THE REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA. DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE. VOL. V.-NO. 1. REPORT, EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD. PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 2, 1830. NO. 105. Of the Committee to whom was referred the Resolution of Mr. Wilkins, from the committee to whom was referred the letter from the Governor of Mississippi to the Governor of Pennsylvania, enclosing a copy of certain resolutions of the general assembly of that state, relative to the tariff of the general government, of 1828, made the following report, which was read, viz. That we have given to this subject, that serious and deliberate consideration, which is due to proceedings emanating from a source, which is entitled to all possible respect. We have examined, in all their bearings, the resolutions submitted, and as the result of our most serious reflection, beg leave to state to the House, that in our opinion, they ought not to receive its sanction. The resolutions of the legislature of Mississippi, present the tariff of 1828, to our consideration, in four aspects. First, that it is contrary to the spirit of the constitution of the United States. In the first clause of the eighth section of the first article of the constitution of the United States, it is ordained, that Congress shall have power have thought it necessary to fix any restraints or limitatations evince, on their face, the intention and meaning tions to powers which had no existence. These limiof the convention, and are in themselves an express declaration, that the powers granted in the first and third clauses of the eighth section of the first article, were so supreme and unlimited, as to render it indispensable to restrain and limit their exercise on some subjects, and prohibit their application to others. These Imitations and prohibitions are few, simple, and easily understood. They merely provide, that direct taxes shall be laid and apportioned according to representation; that duties, excises and imposts shall be uniform; that no duty or tax shall be imposed on exports; that no regulation of commerce or revenue, shall give a preference to the ports of one state over another, or impose a duty on a vessel bound from one state to another. Had other restraints on these high powers delegated to Congress, been deemed necessary, they would have been inserted in the constitution before its adoption.Had the states, before its ratification, been fearful of their extent, they would have imposed conditions, or, at the time of adopting the amendments proposed by Congress, on the 4th of March, 1789, have added another to the ten restrictions, on the powers delegated in the original constitution, by some declaratory or restrictive clause. None such having been inserted or added, "1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and ex-it would seem to your committee, that all powers in recises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common de-lation to commerce, duties, imposts, taxes and excises, fence and general welfare of the United States." were finally and irrevocably delegated by the people "2. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and and states to congress, with no other exceptions than among the several states, and with the Indian tribes." such as are contained in the act of delegation, the conIn the third clause of the second section of the first ar-stitution; the language of which, is as plain as man can ticle, it is declared, that use, and which cannot be construed so as completely to destroy its meaning, import and effect. "3. Representatives, and direct taxes, shall be apportioned among the several states, which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers." In the clause first referred to, in the eighth section of the first article, is another limitation. "But all duties, imposts and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States." In the fourth clause of the ninth section of the first article, is another declaration, that "4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration, hereinbefore directed to be taken." And in the fifth clause of the ninth section of the same article, it is also declared, that In comparing with the constitution, the act of congress of 1828, and the various laws of congress, imposing duties and imposts on imported articles, which compose what is called the tariff, the committee can per ceive no discrepancy. No direct tax is imposed; the duties and imposts are uniform, and exports are not taxed. Viewed as a regulation of commerce, it touches no prohibited subject, nor in any of its parts does it pass over any limitation. It is but an ordinary act of legislation, under an authority expressly delegated, laying and so apportioning duties on imports, as in the opinion of the three branches of the general government, seems best to comport with their duties to its citizens, and the prosperity of the nation: invading no state or private right, violating no constitutional injunction; adopted by no construction or implied power, brought for the first time into action by a fancied or assumed necessity, or forced into the constitution by refined or metaphysical reasoning. The tariff is a mixed measure of policy, revenue and commercial regulation, indispensable in eveThese are all the provisions of the constituion of the ry government, and without which none can effectuate United States to impose taxes, duties, imposts, excises, the object of its institution. How far congress may be or to regulate commerce. These powers are given in influenced by the one or other consideration separately, terms too clear to admit of construction, too compre- or by all combined, is for them to decide under their hensive to exclude any subject, too plenary to admit of high responsibility to the people. But the power to give any limitation, without actual violence to, and total per-greater or less weight to the various reasons which may version of the plain language and evident intention of be urged on them, for the adoption of any act of legisthe convention. It could have been considered by lation, is necessarily incident to every deliberative asthe convention, in no other view, else they would not sembly, and entirely incapable of any precise definition. VOL. V. “5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay du ties in another." 1 Having plenary power to lay duties and imposts, as well as to regulate commerce with foreign nations, the detail of any act which they may pass on these subjects, the name which may be given to it, or the reasons which lead to its adoption, become necessarily matter, not of power but expediency. These considerations fully satisfy your committee that the present tariff is not only, not contrary to, but in perfect accordance with the words, the meaning, as well as the declared intention of the constitution. But as the legislature of the state of Mississippi declared it to be contrary to its spirit, some further remarks are deemed necessary. experience and the patriotism of its framers, it is the most perfect and noble wonк which ever came from man. Self-explaining, self-onstruing, it is in all respects what it ought to be, to accomplish what were the great purposes of its adoption. Had it been so accepted and acted on, had not the mighty lever of construction been applied to force ungranted powers into, or granted powers out of the constitution, the country would have been saved the dreadful conflicts, which have, yet de, and may continue to threaten its peace and national existence. They have arisen, not from the difficulty of ascertaining, what is the declared intention or meaning of any of its provisions, but what was the object of their enactment, from not being content with finding them clearly and plainly contained in the instru ment, but inquiring, why they were there, and into the reasons of their adoption, the mode in which they should be exercised, and the objects to which they should be applied. This must necessarily lead to endless contention. The individual or the state who is permitted to assign the reasons, motives, uses, objects or purposes, of any constitutional enactment, becomes the maker of the constitution. It is no longer the work of the convention, but becomes subject to alteration, resulting from every change of opinion. The treaty making power, the chartering of banks, the sedition law, the embargo and nonwar, the Missouri question, internal improvement, and the tariff, have agitated the country for forty years,--not because the constitutionality of every measure could not be easily settled, by reference to the plain words of a written compact of confessedly binding obligation; but because statesmen have devoted all the faculties of their minds, to look through the constitution, to discover the secret reasons why its authors had agreed on this or that particular provision. If the lessons of experience and the present situation of the country, do not furnish a severe commentary on this subject, the committee are much deceived. To them, they seem a solemn warning, against all attempts to bend the constitution to the varying views, which interested party or local feelings, may cause to predominate in the minds of individuals, or the deliberations of state, over the safety and permanency of our institutions. When by an inspection of the constitution, there is found EXPRESS and EXPLICIT authority in Congress, to legislate on any subject, we have always believed it to be supreme; capable of no diminution, but by its own limitations, and these declared in terms equally clear with the original grant of power; and we confess our selves entirely unable to understand, what is that spirit of the constitution, which can annul its plainest enactments, and abrogate the most plenary powers which it confers: which takes from our government the right to regulate commerce; to lay and apportion duties and imposts, leaving it incompetent to protect and support even itself, to pay its debts, to protect its citizens from foreign legislation, or provide for the defence or welfare of the country. Your committee can recognize no oth-intercourse laws, the measures connected with the late er "constitutional spirit" than that which pervades all the ordinances, is visible on the face, declared in the provisions, and consistent with all the parts of the constitution, which is its best, and ought to be its only expositor. When we once depart from this spirit, and by an ingenious & refined train of reasoning, supposititious and conjectural, endeavours to invent, or think we discern the use, object or purposes, for which any power is delegated or prohibited to Congress, or referred to the people or states; and then contract or expand exercise or disclaim the power according to such supposed use, object or purpose, we are without any certain guide. When a grant of power is reduced to writing, each party knows what is granted, prohibited or refused. When it is done fairly and understandingly, each party knowing their respective rights, know how and to what extent to exercise them, and are bound by their respective stipulations. Neither would be permitted to evade them, by the invention or suggestion of some un-tal principles of our government are set unsettled, if the divulged motive for their insertion in the instrument. It would, in all the private transactions of man with man be carried into effect according to its tenor, terms and declared meaning, Why more respect should be paid, to the written contracts of individuals, than to the great and solemn bond which unites the people of a great republic with each other, and to their government, which connects twenty-four free, sovereign and independent nations in a federal union; which creates a new govern ment for national objects, distinctly set forth, and on the efficiency and permanency of which the rights and happiness of millions depend—the committee are utterly at a loss to conceive. If after forty years of discussion, the great fundamen powers of Congress, in relation to revenue, commerce and manufactures, navigation and internal improvement, are yet undefined, the wisest man in the nation will not dare to predict the period of political peace, or, the youngest expect to witness it. Public good requires that these distracting questions should be settled, and that we should, by common consent, unite in adopting, as the rule of our political faith, the great charter of our fathers, which, to all times, and to all generations, speaks the same language; and no longer mislead ourselves or others, in vain attempts to discover reasons, motives or purposes, about which politicians and statesmen, have never yet been, or ever can be, able to agree. If public peace and private rights are at all worthy of No subject can more forcibly illustrate the propriety consideration:-if there must be a concession by the of these remarks, than the one which is now immediatepeople and states to a federative government, of so ly under consideration. The tariff of 1828, is a regulamuch of their rights as is necessary for federal purposes; tion of commerce with foreign nations; a matter not onit is of infinite importance, that it be done by a com-ly of express, but of exclusive delegation to Congress.pact, clear, simple and explicit in its terms, and con- By the second clause of the tenth section of the first artaining in itself a standard and test, by which collisions ticle of the constitution, the states are prohibited from of power with power, and right with right, may at all imposing any duty on tonnage, imposts or duties on imtimes be avoided or settled. Without such a standard, ports or exports, without the consent of Congress. We without some unerring regulating balance wheel, the know not by what authority, any state can say, that she complicated machinery of our governments will never has refused any control over foreign commerce, or, can move in harmony, but be soon destroyed, by the con- attempt to deny to Congress express, plenary, excluAlicting interference of parts with parts and of parts sive and supreme power to so regulate it, as in their diswith the whole. The convention of 1787, gave such a cretion the public good may require. This tariff is alstandard to the country. Whoever examines, can un- so a revenue measure, imposing duties and imposts on derstand it. Free from obscurity, consistent and har-imported goods. States are prohibited from legislation monious in all its parts, the result of the wisdom, the on this subject, except so far as may "be absolutely ne 1830.] REPORT ON THE TARIFF OF 1828. 3 tion, the harmony of our public councils, the safety of our institutions, and the good feeling between the citizens of different states, and those engaged in the supposed rival and hostile pursuits of life, may no longer be disturbed by complaints against the oppression of 'un cessary for executing its inspection laws;" and by the These are not views of recent development. They were declared by the fathers of our constitution, the founders of our republic, at the first session of the first congress in "An act for laying a duty on goods, wares and merchandises, imported into the United States," in these words It is presumed that the legislature of the state of Mississippi, in declaring the tariff of 1828, to be unconstitu tional, could not have intended to exempt former tariff's from the same imputation. Such presumption would be derogatory to their patriotism, their sense of national justice, as well as their regard for the interests of other states and sections of country. This so much vilified tariff, imposed no rate of duties not contained in others; it neither embodied any new principle, nor abrogated If the powers of Congress are to be thus restrained, as any old one-its principal object was to equalise the duto the regulation of commerce, and the laying of duties ties on imports, so as to bring the products and manu& imposts, we must naturally inquire, whether there are factures of the middle and western states, under the opany which remain for their exercise, on the other subjects eration of the same national protection which former laws of express delegation. Your committee are certain, that had afforded to the products of the southern, and the this state, and are confident that the nation, is not pre-shipping, the fisheries and the manufactures of the easpared to apply any rule of construction which shall not tern. The tariff of 1816, imposed on cotton, wool and be uniform. The control of all our foreign relations-brown sugar, a duty of three cents per pound, on snuff war and peace-the army, navy, and judiciary, is not twelve, and manufactured tobacco ten. Yet the most more fully or expressly delegated to Congress, than our distinguished statesmen of the south voted for these durevenue and commerce. It by any refinement of conties. Was it for revenue alone? Had they no eye to struction or implication, a supposed case, object or pur- the protection of the products of southern climates? At pose, can be discovered, which can impair, abrogate, or this time no question of power had arisen in congress.— restrain them, as to the one, it can as to all the great Policy and expediency alone, influenced its deliberapowers which have been conferred by the people and tions. Yet in the same law which fixed these duties, states. If the great design of our confederacy, was not the duty on bar iron was reduced to nine dollars the ton, to enable the general government to afford protection a convincing proof, that even in the estimation of southto the interests of all parts of our republic, then, it is ern statesmen, congress not only had the power of propowerless as to all. If it is unconstitutional to encourage tecting the staple products of one state, to a greater deand protect any one great branch of national industry, gree than those of another; but, that considerations of then, are all at the mercy of foreign policy. If the gov-sound policy authorised its exercise, both on manufac ernment cannot in the same law provide for its own sup- tures and raw materials." port, the welfare of the people and the defence of the nation, then, it is incompetent to do it by separate acts, and incapable of fulfilling any one object of its formation. The interes's of agriculture and commerce, manufactures and navigation, are not separated in the con stitution; neither is its favorite or reprobate; all are alike legitimate subjects of national guardianship, or are equally excluded from national protection. If duties on imported manufactures are contrary to its spirit, so are duties on tonnage, bounties on fisheries, and all embargo, non intercourse and navigation acts Thus, the great question which involves the validity of the tariff of 1828, involves alike, our whole code of legislation, over every item of national interest and industry, which can be affected by foreign policy. On its decision by the American people, the fate of the farmer and the fisherman, the planter and the mechanic, the manufacturer and the merchant, alike depend. Our government is competent to protect the products of our soil and seas, our shipping as well as our workshops, or it must abandon all to one common destruction. It is earnestly hoped, that in this great contest, no section or state of the union, will be governed by sectional or interested views; that none will claim for its own productions, a greater degree of protection than they are willing to afford to others; that those who have already received protection by former laws, will cheerfully consent to the reduction of all duties on all articles, which come into competition with their own, to the same rate which shall remain, on those embraced in the tariff of 1828, after it shall have been repealed. And that the tariff which is to reconcile all conflicting interests, and restore peace not only between contending parties, but states, and the great sections of the country shall, when modified with a single eye to revenue, IMPOSE THE SAME DUTY ON SUGAR AS ON IRON, ON COTTON AS ON HEMP, ON TOBACCO AS ON WOOLLENS, AND ON FISH AS ON HARDWARE. That with common consent, the protecting principle shall be impartially applied, or expunged from our statute book, wherever it can be found; so that the repose of the na "Whereas it is necessary for the support of government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC MANU FACTURES, that duties be laid on goods, wares and merchandises imported," be it enacted, &c. This was the first tariff under the new government.It hus never been declared or even said to be unconstitutional. Yet it contains one explicit declaration, that one of the reasons which led to its adoption was the protection of manufactures; a declaration publicly asserting the power of congress, which was never questioned by any statesman in the union for more than thirty years. Congress have from time to time selected such objects, as seemed to them most deserving of encouragement and protection, varying in degree according to circumstances, and extended in amount as the public interest seemed to them to demand. Never dreaming until 1820, that the constitution had interposed any impediments to that system, which was coeval with the governmert, and which was proclaimed in the first revenue law which was passed after its organization. It is much regretted by your committee, that the resolutions under consideration, do not point specifically to the parts of the law of 1828, which transcend the powers of congress: that they do not designate the articles on which an unconstitutional duty is imposed, or afford any criterion by which the line can be drawn between those duties, imposts and regulations of foreign commerce, which are valid and binding on the states,and those which are void and "ought to be resisted." If your committee are left to judge from the uniform course of legislation for forty years, under every administration, and midst all the strifes of contending parties, congress has always freely acted on the principle of being fully authorized to adopt such measures of protecting, resisting and even coercive policy, as was necessary in their opinion, to guard the industry of our citizens, against every interference or danger from abroad. Such regulations of commerce and revenue have been enforced as were calculated best to produce the desired effect: brought to bear sometimes on the shipping, at others on the productions and manufactures of foreign nations. Our tonnage and impost duties, navigation, embargo and non-intercourse laws, have emanated from the same source of power, and been directed to the same great objects, the security of the rights, the protection of the industry, and provision for the common defence and permanent independence of the country, varied only by the emergency of the occasion, and the results of experience. efficient remedy against fraud and undervaluations at the custom house. It imposed an equal duty on iron, hemp, lead, flax, wool, and the manufactures of which they furnished the raw material. In its general provisions, it conformed more to the great national principle,on which all tariffs ought to be formed, than former tariffs, and seems to your committee to be less obnoxious to objection on any public consideration. If sound policy would justify any tariff, it certainly would this. So far as its effects have been developed, they have been of the most salutary nature. New vigor has been infused into many branches of manufactures; the annual produce has been much increased, while the price has diminished. It has certainly added to the sum of our production, of employment of labor, and the imTo a subject so complicated as the tariff, it seems improvement of the country. It has not been long enough practicable to apply any other than those principles, on in operation to test its utmost effects; but from what has which the government has ever acted,and must ever act. resulted, there is abundant reason to believe, that its The constitution does not define the rate of duty, which is continuance will tend as much to promote and secure, alone "constitutional." It is incapable of definition in as its repeal would tend to check and jeopardize the any other way, than by the sound discretion of the na- general prosperity of the country. tional legislature, representing and acting for the whole union. It is the only safe and impartial depository of power. States and local sections may look too much to their own peculiar interests. Congress looks only to the nation. If a question should arise, whether a duty of one cent a pound, which the tariff of 1828 imposes on imported bar-iron, the great staple of Pennsylvania, or the duty of three cents a pound, which the tariff of 1816 imposes on brown sugar, the great staple of Louisiana, is unconstitutional? it would not be very safe to submit the decision to either state during the present excitement. Though both are articles of necessity, each costing about the same price per pound, and the relative duty enormously disproportionate, yet, who can say the constitution does not authorize, or that this state could properly protest against and resist it? Your committee are unable to make a detailed comparison of the relative duties imposed by the existing tariff on foreign articles, which come in competition with the products of the different sections of this nation; but they feel fully justified in expressing their decided conviction,that in any attempt to graduate them, by any fixed constitutional standard, it must be done by the exercise of sound discretion, and in that spirit of patriotism and national good feeling, which they hope may ever prevail between the citizens of the different states. The Policy of the Tariff. Secondly. The legislature of the state of Mississippi object to the tariff of 1828, "as impolitic." If it is intended to confine the objection to this one act, as contra-distinguished from those of former years, the committee think it less liable to it than any others. The tariff of 1816 was not apportioned by any general principle or uniform rule. So far as it afforded protection, it was mostly to articles, the produce or manufacture of the eastern and southern states. A marked discrimination was made in the duties, on two of the most important items of national defence, iron and hemp; between the raw material and the manufactures from it. On bar iron the duty was forty-five cents per hundred; on sheet, rod and hoop iron, two dollars and fifty cents per hundred, and on nails, three cents per pound; on hemp, one dollar and fifty cents per hundred; on tarred cordage, three cents per pound; on untarred, four cents per pound; and on many other articles the same unjust and partial preference was adopted. In almost all cases the same unjust and partial preference was given to the manufactured article, over the raw material of which it was made, tho' the country bad one equal capacity to produce both, to an amount fully equal to the demand. These evils were in some measure corrected in the tariff of 1824,but there still remained much to amend. Generally speaking, the articles of the produce or manufacture of the middle and western states, were protected by a less duty on the foreign article than others. The tariff of 1828 remedied many evils, reduced many inequalities, and provided an Of the general policy of the system of protection to the domestic industry of the nation, your committee cannot entertain a doubt. Of the good resulting from it, in every part of the union where it has been brought into action, the experience of many years affords full and conclusive evidence. Facts cannot be resolved down, practical results cannot be controverted by theories, and while these all concur to test the wisdom, the justice, and the happy consequences of the extension of this great system, your committee think that no sound statesman can pronounce it impolitic. Is the Tariff oppressive? Thirdly. The legislature of the state of Mississippi declare the tariff of 1828, to be oppressive on the southern states. If your committee had been furnished with any evidence, proving the correctness of this declaration, if any facts had been submitted to their consideration, from which they could reasonably infer, that this tariff had been or would be oppressive to the southern states, they would most cheerfully, as well from a sense of a duty to the nation, as from the spirit of conciliation and friendship to our sister states, recommend to this House, a concurrence with this part of the resolution. Had the legislature of the state of Mississippi, stated any facts on which their opinion is founded, it would have been our solemn duty to have assented to their truth, when asserted from so high authority. But as this part of the resolution merely expresses an opinion as to the local operation of the law, your committee deem it no want of respect to the opinion of a sister state to dissent from it, until its correctness is ascertained from experience and practical results. It is not conceived that the tariff of 1828 could be oppressive on any state or part of the union, unless by diminishing the supply, raising the price, or injuring the quality of the articles which are embraced in it. That either is the fact, your committee have no reason to believe, nor so far as is known, has ever the assertion been made. On the contrary, it is known and admitted, that as the quantity has increased, the price has been reduced and the quality improved, as to all items of manufacture. It is not believed, that to this remark there can be produced the exception of one item. The opponents to protection of domestic industry, have been often called upon to identify one solitary instance, in which experience will justify the remark, that high duties tend to oppress the consumer. Yet, during the many years that the policy and justice of the system have been under discussion, no such instance has been produced. It is a fact which cannot be denied, it is manifest in every price current, it is within the knowledge of every purchaser of the most necessary and common article of consumption, that the cheapest domestic goods are those which are protected by the highest duties of similar articles which are imported: as coarse woollen, cotton, and mixed goods, 1830.J REPORT ON THE TARIFF OF 1828. nails, window glass, spirits, and a vast variety of other under the same oppression as Mississippi, if her labour articles, manufactured from lead, iron and leather; ma- was confined to the cultivation of cotton; but by directny of which are peculiarly adapted to southern wants, ing a portion to sugar, she is increasing in wealth more and form the most common and important items of their than perhaps any other state in the union. The citizens consumption, clothing for their laborers, and implements of Tennessee are now wisely dividing their labor, by enfor cultivation. It has been true in all nations, and tering on the manufacture of iron, large quantities of through all times, that wherever there is a capacity to which have already been consumed in Pittsburg, where supply the demand for any article, the securing the do- it finds a ready market, at a price which yields a better mestic market to the domestic production, excites do- profit to the Tennessee iron master, than he could demestic competition, so as to ensure the consumer a rive from the planting of cotton. Why the state of Mischeaper, a better, and a more abundant supply for his sissippi, situated between Louisiana and Tennessee, wants. It is a truth of universal application in all the should not profit by their example, is difficult to perpursuits of life, practically known and felt by every far- ceive. Kentucky too has been oppressed by not divimer, merchant, mechanic and manufacturer in the coun- ding her labor, but she is rapidly redeeming herself, by try, from the commencement of that great system of po- her manufactures of hemp and iron; furnaces and forges licy, which has protected as well our shipping, as the are rapidly increasing; her bloom and her iron, of the productions of our soil, our seas, aud our workshops.— best quality, and in large quantities, are sent to our How then a tariff can produce oppression to the south- great western workshop, and manufactured into every ern states, seems incomprehensible to your committee. variety of articles for use. Missouri furnishes lead; 0. It may indeed tend to diminish the foreign, but it in-hio provisions; and the rivers of the west are covered creases the domestic consumption of their great staple, with steam and keel boats, busy in transporting the vacotton, in the same ratio. The price is the same, wheth-ried productions of a world extending from Lake Erie er purchased for a foreign or a home market; and if the to the gulph of Mexico. It is a truly splendid prospect, quality and price is equal, our southern brethren have to witness the intimate connection between the three too much patriotism to think it 'oppressive,' to purchase great branches of national industry, exemplified in this the production from their own raw material, merely be intercourse between the west and the south; between cause it has been manufactured by American machinery this state and every one watered by the Mississippi, or and labor. its branches. There is not one which does not supply our manufactories with raw material, or our labourer with subsistence; or one among whom western com. merce does not distribute the supplies for their con It ductions of all new facilities of exchange; opening new markets, increasing the aggregate as well as the profits of labor, by its wise distribution. The whole scene presents the fairest prospect of national wealth and independence, and most strongly tends to unite in one bond of mutual dependence, benefits and good feeling, those portions of the country which nature has widely separated at distances, which the enterprise of our citizens has nearly annihilated. It cannot be material to the southern planter, whether his cotton is spun in Manchester, or Providence, or Pittsburg; whether it is transported in an American or a British ship, if it produces him the same price in mar-sumption, and afford an increased demand for the proket. With him it is a mere question of profit on what he sells, and economy in what he purchases. He cannot be oppressed by the tariff, unless he receives less for the one or pays more for the other. It is all resolved into a simple question of fact, does his cotton produce less or his supplies cost more by the tariff of 1828? may be true that the price of cotton has fallen in 1828 and '29 to six or eight cents per pound. But it is no more a consequence of the tariff of 1828, than the unprecedented price of that article in 1825 was a consequence of the tariff of 1824. Neither is true. The wild spirit of speculation, which raged in the latter year, and the increased quantity produced in the two last, fully account for the respective changes. The cause has been already assigned, domestic competition has increas-ries that the government deemed THEM important ined the quantity, and of course, reduced the price, exstruments of general welfare, in protecting the consuemplifying as to agriculture, the same effects as in manmer from the exactions and monopolies of foreigners, ufactures, and all other branches of industry. and would impart to their products such a degree of protection as the public interest required. This infused furnishing new and increased markets for agriculture; new vigor into their establishments, which are daily and both increase and create the materials of commerce. It is confidently believed that no oppression has as yet resulted, or will ever result from its operations; altho' The wealth and prosperity of a country depend less on the amount, than on the proper direction and judicious division of labor. This can be settled by no abstract or theoretical principles; it must depend on experience and observation. If so much labor is applied If there is any one measure of the general government, which more than another has tended to develope the resources of the country, or contributed to its general improvement, your committee do believe it is the tariff of 1828. It assured the proprietors of manufacto been made of its injurious effects on revenue, agriculmuch alarm has been excited, and great complaints have to the production of any one article, as to yield an amount beyond the demand, the consequence is obvious-the price falls, profits are diminished, or a loss enture and commerce. sues. The country may be depressed or oppressed.— It cannot be expected that they It is not owing to the tariff, but to the want of a proper are just; for it is known as a part of the history of our can produce any effect without some proof that they division of labor. The true remedy is not in complaints, national legislation, that the same course has been purbut in the diversion of a fraction of labor from unprofi-sued since 1816, whenever any proposition has been table to profitable employment. If the pursuits of southern agriculture are no longer profitable, it is because its productions either exceed the demand, or so nearly equal it, as to reduce the price below the expense of cultivation. If the labor of the middle and western states was mainly confined to the production of grain and provision, they too might complain of the oppression of the tariff;' for their crops would not produce the supply of their wants; for the increase of the quantity would only diminish the value. It could not extend the market beyond the demand. It is only by the division of labor in the combined pursuits of commerce, agriculture and manufactures, that they can become prosperous. Louisiana might labour submitted to Congress for the encouragement or protection of domestic manufactures, and we must expect its renewal on every similar occasion. Though the practical operation of every tariff has falsified every such prediction, and dissipated every gloomy anticipation; its opponents still repeat them, vainly hoping that some period will occur when the representatives of the people will overlook the evidence of facts, forget the lessons of experience, and be influenced only by assertions and opinions, which have been contradicted by both; which may serve to concentrate opposition, but cannot carry conviction to the understanding. When every other tariff has been attended by nothing but benefits, the tariff of 1828 cannot be oppressive. |