1801 Examination 9 · Founding Made Plain

1THE EXAMINATION.

2Number IX.

3[New York, January 18, 1802]

4The leading points of the Message

5 have been sufficiently canvassed,

6 and it is believed

7 to have been fully demonstrated,

8 that this communication

9 is chargeable with all the faults

10 which were imputed to it

11 on the outset of the examination.

12We have shown

13 that it has made,

14 or attempted to make,

15 prodigal sacrifices

16 of constitutional energy,

17 of sound principle,

18 and of public interest.

19In the doctrine respecting war,

20 there is a senseless abandonment

21 of the just and necessary authority

22 of the executive department,

23 in a point material

24 to our national safety.

25In the proposal

26 to relinquish the internal revenue,

27 there is an attempt

28 to establish a precedent

29 ruinous to our public credit;

30 calculated to prolong

31 the burthen of the debt,

32 and to enfeeble and sink

33 the government,

34 by depriving it of resources

35 of great importance

36 to its respectability,

37 to the accomplishment

38 of its most salutary plans,

39 to the power of being useful.

40In the attack

41 upon the judiciary establishment,

42 there is a plain effort

43 to impair that organ

44 of the government;

45 one on which its efficiency

46 and success absolutely depend.

47In the recommendation

48 to admit indiscriminately

49 foreign emigrants

50 to the privileges

51 of American citizens,

52 on their first entrance

53 into our country,

54 there is an attempt

55 to break down every pale

56 which has been erected

57 for the preservation

58 of a national spirit

59 and a national character,

60 and to let in

61 the most powerful means

62 of perverting and corrupting

63 both the one and the other.

64This is more

65 than the moderate opponents

66 of Mr. Jefferson's elevation

67 ever feared

68 from his administration;

69 much more

70 than the most wrong-headed

71 of his own sect

72 dared to hope;

73 infinitely more

74 than any one

75 who had read the fair professions

76 in his Inaugural Speech

77 could have suspected.

78Reflecting men

79 must be dismayed

80 at the prospect before us.

81If such rapid strides

82 have been hazarded

83 in the very gristle

84 of his administration,

85 what may be expected

86 when it shall arrive at manhood?

87In vain was the collected wisdom

88 of America convened at Philadelphia.—

89 In vain were the anxious labors

90 of a Washington bestowed.—

91 Their works are regarded

92 as nothing better

93 than empty bubbles,

94 destined to be blown away

95 by the mere breath

96 of a disciple of Turgot;

97 of a pupil of Condorcet.

98Though the most prominent features

99 of the Message have been portrayed,

100 and their deformity

101 exhibited in true colors;

102 there remain many less important traits

103 not yet touched,

104 which, however,

105 will materially assist us

106 in determining its true character.

107To particularize them with minuteness

108 would employ more time and labor

109 than the object deserves;

110 yet to pass them by,

111 wholly without remark,

112 would be to forego valuable materials

113 for illustrating the true nature

114 of the performance

115 under examination.

116There remains to be cursorily noticed,

117 a disposition in our Chief Magistrate,

118 far more partial

119 to the State governments,

120 than to our National government;

121 to pull down rather than to build up

122 our federal edifice—

123 to villify the past administrations

124 of the latter—

125 to court for himself popular favor

126 by artifices not to be approved,

127 either for their dignity,

128 their candor or their patriotism.

129Why are we

130 emphatically and fastidiously told,

131 that "the States individually

132 have the principal care

133 of our persons,

134 our property and our reputation,

135 constituting the great field

136 of human concerns"?

137Was it to render

138 the State governments more dear to us,

139 more the objects

140 of affectionate solicitude?

141Nothing surely was necessary

142 on this head;

143 they are already

144 the favorites of the people,

145 and if they do not forfeit the advantage

146 by a most gross abuse of trust,

147 must, by the very nature

148 of the objects confided to them,

149 continue always to be so.

150Was it to prevent

151 too large a portion of affection

152 from being bestowed

153 on the general government?

154No pains on this score were requisite;

155 not only for the reason just assigned,

156 but for the further reason

157 that the more peculiar objects

158 of this government,

159 though no less essential

160 to our prosperity

161 than those of the State governments,

162 oblige it often to act upon the community

163 in a manner more likely

164 to produce aversion than fondness.

165Accordingly every day furnishes proof,

166 that it is not the spoiled child

167 of the many.

168On this point

169 the high example of the President himself

170 is pregnant with instruction.

171Was it to indicate

172 the supreme importance

173 of the State governments

174 over that of the United States?

175This was as little useful

176 as it was correct.

177Considering the vast variety

178 of humors, prepossessions and localities

179 which, in the much diversified

180 composition of these States,

181 militate against the weight

182 and authority

183 of the general government,

184 if union under that government

185 is necessary,

186 it can answer no valuable purpose

187 to depreciate its importance

188 in the eyes of the people.

189It is not correct;

190 because to the care

191 of the federal government

192 are confided directly,

193 those great, general interests

194 on which all particular interests

195 materially depend:

196 our safety in respect

197 to foreign nations;

198 our tranquillity in respect

199 to each other;

200 the foreign and mutual commerce

201 of the States;

202 the establishment and regulation

203 of the money of the country;

204 the management

205 of our national finances;

206 indirectly, the security of liberty

207 by the guaranty

208 of a republican form of government

209 to each State;

210 the security of property

211 by interdicting any State

212 from emitting paper money

213 or from passing laws

214 impairing the obligation of contracts

215 (from both of which causes

216 the rights of property

217 had experienced serious injury);

218 the prosperity of agriculture

219 and manufactures,

220 as intimately connected

221 with that of commerce,

222 and as depending in a variety of ways

223 upon the agency

224 of the general government.

225In fine,

226 it is the province

227 of the general government

228 to manage the greatest number

229 of those concerns

230 in which the provident activity

231 and exertion of government

232 are of most importance

233 to the people;

234 and we have only to compare

235 the state of our country

236 antecedent

237 to the establishment

238 of the federal Constitution,

239 with what it has been since,

240 to be convinced

241 that the most operative causes

242 of public prosperity

243 depend upon that Constitution.

244It is not meant, by what has been said,

245 to insinuate

246 that the State governments

247 are not extremely useful

248 in their proper spheres;

249 but the object is

250 to guard against the mischiefs

251 of exaggerating their importance,

252 in derogation from that

253 of the general right.

254Every attempt to do this, is, remotely,

255 a stab at the union of these States;

256 a blow to our collective existence

257 as one people—

258 and to all the blessings

259 which are interwoven

260 with that sacred fraternity.

261If it be true, as insinuated,

262 that, "our organization

263 is too complicated—

264 too expensive,"

265 let it be simplified;

266 let this, however, be done

267 in such a manner

268 as not to mutilate, weaken,

269 and eventually destroy

270 our present system,

271 but to increase the energy,

272 and insure the duration

273 of our national government—

274 THE ROCK OF

275 OUR POLITICAL SALVATION.

276In this insinuation,

277 and in the suggestion

278 that "offices and officers

279 have been unnecessarily multiplied;"

280 in the intimation

281 that appropriations

282 have not been sufficiently specific,

283 and that the system of accountability

284 to a single department

285 has been disturbed;

286 in this, and in other things,

287 too minute to be particularized,

288 we discover new proofs

289 of the disposition

290 of the present executive,

291 unjustly and indecorously

292 to arraign his predecessors.

293As far as the Message

294 undertakes to specify any instance

295 of the improper complexity

296 of our organization,

297 namely, in the instance

298 of the judiciary establishment,

299 the late administration

300 has been already vindicated.

301As to the "undue multiplication

302 of offices and officers,"

303 it is substantially a misrepresentation.

304It would be nothing less than a miracle

305 if, in a small number of instances,

306 it had not happened

307 that particular offices and officers

308 might have been dispensed with.

309For, in the early essays

310 of a new government,

311 in making the various establishments

312 relative to the affairs of a nation,

313 some mistakes in this respect will arise,

314 notwithstanding the greatest caution.

315It must happen to every government

316 that, in the hurry of a new plan,

317 some agents will occasionally be employed,

318 who may not be absolutely necessary;

319 and this, where there is every inclination

320 to economy.

321Similar things may have happened

322 under our past administrations;

323 but any competent judge,

324 who will take the trouble to examine,

325 will be convinced,

326 that there is no just cause for blame

327 in this particular.

328The President has not pointed out

329 the cases to which he applies the charge;

330 but he has communicated information

331 of some retrenchments

332 which he has made,

333 and probably intends

334 that from these

335 the truth of the accusation

336 shall be inferred.

337Three instances

338 are particularly presented;

339 these shall be briefly examined;

340 it will be seen

341 that they do not justify

342 the imputation.

343They respect

344 certain ministers at foreign courts;

345 some navy agents at particular ports;

346 and some inspectors of the revenue

347 in particular States.

348As to the first,

349 it is believed to be a pretty just idea,

350 that we ought not greatly to multiply

351 diplomatic agencies.

352Three permanent ones

353 may, perhaps, be found sufficient

354 in the future progress of our affairs:

355 for France, Spain, and England.

356The expediency of having three,

357 is recognized by the conduct

358 of our present Chief Magistrate.

359But others must be employed,

360 and during particular seasons

361 it may be wise to do it

362 for a considerable length of time.

363Indeed there is strong ground

364 for an opinion

365 entertained by very sensible men,

366 that there ought to be

367 a permanent minister

368 at every court

369 with which we have

370 extensive commercial relations.

371Two other ministers

372 were employed

373 by both the former administrations,

374 one with Portugal,

375 the other with Holland;

376 and it is asserted without fear of denial,

377 that when this was done

378 by the first President,

379 it was with the approbation

380 of Mr. Jefferson himself.

381One other minister

382 was employed by the late President

383 at the court of Berlin.

384A commercial treaty with Portugal

385 is admitted, on all hands,

386 to be particularly desirable;

387 as very interesting branches

388 of our commerce

389 are carried on,

390 in the Portuguese dominions.

391We are still without any such treaty:

392 to send to that court

393 a diplomatic agent

394 to endeavor to effect one,

395 was a measure of evident propriety;

396 to recall him

397 before a treaty had been effected,

398 must be of questionable expediency.

399The views and circumstances of nations

400 change;

401 and an opportunity may occur,

402 at some particular conjuncture,

403 for effecting

404 what was not before possible,

405 which may be lost

406 by the want of a fit agent

407 on the spot to embrace it.

408But admitting

409 the experiment has now been

410 sufficiently tried

411 to justify its abandonment,

412 still it does not follow

413 that it was unwise

414 to have continued it

415 as long as it was;

416 and as this must at least rest in opinion,

417 the continuance,

418 if upon an erroneous calculation

419 in this particular,

420 is no proof

421 of a "disposition to multiply

422 offices or officers."

423And those who consider

424 the nature and extent

425 of our commercial relations

426 with Portugal,

427 will not cease to think it problematical,

428 whether the expense

429 of a diplomatic agent,

430 especially in a situation

431 in which nothing has been defined

432 by treaty,

433 ought to stand in competition

434 with the benefits

435 which may result

436 from the presence of a minister

437 at the court of that kingdom.

438This consideration alone

439 is sufficient to repel the charge.

440Lucius Crassus.

441New-York Evening Post, January 18, 1802.