SENATE.] Michigan Senators-American Colonization Society. [JAN. 27, 1837. The question being then put, on taking up the bill, drawing number one, and the other number three, of was decided by yeas and nays, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Black, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay, Clayton, Crittenden, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, Ewing of Ohio, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Knight, Moore, Nicholas, Norvell, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Robbins, Robinson, Sevier, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tipton, Tomlinson, Walker, White-33. NATS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Dana, Fulton, Grundy, Linn, Morris, Niles, Page, Ruggles, Strange, Wright-12. up. So the Senate decided that the bill should be taken Mr. RIVES thereupon offered an amendment, to extend the prohibition respecting the notes of banks issuing notes of small denominations, so as to embrace, after the 30th of December, 1841, notes of $20. [The bill only extended to those of five and of ten dollars.] He supported the amendment in a short speech, urging the moral effect of the measure, and its necessity, as the only means of effecting the enlargement of the specie basis of our circulation. Mr. EWING referred to a provision in the bill which requires the deposite banks to receive and pass to the credit of Government all such bank notes as they receive in general deposite. This took away their power to oppress, and reconciled him to the bill, which should now have his vote. The effect of Mr. RIVES's amendment would be to confine the circulation of the large notes in the West to the banks in the immediate vicinity of the deposite banks, while all the small rotes circulating there would be those of banks at a distance, to whom it was of less consequence that their notes should be received at the land offices than that their small notes should have a wide circulation. After some remarks of Mr. NILES, and a brief speech from Mr. WALKER, the question on Mr. RIVES'S amendment was decided by yeas and nays, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Dana, Ewing of Illinois, Fulton, Grundy, Hubbard, King of Georgia, Linn, Lyon, Niles, Norvell, Page, Preston, Rives, Robinson, Sevier, Strange, Tallmadge, Tipton, Walker, White, Wright-25. NAYS--Messrs. Bayard, Black, Clayton, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Hendricks, Kent, King of Alabama, Knight, Moore, Morris, Nicholas, Prentiss, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson--18. The bill was ordered to its engrossment. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27. MICHIGAN SENATORS. Mr. GRUNDY observed that yesterday the Senators from the State of Michigan were admitted to their seats; and as the constitution required that they should be placed in their appropriate classes, he supposed that this had better be done at once. He would therefore submit a resolution, and ask for its immediate adoption. Mr. G. then submitted the following resolution, which was considered and adopted: Resolved, That the Senate proceed to ascertain the classes in which the Senators from the State of Michigan shall be inserted, in conformity with the resolution of the 14th May, 1789. Mr. GRUNDY observed, that before submitting the motion to carry the resolution into effect, a word of explanation would perhaps be necessary. There were, according to the constitution, three classes of Senators; and there was an equal number of each, until the coming in of the Senators from Arkansas; but one of them course there were more of these numbers than of number two. This he had in view in drawing up the motion, and by providing that numbers two and three only shall be drawn, the inequality would be lessened. On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, it was Ordered, That the Secretary put into the ballot box two papers of equal size, one of which shall be numbered two, and the other shall be a blank, and each Senator shall draw out one paper; that the Senator who shall draw the paper number two shall be inserted in the class of Senators whose terms of service will expire on the Sd day of March, 1839; that the Secretary then put into the ballot box two papers of equal size, one of which shall be numbered one, and the other shall be numbered three, and the other Senator shall draw out one paper; that if the paper drawn be number one, the Senator shall be inserted in the class of Senators whose terms of service will exipre the 3d day of March, 1837; and if the paper drawn be number three, the Senator shall be inserted in the class of Senators whose terms of service will expire the 3d day of March, 1841. In pursuance of the above order, Messrs. NonvELL and LYON proceeded to draw ballots for their respective classes; when Mr. LYON, drawing number two, was classed with the Senators whose terms of service expire on the 3d of March, 1839; and Mr. NORVELL, drawing number three, was classed with the Senators whose terms of service expire on the 3d of March, 1841. AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. Mr. CLAY presented the memorial of a number of citizens of the District of Columbia, stating that they had, a number of years past, formed an association for colonizing free negroes, with their own consent, on the coast of Africa; that many donations had been made to them in money and in lands, which last species of property they could not render available, in consequence of their not having a charter, and praying for an act of incorporation to enable them to hold and convey real eslate. Mr. C. moved to refer this memorial to the Com mittee on the District of Columbia. Mr. CALHOUN regretted that the Senator from Kentucky had thought fit to present this memorial, and deprecated any discussion or agitation of the subject, which he thought would rather tend to increase than to allay the excitement which had been produced by an injudicious interference with a question of much delicacy. He did not intend to oppose the reference of the memo rial, but he indulged the hope that the comm ttee would see the propriety of not acting on it during this session. Mr. CLAY regretted extremely that there should have been any expression, even in a modified form, in oppo sition to the object which the memorialists desire to at lain. The day would come, he would venture to pre dict, when the people living in all portions of this vast continent would become converts to the American colo nization scheme, and become convinced of its utility, and the humane principles by which it is characterized in striving to ameliorate the present condition of the Afri can race. The object, then, of the memorialists, was to send free negroes, with their own voluntary consent, to Liberia. They do not desire to touch any interest nor any property-to affect no right of any citizen here, or in the States. The memorialists come here and tell the Senate that many donations have been made to them, from time to time, both in land and money, and it was of the highest importance that such an act as they ap plied for should be granted. He might remind the Sen. ate of a donation that was given the Colonization Socie ty by one of the best and greatest men this country had ever pro luced-he meant the late venerable ex-Presi JAN. 27, 1837.] American Colonization Society. [SENATE. dent Madison. He bequeathed the donation (on ac- Senator from South Carolina, as to the opposition of the count of there not being in existence such an act as South to the Colonization Society. Of the slaveholding these memorialists pray for) to Mr. Gurley, for the ben-States, he was well assured that a majority of the people efit of the society. Although, in the present case, the trust was faithfully executed, in other cases it might not be; hence, therefore, the memorialists ask for an act of incorporation, in order that they can receive what may be given them. Now, the object was dear, was interesting, was just, was natural; and he could not but express his hope that an act of incorporation would be granted them. Mr. CALHOUN, after some remarks in reply to Mr. CLAY, said that from the first to the last he had been under the impression that any interference with the objects of this society by the General Government would not only be unconstitutional, but would bave the most mischievous effects. He would remind the Senator from Kentucky, who had mentioned the late Mr. Madison as one of the friends of the Colonization Society, that that great statesman was so strict in his notions as to the granting of charters by the General Government, that he had vetoed the act of Congress incorporating a church in Alexandria. The Senator from Kentucky must know that great diversity of opinion existed among the wisest and best men of the country as to the ultimate good to be effected by this society; and that the prevailing opinion of the great body of the people of the South was against it. of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and North Carolina, were in favor of its objects. He did not know but that the people of South Carolina and Georgia were opposed to it, and he could not speak as to Alabama; but the Senator from Mississippi had just assured them that this society was highly popular in his State, until the excitement produced by the abolitionists had brought it into discredit. Mr. BUCHANAN rose to make a suggestion to the Senator from Kentucky; and that was, that, if an act of incorporation be granted at all, it must not be confined in its operation to the District of Columbia; it must go to the extent of the whole Union. It appeared to him (Mr. B.) that this was not a proper subject to be refer. red to the Committee on the District of Columbia, which was a committee having a great deal of business to attend to, though not of a character of such general importance as was connected with this memorial. He should, therefore, think it would be better to have a special committee on this question. The gentleman from Kentucky understood the matter perfectly well, and should be placed at the head of it, and could bring forward such a proposition as would meet general appro bation. He (Mr. B.) therefore moved that the memo. Nine tenths of the Southern peo-rial be referred to a select committee. ple at least, said Mr. C., were opposed to any interfer ence with the objects of this society by the General Gov ernment. He Mr. CLAY observed that he understood the subject, and had determined to make his proposition as free from objection as possible; and, therefore, he limited the Mr. WALKER did not intend to discuss or agitate the powers of the act of incorporation to this District only. question at this time. He would only state that, among lle was perfectly aware that in an attempt to give the unfortunate consequences which had been produced it a general character, so that the society might estabin Mississippi, owing to the movements of the abolition-lish branches here and there, a constitutional question ists, was the unpopularity of the Colonization Society, would arise. He hoped the Senator from Pennsylvania which previously, on the contrary, had been extremely would withdraw his motion for a select committee. popular. There were many individuals in that State (Mr. C.) did himself doubt whether Congress had the who had been very beneficent contributors to it, but power to pass an act of incorporation which should have who now were opposed to it. He thought, therefore, powers beyond the District of Columbia. But as to the that the present was a most unfortunate period for the memorial, he would say that, as it came from the Disagitation of this question, not only as regarded the coun trict of Columbia, the proper reference was to the comtry, but for the ultimate success of the Colonization So-mittee having charge of its affairs, to which it might be ciety. He hoped the Senator from Kentucky would not, under these circumstances, press the subject for the consideration of Congress. At some more auspicious time, when the agitation of the abolitionists shall have subsi. ded, and when, too, the country could look unbiased at the request of the memorialists, then would be the more appropriate period to urge the matter. sent; and he hoped that it would report a bill as speedily as possible. He hoped gentlemen would not postpone the consideration of the subject. Mr. CALHOUN conceived that the Senator from Pennsylvania had taken the proper view of this question. He thought, too, that it should be referred to a select committee. The Senator from Kentucky and himself view the subject in a very different point of view. A mysterious Providence had brought the black and the white people together from different parts of the globe, and no human power could now separate them. The whites are an European race, being masters; and the Af ricans are the inferior race, and slaves. He believed that they could exist among us peaceably enough, if undisturbed, for all time; and it was his opinion that the Colonization Society, and all the other schemes which had been gotten up through mistaken notions of philan thropy, in order to bring about an alteration in the con dition of the African, had a wrong foundation, and were calculated to disturb the existing relations between the two races, and the relations between the North and the South. He knew the Senator from Kentucky viewed the subject in a very different light, for he had stated on many occasions the opinions be held. He (Mr. C.) be. lieved that the very existence of the South depended upon the existing relations being kept up, and that every scheme which might be introduced, having for its ob Mr. CLAY replied that he should be extremely hap. by if he could reconcile it to his sense of duty to conform to the wishes of the Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. WALKER:] but, after much reflection, he was satisfied that it was his duty to present the memorial, and to advocate the reference he had proposed. He agreed with the Senator in thinking, that whatever of unpopularity had been given to this Colonization Society resulted exclusively from the acts of the abolitionists, and he would take this occasion to say that, as far as he understood their objects, they were just as much opposed to the Col. onization Society as to the slaveholders of the South; denouncing it and imputing motives to it which did not exist, and in fact assailing it in every possible form. With regard to the veto of Mr. Madison, alluded to by the Senator from South Carolina, it would be recollected that it was made on the grounds that the act was to inCorporate a religious association, which Mr. Madison supposed would come in conflict with that provision of the constitution which declares that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or project an alteration in the condition of the negro, was hibiting the free exercise thereof. Mr. C. doubted the accuracy of the opinions of the pregnant with danger and ruin. It was a benevolent object, and highly desirable that the blessings of civili zation and Christianity should be introduced into benighted Africa; but this was a Government of limited powers, and had no more to do with free negroes than with slaves; and if Africa was to be Christianized and civilized, he hoped it would not be done by this Government acting beyond its constitutional powers. It was a matter of little importance to him, whether the memori al should be referred to a select committee, or to the Committee on the District of Columbia. Mr. PRESTON expressed his hope that the memorial might be sent to the Committee on the District. Mr. STRANGE said that he should be compelled to vote against the reference of the memorial to any committee whatsoever. He coincided in opinion with both the Senators from South Carolina, that, were an act of incorporation passed, its effects would be coextensive with the Union itself. And he should deprecate more the location of a society at this point than at any other, because of its commanding position, and on account of its indicating the right of Congress to interfere with so delicate and important a subject. It was impossible to be so obtuse as not to see that this society, with its Briareus arms, would exercise a great influence over the interests of the Southern country. What would be its ef fects, but to hold out to the slave population a desire to become free? He meant, according to the laws of the country in which they live. They did not generally desire freedom, in their degraded condition, and most of the slaves preferred living in that condition. But when an inducement was held out to them, it was done to make them discontented with the situation in which God had placed them. He had been opposed to the Bank of the United States, because he believed Congress had no power to grant a charter out of the District of Columbia; and for the same reason, nearly, he was now also opposed to granting an act of incorporation to the Colonization Society in this District, because, in its very nature, its operations could not be confined to it solely. [JAN. 27, 1837. that the memorialists did not come here to ask for any legalization of their operations, for they could go on, as they had already gone on for twenty years past. They could fit out their vessels from Norfolk, New Orleans, and elsewhere, without coming to ask Congress for per. mission. Having, then, got that power now, they did not ask the aid of Congress to carry on their operations in that respect at all. The error into which the gentle. man had fallen was, in not limiting his views to this sin gle fact--that the memorialists asked Congress to grant them simply the power to receive and to hold property bestowed upon them by voluntary benevolence. Mr. BUCHANAN wished to ask the Senator from Kentucky one question. If a charter was granted by Congress to this society in the District of Columbia, would not the whole society be thereby organized? Would not the presidents and officers of the auxiliary societies act in obedience to this society here? He could not (Mr. B. said) conceive of two distinct societies. Mr. CLAY could not say as to the officers of the auxiliary societies; but the actual corporators would be res idents of the District of Columbia. Mr. STRANGE would say one word in reply to the last suggestion of the Senator from Kentucky. If the society was efficient, without legislation, why did they desire something else? And that brought to his mind all the consequences growing out of a society of that character. If it required to be legalized, be would dep. recate the consequences of that legalization. It was ap. parent that they could not get along so well without legislation as with it. He was opposed to lending them any assistance at all; for, if Congress granted them simply the powers they asked, it would be doing noth ing less than to lend their countenance to the first step of a great system pregnant with evil to Southern inter ests. He did not doubt that the gentlemen who brought forward this proposition were sincere, and that the Col. onization Society were actuated by benevolent motives; but, nevertheless, he was unwilling to aid them by legis lation, for the reasons which he had already stated. Mr. BUCHANAN, after a few remarks, said that no gentleman could look upon this question without perceiving that it involved one of the greatest constitution- Mr. RIVES remarked that, as he had made up his al questions that could possibly be raised. What was it? mind to vote for the reference of this memorial to the Simply to charter the Colonization Society of the District Committee on the District of Columbia, he did not wish of Columbia? Why, said Mr. B., are not the members to be considered as expressing any opinion that the objects of this society scattered all over the Union, and is it not of this society could be accomplished by the aid of Conits object to establish an empire in Africa? Did not the gress. While he did not believe that it was competent gentleman from Kentucky say that, through its means, for Congress to incorporate any society whose cbjects civilization and Christianity were to be extended over extended beyond the limits of the District, and were coAfrica? These were most benevolent and praiseworthy extensive with the Union, he was yet disposed to vote for objects, Mr. B. said, and he hoped they might succeed; the reference, on the assumption that the acts of this sobut he would ask, were these grand objects to be refer-ciety were to be confined to the District of Columbia. red to the Committee on the District of Columbia, constituted, as it was, to take charge of the local interests of this ten miles square? He could not think that this was a proper question for the consideration of the District Committee; but it would be an appropriate subject of consideration for the Committee on the Judiciary, which was constituted to take cognizance of questions involving constitutional law. Desirous, however, to have as much light as possible on this subject, and knowing that the Senator from Kentucky was perfectly well acquainted with it, he would greatly prefer referring the memorial to a select committee, of which that gentleman should be the head, in order that the public might be enlightened by the able report that he would make; but if this could not be done, he thought it ought to be sent to the standing committee which had a peculiar charge over constitutional questions. Mr. CLAY said the argument of the honorable Senator from l'ennsylvania was founded upon the hypothesis that the operations of this society were not to be confined to the District of Columbia, but were to be coextensive with the Union. It should be recollected, however, Mr. KING, of Alabama, felt very unwilling that the memorial should be referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia, for it was general in its character, as many gentlemen seemed to think; and that was to his mind the very reason why it should not be sent to this committee, whose duty was to attend to business connect. ed only with the ten miles square, and to guard the rights of the people living within that space. It was quite palpable that no corporate body of this character could be established here, without affecting the whole Union. Why did not the society, instead of coming to Congress for an act of incorporation, apply to some of the States of the Union. Their object was clear; and he could not but regard this as an entering wedge to more extended operations, and it should be frustrated at once. He had never thrown any obstacle in the way of what he considered praiseworthy and meritorious on the part of the Colonization Society; but it was not the duty of Congress to lend them any assistance. Mr. K. con cluded by moving that the memorial be laid on the table. The memorial was then laid on the table: Ayes 24, DO.8 12. REDUCTION OF THE REVENUE. Mr. WRIGHT said the Committee on Finance, to which had been referred, by a resolution of the Senate of the 19th day of December last, so much of the annual -message of the President as relates to the reduction of the revenue to the wants of the Government, had directed him to report a bill; and, as the bill was not accom. panied by any written report, he hoped he should be indulged by the Senate in a very concise statement of some of the principles and views which had governed the action of the committee. It was not his purpose to debate the bill at this period, but merely to state its contents, and the foundations upon which it rested. Mr. W. said it was his duty here to say that, in consequence partly of ill health, and partly of other and paramount engagements, the committee had been deprived, during all its deliberations upon this bill, of the valuable advice and aid of one of its members; and that, therefore, nothing contained in the bill, and nothing which he should say, was to be considered as committing that member of the committee, or as expressing his views upon the important and interesting questions in volved. The very late arrival in the city of another member of the committee had prevented him from par taking fully in their deliberations. The bill, therefore, is to be received rather as the conclusions and recommendations of a bare majority of the committee, than of the whole committee; and it was his duty further to add, that what he should now say would be more the expres sion of his private views, and the motives and opinions which had governed his action, than any thing he had been either authorized or directed by the committee to say. The reference was general, and applied to the whole revenue of the country. This revenue, or, more properly speaking, the receipts into the Treasury, consists of two parts: the money derived from the duties imposed upon importations, which is revenue proper, and the receipts from the sales of the public lands, which is, in fact capital, and not revenue. The committee, upon their first view of the reference, considered this last branch of the subject, the receipts from lands, more properly belong to another standing committee of the Senate the Committee on Public Lands. Indeed, at the very time of the reference, they knew that the subject of the reduction of the amount of money flowing into the puble Treasury from the sales of the public lands was under consideration before that committee; and very soon after this reference to the Committee on Finance, and before that committee had made it a subject of deliberation, the Committee on Public Lands reported to the Senate a bill, having for its object the reduction of this branch of the receipts into the public Treasury. That bill was, long since, taken up for action in the Senate; and has, for many days now last past, occupied the prin cipal time and attention of the body. The Committee on Finance, therefore, have not, at any time, considered that branch of the reference before them for their action, or that they have been, at any period since the reference, at liberty to consider and act upon it. Mr. W. said, another conclusion of h's own mind, and one he believed existing also in the minds of his colleagues upon the committee who were present and acting, was, that if Congress, by any legislative action, at its present session, could reduce the receipts into the Treas ury to the wants of the Government, the most important measures to reach that object must relate to the lands, and go to reduce the receipts from that source. This conclusion was founded upon the amount of receipts from that source for the last two years. These receipts for the years 1835 and 1836, counted together, had [SENATE. amounted to between thirty-eight and thirty-nine millions of dollars, he did not know but full thirty-nine mil. lions; a sum which exceeded the usual estimate of the wants of the Treasury for the two years mentioned. If, then, every dollar of the revenue from customs were instantly repealed, and the receipts from the lands were to continue at the rates of the last year, there would still be a surplus in the Treasury, or the expenses of the Govern ment must be swollen beyond the amount which is considered economical and desirable. It was, therefore, impossible to apply an efficient and adequate remedy for the existing evil of a redundant revenue by any reduction of the revenue from customs. The receipts from the lands was the seat of the evil, and to that quarter the great and commanding remedies must be directed. The committee hoped and believed, during the whole of their deliberations, that Congress would pass the necessary laws, during its present session, to lop this branch of our public receipts, and to relieve the national Treas ury from the dangerous plethora now weighing upon it from that source. Mr. W. said he yet entertained that hope, and his action upon the interesting and important subject of a reduction of our revenue from the customs had been influenced by that hope and belief. Thus confined, as the committee believed they were, to a consideration of the reduction of the duties upon customs, another principle which actuated himself, and which he believed actuated every member of the committee who participated in their deliberations, was to move cautiously and safely; not to shock the public sense by any hasty and rash movement; not, if that could possi bly be prevented, to disturb any permanent and important domestic interest of the country, which had grown up, or was now growing up, under the protection of our revenue laws; but to go as far as the existing laws would permit, to reduce this branch of the revenue without incurring any of these evils. Acting upon this principle, the committee had, in the bill which he was directed to report, and which he was about to send to the Secre. tary's table, added to the list of free articles every thing which had appeared to them to admit of being made free, without injury to the interests to which he had re ferred. Every article proposed to be made free was distinctly named in the bill, and the committee had caused a statement to be prepared, from the tables of commerce and navigation for the year ending on the 30th of September, 1835, (the last table of that descrip. tion which is yet completed,) showing the name or designation of the article, the present rate of duty, the amount of importations for the year 1835, the amount of duty paid upon the article as calculated upon those importations, and the amount of duty proposed to be reduced, as estimated upon the importations of that year. Many of the articles named in the bill are not enumera ted separately in the tables of commerce and navigation, but are given as non-enumerated articles, and so group. ed as not to show, with precision, the importance of each; but the committee believe that the statement will present, with satisfactory clearness, to the mind of every Senator, the effect of the action they recommend by this part of their bill. This statement it was the intention of the committee to ask the Senate to order to be print. ed, to accompany the bill; and they felt confident it would afford greater aid to the action of the body upon the bill than any other form of written report they could have presented. Among the articles proposed to be made free would be found "common salt;" and Mr. W. said, while it was not his object, at this time, to discuss any of the merits or provisions of the bill, he hoped he should be pardoned for the remark, that he knew this was, by far, the most important article inserted in the free list, and an article much more likely than any other to excite a It deep feeling in the country, and to meet with firm and spirited opposition. He also knew that this was, in certain portions of the Union, a protected article, and would, in that sense, be considered as inserted in violation of the general principle by which the committee had proposed to govern their action. Under these convictions, he was consoled by the reflection that no State in the Union held so deep a stake in this article, as a domestic article, and one of domestic manufacture, as the State he had the honor in part to represent here. was an important article to a large and most respectable class of the citizens of his State, as one of production and manufacture; and it was important to the State itself, as a source of revenue to the State treasury. In these aspects, he was fully aware of the delicacy of his position in having consented, as a member of the committee, to the insertion of salt as a free article, and in standing here to urge the Senate to repeal the duty upon it. He did, however, believe that the universal wish of his constituents was that the revenues of this Government should be reduced to the economical wants of its Treasury, and that they did not expect to reach that de. sirable result without themselves making their full share of sacrifices to the common object. He therefore relied upon their liberality and patriotism to justify him in the course he had pursued; and he did not doubt that they would justify their representatives upon this floor, and in the other House of Congress, in consenting to this reduction of more than half a million of tax upon one of the most prominent and universal ncecessaries of life, when the money raised upon it was not only not wanted for public expenditure, but was producing dan gers to our institutions greater than any which those institutions have heretofore encountered-the dangers of an over-filled Treasury and a surplus revenue. He could not be mistaken in the opinion that if the country could be effectually discharged from these startling dangers, his constituents, patriotic and intelligent as they ever had been, and still are, would not only justify, but applaud, their representatives here, for coming forward and offering this sacrifice on their behalf, to reach so important a national good. Mr. W. said the article of "wines" was another important article which had presented itself to the notice of the committee, and which they would have been inclined to make free, had it not been their duty also to notice and regard the stipulations in relation to wines in our late treaty with France. Those stipulations must be preserved with all the national faith which has throughout the whole history of our beloved country so signally distinguished her policy towards other nations; and, in the opinion of the committee, they put it out of the power of Congress to make any wines free until after the expira tion of the term mentioned in the treaty, during which the wines of France were to have extended to them certain advantages, in our revenue laws, over the wines of other countries. Under this impression the committee have recommended a further reduction, to the extent of one half, of the existing duties upon all wines, from whatever country imported; thus preserving the propor tions between French and other wines, stipulated by the treaty to be preserved in our future legislation upon this subject, and pursuing the same course of legislation which Congress has, upon two former occasions, since the ratification of the treaty, pursued in regulating the duties upon wines. As intimately connected with this branch of the reve nue from customs, the article of "spirits made from vinous materials" attracted the attention of the commit tee. They found the existing duties upon this description of spirits very high, ranging from fifty-three to eighty-five cents per gallon, according to the rates of proof at which the spirits may be imported; and that, by [JAN. 27, 1837. applying the same reduction to this class of duties which the committee propose to apply to wines themselves, they would be able to reduce the current revenue by a sum not less than from $275,000 to $300,000 per annum. It was not without much hesitancy and doubt that the committee adopted this recommendation. They were, and are, fully sensible that a proposition for the reduc tion of the duties upon any description of ardent spirits will not meet with favor in the minds of a very large por tion of our citizens. They feel no certainty that it will receive the approbation of the Senate; but so deep was the conviction in the minds of a majority of the committee of the necessity of a reduction of every duty not protective in its character, to secure the preservation of those which are so, that they felt bound to make the proposi tion, and present it to Congress. The reduction in the revenue which will be effected by its adoption is so important in amount, that the committee hope it will receive the calm and candid consideration of Senators before a determination shall be made to diminish so extensively the beneficial action of the bill they present. To relieve the country from the incalculable evils growing out of a surplus revenue is the object of the bill; to do that without a reduction of the protecting duties has been the intention of the committee. They have, therefore, not touched the duty upon "spirits from grain;" and they cannot suppose that the reduction they propose upon one single other description of spirits will bring them at all into injurious competition with domestic spirits of any kind. Mr. W. said he was extending his remarks further than he had designed, as discussion now was not his object. He would not, therefore, refer to any other articles affected by the two first sections of the bill. The two great articles of salt and spirits were the only ones which he supposed could excite much interest, or lead to much discussion or opposition. Hence he had desired to bring them more particularly to the notice of the Senate. It might be found that other articles had been un. wisely inserted. It would be strange if, in so extensive a list, it should not be so; but they would not be impor tant, and might be stricken out. It would also, no doubt, be found that some articles had been omitted which ought to be made free; and it might be the pleasure o the Senate, when acting upon the bill, to extend reduc tion to articles not now included. The examinations & the committee had been careful and diligent, but the had not been as extensive and perfect as they them selves could have wished, though as perfect as the tim allowed them had permitted. He would now, Mr. W. said, offer, very briefly, the apology which the committee had to offer for present ing the bill unaccompanied by any written report. If he had been fortunate enough to make himself understood by the Senate, in the remarks he had already made, it would be seen that no report could make the provi sions of the bill more clear, or show more accurately ita influence upon the revenue, and upon the articles em braced in it, than the statement prepared by the committee to accompany the bill would accomplish those purposes. The only object, therefore, of a report from the committee would be to give to the Senate their views, he would say their conjectures, as to the receipts and expenditures of the Government for the present and future years. After the most mature examination and reflection, it was the unanimous opinion of those members of the committee who were present, and act ing in the matter, that they could make no report upon these points which would communicate to the Senate any new information, not already in the possession of every member of the body, or which would furnish any valuable or useful guides to the action of Congress upon the bill. Were it not proposed, by legislative action du |