H. OF R.] The Tariff Bill. [JAN. 24, 1833. geniture and entailment of estates should be abolished. grievances, according to the forms of law, but will forTheir repeal had now broken those estates into frag- ever, and effectually, prostrate the power of Congress ments, and forced upon that class a reduction in the scale before the mandates of State authority. No one can of living. We were now entered upon the second gene-avoid the conviction that the convention desired no acration since their repeal, and had arrived precisely at that commodation; that its real object was the prostration of point where the pressure of the change was felt with the the authority of Congress: since the ordinance and adgreatest severity. If any are willing to sacrifice the pros- dress, it had set up pretensions, with an avowed determiperity of the many to the happiness of the few, the States nation never to yield them, which it must have known at the South have only to restore those laws, and again could never be acceded to. What nation, Mr. Chairman, they will see the broad manor; the stately mansion will ever was there on earth, which had a custom-house, or rise from its ruins, and become, as before, the seat of collected a dollar on imports, that had not had, as between elegance, of luxury, and of refined hospitality. What- different articles, its discriminating duties? Can any genever influence the legislation of Congress may have had tleman imagine for a moment that, if such a pretension upon the South, the causes to which he had adverted had been set up and insisted on at the time the constituwere, in his opinion, sufficient to account for all the tion was made, that instrument would ever have been changes there. adopted? a pretension opposed to the uniform experiBut, he said, if for no other cause, he would vote ence and settled opinions of all nations, both then and against the bill, on account of the state of our legislation now. But such, sir, is the concession on her part, and on the subject of the tariff, and the attitude South Caro- such the condition on which alone South Carolina will lina had assumed in respect to it. At the last session we consent to obey your revenue laws. had staid here at the public expense near eight months, He had nothing to say upon the doctrines and theory to adjust this question on a permanent basis. We had of nullification and secession, which the gentleman from made a general reduction in the scale of duties, and Georgia, [Mr. WILDE,] who last addressed the committee, brought down the duties on those articles consumed by tells us will be carried into execution, if we attempt to slaves, and were said to oppress slave labor, almost to enforce obedience to our laws. They who choose may nominal rates, and far below what is paid by the free la- elaborate theories of Government, and embody them in borer on most of the articles consumed by him. We the form of resolves. To that he had no objection; they were called upon to allay the excitement in Carolina; to had an undoubted right to do so. But this much he would act in the spirit of conciliation, and by concession to save venture to say, in reply to the gentleman, that, if an atthe Union. Influenced by these motives and considera- tempt to carry out these doctrines and put them into practions, he had voted for the bill of last session, against his tice was ever made, it would be met at the point of the better judgment; and when he found, along with the sword. Whoever examines the geographical structure Middle and Western States, the votes of one-half of the of the country, and the dependency of its parts, must be South, and one-half of the North in favor of the bill, he satisfied of the truth of what he now said. These docdid suppose that the question and its animosity were at trines go not merely to subvert the Union of these States, an end. But the law had been spurned at, resented as a but to reduce the great interior of the nation, destined to new insult to Carolina, and made the occasion of new contain a vast majority of its population, to a state of abdemands on her part. That State had proceeded, under solute vassalage to its Atlantic exterior. Let Louisiana, the assumed forms of law, to ordain that it should never for example, secede, and form an independent Governbe carried into execution in her territory; and she is now ment-does she not lay tributary to her the whole inteopenly preparing to execute her determination by an ap-rior, from the summits of the Alleghanies to the Rocky peal to the sword. The convention which adopted that Mountains? Is it a question to be reasoned about? Must ordinance had put forth an address to the people of the not we on the Ohio, and they on the Missouri, for comUnited States, in which they demand a repeal of the ex- mon preservation, and of common necessity, draw the isting revenue laws, and a total abandonment of the prin- sword, and cut a passage into the Gulf of Mexico? ciple of protection, as the only condition on which South Carolina will remain in the Union. But, they say they are willing to make a large offering to preserve the Union; and, as a concession on their part, they will consent to a law which imposes a uniform rate of duty on all imported articles, in case the revenue raised by the law shall be limited to such amount, and to such purposes, as South Carolina (not Congress) shall think necessary and proper. In this plan of taxation, they "are willing to acquiesce in a spirit of liberal concession, provided they are met in due time, and in a becoming spirit." If the principle be established any where, it becomes the law of all, and the right of all the States in the Union. How long, sir, might it not be, before a spirit of cupidity might seize upon New York, and she be induced to think that, of right, she ought to enjoy, in a separate Government, those advantages of nature, which made some of her keen-sighted politicians of that day averse to the restraints of the present constitution? Cut off, on the right and the left, from access to the ocean, what should we be but "hewers of wood and drawers of water" to those who laid us tributary? And that is not all, sir, so far as Now, sir, he could not but feel, that to pass a law respects the State from which he came. Under the while that ordinance and address were unrecalled, would guaranty in the constitution, "that the citizens of each be to disgrace Congress, and dishonor the nation; it State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities would plant the seeds of rebellion in every State in the of citizens in the several States," we claim the right to Union. The convention had not deigned to tell us what go and come about our lawful business, when and where is meant by "a becoming spirit;" and he knew not what we please, within the limits of this confederacy. Trustit was, except, indeed, it be, in the spirit of submission, ing to that guaranty, the people of the State of Ohio had, to vote the repeal on our bended knees. The convention with great effort, and at much expense, united the waters did not, and could not expect a compliance; its language of the Gulf of Mexico with those of the Hudson and St. is not couched even in terms of ordinary civility; it is the Lawrence. And in the completion of the public works language of a master to a slave. A demand, under such now in progress in Pennsylvania and on the Potomac, circumstances, and in such form, of an abandonment of they look forward to important outlets through the Delathe principle of protection, and the abolition of discrimi- ware and Chesapeake. Could they suffer these avenues nating duties, is, in effect, to demand, in a form unknown to their country to be seized upon, and this constitutional to the constitution, an amendment to that instrument, of guaranty wrested from them, by those who hold the keys vital moment to the Union; which, if yielded to, will not that unlock the interior? Are not New Hampshire and only supersede hereafter amendments and redress of Vermont wholly at the mercy of Massachusetts and New The gentleman from Georgia had called upon all the great interests in the country, and all the parties in this House, to aid in carrying this bill, and had threatened all - with disunion, as the consequence of refusal. [H. OF R. York? To the whole line of interior, from New Hamp- oppose the President, the man of his own choice, in the shire to the Rocky Mountains, embracing a great majority execution of the laws. From what he said, it is evident of the territory of the Union, and nearly half of its po- that gentleman had supported the re-election of General pulation at this time, it is nothing more nor less than a Jackson for the very reason that he [Mr. V.] had opposed question of submission and slavery. In all that region, it. He [Mr. V.] had long foreseen the crisis at which we to the obligation of the constitution to preserve the Union had now arrived. He had looked anxiously on upon cernature has superadded the obligation of necessity-a ne- tain transactions in this country, and examined critically cessity that will exist, undiminished in force, while the the tendency and consequences of certain doctrines which waters of the Mississippi shall move on in their courses. had emanated from the Chief Magistrate, and he must say Constitutional obligations, sir, may be broken down; but that he was filled with fear and trembling lest the laws the laws of nature cannot. The North and the South should go unexecuted, and the Government be suffered may find an interest in separation; but the interior never to run down into absolute anarchy. We had both been can. And, whether the attempt be made in New England disappointed, and at the point where the gentleman deor in South Carolina, it requires no spirit of prophecy to serts the President, to oppose the laws, he pledged himforetell that the whole interior will draw its united sword self, for one, to come up to his aid to enforce their executo put it down. Sir, the anchor of our Union hangs upon tion. The gentleman, in that part of his speech, demanded the great interior. Every year will imbed it deeper and to know if we intended to keep up the tariff to provide deeper, and give it increasing strength and tenacity, until, the means of carrying on war against South Carolina. He after another generation, it can never be dragged up would answer, no. We have no power, under the confrom its immovable moorings. He had no fears for the stitution, to make war on Carolina, but we have power to Union; because nature had invested the interior with au- suppress insurrection there, and he trusted, if necessary, thority, for its own preservation, to command the public it would be done. He had also emphatically told us, that peace here on the Atlantic, and a little time will give it "if nullification is at an end, revolution has begun." power to see that its mandates are obeyed. This, sir, is a case in which the name will be determined by the result; and, until success be attained, the gentleman must permit the friends of the constitution to call armed resistance there by the less grateful name of rebelHe had lion. The gentleman made an attempt to throw obloquy thought proper to invoke the friends of the Vice Presi- on the idea that liberty was to be maintained by force. dent elect to vote for the bill, and not to lose the present He seems to understand liberty to be the right of every opportunity, lest the friends of two distinguished Sena- man to do as he chooses without restraint. Whether the tors should make common cause in favor of Carolina, gentleman got his idea of liberty from a certain foreign against what he was pleased to denominate the giant professor in South Carolina, or imported it himself, he and the magician." Respecting the plain inference from knew not; but he did know that it was not of American this invitation, that the Vice President and his friends origin. It was but another name for anarchy, and he here are capable of acting, on this great question, from agreed with the gentleman, such liberty was not worth the personal motives, he had nothing to say. The keeping employment of force in its cause. American liberty, sir, of the honor of the Vice President, or that of his friends is a regulated right; it is the right of every man to do as in this House, was not committed to his hands; they might he chooses, subject to the restraints imposed by the pubvindicate his and their own honor in such way as they lic will for the public good. It was to obtain liberty, in thought proper. As the friend of one of the Senators, that sense of the term, that our fathers had freely poured he felt he had a right to speak. He spoke for himself out their blood, and to preserve which, if needs must be, only, not for that Senator, or for others of his friends. he trusted it would again be as freely shed. We had fallen, it is true, but, nevertheless, we stood "by And last of all, sir, the gentleman has ventured upon the our principles, and upon our principles." Though we first regular beat up for volunteers to rebellion that we have had fallen, South Carolina must expect no aid or counte- had on this floor. He calls upon the Southern States to nance from us. The gentleman should have remembered resist, and form a Southern confederacy. He has assured that protection to industry, and obedience to the laws, us they will resist, and will succeed. According to the were inscribed on our banner. That banner is yet un fashion of the day, the question is presented as though furled. The call for aid comes too late. If, on the no- the longer continuance of the South in the Union was a mination of Mordecai M. Noah, in 1830, instead of giving, matter of favor, not of interest. Is this true, Mr. Chairby his casting vote, the seal of approbation to the cor- man? Has not the South as deep a stake in the Union as rupt and proscriptive doctrine that "to the victor belong any portion of our wide-spread empire? He cheerfully the spoils of victory," he had then cried from the watch admitted that, in bravery, in intelligence, and in firmness tower that the citadel of liberty was about to fall by sap of purpose, the people of the South were not inferior to and by mine, and had then come to the aid of freedom of any in the Union. And with all these qualities, was it not opinion, he would this day have stood forth prominently true that the tide water region, below the Potomac, was before the American people, in the great moral revolution that must have followed. But he thought proper to throw his influence into the contrary scale. the weakest and most exposed section of our country? The formation of the country, and the existence within its bosom of a large mass of a particular description of population, render it inherently weak. Are not the people of the North and West, to some extent, the natural protectors of that country? Since the gentleman from Georgia had thought proper to introduce the name of the late Vice President in connexion with this subject, he would take the liberty to say that, in his conscience, he believed it was the disappointed The gentleman somewhat vauntingly assured us that and repressed ambition of that individual that now agitated Virginia will draw the sword for Carolina, and named the South Carolina. Do not you think, Mr. Chairman, that Potomac as the boundary of his new empire; but he wiseif that individual could attain, or had a prospect of attainly left its western limits undefined. He claimed no right ing, the object of his desire, the gathering tempest would to speak for Virginia; but he would venture to predict soon disperse, and, in place of the lowering cloud that now the gentleman was mistaken. There was in Virginia too hangs over the horizon in Carolina, the sun would shine as clear, and all the elements there become as calm and joyous as in a lovely summer's day? The gentleman, sir, has avowed his determination to much of good sense, of patriotism, of devotion to country, and too deep a stake there in this Union, for her to commit such an act of political suicide. He knew Western Virginia personally, and he knew it well. There was no [JAN. 24, 1833. And for one, where more devotion to the Union, more contentment down to those who shall come after us. under its laws; and it will prove a vain illusion to imagine horrible as the alternative may be, he would consent that that the people of Western Virginia will unite themselves every man of us on this floor should be swept away, that to such a confederacy, formed on such principles, and every river in the land should run with blood, and onethereby forever and irrevocably subject themselves to the half of this fair generation perish by the sword, sooner dominion of that policy which they never cease to oppose than one word or syllable of that constitution should be and protest against. Does not the wide-spread territory obliterated by force. That constitution, sir, is more preof Virginia, in the very heart and centre of the republic, cious than blood. And if there are any in this House who give to her a power and consequence and respect among do not feel the same fixed determination to sustain the her sister States, which her wealth, her population, and liberties of this country, he was sure there were millions her resources, could not command for her if she were si- out of it who did. When force shall triumph over the tuated on the exterior of the Union? She must forever constitution, the Government is at an end, and with it, possess greater political advantages, from her geographi- the hopes of freedom, and the cause of liberty, every cal position, than any other State in the Union. What where are extinct. What he now said was not in referinfatuation, then, can ever seize upon her voluntarily to ence to any existing excitement or disaffection, but of the throw away these advantages, to cast down the standard value of the Union in the abstract, and of the cause of the that her own Washington bore up, and array herself un- Union, let any movement against it come whence it may, der the palmetto, the growth of another clime? and when it may. By thus making herself an exterior State of the new Mr. V. said he wished to advert to one other topic, and confederacy, would she not cast all these advantages into one only, connected with this bill, before he sat down. the lap of South Carolina? And, worse than that, situat- The scale of duties in this bill is framed upon the suppoed on the frontier of a confederacy more populous, more sition that the public lands will continue to be a permaabundant in resources, and possessed of a powerful marine, nent branch of the revenue, and yield two and a half milshe must be ever exposed, by her open waters, and long lions per annum. The fallacy of calculating upon the line of inland boundary, to the ravages of unequal war. lands as a branch of the permanent revenue, has been reHas she not every thing to lose, and nothing to gain, by peatedly commented upon during the debate, on account such an alliance? No, sir! Virginia will hold fast to the of the very great probability there is that the public doUnion; and, aside from all considerations of patriotism main will cease to be a source of revenue, either in the and love of country, in which none excel her, the sleep-way recommended by the President, or in the mode indiless sagacity of her clear-sighted statesmen, and the intel cated in the Senate's bill, which passed at the last session, ligence of her people, will never betray her into such a and is now pending in that body again, with every prosstep of political folly and stupidity. pect of being sent to this House. He desired to suggest, There was one other heresy, which had been so often for the consideration of the House now in advance of that repeated on all sides of the House, that he could not re-bill, that the question whether the proceeds of the Lands frain from noticing it. It was, that sooner than shed should be retained in the treasury, or divided among the blood, it would be better to give up the Union; that when States, after the payment of the public debt, was not a blood should be shed, the Government will be at an end. question of political expediency, as gentlemen seemed to He thought this was setting too light an estimate on the think, but one of good faith and obligation. The history value of the Union, and on its power to preserve itself. of that day shows that the great object of the cession of What people, sir, ever existed, who have not had seasons the public domain to the United States was the payment of civil commotion? And what Government is there on of the national debt. At that time the debt and other exearth, however worthless, that has not defended itself against them? Can we expect that which has happened to all other nations will not happen to us in the progress of our history? And is this Government alone without the power of self-preservation? The causes of civil commotion every where lie deeper than the foundations of Government. They are the volcanoes over which Government is built, and the most it can do is to suppress their irruption, or ward off their violence. penses of the General Government were provided for by requisitions on the several States, which raised their respective quotas in their own way. As these lands were ceded in this state of things as a common fund for the States respectively, it became necessary to create a cmmon agent or trustec, to act for all in converting them into money. Accordingly, the cession of Virginia, for example, and to which the subsequent cessions conformed, was made to the confederation for the use of the The seeds of civil commotion are sown in the passions, States respectively, Virginia inclusive. The language prejudices, ambition, cupidity, and injustice of the indi- of the deed of cession is in these words: "All the within viduals of which communities are composed. And when territory so ceded to the United States shall be considerwe consider the great variety of exciting principles in ed as a common fund for the use and the benefit of such this extended country, it is wonderful, and we have great of the United States as have become members of the concause for thankfulness to the Supreme Ruler of the uni- federation, or federal alliance of the said States, Virginia verse, that we have so long enjoyed a degree of tranquilli- inclusive, according to their usual respective proportions ty, prosperity, and happiness, such as has never fallen to in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faiththe lot of any other people. But we cannot reasonably fully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and fo hope it will always be so. We must expect seasons of no other use or purpose whatsoever." This language trial and peril to the Union will come; but he had an un- shows that the confederation took the title but not the inshaken faith that, come when they may, it will prove tri- terest in the ceded territory: it took it to sell and pay out umphant, and go down to a glorious immortality. The the proceeds-that it was a common fund-that it was a fruits of this our Union show it to be the most precious fund for the use and benefit of the States respectively Government the world ever saw. And, if necessary, we or individually; in other words, that it was the property of ought to sacrifice more of treasure and of life for its pre- the States; that it was owned by them in different proporservation than was ever offered up for any other cause. tions; the words, "according to their usual respective Sir, the constitution of the United States is the consum- proportions in the general charge and expenditure," bemation of that liberty and union which our fathers pur- ing used in the graut not to designate the objects of the chased with blood, with suffering, and with treasure. It grant, but to fix a rule by which to ascertain the share or is a perpetual covenant between them and us, and our interest of each State. As the lands were intended to pay posterity. They have transmitted the precious inherit- the public debt, and sustain public credit, the proceeds ance to us, and we are bound, at every cost, to hand it were (as in good faith they ought to have been) specifi bill. [H. OF R. Mr. VINTON resumed the course of his remarks. At about 6 o'clock Mr. EVERETT moved for the rising of the committee. The motion was negatived: Yeas 57, nays 63. Mr. VINTON then resumed, and continued to occupy the floor until near 7 o'clock. During the course of Mr. V.'s speech, he had observed that he would sooner see every man who occupied the seats around him swept away; he would sooner see the rivers of this land run with blood, and one-half of the population of this fair republic perish by the sword, than see one jot or one tittle of that sacred constitution which had been bequeathed to us by our fathers, or of the laws, obliterated by force:" when a sudden cry was heard from Mr. McDUFFIE, of "Robespierre!" followed by some slight hisses from different quarters of the hall. The CHAIR called to order. cally pledged for the satisfaction of the common debt of The question recurring on Mr. SPEIGHT's motion to all. When the Government of the confederation was go into Committee of the Whole on the state of the broken up, the agent or trustce ceased to exist. It there- Union, fore became necessary to create a new agent to dispose of Mr. ARNOLD demanded the yeas and nays-being the lands according to the objects of the grant, otherwise taken, they were as follows: Yeas 90, nays 75. the grant must have been without an agent to execute its The House thereupon went again into Committee of provisions. The new Government about to be created the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. WAYNE in was the natural agent to do this. Accordingly, the con- the chair, and resumed the consideration of the tariff stitution, in the third section of the fourth article, provides for this specific object in these words: "The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territories or other property of the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State." The qualifying clause reserves the rights of the States, and the clause itself gives a disposing power only over, not an interest in, the property. Nothing can be plainer than that the General Government holds as a trustee, and never had the use of the land invested in it. The convention exercised great caution on the subject of the engagements of the confederation. And they further provided, in the first clause of the sixth article, "that all debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this constitution as under the confederation." The compact of cession was an engagement of the confederation; and the public domain now stands on the precise footing it did the day of the grant. The General Government, then, holds the public land ceded by The CHAIR [Mr. WAYNE] replied that he was not Virginia, as a trustce for the use of the States, Virginia clothed in vain with power to preserve order in the. inclusive, subject to the payment of a common debt of all. | House, and he should not fail to exercise it. When the debt is paid, the residuum belongs to the States, Considerable sensation prevailed for a moment, but it in the proportions prescribed by the deed of cession; and soon subsided. the trustee cannot appropriate that residuum to its own use, or give it away to a part of the States, without a breach of good faith, and violating its express obligations. The scale of duties, then, ought to be adjusted without regard to the proceeds of the public lands, after the payinent of the public debt. And that will alter the whole structure of the bill. He was aware this view of the duty of Congress did not apply to the territory ceded by France and Spain; but it did apply to the country from which the great mass of that branch of the revenue was derived. [The speech of Mr. V. is given above unbroken, but, after he had procceded a considerable time, he gave way for a motion by Mr. ARNOLD, for the rising of the committee. So the committee rose.] Mr. CARSON said that the gentleman had a right to give utterance to his indignant feeling at such a sentiment. When Mr. VINTON had concluded his speech, Mr. CARSON rose to explain. It had not been he (as seemed to be supposed by many gentlemen) who had uttered the expressive word "Robespierre," ́when the gentleman from Ohio had expressed a sentiment so monstrous. That word had been uttered by a gentleman over the way, who would never disavow his words. Deeply as Mr. C. felt, he should have remained silent; but when he heard the hissing which arose, he could not but express what he had done. But, my G-d! exclaimed Mr. C., what have we heard! heard it here! on the floor of an American Congress! That the gentleman would see every man on this floor swept off from it-all the talent, all the patriotism, all the noble spirits in that hall swept off! But was that all? No. But that he would see the rivers of this whole country run blood, and half the population of this our fair inheritance put to the sword, In the House, Mr. SPEIGHT moved again to go into rather than that constitution should be violated, which committee, and demanded the yeas and nays. Mr. IRVIN moved an adjournment. Mr. C. had reard the gentleman himself declare to have been already violated, and which men, far superior both Mr. SPEIGHT demanded the yeas and nays on this to that gentleman and to himself, believed to have been motion. They were taken accordingly, and stood as fol-repeatedly violated-half the population! by which the lows: Yeas 75, nays 78. So the House refused to adjourn. [It was now past 4 o'clock.] Mr. SPEIGHT renewed his motion to go into committee. Mr. BURD demanded a call of the House. Mr. TAYLOR said that, if the gentleman would withdraw that motion, he would assent to a recess till 6 o'clock. Mr. BURD declining to do so, the yeas and nays were taken on calling the House, and resulted as follows: Yeas 55, nays 95. So the call was refused. Mr. SUTHERLAND now moved an adjournment. Mr. WILDE demanded the yeas and nays--being taken, they were: Yeas 76, nays 86. So the House refused to adjourn. gentleman meant his brethren-and this, after a sovereign State had pronounced the law in question to be unconstitutional! Mr. VINTON here asked leave to set the gentleman right as to what he had said. The CHAIR. Does the gentleman yield the floor? Mr. CARSON. No; if the gentleman would but put himself right- Mr. WÄTMOUGH here interposed, and called his friend from North Carolina to order. He begged his friend to suffer him to interpose, and step before him, to save him from himself, before any thing should be uttered which might be cause of lasting regret. The gentleman from Ohio had not said what the gentleman was under an impression that he had. The gentleman had been-remarking on Here Mr. WATMOUGH was called to order by many H. OF R.] The Tariff Bill. [JAN. 24, 1853. voices; and the CHAIR admonished him that he was de- at any previous period. Never, certainly, has any Conparting from rule. Mr. CARSON said he would take the admonition of his friend, although he believed that his friend had been even more out of order than himself. It had been with deep regret that he had expressed his emotions at what he had understood the gentleman from Ohio to have said. The gentleman might attempt to palliate the sentiment; but, unless he wholly retracted, all attempts to explain it away would be unavailing. gress sat in this country under circumstances demanding greater fortitude, more singleness of purpose, more mature, calm deliberation on the part of every member composing it, than the present. What, sir, is it we are called upon to do? The abstract proposition upon which we are called to act, is sufficiently simple in itself, and in reference to it there is believed to be no difference of opinion whatever. "To reduce the revenue to such a limit as shall be consistent with the simplicity of an economical Mr. VINTON now explained. He had made no use of Government, and necessary to an efficient public serthe word "violated." A violation of the constitution vice," is an object to which no man could have the hardimight happen through mere misapprehension of judg-hood to refuse his support, and the expediency and sound ment. What he had said was, that sooner than see the policy of which no one can question. The great and vital constitution obliterated by force, he would see the alter-question now agitating the whole country, is the means native he had mentioned. Because he considered that as by which this is to be effected with the least possible dea total annihilation of the constitution, which must put an triment to existing establishments. end to the Government. When I returned to my own constituents at the close of Mr. McDUFFIE said he was very sorry that he found the last session, Mr. Chairman, I congratulated them and himself under the necessity, from what had just occurred, my country that that great object had been effected, and of addressing the Chair at all. It had been his fixed pur- although not in a manner to secure for it my vote, still pose, and still was, to take no part in the present discus- that, by an overwhelming vote of both Houses of Consion: and he was very sorry that what had occurred in gress, the revenue had been reduced to the wants, or the House, rendered it now necessary for him to say a nearly so, of the Government, the more immediate cause single word. When the gentleman from Ohio had utter- of complaint existing in a certain quarter entirely remov ed that sentiment which the House, he presumed, had ed, while, at the same time, the vast interests in which heard with a portion of that abhorrence it had excited in they themselves were more immediately concerned, in his own mind, he could not help involuntarily making the common with a large majority of the people of the United exclamation he had uttered. He admitted that, strictly States, were preserved from immediate ruin and prostraconsidered, it could not be said to be perfectly in order, tion. Though little satisfied with the attempt that had though it was no more than what often happened in all been made, on grounds which they consider in no other parts of the world. As he had been out of order, he light than as purely political, to sap the sources of their owed an apology to the House, but none to the gentle- prosperity, and depreciate the value of their labor and man from Ohio. investments, still, sir, they acquiesced, and, under a feeling of full security for the future, they set themselves to work, each in his several vocation, determining, by increased efforts of economy, to make up for what they had lost in protection from their country. They, as well as myself, sir, considered the bill of July, 1832, as a bill of compromise, and notwithstanding that, amid the general clamor against the tariff raised in the South, no facts of a material nature had been presented to their minds, either through the medium of this House, or the public prints. I repeat it, sir, no facts proving that ruin or any amount of ruin resulting from the protective system to their brethren of the South had ever been presented to their minds, sufficient to satisfy them of the necessity of a rapid and ruinous reduction. Yet, in the spirit of patriotism, and of a just and honorable submission to the laws of the land, they acknowledged the wisdom of Congress; and hoped that the policy which had been established from the commencement of the Government, and from which so much prosperity, both individual and national, has resulted, was at length fixed, and confirmed and per Mr. WATMOUGH said that he had certainly cause to regret deeply the necessity which drove him or any other member to continue a discussion so important in all its bearings upon the welfare and happiness of the great body of the people of the United States, at an hour and under circumstances so little calculated to ensure it a patient hearing or a just issue. But, said Mr. W., since the committee has refused to rise, however loath I may be, from actual physical exhaustion, or unprepared, from any other cause, I shall not flinch from the performance of the duty I owe my country and my constituents. I promise, however, Mr. Chairman, to occupy as little of your time as possible, and shall endeavor to be as concise as the na-petuated. ture and importance of my subject will admit. I feel, What then, sir, was their astonishment, I will not speak sir, in common with my friends on this floor, the immense of my own, when, at the opening of the present session, responsibility of our position, and am equally aware of my the whole subject was again brought before us--new own incompetency to fulfil the paramount duties it in-views presented--new grounds taken, and the same body volves. I am sustained, however, by the consciousness whose voice had been so lately and so explicitly made of an honest zeal, elevated above every consideration of known, again invoked to reverse their judgment, to rea personal character, and cherished and animated by all verse their painful and laborious discussions, to the entire those moral impulses which ought to govern the man who exclusion of all other matters, either of private or public loves his country honestly and sincerely. It cannot be character; totally unsettle the value of some hundreds of denied, sir, but that we liave reached a fearful crisis in millions of dollars, and disturb the even current of all the annals of our country. A long period of the most commercial as well as manufacturing arrangements? And brilliant prosperity is either about to be closed forever, was not this the case, sir? Assuredly it was-it is. In vain and with it are to vanish forever all the brighest and do we ask the question, to what purpose? In vain do we surest hopes of the patriot and philanthropist, or the con- endeavor to find out the defects of existing laws, which, sequences and results of a wise and temperate system of although deemed sufficient some few months ago, are legislation are to be continued and perpetuated to the now denounced, without even having the benefit of a trial benefit of our latest posterity. Never, perhaps, has the period of their going into operation not having acgreater responsibility devolved upon any set of legislators tually arrived. Is there any fairness in such a course of |
