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DESPATCH OF BUSINESS AT WASHINGTON. T HE...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Austhun War Movements. Rphat Austria Is ...
are already mortgaged to the Bank for eight millions , so that m fact the scheme % votild do little more than shift the debt from one directionto another $ . but it would place in the hands of the Court money enough to commence a fresh war on a large scale . The Austrian Government appears to place immense reliance on the success of the Jesuit intrigues against the Emperor of the French , and also calculates upon being assisted by Bavaria and the whole of South Germany . To English eyes all this looks
so foolish , that it would be incrediblej if one single , action could be discovered that indicated a just perception of the difficulties of the Austrian Empire , and an intention of meeting them by fair and reasonable means . Russia will object strongly to the operations in Hungary , which are sure to be the result of a new conflict with France . But the Czar has not yet got over his difficulties in emancipating the serfs , and before that is accomplished any important military enterprise would be extremely hazardous . not
There can be no doubt that Count Cavour is determined toxest satisfied with an indefensible frontier , and the alarming presence of an immense mass of Austrian troops in Mantua , Verona , and Venetia ; but he will assuredly use every exertion to throw the onus of renewing the struggle upon the Austrians and make them the first parties to break the unsatisfactory peace established by the Treaty of Zurich . The French Government may be desirous of peace , but it cannot allow the Jesuit conspiracy to run its evil course unchecked ; and it had better incur the expense of three months' more victory over the Austrians , than tolerate the prolongation of the inquietude which must exist until the Italian question is definitely settled , or , at least , finally handed over to the Italians themselves , with security against the intervention of any foreign power .
The South German potentates are exceedingly jealous of Prussia , and find a zealous leader in the King of Bavaria , who cordially hates his more powerful rival , arid dreads the plain tendency of events to depress Austria and her adherents-, and make Prussia the acknowledged head of Germany . It is , no doubt / , a portion of the Aiistro-Jesuit scheme , to force Prussia and North Germany into a war with France on belialf of Francis Joseph arid the pope ; but the German confederation does not bind one state to defend another , if that othea- plunges recklessly and without the sanction : of the Diet into war ; and unless the Prussian Court lpses its wits it \ yiil find means of protecting its own interests , without obstructing any military operations which would become necessary for France if a fresh war should occur ; pro-Tided always that the French Emperor should -neither , in Savoy , nor elsewhere , manifest a desire to enlarge his territories at the
expense of European interests . We can easily imagine that Austria , will receive the strongest recommendations from every power not in the hands of Jesuits , to retrace her suicidal career ; but we saw last year , in the invasion of Sardinia , how hopeless it is to offer good counsel to an infatuated despotism , and it seems the determination of the Court of Vienna to play the part of a ruined gamester , and stake its existence upon one mad and desperate throw .
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' ' ¦ . ¦ -.- ' . A ¦¦ ¦ '"'"• ¦ ' ¦ •"¦ .. ¦ * -. ¦ ' ' ' ¦ ¦ . ' " . ' ¦ ¦ 154 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ Feb . 18 , 1860 .
Despatch Of Business At Washington. T He...
DESPATCH OF BUSINESS AT WASHINGTON . T HE regular session of the United States Congress commences on the first Monday in December , terminates every second year in the first week of March , and in the other , or first of its existence , whensoever it pleases the two houses to adjourn . It is seldom prolonged beyond the end of May , notwithstanding the inducement which the " compensation" offers to the needier members , on account of the absolute necessity imposed upon them of devoting some months to party work at home . If , however , the system adopted by the thirty-sixth Congress is to he regarded as , a precedent , the session must be lengthened , or the Federal attributes lessened . That Congress met , as usual ,
in the beginning of December , 1859 , and its most important . branch had not commenced business on the 31 st of January , 1860 . Two months out of the five this year allowed it for lawmaking and money-voting hove been consumed by the House of [ Representatives in what is facetiously termed organisation . This painful labour is represented , by the la , st advices as approaohiwg its termination , and it is not improbable that by the time these lines are in the hands of our readers , wo shall have learned that
some time in the first week of February a Speaker nnd Clerk were elected , and th , nt the House has settled down to such necessary preliminary business , as the examination of contested 'returns ! Assuming tlmt ^ tUeso expectations are not disappointed , leas than three months will remain for the accomplishment of the work , which generally occupies nbout twice that time , How it will be done , if done at all , cannot be doubtful . If tho members have had their fill of oratory , and ore disposed to gotover tho dry business as quickly as possiblo , they will necessaril y do it in on imperfect and perfunctory manner ; but tho probability is that they
will pay no attention whatever to any proposals for new laws-which may be made to them , and will concentrate their attention upon the appropriation bills . Poor Mr . Buchanan will find his recommendations even more contemptuously disregarded than they were last year . He Mill not obtain the law authorising him "to employ a sufficient military force to enter Mexico , for the purpose , of obtaining indemnity for the past ¦ and- security for the future . " Nor will he 2 , et the power for which he pleads so
strongly , of employing the naval forces of the State , according to his own pleasure , in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific . He will-not even obtain the recognition by Congress of the expediency of purchasing Cuba ; and it is very questionable whether he will get what is practically much more important—the payment of his- own salary—for to such a pretty - / pass have matters come in this land of sharp business-men , that the public servants , and the public creditors , against whose claims no party raises an objection , cannot get the money due to them .
The House of Representatives , like our Lower House , has the privilege of initiating money bills . It is a sort of equivalent for the power possessed by the Senate of ratify ing or cancelling treaties with foreign powers and diplomatic appointments . Up to within a very recent period , the House of Representatives has shown alacr ity , rather than tardiness , in this particular matter . It has voted money away in a very extravagant manner ; but last year , for some reason or other , it did not pass the " usual act making appropriations for the service of the post-office . The post-office of the United States , we should observe , does not yield any revenue ; 011 the contrary , ' it is a heavy tax on the Federal income—the deficiency to be supplied from that source
being , for the year ending 30 th June , 1859 , just seven million dollars ; whilst for the current year it is estimated at about six millions . The consequences of this failure to supply the funds required by this important department may be-readily conceived . The authorities of the post-office managed ; by means of balances in their hands , and . the patience of the mail contractors ,. to tide round to December , expecting i ; hen to obtain an appropriation for the past year from the new Congress ; but this expectation has been , of " course , disappointed , and the embarrassment of the officials is represented as extreme ; whilst several of the j > ersbns to whom money is due on contracts are suffering very severely . The other appropriatioii bills , for the army , navy , judiciary , & c .
were duly passed in that session ; but how will it be in the present ? The House has barely three months in which to take up the old post-office appropriation and the new one , together with those for the army and navy—the latter generally exciting considerable discussion—the judiciary , and Federal government . These bills must also pass through the Senate , which has for the last two months been sitting in solemn idleness , its own special business not being sufficient to take up . its time ; and its membersjj although great contributors to the immense stock of Buncombe orations , which enriches the literature of the United
States , are not sufficient in mere respect of numbers to keep up lively debates upon points of order . We do not see any possibility of this absolutely necessary business being got over by the end of May . Should such be the case , the President must call an extra session—a step peculiar reasons prevented him from taking last year ; and as the members are not paid for their attendance , at an extra session called for such a purpose , the number present will be small , and the business hurried over in d slovenly manner . In any case , no new legislation , however urgent may be the necessity for it , can be
expected-This is not a very pleasant picture of democratic institutions ; but the evil is , -after nil , not so bad as it seems . It is discreditable to a great nation to have its centrol legislature tho scene of a contemptible struggle for place , to which all the interests of the nation are sacrificed . It is disgraceful to it that this struggle should ' be marked by incidents to be only expected in a pot-house or penny concert-rooin , and that the men who are nominally selected by , their fellow-citizens for their pre-eminent ability and high character should display less courtesy , consideration and intelligence than might be calculated upon from an assembly of London costermongers . It must be exceedingly embarrassing ' to all the Federal servants nnd creditors to be kept out of their
salaries arid claims , and the general interests of the whole people must suffer , so far as Federal misgovcrnmenlb can affect them . Fortunately , however , tho powers of tho Federal Government art ) comparatively limited in their influence upon the home concerns of tho people . Each state still retains perfect control over its own citizens , make ' s its own laws , and manages its own business . The Federal Government is the representative of the nation to other powers ; but beyond its action in this respect , its power 01 peace and war , its control over tho army nnd navy , its regulation of tho tariff , nnd its right to govern tho territories , it is nothing , and each separate stato is all in all to itself . Tho framers 0 the constitution , and tho groat , Amoricon statesmen who amended
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 18, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18021860/page/6/
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