foreign convict, or dissolute character, into the state. SOUTH CAROLINA.-Act of Nov. 4, 1788, requires that any ship bringing a foreign convict into port shall be obliged to leave said port within ten days, and shall not be permitted to receive on board any lading whatever, upon penalty of the forfeiture of the vessel, and if the master, or any other person having charge thereof, shall land any foreign convict, he shall forfeit and pay for every one so landed five hundred pounds sterling. If he shall not be able to pay such fine, he is to be imprisoned for twelve months. TEXAS.—Act of Feb. 11, 1850, requires a bond in the sum of three hundred dollars from the captain of every vessel arriving in port, for each passenger brought in by him, that he or she will not become public charges. Bond to be commuted by the payment of one dollar for each passenger. Refusal or neglect to comply with the provisions of the act, to be visited with a penalty of five hundred dollars for each and every passenger so landed. VERMONT.-Section 26 of Revised Statutes imposes a fine of five hundred dollars upon every person bringing a pauper into any town in the state, wherein such pauper is not lawfully settled. VIRGINIA.-Section 39 of Code of Virginia, imposes upon the captain of any vessel bring ing a convict into the state, a fine of one hundred dollars, and three months' imprisonment. Free Germans. PLATFORMS OF. THE following is the Platform of the Free Germans of Louisville, Ky.: The free Germans of the Union have found it necessary to organize themselves for the purpose of being able to exercise a political activity proportionable to their number and adapted to their principles. There is a fair prospect for success for such an organization, and in this hope the free Germans of Louisville, Kentucky, have proceeded to lay down the following platform, which they unanimously agreed upon in a mass meeting, and make it known to the public at large as the standard of their political course. * * * * * The free Germans furthermore indulge in the hope that it will be possible to form a powerful reform party, embracing all who want that liberty now so much endangered, and the progress and happiness of this our common republic to be secured on principles lasting, truly republican and democratic. They wish, after having completed their organization, to establish with the aid of their liberal-minded fellow-citizens-such a power of votes as to be able, in 1856, to decide the victory in favor of a party of true reformers. The editors of public papers who will enter into a discussion of the platform-which we we consider slavery to be a political and 1. Slavery Question. Notwithstanding that moral cancer, that will by and by undermine all republicanism, we deem its sudden abolition neither possible nor advisable. But we, further extension of slavery be not constantly as republicans and men, demand that the urged, whilst not a single step is taken for its extermination. We demand that at length real proofs be given of the good-will so often boasted of to remove the evil; that in particular slavery be excluded from all new territories indiscriminately and for ever, which measure Congress is completely entitled to pass according to the Constitution; we demand this the more, as a republican constitution is guarantied to every new state, and slavery, in truth, cannot be considered a republican element or requisite. We further demand that all and every one of the laws indirectly transporting the principle and the influence of slavery in and upon free states, namely, the fugitive slave law, shall be repealed, as demoralizing and degrading, and as contrary to human rights and to the Constitution; we finally demand that, in all national affairs, the principle of liberty shall be strictly maintained, and even in the several states it be more and more realized by gradual extermination of slavery. 2. Religious Questions.-We consider the right of free expression of religious conscience untouchable, as we do the right of free expression of opinion in general; we therefore accord to the believer the same liberty to make known his convictions as we do the nonbeliever, as long as the rights of others are not violated thereby. But from this very principle of liberty of conscience we are de cidedly opposed to all compulsion inflicted to dissenting persuasions by laws unconstitutionally restricting the liberty of expression. Religion is a private matter; it has nothing to do with policy; hence it is despotism to compel citizens by political means to religious manifestations or omissions contrary to their private persuasions. We therefore hold the sabbath laws, thanksgiving days, prayers in Congress and legislatures, the oaths upon the Bible, the introduction of the Bible into the free schools, the exclusion of "atheists" from legal acts, &c., as an open violation of human rights as well as of the Constitution, and demand their removal. 3. Measures for the welfare of the people.-As the foremost of such measures-we consider the free cession of public lands to all settlers; to occupy nature, the soil as exclusive property, this no individual has a right to do; it is, for the time, the common principal fund of that population which inhabits it, and anybody willing to cultivate it has an equal right to appropriate a share of the soil, as far as it is not disposed of, for purposes of common interest. It is high time that the ruinous traffic with the public lands should be abolished, that the wasting of them by speculation should cease, and that the indigent people enter upon their rightful possession. But if this end shall be fully attained, it will be required to aid poor colonists, at their first settlement, with national means, lest said measures prove useless for these very persons who most need it. In the closest connexion with the land reform question stands that of immigration, which by its general importance should be raised to the rank of a national affair, and for which a special office of colonization and immigration should be created as a particular department of the United States government. Such a board would have to provide for the various interests of immigrants, who are now helplessly exposed to so many sufferings and wrongs and abuses from the place of embarkation in Europe to the place of their settlement in America. North America is neglecting herself when neglecting the immigration, for immigration is the mother of this republic. The admission of citizenship must be rendered as easy as possible to the immigrants. The welfare of a nation cannot be generally and permanently secured unless its laboring classes be made independent of the oppression of the capitalist. Labor has an incontestable claim to the value of its products. Where it is prevented, by the want of the necessary capital, to secure this claim, it is, of course, referred to an alliance with capital of others. But if no just agreement can be obtained by this association with the capitalist, then the state, as the arbitrator of all contending interests, has to interfere. This must either aid the associations of working men by credit banks, or mediate between the claims of the laborer and the capitalist, by fixing a minimum of wages equally the value of the labor, and a maximum of labor answering the demands of humanity. The time of labor shall not exceed ten hours per day. In letting out state contracts, the preference should be given, if it can be done without running a risk, to associations of workmen, rather than to single contractors. But when given to single contractors, the latter ought to give security for proper wages to the workmen employed by them. In order to enjoy "life, liberty, and happiness," all indiscriminately must have the use of free schools for all branches of education, in which, wherever a sufficient number of Germans live, a German teacher should be employed. In order that the attainment of justice may no longer remain a privilege for the possession of money, justice must be dispensed without fees. 4. Constitutional Questions.-Considering, as we do, the American Constitution as the best now in existence, we yet think it neither perfect nor unimprovable. In particular we hold the following amendments and additions, likewise acceptable for the state constitution, as timely and proper means to check the prevailing corruption, to wit: 1. All elections, without any exception, should issue directly from the people. 2. Any eligible citizen of any state may be elected as member of Congress by the citizens of any other state, and likewise may any eligible denizen of any county be elected by the citizens of any other county for a member of the state legislature. 3. Any representative and officer may at any time be recalled by the majority of his constitutents and replaced by another. 5. Free Trade.-We decidedly profess the principle of free trade, and will support it in all cases where it may be carried through without disadvantage to the people, and where reciprocity is accorded by the other side. 6. Foreign Policy.-The policy of neutrality must cease to be an article of our creed, and ought to be abandoned soon, as contrary to the interests of North America. The rights of American citizens and immigrants having declared their intention to become citizens, must the more energetically be protected in foreign countries, since every American appears to monarchical and despotical governments as a representative of revolution against despotism, and this republic ought to honor this point of view as the only one worthy and legitimate. 7. Rights of Woman.-The Declaration of Independence says, that "all men are born equal, and endowed with inalienable rights, and to these belong life, liberty, and the suit of happiness." We repeatedly adopt this principle, and are of the opinion that woman, too, are among "all men." pur. 8. Rights of Free Persons. In the free states the color of the skin cannot justify a difference of legal rights. There are not born two men of equal color, but still less two men of unequal rights. 9. Penal Laws.-It is our opinion, that all penal laws can only have the purpose of correction, but never the absurd purpose of expiation. We therefore consider the penalty of death, which excludes the possibility of correction, to be as irrational as barbarous. The following is the platform of the free Germans of Richmond, Va. : Reform in the laws of the general government, | dren by the state. 5. Taking possession of as well as in those of the states. We demand 1. Universal suffrage. 2. The election of all officers by the people. 3. The abolition of the Presidency. 4. The abolition of senates, so that the legislatures shall consist of only one branch. 5. The right of the people to recall their representatives (cashier them) at their pleasure. 6. The right of the people to change the Constitution when they like. 7. All lawsuits to be conducted without expense. 8. A department of the government to be set up for the purpose of protecting immigration. 9. A reduced term for acquiring citizenship. Reform in the foreign relations of the 1. Abolition of all neutrality. 2. Intervention in favor of every people struggling for liberty. Reform in what relates to religions. 1. A more perfect development of the principle of personal freedom and liberty of conscience; consequently a. Abolition of laws for the observance of the Sabbath; b. Abolition of prayers in Congress; c. Abolition of oath upon the bible; d. Repeal of laws enacting a religious test before taking an office. 2. Taxation of church property. 3. A prohibition of incorporations of all church property in the name of ecclesiastics. Reform in the social condition. 1. Abolition of land monopoly. 2. Ad valorem taxation of property. 3. Amelioration of the condition of the working class-a. By lessening the time of work to eight hours for grown persons, and to five hours for children; b. By incorporation of mechanics' associations and protective societies; c. By granting a preference to mechanics before all other creditors; d. By establishing an asylum for superannuated mechanics without means, at the public expense. 4. Education of poor chil the railroads by the state. 6. The promotion of education-a. By the introduction of free schools, with the power of enforcing the parents to send their children to school, and prohibition of all clerical influence; b. By instruction in the German language; c. By establishing a German university. 7. The supporting of the slave-emancipation exertions of Cassius M. Clay by Congressional laws. 8. Abolition of the Christian system of punishment and introduction of the human amelioration system. 9. Abolition of capital punishment. Free Trade. In the House of Representatives, March 19, 1858, Mr. BOYCE, from the Special Committee, submitted the following report. The Special Committee, to whom were referred the following subjects: a reduction of the expenditures of the government; the navigation laws; the existing duties on imports; the expediency of a gradual repeal of all duties on imports, and a resort exclusively to internal taxation, respectfully submit the following report: * The expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1857, independent of the public debt, as appears from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, are $65,032,597.76. The first question is, whether those expenditures are greater than what they should be under an economical administration of the government. We think they are. The best mode of determining this question is to compare the present total expenditures of the government with the total expenditures of the government at some past period of our history, and, further, to compare some of the leading items of our expenditure now with the leading items of our expenditure then. With this view, we have compared the receipts and expenditures of 1857 with 1823, the result of which appears by the following statement: This result is sufficiently striking, but it is rendered much more so when we consider two important facts: 1st. That 6,196,000 acres of the public land were granted during the last fiscal year for railroad purposes, which may be valued at $15,490,000, being at The contrast might be carried into many | $37,032,559.76. other items of expenditure, and the results would be startling. But enough has been done to show that the ratio of expenditure is far in excess of the increase of population. The expenditures ought not, for very obvious reasons, to increase in proportion to the increase of population. But conceding that it should, the expenditures of the government, in round numbers, should not exceed $28,000,000; whereas it is $65,032,559.76-an excess of *The committee consisted, besides Mr. Boyce of Miss., John Mott of Ohio, J. R. Wortendyks of N. J. M. R. H. Garnett A. Quitman of Miss., Francis E Spinner of N. Y., Richard of Virginia, and Robert P. Trirpe of Georgia. the rate of $250 per acre. 2d. That appro-ested in high duties—that is, in high taxation. priations to supply the deficiencies of the last The influence of the manufacturing class on fiscal year have been called for, amounting, in taxation is not merely in proportion to the round numbers, to $10,000,000, making the capital they represent, as compared with the total expenditures of the government, in round capital engaged in other industrial pursuits; numbers, for the last fiscal year $90,000,000! for, from very obvious reasons, some of which an excess over the ratio of expenditures in have already been incidentally alluded to, it 1823 of $62,000,000. The administration of is far beyond this ratio. As an illustration of the government in 1823 was not considered this influence, we would refer to the facts conpeculiarly economical; on the contrary, it was nected with the modification of the tariff pronounced at the time by some as extrava- during the last Congress. It is notorious gant, and really was much more so than the that the only great interest represented here first term of Mr. Jefferson's administration. at that time by outside agents was the manufacturing interest. One of the first steps towards an economical administration of the government is to place that great and active interest permanently on the side of low taxation, and the only effectual mode of doing this is direct taxation; which necessarily implies the total abandonment of protective duties, which are but another name for bounties. When you have put all the great interests of capital on the side of low taxes, you have taken one of the most decided steps that you can possibly take in favor of low taxation, which is the necessary antecedent of economy. Considering as established the proposition that the expenditures of the government are far in excess of what they should be, we pass on to consider the remedy, if remedy there be, for this lavish waste of the public money. What is the remedy for this vast and increasing expenditure? The only remedy likely, in any y degree, to be effectual is to change the existing system of taxation. The regular increase of our expenditures shows that it is not attributable to any particular party or administration, for this increase has gone on constantly under every party and every administration, with the regularity of a great principle. To make an individual a prodigal, you have only to supply him with an unlimited amount of money; to make a government extravagant, you have only to do the same thing. The first economical defect of our present system of taxation, by duties on imports, is, that it operates as a bounty to one, and that a very important class the manufacturers. The next prominent evil of the present system of taxation, is that, by its indirect operation, the people are ignorant of what they pay. They are ignorant of what they pay to the government, and equally ignorant of what they pay to the protected interests in the shape of bounties. If the object be to obtain from the people the largest amount possible without arousing them, then the indirect sysUnder the operation of this first defect, the tem-the present system-is the best; but if great manufacturing class, which represents a the object be only to obtain from them the vast capital, which is intensely alive to its pecu- least amount that will suffice for the just liar interest, which is vigilant, active, powerful, wants of the government, then the direct sysand capable of prompt and ready combination, tem of taxation is the best. The happy ignois interested in increasing the taxation of the rance of the people of the United States as to government; for the higher the taxes are, if the amount of taxes they are paying is one laid on the principle of protecting their pro- great cause of their remaining so passive unducts, the better for them. Suppose the ques-der the enormous increase of our expenditures tion were submitted to the cotton manufacturers, or the iron manufacturers, whether the duties on cotton and iron products should be increased or diminished, does any one doubt what their answer would be? So far as they are concerned, they consider high duties as bounties to them, and they would be in favor of them, if the revenues thereby derived were thrown into the sea. Under the present system of taxation by duties on imports, this great class are favorable to high taxation. To form some idea of the stupendous magnitude of this manufacturing interest, take the following statement, showing the value of the products of manufacture of the United States for the year 1850.—gance. (Financial Report, Executive Document, 3d sess. 34th Congress, vol. 2, 1856-'57, p. 166.) Total value of products of manufactures for 1850 $1,055,595,899 This reference to the products of manufactures may give us some idea of the immense capital engaged in manufactures. This capital may be estimated at $500,000,000. This vast capital is all more or less inter which has been going on for years. If we desire an economical government, we must be candid with the people, and let each one know exactly what he pays. The people, ignorant of how much tax they are paying in the enhanced price of commodities, will tolerate an expenditure of $100,000,000 much more patiently than one of $50,000,000, when each one has to pay his ascertained share directly from his own pocket. Economy here must be preceded by vigilance among the constituency; as long as the constituency are indifferent on this subject, the representatives will be carried along unresisting in the vortex of extrava Another objection to the present system is the large expenditure necessary in the present mode of collecting the revenue, in paying the army of employés engaged in the present revenue service, in building costly structures in various parts of the United States, and in maintaining custom-houses which do not pay their own expenses. Upon this point we would call attention to the following facts: em The direct cost of collecting the revenue from customs for the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1857, $64,171,034.05, was $3,552,359.50, mploying three thousand and eighty-eight officers. This is independent of the cost of the custom-houses and revenue cutters, the interest upon which investment would largely increase this sum. To see further the operation of the present system, take the following statement: Amount of revenue collected, and expenditures at certain custom-houses, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1857. As regards the navigation laws, we do not think it necessary to go into a detailed examination of their various provisions, especially as a bill has been reported to the House, and is now before it, from one of the standing committees, for the purpose of perfecting the deExcess of ex- tails of the present code of navigation laws. In general terms, however, we would say that the present regulations are unnecessarily complex, and might, with great advantage, be simplified. There are, however, several defects in principle, as we conceive, in the navigation laws, to which we propose to call attention; those defects are as follows: 1. The requisition that American vessels engaged in the coasting trade should pay 50 cents per ton unless "three-fourths of the crew are American citizens, then only 6 cents per ton;" and the further provision that American vessels, entering from foreign ports, to pay 50 cents per ton unless "the officers and twothirds of the crew are American citizens." 2. The exclusion of foreign built vessels, though owned by American citizens, from engaging, with entire equality, in the coasting and other trade of the United States. The total net revenue from the following eighteen custom-houses for the last fiscal year, 3. The entire exclusion of foreign vessels, viz: Belfast, Bath, Bangor, Portland, Waldo-owned by foreigners, from the coasting trade. boro', Wiscasset, Burlington, Barnstable, Glou- The object of the requisition that a certain cester, Bristol, Providence, Plattsburg, Wil-proportion of the crews of American vessels mington, Del., Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, San- should be Americans, was, no doubt, intended dusky, Toledo, and San Francisco, was to accomplish a political purpose, eminently $1,769,163.43. The total cost of the public proper in itself, to provide an American mabuildings in those places for custom-houses, post offices, and court-rooms finished since 1850, is $2,443.776.94. The total expenditure incurred for the last fiscal year in collecting said net income of $1,769,163.43 was $567,839.02. Another defect of the present system is the immense patronage it gives to the federal government. This army of officers might, by each state paying over its assessed quota, be almost entirely dispensed with. Instead of three thousand and eighty-eight employés now in the revenue system, we need, under a different system, have no more than one treasurer in each state. Another prominent defect of the present system is its necessary inequality; for no tariff can be constructed that does not, in a greater or less degree, operate as a bounty on one portion of the community and as a double tax on the great class of consumers. It requires no argument to prove that in a republic there should be equality in taxation; the Constitution attempts to accomplish this purpose in declaring that "all duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States." But every tariff, in a greater rine in time of war. We find no fault with the motive, but we think this provision, which operates frequently as a great practical inconvenience, is unnecessary. The occupation of a sea-faring life should be left, like all other employments, to the inclinations or interests of the people. If it is to the interests of our population that they should go to sea, they will do so; otherwise, we should not endeavor to compel them. There is no danger that we should suffer in case of war from repealing this provision. That patriotic class of our citizens, who have, on all occasions, honorably sustained the glory of our flag on the sea, do not take their inspiration from this provision. We have no fear but that, with or without this provision, there will be always the material out of which to organize a warlike marine, necessary to the wants of the country, under the most trying circumstances that can arise. Even with this provision, a large per centage, 45 or 50 per cent., of our sea-faring men are foreigners. This provision, then, operates only as an unnecessary burden on the country during peace, without promising any adequate compensating result in time of war. Further, |