balances the sum of $11,427,480; for 1838, there will be wanted $3,013,389; and there will remain the sum of $195,183, which will not be wanted at all in either of the two years, and therefore will go to the surplus fund. The aggregate of these three sums makes the $14,636,062 mentioned in the President's message, and also in the document of the estimates; and the aggreDecember 6, 1836. gate of the two first sums will make the amount in this SIR: I have the honor to transmit, for the information second document which is now asked to be printed. In of the House of Representatives, an estimate of the apthis document the third head or column is dropped, be-propriations proposed to be made for the service of the cause the amount in it is no longer wanted; and the two heads in the first and second columns are united and made into one, because the object was to know how much of the appropriations were unexpended, and would be wanting in the next two years. This document shows that near fourteen and a half millions will Mr. B. repeated, the Government has a use for this money, and a use so urgent, that she must raise it by taxation, if any of the States violate the deposite act, and hold on to the moneys as their portion of a distributive fund. To make this matter too plain for mistake, too obvious for commentary, and too imperative to be disputed, Mr. B. would refer to the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanying the annual estimates, and showing these unexpended balances, and expressly including them in his estimate for the service of 1857 and 1838. This is the letter referred to: TREASURY DEPARTMENT, year 1837, amounting to Viz: Civil list, foreign intercourse, and mis- Military service, including fortifications, $20,354,442 57 $2,925,670 62 armories, arsenals, ordnance, Indian affairs, revolutionary and military pensions, and internal improvements, $10,758,431 33 Naval service, including the marine corps, To the estimates are added statements, showing, 1. The appropriations for the service 2. The existing appropriations which 6,670,340 62 [SENATE. importance, if it was to regulate the conduct of the States in that particular. But, then, if it be important, and is to be of service, it ought to go in a correct form. Now, how did the Senator from Missouri propose to send out this information? It was, that there was now an unexpended balance of appropriations of fourteen millions of dollars, and the inference was, that the money must be called back from the States to meet these balances when wanted. Now, if this was a fact, the information had better be sent out; but if the tendency of it was to mislead every body, it ought not to be given. The President said that there was a balance of unexpended appropriations of fourteen millions of dollars, and when the five millions left in the Treasury by the provisions of the deposite law was deducted from the sum, then there would re$2,347,000 00 main nine millions; and the President proceeds to say, that if there should be no money in the Treasury to meet this balance, then Congress must make some arrangement for that purpose. Now, he called upon the Senator from Missouri to show, and it was incumbent on him to do so, that there would be no money in the Treasury to meet these balances. Now, did the Senator from Missouri propose to show any such thing? No, he did not pretend to say that the receipts into the Treasury would not be sufficient to meet all demands. What was 3,013,389 34 11,427,489 87 There is also added to the estimates a statement of the several appropriations which will probably be carried to the surplus fund at the close of the present year; either because the objects for which they were made are completed, or because these sums will not be required for, or will no longer be applicable to them, amounting to $195,183 64. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, LEVI WOODBURY, Hon. JAMES K. POLK, With these views of the subject, and these references to the President's message, and the Secretary of the Treasury's lettter, Mr. B. held it to be well proved that the document which he proposed to have printed and sent to the States was not a false or deceptive paper, to mislead and confuse the public mind, but a document true and perspicuous, calculated to instruct and inform the public mind, and to save all good citizens from the danger of falling into the error of considering the moneys deposited with the States as an unavoidable surplus, for which the Government has no use, and which they may consequently treat as their own. This document, if printed, will save all good citizens from that error, and show them that the Government has actually appropriated a large part of the money deposited with them, and must get it back, or raise it again by taxes. Mr. CALHOUN said he had certainly made no complaint of inaccuracy on the part of the Secretary of the Treasury. He presumed that his calculations were perfectly accurate; but what he complained of was, that the Senator from Missouri proposed to send out a document which was not correct, with a view to show the Outstanding appropriations remaining unsatisfied. He maintained that the document was entirely pernicious, for it set forth what was not really the truth of the case; and all that he desired was that the public should not be deceived on the subject. Mr. DAVIS had but one word to say in regard to this matter. If he understood this proposition, it was to give information to the States, to regulate their conduct in some legislation it was supposed they were about to be engaged in. It was information, therefore, of some to be the consequence of sending abroad this document? Was it to create an alarm, and prevent the States from making use of the money placed in their hands? Was there any reason to suppose that there would be a deficiency of the revenue? Has your Secretary of the Treas ury, asked Mr. D., said that there will be any deficiency of the revenue? No, sir, no such thing; he suggests the bare, naked fact, that there will be fourteen millions of dollars of unexpended appropriations of the last year. Well, what did the Senator from Missouri say in regard to the revenues of the country? Why, he chided and rebuked them all (and he took it very kindly, for he was subject to such rebukes) for staving off appropriations at the last session, and, in the end, withholding appropri ations. Well, sir, (said Mr. D.,) I plead guilty to the charge; I was one of those who resisted the double and triple appropriations on the fortification bill, (and I see those around me who did the same,) and sleeping or waking I have never had occasion to regret the course I then took. Why, did the Senator know what were the actual expenditures of the last year? If he did not, he could know it by looking at the President's message and accompanying documents, and he would find that they amounted to thirty-two and some odd millions of dollars; and, if he understood matters, these fourteen millions were to be added to it-making forty odd millions appropriated last session. Sir, (said Mr. D.,) compare this with the appropriations of any other administration, and sce what has been appropriated by the very reluctant Congress, who have been chided for staving off appropriations, and for withholding appropriations. Find, if you can, (said Mr. D.,) a parallel to this sort of extravagance. He was astonished that any Senator could rise in his place and indulge in such rebukes as the Senator from Missouri had, after the extravagant appropriations of the last session. The Senator seemed to consider this a question, whether this money should lie in the Treasury, to be disposed of by the officers of the Government, on their responsibility, or go to the people of the States, from whom it came. This was the question that was made there last winter, and he, for one, never could hesitate how to vote on it. After some further remarks, Mr. D. said he thought some misapprehensions existed as to the information sent out from the two Houses of Congress. Did all these documents that were daily printed go to the poor and uninformed? They who stood there knew better. It was all a miserable farce; for long before they were sent out from there, they were printed and reprinted, and circulated all over the country. As it had been customary to accede to the proposition to print an extra number of copies of any document asked for by an honorable Senator, he would not deny the Senator from Missouri the printing of the extra number of copies of this document; but he requested that the question as to printing, and as to the distribution of the copies when printed, might be taken separately. Mr. BENTON replied to the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. DAVIS,] who had spoken of the large ap-. propriations of the last year; but the gentleman had forgotten to mention two things, which would have spoiled the face of the large sum which he presented: first, that fourteen or fifteen millions of this sum were extraordinaries growing out of Indian wars and Indian treaties; and, next, that fourteen and a half millions more were appropriated at so late a day that they could not be expended. Mr. B. knew that these large appropriations were to figure in speeches out of Congress, as well as in it, and, therefore, took care before the rise of the last session of Congress to have a document prepared at the Treasury to show each object of appropriation, so that the extraordinaries might be seen, and no one deceived by the exhibition of the large amount appropriated. That document nullified the cry of extravagance, so incontinently set up just before the presidential election; and this document that he now asked for would nullify, in like manner, the idea of the unavoidable surplus for which Government had no use, if he should be so fortunate as to get it printed and distributed through the States. The great error of the party to which the gentleman belonged was in acting upon a certain notion which possessed all their heads, namely, that the said party possessed all the learning, all the talents, all the wit, all the genius, all the religion, morality, civility, decency, and politeness, now extant in our America; for, in acting on this notion, they necessarily considered the people as having none of those valuable qualities, as they themselves possessed all; and, therefore, they could pass off any thing they pleased upon the Baotian multitude. This error, though comfortable in itself, and so well calculated to keep a man on the best of terms with himself, had been the source of innumerable miscarriages to the gentleman's party, and would be the source of several more. This surplus conception would be one of them. All the work of the last session to create the surplus was distinclly seen by the country; every body knew that every branch of the public service was suffering for money, and clerks raising money at usurious interest to live on, and officers raising money on their own credit, while the two Houses of Congress resounded with the cry of surplus millions, and so many labored to stave off, cut down, and defeat appropriations, in order to create surpluses for distribution. Another great error was to suppose that immense popularity was to be gained now by pushing the system of annual distributions, and endeavoring to out-run, out-leap, and out-jump one anoth er in the glorious race of making and dividing surpluses. But the people saw through it all, and despised it all, and went for a reduction of taxes, and no surplus. They knew that the whole business was unconstitutional, corrupt, and demoralizing; and had no idea of seeing it kept up, and a regular attempt made to pension the States as paupers upon the Federal Government. They knew the absurdity and insanity of raising money one year to be paid back the next; they knew, without having read it in a book, that the famous phrase put into the mouth of Queen Elizabeth by Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and which he himself took from Demosthenes, contains all the wisdom which can be taught on this head, namely, that the "pockets of the people are the cheapest and [DEC. 28, 1836. safest treasuries for keeping surplus moneys which the Government can have." They know this, and the squabbles, intrigues, collusions, and bargains, which they will soon see, for enabling the few to handle these surpluses, and the doubtful or political objects to which they will be applied, will scon disgust them with the whole scheme; and if this document can be printed, they will see in it, the people of each State will see in it, objects as meritorious, and as near and as dear to them, as any that can be devised for the application of the moneys in their own Legislatures. Mr. KING, of Alabama, said, of all the extraordinary discussions he had ever heard in that body, that of this morning was the most extraordinary. He would ask the Senator from Missouri what object, what aim, and what end, he proposed to accomplish by the motion he had made, and the speech he had delivered? If, said Mr. K., it is designed to operate on the deposite bill of the last session, it is a matter that has gone by, and is now before the country for good or for evil. For himself, he felt no reluctance in submitting to the judgment the country will pass on the measure. If it be to victimize those who, at the last session, took a view of that subject different from that taken by the honorable Senator, then his motion was properly accompanied by the remarks we have just heard; for, said Mr. K., the Senator from Missouri and myself differed as widely at the last session as we appear to do now. He entertained the opinion then, that there would be a large, very large, amount of money in the Treasury, which could not be appropriated, without resorting to such extravagant expenditures as no administration could even ap. proach and retain the confidence of the country. He believed, in common with many others that he saw around him, and with whom he felt proud to act, that it was their duty to devise some plan by which the Treasury could be relieved from the excess of revenue, and those who administered the Government freed from the suspicion that it would be used to effect improper purposes. Well, sir, (said Mr. K.,) we believed that the best mode to effect those objects would be to deposite it with the people of the States from whom it had been unnecessarily drawn. We believed that, by this course, the friends of the administration were not only subserving the great interests of the country, but freeing it from the possibility of censure. Who will venture to assert (said Mr. K.) that the placing this money in the treasuries of the seve ral States, to be used as, in the discretion of the State Governments, was best calclated to advance their interests, and subject to be returned whenever wanted for national purposes, was not a better and safer deposite for it, than to leave it with the deposite banks? Sir, said Mr. K., the bill passed, and passed with the strenuous opposition of the Senator from Missouri, who, no doubt, acted from the purest motives, and honestly believed that the money would be wanted to meet the expenditures of the General Government. Whether the Senator was right or wrong, I leave to the country to deter mine; but, (said Mr. K.,) while I am ready to give him credit for the purest motives in opposing the deposite bill, I will not consent to be held up to the American people as so unwise, so impolitic, and so unjust, as to lend myself to a system of distribution. Nor, sir, can it be charged upon me, or the political friends with whom I acted on that occasion, with the slightest semblance of correctness, that we endeavored to create a su plus for distribution, by delaying or withholding the necessary appropriations. Far from it; far from it. Sir, our appropriations nearly doubled the estimates from the various Departments at the commencement of the ses We knew that there was an overflowing Treasury, and we gave liberally; in most instances, more than could be expended; but the Senator complains loudly sion. Dec. 28, 1836.] Unexpended Appropriations. [SENATE. tify expenditures which otherwise might appear extravagant, to effect objects so desirable. Mr. K. said he was extremely sorry that it was necessary to enter into a discussion as to the effect of the deposite law of the last session. That effect was yet to be seen, and the States themselves had the responsibility of making a proper disposition of the money intrusted with them. Whether we, (said Mr. K.,) in our ignorance, have deposited more money with them than we can spare, so that a portion of it will have to be called back for the necessary expenses of the Government, was another question. But such he did not understand would be the case. The argument of the Senator from Missouri did not put it on that footing. There was no Sen. ator, he believed, who was not satisfied that the five mil lions left in the Treasury by the provisions of the depos ite act, with the receipts of the year, would be amply sufficient to meet all the appropriations as they were wanted. If, however, it should, by a bare possibility, turn out otherwise, there was not a State in the Union that would hesitate for a moment in answering any call on it that might be made by the Secretary of the Treas ury. that this was produced by delaying the appropriations. He would not stop to inquire whether such delay, if it did take place, resulted from the course pursued by the opponents of the administration, or from the various schemes (some of them certainly of a most extravagant character) which were pressed upon the attention of Congress. When was it ever known that all the appropriation bills were passed through both Houses at an early period of the session? But we are told that, not having passed bills in time to meet the expenditures of West Point, Harper's Ferry, and to pay the salaries of the clerks in the public offices, was evidence of a determi nation to create a surplus. Delays of this kind have frequently occurred since he had been a member of the Senate, and have, no doubt, always produced serious inconvenience to those whose pittance was thus withheld; but did any one ever before hear it gravely charged upon Congress that the object of this delay was to create a surplus? He (Mr. K.) would repeat that he had given his support to the most liberal appropriations; but, at the same time, had withheld his assent to propositions for squandering the revenue, based upon repeated calls to ascertain the maximum of expenditure. What was necessary to meet the proper and economical expenditures He was not disposed (Mr. K. said) to complain of the of the Government, he would never withhold; more he course taken by the Senator from Missouri. If the obwould not give, even at the risk of being charged with a ject of the gentleman was to oppose a prospective disdesign to create a surplus. Sir, said Mr. K., the repub-tribution, it appeared to him that it would have been as lican doctrine, as he understood it, was to draw no more well to have waited until the bill for such an object came money from the pockets of the people than was requi- before them. With regard to the manner in which that red to meet the judicious expenditures of the Govern- bill had been treated by the Committee on Finance, he ment; and if the revenue proved too great, reduce the believed that, as a reduction of the revenue was contemtaxes. Upon what principle, by what constitutional plated by them, they preferred to let it lie until it was right, do you tax the people, and draw money into the found what could be done on that subject, without maTreasury not required to carry on the operations of the king a formal report. I go (said Mr. K.) for a reducGovernment? He held there was no such legitimate tion of the revenue down to the wants of the Govern power, and the exercise of it was a gross usurpation. ment, and then we shall hear no more about deposite But we may be told that the compromise bill, as it has acts. I hold that you have no right to create a surplus been termed, stands in the way of reduction. He (Mr. and then distribute it; and that, on the contrary, you K.) had voted for that bill, but imposed upon himself no ought to reduce the taxes. I hold it my duty to oppose, obligation to hold sacred its provisions. He had so de- as far as my little influence extends, any prospective clared in his place. He had voted for it under a spe- plan for a distribution of the surplus, and will be unwil cies of duresse, arising from the peculiar situation in ling to act on any such bill until it shall be found that it which a portion of our country was then placed. He is impossible to reduce the revenue by either of the two had believed that it did not do justice to the extent we modes proposed. had a right to demand, but it was all which could then be obtained, and he had accepted it; nor would he now lightly disturb it. He believed that, by a reasonable reduction on such articles as would not affect the manufac turing industry of the country, and by confining the sales of your public lands to those who purchase for actual settlement, you will go far to reduce the receipts of the Treasury to an amount, little, if any, exceeding the wants of the Government. Let us try these reductions, and if even then a surplus should be found, we may cast about for some useful and constitutional mode for its disposition. But under no circumstances could he ever consent to the prospective legislation proposed by the Senator from South Carolina; a resort to such a system of distribution or deposite, call it which you will, would, in his judgment, be one of the greatest misfortunes which could befall the States; and all who regarded their rights should array themselves against such a project. We are told by the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. DAVIS] that the appropriations of the last session had been extravagant beyond measure. They were liberal, sir, not extravagant. There was an overflowing Treasury, and the state of the country rendered them proper. The Indian appropriations had been great; but for them he gave his most cordial support, from policy, from justice, from humanity. The policy of their removal was the only sure policy; the only earthly mode by which that unfortunate race can be preserved as a people. Sir, my constituents felt this, and were prepared to jus. VOL. XIII.-11 Mr. K. said he felt himself bound to make this explanation, in consequence of the course the debate had taken, as he had voted for the deposite law of the last session, believing that in doing so he was making the safest and least objectionable disposition of the vast sum accumulating in the Treasury. He should vote against the mode proposed by the Senator from Missouri, of distributing the extra copies of the document before them, because such distribution would be unusual, was calculated to give erroneous information, could do no good, and, by attaching an unnecessary importance to it, mislead those to whom it should be sent. Mr. CALHOUN observed that if the document was to be printed, it had better be done in the form in which it already was, for that was by far the most accurate. But he did not see the slightest necessity for printing it, and hoped it would not be printed. Mr. NILES said that he would make a single remark. He had, in the course of the debate, heard but one reason assigned for sending this document to the States, which appeared to him to be entitled to any consideration: this was, that the information it contained might be useful to the Legislatures of the States, in giving a wise and prudent direction to their legislation in regard to the money they were about to receive under the provisions of the deposite act. This, he considered, was a legitimate, fair, and, he would add, important object. There was too much reason to fear, he thought, that the States, or many of them, might make an unwise disposi |