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The whole art of Government consists in the art of being honest. Jefferson-
VOL. 2.
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1841.
No 15.
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ADDRESS
To tlie People of Pennsylvania.
The undersigned, your Senators and Repre-
sentatives, being about to separate after the dis-
charge ol arduous amies, aeem it to oe tneir auty
to present a view of the public affairs of the
Commonwealth with reference to their past and
present administration, and the hopes which
every good citizen has a right to entertain of a
change for the future. During the session of
the Legislature which has just terminated, they
have labored with a resolute purpose of meeting
the expectations of the people and the respon
sibilities imposed upon them by a state of things
unparalelled in the history of our country. As
the expression of the wants of the people reach
ed them, as petitions for relief in a season of
unequalled distress were presented to them they
sought to meet these wishes, and by one meas
ure of relief after another, such as have passed
both Houses, to do for the people what the peo
ple had a right to demand. !
Unhappily for those who sought relief, and i
for the Legislature who desired to afford it, the
Executive authority has been conferred upon !
an individual, who exercising it with no view
but for the maintenance of his own official in
fluence, has never ventured to indicate his meas
ure of either relief or reform, or been willing to
unite with us in ours. There is a course of of
ficial duty which the Constitution contemplates
on the part of the Executive alike removed from
improper interference and mysterious reserve,
-which, had it been pursued by the present Ex
ecutive, would have abridged our session, sim
plified our labors and enabled us to return home
with the happy assurance that the Government,
by the concurrent action of its various depart
ments, had relieved the distress and perplexity
of its constituency- That course is the same
which the patriot Harrison intended to pursue,
to which his successor is pledged, and the re
verse of the dark and sinuous line of action in
which the present Governor of Pennsylvania
seems to delight, it is not to dictate to the
Legislature, who, coming more recently from
the people best know their wants, but in the
letter of the Constitution it is "from time to time
to give to the General Assembly information of
the state of the Commonwealth, and recommend
to their consideration such measures as he shall
deem expedient; and in its spirit having made
these recommendations, to acquiesce in the ac
tion of the immediate Representatives of the
people unless it violates either the Constitution
or some essential principle of good Government.
The middle course between obtrusire inter
ference and stubborn reserve, the present Ex
ecutive of Pennsylvania seems unable to dis
cern, and the Legislature has been compelled
with no other consolation than the honest effort
to do duty always affords, to wait for weeks and
months unable to obtain a glimpse of Executive
opinions except when they were made manifest
in Vetoes frequently couched in disrespectful
J'anguage, or as ihcy could be gathered from
l; u intimations of accredited partizans in and
out of the Legislature. under such embarass
;nen t has he Legislature acted, and to such
-embr -rrassment has the Executive been con
sent to leave us to act. We wish a suffering
people to understand this and to listen to the
proof.
The s ession of the Legislature commenced
r, fiiA fi .st Tuesday of January 1841. The
sstate of things throughoat the Commonwealth ;
was then m'ost peculiar. The Banks were then
in a geueraf aJate of t,i:peninn. The ctirren -
cy consisted jnainly of th uoie of tho Banks
of other Sia: or of thu t3aiik of rb U. States,
and for the sealetnont of ihe .smait accuunis
which form so large a proportion of the daily
business of the citizens, nothing was accessible
but the illegal and disorvodited small riote cur-1
renev from abroad, a premised .resumplion of
specie payments was at stand and every good
citizen looked forward with the hope if not the
expectation that it might be permanent and the
community .might not soon again be called to
wiuiess a seen of universal discredit. -There
were many who believad that no permanent
resumption could be effected without the bene
tlicial interposition of the General Government,
and on that interposition directed by the wis
dom and patriotism of a President chosen by
Pennsylvania itself, we confidently relied. But
the Governor was not one of these. He relied
oh the efficacy of slate legislation directed by
mere party impulses; he shared in none of our
expectations of action at Washington; he never
expressed and probably never felt any share of
tho confidence which the reason and good feel
ing of the people reposed in the wisdom and
patriotism of the lamented Harrison. Now we
ask you to mark the results. On tho 15th of
January 1841, the Banks resumed specie pay
ments on the first of February the Governor
negociated a loan of nearly S800,000 with the
Banks and mainly with the Bank of the United
States on the 4th of February the Banks again
suspended and in a state of almost hopeless
prostration have they remained ever since.
On the 5th day of February the intelligence
of the calamity reached the seat of Government
through private channels. The Legislature af
ter pausing to give the Executive an opportu
nity of presenting his views at this crisis, pro
ceeded without further delay to do its duty and
legislate for the crying necessities of the peo
ple, lo enable the Executive to suggest his
remedy for the evils then impending &was due
alike l0 him and t0 ourseivesvve wa;lfca but"
we waited in vain. The executive functions
were paralytic. No word fell from the lips
of the Governor, and so far as we or the public
are apprised of his views as voluntarily express
ed, content with the present state of things, ir
redeemable currency, hopelessly irredeemable
for the suffering people, he wrapped himself in
mysterious silence and made no effort, gave no
sign that promised relief.
Not so your Representatives unaided, un-
counselled by the Executive, they assumed
tho resposibility and measures of relief were
originated, matured and enacted. Mixed how
ever with the prayer for relief, there was an
emphatic demand for reform and it was with a
steady view to the coincident ministration of
relief and reform that our measures were pre
pared. It was not long before a measure of Bank re
form and popular relief was enacted by both
Houses. It was rigid in its enactments to the
Banks. It was generous andbeneficent for
the people. It limited the powers of Bank of
ficers and directors it checked inordinate bank
ing operations. It was not the extravagant
privilege of disregarding law. It was the priv
ilege which necessity exacted and it was noth
ing more. But with that privilege were con
nected vital measures of reform which the Peo
ple had long demanded. So far as the Legis
lature was concerned their duty was promptly
and faithfully performed.
Nor was it till the Legislature had thus acted
that any Executive intimation was made. It
came as usual in the form of a peremptory re
fusal to acquiesce in the views of the Repre
sentatives of the People, and it left the Legis
lature to mature its measures again, and guess
ing at the varying opinions of the Executive to
try to enact laws which might conform to them
and at the same lime be consonant with public
policy and Constitutional requisition.
With what an axious desire to regulate our
course by wise and disinterested views to do
what a peculiar exigency required and no more
to conciliate our political adversaries and for
once to unite with them or persuade them to
unite with us in a common effort to relieve the
suffering community, those who were immedi
'ate spectators of the scene best can tell. One
of the undersigned representing tho feelings of
us all, on the floor of the Senate expressly ten
dered to the friends of the Executive the as
surance of an earnest desire to bury mere par
ty feeling, and co-operate cordially in meas
ures at which no party evil could be uttered.
But it was in vain. The only answer was de
rision at the offer, and a scornful denial of the
existence of all distress among our constituents.
Not discouraged by the failuro of all theso
efforts, tho undersigned again matured a meas
ure of relief designed to effect the great object
in the attainment of which we believe the hopes
of our suffering constituents were involved.
Would our constituents have seen what we
have seen, and known what we havo known,
they would still more highly appreciate our
reasonable anxiety to give relief. Not only
was the community generally agonized, but on
certain classes the pressure of the times fell
with peculiar severity. The contracts on the
j unfinished lines of the public works were made
1 on the faith of the Commonwealth. Solemnly
.and sacredly pledged by agents who, however
; faithless lo their trusts were still the agents of
i the Stale. After the adjournment of the last
j legislature the Canal Commissioners holding
j their offices at the will of the Governor, aware
that the appropriations were expended or in-
sufficient, prosecuted the public works. Of
this action we do not fuel disposed to speak
further than to say that the executive who
would thus willingly incur debts ought to be
as willing to pay them and not to deny poor
(justice to those who suffer by his acts. The
contractors who in full confidence trusted the
Commonwealth, have come to U3 and told their
piteous tale their property sacrificed, their
toil Avasted, debts incurred, executions impend
ing, ruin staring themselves and families in the
face, the disgrace of insolvency tainting their
character, and the debtor's prison waiting to
receive them. The counties of Erie, of Craw
ford, of Beaver, of Dauphin, Huntingdon, Cen
tre, Lycoming, of Mercer, of Columbia, Nor
thumberland, Luzerne, of Bradford and Sus
quehanna, are filled with sufferers liko these.
We have listened and listed with pity to their
story of suffering and though great diversity of
opinion exists as to the policy of further ex
penditure on the unfinished lines, none of us are
insensible to the States' obligations to pay her
just debts. It is the Executive alone, who
without authority of law, persists in his refusal
to pay them.
io give relief and do justice to tnose crsdi
tors the Legislature has labored long and anx
iously and in the hope of giving this relief, was
the measure to which they have referred in a
great measure matured.
The debts due for repairs alone, amount to
two hundred and sixty eight thousand dollars,
due generally to poor men who have contribu
ted their labor to keep the public works in such
condition that they may render revenue to tho
Commonwealth. Cases of individual hardship
have been brought to our view, at which any
heart would sicken, except the callous hearts
of those who elevated above the sympathies of
ordinary humanity can use the benefit of labor,
and yet deny to it its just reward. It was to
pay those debts too that the undersigned have
anxiously labored.
To other public creditors, to those by whose
pecuniary contributions the Internal Improve
ment system has been constructed, there was
due at least an effort on the part of the State
to discharge its obligations. Relying too con
fidently on the professions of the Executive,
that by no act of his should the State credit be
impaired or the public faith violated, we as
sumed the hazardous responsibility of exacting
trom the people new contributions to the com
mon cause. The ruinous and disgraceful sys
tem of borrowing to pay interest, the under
signed thought and still think ought to be ar
rested. They have endeavored to do so. and
if they have failed the responsibility is not
theirs. The state credit must and ought at all
hazards and at any cost to be sustained. The
State is the aggregate of every man's promise,
and if dishonor rest on tho individual who vio
lates his word, far deeper and fouler is that
dishonor which will pursue the community
which wantonly and causelessly disregards its
obligations and taking contributions from the
hand OJ generori3 confidence, now entrenches
itself within its constitutional immunity and re
fuses to provide for the payment of its unques
tioned debts. There is but one mode of sus
taining credit, and to that the Legislature re
sorted. Its failure is not attributable to us.
The measure matured finally passed the Le
gislature on the 30th of April and on the first
of May it was returned to us with the Execu
tive objections. To that measure and to those
objections we ask your best attention. They
are in all respects worthy of it. It was a
measure which will at once relieve the pres
sure of immediate liability on tho Common
wealth, pay its domestic creditors, afford relief
to the people by a moderate and well regulated
amount of small note currency, save a large
amount of interest on the public debt, and give
to the banks such relief as for the sake of tho
community it was proper to afford to them
but it did more, and to this we invite especial
attention. It provided for a reduction of the
expenses of the government it expressly pro
hibited the entanglement of the Commonwealth
in new contracts, the burthen of which would
ultimately fall on the people themselves; and
above all it specially appropriated the money
to be raised to certain objects and made it ah
offence against the law, for its officers to the
appropriations. There was to be no transfer
of money from this fund to that fund no draw
ing from one pocket lo pay another no con
cealing deficiencies or defalcations by ingen
ious transfers no puzzling the public mind by
intricate account, but every cent of revenue
raised had its appropriate object indicated, and
neither the Executive nor his agents, could
without detection misapply it. This constitu
tional 'coercion' we thought we had a right to
apply, and yet it is of this restraint which tho
constitution itself enjoins, and which we were
bound to prescribe that the Executive complains
as a dangerous encroachment on his preroga
tive. From this complaint wo again anneal to
the popular judgment to sanction a measure '
wnicn would deserve approval, ii it contained no
oilier provision than tins. W e trust that no Le
gislature will over be dissuaded or deterred from
imposing this wholesome restraint on the power
of tho Executive on the treasury.
So far as (he Relief Bill affected the bank
ing institutions of the State, to the groat sur
prise of the undersigned, they found the views
of the Governor on one point had suddenly-become
consonant with theirs. At the beginning
of the last session he denounced small notes as
an evil which ivaa on every account to be
avoided, and strenuously urged the prohibition
of notes under ten dollars. At that time the
people were suffering for the want of this cur
rency but the Executive prejudices were obdu
rate. At tho beginning of this session his
views were unchanged. So late as the 8th of
April, when he vetoed the Reform Bank Bill
he still professed hostility to small notes even
to a limited amount, and made this one of his
objections to that measure of salutary regula
tion. By his recent veto it however appears
that within a short time the Executive on this
subject has changed his ground, and that in
fluenced by considerations which he has not
indicated and in relation to which in charity we
will not pretend to speculate, he too is in favor
of this mode of relief to the community. "We
apprehend that the people will appreciate the
sincerity of his past professions and feel due
gratitude for his late acquiescence in their
wishes.
Not discouraged yet but anxious to preserve
the public credit at all hazards, in order to save
the Executive from the stain which must rest
on him, and on him alone, if by the course he
has thought fit to pursue the Legislature were
forced to adjourn without definite action, still
perplexed by the obscure intimations of his will,
and sympathising deeply with the suffering peo
ple, the undersigned determined to act on their
own responsibility, and accordingly passed the
measure of relief by a constitutional majority.
If public gratitude be due, no share of it is due
to the -Executive.
It is a measure of compromise to which we
ask the cordial and generous consideration of
the people. It is a measure of necessity amidst
surrounding difficulties. It is a measure which
gives relief and deserves the popular approval.
Such has been our general course of action
on the great measure of relief and reform and
to that action thus thwarted and perplexed, we
confidently invite your candid and generous
consideration. Could tho Governor have been
induced to depart from his oracular reserve, and
appealing to the impartial judgment of the peo
ple, a reliance which never fails, frankly have
indicated his views or expressed his willing
ness to take counsel, free and honest counsel,
with the Legislature on such subjects, much
time and expense might have been spared, and
long ago might we have returned to those who
sent us hither and told them that counsels of
patriotism had prevailed, popular necessities
been relieved, and wholesome reform enforced.
If the result had been different, the responsi
bility would not be with us. If we had left
the people without relief, we shoufi? have left
them in the hands of the Executive.
But this engrossing subject is not the only
one for which legislation was needed. Nor
is it the only one in which the wishes of the
people have been frustrated by the unstable and
perverse will of the Executive.
At least ten Executive vetoes disfigure the
Journals of this session, and in but one of them
has the Governor pretended to indicate other
than considerations of local expediency of which
the Representatives of the people believed they
were the best judges. And in the single ex
ception, strange as it .may seem to our fellow
citizens, so few of whom are ignorant of the
provisions of the Constitution under which we
live, ihe Governor founded his objections on a
clause in an obsolete Constitution which more
than two years ago was abrogated by a vote of
the people. Nor had the Executive the man
liness either to admit the error, if error it was,
or assign the true cause of the misrepresenta
tion until it had been discovered and rebuked
by the vigilant action of the Representatives of
the people. For proof of this assertion, now
mado with regret but from a sense of justice,
the undersigned refer to the Journals, where it
will be seen that in a Message on the 10th of
February last, the Governor quoted as in force
tho old Constitution as justifying his negative
to an important bill, and that on tho 12th, not
however, until after the mis-quotation had been
detected in (he House of Representatives, he
acknowledged it in a supplemental communica
tion arid attributed it to a mistake in transcrib
ing. No one can read the passage with tho
context, and believe that it was an accidental
error. We ask the people to examine the Jour
nals and then judge for themselves.
This is tho solitary instance in which the
Governor has frustrated our Legislation on ac
count even of pretended constitutional scru
ples. A few instances of his abuse of the
power tho constitution has conferred on him
are fresh in our recollection. They will show
to the people how the public time has been
wasted by the constant and frlvilous Executive
interference. j
It become necessary to sunnlv the omission !
of a Prothonotary in Huntingdon county to no
.V. "
tice the record of a deed barring an entailed
estate. A petition was prosented, referred and
exarhinod, and a bill to the effect required was
passed into a law. No remonstrance was pre
sented though ample time was afforded. No
public policy was affected. Tho bill passed in
connexion with an important public bill extend
ing to all Religious societies, without distinc
tion, the right to hold lands for churches and
burial grounds. Notwithstanding the public
exigency, and for no adequate reason, the Ex
ecutive returned the measure witbhis unex-
plained objections. The stain of religious in-
tolerance was left on onr Statute Book, and (hi
the public lime wasted by the necessity of re
enacting that which was confessedly unexcep
tionable. If the people qf Lancaster county desire to
abolish an useless Court prostituted to party
uses, the Executive differing in opinion, at
gesting' no constitutional difficulty, vetoes the
bill but suggests the reference of the question
to the votes of a portion of the people of th
coimiv.
If according to his suggestion, the que.sifflfn
is referred to the decision of all who contribute
to the support of the Court have a right io4di
cide.on its continuance, ihe obduracy of Exec
utive will is not softened, and he vetoes the' hill
again, because he t7iinks on the question differ
ently from the Representatives whom the pda"
ple of the very county has elected.
But worse than all the Governor will not
permit the Legislature to regulate the discipline
of a county prison a bill providing for a change
in the mode of appointment of Inspectors, War
dens, and Doorkeepers of a prison in Chosjer
county was passed by both Houses, and has
been vetoed by the Governor for no other pre
text than that which differing views of expedi
ency afforded. Tho people must judge of this
abuse of power.
If this be tolerated if on all questions of lo
cal interest when the people ha7e spoken first
in the choice of representatives, then through
those representatives, and the Legislature has
exercised its sound and honest discretion', the
Executive is to interfere and thus defy the pop
ular will, far better would it be io dispense with
the complicated system of popular representa
tion, its expense and its delays, and give lo the
government that unity of design which appears
in the view of the Executive would seem to be
its perfection.
At any other period than this, the undersign
ed are free to admit they believe a different
course would have been pursued by the Gover
nor. A wanton" abuse of power without object,
they are disposed to attribute to no public func
tionary. But on the eve of an election, when,
the incumbent of the Executive office is a can
didate for re-election, the- infirmity of human
nature, always developed in the tenacious nes of
office, is only overcome by a spirit ol imlf pe:i
dence, euch as even by his friends is not claim
ed for the present Executive. To retain the
possession of patronage and power, to cultivate
factions or party influences however minute
whether among the tip-staves of a Mayor's Cwirt,
or the turnkeys of a County goal, to secure all
doubtful friends to dispense with tho execu
tion of the laws to pardon admitted libellers
before trial, and give a plenary indulgence, to
them to violate all law hereafter, are some of
the fruits of the privilege of re-election operating
on unscrupulous partisans. The undersigned
have had no reason io regard the present pos
sessors of power to be exceptions to the rule.
Sensible of this exposure to temptation and
yielding to the expression of public opinion on
this point, the undersigned at an early period of
the session procured the passage of , an amend
ment to the Constitution limiting the Executive
to a single term. If on any one point the pub
lic voice has spoken, it is on this. The promd
ise of the venerated Harrison, a promise, the
sincerity of which even political animosity did.
not question that in no event would he be a can
didate for re-election, and his opinion that such
an amendment to the Federal Constitution was
desirable, has consecrated this One Term prin
ciple in the affections ol the people of Pennsyl
vania, and each day's experience tends to ripen
that sentiment into deliberate judgement. Does
any one doubt that had the present Governor of
Pennsylvania been ineligible for a second term,
he would not have more faithfully discharged
his high duties and would have raised himself
beyond the sphere of party movement to which
ho seems to be confined? Unfavorable as is the
judgement which the undersigned have been
compelled to form of the present Executive,
ihey havo no hesitation in saying that his con
duct and policy would havo been different had
tho temptation to do wrong been withheld.
Before the 4th of March last, when the pre
sent Governor was re-nominated, the amend
ment to the Constitution had passed the Senate
where it was resisted by the friends of the Ad
ministration, and was under consideration in the
House of Representatives. It aftorwards pas
sed the House of Representatives by an over
whelming majority, but eight members voifin;
in the minority, and they all accredited friends
of the Executive.
It must nexi indirectly bo submitted to the a
- pei always the larft and surest resort, ahn W
.1.1 ...I .
thom at the next General election it must V
decided. We submit it to you as part of &t
acts. Having weighed it well, having loo!
at it in all its relations to the interests of'tfn
people which we were sent hero to guard, we
submit ta you, and to your decision now as ev
er shall we submit. The next legislature ntewt
revise this act of ours and we appeal to yoa
make this the teat hereafter.
There was one matter of great public ihuwr
to which the attention of the undersigned va 1
early called. They refer to tho condition ,