JAN. 30, 1835.J The Tariff Bill. [H. OF R. The bill is founded upon no petition or application from that, with the duties which have hitherto existed, this inthe people. It springs from the brain of the committee, terest has all along struggled against deep depression. or the promptings of others than the people. I mistake; How, then, can it be deemed possible that it can bear up it is said there has been one petition from Pennsylvania-against this bill? It is out of the question. one leaf in the air showing which way the wind blows, If it be said, then let it perish, permit me to remark, and so near the branch--the discerpt branch--covered that the protection you have given it is not to be comparwith its decaying leaves-as to leave no doubt whence it ed to that which you have given to cotton and iron, in nocame from, and as little as to the purpose for which it is minal amount; and what you have given, did not begin to abroad. But I will proceed, notwithstanding, to make become effective until you had deducted therefrom the good my position, that this bill will be ruinous to some of duties upon wool, dyestuffs, &c.; while from the protecthe most important interests of the country. tion given to cotton and iron, no deduction was to be made--the whole duty was effective. I shall confine myself to two, in my remarks upon this occasion, availing myself of some other opportunity, if need be, to ask the attention of the committee to others. And yet I am not sure but I misjudge, and that the better I succeed the more sure the bill will be to pass. If it were not known that there are such interests as those to which I allude, I would say to them as the Greek admiral said to his sailors when in a storm, they fell upon their knees, and went to calling upon their gods, "Peace, you dogs, don't let them know you are here." Bion's sailors, however, were wicked fellows; but these interests are hard working, honest interests, entitled to the favor of the gods, even, unless they be remorseless gods, delighting in human suffering. My first position, then, is, that this bill will destroy the woollens manufacture. Mr. B. then stated that the duties upon woollen cloths, that come into competition with our own, have been as follows: Before the last war the duty was 15 per cent. of 1824, 334. But it has been stated that, under this bill, the reduction of duty upon wool, &c. will mitigate the severity of its operation upon the woollens manufacturer, and enable him to sustain himself. I deny that a reduction of duty upon wool ought to be made. We produced last year from fifty to sixty million pounds of wool. We imported only, of the finer quality, a little rising four million pounds. By this act you admit, free of duty, the coarser qualities of wool. Now, I venture to say, that our domestic supply, with the foreign wool which will be imported free of duty under this bill, will meet the demands of the manufacturer. Competition among the farmers will reduce the price of the article to the lowest point at which it can be produced; and that competition is now going on among the farmers of the different parts of the Union; and those who can produce the article the cheapest and best, will ultimately take to themselves the market. In this state of things, to reduce the duty upon fine wool, as proposed, would be an act of suicide, for which a man ought to be buried at the four corners, as unworthy of sepulture in a of 1828, from 45 to 66, 90, and 112 per cent. christian cemetery. At any rate, it would be an act of You imported in 1831, of cloth of less value than 35 cents the square yard, to the amount of Over 35 cents the square yard, Of blankets costing not over 75 cents, costing over 75 cents, self-destruction, very unwise and very censurable. My friend from Maryland [Mr. HowARD] was pleased to say $1,005,660 that to put a duty upon wool and the woollens manufac 5,893,023 ture was absurd, and to protect both was impossible. 650,000 And yet, in the course of his remarks, he labored to satis650,000 fy the committee that there ought to be a duty upon the importation of raw cotton, while all admit that the cotton $8,198,683 manufacture ought to be protected. Now, sir, in both cases the principle is the same precisely. The only dif ference is, that the relative price of wool here, compared with the price abroad, is greater than the relative price of cotton here, compared with the price of cotton abroad. And if it be essential to our independence, or our pros perity, to cherish the one or the other, it is equally important that we should encourage the growth of the raw material, else in time of war the manufacture will be of no use to us, and in time of peace subject to many contingencies. Now note; by this bill the million of dollars worth of goods that were imported in 1831, paying a duty of from 45 to 66 per cent., you admit at a duty of five per cent. This is 20 per cent. less than the act of 1816, and 10 per cent. less than the duty before the war. By this bill the near six millions of dollars worth of goods that were imported in 1831, paying a duty of from 45 to 112 per cent., you admit at a duty of 20 per cent. This is five per cent. less than the act of 1816. The six hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of blankets that were imported in 1831, at a duty of 35 per cent., you admit at a duty of five per cent. This is 50 per cent. lower than the act of 1828, and ten per cent. lower than the duty was before the war. The six hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth, imported at a duty of 35 per cent., you admit at a duty of 15 per cent. He then proceeded But allow to the manufacturer the full benefit of the reduction of the duty upon wool, and the other articles as proposed in the bill; then deduct from the twenty per cent. allowed by the bill, the duty on ten per cent. added as charges of importation under former acts; the increased price which, after all, he will be obliged to pay for his stock more than is paid for it by his competitor; the portion of duty which will be evaded at the custom-house; and the excess of wages, especially for male labor, there Now, Mr. Chairman, let it be remembered that these will be little or nothing left for his protection. Why, sir, low duties of five per cent. and twenty per cent. are ad the twenty per cent., other things being equal, is not so valorem duties-that they are to be assessed upon the much as the fluctuation of the market--the sea wall is not value of the cloth in the foreign market, without any ad- so high as the tide rises. No man, therefore, will make ditional duty upon the cost of importation; that in most his garden by the side of it, for the very obvious reason cases the value is to be fixed by the manufacturer, and he will have no security that he shall derive any benefit with reference to the custom-house in this country, these from it. At twenty per cent. the sweepings of the waregoods being, to a great degree, shipped on his account; houses and manufactories of Europe will be thrown in the difficulty, also, of detecting, with the best intentions upon us; a surplus, whenever it occurs, will be sent hion the part of the custom-house officers, an under valua- ther, and sold for what it will fetch; goods will be consigntion, and the committee will readily perceive that some-ed to this market, as the vicissitude or exigencies of trade thing short of the duty of five or twenty per cent. will may require, or as commercial or manufacturing rivalry be paid for their entrance. Let it further be recollected, may prompt. The manufacturer will have no security of H. OF R.] The Tariff Bill. JAN. 30, 1833. the market; capital will not be invested in this department sion on the sale, you will scarcely have left of the fleece of business, for it seeks safety, rather than excess of pro- enough to pay the expense of keeping during the sumfit. And I put it to the committee, if, during the last mer. The mutton is no object. I am not therefore surprisyear, with a specific duty of at least forty-five per cent., ed that the honorable chairman should dislike to see his ranging upwards on the line of minimums, to a hundred worthy colleague, [Mr. Roor,] at the head of the Agriand twelve per cent. you imported over eight millions of cultural Committee, driving down his flocks from the dollars worth of woollen goods, what are we to hope Delaware mountains. And he will give me leave to add, from this bill, with an ad valorem duty of five per cent. that I think he will be quite as glad to see the flocks as on coarse cloths, and twenty per cent. on others, or any the proprietors of them will be to see him, after the bill approximating to this? There can be but one opinion passage of this bill, unless he is more regardful of their about it, and yet there is no interest more essential in interest. war as well as in peace than this--more essential to our One word now, Mr. Chairman, if you please, as to the independence or to our comfort. How was it during the magnitude of these interests. The capital employed in revolution, when your army was in New Jersey, half the woollens manufacture has been estimated, upon pretty naked, indicating the progress of their march by the correct data, to be forty millions. My colleague [Mr. blood from their feet? How was it in the last war, when DAVIS] showed, at the last session, that a dollar employyou were obliged to dispense with your own laws in order ed in the woollens manufacture gives employment to five to pay your annuities to the Indians, to keep the poor dollars of agricultural capital; that is, to two hundred milcreatures from freezing How was it with your own sol- lions. The sheep, upon an estimate in 1831, were twenty diery? And yet, according to the Committee of Ways millions, producing fifty million pounds of wool. The and Means, nothing is necessary in war but iron; neither annual product of this wool, as it comes from the hands money, nor national resources, which are the sinews of of the manufacturer, is worth more than the entire cotwar. You have only to send a soldier into the field naked, ton crop of the country. Of this annual product, fiveor plant him on the northwest angle of a fort in a Decem- sixths are agricultural. It is at this interest this bill ber night, and put a cold iron in his hand, and that will strikes. I call upon the chairman of the Agricultural keep him warm! I do the committee wrong; there is Committee, and on the friends of agriculture, if it has one other article: instead of a blanket, he is to take with any friends here, to defend and protect it. him into the field a pot of coals! And these two articles, What will be the effect of this bill, and the overthrow iron and coal, so far as I recollect, are the only articles of these interests? Upon the reduction of the revenue protected as essential to our independence in time of to be accomplished by this bill, the Committee of Ways and Means, I will not say they break out in strains of pa war. My next position is, that the bill will destroy the wool triotic exultation, but they say, that "the people will have grower. If the business of the manufacturer fail, that all the necessaries and comforts and luxuries of life, and of the wool grower fails of course; but in case the manu-have them in greater abundance and of superior quality." facturer can survive the bill, the wool grower cannot. Before the last war wool was free of duty. By the act of 1816 it was 15 per cent. By the act of 1824 it was raised to 30 per cent. And by the act of 1828 to four cents specific on the pound, and 50 per cent. ad valorem. You imported, in 1831, of wool valued at less than eight cents, over a million pounds, and of wool valued at more than eight cents over four million pounds. By this bill the million that came in at a duty of 50 per cent. and four cents specific, is admitted free of duty; 15 per cent. less than the duty of 1816. The four millions that came in paying a duty of 56 per cent: will be admitted at 15 per cent. The farmer, instead of one coat, is to have two; instead of homespun, they are to be of British, or German, or French texture. "Instead of the thorn, is to spring up the fir tree; and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree." The millennium of free trade is to come. But they conclude the paragraph in their report, to which I refer, by telling us that we shall have an increased importation annually of from eight to twelve millions. Now, Mr. Chairman, I desire to propound to you the question, how are we to pay for this increased importation, with diminished means? I know that the committee count upon the reduction of duties; but it will be perceived that the increased importation will far exceed any possible saving, from the nominal reduction of the duties. And let me Four million pounds of wool were imported during the remark further, that these duties, although in form, are last year, of the finer qualities, chiefly from Spain and not, in fact, paid by the consumer, nor by the country, Germany. It was clean wool, losing only from four to but to a considerable extent are in effect paid by the fofive per cent. in the perfect cleansing for the use of the reign producer, who is obliged to sell to us at a reduced manufacturer. It cost, as appears from the custom-house price, in consequence of our high duties, or he cannot returns, a fraction over twenty-eight cents the pound. sell at all. And so far as the reduction of duties shall The charges of importation, as my commercial colleague enure to the benefit of the foreigner, it will be a loss to us. tells me, may be put down at four cents the pound, to This consideration enters deeply into the policy of derivwhich add the duty of 15 per cent. on the cost abroad, ing a revenue from impost, and has a direct bearing upon making the price here about thirty-six cents the pound. a fashionable theory that is now afloat in this country. How this can be afforded so cheap, I shall not now detain only allude to this subject, but cannot stop to pursue it. the committee to explain. It is sufficient that the fact is We are to have an increased importation, of from eight to Our flocks yield upon an average two and a half twelve millions annually. How, with diminished means, pounds a head, which, at thirty-six cents, is ninety cents I repeat, are we to purchase and pay for it? Can the profor the fleece. From this deduct 20 per cent. for cleans-prietors of the woollen manufactures purchase and pay ing to make it equal to the imported wool, for our habit for more? They are not generally men of wealth, but is only to wash the sheep in brook water, and the fleece men of small means, who have some acquaintance with, will lose from 20 to 30 per cent. in the process of cleans- or skill in, the business, or capacity to superintend it. ing at the manufactory, which will be eighteen cents, How are they to pay when you overthrow their establishleaving seventy-two for the fleece. Now take into ac-ments, and sink their fortunes, limited as they are, and count the value of these flocks, which in many instances turn them and their families upon the world? How are the cost the proprietors of them large sums, or make no ac-operatives, many of whom are foreigners, and, with no count of it, and take into account only the expense of other business, are dependent, they and their families, upon keeping winter and summer, of washing and shearing, of their labor in this for support: how are they to pay when transporting the wool to market, and often of a commis-you take from them their employment, and leave them So. I JAN. 30, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. OF R without means? How are the hundred thousand females people that have once been enlightened and free, proswho are employed in these establishments, and who are perous and happy, beyond a certain point, without ignitneatly and prettily dressed, as they should be, and who ing a mass, which you can no more control than you can have their muslins and silks, and a dress besides for an the central fires that shake a continent to pieces. If you occasion, with many of the little ornaments and luxuries bring the free labor of this country into competition with of the toilet, and which they wear without a blush, for the labor of other countries, one, and which I have no they have earned them, in an humble occupation, I admit, doubt, of these results will follow. but the one that Providence has assigned them, and one And now, sir, permit me to inquire, why is this bill that brings no shame, and leaves no regret: how are they proposed for our adoption? If there was any great and to purchase and pay for more when they are thrown back inevitable necessity for it, it might be borne as other evils upon the family mansion, where they are not wanted? are borne that cannot be avoided. I know the Committee How is the wool grower to purchase and pay when his of Ways and Means say that the act of 1832 will produce flocks are scattered, not upon the Delaware mountains, a surplus revenue, and that this bill is necessary to reduce but upon the mountains of this bill-the dark mountains it to the wants of the Government. But my friend from of perdition to them all? How are the farmers to pay Connecticut, [Mr. INGERSOLL,] in an argument which I when you throw back upon them the manufacturing po- will not weaken by attempting to restate, and who is of pulation, and, instead of one producer of wheat, you have the Committee of Ways and Means, and has given his two; instead of one producer of butter and cheese, you acute mind to the subject, has shown that the treasury is have two; and so on through all the departments of agri- now bankrupt, and will be on the 1st day of January, culture, when, with a greatly increased production, there 1834, and on the 1st day of January, 1835. And he says will be a diminished demand for it? How is the owner that the committee, in showing a surplus, have made two of navigation to purchase and pay for more, when, in- false assumptions: first, that the bank stock will be cash in stead of freight for ten tons imported or transported for hand to meet the fanded debt; and, secondly, that it is the use of the manufacturer, he shall receive freight for bad policy to have in the treasury cash to meet the outone ton in the form of a bale of goods? And when the standing and unsatisfied appropriations of Congress. The country can neither purchase nor pay, I will thank the funded debt of seven millions falls due next year and the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means to tell year after. And the committee assume that the bank me how the cities are to do it. They cannot; none can stock of seven millions will be in hand to meet the paypurchase or pay but your men of salary, of capital, of ment. Now, it will readily occur to you, that we may not be able to sell our bank stock; or if to sell it, only at a bank stock. This bill ought to be entitled "a bill of sale and trans-loss. The bank may fail; for if, as intimated, by the adfer of the poor and middle classes to the rich." And, ministration, it be an unsafe place of deposite, the stock before it performs this ungracious office, it will perform itself is unsafe. Your banking houses may be burned another still more so, that of depressing and annihilating up; your vaults may be emptied by a thousand casualties. value. First, will come upon the country a pressure for Disastrous vicissitudes in commerce may put it out of the money, and with it distress; and, if the importations con- power of the debtors of the bank to pay. You may retinue, universal bankruptcy will follow. Mr. Chairman, charter the bank and retain the stock; or you may incorI am inflexibly hostile to any measure tending in the least porate a new bank and transfer it. Congress may not degree to bring the free labor of this country into com- authorize the sale of the stock, and Congress will not. petition with the labor of other countries. It will follow, You cannot hope to be in funds from your bank stock in as certainly as effect follows cause, that we must work time to meet your funded debt. The committee might as cheap, live as cheap, and stoop as low as they do. I as well say that we can sell our ships, or our forts, or our know well, that, for a time, the spirit of the freeman will guns, or any other property we have, to meet the funded give energy to the muscle of his arm, and he will strug-debt, as to count upon a sale of our bank stock for that gle hard to bear himself, and those that God has given purpose. Nor is it bad policy to have in the treasury him, above this condition. But he will be obliged to cash to the amount of the unsatisfied appropriations. In yield to the dominion of this ever-active cause, slowly and the earlier history of our Government, when we were reluctantly I admit, but yield he must. It may take a poor, such was the invariable practice; and now we have great while, many generations perhaps, for moral changes become rich, is it wise or statesmanlike for us to go upon are slow, to put out all the lights of knowledge, that are our credit? Would it be deemed improper for a private now beaming from every cottage throughout our happy gentleman to have in his pocket money to pay his debts, country, and refulgently and gloriously beaming; but for which he was daily liable to be called upon, "alone after another they will be extinguished, and with though it was not usual for his creditor to call quite so them the beacon light of liberty to the other nations of the world. This bill takes a giant's stride towards this result. The South will then find, too late for them and for us, that they have lost the best customer they ever had, and that it is the consumption of the North and East, the means of which the protective system has furnished, that has enabled them to sell such an amount of their staples as they have sold. Or, sir, another alternative time? will follow, to which I will but allude, lest what I may say But if there be such necessity, which I deny, why is be subject to misconstruction. When the free people of this bill reported in this form? I shall not go into the this country come to see how things are, by whom they errors and inequalities of the bill in its apportionment of are, and wherefore they are, and to realize the downward the duties among the different protected articles. If we tendency, by feeling the effect of them, physical nature can maintain the protective principle, I shall be content will make a throe and an effort to regain the height she to trust to the honor, the justice, and the liberality of my has lost, and if she fails to do it, a storm will arise from tariff friends to make such an apportionment of duties as the elements we are now compounding, and have been the magnitude and condition of the different interests for years, of which no man who has been in this House, may require. After what was said by my friend from or acquainted with the public journals of the day, can be Pennsylvania, over the way, [Mr. MUHLENBERG,] and ignorant, that will break somewhere, and spend itself what fell from my friend near me, [Mг. WATMOUGH,] I with desolating and terrific effect. You cannot depress a have no misgivings upon the subject. It was spoken as soon?" And can it be unstatesmanlike and unfinancial for the Government to do the like? But if it be proper for the Committee of Ways and Means to make both the assumptions they have done, is it so absolutely necessary that you should sell your bank stock, or so obviously improper to have money in your treasury to pay your debts, as to lay the foundation of a necessity for this bill at this H. OF R.] The Tariff Bill. [JAN. 30, 1833. Pennsylvania should speak. If this system is to be main- articles will afford any relief to the South; and after the tained, it must be as a whole in its symmetry and beauty. intellectual and annihilating speech of my friend from If it fail, there will be no one column, nor fragment of a Ohio, [Mr. VINTON,] no one can believe that the South column of the superstructure left to indicate the ruins. is disproportionally taxed. Far otherwise. Nor will it I cannot, however, but call the attention of the committee satisfy the South. No one tells us that it will. Why then to one fact, not connected with the apportionment, but is it found in the bill? I will tell you, sir; it is as the with the rule of apportionment, adopted by the Commit- admission of a principle which the South will hereafter tee of Ways and Means. They tell us in their report, assert; and they will then say that upon this occasion, in that they have arranged the duties in the bill, with the tender consideration of the state of our manufactures and exception of the articles they name, from ten to twenty of our home industry, they only asserted, but did not enper cent., making the average duty to produce the reve- force it. It is that it may be used as a fulcrum to the nue they desire, about eighteen per cent.; and they lever by which they intend to overthrow the system; as a obligingly place the duty on woollens at the maximum temple step to their divinity of free trade. I therefore duty of twenty per cent. My friend from Connecticut, call upon my tariff friends to take a decided stand against [Mr. INGERSOLL,] some two weeks since, stated to the it, shoulder to shoulder, in the confidence that we are committee that the average duty to produce the result right, that the ground we take is defensible, and that the desired, including the expenses of collection, was rising people will sustain us. We ought not, we may not, and of twenty-five per cent. And if this be so, and the cannot recede from it, without bringing into question and Committee of Ways and Means, in arranging the duties, endangering the whole protective system. Here, therehave acted correctly upon their own principle, the bill is fore, I repeat, we ought to take our stand and maintain it wrong throughout. How is this, sir? The chairman of immoveably, influenced by no entreaty, and awed by no the Committee of Ways and Means, since the statement power to abandon it, or any portion of it. of this fact, has addressed the committee upon various But, sir, admit that there is a necessity for this bill to other subjects, and said nothing upon this. His colleague reduce the revenue, which I deny; admit that the bill from Pennsylvania, [Mr. GILMORE,] has also addressed ought to be in its present form, which no one will prethe committee, without giving us any information upon tend; why is it proposed at this time? this point. His other colleague from Tennessee, [Mr. In considering this question, it may be well to look a POLK,] merged himself entirely among the documents. little out of the House, and see how the subject is viewed And his other colleague still from Georgia, [Mr. WILDE,] there; and what its relations and bearings are. I will wandered among the classics, and lost himself in his ad-give you an extract from the official journal of nullificamiration of Lord North, in a speech, the political morality tion in this city of the 14th instant, because I think it preof which I do not understand, and which, if I know any sents the matter truly. "South Carolina, believing that thing of my neighbors in New York, they will understand the tariff laws are unconstitutional and oppressive, has as little as I do-a speech partaking much more of the given Congress the alternative of their repeal, or acquicharacter of Sir Francis than of a Chancellor of the Ex-escence in her measures of nullification, or declaration of chequer; but as perfectly English as the noble lord war. You must, therefore, repeal your tariff laws, or whom he eulogized. I call upon the chairman of the you will have nullification, and, if need be, war to enforce Committee of Ways and Means, to inform us how this is. it. I give you another extract from the official journal of Is it as my friend alleges, or is it not? Have the com- the administration, of the same date. "Mr. Calhoun mittee, in the construction of their bill, made a mistake in had the honor of aiding Mr. Clay in building up the the average duty, of six or eight per cent.? After eighteen months' attention to the subject, we have a right to be informed how the matter is, before we act upon it. No lubrication that can be given the bill, will induce the committee to swallow it with this error-this camel of an error, in it. My friend asserts, and will maintain, that there is this error in the bill. Will the chairman admit did it. or deny it? I should like to hear from him in due time on this subject. American system, but General Jackson has robbed him of the honor of pulling it down. If Mr. Calhoun's object was merely to be able to exclaim upon the equalization of the reduction of duties, 'I did it,' let him make the vain-glorious boast; but the American people now know, and history will hereafter tell, that it was another" who You perceive, sir, that it seems to be taken for granted that the American system is overthrown, and the quesThis brings me to the point to which I wish more par- tion in dispute is, who shall have the honor of having ticularly on this occasion to call the attention of the com- done it. The alternative proposition of South Carolina mittee, and to what I consider as the protective principle. is, a repeal of your tariff laws, or nullification, and, if And in the first place I admit, and, so far as I know, my need be, war; and this by the 1st of February. Now, tariff friends agree with me, that you may reduce the you propose not literally to repeal, but to supersede and revenue to the wants of the Government, and make the modify, by a new bill, the old tariff laws, upon which wants as limited or as liberal as you please. But we insist alone the ordinance of nullification acts, and to yield up that the revenue shall be derived from duties imposed for a portion of your protection. And you make haste, you the purpose of protecting the industry of the country, run to do it, clearing away all the business of the House, so far as that protection shall be needed. You claim by and laying the course open, that you may get in in time. this bill a transfer of a portion of the duties from the pro- I say, therefore, Mr. Chairman, that if, under these cirtected to the unprotected articles, tea and coffee, which cumstances, you pass this bill, the American people will involves an abandonment of the principle on our part. believe, and history will hereafter tell, that it was fnulli The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. WILDE] puts it dis-fication did it; that both you and the President quailed tinctly on this ground, and says "he shall vote against and cowered before it, and gave up to it. It will be in the bill" if this provision in it be rejected, showing that vain for you to tell them that, instead of repealing the the reduction of the revenue is not the object, but the tariff laws in form, you only modified them; and instead surrendry of a principle. We claim it, because, when of giving up the protective principle, you only gave up a the revenue is derived from duties on protected articles, part of the protection, to secure which, is all the princiwe gain not only the revenue, but a resulting benefit to ple itself is good for. They will not understand this spethe industry of the people; and if it be derived from cial pleading; they will say, as I say, that, under such duties on unprotected articles, we get only the revenue circumstances, to give up any thing is to give up all. and lose the resulting good. It is not pretended this And they will believe that nullification has done it. They transfer of duties from the protected to the unprotected will believe so for these reasons: It was only the last ses JAN. 30, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. of R. sion you passed the act reducing the revenue to the wants the other, a point of national honor. I will do neither. of the Government; the act you passed reduced it more I am willing to plant myself with my tariff friends upon than the act proposed for the purpose by the administra- this rock, and to let the wind blow, and the storm beat, tion; you established, by that act, the protective principle, in the confidence that it will be in vain. by rejecting the duty upon tea and coffee. You contend- But the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways ed that it ought to be satisfactory to the nullifiers; they and Means, in a speech that did him credit as a man of said it was not, and took their position accordingly. And taste and a scholar, and which, judging from the prenow, in order to create a necessity for a new act, they maturity of its appearance in the journals of the city, was may do what the other did not--satisfy them; you assume designed for the public, and well calculated to produce that Congress will authorize the sale of the bank stock, its effect from the charm of its style, and, I must add, sir, which Congress will never do, and that it is bad policy to from the deceptive character of its positions, was pleased have money in your treasury to pay your debt, and that to say that we must do justice and fear not," and he Congress will not divert from the public revenue the pro- puts this question: "Shall the majority of this House conceeds of the sale of the public lands, which Congress will tinue to impose upon the minority, even for another year, do; and thus you zigzag to lay the foundation for this bill. burdens which that minority believe to be oppressive, and You then call upon the same men who passed the act of this for the sake of collecting taxes which are no longer 1832, to retrace their steps; and, without any unforeseen needed?” To this question, thus propounded, I answer, occasion for it, or any new occurrence, or any new evi- unhesitatingly, no; by no means. "The collection of dence, or any new light from any quarter except that taxes which are no longer needed,” is no part of our obwhich beams from nullification, you reverse your own do-ject. And the gentleman must know that we maintain ings, and make haste in order to bring yourself within that the taxes are needed to defray the ordinary and inethe day of grace allowed by the ordinance of nullification. vitable expenses of the Government, and that there can Nay, more: From the time General Jackson was first be no surplus under the operation of the act of 1832, benamed as a candidate for the Presidency, down to a very fore the 1st of January, 1835. This is assuming what he recent period, it was universally understood that he was assumes, that the calculations of the treasury are correct; friendly to the protective system. He was supported by and this we maintain by better arguments, as I think, his friends in my part of the country on that ground. than the assumptions to the contrary by the Committee of Other gentlemen who hear me can tell how it was with Ways and Means. The question then is, if fairly put, them. I will not do him the injustice to suppose, for a "Shall the majority continue to impose upon the minority moment, that he was capable of suppressing his opinion burdens which that minority believe to be oppressive?" upon this great and interesting subject, or of dissembling And to this, I answer, as unhesitatingly, yes; if they are or deluding the people with false hopes, or of permit- needed for the protection of the industry of the country, ting it to be done by others. If the capability had exist- and are not, in fact, oppressive, which, in both respects, ed within him, the first vision of the high place to which is true of the tariff laws. Suppose the majority yield to he aspired should have annihilated it forever. A man the minority, and, by yielding, do their constituents a qualified for that exalted station, "Would not flatter Neptune for his trident, greater injury, in subverting their prosperity, than good to the minority, will the minority yield back? A multo fortiori they ought. If you are bound to yield to the mi Now, sir, I say that the people will believe that the nul-nority, because they deem the tariff laws oppressive, why lifiers, aided by their anti-tariff friends over the river, or have you not done it before, when you could do it with their anti-tariff friends aided by nullifiers, have not only honor? And why were you unwilling to do it until nullioverthrown the American system, but have changed the fication brought you to your senses? What has been the opinion of the President, and made use of him as an in- practice of the Government upon this subject? When you strument by which to do it. Thus the people will not imposed the perpetual embargo upon us, and fastened only believe, but history will record for all future time our ships to our wharves, until, as my friend from Rhode to believe, if she records the truth. Island [Mr. BURGES] said, the ropes fell off; and when self aggrieved, and undertook to assert what she thought to be her rights, did you give up? Tempora mutantur. It makes a great difference, Mr. Chairman, I perceive, from what quarter the wind blows. But I do not believe that the American system is over- you covered our wharves and our streets with grass that thrown, or can be overthrown without the aid of this could be mown, and produced an amount of sacrifice and House, as inconsiderable a body as we seem to be consi- degree of suffering at which the heart of Pluto would dered, and we are certainly made very small fish. My have relented, were there any relentings here? Did you constituents believe that it was for the power of protect- relax the grasp by which you held us? When did you ever ing our home industry, more than for any thing else, give up to us any thing? When Pennsylvania thought herand for every thing else, that the constitution was formed; that it is in the constitution, and a part of it, vitally essential to their interest and wellbeing. And we shall not give it up to menace, nor to combination, nor to nullification, nor to secession, nor to war, even if that must be, But there is another answer to this inquiry. We admit unless the God of battles shall so decide it. No, sir, that you may reduce your revenue to your wants, and never, never. On this ground we stand, on this ground make them large or small, as you please. But we claim we fall. And I should not think that any man could be that the revenue shall be derived from protective duties. found, however demented by the curse of God, mad You claim an abandonment of the principle, and, by this enough to wish to destroy this infant and fair creation of bill, a transfer of a portion of the duties from protection so much wealth, and greatness, and independence, of so to non-protection. The amount, as the amended bill now much power, and glory, and honor to this country, as the stands, is small, made so for what purpose I will not say. American system has produced. Sure I am its friends When our fathers resisted the duty on tea, they did not will not. trouble themselves about the amount of it. Will the duty This brings me back to the question whether we are on tea and coffee relieve the South? Not at all. Will prepared to surrender any portion of the protection which it satisfy the South? Not at all. I have already stated for the great interests of the country so much need; and what purpose it is in the bill. But, according to the whether we are prepared, in order to do it, to retrace chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, justice our steps, and place our names, as my colleague well requires that we surrender it. Justice to whom? Justice said, in damning contradiction to ourselves. The one, a to the South? Who imposed the tariff system upon us? point of interest, deep as the foundation of our prosperity; Virginia and South Carolina, more emphatically than any VOL. IX.--94 |