H. OF R.] Fortification Bill. iberty, by riveting upon the nation a large standing army in time of profound peace, with all its dangerous and demoralizing influences. The American people, sir, will revolt at the very idea; they will not, they cannot, submit to it; they connot be thus imposed on by party influences and party considerations; there is too much good sense and spirit in the country to be thus tricked and defrauded, even under the pretext of "public defences," as the party choose to term them, and behind which name they seek refuge when assailed for an attempt to waste and squander the public money. Sir, when this profligate measure just referred to was introduced in the Senate, (by Mr. BENTON, the leader of the Van Buren party in that body,) proposing to appropriate the whole surplus, which would, in that case, have amounted to at least fifty-five or sixty millions of dollars, it was represented by the friends of Mr. Van Buren as an administration measure, one approved by General Jackson himself, and heavy denunciations were about to be pronounced on all who would dare to stand in oppo. sition to its adoption, as enemies to the present administration and to the country. But, sir, when the light appeared, when the true developments were made of the opinions of the War Department, endorsed by the President himself, the delusion vanished, and those who, from a consciousness of duty, principle, and the good of the country, were bound to oppose this wanton waste, were saved from the denunciation of the party, as enemies to the administration and the country. Sir, the President and Secretary of War both, in their communications to this House, disapproved of this visionary and wild scheme; therefore we are to consider it the policy of Mr. Van Buren, and not that of General Jackson, because the latter disavowed it. It was introduced by the immediate friends of the Vice President, (Mr. Van Buren,) and was receiving the support and approbation of the whole party, until General Jackson signified his disapprobation. Whilst upon this part of the subject, (said Mr. C.,) he hoped he would not be considered as trespassing too far upon the time of the committee, by referring more specifically to the fortifications and defences of the country. It is proposed, sir, for the protection and the defence of the seaboard frontier, in extent between three and four thousand miles, the erection and armament of two hundred and thirty-two forts. These works have already cost the Government large sums, and, when completed, will have cost about forty millions of dollars, according to the estimates. Four of them have been completed, and found to have cost four millions and seventy-three thousand dollars. One hundred and ten of the others are now under construction, and have already cost four millions one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. The Secretary of War says, in his report, that it will require fourteen millions three hundred and, perhaps, forty or fifty thousand dollars more to finish them; making, in all, about nineteen millions of dollars that have been expended, and yet required, for the completion of the last-mentioned fortifications; and still there remained one hundred and eleven forts, and, he believed, fifty or fifty-three steam batteries, yet to be commenced, the cost of which, by the estimate of the same Department, is to be about seventeen millions more, making a total of forty millions of dollars, part finished, as before stated, another part under way, and the balance yet to be commenced. And, Mr. Chairman, all past experience on the subject of estimates for public works, made by any of the Departments, shows those estimates to be very far short of the real costs of public works, and that they are not to be relied on. And, sir, you must invariably, upon an extensive work, double the estimate, to cover costs. Thus, instead of these forts and steam batteries being built with forty [MAY 24, 1836. millions of dollars, as per estimates, when finished, they will more likely be found to have cost eighty or a hun dred millions, in addition to the sums already expended. Again, sir, when you shall have gone thus far, you are not done with the expenses attendant upon these works. The Secretary requires thirty millions more, to arm them with guns and put them in a state of defence. And then comes another great calamity; they must be furnished with soldiers, to garrison and preserve them from damage, at the cost of two or three millions of dollars more per annum. And, in time of war, to garrison these fortifications properly for defence, the same Department tells you will cost thirty millions of dollars each year. And still, sir, our Military Committee now proposes, and urges vehemently, that nineteen new and heretofore unthought-of forts should be added to the list, that will be an additional cost of a hundred millions of dollars; and then another addition to the standing army. Sir, I should think this was an unfor. tunate recommendation of the candidate for the vice presidency-to show so much anxiety to expend two or three hundred millions, in one string of country, in addition to the four hundred and twenty millions collected by the Government of the people, and poured out lavishly in the same favored region since the year 1815, a space of twenty years, almost entirely to the exclusion of the South and Southwest. Where is our wonted confidence in the militia of our "High-raised battlement, or labored mound, Was it, "City proud, with spires and turrets crown'd; Where, laughing at the storms, rich navies rode?" Was it, "Starred and spangled court, Where low-brow'd baseness wafts perfume to pride?" "But men, high-minded men, Who knew their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain." These at that day constituted the State, its shield, its strength, its soul; but are now to be set aside, and "highraised battlements and labored mounds," filled with standing armies, are to be substituted instead. Mr. Chairman, this policy cannot stand, it cannot endure the light of investigation, nor will it bear the test of the scrutiny of the American people. They, sir, when proper lights and correct information are afforded them, will decide all matters submitted to them correctly; con. demning nothing "that is right, and submitting to nothing that is wrong." Sir, I would to Heaven this much could, in justice, be said of our public functionaries generally. They get into power, and into the enjoyment of the spoils of office, and seem to forget the welfare of the country, and act as if the Government was created alone for their special benefit, having apparently no idea that it was designed for the protection and promotion of the happiness of the great American family. But, sir, it seems to be a melancholy fact, and he was sorry to be constrained to admit it, that the political horizon appear. ed to grow darker and darker as our republic advanced in age; that disinterested love of country which charac. terized our fathers of the Revolution had taken leave of the bosoms of many of our public men, and selfishness and corruption, and all the heinous devices of party, in their most hideous shapes and worst forms, had supplanted patriotism and public virtue. He regretted that he felt authorized to make these declarations, but he feared there was too much truth in them for the safety of the country; this is more or less verified and manifested by every day's movements of the ruling party power in this Congress. Party movements, for the advancement of party interests and party aggrandizement, are notoriously and obviously the order of the day; and without entire obedience and submission to prescribed rules of action, proscription and dismissal from all participation in the anticipated spoils, is the threatened consequence. Sir, the good of the country is, now-a-days, not even a secondary consideration. He said these were signs portending danger, and if the American people heed them, they will spurn the pretensions of any party who seek their confidence, that thus wantonly and selfishly invades their liberties. Again, sir, it is proposed, by the year 1850, to have our naval defences (which are by far the best defence) to amount to one hundred and fifteen ships of war; which is estimated at an annual expense of seven millions of dollars, and by the appointed time will amount to one hundred and five millions. It is not designed, sir, to put all these vessels into immediate service, but to procure the building materials, to fit and prepare them in such manner, that upon an emergency our naval strength can be increased to one hundred and fifteen new ships of war. Then, by the estimates, it will require about three millions more to arm them for service. This Congress has already passed a bill appropriating six millions of dollars for this service, which, added to the annual appropriation of five hundred thousand dollars, approaches very near the Secretary's requirement of seven millions for the increase of the navy. These estimates, he said, he made more particularly for his constituents, to give them some idea of the costs of the public defences, which are now sufficiently costly, but are attempted by the party dominant in this Congress to be swelled ten or twenty fold, for no other purpose but that of exhausting the Treasury of its surplus, to prevent a distribution of it among the States. What, said Mr. C., can be more plain that the party will waste this large surplus upon objects worse than useless, than a recurrence to their various and almost innumerable schemes and projects of appropriation? and when they tell you, in so many words, they would prefer that the money should be sunk in the Potomac, than distributed among the States-among the people to whom it belongs? Nay, when this House is told by the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, [Mr. CAMBRELENG,] that he would rather see the nation involved in war, than that distribution should be made of this surplus. Sir, this is alarming: when American life and blood are placed in the scales to weigh against money, and when all the calamities of disastrous war, drenching the earth with the best blood of our citizens, are preferable to the parting with money, he must say such sentiments were not indicative of the sympathy, brotherly love, and patriotism, that should characterize every American citizen and statesman. Whenever the lives of our countrymen have a price fixed upon them in money, and that too in the national councils, and by the legal guardians of our lives, liberty, and property, it at once shows that avarice and her long train of wicked associates have become conquerors of the better virtues; and nothing but evil can come of it. Sir, it is also said that distribution will corrupt the people; to which he would remark, that if corruption is the necessary consequence upon the possession of the surplus, does the party feel disposed to make a monopoly of all the corruption? He said he would submit to the committee, taking for a moment the premises as correct and [H. OF R. tenable, whether thus corrupting the fountain of power, the sources of a healthy action to the body politic, must not in the end prove fatal to the whole? But, he said, he denied the premises, and must say the safety of the country alone depended upon the people; they have the integrity, and the only antidote to this malignant distem. per, and they only can be relied on for a perfect cure. Mr. C. said he was astonished to hear such sentiments proclaimed upon this floor or elsewhere, that the people could not be trusted with their own money, for fear they would be corrupted. Sir, if this position be true, the Northern and Eastern States must, by this time, be awfully corrupt, for they have received the benefit of almost all the disbursements made by the Government from its commencement up to the present time. And if corruption be the consequence of distribution of the public money, those States inevitably are now past recovery and quite prepared for dissolution. No rule is a good one unless it will work both ways. These States have had almost all the money expended among them. selves, and can readily judge of its corrupting influences; and if they consider themselves to be untainted, and un. corrupted, they should not be so fearful now of injury to the Western States, by a process that has proved harmless to them. But if they are satisfied that the public money that it has been their fate to enjoy has had that effect upon them, why, they are well prepared to deliver moral lectures. But, sir, these are insults; they are slanders upon the integrity and patriotism of the American people. And I am the more surprised to hear them made by a party now seeking power, and asking these people, whom they say are so corruptible, to elevate them to the high places of the Government, to feed upon the identical money they say will corrupt the people if divided amongst them. Mr. C. said he repudiated the charge of corruption, when made against the people; they are honest, and can have no motive to be otherwise. But, sir, when the charge is made against those who subsist alone upon the patronage of the Government and party spoils, who are daily in the use of intrigues for purposes of self-aggrandizement and party promotion, he admitted the charge more readily applied. Mr. C. said he would again repeat, that he would willingly and freely vote the most liberal appropriations for every constitutional and proper object connected with the defences of the country; but schemes that have only for their object the exhaustion of the public Treasury, by the most profligate and wasteful expenditures, upon works that can effect no good, but great injury, and for the express purpose of preventing a distribution among the States for laudable and highly necessary improvements and purposes of education, within their respective limits, by the State authorities, are just such projects as cannot but meet with his entire disapprobation. The proper defences were not local, stationary, and immoveably fixed fortifications, created at an enormous expense, and only capable of defending so much of the surroundng country as may fall under the cover of their guns, except at such places as before mentioned, and such other points as would command important avenues of communication, and insure security to an extended surrounding country. The occupation of places coming within this general principle, are the only places that should be guarded by this sort of defences. At such points the Government have already completed or have under construction this description of fortifications, and only require some additional appropriations adequate to their completion in the entire. But, sir, pursue the dictation of the Van Buren party, and the consequence will be not only an exhaustion of the large surplus now on hand, but the creation of future liabilities of three or four hundred millions of dollars, to be collected in some shape or other of the people, either by increased duties of the tariff, or by a direct taxation upon them; and then no additional security to the country will have been effected. Sir, the true defence of the nation is in the bosoms of the brave and chivalrous yeomanry-appeal to their patriotism, and you are never deceived in redress of national insults and grievances-not in your forts and stationary fortifications. The leader of the same party in the Senate, [Mr. BENTON,] as remarked before, proposed to apply the whole surplus to the erection of this sort of defences; he asked, when could the Government, employing the whole operative and mechanical resources of the country in an economical and prudential manner, expend this amount? Could it be done in less than ten or fifteen years? If not, why appropriate it all now? If the system is obliged to be carried out, why not be contented with appropriations commensurate with the power or ability of the Government economically to expend? Sir, no good reason could be seen by him for the adoption of such a policy. But, sir, go into it, and make these highly extravagant appropriations, and the consequence will as certainly be, as that you do it, that bankruptcy and defalcations will happen with nineteen twentieths of your public officers charged with the expenditure of this sum, and to whom you are obliged to confide this trust. Every day's experience proves to us all that a superabundance of money at the command of any of us naturally begets waste, and useless and pernicious extravagance; and the same rule that rightfully applies to us as individuals, will apply with increased force to our public officers generally intrusted with the public funds. The accounts of the numerous defaulters in your several departments verifies this melancholy truth. These woful manifestations of extravagance, by the dominant party, proved satisfactorily to his mind that there was much more in contemplation than that of "public defences," that this patriotic name was assumed for effect, as was lately done by the present aspirants to office, in the conversion of "caucus" for that of "national convention," for the purpose of gulling the people; knowing well that the term "caucus" was a most odious name to the Americans. But, sir, when you come to analyze the late unauthorized Baltimore convention, at which Mr. Van Buren was nominated for the presidency, you will find the name was alone changed; and that it was really a caucus, composed of individuals chosen by a few irresponsible office-holders, the great body of the people not having been consulted upon the subject. The consequence of this caucus system, if permitted by the people now to be riveted upon them, is, that they have for the last time exercised the free prerogative of choosing their public officers; they will be selected for and placed over them, without having their choice or wishes consulted; and thus will end the important privilege now enjoyed by the great mass of the people; the many will be ruled by the few interested office-holders as with "rods of iron." The interests of the party may require the adoption of this unusual and most hateful waste of the public money, to give them the command of larger sums, nominally by sanction of law, to be used for electioneering purposes, but the better interests of the country forbid it. Mr. C. said, such juggling and political hypocrisy, intended to mislead the public mind, should be met with the abhorrence and contempt which all such conduct deserved at the hands of an honest representative of an independent and free people. He said he would like to see the gentlemen who were opposed to the distribution of the nett proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the States, for internal improvement and education, come out fairly and boldly, and oppose it upon principle; show the demerits of the policy, and not shelter themselves behind "the public defences," expecting to gull and deceive the people by exciting their patriotism under false pretences. Sir, the defence re [MAY 24, 1836. quired by this country consists in an efficient navy, that Mr. C. said, the bill which proposes to divide the ginia ceded to the United States by far a greater quanHe said it would be recollected that the State of Vircomprised the large and extensive tract of country, then tity of land than did either of the other States, which called the Northwestern Territory, and is now the States of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin Territory. This cession was made in 1784, before the adoption of the federal constitution. After making certain reservations, and stipulating for the payment of the national debt, it is provided, in the face of the act of cession, that "all the lands within the territories so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for, or appropriated to, any of the before-mentioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American army, shall be considered as a common fund, for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become, or shall become, members of the confederation, or federal alliance of the said States, Virginia included, according to their usual respective proportions of the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and no other purpose or use whatever." The cession was made during the operation of the articles of confederation, and he said he would ask if the States, when they came to adopt the federal constitution, did reject, or even make any objections whatever, to the terms of contract made with Virginia? Or were they not agreed to, and their obligatory effect and character acknowledged? Let us refer, Mr. Chairman, for a moment, to the constitution, and see the provisions in relation to the public lands, and all contracts and engagements made by the confederated States under the articles of confederation. In the sixth article of the constitution will be found this express provision, that "all debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under the constitution as under the confederation." He said here was a recognition and a positive pledge and assurance that "all contracts and engage ments" made under and during the supremacy of the articles of confederation should be binding in their effect, and be complied with. Now, if these acts of cession be "contracts or certain engagements," then there is a constitutional provision which no man should dare to violate, and is unalterable. Was not this a contract, a bargain, between the State of Virginia, then sovereign and owner of this valuable extent of country, in her individual capacity, by which the title passed from her to the United States, entered into in due and solemn form? And by which the United States engaged to appropriate so much as should be found necessary to the extinguish ment of the national debt, and that the residue should be a common fund, for the use and benefit of all the States that then were or should become members of the confederation? Most certainly: and, sir, the same stipulations and provisions are incorporated in all the acts of cession, made by the other States, of land to the General Government; and the same rule that would apply to the cession of Virginia, should and will apply with equal force to the cessions of the other States. He said he looked upon the United States in no other light than acting in the capacity of trustee for the sovereign States, in relation to the proceeds of the public lands, since the extinguishment of the public debt; and that she is bound, in the faithful execution of that trust, to distribute the money arising from the sales of those lands among the States upon some equitable principle, and no basis appeared to him more so than that of representation. And now, the great and grand object for which these cessions were made having been accomplished-the national debt extinguished-the States, by virtue of express and unequivocal stipulations, have the right to claim, and do claim, the residue of money that may arise from the sales of the public lands, to be distributed amongst them, according to the terms of the acts of cession. Sir, in the fourth article of the constitution, there is found the following provision: "The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules [H. OF R. and regulations respecting, the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State." Sir, what territory did belong to the United States? How did she acquire her title to that territory? Was it not by a full and complete ratification, on her part, of those acts of cession by which, and by which alone, she acquired the right to one inch of territory? Can the United States, in justice and common honesty, recognise that portion of the acts of cession which is for her own benefit, and nullify that portion which was intended to secure the reserved interest of the States ceding the territory? By this article, it will be clearly seen that full power is vested in Congress to make all needful reguÏations respecting the public lands, by which is meant Congress shall regulate by law the mode and manner of surveys, sales, perfect titles, fix the prices, and make all necessary arrangements for their conversion into money; and; when converted, the acts of cession point out the uses to which the proceeds shall be applied; and the first provision is that they go to the extinguishment of the public debt, and the balance shall be a common fund, for the use and benefit of all the States, including the State ceding. The latter clause of this article unequivocally provides that "nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or any particular State." What claims? Surely her claims upon the ceded territory. And he said he would ask, if the whole of this fund was intended to be used by the United States, as some contend, why insert this provision in the fundamental law of the land, making so manifest a distinction between the claims of the United States and those of the States? If the United States was designed to have all, why say the claim of no particular State should be prejudiced, when speaking alone of the public lands in the constitution? Sir, the intention of the contracting parties is satisfactorily explained by the provisions of this article. The Virginia act of cession having said that the public debt should be first paid-that the residue should constitute a fund for the use and benefit of all the States, conclusively proves that so much of the ceded territory as should be found necessary for the extinguishment of the national debt was absolutely vested in the United States, to which the individual States could affix no claim whatever, or in any wise interfere with. It was a deed in fee. But should the public debt not consume the whole ceded territory, then, and in that case, that balance was to constitute the fund for the benefit of all the States, which the General Government, by her constitution, was forbidden to interfere with or prejudice; she in this respect could only be privileged to execute the trust confided to her, for the benefit of all the States. And she is certainly bound by every honorable and legal principle, in the execution of the trust, to make distribution among the States of all the proceeds of the public lands now in the Treasury, or that may hereafter come into her hands from that source. Mr. C. said, he would further ask if the United States had acted faithful to the trust in granting to many of the States large quantities of the ceded territory for internal improvements, making roads and canals, opening rivers and creeks, and, upon some occasions, large grants for political effect, to secure votes in presidential contests? Is this acting honestly, and in conformity with the trust she undertook? Was it contemplated that these lands, set apart for the use and benefit of all the States, in due proportion, should be given to a few of them, to the preju dice and exclusion of the rest? Was it intended that any portion of them should be voted away, with a view to secure the vote of a State, or States, in a presidential election? Sir, was it ever intended that they should be used for purposes of bribery and corruption? Or were they H. OF R.] Fortification Bill. really designed for the benefit of the States, for the noble purposes of improving the country, in the construction of roads and canals, opening watercourses, and avenues to market, for the more cheap transportation of the agricultural and manufactured products, and educa tion to all classes of society, from the most affluent to the most humble child in the country? Most certainly the latter looks the most probable. But more of this here. after. Mr. C. said there could be adduced in support of the distribution of the surpluses among the States--not only that which has arisen from the sales of the public lands, but the revenue arising from all sources whatever, assuming the broadest ground--the opinions of many of our most distinguished and enlightened statesmen, whose fidelity to the principles of the constitution has never been doubted, and whose patriotism and love of country cannot be questioned. Sir, the venerable and democratic Jefferson, whilst President, in his message as early as 1806, recommended the distribution of a portion of the then revenue among the States, for internal improvements and education; and his recommendation and convictions of the utility and importance of the policy are expressed so forcibly, that I hope the Clerk will be permitted to read that portion relative to this subject. Mr. Jefferson, after speaking of the tariff duties, the surpluses in the Treasury, and likely to be, from time to time, also as to the payment of the public debt, as it might fall due, says (Here the Clerk read as follows:) "The question, therefore, now comes forward, to what other objects shall these surpluses be appropriated, and the whole surplus of impost, after the entire discharge of the public debt, and during those intervals when purposes of war shall not call for them? Shall we suppress the imposts, and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufacturers? On a few articles of more gen. eral and necessary use the suppression, in due season, will doubtless be right; but the great mass of the articles on which impost is paid are foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who are rich enough to afford themselves in the use of them. Their patriotism would certainly prefer its continuance, and application to the purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of the federal powers. By these operations, new channels of communication will be opened between the States, the lines of separation will disappear, their interests will be identified, and their union cemented by new and indissoluble ties." This recommendation, said Mr. C., occurred at a much more inauspicious time for distribution than the present, and assumes a much broader ground than the present bill. The bill upon the table only contemplates the distribution of such of the surplus as is derived from the public lands. Mr. Jefferson advised the distribution of all sorts of revenue, from lands, imports, and duties of every kind, and that, too, at a period when the Government was groaning under the burdens of heavy responsibilities, and under circumstances when not even the acts of cession would seem to have warranted a distribution, because the national debt was not then paid, and a division amongst the States was not contemplated or expected until after that debt was discharged. Mr. C. said, that if it was constitutional and expedient to divide amongst the States the moneys collected from customs and imports, (at a time when heavy debts were hanging over the country,) for purposes of education and internal improvement, and "such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of federal powers," in the different States, as proposed by Mr. Jefferson, surely [MAY 24, 1836. it cannot be urged that Congress has no power now to distribute the sales of the public lands, seeing that the Government debt is fully discharged, and seeing that something of this sort was intended by the terms of the acts of cession, recognised and confirmed by constitutional provisions. Sir, said Mr. C., this great and patriotic man did not stop short with this single recommendation of this important policy. In his message of 1808 he renews the recommendation, which, he said, he would ask the Clerk to read. The Clerk read as follows: "The probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue, beyond what can be applied to the payment of the public debt, whenever the freedom and safety of our commerce shall be restored, merits the consideration of Congress. Shall the revenue be reduced? Or shall it not rather be appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union, under the powers which Congress may already possess, or such amendment of the constitution as may be approved by the States? While uncertain of the course of things, the time may be advan ageously employed in obtaining the powers necessary for a system of improvement, should that be thought best." And Mr. C. said he would remind the committee that Mr. Jefferson expresses no doubt of the power of Congress to distribute the public fund amongst the States. he said he must remark, that in these recommendations that great and patriotic man could have had nothing in view but the good of his country and the happiness of the people. This was his last message to Congresshis last official act as President. He had devoted a long and useful life in the service of his country, and in the cause of liberty; his political career was about to termi nate; he had enjoyed the highest offices within the gift of a grateful people; he had nothing further to ask or expect; he desired no further honors; the cup of his glory was filled. He said he had no ambitious designs, no selfish motives, to influence him or misdirect his judg ment; the glory and the prosperity of his country were his highest ambition; and under the influence of these sentiments and feelings he makes this recommendation in his message, among the last of his official acts. Again, said Mr. C., a report of a very intelligent com. mittee (for so he judged them to be from the ability evinced in the report) will be found in the documents of 1826, where a committee was appointed to investigate the subject of distribution of a portion of the surplus revenue among the States. The views taken by that committee are so forcible and conclusive, that I beg leave to have a portion of the report read. The Clerk read as follows: "The committee, from as careful an examination of the subject as a due attention to their other duties would permit them to make, have come to the conclusion that great advantages would result to the United States from an annual distribution among them, by some equitable ratio, of a portion of our national revenue, for the pur. poses of education and internal improvement, or for such other purposes as the State Governments may respectively deem most to their advantage. "Whether the United States shall divide the whole of their revenues, beyond what are required for the usual expenditures of the Government, for domestic and for eign, civil, military, and naval, and to the reduction of our public debt, until the whole of it shall be extin guished; or whether they shall apply a portion of the revenues, as proposed, for the most important purposes, and thereby cause a more gradual reduction of the public debt, resolves itself into a question of expediency. "It remains for Congress to determine which of these courses will most effectually promote the present, as |