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:
• -