Var.. VI, No. 23.] nanma OF THE .TIUNTINGDON JOURNAL. The JOURNAL" will be published every Wednesday morning, at two dollars a year, bf paid IN ADVANCE, and if not paid with in six months, two dollars and a half. Every person who obtains five subscribers, and forwards price of subscription, shall be tarnished with a sixth copy gratuitously for one year. No subscription received for a less period than six months, nor any paper discontinued until all arrearages are paid. communications must be addressed to the Elitor, POST PAID, or they will not be attended to. Advertisemunts not exceeding one square, will be inserted three times for one dollar, and for every subsequent insertion, twenty live cents per square will be charged. If no definite orders are given as to the time an advertisement is to be continued, it will be kept in till ordered out, and charged accor dingly. AGENTS. T&* Huntingdon Journal . Daniel Teague, Orbieonia; David Blair, Vag. Shade Gam Benjamin I.,,tase, Shirleys burg; Eliel Smith. Esq. Chilcottstown; Jas. Entriten, jr. Ceiree Run; Hugh Madden, Esq, Springfield; Dr. S. S. Dewey, Bir mingham; Tames Morrow, Union Furnace; John Sigler, Warrior Mark; James Davis, Flsq. West township ; D. H. Moore, Esq, .Frankstown; Eph. Gilbreath, Esq. Holli daysburg; Henry Neff, Alexandria; Aaron Burns, Williamsburg; A. J. Stewart, Water Street; Wm. Reed, Esq. Morris township; Soloman Hamer. fifers Mill; James Dysart, Mouth Sfiruee Creek; Wm. Murray, Esq. Grawille; John Crum, Manor Hill; Jas. ze, Stewart, Sinking Valley; L. C. Kessler, Mill Creek. ADDRESS To IHs People of Pennsylvania. The undersigned, your Senators and Representatives, being about to separate after the discharge of arduous duty, deem it to be their duty to present a view of the pablic affairs cf the Commonwealth with reference to their past and present administration, and the hopes which eve ry good citizen has a right to entertain of a change for the future. During the ses sion of the Legislature which has just ter Initiated. they have labored with a reso lute purpose of meeting the expectations of the people and the responsibilities impo aed upon them by a state of things unpar. ailed in the history of our country. As the expression of the wants of the peo ple reached them, as petitions for relief in a season of unequalled distress was pre tented to there, they sought to meet these wishes, and by one measure of relief af ter another, such as have passed both Houses, to do for the people what the people had a right to ask. Unhappily for those who Nought relief, and for the Legislature who desired to af ford it, the Executive authority has been conferred upon an individual who, exer cising it with no view but for the main. tainance of his own official influence, has never ventured to indicate his measure of either relief of reform, or been willing to unite with us in ours. There is a course of official duty which the Constitution contemplates on the part of the Execu tive, alike removed from improper inter ference and mysterious reserve, which, had it been pursued by the present Execu sive, would have abridged our session, simplified our labors and enabled us to re turn home with the happy assurance that the Government, by the concurrent ac tion of its various departments, lied re lieved 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 reverse of the dark and sinuous line 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 Con stitution it is “from time to time to give to the General Assembly, information of the state of the Commonwealth, and re commend to their consideration such mea sures as he may think expedient, and in its spirit have made these recommends. tions to acquiesce in the action of the im mediate Representatives of the people, unless it violates either the Constitution ' or some essential principle of good gov ernment. This middle course between obtrusive 'interference and stubborn reserve, the present Executive of Pennsylvania seems unable to discern, and the Legislature has been compelled with no other conso lation than the honest effort to do duty al ways affords, to wit for weeks and months unabled to attain a glimpse of Executive opinions except when they were made manifest in Vetoes fro:pet:fly couched in disrespectful language, or as they could be gathered from the intimations of ac asredited partizans I- and nut of the Leg. Weems% "Mar rich embarrassment has • -•'.:, 1 1-1E JO -.:- lINAL, the Legislature acted, and to such embar rassment has the Executive been content to leave us to act. We wish a suffering people to understand this and to listen to the proof. _ _ _ The session of the Legislature com menced on the first Tuesday of January 1841. The state of things throughout the Commonwealth was then moat pecu liar. The banks were in a state of gener al suspension. The currency consisted mainly of the notes of the bank of the U. States, and for the settlement of the small accounts which form so large a pro portion of the daily business of the citi zens, nothing was accessible but the ille gal end discredited small note currency from abroad. A promised resumption of specie payments was at hand and every good citizen looked forward with the hope if not the expectation that it might IA permanent and that the community might' not soon again be called to witness al scene of universal discredit. There' were many who believed that no perms. nent resumption could be effected with out the beneficial interposition of the ' General Government, and on that inter position directed by the wisdom and pa triotism of a President chosen by Penn sylvania itself we confidently relied. But the Governor was not one of these. He relied on the efficacy of state Legis lation directed by ine.e party impulse, he shared in none of our expectations of ac• tion at Washington, he never expressed and probably never felt any share of the confidence which the reason and good fee ling of the people reposed in the wisdom and patriotism of the lamented Harrison. Now we ask you to mark the result. On the 15th of January 1841, the hanks re,. samed specie payments—on the first of February the Governor negociated a loan of nearly 800,000 dollars 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 9rostration have they remained ever since. On the sth day of February, the Intel• ligence of the calamity reached the scat of Ciovernment through private zhannels. The Legislature, alter pausing to give the Execattve an opportunity of presenting his views at this crisis, proceeded without further delay to do its duty, and legis late for tile crying necessities of the pen pie. To enable the Executive to suggest his remedy for the evils then impending, was due alike to him and ourselves. We waited but we waited in vain. The Exe cutive 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 expressed, content with the present state of things, irredeemable currency, hopelessly irredee mable for the suffering people, he wrap ped himself in mysterious silence, and made no effort, gave no sign, that prom. ised relief. Not so 3 our Ritresentatives. Unaided —uncnunselled by the Executive, they assumed the responsibility, and measures of relief were originated, matured and enacted. Mixed, however, with the pray er of relief, there was an emphatic de- mand for reform; and it was with a steady view to the coincident ministration of re lief and reform, that our measures were prepared. It was not long before a measure of bank reform and popular relief was enac ted by both Houses. It was rigid in its enactments to the banks. It was genet , ous arid beneficent to the people. It lim ited the powers of bank officers and direc tors. It clucked inordinate banking ope rations. It was not the extravagant privilege of disregarding law. It was the privilege that necessity exacted, and it was nothing more. But with that privi• lege was connected vital measures of re form, which the people had long deman ded. So far as the Legislature was con cerned, their duty was promptly and faith fully performed. Nor was it till the Legislature has thus acted, that an Executive intimation was made. It came, as usual, in the form of a peremptory refusal to acquiesce in the views of the Representatives of the peo ple, and it left the Legislature to mature its measures again, and guess at the va rying opinions of the Executive, to try to enact laws which might conform to them, and at the same time, be consonant with public policy and constitutional requisi tion. With what anxious desire to regulate our course by wise and disinterested views, to do what a peculiar exigency re quired and no more, to conciliate our po litical adversaries, and for once to unite with them, or pursuade them to unite with us, in a common effort to relieve the suf. fertng community, those who were imme diate spectators of the scene best can tell. One of the undersigned, representing the feelings of us all, sit the flour of Senate. expressly tendered to the friends of the Executive the assurance of an earnest de sire to bury mere party feeling, and co •perate eerdiall7 in meararee at whir.' no "ONE COUNTRY, ORE CONSTITUTION, ONE DESTINY." A. W. BENEDICT PUBIASHER AND PROPRIETOR. HUNTINGDON, PENNSYLVANIA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1841. party cavil could be uttered. Bnt it was ill vain. The only answer was derision at the offer, and a scornful denial of the existence of all distress among our con stituents. Not discouraged by the failure of all these efforts the undersigned again until., red a measure of reliel designed to effect the great object in the attainment of which we believe, the hopes of our suffering con. atituents were envolved. Nould our con stituents have seen what we have seen, and known what we have k,iowo, they would still more highly appreciate our reasonable anxiety to give relief. Not only was the community generally ago nized, but on certain classes, the pressure of the times fell with peculiar severity. •['he contracts on the unfinished lines of the public works were made on the faith of the Commonwealth. solemnly and sa- credly pledged by agents who, however faithless to their trusts, were still the a gents of the State: After the adjourn ment of the last Legislature, the Canal Commissioners, holding their offices at the will of the Governor, aware that the appropriations were expended, or insuf ficient to prosecute the public works. Uf this action we do not feel 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 I not to deny poor justice to those who suffer by his acts. The contractors who in full confidence, trusted the Common wealth, have come to us and told their piteous tale; their property sacrificed, their toil wasted, debts incurred, execu tions impending, ruin staring themselves and families in the face, the disgrace of insolvency tainting their• character, and the debtor prison waiting to receive them. The counties of Erie. of Crawford, of Beaver, of Dauphin, Huntingdon, Centre Lycoming, of Mercer, of Columbia, North umberland, Luzerne, of Bradford and Susquehanna, are filled with sufferers like these. We have listened, and listen• ed with pity to their story of sufficing, and 'hough great diversity of opinion ex• ists as to the policy of further expendi ture 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, per sista in his refusal to pay them. To give ielief, and do justice to these creditors, the Legislature has labored long and anxiously; and in the hope of giving this relief. was the measure to which they have referred in a great mess ure matured. The debts due for repairs alone. a mount to two hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars, due generally to poor men who have contributed their labour to keep the public works in such condition that they may render revenue to the Commonwealth. Cases of individual hardship have been brought to our view at which any heart would sicken, except the cold and callous hearts of these, who, elevated above the sympathies of ordina', ry humanity, can use the benefit of labour, and yet deny to it its just reward. It was to pay those debts too, that the un deratgned have anxioubly labored. To otherpublic creators, to those by whose pecuniary contributions the Inter nal Improvement system has been con structed, there was due at least an effort on the pat t of the State to discharge its nl.ligations. Relyieg too confidently on the professions of the Executive, that by no act of his should the State credit be impaired or the public faith violated, we assumed the hazardous responsibility of exacting from the people new contribu tions to the common cause. The ruinous and disgraceful system of borrowing to pay interest, the undersigned thought and still think ought to be arrested. They have endeavored to do so, and if they had failed, the responsibility would be theirs. ' The State credit must and at all hazards and at any cost be sustained. The State debt is the agregate of every man's promise, and if dishonor rest on the indi vidual who violates his word tar deeper and fouler is that dishonor which will pursue the community, which wantonly and cause lessly disregards its obligations and tak ing contributions from the hand of gener ous confidence, now entrenches itself within its constitutional immunity and re fuses to provide for the payment of its un questioned debts. There is but one mode of sustaining credit, and to that the Legis lature has resorted. The measure thus matured, finally passed the Legislature on the 30th of April, and sin the let of May it was re turned to us with the Executive objec tions. To that measure and to those ob jections we ask your best attention. They are in all respects worthy of it. ft was a measure which would at once relieve the pressure of immediate liability on the Commonwealth, pay its domestic credi tors, afford relief to the people by a mod• crate and well regulated amount of small note currency, save a large amount of in• terest on the public debt, and give to the banks seeh relief as for the sake of the community it was proper to afford to theml —but it did more, and on this we invite especial attention. It provided for a re, Suction of the expenses of the govern ment—it expressly prohibited the entan, gleinent of the Commonwealth in new contracts, the burthen of which would uk timately fall on the people themselves— and above all if specially appropriated the money to be raised to certain objects and made it an offence against the law for its officers to infringe upon the appropria tions.—There was to be no transfer of money from this fund to that fund; no drawings from one pocket to pay into an other; no concealing deficiencies or defal cations by ingenious transfers—no puz zling the public mind by intricate ac counts ; but every cent of revenue raised had its appropriate object indicated, and neither the Executive nor his agents, could without detection misapply it. This con stitutional "coertion" we thought we had a right to apply, and yet it is of this re straint which the constitution itself en joins. and which we were bound to pre scribe, that the Executive complains as a dangerous encroachment on his preroga tive. From this complaint we again ap peal to the popular judgment to sanction a measure which would deserve approval, if it contained no other provision than this. We trust that no other Legislature will ever be dissuaded or deterred from im posing this wholesome restraint on the power of the Executive on the treasury. So tar as the Relief bill affected the bankinginstitutions of the State, to the great eurprize of the undersigned, they found the views of the Governor on one point had suddenly become consonant with theirs.—At the begining of the ses sion he denounced small notes as an evil which was 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 his currency but the Executive prejudices were obdurate. At the beginning of this session his views were unchanged. So late as the Bth of April, when he vetoed the Reform Bank Bill lie still professed hostility to small notes even to a limited amount, and made this one of his objec tions to that measure of salutary regula tion,—By his recent veto it however ap pears that within a short time the Execu tive on this subject has changed his ground, and that influenced by considerations which he has nut indicated and in rela, Bun to which in chatity lie will not pre tend to speculate, he too is in favor of relief to the community,—.We appre hend that the people will appreciate the sincerity of his past professions and feel due giatitude for his acquiescence in their wishes Not discouraged yet but anxious to pre- serve 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 pur sue the Legislature were forced to ad journ without definite action, still per. plexed by obscure intimations of his wit!, s and sympathising deeply with the sutTer ing people, the undersigned determined to act on their own responsibility, and ac cordingly passed the measure of relief by a constitutional majority. If public grat itude 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 consid• oration of the people. It is a measure of necessity amidst sou rrounding difficulties. It is a measure which gives relief and de serves the popular approval. Such has been our general course of ac tion on the great measure of relief and re form—and to that action thus thwarted and perplexed, we confidently invite your candid and generous consideration. Could the Governor have been induced to Ile ' part from Lis oracular reserve, and ap pealing to the impartial judgement of the people, a reliance which never fails, frank• ly have indicated his views or expressed ' his willingness 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 coun sels of patriotism had prevailed, popular necessities been relieved, and wholesome' ,reform enforced. If the result had been different, the responsibility would not be with us. If we had left the people with out relief, we should have left them in the hands of the Executive. But this engrossing subject is not the only one for w , ich legislation was needed. Nur is it the only one fur which the ir ish es of the people hare been frustrated by the unstable and perverse will of the Ex• ecutive. 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 Represen tatives of the people believed they were the best judges. And in the single ex eeptitm, strange as it may seem to our fellow citizens. so few of whom are ig norant of the provisions of the Constitu tion under which we live, the 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 manliness either to admit the error, if er ror it was, or assign the true cause of the misrepresentation until it had been dis covered and rebuked by the vigilant ac tion of the Representatives of the people. For proof of this assertion, now made 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 February last, the Governer quoted as in force the old Constitution as justify ing his negative to an important bill, and that on the 12th, not however, until after the misquotation had been detected in the House of Representatives, he ac knowledged it in a supplements! commu nication and attributed it to a mistake in transcribing. No one can read the p.es, sage with the context, and believe that it' was an accidental error. We ask the people to examine the Journal and then judge fur themselves. This is the solitary instance in which the Governor has frustrated our Legisla tion on account even of pretended consti tutional scruples. A few instances of his abuse of the power the constitution has conferred on him are fresh i•n our recol lection. They will show to the people how the public time has been wasted by, this constant and trivolous Executive id- terference. It became necessary to supply the o mission of a Prothonotary in Huntingdon coanty to note the record of a deed baring' an entailed estate--A petition was pre sented, referred and examined, and a bill to the effect required was passed into a law.—No remonstrance was presented though ample time was afforded. No public policy was affected. The bill' pased in connection with an important public bill extending to all refigious so cieties without distinction, the right to hold lands for churches and burial grounds. Notwithstanding the public exigency, and for no adequate reason, the Executive re turned the measure with his unexplained objections. The stain of religious intol- el ance was lelt on our Statute Book, and the public time was wasted by the necess sity of re-enacting that which was con fessed unexceptionable. If tine people of Lancaster county desire to abolish an useless Court prostituted to party uses, the Executive differing in opinion, but suggesting no constitutional difficulty, vetoes the bill but suggests the reference of the question to the votes of a portion of the people of the county. If according to his suggestion, the question is referred to the decision of all who contribute to the support of the Court have a right tv decide on its continuance, the obduracy of the Executive will is not softened, and he vetoes the bill again, be. cause lie thinks on the question different ly front the Representatives whom the people of every county has elected. But worse than all—the Governor will not permit the Legislature even to regu late the decipline of a county prison--a hill providiino b for a change in the mode of appointment of inspectors, IVarden-s, and Doorkeepers of a prison in Chester county was passed by both Houses, and has been vetoed by the Governor for no other pre• text than that which differing views of expediency afforded. The people must judge of this abuse of power. If this be tolerated—if on all questions of local interest when the people have spoken first in the choice of representa tives, then through those representatives, and t hei legislature has exercised its sound and honest discretion, the Executive is tin' interfere and thus defy the popular will, far better would it be to dispense with the complicated system of popular repre sentation, its expense and its delays, and give to the government that unity of de sign which appears in the view of tine Ex ecutive would seem to be its perfection. At any other period titan this, the un dersigned are free to admit that they be lieve a different course would have been pursued by the Governor. A wanton abuse of power without object, they are disposed to attribute to no public function ary. But on the eve of an election, when the incumbent of the Executive office is a candidate for re-election, the infirmity of human nature, always developed in the tenaciousness of office, is only overcome by a spirit of independence, such as even by his friends is not claimed for the pres ent Executive. To retain the possession of patronage and power, to cultivate fac tions or party influences however minute —whether among the tip-staves of a May or's Court, or tine turnkeys of a County to secure all doubtful friends—to dispense with the execution 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 opera ting on onstrapolous partisans. The In* WifOLE NO. 983• dersigned have had no reason to regard the present possessors of power to be es , ceptions 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 amendment to the Con stitution limiting the Executive to a sin gle term. If on any one point the public voice has spoken, it is on this. The pro mise of the venerable HARRISON, a prom ise, the sincerity of which even political animosity did not question, that in no event would he be a candidate for re. election, and his opinion that such an amendment to the Federal Constitistion was desirable, has consecrated the One Term principle in the affections of the people of Pennsylvania, and each day's experience tends to ripen that sentiment into deliberate, judgment. Does any one doubt that had the present Governor of Pennsylvania been ineligible for a second term, lie would• not have more faithfully discharged his high duties and would have raised himself beyond the sphere of party movement to which he seems confinedi— Unfavorable as is thejudgment which the undersigned have been compelled to form of the present Executive, they have no hesitation in saying that his conduct and policy would have been different had the temptation to do wrong been withheld. Before the 4th of March last, when the present Governor was re-nominated. the amendment to the Constitution had pas sed the Senate where it was resisted by the friends of the Administration, and was uhder consideration in the House of Representatives. It afterwards passed the House of Representatives by an over whelming majority, but eight members voting in the minority, and they all accre dited friends of the Executive. It must next indirectly be bes..bmitted to the people, always the last and surest resort, and by them at the next General election it must be decided. We submit to you as a part of our acts. Having weighed it well, having looked at it in all its relations to the interests of the people. which we were sent here to guard, we submit it to you and to your decision now as ever shall we submit. The next legis lature must revise this act of ours an d appeal to you to make this the test here. after. There was one matter of great public interest to which the attention of the uns dersigned was early called. They refer to the condition of the public works, and to the abuses which were supposed to ex ist there. There was a prevalent opinion among the people that the Canal Com missioners, dependent immediately on the Executive, had prostituted their high functions, and had bestowed on personal and political favorites a large share of the patror,age which unhappily for the peo pie, they are authorized to dispense. The public has been startled from its confi dence gy the astonishing disclosure that the public works during the last two years under the care of the present Canal Board have cost for management and repair the sum of two millions one hundred ancl,flity . five dollars, or an averge of one million land seventy•five thousand and forty dol. lars for each year of Governor Porter's administration, whilst during the late ad ministration the average even at periods of extraordinary accident never exceeded eight hundred and six thousand six hund red and ninety-six dollars. Unable to accouht for this by any theory but that which is founded on a conviction of the want of Integrity of the public agents and earnestly desiring to restore public confi dence to the magnificent system of im provements for which so much has been expended and in the success of which the the best hopes of the people are centered, the House of Representatives soon atter its organization instituted a thorough in. vestigation into the conduct of the Canal Board, Its results will soon be before the world and to those results we direct your early attention. They justify suspicion --they authorize and demand the strong est reprobation—they are the results of calm and deliberate inquiry in which jus tice was fairly done, ample opportunity of exculpation afforded, witnesses were pub. lidy examined and cross examined, and the Canal Commissioners will stand bets fore the public, convicted on unquestioned evidence of gross and palpable abuse of power. Who can wonder at the increas ing expenditure on our public works, when they read and hear of such instances as one or two, which taken at random from the report of the Investigating Committee are but specimens of worse and more start; ling developements hereafter. It became necessary to purchase ropes for the inclined planes. The best article was offered by manufacturers of unques• tioned merit and could have been procu red for the aggregate amount of $7,877. A political partisan offered it to the dismal., sera of the public bounty for $9,049. The competition was no longer equal, the par tizan obtained 'the contract, and en this one article the Commonwealth lost shim hundred end e - arentr ens dolltri: • -
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