CHAPTER LVI. EXPENSES OF THE GOVERNMENT, COMPARATIVE expenditures of the government during the whole time-he (Mr. B.) felt himself to be very able at any time to have risen in his place, and to have exposed the delusion of this thirteen and thirty-nine million bugbear; and, if he did AND PROGRESSIVE, AND SEPARATED FROM EX- not do so, it was because, in the first place, he TRAORDINARIES. was disinclined to bandy contradictions on the floor of the Senate; and, in the second place, because he relied upon the intelligence of the country to set all right whenever they obtained a view of the facts. This view he had made himself the instrument of procuring, and the Secretary of the Treasury had now presented it. It was ready for the contemplation of the American people; and he could wish every citizen to have the picture in his own hands, that he might contemplate it at his own fireside, and at his full leisure. He could wish every citizen to possess a copy of this report, now received from the Secretary of the Treasury, under the call of the Senate, and printed by its order; he could wish every citizen to possess one of these authentic copies, bearing the imprimatur of the American Senate; but that was impossible; and, limiting his action to what was possible, he would propose to print such number of extra copies as would enable some to reach every quarter of the Union. MR. BENTON moved to print an extra number of these tabular statements received from the Secretary of the Treasury, and proposed to give his reasons for the motion, and for that purpose, asked that the papers should be sent to him (which was done); and Mr. B. went on to say that his object was to spread before the country, in an authentic form, the full view of all the government expenses for a series of years past, going back as far as Mr. Monroe's administration; and thereby enabling every citizen, in every part of the country, to see the actual, the comparative, and the classified expenditures of the government for the whole period. This proceeding had become necessary, Mr. B. said, from the systematic efforts made for some years past, to impress the country with the belief that the expenditures had increased threefold in the last twelve years-that they had risen from thirteen to thirty-nine millions of dollars; and that this enormous increase was the effect of the extravagance, of the corruption, and of the incompetency of the administrations which had succeeded those of Mr. Adams and Mr. Monroe. These two latter administrations were held up as the models of economy; those of Mr. Van Buren and General Jackson were stigmatized as monsters of extravagance; and tables of figures were so arranged as to give color to the charac-rary or extraordinary objects, including the ters attributed to each. These systematic efforts —this reiterated assertion, made on this floor, of thirteen millions increased to thirty-nineand the effect which such statements must have upon the minds of those who cannot see the purposes for which the money was expended, appeared to him (Mr. B.), to require some more formal and authentic refutation than any one individual could give-something more imposing than the speech of a solitary member could afford. Familiar with the action of the government for twenty years past-coming into the Senate in the time of Mr. Monroe-remaining in it ever since-a friend to economy in public and in private life-and closely scrutinizing the Mr. B. then opened the tables, and explained their character and contents. The first one (marked A) consisted of three columns, and exhibited the aggregate, and the classified expenditures of the government from the year 1824 to 1839, inclusive; the second one (marked B) contained the detailed statement of the payments annually made on account of all tempo public debt, for the same period. The second table was explanatory of the third column of the first one; and the two, taken together, would enable every citizen to see the actual expenditures, and the comparative expenditures, of the government for the whole period which he had mentioned. Mr. B. then examined the actual and the comparative expenses of two of the years, taken from the two contrasted periods referred to, and invoked the attention of the Senate to the results which the comparison would exhibit. He took the first and the last of the years mentioned in the tables-the years 1824 and 1839 -and began with the first item in the first column. This showed the aggregate expenditures for every object for the year 1824, to have been $31,898,538 47-very near thirty-two millions of dollars, said Mr. B., and if stated alone, and without explanation, very capable of astonishing the public, of imposing upon the ignorant, and of raising a cry against the dreadful extravagance, the corruption, and the wickedness of Mr. Monroe's administration. Taken by itself (and indisputably true it is in itself), and this aggregate of near thirty-two millions is very sufficient to effect all this surprise and indignation in the public mind; but, passing on to the second column to see what were the expenditures, independent of the public debt, and this large aggregate will be found to be reduced more than one half; it sinks to $15,330,144 71. This is a heavy deduction; but it is not all. Passing on to the third column, and it is seen that the actual expenses of the government for permanent and ordinary objects, independent of the temporary and extraordinary ones, for this same year, were only $7,107,892 05; being less than the one-fourth part of the aggregate of near thirty-two millions. This looks quite reasonable, and goes far towards relieving Mr. Monroe's administration from the imputation to which a view of the aggregate expenditure for the year would have subjected it. But, to make it entirely satisfactory, and to enable every citizen to understand the important point of the government expenditures-a point on which the citizens of a free and representative government should be always well informed-to attain this full satisfaction, let us pass on to the second table (marked B), and fix our eyes on its first column, under the year 1824. We shall there find every temporary and extraordinary object, and the amount paid on account of it, the deduction of which reduced an aggregate of near thirty-two millions to a fraction over seven millions. We shall there find the explanation of the difference between the first and third columns. The first item is the sum of $16,568,393 76, paid on account of the principal and interest of the public debt. The second is the sum of $4,891,386 56, paid to merchants for indemnities under the treaty with Spain of 1819, by which we acquired Florida. And so on through nine minor items, amounting in the whole, exclusive of the public debt, to about eight millions and a quarter. This total added to the sum paid on account of This is certainly a satisfactory result. It ex- Commencing with the aggregate payments ing the expenditures of the year 1824, and ask for nothing in one case which had not been granted in the other. same process which he had pursued in explain-The very first item, that of the payment of public debt in the redemption of Treasury notes, reduced it eleven millions of dollars: it sunk it from thirty-seven millions to twenty-six. The other eighteen items amounted to $12,656,977, and reduced the twenty-six millions to thirteen and a half. Here then is a result which is attained by the same process which applies to the year 1824, and to every other year, and which is right in itself; and which must put to flight and to shame all the attempts to excite the country with this bugbear story of extravagance. In the first place the aggregate expenditures have not increased threefold in fifteen 1. The first item to be deducted from the thirty-seven million aggregate, was the sum of $11,146,599 05, paid on account of the public debt. He repeated, on account of the public debt; for it was paid in redemption of Treasury notes; and these Treasury notes were so much debt incurred to supply the place of the revenue deposited with the States, in 1836, or shut up in banks during the suspension of 1837, or due from merchants, to whom indulgence had been granted. To supply the place of these unattain-years; they have not risen from thirteen to able funds, the government went in debt by issuing Treasury notes; but faithful to the sentiment which abhorred a national debt, it paid off the debt almost as fast as it contracted it. Above eleven millions of this debt was paid in 1839, amounting to almost the one-third part of the aggregate expenditure of that year; and thus, nearly the one-third part of the sum which is charged upon the administration as extravagance and corruption, was a mere payment of debt-a mere payment of Treasury notes which we had issued to supply the place of our misplaced and captured revenue-our three instalments of ten millions cash presented to the States under the false and fraudulent name of a deposit, and our revenue of 1837 captured by the banks when they shut their doors upon their creditors. The glorious administration of President Jackson left the country free from public debt: its worthy successor will do the same. Removal of Indians from the Southern and Western States, and extinction of their titles, and numerous smaller items, all specified in the third column of the table, amount to about twelve millions and a half more; and these added to the payments on the public debt, the remainder is the expense of the government, and is but about the one-third of the aggregate expenditure to be precise, about thirteen millions and a half. With this view of the tabular statements Mr. B. closed the examination of the items of expenditure, and stated the results to be a reduction of the thirty-seven million aggregate in 1839, like that of the thirty-two million aggregate in 1824, to about one-third of its amount. thirty-nine millions, as incontinently asserted by the opposition; but from thirty-two millions to thirty-seven or thirty-nine. And how have they risen? By paying last year eleven millions for Treasury notes, and more than twelve millions for Indian lands, and wars, removals of Indians, and increase of the army and navy, and other items as enumerated. The result is a residuum of thirteen and a half millions for the real expenses of the government; a sum one and a half millions short of what gentlemen proclaim would be an economical expenditure. They all say that fifteen millions would be an economical expenditure; very well! here is thirteen and a half! which is a million and a half short of that mark. CHAPTER LVII. DEATH OF MR. JUSTICE BARBOUR OF THE SU- MR. PHILLIP P. BARBOUR was a representative in Congress from the State of Virginia when I was first elected to the Senate in 1820. I had the advantage—(for advantage I truly deemed it for a young member)-to be in habitual society with such a man-one of the same mess with him the first session of my service. Nor was it accidental, but sought for on my part. It was a talented mess-among others the brilliant orator, William Pinkney of Maryland; and the eloquent James Barbour, of the Senate, brother to the representative: their cousin, the representative John S. Barbour, equal to either feated. The disaffected and the opposition com bined together, counted their numbers, ascertained their strength, and saw that they could dispose of the election; but only in favor of some one of the same party with Mr. Randolph. They offered the place to Mr. Barbour. It was the natural ascent in the gradation of his appointments; and he desired it; and, it may be said, the place desired him: for he was a man to honor forbid; for with him Burns's line was a law of his nature: Where you feel your honor grip, let that still be your border. He was the personal and political friend of Mr. Randolph, and would not be used against him; and sent an answer to the combined parties which put an end to their solicitations. Mr. John Tyler, then governor of the State, and standing in the same relation with Mr. Barbour to Mr. Randolph, was then offered the place: and took it. It was his first step in the road to the whig camp; where he arrived eventually—and lodged, until elected out of it into the vice-presidential chair. in the endowments of the mind: Floyd of Virginia: Trimble and Clay of Kentucky. I knew the advantage of such association-and cherished it. From that time I was intimate with Mr. Phillip P. Barbour during the twenty-one winters which his duties, either as representative in Congress, or justice of the Supreme Court, required him to be at Washington. He was a man worthy of the best days of the re-adorn the chamber of the American Senate. But public-modest, virtuous, pure: artless as a child full of domestic affections: patriotic: filially devoted to Virginia as his mother State, and a friend to the Union from conviction and sentiment. He had a clear mind-a close, logical and effective method of speaking-copious without diffusion; and, always speaking to the subject, both with knowledge and sincerity, he was always listened to with favor. He was some time Speaker of the House, and was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court by President Van Buren in 1837, in place of Mr. Justice Duval, resigned. He had the death which knows no pain, and which, to the body, is sleep without waking. He was in attendance upon the Supreme Court, in good health and spirits, and had done his part the night before in one of the conferences which the labors of the Supreme Bench impose almost nightly on the learned judges. In the morning he was supposed by his servant to be sleeping late, and, finally going to his bedside, found him deadthe face all serene and composed, not a feature or muscle disturbed, the body and limbs in their easy natural posture. It was evident that the machinery of life had stopped of itself, and without a shock. Ossification of the heart was supposed to be the cause. He was succeeded on the Supreme Bench by Peter V. Daniel, Esq., of the same State, also appointed by Mr. Van Buren-one in the first, the other in the last days of his administration. Judge Barbour was a Virginia country gentleman, after the most perfect model of that most respectable class-living on his ample estate, baronially, with his family, his slaves, his flocks and herds-all well cared for by himself, and happy in his care. A farmer by position, a lawyer by profession, a politician of course-dividing his time between his estate, his library, his professional, and his public duties-scrupulously attentive to his duties in all: and strict in that school of politics of which Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, John Taylor of Caroline, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Macon, and others, were the great exemplars. A friend to order and economy in his private life, he carried the same noble qualities into his public stations, and did his part to administer the government with the simplicity and purity which its founders intended for it. CHAPTER LVIII. A beautiful instance in Mr. Barbour of selfdenial, and of fidelity to party and to personal friendship, and regard for honor and decorum, occurred while he was a member of the House. Mr. Randolph was in the Senate: the time for his re-election came round: he had some personal enemies in his own party, who, joined to the whig party, could defeat him: and it was a MR. VAN BUREN was the democratic candidate. high object with the administration at Wash- His administration had been so acceptable to ington (that of Mr. Adams), to have him de- his party, that his nomination in a convention PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. itself can be its own delineator: and, therefore, here it is: "Ordered, That the delegates from each State be requested to assemble as a delegation, and appoint a committee, not exceeding three in such delegation, and communicate the same to number, to receive the views and opinions of the assembled committees of all the delegations, to be by them respectively reported to their principals; and that thereupon the delegates from each State be requested to assemble as a delegation, and ballot for candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, and hav was a matter of form, gone through according to custom, but the result commanded by the party in the different States in appointing their delegates. Mr. Richard M. Johnson, the actual Vice-President, was also nominated for re-election; and both nominations were made in conformity to the will of the people who sent the delegates. On the part of the whigs the same nominations were made as in the election of 1836-General William Henry Harrison of Ohio, for President; and Mr. John Tyler of Virginia, for Vice-President. The leading states-ing done so, to commit the ballot designating men of the whig party were again passed by to the votes of each candidate, and by whom given, make room for a candidate more sure of being mittees shall assemble and compare the several to its committee; and thereupon all the comelected. The success of General Jackson had ballots, and report the result of the same to turned the attention of those who managed the their several delegations, together with such presidential nominations to military men, and an facts as may bear upon the nomination; and "odor of gunpowder" was considered a sufficient said delegation shall forthwith re-assemble and ballot again for candidates for the above offices, attraction to rally the masses, without the civil and again commit the result to the above comqualifications, or the actual military fame which mittees, and if it shall appear that a majority General Jackson possessed. Availability, to of the ballots are for any one man for candiuse their own jargon, was the only ability the result to the convention for its consideradate for President, said committee shall report which these managers asked—that is, available tion; but if there shall be no such majority, for the purposes of the election, and for their then the delegations shall repeat the balloting own advancement, relying on themselves to ad- until such a majority shall be obtained, and minister the government. Mr. Clay, the prom-consideration. That the vote of a majority of then report the same to the convention for its inent man, and the undisputed head of the par- each delegation shall be reported as the vote of ty, was not deemed available; and it was deter- that State; and each State represented here mined to set him aside. How to do it was the shall vote its full electoral vote by such delegation in the committee." question. He was a man of too much power and spirit to be rudely thrust aside. Gentle, As this View of the Thirty Years is intended and respectful means were necessary to get him to show the working of our political system, out of the way; and for that purpose he was and how things were done still more than what concertedly importuned to withdraw from the was done; and as the election of chief magisHe would not do so, but wrote a let-trate is the highest part of that working; and ter submitting himself to the will of the con- as the party nomination of a presidential candivention. When he did so he certainly expected date is the election of that candidate so far as an open decision-a vote in open convention- the party is concerned in all these points of every delegate acting responsibly, and according view, the device of this resolution becomes histo the will of his constituents. Not so the fact. torical, and commends itself to the commentaHe submitted himself to the convention: the tors upon our constitution. The people are to convention delivered him to a committee: the elect the President. Here is a process through committee disposed of him in a back chamber. multiplied filtrations by which the popular senIt devised a process for getting at a result, timent is to be deduced from the masses, collected which is a curiosity in the chapter of ingenious in little streams, then united in one swelling curinventions-which is a study for the complica- rent, and poured into the hall of the convention tion of its machinery-a model contrivance of the few to govern many-a secure way to produce an intended result without showing the design, and without leaving a trace behind to show what was done and of which none but canvass. no one seeing the source, or course of any one of the streams. Algebra and alchemy must have been laid under contribution to work out a quotient from such a combination of signs and symbols. But it was done. Those who |