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ed for the General Government, should be divided among the States, can it be an infringement of the rights of such States, or of the people of the United States? Suppose ten millions of dollars in the Treasury, drawn from the States in anticipation of a war which does not take place, and which money is not wanted for the purposes of the General Government, Can it be doubted that Congress, acting for the general welfare, and exercising the right they have over the public property, may restore the money. to the States from which it was obtained? It seems hardly necessary to attempt a proof of the affirmative.

I should prefer the principle of the bill to appropriate, after the first day of January of the next year, half of the ten millions appropriated to the Sinking Fund to the fund for distribution, as this would still admit of the reduction of the public debt as fast as the interest of the country requires that it should be reduced, and it would bring into immediate operation funds of immense importance to the States.

Ten millions of dollars was fixed as the amount of our Sinking Fund, when our debt amounted to more than one hundred and twenty-three millions of dollars. It is now but a little more than a third of that sum. In 1802, our registered debt amounted to eighty millions seven hundred and twelve thousand six hundred and thirty-seven dollars; the Sinking Fund was then fixed at seven millions three hundred thousand dollars; and in 1803, when we had added fifteen millions to our debt, by the purchase of Louisiana, the Sinking Fund was fixed at eight millions of dollars. In 1817, it was raised to ten millons of dollars. It has heretofore been deemed proper to keep up a certain ratio between the debt and the fund for its redemption. As a considerable portion of the ten millions of dollars, annually, goes to creditors in Europe, its payment is attended with some inconvenience, as it increases the rate of exchange against this country. It was necessary to incur this inconvenience when our debt was large, but not so now, when it is nearly extinguished.

[JAN 13, 1829.

the advantages of a system which restores to them, in a way to produce the greatest possible good, the funds derived from their commerce and their industry. Such, I confidently hope, will be the happy results of this measure if adopted. I am deeply impressed with the importance of the subject, which I have endeavored, I fear unsuccessfully, to advocate. I have evinced, at least, a strong solicitude to provide, in time, for a crisis rapidly approaching, and full of danger.

I have conscientiously discharged my duty, and must leave the responsibility of a failure of this, or some better measure, to meet the coming evil, to others, who are much more competent to provide for the case than I can pretend to be, and who have much more at stake than I can ever hope to have.

Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, would say a few words in reply to what had been said by the gentleman from New Jersey, in relation to the Financial Committee of last session. They were appointed to perform a certain duty; hey did perform that duty, and submitted their proceedings to the Senate. [Mr. SMITH then read a long extract from the report made at the last session.] He was of opinion, with the gentleman from Missouri, that, when the public debt was extinguished, it was better, instead of continuing to raise a revenue, to leave in the pockets of the citizens the surplus which the gentleman proposed to divide among the States. It was better to reduce the duties on imports, the result of which would be cheaper. Was it not better that citizens should be relieved from a part of their burdens, to decrease the expenses of every family in the United States, than to raise a revenue not wanted by the country? He thought it was.

In relation to distributing the surplus revenue, the effect of it would be, that every State would repeal its own laws, levying taxes for its own support, and look to the General Government, for support. Thus the several States would be subservient to the General Government, giving that Government a power most dangerous.

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Congress, in the next place, had no right to raise revenue for the purpose of distributing it; the gentleman from New Jersey could not find, in all the powers delegated to Congress, any authorizing it to raise a revenue, except for its support, and for the extinguishment of the public debt. Under the name of revenue, the Government had already given large bounties, for he would call them bounties, to the woollen manufacturers; the revenue was wanted for the protection of the woollen manufacturers. When a duty was imposed upon cotton, it was said that the manufacturers would, in a few years, supply all the demand of the country, and be enabut the amount annually exported was upwards of a million of dollars. It was expected, in 1816, that this would be the case; it was expected that the domestic would drive all the foreign manufactures out of the country, and it turned out to be true at first, but, afterwards, it was found that the importations were finally greater, notwithstanding the first diminution; it would be the same with woollens, else there was no necessity for the gentleman's bill, for there would be no revenue to distribute.

The situation of the State which I have the honor, in part, to represent, makes me the more solicitous to obtain funds, that may enable her speedily to commence and complete a canal to connect the waters of the Delaware and the Raritan, and other highly important improvements in the State, now suspended for want of funds. Yet if, from the great impatience to see the public debt extinguished, the Senate shall be unwilling to postpone the day when that can, by any possible means, take place, I shall cheerfully agree so to modify the bill, as to divide among the States such funds, in each year, as, on the first of June, shall be found in the Treasury, unappropriated, including such portions of the Sinking Fund as the Com-bled to export. It was true it varied in different years, missioners shall not be able to apply to the redemption of the debt. This will answer, finally, the great objects in view; will be free, it is presumed, from all constitutional objections; and, indeed, from objections of any character, except from those who hope and expect, in a general scramble for our surplus funds, to gain for their States more than their just shares. It will prevent a train of evils, that must, if not soon arrested, sap the foundations of our Government. It will, in the highest degree, promote the general welfare, by extending the productive power of our funds to every section of the country. It will ensure strict justice to the States that have not the influence to obtain favors, as well as to those that have; and it will powerfully add to the strength and permanency of the Union, The distribution of ten millions of dollars a year to the public creditors has constantly secured to the General Government the support of the moneyed aristocracy of the country. That support is about to fail, and, as is hoped, forever. The distribution, annually, of half that sum to the States, will ensure to the Government a just support, not of the moneyed aristocracy, but of the people at large of all the States, who will feel and duly appreciate

The gentleman from New Jersey had alluded to the labor about to be imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury, in consequence of Government's retaining funds and stock in so many works of internal improvement. But there was no necessity for holding so much stock, or raising the revenue at all. The "Cross Cut," or Delaware and Chesapeake canal, would soon be finished, and opened; the Louisville canal would be opened in the course of the year; the probability was, that the stock would be worth par immediately, and, perhaps, would be above par. Then, let the Government sell their stock, and be rid of this trouble. They can invest the same money in other works of the kind, and, in this

JAN. 13, 1829.]

Distribution of the Revenue.

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manner, a million and a half of dollars would make all the money which has been first drawn from our own the internal improvements in the country.

pockets. Supposing the constitutional question to be settled, if the Government has the right to give this money, so it has the right to withhold it; thus keeping the States forever in a state of subserviency, putting them, he presumed, on their good behavior.

The second section of the act is still more objectiona

ply, in the same objectionable way, the fund set apart for the payment of the public debt-to postpone indefinitely the payment of the national debt. Sir, I will read it.

"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, of the annual sum of ten millions of dollars appropriated to the Sinking Fund, by the second and seventeen, entitled. An act to provide for the redemption of section of the act of the 3d of March, one thousand eight hundred the public debt, five millions be appropriated to the fund to be divided among the States, as by the first section of this act, annually, after the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine; and that so much of the residue of the said annual sum of ten millions of dollars as shall not, on the first day of June,of any year, have been applied to the redemption of the public debt, shall be appropriated to the fund, to be divided among the States as aforesaid."

Mr. HAYNE said, that the proposition of the gentleman from New Jersey had gained favor from the public, and some countenance even in this House, from a misunderstanding which had gone abroad, as to its true character. The public supposed the gentleman from New Jersey had contrived a plan to settle this distracting ques-ble than the first. What is it? Why the object is to aption of internal improvements; not only that he had settled the constitutional question, but that the whole subject was hereafter to be set at rest. But what do you find, upon looking at the bill? It does not even propose to settle that question. It has no more to do with it than it has with the military or naval establishment. It simply provides, that all the unappropriated money remaining in the Treasury on the first of June, every year, shall be distributed among the several States, and that five millions of dollars of the Sinking Fund shall be applied in the same way. But are there to be no more calls for money for internal improvements? Are there to be no more claims presented upon this floor? Are there to be no more Ohio and Chesapeake Canals? No more Louisville and Portland Canals? No more improvements to be specially provided for? No, sir, there will not be a cent of revenue to distribute, except the five millions taken from the Sinking Fund. And this is the sum and substance of the bill. It does not even touch the question which it is supposed to settle. It depends upon entirely different principles, and has different objects from those discussed by the gentleman from New Jersey. That gentleman had, indeed, given a faithful picture of the state of things under the present system-of the scrambles, quarrels, and heartburnings; but his bill does not set them at rest, nor even attempt to do so. He repeated, that, if the bill passed tomorrow, it would never stop the application of one dollar for internal improvements.

The gentleman seemed to think there would be some advantage in raising the revenue, even if it was not wanted, for the mere purpose of distributing it; but could any thing be more shocking to the common sense of mankind, than the idea of levying taxes for the sake of returning the money so raised back again to the pockets of the people from whom it was exacted? Was it the object of the gentleman to support an army of tax gatherers, who should subsist by raising money that was not wanted? Or was it the object of the gentleman to have the eyes of all the States fixed upon the Federal Government, and have them live under the apprehension that in that Government rested the power to furnish them with money for State purposes? Or was it the object to have the States fed by the General Government, for the purpose of keeping them in subserviency to it? Some one of these objects must be proposed. The project could not be sustained for a moment, merely on the ground that the General Government was going to the trouble and expense of collecting this money, in order to have the pleasure of returning it to the several States. Then, again, let it be specially noted that it was not to be returned in the ratio of consumption (by which it was raised), but in the ratio of direct taxation. The gentleman had advocated the passage of his bill, on the ground that it would be easier for the Federal Government to raise this revenue and return it, than it would be for each State to raise sufficient for its own purposes; but, when the constitution was formed, was it ever imagined that the States would require the aid of the Federal Government to levy taxes for domestic purposes, within their individual boundaries?

Supposing the bill to have passed, what was to be the effect? The Government has the money, and we, in the States, are to be put in the situation of mendicants, scrambling, as it has been described, for a portion of our own money. We are to have doled out to us, as a favor, VOL. V.-5

As he read the section-and surely there could be no mistake about it-five millions were, at all events, to be annually subtracted from the Sinking Fund; and if any surplus remained in the Treasury, that was likewise to be diverted from the payment of the debt, to which it is now by law applicable. The public debt may get five millions; it cannot get more, and may get nothing. This brought up, at once, the question, whether our national debt ever ought to be paid? Whether a national debt was indeed a national blessing-a question which had divided the statesmen of Europe from the beginning of time, but on which he had hoped we were more united Several years ago, Congress had solemnly set apart ten millions annually as a Sinking Fund, and had sacredly pledged this ten millions to the people of the United States, to pay the national debt. He believed that the act was one of the wisest in the statute book. He believed that the debt could not be paid off too soon. Congress could not tell how long the country was to be in a state of peace and prosperity; the revenue might fail, or a war, or other unforeseen circumstances might arise, to thwart their expectations.

The gentleman from New Jersey had offered two statements, one showing that, by the regular operation of the Sinking Fund, the debt would be extinguished in the year 1833; the other showing that, by his plan of delaying the payment of a certain portion, for the purpose of distributing it, the debt would not be extinguished until the year 1838. The proposition was, then, to prolong the period for the payment of the national debt for five years. The gentleman had asserted that there would be a difficulty in paying this debt, because a portion of it was not redeemable. From his statement, it appeared that the whole of it was redeemable by 1833, except two sums, which, inconsiderable (less than $7,000,000), was to run for a few years longer; but could there be any difficulty in redeeming, even by purchase, at the market price, seven millions of dollars, by the year 1833, if the country continued in a state of prosperity? He contended that they could redeem the whole of it (for it bore only 4 or 5 per cent. interest) by purchase, at any time, after the manner proposed by the gentleman from Missouri. The stock could be obtained at par, or a little above it; and he took it for granted that, by the passage of a timely act, the whole of the four and a half and five per cents. would be obtained. The gentleman from New Jersey had argued that it was wrong to purchase stock which bore a less interest than money was worth in the market; but Mr. H. was of opinion that the debt should be purchased up and extinguished as fast as it could be done conveniently. He considered money, idle in the Treasury, not only as bearing no interest at all, but as actually fifty per cent. below par in value, for it would lie there to be squandered, and be always subject to the general scramble of the " States," which had been described by the gentleman.

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He took another view of this part of the subject, which he deemed satisfactory. It had been said that the Bank would not sell this stock, which it held, for the purpose of having it redeemed. But, suppose the Bank would not sell this stock, we have only to change our measures a little to arrive at the same result. If the Bank would not sell the stock in its possession, the aim proposed would be arrived at by paying off the $7,000,000 which the United States had subscribed to the Bank, and which was redeemable. By this operation, which was in our power, the Sinking Fund would do its office, even without the purchase of any stock.

But he believed there would be no difficulty whatever, and that the whole of the national debt could be extinguished in 1833, and before the close of the next administration. He believed that it would be paid, because he believed that the great and good man who was about to wield the destinies of this country, would not desire to earn a greater honor than to have it inscribed on his tombstone that he had extinguished the national debt.

In conclusion, he moved to strike out the second section of the bill, for the purpose of bringing up the isolated question, whether the Senate was prepared to touch the fund pledged to the payment of the public debt.

[JAN. 13, 1829.

lost upon their children. History was said to be philosophy teaching by example; he hoped this moral and sublime teacher would not lavish her lessons in vain upon the American Senate.

Mr. B. joined in the wish expressed by the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. HAYNE), that the debt of the United States might be paid off under the ensuing administration. He coucurred with that Senator in the measure of the new fame which such a consummation would confer upon General Jackson.

Observing some Senators to smile, Mr. B. spoke up with animation and vehemence, repeating what he had said, and even going so far as to say that the new President would have as hard, or harder work in baffling the enemies to the payment of the debt, than he had in vanquishing the British at New Orleans: for there he had his enemy in front, and saw what he was at, but here he would have his opponents on his flank and rear, covered up in masks and disguises, laboring to accomplish what would not be avowed. No one would now stand up and say, "a public debt was a public blessing? but many would practise upon the maxim, and en leavor to perpetuate ours, by withholding the means of paying it; by abolishing duties beforehand, and preventing the acquisition of revenue, or by squandering it upon all sorts of objects.

Mr. BENTON then read the following extracts from the debates to which he alluded:

Mr. BENTON rose, not to make a speech, but to read some extracts from a debate in the British House of Commons, about a hundred years ago, on a proposition of the same kind as that which now occupied the deliberations of the Senate. England then had a small debt, not much larger than the debt of the United States was at present; cred deposite for extinguishing the duties and abolishing Sir William Pulteney." The Sinking Fund, that sashe had a sinking fund also, under the operation of which the taxes which lie so heavy on the trade, and on the her debt was annually melting away; and she enjoyed a season of peace-the long peace under the timid administra-consideration whatever ought to prevail with us to convert people of this nation, ought never to be touched: no tion of Sir Robert Walpole, in which the debt might have that fund to any use, but that for which it was originalbeen paid off. The circumstances of the two countries, with respect to their debt, were as alike as possible; that ly designed. It has, of late, too often been robbed-I beg is to say, the condition of England one hundred years ago, bed-but I must say, that, upon several occasions, there pardon, sir, robbing is a harsh word, I will not say roband that of the United States now. In these circumstances, have been considerable suns snipped away from it." Sir Robert Walpole made a motion to divert £500,000 from the English sinking fund, as the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. DICKERSON, who Mr. B. was sorry to name in company with Sir Robert Walpole,] now proposes to divert five millions annually from our sinking fund. The motion of the English minister was supported by all the commonplace arguments in mitigation and in favor of the public debt, as, that a debt increased the wealth of a country, and gave stability to the Government; that the then debt of England was inconsiderable, and might be paid at any time; that the public creditors were in no hurry to receive, and that the money, for the present, could be used more beneficially for other purposes. The opposition members, however, from whose speeches I propose to read extracts, were opposed to all these doctrines. These members were the Iron Barons of the day, such as Lord Chatham, afterwards contrasted with the Silken Barons of a later period. They had the best of the argument, and their prophecies, unhappily for their country, have become its history. But the minister had the best of it at voting, and his motion prevailed. He succeeded in violating the sinking fund-in diverting one half of its amount from its proper object, to objects of transient interest and subordinate importance. The consequences were such as had been foretold by the Iron Barons.

The season of peace passed away; the long and timid administration of Walpole itself passed away; the debt was unpaid; successive wars came on; and the debt, which was then made so light of by the minister, rapidly grew up to a frightful amount; soon overwhelmed the country with taxes, and banished all idea of ever seeing it paid. The example, Mr. B. hoped, would not be lost upon the United States, the child of England. The experience of the mother, he humbly trusted, would not be lost upon the daughter, as the experience of parents too often

Sir John Barnard." The creditors of the public are perhaps, at present unwilling to be paid off, because they have a greater interest for their money from the public than they can have any where else. But, let their inclinations be what they please, it is certainly the interest of the nation to have them all paid off; the sooner it is done, the happier it will be for the nation, and therefore, no part of what is appropriated to their payment ought to be converted to any other use. Their unwillingness to receive payment is so far from being an argument against paying them, that, on the contrary, it shows that they have a better bargain from the public than they can, in the same way, have from any other person."

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Sir William Wyndham." The Sinking Fund is a fund I have always had the greatest veneration for; I look on it as a sacred fund, appropriated to the relieving the nation from that load of debts and taxes it now groans under. * I have, indeed, been always afraid that some enterprising minister might be tempted to seize upon it, or some part of it, in time of war; but I little dreamt of seeing any attempts made upon it in a time of the most profound tranquillity. It is to me a melancholy consideration to think of the present vast load of the national debt-a debt of no less than forty-five millions and upwards, and that all contracted since the Revolution (1688). This must be a melancholy consideration to every gentleman that has any concern for his country's happiness; but if the motion now made to us shall be agreed to, how dismal will this consideration be rendered, when we reflect upon the little appearance there will then be of this debt's ever being paid. Is the public expense never to be lessened? Are the people of England always to pay the same heavy and grievous taxes? Surely, sir, if there is ever a time to be looked for of easing the peo

JAN. 14, 1829.]

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Claim of Maison Rouge et al.-Distribution of the Revenue.

ple of this nation, the present is the time for doing it. To this the motion now made is directly contrary: for, the not paying off an old debt is the same as contracting a new one, and subjects the nation to the same expense with respect to the payment of the interest."

Mr. Taylor, member for Petersfield, observed, "That there are some people in the nation, who, the more they owe, the greater advantage they make, and the richer they grow-such are the bankers; that by the motion made to the House, one might imagine that some gentlemen took the case of the nation to be the same; but, for his part, he could not think so, and, therefore, differed from the motion."

[Here the debate closed for this day.]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1829.

CLAIM OF MAISON ROUGE ET AL. The Senate took up, as in Committee of the Whole, the bill to "provide for the legal adjudication and settlement of the claims to land therein mentioned;" and after an explanation of the object of the bill by Mr. BERRIEN, Mr. SMITH, of S. C., moved that it be postponed, and made the order of the day for Wednesday next.

Mr. S. observed, that the subjects comprised in the bill had previously been under the consideration of Congress, and he thought he had some recollection of them. The claims of Bastrop, of Winter, and of Maison Rouge, were, he believed, embraced in the bill; and some of these claims had more than once been here, and been rejected. A bill on the Maison Rouge claim had passed the other House, but had been rejected in the Senate; and there was a mass of testimony, which went to show that the claimant had no right whatever to the land claimed by him. Mr. S. wished the bill to be postponed for a few days, in order that he might have an opportunity of examining the documents. If the gentleman who introduced this bill would name any particular day to which it should be postponed, he would be satisfied; but, if he did not, he himself would move that the bill be postponed to this day week. There was, said Mr. S., a vast deal of written evidence somewhere; the subject was one of importance, embracing near three millions of acres of land in Louisiana; and he thought it would require more deliberation than one moment, to enable the Senate to pass such a bill with a correct understanding of its ultimate consequences.

Mr. JOHNSTON, of Louisiana, had no objection to the postponement of the bill, that the gentleman might acquire information, but he hoped the gentleman from South Carolina would make the time of postponement as short as possible, as it was an important subject to his constituents, and the session was very short. He could state all the facts necessary, and if the written documents to which the gentleman alluded could be found, still the bill was necessary. The holders of the lands had appealed to the Senate for a settlement of their title; the Senate had decided that their body was incompetent to act upon the petition; they now wished to appeal to a judicial tribunal for a settlement, and this bill would enable them to take it to some competent court. The remarks of the gentleman from South Carolina showed that he was prepossessed; that he had made up his mind upon the subject; and that no evidence which could be offered would alter that opinion. He [Mr. J.] knew all the circumstances to which the gentleman had alluded. The title to the lands never was attacked on the ground that the titles were not legal; there was no question with regard to the genuineness of that, but the difficulty was, that the parties made a contract with the King of Spain to settle the country upon certain terms, and the only question was, whether that contract had been performed; and it was a question which

[SENATE.

could only be settled by a judicial tribunal. He had been required by the Legislature of Louisiana to press this matter upon the consideration of the Senate.

It had been before Congress for more than five and twenty years, and the richest country in Louisiana, which was covered with these titles, had remained all that time unsettled. The holders dared not sell the lands, under these circumstances, and they asked Congress to give them an opportunity to settle the doubtful question of the titles, that they might sell the lands, and the country no longer remain unsettled. It seemed, from his remarks, as if the mind of the gentleman from South Carolina was made up, by some previous consideration of the question; but he could assure the gentleman that all guards had been placed in the provisions of the bill, to have the public rights preserved, as well as the rights of those interested, settled. He hoped the gentleman would not ask for a long postponement; he was willing to indulge him in any delay for the purpose of acquiring information, although he was perfectly satisfied he could explain every thing to the gentleman's satisfaction.

Mr. SMITH, of South Carolina, said, he was not certain whether the gentleman from Louisiana opposed a postponement of the bill or not. He should not, as the gentleman had not asked them, give his reasons for wishing a postponement. His reasons, however, were very cogent, and he did not know that a shorter time than Wednesday next would enable him to examine, as fully as he wished to do, the various papers connected with the subject. He did not know what he should say when his investigations had terminated; but he had a distinct recollection of some facts, in relation to these claims, and he wished time to be allowed him to acquaint himself with all of them. The gentleman from Louisiana entertained doubts whether he, Mr. S., was not already opposed to the claims provided for in the bill. Mr. S. would remove those doubts, and assure the gentleman that he had been opposed to them, and wished for an investigation, to ascertain whether his opinions would or would not remain unchanged.

The question was then taken, and the bill was postponed to, and made the order of the day for, Wednesday next.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE REVENUE.

The Senate then resumed the consideration of the bill to divide a portion of the revenues of the United States among the several States-the question being on striking out the second section of the bill.

Mr. DICKERSON again rose. He said that this bill seemed to meet with strenuous opposition from all quarters; from the Senator from Maryland, who argued that, if it passed, the several States would cease to tax their citizens, and depend alone upon the treasures of the General Government for their support. For his part, [Mr. D.] he had no fears of that kind; his opinion was, that, if Congress legislated on this subject, we ought to presume that there would be common sense enough in the States to enable them to take care of their own internal concerns, and that these might be safely confided to the wisdom of their respective Legislatures: that they would not only still find it necessary to keep up their taxes, for the support of their Governments, but also to raise funds for the purposes of education and internal improvements, in addition to all they might receive from the General Government, although the sums to be raised for such uses would be lessened by the operations of this bill. Thus far, he thought he had removed the objections of the gentleman from Maryland.

The gentleman from Missouri seemed to give his assent to the proposition contained in the first section of the bill; and admitted, that, with some modification, it might be made useful to the country; but strenuously objected to the second section, because opposed to the slightest infringement on the Sinking Fund, and unwilling to consent

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Distribution of the Revenue.

that the extinguishment of the public debt should be postponed for a day. The Senator from Missouri had reechoed the arguments of the Senator from South Carolina, in a still louder strain; and expressed his ardent wishes that the public debt might be extinguished in 1832, in order that this desirable event might add splendor and renown to the name of the great and good man who has been called to preside over the destinies of our country, He did not think that this would add much to the fame of that truly great man, whose renown rested on a much firmer basis-upon acts of his own, and not of any legislative body. But even if it were, he would be unwilling that the public debt should be extinguished by buying up the public stock, at a loss to the country, for such a purpose. Gentlemen seemed to him to have settled the matter that the President elect should only serve the country for the term of four years. Now he had not been consulted, and he gave notice that he did not consent to such an arrangement; he wished him to serve not only for four years, but, after having served that term, to continue in office for four years longer; the public debt might then, under the operations of this bill, be extinguished during his administration.

[JAN. 14, 1829.

We have been told, said Mr. D., by the Senator from Missouri, of the violations of the sacred Sinking Fund of Great Britain, under the administration of Sir Robert Walpole; and copious extracts had been read by that gentleman from the debates in the British Parliament, to show the idea entertained, at the time, of its importance. Now, it was known that a more stupendous imposition had never been invented than that system, as established in Great Britain; that its only benefits accrued to the stock-jobbers; and that it had no more effect in paying off the public debt in that country, than our system had in this. Mr. Hamilton, in his Inquiry into the National Debt, had completely shown the folly and absurdity of the system; and since the publication of his book, no one considered it of any value to the country, although of immense importance to the stockjobbers.

The Senator from South Carolina had strong objections to every feature of the bill, and particularly to the manner in which the distribution was to be made. He contended that the money could not be distributed in a fair ratio to the sources from whence it was obtained, and that the distribution ought to be made in proportion to the consumption of the country, and not in numerical proporAlthough the bill did not seem to meet with very stre- tion. Mr. D. admitted that, if it were practicable to make nuous objections from the Senator from Maryland, yet it the distribution exactly in proportion to the consumption, met with unmingled and unmeasured reprobation from the it would be the most equitable mode of so doing; but Senator from South Carolina. He considered the propo- how was that system of perfection to be reached? No sition as unconstitutional, monstrous, and shocking; and, rule was perfect; there was no possibility of ascertaining, as if the terms used by him were not sufficiently expres- with any degree of certainty, the consumption of each sive, he repeated them. Mr. D. could not conceive of any particular State; the consumption of the country was very feature in his bill being so repulsive as to warrant the ap- nearly in the ratio of the numbers, and the distribution by plication of such forcible epithets in opposition to it. It numbers was as near as we could possibly arrive at a rule was true, that the bill proposed to apply five millions, an- of strict justice. It was true that the burthen of taxation nually, for the distribution among the States; but this was fell more heavily upon some States than others; but upon predicated on the idea that we should have no means of those who are most anxious for this system, and who will applying the whole of the ten millions to the payment of get but little from the General Government without the the public debt. He had made this calculation, that, if it passage of this bill, the burthen fell the heaviest. The should so happen that the ten millions annually set aside gentleman from South Carolina said, that he would defor the public debt could not be applied to it, that it would plore the time when the States should come as mendicants be in the power of Congress to distribute a part of it to the doors of the General Government. Mr. D. would among the States. As to the second section of the bill, deplore that event as earnestly as the gentleman from he was not particularly partial to it, and had no strong ob- South Carolina; but, under the operations of the bill, injection to its being stricken out. His anxiety on the sub- tended to prevent this very evil, they will not be receivject arose, in a great measure, from the situation of the ing alms, but that which is justly due to them. When they State which he had the honor to represent, where improve- come here to ask for their own money, they will not come ments of great national importance were suspended for as mendicants. The gentleman contended that the bill want of funds. was perfectly inadequate to accomplish the objects for which it was framed; that it did not touch upon the subject of internal improvements, and was, therefore, incompetent to remove the evils now so loudly complained of. Well, sir [said he], the bill does not, 'tis true, mention the subject of internal improvements; it does not mention the subject of education; nor is it necessary that either of them should be laid down in express terms in the bill; but, by the proposed distribution, the States will have the funds in their own hands, to apply to such objects, and thus relieve the General Government, in a great measure, from future applications. Suppose, however, both these objects were embraced in the bill, would it meet with the sanction of the gentleman from South Carolina? He presumed not. The gentleman would tell us that we had no right to dictate to the States, and instruct them in the manner in which they should dispose of this fund Mr. D. had no doubt but that the States, when they received the money, would dispose of it in a proper manner. The gentleman also says, that the adoption of the measure proposed will have no effect to prevent the general scramble for the money of the General Government, of which he entertained such serious apprehensions. But, Mr. D. was of opinion that it would have a very powerful tendency to prevent a mischievous application of the public funds. It was true, indeed, that certain great objects, of national importance, connected with commerce, and de

Gentlemen seemed to entertain a horror at the idea of the slightest invasion of the Sinking Fund. He had no such lofty impressions as to its importance, merely as a Sinking Fund. He viewed it no otherwise than as a mere resolution to pay off ten millions of dollars, annually, of the public debt. With the exception that it tended to keep up the price of the Government stocks, it had produced no practical results; the amount of stock bought up by it had been a mere nothing; and the public debt could be paid as quickly without it as with it. As to its sacred character, ii had been violated over and over. Taxes pledged to the Fund had been repealed. The public lands were pledged to this Fund, which we are called upon to give away, and which we have been giving away, ever since the pledge was made.

In 1820, we wanted three millions of dollars; those who held our stocks would have been glad if so much had remained unredeemed; but this would have been considered an invasion of this sacred fund. We, therefore, borrowed the three millions of dollars, and added so much to the public debt. The next year we wanted five millions more and instead of paying but five millions on the debt, and keeping five millions for the exigencies of the Government, we borrowed the five millions; added so much to the debt, and charged it to the Sinking Fund; and thus preserved inviolate its sacred character.

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