JAN. 19, 1833.] sir, I consider the protection which is proposed to iron in and spikes. By the tabular statement, the lowest duty on this bill to be all a delusion. Iron never was in more nails is said to be sixty-two per cent, on spikes seventy. danger than it is under this bill, independently of the two per cent. ad valorem; the duty being calculated on ruinous reductions directly proposed on several important the value of the imports of the year 1831. By adverting manufactures of iron. Do we not all know, does any to the bill, to ascertain the rate of duty to be charged Pennsylvanian require to be told, that the whole protec-upon nails and spikes, we do not find that these articles tive policy must be sustained as a system, or it will perish? are enumerated; and, in order to fix the duty, we are reIts motto is, "United we stand, divided we fall." It can- ferred, under the thirty-seventh paragraph of the first not be otherwise. No reasonable man can, for a moment, section of the bill, to "the lowest rate of duty which suppose that iron would continue to receive protection would have been payable on the same under the acts of from a Government which had broken down all the other 1816 or 1832." By the act of 1832, the duty on nails is important manufactories of the country. These being five cents per pound; on spikes four cents per pound, destroyed, the enemies of protective policy will be ena- equal to seventy-eight and ninety-six per cent. ad valobled to bring an increased force to operate against iron. rem. By the act of 1816, the duty on nails is three cents, We are all sensible of this. And Pennsylvania beholds in and on spikes two cents per pound; and yet the commit. the ruin of the cotton, woollen, and other manufactures tee, in their tabular statement, has put down the duties in which she and other States have a deep interest, the at four cents and three cents. If, however, we are to be fate which awaits her iron and coal under the proposed governed by the bill, and not the statement, we must asbill. An accumulated opposition would bear down, irre- sess the duties as under the act of 1816; and, instead of sistibly, upon all her great interests, and they would sink an ad valorem duty on nails of sixty-two per cent., it will in the general ruin. What, then, will become of her amount only to about forty-six per cent., and on spikes bright prospects? They will all vanish. Her splendid and about forty-seven or forty-eight per cent., instead of seIn these instances, the statement extensive improvements will be rendered unproductive, venty-two per cent. if not comparatively useless. The internal commerce and misleads us in forming an estimate of the protection given home trade, for which they were chiefly designed, will by the committee to nails and spikes. I do not know dwindle into insignificance under an abandonment of the that these circumstances are of any consequence, except protective system; and her canals, her numerous rail- to show how inaccurate the committee has been. Nails roads, and turnpike roads, whilst they, deserted and in sell for little more than the duty, and some qualities raruins, remain a monument to her noble public spirit and ther below the present duty; the duty forms no part, vigorous enterprise, will be a lasting reproach upon the therefore, of the price-a result produced by our machi Government in which she confided, but which denied nery, under a protecting tariff. Other instances of dif protection to the great national interests. Coal might be ference might be given. To do justice to the committee, saved. The "Old Dominion," for whose special bene- I will take their own construction of the provisions of fit protection was originally extended to coal and tobacco, their bill, and its operation as detailed in the tabular will stretch forth her mighty arm to save our coal: for it statement. I have no fears. The patriotic sons of Virginia will defend the coal proprietors and miners of Pennsylvania, so long as their own coal shall not be exhausted; and, if we raised tobacco, they would generously protect that also. Sir, I repeat it, and it is well understood in Pennsylvania, the whole system must be sustained together, or it will inevitably perish. The duty on hammered iron, in bars or bolts, is reduced from thirty-three to twenty-eight per cent. This description of iron is sent from Russia and Sweden; but on the British, that is, the rolled iron, the duty is reduced The reduction from ninety-five to seventy-six per cent. on the Russian and Swedish iron, in the opinion of some gentlemen, will not injure materially the iron establishTo be the better able to judge of the favor which it is ments in our country. The effect of the reduction on alleged is shown to Pennsylvania in the bill before us, and the inferior British iron will be to encourage the Briof the amount of real protection afforded to iron, let me tish manufacturers to send their rolled iron in greater ask the attention of the committee to a few of the details quantities to this country, to the injury of our own rollAnd when we view this in connexon that subject. And here I must take the liberty to re-ing mills and forges. mark, that this part of the bill exhibits such strong Sar-ion with the great reductions proposed upon the manuchett features as to impress upon my mind the belief that factures of iron which now give employment to our A compa. the Committee of Ways and Means, if they did not take rolling and slitting mills, the effect will be found to be counsel of their fears, as was intimated by my colleague, exceedingly injurious, if not totally ruinous. [Mr. MCKENNAN,] consulted a more artful enemy to Ame-ratively high duty is retained on the rolled iron, when rican industry and manufactures, viz. that loving and many articles, in the manufacture of which our iron is used, faithful British subject, Mr. Sarchett, who very kindly are to be imported at duties greatly reduced; consequentvisits Washington when the tariff is under discussion, to ly, the effect will be to impair the market for the sale of instruct the American Congress how best to protect Ame- our iron. Of what avail will be the duty on bar iron, if rican industry, and frame an American tariff. What in- the manufactures, for which iron as a raw material is terviews, if any, this individual has had with the Treasury wanted, are to be sent into our market from the workDepartment and members of the committee in relation to shops of England at very low duties; thus depriving our this matter, is best known to the gentlemen themselves, blacksmiths and mechanics of employment, and destroy. ing, in a great degree, the demand for the iron of our and they can inform this House. Before entering upon the brief examination which I own country? The duty on bar iron is, therefore, a mere propose to make, I will observe, sir, that the committee delusion. The duty on iron, in cables and chains, or parts thereof, Las furnished us with a tabular statement explanatory of the provisions of this bill: it purports to be a "statement is to be reduced from fifty-nine to twenty per cent. ad of duties that will accrue under the bill presented to valorem; on drawing-knives, axes, hatchets, woodscrews, the House of Representatives by the Committee of Ways shovels, spades, hoes, and other manufactures of iron, and Means;" and yet such are the discrepancies between from thirty to twenty per cent.; on braziers' rods, from this tabular statement and the provisions of the bill itself, in one hundred and seventeen to twenty per cent.; on nails relation to some items, that it ought not to be relied on, and spike rods, from one hundred and seventeen to twen and confirms me in the opinion that the bill was prepared ty per cent.; on nail plates, from three cents per pound to without due care. And this statement is calculated to twenty per cent.; on slit, rolled, or hammered, for bandmislead us in some particulars. Take, for instance, nails iron, casement rods, &c. from ninety-six to twenty per cent. H. OF R.] The Tariff Bill. [JAN. 19, 1833. I will not affirm, should this bill go into operation, that on the weight of glass exported, from the aggregate duty the duties or rates of duty will actually be as is stated by paid on importation to this country. the committee in the table accompanying their report. In 1831, there were imported 749,485 pounds of glass, By the act of 1816, iron in rods (and this may include uncut. Upon the exportation of this quantity, the British nail rods, spike rods, and braziers' rods) was subject to a manufacturer would receive, at two and a half cents per duty of two dollars and fifty cents per cwt. The com- pound, $18,737 over and above the excise duty paid by mittee, in all probability, made their calculation upon the him. This quantity of glass was valued, at the place of supposition that iron in rods was to be considered as em- exportation, at $102,075; on this valuation our duty was braced in the class of non-enumerated manufactures of calculated, and amounted to $35,405; from which deduct iron; not adverting to the fact that iron in rods is specified $18,737, and the amount paid to the British manufacturer in the act of 1816, and subject to a specific duty of two will leave $16,668 on $102,075, equal to about sixteen per dollars and fifty cents per cwt. cent., the protection afforded under our existing tariff to With a view still further to show the mischief which the American manufacturer. The bill now under con this bill will produce, let us for a moment examine the sideration proposes to reduce this by throwing away the provision in relation to flint glass. This is one of the specific duty of two cents per pound. In 1831, the most important and interesting manufactures in the United whole amount of duty received on 749,485 pounds of States. I think the first extensive manufactory of this glass, uncut, was $35,405; deduct from this the amount kind was established at Pittsburg, the place of my nati-produced by the specific duty of two cents per pound, viz. vity, which I have the honor, in part, to represent on this $14,989, the remainder, $20,416, is the amount of duty floor. In 1812, there were, perhaps, two furnaces in which would be chargeable under the bill now before us, operation at that place; there are now five. Other esta- being at the rate of twenty per cent. ad valorem. Deduct blishments, equally, and some much more extensive, have from this amount the sum paid to the British manufac started into existence, in various parts of our country, turer, believed to be about two and a half cents per pound, under the protection derived from your laws. Great im- amounting to $18,737, the balance, viz. $1,679, is the provements have been made in the manufacture. The amount of real protection, considerably below two per skill and ingenuity of our workmen now furnish the cent., which the Committee of Ways and Means are willcountry with articles equal, if not superior in quality to ing to allow to the American manufacturers against the any imported, and at prices greatly reduced, not exceed- surplus and refuse stock, drawbacks, fraudulent invoices, ing those at which English flint glass can be fairly im- and valuations of their British rivals. Twenty per cent. ported. Thousands of our citizens are now deriving a ad valorem will not be adequate protection, because it subsistence from this manufacture; it employs some thou- will be counteracted by the foreign valuation, if by no sands of tons of shipping, and consumes a variety of raw other foreign regulation. materials, some of which cannot be applied to any other useful purpose, and is trampled under our feet; millions of pounds of lead, of pot and pearl ashes, are required, besides several hundred thousand bushels of coal. I have no estimate with me of the whole amount of capital invested in this business, but its value to the nation may be learned from the statement before me, by which it ap pears that the total amount of flint glass now made in the United States is about one million three hundred thousand dollars per annum. These details are tedious, but are necessary to a tho rough understanding of the destructive operation of this bill. I shall not, however, detain you by going into a further examination of them. Nor is it my intention to inquire whether this bill will reduce the revenue or not; it is sufficient ground for me to withhold from it my approbation, to find that its practical operation on the country will be ruinous to its industry, and prejudicial to our best interests. The Committee of Ways and Means admit that the This, then, is briefly the state of the flint glass manu- changes proposed in the bill may be injurious; and say, facture, as it now exists, having grown up under our pro-"It is vitally important to the commercial, manufacturing, tective policy. Let us now see what amount of protec- and agricultural interests, to know what is to be the pertion is to be afforded under this bill. manent policy." How are these injurious consequences Our existing tariff imposes on flint glass, uncut, a com- to be guarded against? What alleviation is provided by pound duty of two cents per pound, and twenty per cent. the bill? It is said the reductions are to be gradual upon ad valorem, equal to an ad valorem duty of thirty-five some articles; the lowest reduction is not to take effect per cent. on the imports of 1831. What will be the pro- until the 2d day of March, 1835. How, and to whom will tection under the bill? It discards the specific duty of this afford relief? It may to the manufacturers and emtwo cents per pound, and retains only the twenty per ployers, by giving them time to sell off their stock, and cent. ad valorem on plain glass, and reduces to the same work up materials on hand. Will they replenish' No. low point the duty on cut glass, which is considered an They will diminish their business; curtail expenditures; article of luxury, and is now subject to a compound duty manufacture less; reduce the wages of workmen; dis of three cents per pound, and thirty per cent. ad valo- charge many from employment; and finally dismiss the rem, equivalent to an ad valorem duty of only thirty- whole number, and close the factories and workshops. seven per cent. on the imports of 1831. Such is the remedy for the evils which the bill will pro But, sir, this is not all. In this, as in all other branches duce. Upon whom will these evils press most severely? of industry, our greatest competitors are the British, who Not, sir, upon the employers and large capitalists; but are encouraged to ship to this country their surplus and they will fall with accumulated weight-upon whom? refuse stock, in order to obtain the drawback allowed on Upon the poorer workmen, the mechanics, and the laborits exportation. And, if I am not mistaken, this draw-ers; the very class of individuals of all others who ought back allowed to the British manufacturer exceeds the ex- to be protected; they compose an industrious and very cise duty twelve shillings and six pence per cwt., which numerous class in our community, and contribute essenis a clear bounty to the manufacturer of about two and tially to the prosperity of the country. Deprived of ema half cents per pound. In general, the amount of duty ployment, they are deprived of subsistence, of the means paid, compared with the value or quantity of the articles for the support and education of their families. This is fairly and honestly imported, will exhibit, in some de- not all; these individuals are yet more severely dealt with gree, the quantum of protection. But, in the case of in this bill; while it deprives them of employment, by Aint glass, in order to ascertain the true amount of real encouraging foreign labor, it taxes the necessaries of life protection, we must deduct the excess of drawback over more heavily. Tea and coffee enter into the consump excise, or this bounty, paid to the British manufacturer tion of every family in the country; and while their means JAN. 19, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. OF R. to obtain them are diminished, they find them taxed the industry they pursue, rely on their own labor, attention, higher under this bill. Look at the injustice and inequa- and credit, and, in most cases, depend on their own capility of this bill. Negro clothing and negro blankets, arti- tal. These are not the only persons concerned; the lacles which can be made abundantly in our country, to boring, the agricultural, and every class in the community, gratify the Southern planter, are allowed to be imported are alike interested in the protective principle. And, at the low duty of five per cent. Yet, sir, the free laborers while I am sustaining what appears to be the interests of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, with whom more immediately of the manufacturers and mechanics, I tea and coffee are necessaries of life, and which cannot be am, at the same time, sustaining the interests of the husproduced in our country, and which were made free of duty bandmen, the farmers, and wool growers. The thousands by the law of 1832, are now to be taxed twenty per cent. as was first proposed in the bill, but which the chairman of the committee now proposes to reduce about one-half on teas. Why this part ality toward the slave laborer? and why this apparent disposition to depress the free laborer? Where is the justice or equality by which the committee professed to be actuated? of mechanics and laborers engaged at the factories, the mills, and the workshops, at the loom, the anvil, and the bench, must, themselves, and their families, be clothed and furnished with subsistence. Are not all dependent on the farmers and wool growers for food and comfortable clothing? Close the workshops, discharge the workmen, deprive them of employment, and, from being consumers of breadstuffs, and other agricultural productions, and furnishing a market to the farmer, they, to sustain life, must become rival producers, and glut the market with a surplus. Our farmers understand this operation. Before we shall adopt the system now proposed, which is so destructive to American industry, and favorable to British manufacturers and pauper labor, and which the committee recommend as a permanent policy, let us for a moment inquire into the trade between this country and In some respects, 1 view the contest between the British England, and see what amount she takes of the produc- landholders and cultivators and the American farmers, tions of our farmers. Sir, we know that our breadstuffs between the British manufacturers and the American maare often excluded, in consequence of the high duties; nufacturers and mechanics, for the American_market. these are fluctuating, ascending or descending, accord- Shall we then adopt any measure calculated to favor our ing to the average price of grain for certain periods of opponents in this con roversy, and embarrass our own cititime in the English market. I find, from the table of ex-zens? I, for one, am not so disposed. The farmers and ports for 1831, that there were shipped for England mechanics of Pennsylvania, and especially those to whose twenty-six barrels of beef, one hundred and thirty barrels partiality I am indebted for the honor of a seat here, shall of pork, 2,865 pounds of hams and bacon; of flour, there never find in me one shrinking from the support of their was a much larger quantity, 855,744 barrels. It is well interests, which are identified with the prosperity and inknown, however, that much of our flour which is shipped dependence of the nation. The repeated testimony of for England never enters the English market. The du- their confidence demands from me every exertion of my ties on all the agricultural productions of the Northern, humble powers to defend them from hostile efforts of foMiddle, and Western States are enormous and prohibitory.reign rivals or domestic foes. I cannot desert them under The whole British tariff is a protecting one; and whether any circumstances, nor make the important interests conthe rates of duty are high, moderate, or low, comparative-fided to my care the subjects of mere experiment in legisly, they are designed to afford adequate protection; and lation, by pursuing a doubtful policy, and perhaps conthe better to effect this object, the duties are generally sign thousands of meritorious citizens to idleness and specific, and not ad valorem. The ad valorem rates are penury. Sir, I shall continue to advocate protection, also so arranged, that protection is secured where it is decided, unequivocal protection, and shall resist all meanecessary upon those articles the importation of which sures impairing it, or of a doubtful character. might interfere with the industry of the country; duties are imposed of twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, and as high as seventy-five per cent.; these duties are calculated upon the value of the articles at the place of importation. By our system, the protection given incidentally, or other wise, under ad valorem rates of duty, is, in many instances, less than what the duties would seem to afford, because they are estimated on the value of the articles at the place of exportation; thus putting it in the power of the foreign manufacturers and exporters to co umit frauds, undervalue their goods, and impose on the appraisers in this country. It is admitted that, under this bill, importations of foreign goods will be greatly increased for a few years at least. The effect upon England will be, to stimulate her industry, enrich her manufacturers and merchants, while it impoverishes us, and depresses our labor. The increased employment given to her laborers and paupers will relieve her parishes; and, with the increased consumption of iron and iron manufactures, of wool and woollens, will give an additional value to her landed interest, and thus enrich the more her aristocracy. I I regret that my worthy and esteemed colleague [Mr. GILMORE] and myself cannot go together upon this bill; it may be my misfortune. He thinks his course correct. have nothing to fear. I am confident of being sustained by our constituents at home, and by public sentiment throughout the State. And I do most sincerely hope that my colleague, when in retirement, may have no self-reproach for having, perhaps by the last act of his political life, unintentionally inflicted an irreparable injury upon our constituents, and given a vital stab to the best interests and prospects of our own State, and of the nation. My esteem, respect, and, he will permit me to say, friendship for my colleague, will not allow me for a moment to doubt the honesty and purity of his motives, and the patriotism which actuates him; and I shall always cherish towards him these same sentiments, which, for years, I have entertained, whether we shall be associated in the public councils of the nation, or meet in the social intercourse of private life. I cannot, however, but lament, on the present occasion, what I believe to be mistaken and erroneous views on his part. I have already noticed a portion of the argument of my Besides being of immense and paramount importance colleague; I would here briefly advert to one or two more to the nation, the protective policy is one of deep and points. To justify the reductions of the duties on edge vital concern to my immediate constituents, and to the tools, he has read to us a letter from Mr. Dunlap, giving State which I have the honor in part to represent on this some account of the manufactory of edge tools at Chamfloor. Among my constituents there are no incorporated bersburg. The success which has attended this manumanufacturing companies which have excited so much facture is owing to the protection under the tariff of 1828, clamor; there are no monopolists. Business is conduct- which subjected articles of this description to duties from ed by industrious, skilful, enterprising mechanics, practi- thirty-five to forty per cent. The letter furnishes no cal men, who, in the numerous and various branches of reason for withdrawing the protection, and reducing the VOL. IX.--73 H. OF R.] Salt Duty. [Jax. 21, 1833. duties on edge tools, spades, shovels, and other manufac-traitor to the principles, ever dear to me, of one whose tures of iron, from thirty-five and forty per cent., under blood flows in the veins of the humble individual address the act of 1888, and thirty per cent., under the act of ing you, who participated in that glorious struggle: ay, 1832, to the low rate of twenty per cent. ad valorem. sir, who perilled his life on the very soil of South Carolina, The benefits of protecting duties are clearly shown in this to win for her and her sons that liberty, protection, and letter, which proves that, under these duties, our manu- independence, which she now would deny to us, under facturers can supply the country with better and cheaper our happy Union. It is the Union which will elevate as articles than some of the English manufacturers can do, in to the pinnacle of power and prosperity as a people, ard a fair competition. attract to this nation the attention and admiration of the civilized world. MONDAY, JANUARY 21. The best kind costs an additional sum of ε. d. 7 6 2 0 My colleague admits that considerable embarrassment will be produced by this bill, and frankly says it is unavoidable; and this is to quiet the murmurs and discontents which exist in the South. The committee also alluded to those discontents. How are they to be healed? By acquiescing in the demands of the discontented, when you Mr. HOWARD, of Maryland, presented a memorial acknowledge that certain distress will be the consequence from certain inhabitants of Baltimore, on the subject of to other parts of the country. But we are told that the the rock salt manufactured in the State of Maine, and Union is to be preserved by this measure. Sir, you weaken observed that he intended, at the earliest possible mothe Union by destroying the domestic industry of the ment, to call the attention of the Committee of the country, from which springs that extensive and diversified Whole, now engaged in the discussion of the tariff, to home trade, which, while it promotes a mutual depend-the subject of this memorial. He thought it proper to ence, unites us the more closely. This is the great ce-state its contents. If the allegations in it were true, and ment of our Union: destroy or impair it, and the parts he had not the slightest doubt of their truth, the result composing this Union may continue to occupy the same of our legislation on the subject of salt was most extrarelative position for a time; but, resting loosely on each ordinary. It benefited the British shipping, and the other, they will be the more easily disturbed, and finally manufactory of fossil salt in Maine, whilst it deeply inoverthrown, by some rude hand. We are called on by some jured American shipping, was ruining the American manugentlemen to abandon the protective policy, because of facturer, and giving the consumer a bad article. Brithe attitude which South Carolina has assumed. We are tish ships, said Mr. H., are obliged to come to Nova told that it is a crisis. It is a crisis with South Carolina. She Scotia for timber, and rather than come empty, they stands on the verge of a precipice! Who has brought bring fossil salt at a very low freight, which pays a low her to this precipice? Not this House; not this Govern- duty, and is taking exclusive possession of the market. ment; her own infatuated politicians have led her on, and The following calculation he believed to be correct, as now tell us that, unless we retrace our steps-repeal the the information respecting Liverpool was derived from a deliberate enactments of this Government-she will step commercial house there of unexceptionable standing: over this precipice; she will plunge into the dark abyss of Rock salt can be delivered on board at Liverdisunion, there to writhe and wrangle under the miseries pool, at from 6s. 9d. to 7s. 6d. per ton, in which her own folly will involve her. Are we to yield which includes the river freight, say to her unreasonable demands, because she has resolved to resist the laws of the Union? Shall we, from the fear of this resistance, submit to her dictation? This is the very ground upon which her leaders hope to succeed. One of them, a Colonel Preston, in a speech at a public meeting, said, "The protective system reels under our blows. Last summer, the fear of that resistance which we had announced, drove them into a reduction." Such is their language. Last summer we were driven into a reduction, and now we are to be driven into an abandonment of the protective system, from the fear of resistance! I cannot agree to succumb, in legislation, to menace or force. Are we to legislate with a lash over our backs? Would gentlemen (and I put the question to them) be willing to revoke the laws of this Union, if there were an armed force even at the doors of this hall making the demand? 1 think not, unless they were willing to surrender the liberties of the country. A Pennsylvania Assembly once said to a Deputy Governor, "Those who would give up essen- Thus it would seem that for 25 cents the article, such tial liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve as it is, can be sold in our markets. But Mr. H. said be neither liberty nor safety." As a Pennsylvanian, I appre- never heard of any sales at this price; on the contraciate the sentiment: as a lover of my country, I shall ad- ry, by coming within a few cents of the market price of here to protection, which is connected with essential other salt, the consumer was not repaid in cheapness for liberty. Sir, some gentlemen are content to raise the the injury sustained by other classes of society. The raw standard of Union with protection down. I shall run material was in a foreign country, and of course the sup up the Union flag, with protection up, to the very top of ply would be precarious in time of war; and yet the manuthe mainmast of our ship of State, and there I would nail factory was encouraged by our legislation at the exit fast, where it should remain until shot away by some pense of American shipping, to the destruction, also, of foreign enemy, or cut down by the ruthless hand of a that class of American manufacturers who use the raw mutineer on board. Protection is necessary to life, liber- material found in our country. A parallel to this improty, independence, and the perpetuity of the Union. Sir, I vident legislation was difficult to be found. The memo will not yield to any gentleman in attachment to our be- rialists prayed that the duty on foreign salt might be dimin loved Union. I will cherish it as fervently. Were it other-ished, or that the duty on fossil salt might be increased, wise with me, I would be a traitor to the patriotic princi- either of which steps would restore to American shipples of the fathers of our revolution. I should prove a ping the equality with British which the present legisla Cost of raw material at the manufactory in Duty on ditto Allow for loss in manufacturing Add for contingencies and profits Cost of Liverpool common salt by actual im -Duty 10 0 19 6 7 cents. 1 2 5 15 cents. 10 25 25 cents. 10 35 JAN. 21, 1833.] The Tariff Bill. [H. or R. tion has taken away. He moved a reference of the me-gathered by the bee on the mountain. When they got it morial to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the in a state of concretion, they called it by a name approUnion, and that it should be printed. priate to the dialect in use among themselves, meaning, Mr. JARVIS said that, when the proper time arrived, what the homely vernacular of modern housewifery exhe should be prepared to meet the question; but at pre-presses by the term-I had hoped never more to speak sent it seemed to him a proposition on the part of a few the word here-sugar! Yet things must be named when shipowners, to enable themselves to fleece the people of necessary; and I trust I may not be rated for assumption, the country. when I profess to know something more than ordinary Mr. HOWARD said that he would make but a single folks about this article, seeing that I happen to live on the remark in reply. When the time arrived for discussion, very spot where it is chiefly produced, and that I have he should be able to prove, from papers in his possession, an authority, from those who produce it, to speak to you and from the speech delivered upon this floor by the gen- about it, on the event of its being called in question here. tleman from Maine last summer, that the clear profits of The contingency has arrived; and I must crave indulthis manufactory of fossil salt could not have been less gence while I venture a few observations on it, and on than a hundred thousand dollars last year. These were some other things. They will be pertinent, I hope. If I the persons who were fleecing, without compunction, the whole people of the United States, under the protection of a monopoly which he would do his best to break up. As this was not the time to discuss the subject at large, he renewed the motion to refer and print; which motion prevailed. The House having again gone into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. WAYNE in the chair, and resumed the consideration of the did not think they would, I certainly should not obtrude them; at the same time, I own that I do it with great reluctance under the circumstances. Why and wherefore speak to you about it all? To speak, one must employ speech. The object of speech is to reason. The very faculty of articulate utterance is the gift to rational beings, with face sublime, looking upward to the azure vault of heaven, to contradistinguish them from the grovelling herd to which instinct is reason, and passion law. How is it with the work we have now undertaken? For my part, I have too much reason to fear that the reason of the Mr. WHITE, of Louisiana, rose, and said, if it is in or- case is to have mighty little to do with its decision. I hear der for me to address the Chair, I hope it is in possibility it familiarly said that the part we have to perform is not for the Chair to hear me. Aware of mine own infirmity, to be groping about in quest of 'the rationale of the meaI may need its admonition if I should happen to deviate sure, but to adopt the bill, and thereby save the Union. from rule or propriety. This amazes me. That this our fabric of Government, TARIFF BILL., I have no expectation, said he, of being able to make the envy and the admiration of the world, to which the any very new or important discoveries in that grand mys- eve of the oppressed of every clime, in whose breast there terious region called by us the tariff. Too many travel- beats a pulse for freedom, is anxiously turned, not with lers have explored it before me. They have described the expectation of realizing the perfect likeness of the it too minutely, and too graphically, for me to think of prototype, but in the fond hope of approximating to following them. Whatever of beauty or of deformity is something that may resemble it, and of which we ourthere, they have given us. And it must be confessed selves have been boasting for the last fifty years, as the that, if we are to judge from their respective narratives, very perfection of human reason, should now require for the elements both of beauty and of deformity are thrown its salvation a departure from, or an oblivion of, that together in wonderful juxtaposition. which at first brought together its disjointed particles, and cemented them into a harmonious whole! I confess it passes my comprehension; though there are, no doubt, many very excellent things which I do not comprehend. On the one hand, we have glowing accounts of the wealth and resources of the country-its gold, its silver, its various fabrics, and, what is better than all, its thrifty and rapidly increasing population, amply supplied with all that is useful or ornamental in life. That is one side of the I have heard it emphatically declared, in a very high picture. place, not here, but hard by, that the repeal of the tariff On the other hand, we are presented with appalling was not now to be discussed as a question of political images of wretchedness and wo. We hear of cruel and economy, but as a question of liberty. Of liberty! I was relentless rulers. We are told of whole tribes of men more than a little puzzled to conceive what the orator ground down by the hands of ruthless tyranny. Our very meant by "liberty," unless it were the liberty of destroysoul is harrowed up by the recital of thousands of human ing others, without benefit or emolument to one's self; the beings immolated, to soothe the superstition, or to glut liberty of robbing us of that which will not enrich you, the cupidity of a despot. In short, whatever that fairy but will make us poor indeed. land contains to gladden the heart, or to make it sad, we Mr. Chairman: This creature of the brain, called liberty, have, either now or on recent occasions, been very circumstantially informed of all. But, sir, there is one item in its statistics, which, although it has been frequently referred to here, and has been deemed worthy of a place in a paper recently introduced to our notice, in the name and under the auspices of the Committee of Ways and Means, is not, as I apprehend, so well nor so universally understood as the rest. Gentlemen will readily conceive what it is to which I alJude. It is, of course, to a certain crystalline substance, at once fair to the sight, and savory to the taste-a thing of very common use in domestic economy, and which is not unfrequently mentioned by political economists; it was once made the subject of a special lucubration by a dissertator on political economy, a friend of mine from Georgia, whom I am very sorry not to see here now; it is obtained from a beautiful oriental reed, supposed by the ancients to exude spontaneous honey, sweeter than that seems to be a kind of Protean thing, assuming all and every shape which the fancy of any man, in any age or nation, chooses to bestow on it. On the banks of the Bosphorus, it is liberty to use the bowstring and the sack. The misbelieving Mahommedan calls it liberty to snatch from society and from freedom creation's fairer half, and consign them to solitude and seclusion in walls and guarded watch towers. Monster! thus to depreciate heaven's last best gift, stamped, as it is, with the very impress of the giver. Brightest of all that is, the radiance of their countenance gilds and hallows wherever it falls. Bereaved of its divine effulgence, the world would be a wearisome waste, where the winds would sigh no music, the opening flowers breathe no perfume. In their presence, political controversy divests itself of half its asperity, and angry disputants confess the might, the majesty of loveliness. In some countries it is deemed liberty to ordain and to perpetuate such regulations as may best conduce to the |