"We have two nurseries for forming seamen. 1. Our coasting trade, already on a safe footing. 2. Our fisheries, which, in spite of natural advantages, give us just cause of anxiety.'

"After reviewing the condition of the fisheries, their necessities and importance, Mr. Jefferson said, in 1791:

"It will rest, therefore, with the Legislature, to decide whether prohibition should not be opposed to prohibition, and high duty to high duty, on the fish of other nations; whether any, and which, of the naval and other duties may be remitted, or an equivalent given to fishermen, in the form of drawback or bounties.'

"Mr. Jefferson uses this language in his message of December 16, 1802 :

"To cultivate peace, and maintain commerce and navigation in all their lawful enterprises; to foster our fisheries and nurseries of navigation, and for the nurture of man

are

the landmarks by which we are to guide ourselves in all our proceedings.'

"The importance of these fisheries to-day is well worthy of attention."

Mr. Hamlin made the following effective answer to the remark of the senator from Alabama, that the bounty law is unequal :

"The senator from Alabama may tell me truly that his State does not enjoy the advantages of the bounty law. Granted. The law which regulates the rates of postages and collects the revenue, for the purpose of paying for the transmission of mails, is no more and no less a general law than this in relation to fisheries; and, if there be force in the senator's argument, while it may not apply in as strong a degree in point of fact, it applies precisely with the same force to the post office laws. The Northern States pay more than the expenses of

their mails, and contribute that amount to the support of mails in the South. In 1850, the total postage collected in the Southern States was $1,042,809.24, and the expense of transportation, $1,496,356.50; while, in the Northern States, the postage collected was $2,975,852.19, and the expense of transportation, $1,427,822.63. In 1855, the total postage collected in the Southern States was $1,553,198; cost of transportation, $2,385,953; while in the Northern States the postage was $4,670,725, and the transportation, $2,608,295. In 1857, the receipts. were at the South, $1,672,856.78, and the cost of the service, $2,329,299; while in the North the receipts were $5,498,303.12, and the cost of service $4,095,267. In 1855, Maine contributed $151.358 to the Post Office revenues, and cost $82,218; while Alabama cost $226,816, and contributed $104,514.

“I make no complaint of this; but I only use it as an illustration, for the purpose of showing that any general law, in its application, may draw from one section of the country a portion of the revenue to carry out the system in another. The senator's own State shows a deficiency in the post office revenue of about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars annually; and I contribute very cheerfully, whether it be by direct appropriation or in any other way, to supply the deficit, in order to carry out a general system. The post office law is no more general, no more applicable to all, than this other law. In the one case, the fisheries happen to be local, although connected with the commerce and navy of the country, and they are in their importance as national as though they spread all along the coast.

"Another word, sir. I have taken some pains to examine, from a paper which has been very kindly presented to me by a friend who has resided on the Pacific

coast, the fisheries in those waters, and I have arrived at the conclusion that precisely the same state of things which exist on that coast exist on the Atlantic coast; and I have not a doubt that, for the purpose of raising at corps of seamen there, the application of this law is as wise for the Pacific coast as for the coast of the Atlantic. Nor have I a doubt that, when they come to examine it carefully, they will find it as necessary there as it is here, as wise there as it is here, and wise in both instances."

All who read the extracts which we have given, will see that fearless and decided as Mr. Hamlin has been in the utterance of his individual opinions, patriotism has always governed him more than partisanship. Devoted to his own state and people as few men have been, he has never been local or sectional. He has faithfully discharged all his duties as a public man, and will be prepared to meet the exalted responsibilities which may devolve upon him. He will doubtless prove the wise and trusted counselor of the chief magistrate of the Union, and will stand faithfully at his side a defender of "the rights of all the States, and Territories, and people of the Nation, the inviolability of the Constitution, and the perpetual union, harmony, and prosperity of all."

THE END.