after the blows the connection has received, will require not much more than unyielding firmness and perseverance. This done, the great work of freeing the Government entirely from the paper system, on which Hamilton laid the foundation of his whole policy, will have been achieved. The next is, to carry out, in the revision of the tariff, which must take place at the next or succeeding session, the provisions of the Compromise Act ;-that there shall be no duty laid but what may be necessary to the economical and constitutional wants of the Government. Should this be accomplished, there will be an end to the protective system, with all the evils that followed, and must ever follow, in its train. Nor can I believe, after what we have experienced, and what has been said during this session, that there will be any insuperable difficulty in effecting an object so intimately connected with the peace and tranquillity of the Union Having freed the Government from the paper and protective systems, the next step in importance is, to put a final stop to internal improvements-the construction and improvement of harbors, and the extravagant waste on, what we are pleased to call the pension system, but which has departed from every principle justly belonging to such a system. No government was ever before burdened with an expenditure so absurd and monstrous. It confounds all distinctions between the deserving and undeserving, and yearly draws millions from the treasury without any just claim on the public bounty-and ought to be both arrested and reformed. A single step more brings the Government to the destined point; I mean a thorough reformation in the administrative department of the Government. I doubt not but that every branch needs reform. There are, doubtless, numerous defalcations in addition to those brought to light. The fault has been more in the system (a brief narrative of which I have given), than in those who have been charged For years with the administration of the Government. money was as dirt. The treasury was oppressed with it, and the only solicitude was how to get clear of what was considered an useless burden. Hence the vast increase of expenditures; hence the loose and inattentive administration of our fiscal concerns; hence the heavy defalcations. Nor are these remarks confined to the executive department of the Government; they apply to all-to the two Houses of Congress as well as to other branches. But there is no longer a surplus. The treasury is exhausted, and the work of retrenchment, economy, and accountability is forced on Reform in the fiscal action of the Government can no longer be delayed, and I rejoice that such is the fact. Economy and accountability are virtues belonging to free and popular governments-and without which, they cannot long endure. The assertion is pre-eminently true when applied to this Government; and hence the prominent place they occupy in the creed of the State Rights and Republican school. us. Having taken these steps, every measure of prominence originating in the principles and policy of the National Federal school will become obliterated, and the Government will have been brought back, after the lapse of fifty years, to the point of original departure,--when it may be put on its new tack. To guard against a false steerage thereafter, one important measure, in addition to those enumerated, will be indispensable-to place the new States, as far as the public domain is concerned, in a condition as independent of the Government as the old. It is as much due to them, as it is indispensable to accomplish the great object in view. The public domain, within these States, is too great a stake to be left under the control of this Government. It is difficult to estimate the vast addition it makes to its power and patronage, and the controlling and corrupting influence which it. may exercise over the Presidential election, and through that, VOL. III.- -26 The ser ng impulse it may receive in a wrong direction. Till e is memeral, there can be no assurance of a successful and sak stærige, even if every other sinister influence should be I would be presumptuous in me, Mr. President, to advse tose who are charged with the administration of the Government, what course to adopt; but, if they would hear the voice of one who desires nothing for himself, and whose y wish is to see the country prosperous, free, and happyI would say to them,-you are placed in the most remarkable uncture that has ever occurred since the establishment of the Federal Government. By seizing it, you may bring the vessel of state to a position, where she may take a new tack, and thereby escape all the shoals and breakers, among which a false steerage has run her, and bring her triumphantly into her destined port, with honor to yourselves, and safety to those on board. Take, then, your ground boldly; avow your object; disclose your measures; and let the people see clearly that you intend-what Jefferson designed to do, but, from adverse circumstances, could not accomplish-to reverse the measures originating in principles and policy uncongenial to our political system-to divest the Government of all undue patronage and influence-to restrict it to the few great objects intended by the constitution-in a word, to give a complete ascendency to the good old Virginia school over its antagonist, which time and experience have proved to be foreign to our system-and you may count with confidence. on their support, without looking to any other means of success. Should you take such a course at this propitious moment, our free and happy institutions may be perpetuated for generations; but, if a different, short will be their duration. On this question of patronage, let me add, in conclusion, that, according to my conception, the great and leading error in Hamilton and his school originated in a mistake as to the analogy between ours and the British system of Government. If we were to judge by their outward form, there is, indeed, a striking analogy between them in many particulars; but if we look within, at their spirit and genius, never were two free Governments so perfectly dissimilar. They are, in fact, the very opposites. Of all free governments that ever existed -no, I will enlarge the proposition-of all governments that ever existed, free or despotic, the British Government can bear the largest amount of patronage the greatest exaction and pressure on the people, without changing its character, or running into revolution. The greater, in fact, its patronage, the stronger it is-till the pressure begins to crush the mass of population with its superincumbent weight. But directly the opposite is the case with ours. Of all governments that ever existed, it can stand under the least patronage, in proportion to the population and wealth of the country, without changing its character, or hazarding a revolution. I have not made these assertions lightly. They are the result of much reflection, and can be sustained by conclusive reasons drawn from the nature of the two Governments; but this is not the proper occasion to discuss the subject. REMARKS On the Motion of Mr. Benton to strike out the 19th and 20th sections of the Independent Treasury Bill, the clauses which permit the reception and disbursement of Federal Paper; made in the Senate, January 16th, 1840. [MR. BENTON having spoken at great length in support of his motion, Mr. Wright briefly remarked, that the matter was of no practical. importance, as there would be, in a short time, no outstanding Federal paper to receive or dishare. The debate ras continued by Messrs. Norvell, Walker, and Allen, in åvie of the micia and Mr. Clay in opposition. In the course of his remarks, Mr. C. denounced the Bill as it stood, and as proposed to be amended as essentially a "Government Bad;" and referred, in words of strong condemnation, to the course of Mr. Calhoun in regard to it. Mr. Callon replied :—] It is said that extremes sometimes meet; of the truth of which we have an illustration in this case, in which the avowed opponent (Mr. Benton), and the avowed friend (Mr. Clay), of the credit system, object to the Government using its own credit; the one to the use of treasury notes, and the other to the use of treasury drafts. I. as the friend of the final and complete divorce of Government and banks, am opposed to the views of each extreme. It is my conviction, that if the Government should have the blindness to repudiate the use of its own credit, it would go far to defeat the policy of this bill, by restoring, in the end, the very union it is intended to dissever. The reason is obvious. Paper has, to a certain extent, a decided advantage over gold and silver. It is preferable in large and distant transactions, and cannot, in a country like ours, be dispensed with in the fiscal action of the Government, without much unnecessary expense and inconvenience: the truth of which would soon be manifest, if the Government should consent to dispense with the use of treasury drafts. But this is not the only form in which it may be convenient or necessary for it to use its own credit. It may be compelled to use it for circulation, in a more permanent form, as the only means of avoiding—what I regard a great evil-a federal debt. I am decidedly opposed to governmental loans. I believe them to be, in reality, little better than a fraud on the community, if made in bank-notes —and highly injurious, if made in large amounts in specie. I saw enough in the late war, to put me on my guard against them. I saw the Government borrow the notes of insolvent banks, the credit of which depended almost exclusively on |