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and not those of the people, that produced the violence and anarchy that destroyed society.

The rights of humanity were, however, never fully recognized and advocated until it was done by the French Philosophers, towards the middle of the 19th century. Louis the XIV. had established in France an iron-handed despotism and an unheard-of corruption. About the middle of the reign of Louis the XV., an unprecedented impetus given to the cultivation of the physical sciences, stimulated the intellect of thinking men, who began to appreciate the sad results of despotism and corruption. A sudden craving after knowledge seemed to seize all ranks. The curiosity of even the more thoughtless parts of society was aroused, and women of fashion listened with eagerness to discussions on scientific subjects. About 1751, Quesnay and Gournay examined the leading principles of Political Economy, and the spirit of France became so democratic, that it seemed impossible to delay a revolution. Principles were investigated and the foundation of power questioned on all sides. All classes began to examine and discuss the rights of man. This great revolution in public opinion carried Turgot, the eminent financial minister of Louis the XVI. into power in 1774. His appointment was an official recognition of the truth of the doctrines enunciated by the Philosophers and the Economists. Turgot was an ardent and sincere disciple of the Economists, and, during his whole career as minister, was apparently solely prompted by a desire to benefit his country, by restoring liberty to commerce and industry, and by relieving the lower classes of the unequal share of taxation imposed on them. With the assent of the king, he liberated the wine trade and the corn trade from the restrictions and monopolies that encumbered them. He repealed the prohibition of the export of corn, and abolished the trade corporations, which had made each mechanical and industrial occupation a monopoly in the hands of a few. His last and most important reform, was to equalize taxation among all the classes of society, and to reduce it to one single tax on land, in accordance with the doctrine of the Physiocrates: but, before he could accomplish this, all the vested interests, whose unjust privileges he had attacked by his reforms-nobles, clergy, magis

trates, financiers-the aristocracies of trade-all banded together and urged the king to dismiss Turgot, on the ground that his economical views would throw France into commotion. On the twelfth of May, 1776, Turgot was dismissed by the weak king, who, only four months previously, had said to him, "You and I are the only persons who love the people."

This dismissal of Turgot undoubtedly caused the destruction of the French monarchy. Neckar, who succeeded Turgot, after trying every expediency in his celebrated compte rendu, confessed the necessity of returning to the measures proposed by Turgot the equalization of taxation, and economy in the expenditures of the State. His advice, like that of Turgot, was disregarded. The courtiers, under the administrations of Calonne and Brienne, attempted to weather the storm without doing justice to the people; but rights once acknowledged must be conceded when claimed by the masses, and the ruins of the Bastile and the death of Louis the XVI. on the scaffold, soon proved the wisdom of Turgot, who, through reforms, sought to prevent the Revolution. Had he remained in power, there is every probability that the French Revolution would never have taken place; and humanity would, today, be a century in advance of its present social condition, had that terrible event, and the long and bloody wars that followed, been prevented. The dreadful scenes of the French Revolution, produced by the refusal of the nobles and the Government to concede rights that were generally and publicly acknowledged, were ascribed, by the conservatives and the governing classes of Europe, to the recognition and acknowledgment of the rights of man by the French Philosophers; and, for fifty years thereafter, that subject was thrown aside, as one destructive of society. The old idea that man is incompetent to govern himself was revived; despotism and bigotry were everywhere strengthened; and in France, under the sway of Napoleon, and, subsequently, of the Bourbons, the spirit of inquiry and the love of liberty which preceded the French Revolution, were gradually crushed out. We have in this a striking proof that all real progress is the result of peace and industry. No matter how noble or pure may be the motive that leads to it, war or violence invariably

brutalizes man, leads to despotism, and arrests progress. In the attempt to remove an evil by war or violence, tenfold evils are generated, and the good is completely overpowered by the evil. All true progress is achieved by the victory of the mind over power or brute force, and no revolution can take place until after this victory has been achieved; but, then, the revolution is unnecessary, for a right once acknowledged must soon be conceded to those to whom it belongs.

MR. FESSENDEN'S REPORT.

THE task of analyzing a cotemporaneous State paper, and submitting it to the ordeal of a critical temperature, is always one of peculiar delicacy, particularly in times of civil commotion; for no matter how the analysis ends, one party or the other is sure to maintain that your crucible was not a scientific one; that it was a partisan affair;-in short, that it was good for nothing. The other party, if they happen to be satisfied with the crucible, will probably complain that the fire was not hot enough. To avoid both Charybdis and Scylla, the unlucky critic steers his subject into such a tempest of commonplaces, that it is odds if either party ever care to read his review. Happily for our case, the canons of criticism we shall use, are to be found in the acts of Congress. Our crucible bears the stamp of authority. With this talisman in our hands, we are proof to the assaults of either party. The tree stands before us, the law has given us the tools, and with a steady aim, and a blow that fears no recoil, we shall lay it bare to the public. If the timber proves to be sound, so much the better.

An act of Congress, bearing date the 10th of May, 1800, provides "that it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest, prepare, and lay before Congress, at the commencement of every session, a report on the subject of Finance, containing estimates of the public revenue and pub

lic expenditures, and plans for improving or increasing the revenues, from time to time, for the purpose of giving information to Congress in adopting modes of raising the money requisite to direct the public expenditures."

Under this law, which is still in force, Mr. FESSENDEN makes his first report to Congress. From the great importance of this document in times of war or financial commotion, its advent is always looked for with great interest and anxiety. It comprises the balance-sheet of the country. Upon its pages are inscribed those figures of cruel precision which point to prosperity or adversity, to wealth or poverty, to strength or weakness, to resources or debt. When its great columns of numerals are traced down to their final consummation, we then know how far it is safe to tempt further fortune, or to brave calamity. Here lies the grand residuum into which filters the whole history of a nation. There is no brevity so portentous as that which adds up the capabilities and resources of an entire people in a sum of dollars and cents. The preparation of this great synopsis of accounts requires more consideration, more care, more exactness, and more experience than any other public document. It is the only one that absolutely requires a technical knowledge of details. The Message, and the Reports of the other departments of the Administration, may be written by politicians, and very creditably, too; but the Report of the Finances of the Nation demands for its proper preparation, very comprehensive faculties, and a long familiarity with accounts. The law requires that the Secretary of the Treasury shall first "digest" and then "lay before Congress, a report," &c.

Such a Report properly divides itself into five heads:

1st. A Statement of Expenditures.

2d. A Statement of Income.

3d. The Overplus, or the Deficit.

4th. "Plans for improving or increasing the Revenues." 5th. A Statement of the Public Debt.

As all figures are but terms of comparison, it is important that the Report should be arranged in tabular form; that it should be brief, exact, and, above all, perfectly clear.

Measured by such a standard-and this is certainly the standard which the law prescribes-we are compelled to say in all candor, that Mr. FESSENDEN's Report falls far short of the mark. Few of the statements called for are made up to a later date than last July, a date which in the present mad speed of events makes the statements contained in the Report almost too old to be of interest; while its rambling form, its want of precision, we had almost said of truth, and its incomprehensible obscurity, renders it unsatisfactory in every aspect, both to the suffering debtors and the expectant creditors of the Nation whose financial condition it is its professed object to clearly exhibit. As for the measures it proposes, "to improve or increase the revenues," we shall speak of these hereafter. We are now more particularly alluding to its statements and estimates of expenditures and income; and its marked omissions of important data for computing the present condition of the finances.

Whatever consequences may flow from the unsatisfactory nature of this Report, the Secretary of the Treasury cannot with fairness be called upon to father them. The circumstances of his appointment to office should not be forgotten. At a critical moment, Mr. Chase, his predecessor in office, suddenly resigned. Mr. Todd was immediately nominated by the President, but the Senate failed to appoint him. Such was the confidence of that body in the financial capacity of Mr. FESSENDEN, that it was clear no other prominent person could be appointed without much delay; and as time pressed, Mr. FESSENDEN was at once named and confirmed. Immediately afterwards Congress adjourned.

Not to speak of the impolicy of appointing an officer to succeed Mr. Chase, who, while Mr. Chase's course had become deservedly unpopular, had never exhibited any dissent from his doctrines, the Senate could not have forgotten what Mr. FESSENDEN himself said during the debate upon the bill authorizing the issue of legal-tender notes:

"I am entirely inexperienced in these things, as we all are more or less, and I must say, that after all the study I have tried to give this subject, and in all the advice I have tried to get from experienced men, I have come to the conclusion, at last, upon the whole, that owing to the peculiar condition of

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