Sen. & H. of R.] Western National Road. country was through the Executive power. He wished to know if it was customary for Americans to go England, and present petitions there? No. They could not be sustained for a moment there. Mr. HOLMES, of Maine, recollected one such case, and a very recent one too. A citizen of the United States, General Boyd, applied to the British Parliament, by petition, for relief, for a certain cargo which had been confiscated at the Cape of Good Hope. Much discussion took place on the subject, but finally a bill passed Parliament for his relief, and he received a considerable sum of money. The General was not a British subject He was an American citizen, and fought in the Revolutionary War. They often heard of petitions from foreigners; and if the statement of these petitioners was found correct, he did not see why they should not be relieved. Mr. SMITH did not recollect any case directly in point. The Secretary of the Treasury might have given the advice mentioned by the petitioner, and he was not at all wrong in so doing. The money had been paid into the Treasury, and, if so, could not be returned to the petitioners by any authority of the President or officers of the Government. An act must be passed for the purpose. This memorial was not a memorial from the merchants in Russia, but came regularly before the House from a citizen, the agent of a foreigner, and ought to be received. Mr. LANMAN was in favor of committing the petition, but not in consequence of the precedent of Gen. Boyd. It would be found that the General presented himself before the king in council, or parliament-the petition was presented in the character of a British sub. Ject serving in a military capacity in India, claiming certain immunities granted him to export saltpetre. He thought the dignity of the Government and their own dignity, sense of duty and self-respect, required that they should accept this petition. He was aware of many petitions having been received from foreigners, among others that of Col. Calava, of Florida. Mr. LLOYD, of Mass. did not attach much importance to the precedent of General Boyd, because he thought they were capable of judging for themselves. Gen. B. did come before Parliament as a petitioner, but it was in the character of a Mahratta chieftain-he could not have presented a petition as a citizen of the United States-be did not believe there was any law existing in the United States requiring that an alien should be naturalized before he acquired the right of petitioning, This petitioner had pursued the proper course, and ought to be heard. [JAN. 18, 1825. to appoint one impartial and judicious person, not being a citizen of either of the states through which the road hereinafter mentioned shall pass, to be a Commissioner; and, in case of the death, resignation, refusal to act, or disability of any such Commissioner, to appoint another in his stead, who shall have power, according to the provisions of the act, entitled "An act to authorize the appointment of commissioners therein mentioned," approved May the 15th, 1820, to complete the examination and survey heretofore commenced by virtue of the provisions of said act, and to extend the same to the permanent seat of Government of the state of Missouri; the said road to conform, in all respects, to the provisions of the said recited act, except that it shall pass by the seats of Government of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; and the said commissioner, and the persons employed under him, shall receive the same compensation for their services, respectively, as is allowed by the said recited act: Provided, however, That the said road shall commence at Zanesville, in the state of Ohio, and, to defray the expense thereof, the sum of $10,000 is hereby appropriated out of the appropriations made by the first section of this act." Mr. MARVIN observed, in support of this motion, that the amendment offered by the gentleman from Indiana was one of the first importance; that the House was very thin at the time it had been brought forward, and as it had been near the hour of adjournment, and members had been somewhat exhausted by the previous debate, it had not received all that consideration to which it was entitled. The bill, as reported by the Committee, provides for the extension of the Cumberland Road from Wheeling to Zanesville. The amendment proposes to devote a small part of the amount appropriated to the purpose of locating and marking out the remainder of the road from Zanesville to the Mississippi. It is asked as a benefit for the people of the West, and it is certair.ly important that all the great roads in a new country should be located as early as possible, in order that persons intending to settle in the country may have an opportunity to purchase land, and to commence improvements in reference to these roads. The Secretary of War, in a luminous report, lately submitted to this House, has recommended the construction of a national road from this city to New Orleans, and already we perceive that the citizens all along the route proposed, are alive on the subject. Wherever it passes, a long train of evils, as well as of benefits, must unavoidably result from its being located in one or in another direction. But, with respect to the great national road now in prospect, the evils may be avoided, Mr. TAZEWELL submitted somewhat at large his while all the benefits are secured, simply by having its views of the proper course to be pursued by foreigners course ascertained before the settlements are made. By in seeking favors or redress from an alien government; doing it now, Congress will also consult public economy; the true distinction to be made between citizens and because, should it be deferred to four or five years aliens by Government in receiving their complaints; hence, it will then have to be carried through a wilderwhat was due to courtesy on the one hand, and to rightness, with great labor and expense. But, if its course is on the other, &c. But Mr. T. was heard by the Reporter too indistinctly to venture a more particular statement of his remarks. The petition was received, 21 rising in favor to 12 against; and the petition referred to the Committee on Finance. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-SAME DAY. marked now, the road, when it comes to be made, will be found to pass through a succession of farms and improvements. The men who are to make it, and the provisions which are to support them, will both be already on the spot. Every facility will be afforded in its construction; the bone and sinew will be there, on which its formation must depend. It can be laid out in small contracts, which experience has proved to be the best of all modes for conducting undertakings of this description. But, if we defer it, the country will then begin to be settled, villages will be growing up, improvements will be making, a part of the country will claim the road here, another part will demand that it shall go there, and Mr. MILLER, of Pennsylvania, moved a reconsidera- Congress will be distracted by their conflicting pretention of the vote of yesterday, by which an amendmentsions; whereas, if it is located now, the villages and setoffered by Mr. JENNINGS was rejected, in the words following: The House passed to the order of the day, and took up the unfinished business of yesterday; which was the bill for the continuance of the Cumberland road. "Be it enacted, &c. That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered tlements will be formed with respect to it, and the road benefits will follow even this measure; for then, the states, knowing where the road is to pass, may accomplish the completing of it on their own resources. He hoped the question of reconsideration would prevail. The question on reconsidering was accordingly put and carried. Ayes 107. The question being then on adopting the amendment, Mr. JENNINGS called for the Yeas and Nays, but the House refused to order them. The amendment was carried by a large majority. The question then recurring on ordering the bill, as amended, to be engrossed for a third reading, Mr. M'DUFFIE, of S. C. rose, and said he wished to say a few words on this bill, both from the interest which he took in the success of a general system of internal improvements, and to show that his opposition to this bill did not involve him, in reference to his views of the general subject, in any inconsistency. Of all the considerations in favor of a system of Internal Improvement, no member, he said, was more sensible than he was, and it was hardly necessary for him, he trusted, to state the fact to induce the House to believe it. But he thought that he could satisfy at least some portion of the House, that, if a due appreciation of the great national objects to be attained by the completion of a system of internal improvement, was with them as a motive of conduct, they ought carefully to abstain from appropriating any money for any object of that description, until, after a patient and deliberate investigation, a general system should be devised. And here, said he, let me make a remark, for the truth of which I appeal to the members from every state in the Union which has embarked in a system of internal improvements, that, notwithstanding the obvious benefits which have resulted from it, it is a fact, even in those states in which internal improvement has been most successfully prosecuted, it has had to encounter the most violent opposition that could be waged against any measure. When the work is commenced, and whilst it is in progress, those who do not look to the result, the great mass of the community-can hardly be brought to support it. Was it not a fact, he said, that the great canal of New York-that most honorable monument of public spirit, enterprize, and industry-would not that work have failed if the fund from which it was executed had not been previously pledged? If, then, a system of internal improvement by a state of great wealth and condensed population, cannot be prosecuted but with the utmost caution, and with something like a previous pledge, by an absolute investment of money, requiring the consent of all the branches of the Government to repeal it, he asked whether it would not be better for us, commencing such a system over so extensive a sphere, to act with double caution? We ought, said he, to look to the great whole of a system of internal improvement, and act upon the subject with reference to its ultimate completion. For, if we are to stop at any point in the execution, to break it off or to resume it according to the variation of public opinion upon its merits or expediency, we must act inefficiently and unsatisfactorily. We ought, therefore, on commencing it, to avail ourselves of those means most likely to ensure its final completion. What then is the question now to be determined? The question is not, whether it be wise to continue this road. On that question, there is, I believe, no differ ence of opinion, except on the part of those who object to it on constitutional grounds. But, I ask, what great national consideration calls upon us to adopt this system now, rather than three years hence? Are we, by continuing this road, to preserve this Union? Yes, we are But, without this road, will the Union be at an end in three years? What reason is there for alarm on that score, though this work may not be undertaken for five, six, or ten years to come? All those future evils which we are required to guard against by making this road, [H. of R. If this road and similar works, are somewhat distant. should not be commenced for ten years, the Union would not be dissolved by the delay. But I am not for postponing the work for ten years. I am for commencing it as soon as we have made our surveys--as soon as we have determined what shall be the general system established for the prosecution of these objects. As soon as we commence, sir, I am for going on as rapidly as the funds of the nation will allow. No one can be more anxious than I am that this work should not only be done, but done speedily. We shall accomplish it, however, by acting systematically on the general subject, sooner than by a partial appropriation, without previous examination, tending to hazard the final success, and at least retard the completion of the work. With regard to the arguments in favor of this particular road, they may be either national or partly national only. That this road might be a part of a system of Internal Improvement, Mr. McD. said he would readily admit. In that view, he should cheerfully support it whenever a general system should be established, and had no objection to its having priority in the execution of the parts of such a system. But, so far as national consider ations called for it, there had been no argument to shew why this road ought to be undertaken now, without those previous inquiries and investigations which must precede the establishment of a general system. In a word, said he, all the arguments that can be used in favor of undertaking this work now, are sectional arguments. It is not worth while to disguise it. If they are not, why are they urged from a particular part of the country? The whole nation does not call for the present undertaking of the work, but two, three, or four of the Western States. Mr. McD. here replied to the argument that the Western States are not to be considered as more interested in this road than some of the Eastern. It was an erroneous idea, he argued, that a road was only valuable, or most valuable, to the particular state through which it runs. The Cumberland Road runs through three States which derive no advantage from it. The right of way over this road is its only value. A few individuals residing directly on the road may be benefitted by its passing through their lands; but the great benefit is to those who reside beyond its two extremes. Are not the Western States particularly benefitted by the Cumberland Road? It is the Western States, and the City of Baltimore-the points to and from which the road passes, that are benefitted by it, and not the States through which the road runs; and, regarded in this light, the continuation of that road would be a road for the benefit of the Western States, of Maryland, and a very small proportion of the State of Pennsylvania. And, what is the state of the fact as to the Western country and the United States with regard to the appropriations heretofore made for the purposes of Internal Improvement? Why, sir, with the exception of this road, and other public improvements in different parts of the Western Country, the United States has never appropriated one cent, worth noticing, for inter nal improvement in any part of the United States. The idea which had been put forth, that the navies of the United States, or the other institutions for the defence of the United States, are to be regarded as improvements analogous to those of Roads and Canals, seemed to be founded on an entire misconception. Mr. McD, traced this argument to its results. We are told, said he, that commerce benefits the Atlantic States, and that wars for commerce are wars for the benefit of the Atlantic States. Because commerce is transacted in the Atlantic cities, is it for the benefit of the States in which they are situated? Not more than the Cumberland, Road is for the benefit of the three States through which it passes. And, if we are to regard those only as benes fitted by any particular incident who are in contact with it, then the Atlantic Cities only, and not the Atlantic H. of R.] Western National Road. [JAN. 18, 1825. ledged the truth of this observation, and expressed a doubt whether, if we had a system of direct taxation, operating equally on every part of the Union, the Government could, in the present state of things, exist under it. Take the state of Kentucky for example. How was her portion of the revenue of the General Government now paid? In the price of the articles of foreign growth or manufacture which they consume. That, he said, they could well bear, because they paid it in the currency of the State. But, suppose the same amount of money was to be raised by direct taxation, and it was to be received this year there, to be expended next year elsewhere. What would be the result of such a state of things? Fortunately, the actual operation is, under present circumstances, the reverse of this. We raise our revenue by imposts on importation from foreign countries, which are paid in the Atlantic cities. All the money raised there, or nearly all, is expended elsewhere, and much of it in the interior. So that, if any account be made of the drain of money, it is rather against the Atlantic states, than in their favor. If any state in the Union has a right to complain, said Mr. M'DUFFIE, it is that which I represent. A considerable amount of the revenue of the U. States is raised from the goods imported into Charleston, and not one tenth part of the revenue drain upon that city, which produces the most injurious effects to its interests. The whole revenue of the country, he said, was derived from commerce, except the little derived from sales of the public lands, the full amount of which last, however, and probably more, was expended on the army, and other national establishments in the vicinities in which it was collected. States, are benefitted by commerce. Is this argument correct? Certainly not. It is not those who prosecute commerce who alone are interested in it. For if it were, how far would its influence extend beyond the limits of our seaports? The man who lives a hundred miles from a seaport has no more interest in the commerce carried on there, than if he were a thousand miles distant. Sir, the back country of South Carolina bas no more interest in commerce than every gentleman in the Western country has. Commerce, from its universal diffusion and influence, s exclusively national in its nature, benefitting equally every part of the country. Mr. McD. marked the further progress of the argument. We were told yesterday, said he, that the patriotism and devotion of the people of the Western country, in the last war, was not surpassed by that of any other portion of the people of the United States. Of the flood of honor which resulted from the late war, I have pleasure in acknowledging that the Western country was entitled to more than an equal portion. But, sir, had she no interest in the causes of that war? If we look at the public documents which belong to that day, we shall find that the blood which flowed from the savage tomahawk was one of the causes of that war. It was not a war for commerce merely. The outrages of the savages on our borders was one of the causes avow-raised there is expended there, so that there is a constant ed for it, and not without foundation-for the agents of the adversary power were stimulating the Indians on our borders to hostility against our citizens, whose situation invited and received the attention of the Government. They were protected All the military movements and operations on the Northwestern frontier were directed to the great object of protecting that frontier from the havoc and desolation of savage warfare. With respect to the capacity of the country, as regard. In addition, have we not, ever since the foundation of ed the time when this general system of internal imthe Government, been prosecuting wars for the protec-provement should be commenced, M'DUFFIE thought tion of our frontiers against Indian hostilities? Has it it his duty to say a few words, because he had been misnot cost more, during the times of general peace in Eu- taken before, when he said that the principal object of rope, for the protection of that frontier, than for that of the next administration would be to pay off the public the Atlantic frontier? The whole expense of the Navy, debt. He meant not to be understood literally, that in those periods, will not be found to be greater than the whole care of the Government was to be limitthat of protecting the Western frontier from the incured to the payment of the public debt. If the Secresions of the Indians. What, indeed, is now the fact in tary of the Treasury was correct in his computation, regard to this nation? A large portion, say one-third Mr. M'DUFFIE rejoiced to believe that, with all due attenof the Army of the United States, is at this moment tion to the redemption of the public debt, the Governpermanently established on the Western frontier, for ment might be able to commence a system of internal the purpose of protecting it against the Indians. If we improvement within two or three years-and, he said, are to regard the expense of protecting a particular the sooner it can be commenced, the weaker is the argufrontier of the country as exclusively incurred for the ment in favor of the appropriation at this moment. What, benefit of that frontier, all the middle and interior part said he, is the state of our finances now? For the ques of the Union, the heart of the Republic, has no interest tion is not, what we may be able to do hereafter, but, in our defensive establishments, and all the appropria- what we may with propriety do now. The Committee tions for the defence of the frontier, East or West, are of Ways and Means, aware of the necessity of such a on their part gratuitous. Could I, residing far in the measure, has reported a bill authorizing a loan to the exinterior, remote from danger of foreign incursion, use tent of twelve millions for the service of the current this argument against measures necessary for defence? year. An amount of public debt falls due in the year, exNo, sir. In fact, Mr. McD. said, if any comparison were ceeding by 12 millions, the ability of the Government to be instituted between the expenditures for the pro- to redeem. For the year after, another loan of six miltection of the West, and those for the protection of the lions will be necessary to complete the payment of the Atlantic frontier, it would be found that the former in- debt which will become payable in that year. The revolved more of national and patriotic feeling, than the sult of all the estimates and calculations on the subject latter. For, he asked, what do we of the Atlantic is, that our revenue will, in two or three years from this States get, in return for the expenditures for the pro- time, be abundant-a strange argument in favor of an tection of the frontier of the West? Nothing. What appropriation for the road now, when the revenue is obfor the protection of the Eastern frontier? Commerce. viously defective. Interest, therefore, invited measures for the protection of the maritime frontier, whilst nothing but the most high and elevated considerations operated to influence the measures for the protection of the Western frontier. On this subject, said Mr. McD. sufficient for the day are the evils thereof. This Government has been heretofore led into most disastrous difficulties, by financial mistakes. No man can predict what may be the course There was one topic alluded to in the course of the of future events. If we go on to act upon the ground that discussion, which, Mr. M'DUFFIE said, was entitled to the we shall have a redundant revenue, and the course of most profound consideration. He referred to the dis- events shall not realize the prediction, what will be the tress upon the currency of the country, produced by the consequence? A re-action of public opinion, such as expenditure of the Government, in any part of the coun- was seriously felt by its operation in this House, when, try, being less than the revenue raised in it. He acknow-in 1821-22, all the institutions in the country were put in JAN. 18, 1825.] Western National Road. [H. of R. jeopardy, by previous mistaken calculations of the re- that it had the power to enter into the consideration venue. When the internal taxes were repealed, no one of a principle of mere numerical calculation, in underanticipated a deficiency in the revenue, as the conse-takings for the public good. On the present subject, But, not more than two years elapsed, before it was his opinion, that the states who had been admitted under the stipulations which had been stated, had, in fairness, a right to expect the Government to proceed with this road. quence. all the calculations of the revenue were disappointed; and we had to borrow money, to fulfil the public engagements. Borrowing money in time of peace, was an alarming symptom; and it produced in the nation, and Taking the different statutes together, it seemed to be in this House, such an effect, that it was with difficulty holden out, that Government would make a road, leadour institutions were kept together. This, Mr. McD.ing to those states. Congress had acted again and again said in reference to the defensive system, suspended un- on this idea; and, he asked, Where was the difference der this state of things, which he regarded as of vital im- between the present appropriation, and those which had portance, &c. With this warning before us, said Mr. been formerly granted for this same road? All that can McD. let us not commence the work of internal im- be said, is, that the Government has made advances on provement, in such a manner as may defeat its final suc- a fund which is incompetent to repay them, and so the cess. As soon as we shall have a clear surplus revenue, present amounts to a direct grant. Well. Had not this I will go heart and hand with gentlemen in making the been done before? The appropriations for the Cummost liberal appropriation for the purpose of internal in- berland road had, many of them, been made when it provement; and I shall not be scrupulous whether it be was known that that fund was inadequate. The case is commenced in this or in that part of the country. I wish no worse now. The degree only is different. The to have the whole system before us, ere we begin, so principle is the same; and he thought, that the Western that what we do, we may do wisely, judiciously, and with States might fairly expect this object to be effected, on our eyes open. the ground of their several contracts. The next question was, is this a fit object for which to appropriate? Gentlemen say it is not a national object. But he knew of no work equally beneficial to all the twentyfour states. What, asked Mr. WEBSTER, is a national Is nothing to be so denominated except what benefits every part of the United States? Congress last year voted a sum to improve certain harbors on Lake Erie. Was this of any benefit to Alabama, or New Orleans? They had appropriated money for the repairs of Plymouth Beach: could this be any benefit to the citizens of Indiana? Works surely may be denomiAt present, the question was a different one, inas-nated national, which are of extensive importance, almuch as the present bill might be passed without the though the benefit may not be strictly universal. The assumption of any power different from what has been fortifications, for instance, which had been erected on exercised by this House for these twenty years. The the Chesapeake are national only because many have an bill, it is true, carries the principle of former acts some-interest in it. The degree of interest in these works what farther, but it does not alter the principle. Mr. WEBSTER, of Massachusetts, then rose and said, that, as he was in favor of the bill, he should say a few words in explanation of the reasons which led him to vote for it. As to the question of power in this House to make appropriations for objects of internal improve-object? ment, he should at this time say nothing. When that question was so much agitated in 1816, he had made his opinions respecting it openly known: he was, of course, ready to change them whenever he could be brought to doubt the constitutional foundation on which that power rests. between those who lived on the shores of the Chesapeake and the shores of Lake Michigan, was so widely different, that the latter may, in comparison, be said to have no interest in them. Yet, certainly those fortifica. tions were a fit subject of appropriation, and it was the duty of Congress to erect them. On this subject, as on all others, Mr. W. said, he wished to bring to the discussion a right feeling, that is, a feeling truly national. It mattered nothing to him who was to be immediately benefitted. Tros Tyriusve, whether an inhabitant of the banks of the Merrimack of New Hampshire, or the Merrimack of the Missouri, he With respect to the present road, he asked how did cared not provided he be a subject of our legislation the concern of the General Government in it begin? He he has claims, said Mr. W. on my impartial consideration. presumed the origin of that concern was to be found in If he had been led, since the discussion of 1816, to alter the connection of Government with its great territory his opinion on any part of the general subject then de- of public lands. This was the idea out of which grew bated, it was that which respects an equal distribution the reservation of the two per cent. fund. It was inof the public expenditures through the different parts tended, doubtless, as an inducement to the settlement of of the Union, according to their population. He doubt- the public lands, and none, surely, can doubt that Goed, extremely, the propriety and even the power of vernment may rightfully hold out considerations calcu Congress to carry on legislation on the principle of bal-lated to bring the public lands to a better market. The ancing the local interests of different sections of the reason for making the road is still the same. Those country. If the business of legislation has been com- lands are still in market, and every rod which is added mitted to us at all, the whole subject is in our power to this road, increases the value, and is calculated to and under our discretion. He doubted whether Con- raise the price of those lands. gress had power to adopt a system which should go on the professed principle of distributing the public moneys pro rata; having respect to the different portions of the Union merely in a numerical view of them. When Congress legislates at all, it must legislate for a whole, and not for twenty-four parts. The idea had been brought forward, as being calculated to prevent a merely local legislation; but is was, in truth, itself, a local idea. Such a system would rest on a foundation essentially vicious. When going into a system of improvement, the House has simply to inquire, Where is improvement most wanted? He cared not whether it was beyond the Alleghanies, or beyond the Missouri; wherever it was most needed, there it must first be made. He supposed the House had power to decide which of the various objects was most pressing; but he denied Another consideration was, the great accommodation which such a line of road would furnish to all the Western states. With respect to those states, the object was strictly a general one. Let me ask, said Mr. W. if Government were about to erect a fort or an arsenal, or to build ships of war, and it was possible that any of these objects would require so small a sum as that now asked for, whether any body would then hesitate? If, then, the object was legitimate, if it was useful to all our citizens, and especially so to those who now ask it, might not Congress lawfully make it? As to the incidental advantages accruing from the expenditure of so much of the public money as was now proposed to be appropriated, he was confident they had been overrated. The expenditure of 150,000 dollars could be no great boon to any of the states. For his own part, he felt glad that this money was to be laid out beyond the mountains. He did not hesitate to avow that he should be yet more glad could more of the public money be expended there. Such were his feelings whether right or wrong, and such his views, whether correct or erro neous. [JAN. 18, 1825. If this was a question which might not be asked now, how could it be asked when the system had been adopted? and an expenditure, not of 150,000 dollars, but fifty millions of dollars, would be called for to carry it into effect? That, indeed, would be a formidable subject of consideration, (and one which he suspected would always operate to prevent the adoption of such a system,) but now the amount was certainly too small to be in the least degree onerous to the public resources. In illustration of the principle that a general system was slow in being adopted, and that it would be necessary to commence with some particular object, Mr. W. referred to the act of last session, for removing obstructions in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. It was then thought extraordinary by many gentlemen, that an object in which nine different states were each greatly interested should have remained so long unaccomplished. But that circumstance was, perhaps, the most operative reason why it had not been done. Among so many states it was difficult to obtain mutual counsel and united effort, and they thus continued to neglect an improvement, the want of which had occasioned, at different times, the loss of half a million of dollars, although it was found that responsible individuals were now ready to undertake it for 65,000 dollars: a sum which, at least, in the Eastern states, would not be viewed as a heavy burden for one single county, or even for a single town. He regarded the country as under a general expectation of aid from the General Government in respect to the subject of roads. Congress had virtuallly said to the people of the West, that the road should be carried on till it reached them all, and though they might not have said this in any formal act, yet it had virtually been given out in the speeches made on this floor. The people consider them as under pledge, and the present bill in carrying on the road for eighty miles, does but carry Congress eighty miles farther towards the redeeming of their pledge. And here he would state what he conceived to be the true situation of that part of the Union. The people he considered as being substantially rich, yet, having no markets, they were without the means of converting their riches to many desirable purposes of common life. And, in such a situation, the expenditure of comparatively a small sum of money might do much in promoting the comfort of the people. There could be no doubt, if gentlemen looked at the money received into the Treasury from the sale of the public lands, to the West, and then looked to the whole amount expended by Government, even including the whole of what was laid out for the army, the latter must be allowed to be very inconsiderable, and there must be a constant drain of money from the West to pay for the public lands. It might, indeed, be said, that this was no more than the refluence of capital which had previously gone over the mountains. Be it so. Still, its practical effect was to produce inconvenience, if not distress, by absorbing the money of the people. It was as true of the West as of all other parts of the country, that the consumer pays the tax. The public revenue was not raised in Boston, or New York, or Charleston. The West paid as much of that revenue as the East, in proportion to its consumption; nay, on a strict calculation, something more, They pay the tax and a profit on transportation. True, indeed, the money was collected in the customhouse, yet it was first paid where the imported articles were consumed. It could not be paid in the sea-ports, if it had not first been received in the interior. Some gentlemen said we must wait, till a system is formed-that is, some system of internal improvement, so equal in its bearings, and so satisfactory in its details, that all shall Government, he believed, had received eighteen or agree in adopting it. He feared if gentlemen waited twenty millions of dollars from the public lands, and it till then, they would have to wait till they grew very was with the greatest satisfaction he adverted to the old. He suspected that few of those who heard him change which had been introduced in the mode of paywould travel over the roads or sail upon the canals con- ing for them; yet he could never think that the National structed after the adoption of the system. How long domain was to be regarded as any great source of would it take merely to make the surveys for such a revenue. The great object of the Government, in system? Was any man to be found bold enough to un-respect to those lands, was not so much the money dertake to sketch out a system of internal improve- derived from their sale, as it was the getting of them ments extending for twenty years to come? He would settled. What he meant to say, was, that he did not venture to say that no one man could form a plan in think they ought to hug that domain as a great treasure which he could get five others to agree. The thing which was to enrich the exchequer; yet, the considerawas impracticable-and impracticable for this reason, tion that Government has already received large sums that our entire condition was merely in a process of from it, had great weight with them, when the persons development. The country was changing every day who proposed it, came to this House, and asked a small and every hour-new views were continually present-appropriation to aid them in doing so. ing themselves-new wants were continually discover- Mr. McDUFFIE then again rose, and observed, that ed-new resources were constantly unfolding them- the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts seemed to seles-new connections were every day taking place- have misconceived his views and the extent of the individuals were doing much-states were doing much-question. He agreed entirely with the gentleman that and he was satisfied that, if Congress was never to act on individual cases, but only on a universal system, it would never act at all. This road was wanted-it was wanted now-it was wanted more now than it would be to-morrow; and the expense of making it to-day would be no more than of making it to-morrow. In the settlement of a new country, roads were all-important. The sooner they were opened the greater was their value and importance to the settlers. Ought not the road, then, if it is to be made at all, to be made now? As to the burden of this appropriation, he agreed, indeed, with the gentleman from South Carolina, that it was proper to limit the public expenditure within reasonable bounds, and to keep down the public debt. Yet he must be permitted to ask, what was likely to be the prodigious effect of this $150,000 upon the public debt? the idea of a system of internal improvement, which is to have respect merely to the population of different districts of the United States, is entirely visionary. He never threw out any such idea. He never contemplated that any such limitation should enter into the system. On the contrary, said Mr. McD. I agree with him that it will destroy the system. The only works in which the General Government can engage, are such as are national in their character. The constitution restricts them to these alone. A system, then, which proposes to distribute different works, to the different states, in proportion to their population, must be unconstitutional in its very principle; it appropriates to objects that are local, not national. I agree with the gentleman that we are to make a beginning with some of the objects of the system. I only proposed to inquire, whether this is the proper time to begin. If that gentleman meant to say |