JANUARY, 1833.] Reduction of the Tariff-Mr. Verplanck's Bill. [H. OF R. ment is at all impugned by that of the chairman | six years, and, deducting the quantities exportof the Committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. ed, calculate the duty on the balance, as the VERPLANCK.) The only difference appears to average net quantity consumed. We have be, that the latter thinks we ought to be con- been furnished with no such table; and, in the stantly in debt to the outstanding appropria- absence of it, I must take such data as we have. tions some millions; trusting that they will not The table annexed to the report of the Combe called for until we can receive the amount mittee of Ways and Means gives twenty-three from new sources. This appears to me rather dollars and sixty-six cents per cent. as the ava niggardly course, as a permanent one, for a erage duty payable on the entire import, under Government free of debt, and with a reduced the act of July last, taking the importation of income, as it leaves them no available fund for 1831 as a basis of calculation. This ratio will possible contingencies. give on the net import of 66,200,000, a revenue of 15,660,000 dollars, subject, however, to a deduction for the expenses of collection, of about a million of dollars. The most important question, however, is, whether the permanent revenue under the act of 14th July, 1832, will probably exceed the sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the estimated necessary expenditure. In recommending the measure of reduction to us, the Secretary of the Treasury, in his annual report of December, 1831, made use of the following very sensible language: "It will be difficult precisely to graduate the revenue to the expenditure. The necessity of avoiding the possibility of a deficiency in the revenue, and the perpetual fluctuation in the demand and supply, render such a task almost impracticable. An excess of revenue, therefore, under any prudent system of duties, may be for a time unavoidable; but this can be better ascertained by experience, and the evil obviated, either by enlarging the expenditure for the public service, or by reducing the duties on such articles as the condition of the country would best admit." I agree fully in these sentiments, and they would seem to offer an irresistible argument against disturbing the existing law, until tested by experience. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his communications of the last year, assumed the amount of imports for 1830 as the basis of his calculation, being 70,876,000 dollars. He now assumes the average of six years, including 1832, which gives 86,260,000 dollars, whilst the Committee of Ways and Means assume 100,000,000. The importation of 1830 was a very small one. In fact, the only correct mode of estimation for the future is to take an average of years, and in the present case the result will be, as nearly as may be, the same, whether we take an average of four or six years. Taking, then, the average adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury, as a fair basis of calculation, and I shall attempt to show that it is the utmost which can safely be taken, from the gross imports of 86,200,000 dollars must be deducted the amount of foreign goods exported, which, on an average of the same period of six years, amount to a fraction over 20,000,000, leaving 66,200,000 as the net amount of foreign imports, including those free and those liable to duty, consumed in the country, and from which the revenue from imposts is to be derived. The only accurate mode of estimating this revenue, under a change of duty, would be, to take the average amount of each article, liable to duty under the new act, imported for the last Now, it must be apparent that this excessive importation in these particular articles goes to increase the rate of duty on the whole importation very materially over any average of years which can be taken. From a calculation which I have made, these items will reduce the average rate of duty from twenty-three dollars sixtysix cents to twenty-two dollars forty-four cents per cent.; and in this table no allowance is made for the reduction of one-half the duty on wines after the 3d of March, 1834. Putting all these things together, I estimate the excess arising from this mode of estimation, as amounting to at least a million of dollars, on the net revenue, which will reduce it below $14,000,000, on the basis assumed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Chairman, I am not insensible to the dangers which threaten the republic. One of the States of this Union is in rebellion, peaceable rebellion; or if that word sound too harsh, be it a crisis; or, to be more strictly correct, South Carolina is in a state of nullification. But is there any danger so imminent in this? She has done what it was apparent twelve months ago she would do. She has put in practice, as a remedy, a political theory nearly as absurd as the system of political economy on which she founds her grievances. But, sir, in my apprehension, the danger of the present crisis is past; nullification is nullified. The President's proclamation, ratified, as it has been, by one universal burst of public opinion, has killed it. It is true South Carolina is raising troops; but does any one apprehend danger to H. OF R.] Reduction of the Tariff-Mr. Verplanck's Bill. It is apparent that this great difference of opinion grows out of one great circumstance in the condition of the different sections of the country-the existence and non-existence of slavery. The great question is, whether this circumstance presents any real incompatibility or difference of interests, so as to make a system which is favorable to one section actually injurious to another. This is rather a question of fact. I am favorably inclined to the proposition of the gentleman from Rhode Island, (Mr. BURGES,) or something of similar character, for a large committee, or for commissioners, to inquire into the actual operations of the tariff; to bring the sufferings of the South into something like a tangible shape; to give us facts, of which we have so little, in the place of theory, of which we have so much. I should like an inquiry into the state and effect of manufactures, thorough and searching, like those which are gone into before committees of the British Parliament on all questions affecting great interests. (JANUARY, 1833. the Union from South Carolina, by force? with of our high trust. Under these circumstances, a white population of two hundred and fifty I also ask, in the language of the President, thousand, equally divided, and holding in her what shall be done? Shall we sacrifice great bosom three hundred thousand slaves? No, interests, under the influence of panic, or shall Mr. Chairman, no one apprehends danger from we examine fearlessly into the nature of the South Carolina alone. No one supposes that malady, and ascertain if it be capable of a perSouth Carolina will undertake to set herself manent cure. up as a nation by herself. She is acting, and we shall act, under other views. Our sense of danger, and the real danger, lies in the circumstance, that throughout all the Atlantic States owning property in slaves, from the Potomac to the Mississippi, there is a strong feeling of common interest; a strong sympathy for South Carolina; a violent clamor, a great excitement against the protective system; an idea, more or less general, but certainly of a large majority, that the system is unequal in its operation, and injurious to them. Nor is it surprising that this state of feeling should exist. Whoever listened to, or has read the speeches which were delivered in this House, during the last session of Congress, by a certain party, and which were dispersed, thick as autumnal leaves, through the whole region of the South; with other incendiary tracts, all calculated, if not intended, to rouse the whole South to madness, cannot be surprised at the result. We were told in this hall that the protective system was a vampyre, by which the North was sucking the warm blood of the South; that the free States were prairie wolves, gorging their jaws by instinct in the blood of the South, whilst oppression, robbery, and plunder were sounded to every note of the gamut. Is the result surprising? Those who could not understand the argument on which their wrongs were founded, could understand the application; and coming from such sources, can it be wondered at that the existence of these wrongs should be believed. Then, sir, there is another consideration connected with this subject. The tariff is put forward as the great, the only ground of complaint; but is it the only ground of apprehension, of fear? Sir, it is idle to disguise it. Every man who hears me knows that there is a question behind the tariff, to which that is but as dust in the balance; a question which includes what may emphatically be called the Southern interest, the Southern feeling; which includes also the fear and apprehension of the Now I suppose that it will be conceded that South that the General Government may one a great majority of the people of the States day interfere with the right of property in north of the Potomac, and of the West, believe slaves. This is the bond which unites the the system of protection to be one of sound South in a solid phalanx, and this is the key to policy; that the practical operation of it has their jealousy of allowing a liberal construction been beneficial to them, and injurious to none; of the constitution in relation to the powers of that the prostration of the system will in- the General Government. Why does Virginia flict real injury on them, by paralyzing their pass weeks together in discussing the abstract industry, without proving of any benefit to the right of secession from the Union? Does she South; but that, on the contrary, they will wish to secede? No, sir, except in one event. suffer in the general injury. This is the state She wishes to keep the door open, in case the of the case. It certainly presents matter for question of emancipation should ever be seriousgrave consideration, for wise and deliberately brought before Congress. There lie on the counsel. But do we lessen the danger by refusing to look it calmly in the face? The danger is disunion. Shall we strengthen this Union, and lessen this danger, by yielding up what a majority of this House in their consciences believe, what a majority of this nation believe, to be a great national good, in complaisance to opinions which we believe to be wholly erroneous? That such is the opinion of a majority of this House, stands on record in the journals of the last session, under the sanction and responsibility with which we perform the duties table before you certain resolutions of the State to express any distrust of the security under the present constitution. For myself, Mr. Chairman, I believe the South are unduly sensitive on this point. I know of no Northern statesman who calls in question the inviolability of the property in slaves under the constitution. I am sure the people of the State which I have the honor, in part, to represent, have no more disposition than they believe they have right to interfere in this matter in any way. But, sir, this extreme sensitiveness and apprehension on the part of the South in this matter, is an element too important to be overlooked in adjusting their supposed grievances. There is another question. Does the South really wish the continuance of the Union? I have no doubt of the attachment of the mass of the people of the South to the Union, as well as of every other section of the country; but it may well be doubted whether certain leading politicians have not formed bright visions of a Southern confederacy. This would seem to be the only rational ground for accounting for the movements in South Carolina. A Southern confederacy, in which South Carolina should be the central State, and Charleston the commercial emporium, may present some temptations for individual ambition. MONDAY, February 4. Slavery in the District of Columbia. Mr. HEISTER, of Pennsylvania, presented a memorial from sundry citizens of Pennsylvania, praying that slavery may be abolished within the District of Columbia. (H. or R. abject slavery in this boasted land of liberty, and that, too, at the very portals of your hall of legislation, and in these "ten miles square," over which exclusive legislation has been confided to Congress-an anomaly such as this may be unhesitatingly pronounced unprecedented in any country, at the present or any other period of time. We all know, said Mr. H., how the evils of slavery were entailed upon our country; that it is not a matter of censure, but of regret; and how delicate a subject it is to touch, or to legislate upon. And he would be among the last of those whose misguided zeal might desire Congress to interfere in any manner with this species of property within any of the States of this Union. But whatever others might think with regard to the propriety of petitions coming from any other source than from the people of this District on a subject in which they alone may be supposed to be interested, he had no hesitation in saying that amongst the names attached to these petitions, there are those of men inferior to none in estimating the sacred rights of private property, and in a discriminating knowledge of legitimate subjects to be brought here for the consideration of this honorable body. And he would add that, in his humble belief, in common with theirs, the fair fame and character of the whole nation is deeply involved in the continuance of slavery and the slave trade in this District; and that the subject merited, and he trusted it would receive, the deliberate attention and consideration of this body, at no very remote period. He moved their reference, without reading, to the Committee on the District of Columbia. On this motion, Mr. MASON, of Va., demanded the yeas and nays. Mr. H. said he had had forwarded to him seven petitions of the same tenor, containing the signatures of more than one thousand citizens of Pennsylvania, praying for the enact- Mr. MASON observed, that this memorial ment of a law or laws for the abolition of slav-came from persons not interested personally in ery and the slave trade in the District of Coiumbia. Although it was not likely, at this late period of the session, and at a time when the attention of the National Legislature is engaged on subjects of primary and paramount importance, that any action could be expected during its present session, in reference to the subject matter of the petitions he held in his hand-yet every philanthropist might justly cherish the hope that the time was not remote when the Congress of the United States would deem it not unworthy of their serious consideration to devise some practical scheme for the gradual abolition of slavery, and its worse concomitant, the slave trade, in this District. the question of negro slavery; and the language of the memorial, and the remarks with which its presentation had been accompanied, referred to the existence of slavery very generally; and though the gentleman from Pennsylvania disclaimed any wish that Congress should abolish it in the States, yet this was but the commencement of a series of measures which tended to that result. It would be time enough for Congress to act respecting the District of Columbia when the people of the District should themselves request it. Mr. BATES, of Maine, moved to lay the memorial upon the table. Mr. DENNY observed that many similar memorials had already gone to the same committee. Mr. CRAIG, of Virginia, was as much opposed to all impertinent interference by States not interested in slave property with the tenure of that property in the slave-holding States as his colleague could be; but the people of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and all the Northern States, were as much concerned in all matters "relating to the District of Columbia as those of the Southern States, and therefore the petition When we reflect, sir, for a moment, (said Mr. H.,) on the gross inconsistency of the theory and practice of our Government, and look to the sentiment contained in that sacred instrument, the Declaration of our Independence, that all men are born free and independent, "with certain inalienable rights, amongst which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and see that, in practice, there exists the most VOL. XII-11 H. OF R.] Reduction of the Tariff-Mr. Verplanck's Bill. Mr. ADAMS said he hoped the question would be taken, if the gentleman from Virginia should not, on reflection, conclude to withdraw his call for the yeas and nays. If he would withdraw it, he would confer a benefit upon the House and the country, by preventing a very unpleasant debate. Mr. A. had last session presented fifteen memorials of a similar tenor with this one; they had all gone to the Committee on the District. A short report had soon followed, and then the subject was heard of no more during the session. Mr. A., though not in favor of the sentiments expressed in the memorial, was opposed to laying it on the table, as being disrespectful to the petitioners. The right of petitioning was guarantied by the constitution, and nothing but very extraordinary circumstances should induce the House to treat a petition with disrespect. Mr. JENIFER, of Maryland, renewed the motion to lay the memorial on the table. On this motion Mr. ADAMS demanded the yeas and nays. They were taken, and resulted: Yeas 75, nays 98. So the House refused to lay the memorial on the table. Mr. MASON then withdrew his opposition, and the memorial was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. [FEBRUARY, 1833. was perfectly regular, and such as the petition- | astutely, whether the grievances complained ers had a right to prefer, and should therefore of were fancied or real. In this spirit, I apbe treated as other petitions were. proached the consideration of the modification of the tariff, at the last session, and gave my vote for the bill which then passed. I voted for it, as a measure conciliatory in its character, and as making no inconsiderable concessions to the South. And, may we not justly infer, from the strong vote it received from gentlemen representing the South, that they too considered it in this light? The provisions of that act, in contrast with those of the act of 1828, are highly favorable to the South. It is estimated, that the operation of the act of last session, will result in an aggregate reduction of the duties on imports, to the amount of nearly eight millions per annum. And, among the articles upon which, by that act, the greatest reductions are made, is the cloth of which negro clothing is made, and negro blankets. These are permitted to come in under a mere nominal duty-a duty of five per cent. Sir, will gentlemen contend that this is no boon to the South, no mitigation of what they are pleased to call the oppressions of the tariff? I well remember with what feelings of high gratification the passage of the act of the last session was received, not only by myself, but by gentlemen opposed to the protective policy, and representing anti-tariff States. I rejoiced upon that occasion, because I had, as I thought, the best reason to believe, that while that act would afford competent protection to the manufacturing interests, it would allay the discontents, and quiet the excitement in the South, and restore once more the disturbed harmony of the country. That act passed both Houses of Congress by an almost unprecedented majority; and, as it regards the vote in this House, one strong item of testimony in favor of the justness and fitness of the arrangement of duties which it provided, is to be found in the fact, that the negative votes upon its final passage, are made up of gentlemen who belong to the extremes of the two parties on the tariff question; of those who may be called the highest toned friends of the tariff, and of those who, both upon the grounds of the constitutionality and expediency, are its unyielding and uncompromising enemies. But, again, sir, it should be borne in mind, that this subject of modifying the tariff was then laboriously examined, and amply debated in this House and also in the Senate. It occupied the almost undivided attention of Congress for many weeks-and, every gentleman here can bear witness of the arduousness of the duties of this House during that period. None will have forgotten how, day after day and week after week, we were doomed to encounter the noxious, I was going to say pestilential atmosphere of this Hall, when within it; and without, the burning rays of an almost midsummer sun. But the bill did pass, and became the law of the land, though made to take effect on the 2d of March next, a day to which we have not yet been brought in the revolution of time. Reduction of the Tariff-Mr. Verplanck's Bill. The House went into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. WAYNE in the Chair and resumed the consideration of the Tariff Bill. Mr. LEAVITT, of Ohio, said: I am free to express it, as the strong conviction of my mind, that the gentlemen from the South, and their free trade friends from the North, ought not to have brought this subject before Congress at this session. I make this declaration, wholly uninfluenced by any feelings of prejudice or hostility towards the South. It is, I fear, but too true, that this feeling does exist, to no inconsiderable extent, between the Eastern and Southern portion of our country-but, for myself, I protest that I have none of it. I had lived, almost from the period of my infancy, in the Western country, and possess, I hope, some portion of that liberality of feeling, which so honorably distinguishes the great mass of the population of that prosperous and flourishing section of our Union. Occupying this position, I am constrained to say, that in my opinion the South ought not to have asked that the subject of the tariff should be agitated at this session. I am not unadvised of the state of feeling which exists in that section, in regard to the protective policy; nor have I been an uninterested spectator of what has been passing there. The voice of complaint and of discontent, which has come to us from that quarter, has not been unheard by me. I have been disposed to give it a respectful audience, and to pay it a respectful attention, without inquiring too FEBRUARY, 1833.] Reduction of the Tariff-Mr. Verplanck's Bill. [H. OF R. Sir, it is under these circumstances that we are again called upon to act on the subject. The law of last session making very material changes in the tariff law, sanctioned and passed by the very members who are now present, has not yet gone into operation. And we are now called upon to pass another act, making further and still greater alterations in our system of laying duties on imports. In view of all these facts and considerations, am I not fully justified in the assertion that Congress should not have been called upon for its action on this subject, at this session? Is it not due to the people, is it not due to the character and stand-tective policy, and what has already been yielded ing of the Congress of the United States, that the act of July, 1832, should be permitted to take effect, to the end that we may have a practical illustration of its bearing and operation, not only upon the manufacturing and agricultural interests of the nation, but upon its revenue? The argument in favor of an immediate reduction of the tariff, predicated upon the supposition that the bill of last session is to give us a redundant treasury, is not, to my mind, conclusive or satisfactory. Is there, then, any other fact or consideration, which calls upon this Congress, at this session, to adopt the anomalous course of reviewing and repealing a law which was enacted by it, after great deliberation, so late as the month of July last, and which has not yet taken effect? I am aware that the State of South Carolina, acting in her sovereign capacity, "bas adopted measures to nullify not only the act of last July, but all other laws for the imposition and collection of duties." I am aware, too, that she threatens to put her nullifying machinery into operation, with all the "pomp and circumstance of war." But certainly no gentleman is prepared to admit that this sort of military demonstration, this "peaceable" process of nullification, ought to induce Congress to pursue a course in relation to the tariff, different from what they would have done under other circumstances. If the tariff is now reduced, in pursuance of what may justly be called the dictation of South Carolina, will it not be to sanction the legitimacy and efficacy of the course she has adopted, and to make nullification triumphant? Sir, it was but a few days since, that, at a public meeting in South Carolina, it was openly avowed by a prominent orator and leader in the ranks of the nullifiers, that the bold stand which that State had taken against the tariff had caused Congress to pass the act of last session, and had been the means of inducing the Secretary of the Treasury to recommend a further reduction of six or eight millions. And what, sir, would be the language of the orator, if we were to pass the bill now before us? Would it not be ascribed to the fear of nullification; and would not the people reproach us with having pursued an extraordinary course of action in our legislation on the tariff, under the influence of this fear? But we are told that, leaving South Carolina wholly out of view, justice to the other Southern States which do not sanction the course of that State, demands at our hands the immediate adoption of the measure under consideration. Sir, I cannot admit the legitimacy of this conclusion. Let gentlemen from the South view this subject candidly and dispassionately, and I think they will concede, that, in pressing the passage of this bill at this time, they are asking more than strict justice will warrant. Let them bear in mind what they have already achieved, in their efforts to modify and mitigate the proto them by its friends and advocates. Let them reflect that the prosecution of an extensive system of internal improvement by the General Government is no longer considered a part of its settled policy, and is not likely hereafter to afford a pretext for drawing money from the pockets of the people, to be expended for those purposes. Let them, moreover, bear in mind what they have gained by the passage of the tariff act of last July and lastly, let them remember, that gentlemen on this floor, of all parties, and from all quarters of the Union, have united in avowing the opinion, that the revenue of the country ought not to exceed the wants of the Government, administered upon just and economical principles. It seems to me the South ought to be well satisfied with this state of things, and has no right either to ask or expect of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, a total sacrifice of their vital interests. Sir, I believe there is no such irreconcilable diversity of interests between the different sections of this Union, as that they cannot all exist and be prosperous under the same system of legislation. If the subject of adjustment of the tariff shall be approached at the proper time, and in the proper spirit-in the spirit of compromise and conciliation-I doubt not but it may be settled upon a permanent basis, in such a manner as that, while the great agricultural and manufacturing interests of the nation shall be adequately sustained, the South shall have no cause or pretext for complaint. Mr. ADAMS said that he had some days since given notice of his determination, after the friends of the bill should have had an opportunity of rendering it as perfect as they could, to move to strike out the enacting clause; he would now fulfil his purpose, and would move that the enacting clause of the bill now before the committee be stricken out. He would offer a few words in support of the motion. The merits of the bill, as well as its demerits, had been very fully argued, and he would not repeat what had been so well said by others. It was his opinion that neither this bill, nor any other at all resembling it, should pass at the present session of Congress. There was one idea which he had not heard suggested by any gentleman, and which was a decisive reason with him why the bill ought not to become a |