SPEECH OP HON. SIMON CAMERON, OF PA., -C-JI THE REDUCTION OF THE TARIFF OF 1842 DELIVERED 3N THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JULY 22, 1846. WASHINGTON? HUNTED BY RITCHIE & HEIS& 1846 , SPEECH. Mr. President : I feel no little reluctance in addressing the Senate on this subject. If my own feelings were consulted, I should certainly prefer to be silent, and to leave to others more able, more eloquent, and more experienced in debate, the task of exposing the inconsistencies, and follies, and the ruinous effects of the measure now before the Senate. Enough has indeed been al- ready said to prevent its passage, if truth were to prevail ; and I am in strong hopes that it will yet be defeated ; for it seems now so poor, that there is none to do it reverence — not one to raise his voice in its favor. But I cannot suffer a vote to be taken till I have expressed my hostility to its passage, and said some- thing m defence of the industry of my State, which it is calculated to ruin. I come here the representative of a State deeply interested in the develop- ment of her resources, and in fostering and protecting the industry of her citizens : a State which has expended more than one hundred and fifty mil- lions of dollars in making those resources available ; a State which in two wars has expended more blood and more treasure in the common defence than any State in the Union ; a State which has never asked any favors from the Union, nnd which has received as little benefit* from it as any one in it ; even the fort which was built for the defence of her city, with the money of her own citizens, has been suffered to go to decay by the general government ; — a State proveibial for the democracy of her sons — so much so that no democratic President was ever elected without her vote ; nay, one which never gave a vote against a democratic candidate for the presidency, until she believed there was a settled design to desert her dearly cherished interests. You can, therefore, Mr. President, imagine my surprise when I find our time- honored commonwealth charged with a want of democracy in her opposition, to this bill. From one end of her wide domain to the other she does oppose it; and if I fail to show that she has abundant cause, it will not be for the want of defects in the bill itself. So far as she is concerned, it can produce evil, and- evil only. The support of a system of protection for the labor of her citizens is with her not new. It is a lesson she learned from the fathers of the republic, and which was practised with uniform and unvarying consistency by all her early settlers. Her sons have not, and I trust in God will never prove recreant to the wholesome lessons of their ancestry. It is to this practice and to these lessons that she owes her present prosperity and fame. Go where you will, there is but one sentiment now pervading the public mind on this subject. It has grown with her growth, and strengthened with her strength ; and there is a cry coming up now from all her bonders, echoed from every hill and from every valley ; from her very bowels, as you saw the other day, by the petition which I presented from her hardy miners, whose habitations are under ground : from every village, from every work-shop, from every farm-house is the cry heard, invoking us to interpose between them and ruin. Every legislature for years has instructed her representatives here to ad- here to her favorite policy; and no man has ever presumed to ask her favor without admitting the justice and propriety of her views upon this subject; and 4 I may add, Mr. President, woe betide the man who raises his suicidal hand against her, now in the hour of her extremity. I have said her favor was never asked without a pledge to support her views. You know, sir, how it was in 1844. I need not tell you that you would not tiow occupy that chair but for the assurances — the oft reiterated assurances — that her policy would not be disturbed. You and I remember the scenes of that day. We cannot forget the flags and banners which were carried in the processions of her democracy, pending the election which resulted in the tri- umph of our party. It cannot, and it ought not to be disguised, that, but for these assurances to which I have alluded, that triumph never would have been obtained. I remember the anxiety w hich pervaded the minds of the politicians until the publication of the Kane letter, and I cannot forget the pains that were taken by the leading men of the party to convince the people that it was evi- dence of an intention to protect our interests. Her confiding citizens gave their support in good faith, and they expected good faifh in return. The letter was published, in English and German, in every democratic paper in the State, and in pamphlets by thousands. Every democrat pointed to it as a satisfactory tariff letter, and no democrat doubted it. It is not saying too much to ascribe to that letter, mainly, the democratic majority of the State. Surely, honorable men will not now, since the battle has been fought and the honors won by it, evade its responsibility, by saying that too liberal a construction w T as put upon it. If it was wrongly applied, there was time enough for its contradiction be- tween the time of its publication and the election. The party majority in this hall may be fairly attributed to that letter; and I ask honorable Senators if they expect that majority can be retained if this bill shall become a law ? I warn them now of the sudden and swift destruction which awaits us, if Punic faith is to govern the counsels of the democratic party. It is to avert what I believe would be a dire calamity — the prostration of democratic principles — that I raise my voice to arrest the further progress of this bill.] It would be needless to take up the doctrine of protection to defend it, if it were not for the disposition recently manifested to ape every thing British, and to shape our legislation to suit the subjects of the British crown. A new order of democracy seems, however, to have arisen in these latter days; and for the especial benefit of its high priests I will read the opinions of the founders of the republic who participated in public affairs from the foundation of the gov- ernment — who framed its fundamental law — and who fought its battles in the Revolution and the last war. The people of Pennsylvania still have confidence in the democracy of those pure and great men ; and time was when they were considered as the pillars of the democracy of the Union. Extract of a speech of George Washington, President of the United States, to Congress, January 8, 1790. “ A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined ; to which end a uniform and well- digested plan is requisite ; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.” “ The advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, by all proper means, will not, I trust , need recommendation .” Extract of a speech of George Washington, President of the United States, to Congress, December 7, 1796. “ Congress have repeatedly, and not without success, directed their attention to the encourage- ment of manufactures. The object is of too much consequence not to insure a continuance of their efforts in every way whicn shall appear eligible.” Extract of a speech of John Mams, President of the United States, to Coixgress , November 22, 1800. “ The manufacture of arms within the United States still invites the attention of the national 5 legislature. At a considerable expense to the public, this manufacture has been brought to such a state of maturity as, with continued encouragement, will supersede the necessity of future im- portations from foreign countries.” Extract of a message from Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, to Congress, December 8, 1801. “ Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embar- rassments, however, may Sometimes be seasonably interposed .” Extract of a message from Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, to Congress, December 2, 1806. “ The duties composing the Mediterranean fund will cease, by law, at the end of the present session. fE^Considering, however, that they are levied chiefly on luxuries, and that we have an impost on salt, a necessary of life, the free use of which otherwise is so important, I recom- mend to your consideration the suppression of the duties on salt, and the continuation of the Med- iterranean fund instead thereof, for a short time ; after which, that also will become unnecessary for any purpose now within contemplation.” “ When both of these branches of revenue shall, in this way, be relinquished, there will still, ere long - , be an accumulatinn of moneys in the treasury, beyond tbe in&t aimer) t.si of public debt, which we are permitted by contract to pay. They cannot, then, without a modification, assented to by the public creditors, be applied to the extinguishment of this debt, and the complete libera- tion of our revenues, the most desirable of all objects ; nor, if our peace continues, will they be wanting for any other existing purpose. The question , therefore, now comes forward — To what other objects shall these surpluses be appropriated, and the whole surplus of impost, after the entire discharge of the public debt, and during those intervals when the purposes of war shall not call for them ? flJr’Shall we suppress the impost, and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures? On a few articles, of more general and necessary use, the suppression, in due season, will doubtless be right ; but the great mass of the articles on which impost is paid are foreign luxuries, purchased by those only who are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them. Their patriotism would certainly prefer its continuance and application to the great pur- poses of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of federal powers.” Extract of a message from Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, to Congress, November 8, 1808. “Under the acts of March 11 and April 23, respecting arms, the difficulty of procuring them from abroad, during the present situation and dispositions of Europe, induced us to direct our whole efforts to the means of internal supply. The public factories have therefore been enlarged, additional machineries erected, and, in proportion as artificers can be found or formed, their ef- fect, already more than doubled, may be increased so as to keep pace with the yearly increase of the militia. fU^The ann ual sums appropriated by the latter act have been directed to the encouragement of private factories of arms, and contracts have been entered into with individual undertakers to nearly the amount of the first year’s appropriation. “ Et^The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice of the belligerent powers, and the consequent losses and sacrifices of our citizens, are subjects of just concern. The situation into which we have thus been forced, has impelled us to apply a portion of our in- dustry and capital to internal manufactures and improvements. The extent of this conversion is daily increasing, and little doubt remains that the establishments formed and forming will, under the auspices of cheaper materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor from taxation with us, and of protecting duties and prohibitions, become permanent. “ The probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue beyond what can be applied to the payment of the public debt, whenever the freedom and safety of our commerce shall be restored, merits the consideration of Congress. Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults? Shall the revenue be reduced ? Or, shall it not rather be appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of prosperty and union ?” Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, May 23, 1809. “ The revision of our commercial laws, proper to adapt them to the arrangement which has taken place with Great Britain, will doubtless engage the early attention of Congress. rc^lt will be worthy, at the same time, of their just and provident care, to make such further alterations in the laws as will morfi especially protect and foster the several branches of manufacture which have been recently instituted or extended by the laudable exertions of our citizens.” Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, Nov. 29, 1809. “The face of our country every where presents the evidence of laudable enterprise of extensive capital, and of durable improvement, fC^=» In a cultivation of the materials, and the extension 6 of useful manufactures, more especially in the general application to household fabrics, we behold a rapid diminution of our dependanee on foreign supplies. Nor is it unworthy of reflection that this revolution in our pursuits and habits is in no slight degree a consequence of those impolitic and arbitrary edicts by which the contending nations, in endeavoring each of them to obstruct our trade with the other, have so far abridged our means of procuring the productions and manufac- tures of which our own are now taking the place.” Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, Lee . 5, 1810. “ I feel particular satisfaction in remarking that an interior view of our country presents us with grateful proofs of its substantial and increasing prosperity. To a thriving agriculture, and the im- provements related to it, Id" 3 * 8 added a highly interesting extension of useful manufactures, the combined product of professional occupations and of household industry. Such, indeed, is the experience of economy, as well as of policy, in these substitutes for supplies heretofore obtained by foreign commerce, that, in a national view, the change is justly regarded as of itself more than a recompense for those privations and losses, resulting from foreign injustice, which furnished the general impulse required for its accomplishment. How far it may be expedient to guard the infancy of this improvement, in the distribution of labor, by regulations of the commercial tariff, is a subject which cannot fail to suggest itself to your patriotic reflections.” Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, Nov. 5, 1811. “Although other subjects will press more immediately on your deliberations, a portion of them cannot but be well bestowed fd^ on j ust and sound policy of securing to our manufactures the suecess they have attained, and are still attaining, in some degree, under the impulse of causes not permanent. IQT “ Besides the reasonableness of saving our manufactures from sacrifices which a change of circumstances might bring on them, the national interest requires that, with respect to such articles at least as belong to our defence and our primary wants, we should not be left in unneces- sary dependanee on external supplies.” Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, Dec. 7, 1813. “ If the war has increased the interruptions of our commerce, it has at the same time fU^cherished and multiplied our manufactures, so as to make us independent of all other coun- tries for the more essential branches, for which we ought to be dependant on none ; and is even rapidly giving them an extent which will create additional staples in our future intercourse with foreign markets.” Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, Dec. 5, 1815. Id 3 “ In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue, the influence of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily present itself for consideration. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their industry and resources, there are in this, as in other cases, exceptions to the general rule. Besides the condition, which the theory itself implies, of a reciprocal adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many circumstances must concur in introducing and maturing manufacturing establishments, especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country may remain long without them, although sufficiently advanced, and in some respects even peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with suc- cess. Under circumstances giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry, it has made among us a progress, and exhibited an efficiency, which justify the belief that, with a protection not more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose interests are now at stake, it will become, at an early day, not only safe against occasional competitions frem abroad, but a source of domestic wealth, and even of external commerce. In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage, a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States from a dependanee on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for articles necessary for the public defence, or connected w r ith the primary wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of particular manufactures, where the materials for them are extensively drawn from our agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that great fund of national pros- perity and independence an encouragement which cannot fail to be rewarded.” I shall show, by the connexion between the agricultural and manufacturing interests of Pennsylvania, how entirely applicable this view is to the present state of things. Extract of a message from James Madison, President of the United States, to Congress, December 3, 1816. “ It is to be regretted that a depression is experienced by particular branches of our manufac- tures, and by a portion of our navigation. As the first proceeds, in an essential degree, from an excess of imported merchandise, which carries a check in its own tendency, the cause, in its 7 present extent, cannot be of very long duration. fE^The evil will not, however, be viewed by Congress, without a recollection that manufacturing establishments, if suffered to sink too low, or languish too long, may not revive after the causes shall have ceased ; and that, in the vicissitudes of human affairs, situations may recur in which a dependance on foreign sources for indispensable supplies may be among the most serious embarrassments.” Extract of a message from James Monroe, President of the United States, to Congress, December 2 , 1817 “ Our manufactories will require the continued attention of Congress. The capital employed in them is considerable, and the knowledge acquired in the machinery and fabric of all the most useful manufactures, is of great value. Their preservation, xvhich depends on due encouragement , is connected with the high interests of the nation ” Extract of a message from James Monroe, President of the United States , to Congress, December 7, 1819. “The great reduction in the price of the principal articles of domestic growth, which has occurred during the present year, and the consequent fall in the price of labor, apparently so favorable to the success of domestic manufactures, have not shielded them against other causes adverse to their prosperity. The pecuniary embarrassments which have so deeply affected the commercial interests of the nation have been no less adverse to our manufacturing establish- ments in several sections of the Union. “ An additional cause for the depression of these establishments may probably be found in the pecuniary embarrassments which have recently affected those countries with which our com- merce has been principally prosecuted. “ Their manufactures, for the want of a ready or profitable market at home, have been shipped by the manufacturers to the United States, and, in many instances, sold at a price below their current value at the place of manufacture. Although this practice may, from its nature, be con- sidered temporary or contingent, it is not on that account less injurious in its effects. Uniformity in the demand and price of an article is highly desirable to the domestic manufacturer. “ It is deemed of great importance to give encouragement to our domestic manufacturers. In what manner the evils which have been adverted to may be remedied, and how far it may be practi- cable, in other respects, to afford to them further encouragement, paying due regard to the other great interests of the nation, is submitted to the wisdom of Congress.” Extract of a message from James Monroe , President of the United States, to Congress, December 5, 1821. “ It may fairly be presumed, that under the protection given to domestic manufactures by the ex- isting laws, we shall become, at no distant period, a manufacturing country on an extensive scale. Possessing, as we do, the raw materials in such vast amount, with a capacity to augment them to an indefinite extent; raising within the country aliment of every kind, to an amount far exceeding the demand for home consumption, even in the most unfavorable years, and to be ob- tained always at a very moderate price; skilled, also, as our people are, in the mechanic arts, and in every improvement calculated to lessen the demand for, and the price of labor, it is mani- fest that their success in every branch of domestic industry may and will be carried, under the encouragement given by the present duties, to an extent to meet any demand which, under a fair competition, may be made upon k. “ A considerable increase of domestic manufactures, by diminishing the importation of foreign, will probably tend to lessen the amount of the public revenue. As, however, a large proportion of the revenue which is derived from duties is raised from other articles than manufactures, the demand for which will increase with our population, it is believed that a fund will still be raised from that source adequate, to the greater part of the public expenditures. 03^ “ ^ cannot be doubted that the more complete our internal resources, and the less depend- ant we are on foreign powers for every national as well aa domestic purpose, the greater and more stable will be the public felicity. By the increase of domestic manufactures will the demand for the rude materials at home be increased ; and thus will the dependance of the several parts of our Union on each other, and the strength of the Union itself, be proportionably augmented. In this process, which is very desirable, and inevitable under the existing duties, the resources which obviously present themselves to supply a deficiency in the revenue, should it occur, are the interests which may derive the principal benefit from the change.” Extract of a message fiom James Monroe, President of the United States, to Congress, December 3, 1822. “ From the best information that I have been able to obtain, it appears that our manufactures, inough depressed immediately after the peace, have considerably increased, and are still in- creasing, under the encouragement given them by the tariff of 1816, and by subsequent laws. ftJr* Satisfied I am, whatever may be the abstract doctrine in favor of unrestricted commerce, provided all nations would concur in it, and it was not liable to be interrupted by war, which has never occurred, and cannot be expected, that there are other strong reasons applicable to our sit- uation, and relations with other countries, which impose on us the obligation to cherish and sus- tain our manufactures. Satisfied, however, I likewise am, that the interest of every part of our a Union, even of those most benefited by manufactures, requires that this subject should be touched with the greatest caution, and a critical knoicledge of the effect to be produced by the slightest change. On full consideration of the subject, in all its relations, I am persuaded that a further augmenta- tion may now be made of the duties on certain foreign articles, in favor of our own, and without affecting injuriously any other interest.” Extract of a message from Janus Monroe, President of the United States, to Congress, December 2, 1823 “ Having communicated my views to Congress, at the commencement of the last session, re- specting the ITJ" 3 encouragement which ought to be given to our manufactures, and the principle or. which it should be founded, I have only to add that those views remain unchanged; and that the present state of those countries with which we have the most immediate political relations and greatest commercial intercourse tends to confirm them. Under this impression, 1 recom- mend a review of the tariff, for the purpose of affording such additional protection to those arti- cles which we are prepared to manufacture, or which are more immediately connected with the defence and independence of the country.” These words were the last remarks, given as a legacy, from the last of the fathers of the Revolution ; and, acting upon this wholesome counsel, Congress, at that session, passed the bill known as the tariff* of 1824. I will now grre the views on this subject of one who Is confessedly the most remarkable man of his age ; one who, whatever difference of opinion may be entertained with regard to some of his measures, is admitted by all to have brought to the administration of the public affairs intrusted to his care as much purity of purpose, and as strong patriotic feelings, as ever characterized any public man ; and it is not saying too much to add, that no public man, save only the Father of his Country, enjoyed in a more remarkable degree the confidence and regard of his countrymen. It will readily be understood that^I allude to General Jackson. In 1824 he addressed the following letter to several persons who had written him on this subject : Extract from General Jackson's letter to Dr. Colemwi ► “ You ask me my opinion on the tariff. I answer, that I am in favor of a judicious examina- tion and revision of it ; and so far as the tariff bill before us embraces the design of fostering, projecting, and preserving within ourselves the means of national defence and independence, par- ticularly in a state of war, I would advocate and support it. The experience of the late war ought to teach us a lesson, and one never to be forgotten. If our liberty and republican form of government, procured for us by our revolutionary fathers, are worth the blood and treasure at which they were obtained, it surely is our duty to protect and defend them.'- Can there be an American patriot, who saw the privations, dangers, and difficulties experienced for the want of proper means of defence during the last war, who would be willing again to hazard the safety of our country, if embroiled: or to rest it for defence on the precarious means of national resource to be derived from commerce in a state of war with a maritime power, who might destroy that commerce to prevent us obtaining the means of defence, and thereby subdue us? I hope there is- not; and if there is. I am sure he does not deserve to enjoy the blessings of freedom. Heaven smiled upon and gave us liberty and independence. That same Providence has blessed us* with the means of national independence and national defence. If we omit or refuse to use the gifts which he has extended to us, we deserve not the continuation of his blessings. He has fill- ed our mountains and our plains with minerals — with lead, iron, and copper — and given us cli- mate and soil for the growing of hemp and wool. These being the grand materials of our national defence, they ought to have extended to them adequate and fair protection, that our own manu- factories and laborers may be placed on a fair competition with those of Europe, and that we may' have within our country a supply of those leading and important articles so essential in war. Beyond this I look at the tariff with an eye to the proper distribution of labor, and to revenue* and with a view to discharge our national "debt. jTam one of those who do not believe that a na- tional debt is a national blessing, but rather a 0r the character of her people, that makes these ?T PTOper ? The ^ is one of ZZ t -™ e “ in '° * stii‘±wr^ ,i ' a '“ a SMatts; S? ZSJT 1. I b “" »' MtWy nuMs.tnd , ch.i h„ I, m ’ has Ton ZZntiL'Z}*” ?.“*' ‘ he ' r ! nle| hgeo ce , and ihnir skill. Non hese i , 10n been paid to agriculture as a pursuit or as a science and SE dw W;?“" r r; infant manufactures and developing the resources of their mines. tails' Vshln’aMeiT T tr fV an u if 1 cann0t inslruct the Senate by its de- ails 1 shall at least astonish them by the rapidity of its growth • and I trust I T P K aU l e V bef0re the y a ‘ d in the^ntire destmcUo U n of of industry in the country! ^ ^ mCreaSed m ° re rapidl * than an ? branch cor. h : e 7e a irtt~r ed in lS2 °- ln that - vear ° n,y 363 tons ofa ‘' thra <^ 13 1,073 tons. 2,240 33,699 174,737 556,835 865,414 1,108,001 2,021,674 In 1821 - 1822 ..... 1825 1830 j 1835 .... ' 1840 - 1 1842 ..... i 1845 And in 1846 it will fully reach 2,500,000 tons. H is a remarhaWe fact, that, in proportion to the aid extended by the govern, nent to this important trade, not only has the quantity increased/but the price t0 th TT CltlZ r 5 thus com P let ely destroying the free trade theory )f the present day. Upon the same principle, the price will continue to fall as .rtion^th/ mme( J nses ’ , t0 a l certain / xtent ; like all other commercial trans- operate! makes his profits from the amount of business he does, 3 h; ,^ t ? a , n th ® separate items of it. This will be seen by the table of sales in hiladelphia, New York, and Boston, for the last six years : fears. 840 .841 .842 843 844 845 Philadelphia, per ton $5 50 5 00 4 25 3 50 3 37 3 50 N. York. $8 00 7 75 6 50 5 75 5 50 6 00 Boston. $9 00 to $11 8 00 to 9 6 00 to 6 6 00 to 6 6 00 to 6 6 00 to 7 00 00 50 50 50 00 In 1840 labor was from $5 to $6 a week ; now it commands from $ 8 to $10. Here is a regular decrease for five years. In the present year there is a shght ^hillTf'T the destruction of the Schuylkill canal, and the consequfnt lability of the miners to send a sufficient quantity to market. Twenty years ago good wood commanded, nearly every winter, in the Phila- elphia and New York markets, as much as $8 and $10 a cord, and frequently, extremely co d winters it rose much higher. So much distress was there fthe es ahf h 16S , H ^ Want ° f fuel ’ that “ led - as a matter of necessity, c himllf , .°n f " e| - sav, ."g socleties > which the poor man could pro- -ct himse!f against the high prices in the winter season. Now, a ton of coal, iese h r?tie« U f ° h ° ord and a half of hickory wood, can be purchased in either of ese cities for what was, twenty years ago, the lowest price of a cord of wood. ' n dU ? tl0n °[ lh ‘ S neW arllc,e of fuel, which has been fostered and en- 'ssarvf flife 3 ,, 1 T re T“ e lavvs ’ h as brought down the price of this ne- .ssary of life, and has been the cause of more comfort to the poor man’s home racheVoTofT ° f ^ ^ Thi ^ >' ears a S° this a rticlc(I mean the an- ® , C ? al of Pennsylvania) was entirely unknown j now it gives employ- ent to labor, annually, equal to five millions of days’ work. It gives emnlov- ent to about , 00 ships of 160 tons each, and it affords a nursery for the education about 5,000 seamen, the importance of which can only be felt in case of a war ith a “ nlime P°' ver - destroy this business, and you transfer this nursery to e coal mines of Great Britain. It has invested in it more than fifty millions ) OOOor’wTnnn susta ! ns a P°P ulat| on m its immediate neighborhood of some 1,000 or 70,000 people. It consumes annually more than two millions of dol- f, ', °l agricultural products, and more than three and a half millions of >liars worth of merchandise. The oil alone consumed in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania, in one ar, is worth over three hundred thousand dollars. J tHe miners J t0 th f ^ners ofland amounts to an annual sum of )t more’ th™ produce ^ a ver y sma11 charge on each ton mined— more than 30 or 40 cents— all the remainder being expended for labor in 14 one form or another; and the land for which this rent is paid was, until recently a barren waste. The effect of the tariff upon this branch of our industry is illustrated by the following fact : In 1837 the amount of coal sent to market was - - 881,000 tons. In 1842, with low duties, it had increased to only - - 1,108,000 Showing an increase of 227,000 tons in five years. In 1846 it will be over 2,500,000 tons, showing an increase, under the effects of the tariff of 1842, in a period of only four years, of 1,392,000 tons. Among the striking effects of the introduction of this article, fostered as it has been by our tariff laws, is one for the correctness of which I appeal to the Senators of Massachusetts : the completion of the Reading railroad, one of the avenues by which the coal reaches market, has made such a reduction in the price of fuel in that State, that the amount saved annually to its citizens equals the interest on her whole State debt; thus virtually abolishing the debt itself. I take this State as a matter of convenience, as it is the great market of the east. Its effect on other States, particularly New York, must be equally striking. And yei, if I may De permitted to digress, we see public men, professing to represent the interest of their constituents, giving their aid to the destruction of this business, so important to those interests. The anthracite coal is confined to the eastern base of the Allegany moun- tains. On the western slope only is found bituminous coal, and almost every western county of Pennsylvania, and nearly every one of the western States, abounds in it. I have not had time to investigate the amount of business con- nected with it ; the operations of it have been confined to local sections : but it has greatly increased since the tariff of 1842 has kept the British coal from competing with it in the New Orleans market. I will, however, give one fact, showing the effect of the trade and use of this article upon the prosperity of the country. The city of Pittsburg, it is known to all, lies in a basin surrounded with coal veins. It is one vast workshop, and its whole growth and prosperity is derived from the coal extracted from the frowning mountains which sur- round it. Every one of its citizens lives, directly or indirectly, from the produce of the coal mines. The town of Pittsburg in 1813 had but 5,748 inhabitants. In 1840 the popu- lation of the city proper was 21,166. It is now' 45,000 — more than doubled in six years. I have not the data, but I presume nearly all this increase has taken place since 1842, as I know, for some years preceding the passage of the tariff bill, business w as almost entirely suspended. The population of the city and surrounding villages, w hich are actually a part of the city, amounts to the round number of 100,000, and its whole prosperity has its origin in its coal and its iron, and the manufactures which they have brought into existence. The coal now used by our steamships on the gulf is furnished from the Monongahela coal mines; and the movements of our fleet before Vera Cruz, to which the eyes of the nation are now turned, will greatly depend on an abundance of this important means of national defence w r ithin our own borders. Destroy the trade produced by these mines, and in time of w r ar we might have to depend on our enemy for a supply of this essential element in modern warfare. I beg western Senators to look at the picture which Pittsburg presents to them, in the hope that, instead of aiding to destroy the tariff, they will look to the many points, equally well situated, with coal and iron around them, upon which cities may be made to grow’ up, and, like it, become a market for the vast agricultural products of their fertile regions. The next most important product of Pennsylvania is her manufactures of iron. By the census of 1840, the number of furnaces in Pennsylvania was 213. Returns were procured in 1842 from a large number of them, showing them to be capable of producing 152,000 tons of pig metal. The tariff of 1842 found the 15 fires of nearly all these furnaces extinguished, their workmen idle, and their families in many cases without the means of subsistence. And it is a melan- choly truth that many debts then contracted for the means of living are still un- paid from the savings of years of hard labor. Since the passage of the bill of 1842 more than 100 new furnaces have been built, which produce 178,000 tons of metal — more than 100 per cent, of an increase. The investment of capital to produce one ton of charcoal pig metal is esti- mated at $47, and for anthracite pig metal $25. These sums multiplied by the amounts of charcoal and anthracite metal annually produced by the furnaces that have been erected since 1842, shows a capital of $6,000,000 invested in the business since that time. This and the capital previously invested, with the amount necessary to put the metal into castings, &c., makes the whole*invest> ment about $20,000,000. This is wholly independent of the current expendi- tures necessary to produce the iron. The metal produced by these furnaces annually, in its raw state, is worth $11,000,000, If one-half of it, which is probable, is converted into bar or other coarse iron, it cannot be done for less than an expenditure of $9,000,000 } and if tho nthor half Ka put infr» Aaatingo, it will onot <£4^000,000. Thus showing' an actual expenditure of 24,000,000 of dollars annually in the neighborhood of the furnaces ; the greater part of which is paid to the farmer, the laborer, and the mechanic, of the surrounding country. A careful estimate shows that about seventeen thousand men are necessary to produce the iron made in Pennsylvania this year, in the capacity of laborers and mechanics, in connexion with its immediate production. Allowing six persons to a family, and we have over a hundred thousand persons immediately con- nected with the labor of these furnaces. The labor necessary to convert this metal into bars, hoops, castings, railway iron, &c., &c., would fully equal another hundred thousand persons. In this estimate there is no account taken of the thousands upon thousands of persons engaged in the various pursuits growing out of, and indirectly connected with, the manufacture of iron. I have given here a statement of the manufacture of iron in its first stages only. I have no means of estimating the number of persons or the amount of capital employed in converting it into machinery, mechanical uses, and the end- less variety of fabrics into which it enters. Every village in the State has one or more foundries; every large town has its machine shop; and the sound of the steam engine greets your ear at every turn. I have not had time to pursue this investigation in all its minor details. There is no means of estimating the variety of use to which it is destined to be applied. It is already used extensively in boats, and to some extent in ships of the largest class; and it is the only material of which ships engaged in the commerce of the gulf can be made proof against the destructive character of the marine worms of that region.* * As an illustration of the value of labor that is put upon it, 1 give to the curious table: The quantity of cast iron worth £ 1 sterling becomes worth the following sums : When converted into ordinary machinery ------ Large ornamental work Buckles, (Berlin work) - Neck chains - Shirt buttons The quantity of bar iron worth £1 sterling becomes, when formed into Horse-shoe work Knives, (table) Needles Penknife blades Polished buttons and buckles Balance springs of watches the following £ s. 4 0 45 0 660 0 1,386 0 5,896 0 2 10 36 0 71 0 657 0 897 0 50,000 0 m What I have done has been with a view of showing the great importance of this trade, now threatened with destruction ; with no motive, that I can see, unless it be to build up in the south a lordly aristocracy who have no com ception of the dignity of labor. It shall not be said hereafter that this calamity was brought upon the laboring men of my country without all the effort in my power to prevent it. My sympathies are with these people. I come from among the children of toil, and, by constant application and honest labor, have reached the proud position I occupy to-day. The best legacy I could desire to leave my children would be the fact that I had contributed to defeat a measure fraught, as I believe this is, with calamity to those with whom I have mingled all my life. These laboring men are mostly democats. Their employers are frequently of the opposite politics ; yet, with the freedom and independence that I hope will ever characterize the yeomanry of this land, they vote entirely untrammelled. They will be surprised to be told now that the doctrine of a protective tariff, which they have always believed in and sustained, is not democratic. What American citizen can desire to see his fellow-citizens brought down to a level with the pauper labor of Europe ? What makes our country great but the in- dustry, the intelligence, and hrm^t ontorpi-iso r»f the men whose means of living is to be taken from them by this bill? In what other country under heaven has the man who toils for his daily bread the right to say who shall make and ad- minister his laws? Where else is the proud spectacle presented of the labor- ing man approaching the ballot-box free, and without restraint? In what other country can the journeyman mechanic reach the Senate chamber? And yet this bill seems to have no other contemplation of the laboring man here, than as the pauper laborer of Europe. But how different is their condition. At one iron establishment in Wales, where three thousand men are employed, over 2,000 of them get but 12f cents a day ^ others, from 16 to 20 cents a day, and board themselves. In this country the lowest price paid is a dollar, and others receive from $2 to $4 a day. We make in the Union about 480,000 tons of iron annually, more than half of which is made in Pennsylvania. The product of British iron manufactured is about 1,500,000 tons. The pop- ulation in Great Britain proper exceeds ours by about 7,000,000. In 1825, their duty on a ton of bar iron was $37 50. It was kept at that until the fa- cilities for making it enabled them to make it cheaper than any other nation* Our facilities for making it are daily increasing ; and the day is not distant when the State of Pennsylvania will be able to compete with England, if her furnaces are not strangled now by this bill. In France, at the present day, there is a duty of $41 75 on rolled iron, and $15 50 on pig metal. Russia has a heavy duty on iron ; so has Sweden ; and indeed every nation that produces it. The consequence must be that the iron of England must break down our manufacturers ; for, having no other market, she will at any price flood ours, until our furnaces are closed and our capital gone into some other channel ; when, having no competition, she will force her own price and make her own profits. Why should not this trade be pre- served to our own people ? Why should the bonds of union, formed by the commerce in these articles between the different States, be broken up ? If the Union is worth preserving, why not by all means strengthen the cords which bind it together? We may be almost a world within ourselves. We have every soil and climate under the sun, and every product of the world can be fur- nished in some one of the States ; and, while we are giving just protection to the agriculture, manufactures, navigation, commerce, and the mechanic arts of the different sections, we are contributing to the comfort, happiness, and secu- rity of the whole Union. It is idle to expect that the reduction of the duties on these articles will reduce the price. It is a well known fact that the lessees of the British coal mines and the iron manufacturers can control the supply, 17 by an arrangement among themselves. They now have quarterly meetings to effect that object, and to fix the prices ; and no more is produced than is neces- sary to command a particular price. If this bill is passed, we shall of course have to comply with their terms. I have alluded somewhat at length to some of the principal branches of manufactures and commerce in my State. I have done so in the hope of ar- resting the attention of Senators, and of inducing them to pause before they de- stroy them. There are others of great importance, but time will not permit me to pursue them in detail. Her cotton and woolen manufactures are both very extensive, and furnish employment to many thousand people. The city of Philadelphia itself is one vast manufactory, in which, within the last four years, has silently sprung up some of the largest establishments in the Union, and in which are made fabrics equal to the finest productions of the world. Her locomotives fly over the railroads of various quarters of the globe, and her steam engines are used in every State of the Union. Her glass works are extensive and prosperous, and rival the best productions of Europe. New woolen and cotton manufactories are springing up daily, and now scarcely need protection, jexcept from the frauds which will most certainly be practised under this bill. The manufacture of paper in the State employs about fifteen hundred persons, in about one hundred mills, who receive annually in wages about $300,000. The product of these mills amounts to about $1,250,000. This article is pro- duced mainly from a material which is otherwise entirely useless. The amount of rags consumed is equal in value to $600,000. The effect of this manufac- ture upon the household economy of every family must be obvious to every one, of the slighest perceptions. Other nations, wiser it would seem than us, have placed a proper estimate upon its importance. France, by an unusual restric- tion, prohibits entirely the exportation of rags from her dominions. With a population of 33,000,000 who are producers of rags, not more than 5,000,000 probably are consumers of paper. Rags are, therefore, furnished to their mills for about the labor of collecting them. Not more than a cent or two, at most, is paid for the best rags, while in this country they command three times that price. This, with the low price of labor, enables them to send their paper here, and derive a profit after paying a very high duty. Destroy, as you will by this bill, the entire manufacture of many kinds of paper in this country, and suppose, as the result — which, however, I do not admit — that the prices will be, reduced : I ask, where is the compensation for the immense loss the country will suffer in the destruction of the domestic market for her rags ? Senators will be surprised when I tell them that the waste articles from which paper is made in this country amount to eighty thousand tons per annum, and that they are worth at least six and a half millions of dollars. Let it be remembered that this is a mere saving of an otherwise useless article. Experience in this country proves that when the price is lower than now paid, the supply of rags greatly diminishes. Materials of this kind, peculiar to the southern States, pay for all the paper used there ; and those materials would be entirely worthless if our paper establishments were driven out of existence. In addition to the vast expenditure by individuals, the State of Pennsylvania has invested, herself, over forty millions of dollars to create avenues for carrying these manufactures to market. The toll paid by them in turn enables her to pay the interest on this debt ; the prosperity, therefore, of these establishments, is vitally important to the welfare of the State itself. No wonder, .then, at the anxi- ety of all her citizens on this subject. With an increased tax staring them in the face, to pay the interest on their State debt, and a direct tax to support the general government, which is sure to follow if the free trade notions of the south are cajried out, I pity the public man, Mr. President, who shall call on them after having contributed to this result. I have referred to the internal im- provements of Pennsylvania as State works. They are in truth great national 18 works, made at the cost of a single State. Three-fourths of the States of the Union derive immense benefits from their construction. The national govern- ment already, in the transportation of her troops and munitions of war over them, has saved a large sum. She could now transport from Philadelphia to Lake Erie one hundred thousand men for what it cost, during the last war with England, to get a single regiment there. It was no uncommon price then to pay $360 a ton for freight from Pittsburg to Erie. By our canals a ton can now be transported between those points for five dollars ; and yet the general govern- ment would, by this bill, prevent us from paying the interest upon the debt con- tracted for them. The advocates of this bill offer us, as a remedy for all the evils to be produced by the destruction of our manufactories and our mechanic interests, an increased market for our agricultural products. Let us look into that. The Hon. Secre- tary of the Treasury, who should be good authority, in his celebrated Texas let- ter urges the annexation mainly upon the importance of securing by it a home market for our agricultural products. In that letter occurs the following impor- tant passage t “The foreign consumption of our products is a mere drop in the bucket in comparison with that of the home market. * # # # Our exports of domestic products, by the treasury report of 1840, amount to $103,533,896 ; deducting which from our whole product, (by the census of 1840, $959,600,845,) would leave $856,066,949 *of our products consumed in that year by our population of seventeen millions, and the consumption of our do- mestic products by the population of the world only amounts to $103, 533, 896.” This view taken in that letter added greatly to reconcile the people of the north to the annexation ; and yet, among the first results of that act is the introduction of a policy wholly adverse to the arguments upon which it was procured. It is well known that without Pennsylvania the annexation could not have been accomplished. And now we see the representatives ofTexas in Congress uniting in a measure which Pennsylvania deprecates as a curse, which only her enemies ought to inflict. Is this the return we had a right to expect ? Well may she exclaim, “ Save me from my friends !” But to return. The Secretary was cor- rect in stating that we must look at home for a market. The small amount of exports — less than one-ninth of the whole amount produced in the country — ought to be sufficient to satisfy every one that we cannot rely on a foreign market. ' The honorable chairman of the Committee on Finance has undertaken to show that there has been a large increase in our exports for the last half year. The correctness of his conclusions are rendered doubtful from the very partial view which he has taken of the subject. He has given us only the exports from the port of New York. It will be readily seen that they may be greatly increased there, and yet the whole amount be scarcely varied. Owing to the restrictions heretofore imposed upon our trade with Great Britain, and the regulations of their colonial system, our agricultural products were taken first into Canada, and exported thence into England. The recent changes in her corn laws, while they have materially affected the interest of their Canadian subjects, have had no beneficial effect upon our prices. This the honorable chairman has kept out of sight. The only change has been to export this produce directly to England instead of through Canada, without benefiting in the slightest degree the farmer here. The chairman speaks of the anticipated repeal of the corn laws. He ought to have known that this repeal has been absolute for some months. When Sir Robert Peel introduced his new corn bill into Parliament, the custom-house officers were directed to regulate the duties by its provisions, taking bonds from the importer for the difference to be paid should the bill not become a law. It is probable that a larger amount of breadstuff’s will be shipped this year 19 than heretofore, but for reasons very different from that assigned by the honora- ble chairman. One I have already given. The anticipation of the new British tariff regulations gave a sudden and unwarranted advance to prices here, last fall. Unusually large amounts were purchased by speculators. Their expecta- tions were not realized ; and, after holding as long as their means and credit would permit, they were compelled to sell at any prices. From these ruined speculators it went into the hands of shippers, who have sent it abroad. I should like to see the first farmer who has received the slightest benefit from the modification of the English corn laws. It is an indisputable fact that we never have and never can compete with northern Europe in supplying Eng- land with breadstuffs ! The Ictws of nature and of trade render it utterly im- practicable. The history of the flour business of this country proves that when it is at the lowest price, exportations are largest. When the farmer sells his flour for half price, when the dealer and miller are ruined all over the country, then, and then only, do the British buy breadstuffs from us in large quantities: at no other time can we compete with the low-priced wheat and rye shipped into England from the Russian and German provinces — countries where literally the “ox is muzzled who treads out the corn,” and where the laborer who produces the grain is permitted only to eat the husks from which the wheat is winnowed. W\ r e are referred to the recent action of England upon her corn laws, as a rea- son for reducing our tariff upon foreign manufactures. Who is so blind as not to see that there is no parallel between the cases ? In England it is an effort of the laboring population to rid themselves of the oppression of the landed aris- tocracy, by which they are deprived of their bread. Here, it is an effort of the aristocracy to deprive the laboring man of the means of earning his bread. The great market, and the only certain market of this country, is that created by the manufacturing interest at home. Those who look to Europe for con- sumers of the products of our soil will be disappointed; and, in the end, the surplus population and increased capital of the west will seek manufactures as the means of employment. In proof of this view of the case, I need only mention the fact that the single State of Massachusetts took last year from the other States last year one million of barrels of flour — more than the whole export of that article from the United States to foreign countries. It is also true that for the last twenty years the home market has generally kept the price of breadstuffs above the shipping price. These facts ought to settle this question. I might ask, in conclusion, what beneficial effect can the reduction of the price abroad have upon our products here ? The objections to this bill itself are so numerous, that it is hard to tell where they begin or where they end. I am glad to be able to acquit my honorable and able friend, the chairman of the Committee on Finance, from all par- ticipation in concocting a scheme so well calculated to do mischief, so badly adapted to the legitimate business of the country, and so certain to fail in producing a sufficient revenue to meet the expectations of the government Its chief evil on the business of the country is its inefficient provisions to detect and punish frauds on the revenue. Our citizens might in time, to some extent, overcome the inadequacy of its protection ; but there is no method by which they can guard against the frauds that will be practised under it. My friend the chairman felicitates himself upon the security against fraud by the absence of motive. He produces an array of figures to show that the gain upon an invoice of goods undervalued 15 per cent, would produce a profit of only percent., if successful. He thinks this a very small matter; and to the large southern planter, accustomed to estimate wealth by his immense cotton and rice fields, it may be ; but the result of his own figures will show it to be no inconsiderable sum. Let us take a single case, which is by no means un- 20 common. A foreign manufacturer sends an agent, who opens a counting- house in New York ostensibly for the purpose of importing goods. He receives on consignment $800,000 worth annually, upon which the per cent, gain by the undervaluation, is $20,000. I am assured by the most experienced and intelligent merchants that it would be utterly impossible to detect an underval- uationof 15 per cent, on cloths. I venture to affirm that you could not find a man of character who would be willing to put his judgment in the scale for the difference of 15 percent, in valuation, when the sum in dispute was $1,UUU. This beincr the case, how unlikely is it that appraisers, appointed as they are tor their political services, with but little reference to their business qualifications, would ever detect this difference in the valuation. The profits of large mercan- tile transactions are generally very small on the items. Commission houses, doinff business to the amount of a million of dollars, will guaranty their sales for 2£ per cent. When the consignment is very large, the guaranty is frequently given for 1A or 2 per cent. , , Now if a house on the other side can save an amount greater than they would have to pay for the guaranty of the whole amount of their consignment, I ask, is there not motive of gain sufficient to induce the undervaluation ? particularly where the morals on the subject of revenue laws are as loose as in England and France, where they avow it is not wrong to cheat the government. I am as- sured by a very respectable merchant, that of the large number of foreign agents doino- business in New York under the compromise act, scarcely any of them are now to be found there. Upon the passage of the act of 1842, they closed their stores and went home, because they could no longer defraud the govern- ment by false invoices. Another serious objection to the bill is its uniform discrimination in favor o the foreign mechanic and laborer against our own. This principle — if principle it may be called— abounds throughout the whole bill. Every class of mechan- ics is to be affected, and the business of many of them to be destroyed by it The tailor, the hatter, the shoemaker, the saddler, the tinman, the blacksmith and all others, will see their towns and villages filled with the work of foreigi pauper labor underselling them at their own doors, to pay for which the countr; is to be drained of its specie. To exemplify this, I will refer to a few only o the many glaring instances of this character in the bill. There are, by estimate in the United States, about 500,000 men employed in making clothes, and w< may to this add that number of women engaged in the same pursuit. Ready made clothes, by this bill, as in schedule C, are charged 30 per cent., and th material of which most of them are made is in the same schedule. All knot that the labor upon clothes in Europe, particularly France, is done by poc women and half starved men, who eat meat perhaps once a month — who giv no education to their children, and who never expect to see them elevate above the wretchedness of their birth. These persons, who literally work f( a shilling a day, will flood the country with ready-made clothes, and drive oi of employment this intelligent and worthy class of our people. In further proof, I will cite a few cases of smaller manufactures. Take tl case of ginger, for instance: the raw material in schedule B paying 40 per cen ad valorem, while the manufactured article is, in schedule C, paying 30 p< cent., thus giving 10 per cent, of a premium to foreign labor over our own. The like case occurs in iron to be converted into steel. The raw material i in schedule C, paying 30 per cent., and the steel itself is, in schedule F, payir only 15 per cent. Again, we have the case of Peruvian bark to be convert* into quinine. The raw material is charged 15 per cent., while the manufactur* one is charged but 20 ; making only 5 per cent, of a difference, when heretofo there has been a difference of 20 per cent, in order to encourage its mantifa ture in this country. The amount of capital invested in this item, apparently so unimportant, is very large. A single house in Philadelphia has in its manufacture more than $100,000. This branch of manufactures, like all others, adds largely to the commerce and navigation of the country. It re- quires 35 pounds of bark to make one of quinine. The manufacturer here purchases the cheap domestic fabrics of the country, ships them to the western coast of South America, and barters them for bark, with which his ships return laden. The bark is made into quinine ; and its great value is the labor which is here put upon it. Our great competitors in this manufacture are the the English and the French. If you destroy our establishments, you transfer also to those countries the commerce and navigation connected with them. Western Senators may perhaps not be aware of the great importance attached to this article throughout their whole country. It is used in almost every form of disease that presents itself, and it has become the almost constant companion of every family there. Will they not only aid in destroying the labor of their fellow-citizens ; but will they also deprive their neighbors of the poor consolation of procuring a remedy for the diseases of their climate ? Is there no motive sacred enough to arrest this unholy crusade? Further investigation has satisfied me, that what pretends to be provisions for producing revenue can have no other effect than to act as an absolute prohibi- tion, preventing entirely the importation of many articles that are very important to various branches of our industry, and some of them even necessary to our national welfare. I have already trespassed much longer upon the time of the Senate than I had intended ; but, to show the incongruities of this measure, and that it is unwise, considered as a revenue measure alone, let me give you the instance of cotton goods which are in schedule C, and charged 30 per cent. Just as many of these goods will be imported and used if the duty were three times that amount, as they will at that rate ; for they are articles used generally by the wealthy, and are purely luxuries, and none of them made in this country. They are cambrics, jaconets, mulls of various kinds, and very fine muslins, gen- erally of the kind known in the trade as white goods. A wise financier, in a purely revenue bill, would collect his duties from the articles used by the rich, and, so far as he could, leave the poor untouched. No such principle is in this bill. I annex a rate of duties upon cotton articles, which I am assured by active business men would produce at least 50 per cent, more revenue than the same goods will under the House bill, and at the same time protect our own manu- factures, and operate less oppressively on the poor : No. 1. All cotton goods under 44 picks to the sq. inch, 1£ cts. the sq. yd. duty. 2. Do under 56 do 3 cts. do 3. Do under 60 do 4 cts. do 4. Do under 64 do 5 cts. do 5. Do under 72 do 6 cts. do 6 . Do under 100 do 9 cts. do No. 1 embraces all kinds of heavy brown and bleached cotton sheetings and shirtings, and the common prints and stripes, that are used by everybody, and necessary to the laboring people ; and the duty would be about 18 per cent. No. 2 covers printing cloths, of which calicoes are made that sell at from 9 to 10 cents, common bleach cottons that -sell from 10 to 11 ; and the duty would not average over 30 per cent. No. 3 embraces fine print cloths, fine she-eting and shirtings; and the duty would average about 33 per cent. 22 No. 4, same kinds of goods, finer grades, about 35 per cent. No. o’ Do still finer, about 38 per cent. No. 6* all kinds of very fine “ white goods,” about 40 per cent. I have said, Mr. President, that I have been utterly at a loss for the motive which prompted the introduction of such a measure at this time. Its first ef- fect must inevitably be to deprive us of the means of paying even the interest upon the debt we are now incurring ; and the consequence will be, that a debt will be entailed on the nation, embarrassing all its operations for years to come. It has been the policy of the democratic party to avoid a national debt. I he payment of the national debt under the administration of General Jackson caused rejoicings throughout the country. Now, as if forgetting the policy of our fathers, we are, in time of war, when our expenses are necessarily greatly increased, entering upon an untried experiment, which, it is admitted on all sides will greatly decrease our income. Can this be done for the special pur- pose of creating the necessity of direct taxes, and hereafter the entire abolition of our revenue laws ? Is this the end to which it looks ? That section of the Union which controls this bill can control any other, if northern men will crouch before them. It will be found very convenient, in laying these direct taxes, to exempt the ne^ro population of the south, and lay them on the property and labor of the north. If this be so, the nullification of which we have heard may not be so remote as good men have imagined. w . I wish I could induce my southern friends to pause, while it is yet not too late, ere they strike a blow which*must recoil on themselves. They cannot be pros- perous if we are prostrate. It is a great mistake to suppose that the prosperity of the north inflicts an injury upon them. The foundation of the evil of which they complain will be found in the over-production of a single article. In 1824, cotton brought 21 cents per pound. This produced such an immense profit, that men went in debt to buy slaves, and every southern man became a cotton-planter. This increased the amount from 176,000,000 pounds in 1824, to 863 000,000 pounds in 1845, and reduced the price to 6 cents per pound. We are told there is never a surplus stock on hand, as an argument against this fact. But that is accounted for, in my mind, by the fact that the necessities o the cotton-planter compel him to push his cotton crop into the market to P a >’ his debts already made in anticipation of it. A little northern thrift ’ which teaches our manufacturers to live within their means, would do them much ser- vice, and in the end cure many of the evils attributed to the tariff of 1642. Much stress is laid upon the cotton crop of the south, and the whole lega- tion of this country is to be regulated by it. I do not wish to detract from its value, but I will show how small it is in comparison with the other agricultural products of the country. The entire cotton crop of th ®^ 000 pounds, which, at 7 cents per pound, amounts to $65,226,160. My south ern friends will perhaps hardly credit the fact, that the value of the hay crop, upon which our cattle and horses are fed, is more than 100 per cent. < over tins , amounting, at $10 a ton, to $140,065,000. The whole value of the tobacco rron at 5 cents is $9,371,100; the wheat crop alone, at $1 a bushel, is $106,- 584 000 ; the oils, at 30 cents, is worth $48,962,400 ; and the potato crop, so lightly estimated, is worth more than one-half the entire cotton crop, being, at 40 cents a bushel, $35,356,800. Why should all these important products be lost siorht of in our commercial regulations ? It is said that letters have been received here from my own State, approwng of this measure. It cannot be possible. Although it may pass here as a po litical measure, not a Senator, as I believe, would be willing to adopt it as his own ; and I cannot therefore believe that any business man, anxious for the wel- fare of the country, can advise its passage. It may be true that some individuals in that good State are mad enough, or ignorant enough, or dishonest enough, 23 ■O flatter what they believe to be the majority here, by crying hozannas to men L power. If such letters have been received, they must have been written by I men who have no interest in common with their fellow-citizens ; men who would 'barter principle for office, and see the whole State in ruin, if they could only Ibatten upon the offals of the government. We are told out of the house that this bill is to become a law by the casting (vote of the Vice President. I am happy to say that I have seen no evidence of such intention, nor will I believe that there is such a design, until I am con- vinced by the evidence of my own senses. To all the inquiries that have been made of me, I have said that it cannot be; that no native Pennsylvanian, hon- ored with the trust and confidence of his fellow-citizens, could prove recreant to that trust, and dishonor the State that gave him birth. His honorable name, and the connexion of his ancestry with her history, forbid it. His own public acts and written sentiments forbid it. If, as has been said, this question is to be settled by the casting vote of the Vice President, he will not, as a wise man, I adopt a bill which no Senator will father, but will rather, taking advantage of his high and honorable position, make one which shall contribute to the hap- piness of our people, and the glory of our common country. Let him not be ahured by the voice of flattery from the sunny south. No man can be strong abroad who is not strong at home. Before a public man risks a desperate leap, he should remember that political gratitude is prospective; that desertion of home, of friends, and of country, may be hailed by the winning party when the traitor is carrying in the flag of his country ; but when the honors of the nation whom he has served are to be distributed, none are given to him. Will any man believe that a son of South Carolina, occupying that chair, elected under such circumstances, with the casting vote in his hands on this bill, would give that vote contrary to the almost unanimous wishes of his own State? And shall it be said that a Pennsylvanian has less attachment for his common- wealth than a son of Carolina? I have said that I will not believe it; and as evidence that it cannot be so, I give, in conclusion, the following eloquent pas- i sage from a speech of the honorable George M. Dallas, when occupying the seat I now hold, on a question precisely similar to the one now before us. Extract from a speech of Mr. Dallas on the tariff of 1832 . “I am inflexible, sir, as to nothing but adequate protection. The process of attaining that may undergo any mutation. Secure that to the home labor of this- country, and ofcr opponents shall have, as far as my voice and suffrage can give it to them, a ‘ carte blanche ’ whereon to set- I tie any arrangement or adjustment their intelligence may suggest. It might have been expected, not unreasonably, that they who desired change should tender their projet ; that they would de- signate noxious particulars and intimate their remedies ; that they, would invoke the skill and I assistance of practical and experienced observers on a subject with which few of us are familiar, 1 and point with precision to such part3 of the extensive system, as can be modified without weak- j ening or endangering the whole structure. They have forborne to do this. They demand an entire demolition. Free trade is the burden of their eloquence ; the golden fleece of their ad- venturous enterprise ; the goal short of which they will not pause even to breathe. I cannot join their expedition for such object. An established policy — coeval, in the language of Presi- dent Jackson, with our government — believed by an immense majority of our people to be con- stitutional, wise, and expedient, may not be abruptly abandoned by Congress without a treache- rous departure from duty, a shameless dereliction of sacred trust and confidence. To expect it is both extravagant and unkind.” . . . . '