was deposited to the credit of the Treasury, besides the sum of $80,500 98 on account of private depositors. Of the two banks in Michigan, one had a capital of $419,779 99, and the sum of $828,698 60 in public deposites, and the other a capital of $150,000, and public deposites to the amount of $784,764 75. And if we look at the commercial metropolis of the Union, where near ten millions of public money are deposited with three banks, in every instance the amount of the public deposite exceeds the capital of the bank. Now, the security of this vast sum of public money is an object of great importance. Let us see what it is. Those deposite banks are under total liabilities to the enormous amount of nearly seventy-eight millions of dollars, for payment of which they may be called on any one of the 365 days of the year. And what amount bave they to meet these liabilities, in the event of any such immediate call? Only about ten millions of specie! Only one dollar in about eight! The principal part of their other means consists of notes discounted and bills of exchange negotiated. But if there come any sudden pressure, if that convulsion in the paper system of which every considerate man feels a consciousness shall take place, these means will be found altogether unavailable to enable the deposite banks to fulfil their engagements. Suppose a failure in the southern crop, or a great reduction in the price of southern staples, the wants of commerce would require the exportation of specie to supply the deficiency. The banks would have to furnish this supply, which they could only do by calls on their debtors. The example of one bank calling in for such a purpose would become contagious. Great distress would ensue; and a crash, if the demand for exportation of specie should be great, would be inevitable, and ruin and bankruptcy the necessary consequences. In such a state of things, where would be the ability of the deposite banks to refund the amount of the public deposites? What would become of the thirty millions of the public treasure now in their possession? There is another interesting view of this subject. We have collected from the people, and now have in those banks, $30,000,000. Who is the real debtor to the public for that sum? Not the banks. They are, indeed, the nominal debtors; but they are, in fact, mere agents. The substantial debtors to the public are the debtors to the banks who hawa harrowed the public money. And we do not know who they are. The publie in in the most singular condition of being a creditor to the large amount of thirty millions of dollars, without even knowing the names of its actual debtors. [SENATE. But surely the incidental, as well as the direct, advan tages in the administration of this Government are worthy of consideration. The accidental circumstance of the place of collection ought not to give to that place peculiar advantages, to the exclusion of all other parts of the Union. It was not so when the Bank of the United States was the financial agent of the Government. Then, by means of its branches, the benefit of its being the depository of the public money was diffused throughout the Union; and the Government, as a stockholder in it, received a fair proportion of the profits. And the true remedy for the inequality which he had stated would be found in the distribution proposed by the land bill, and in avoiding always the accumulation of any unnecessary surplus. Mr. C. said that he had intended to call the attention of the Senate to this document, in the course of the debate on the land bill, and for that purpose had directed the preparation of a table. But as the subject, unexpectedly to him, had been adverted to by the Senator from Massachusetts this morning, he felt it due to the occasion to make the observations which he had submitted. Mr. CALHOUN said that, until he saw this document, he had no conception of the great and imminent danger which awaited us. No man now, however, could deny or shut his eyes as to the cause of it. Its commencement took date some three or four years back; and its results had been distinctly foreseen, by himself at least. The disease is on us, and there is a fearful responsibility somewhere as to its cause. This is the point. Something must be done, and done speedily. Delay till this session has passed, and a wound will be inflicted on our currency and our country, from which neither will recover. All who have any of this worthless capital in their possession will be rushing to invest it in the public lands. And shail we stand calmly by, and permit this fraud? Shall this Senate enlist on the side of speculators and swindlers? Sir, a worse state of things is, we are on the eve of a frightful political catastrophe -a catastrophe which will terminate in nothing but the government of the strongest. He understood these military schemes; they were leading, by a rapid and fiery process, to absolute despotism. The Government was no longer elective; it had become hereditary. The demoralizing influence of gold has been already exercised: the age of steel is coming; and with steel will the conflict close. Vain will be the efforts of patriotism, of virtue, of eloquence, to withstand the advances of arbitrary power. The great and durable interests of society will be destroyed, and executive power will rise over them, strong in the ruin of every counteracting authority; strongest in the possession of consolidated power. Some honest and equitable manner of getting rid of this surplus revenue must be devised. He put it to the gentleman from New York, [Mr. WRIGHT,] whether fifteen millions of money, belonging to the whole country, ought to remain at the disposal of his particular constituents? Will he, as a friend of his country, per But it is not the insecurity only of this vast amount which ought to challenge the serious attention of Congress and the public. The distribution of it among the different parts of the Union, whilst it remains unappro priated by law, is a most material circumstance. No one can believe that, unless some such scheme as the land bill is adopted, there will be a less sum constantly on deposite, for some time to come, than the present sum. Assuming it to be thirty millions, the annual interest at six per cent. upon it would be one million eight hun-mit this robbery? He was confident that the Senate dred thousand dollars. Now, who ought to have this interest? The public, undoubtedly. Who gets it? The deposite banks, and their shareholders. And how is this thirty millions distributed? In the State of New York, with about one seventh of the population of the United States, there is deposited one third of the whole sum of thirty millions; and in Kentucky, which, on a fair division, would be entitled to about a million and a half, there is deposited only about $337,000. In other States and sections the disproportions were equally striking. would not adjourn without applying some remedy. Let all party feeling be put aside. Let Senators consider themselves as citizens of the confederated States, sent here to legislate for the whole Union. He felt under great obligation to the Senator from Massachusetts for the motion he had made. He trusted it would prevail. Let the document be printed, and, take my word for it, (said Mr. C.,) it will be considered as a phenomenon in the eyes of all Europe. The disease which is spreading over the whole body politic demands, and should receive, our notice. Let us break up this stagnant pool, and throw back upon the people the treasure which is le He was aware of what might be said. He was aware that it might be alleged that the deposites of the public money were made where the collections were made.gally and equitably theirs. Mr. WRIGHT said the gentleman from South Carolina had asked him one most important question, and he had asked it most improperly. He had asked me, Was a friend to my country? In the position (said Mr. W.) in which I stand, the answer to that question is not with me. I am willing for my conduct to reply. Proudly will I place myself by the side of the Senator from South Carolina, and let our acts be canvassed together, and let them give the answer; I will not answer. The Senator from South Carolina had complained loudly of the inequality of the deposites, as they were now distributed. Would he not throw back his recollection, and remember what occurred only two years ago, when we were told, and by no Senator in more emphatic terms than by that gentleman, that the transfers of drafts by the Secretary of the Treasury were violations of the constitution? Did not the strongest denunciations come from that Senator, as well as from the Senator from Kentucky, on account of a transfer of Treasury drafts from one bank to another? Yet, now the complaint is that these deposites have not been transferred. The argument could have no other bearing. Was not all the money which lies on deposite in the New York banks collected in the port of New York? Gentlemen do not believe that this could have been transferred. Is the Department to be complained of because the public money has thus accumulated in those banks? The money has been suffered to accumulate, for there was no authority by law for the Department to transfer it, and the greater part of it had been collected in New York. Hence arises the inequality in the distribution of the deposites, and not from any action of the executive department. He had been greatly astonished to hear this complaint of the gentleman from South Carolina treading so closely on the heels of the other complaint, that drafts had been unconstitutionally transferred by the Department. If there had been no law passed to regu late the deposites, was the Executive to be made responsible for that omission? It did not seem to be just that he should. It was far from his purpose, coming into his seat, as he had done, after this motion had been made, and not having had an opportunity of looking over the document, to enter into an argument as to the security or insecurity of the public money. He had, as yet, made up no opinion of his own on the subject, but he might be allowed to say that he did not feel so much appreliension on the subject as some gentlemen appeared to feel. Perhaps he did not feel enough of apprehension. But, certainly, whatever the danger in this case may be, it could not be ascribed to any fault of the Executive. Mr. CALHOUN said that the Senator from New York had displayed his usual tact and ingenuity in the remarks which he had just made. He (Mr. C.) had stated the existing evil as it stands. He had said that there was fifteen millions of the people's money in the deposite banks of New York, and that these funds were used without interest. Ile did not question the Senator's patriotism; he only appealed to it. The gentleman, however, had given to his remarks a totally dif ferent turn. As to transfer drafts, he would rather the money should remain where it was, than give to the Secretary of the Treasury the power of issuing them. The gentleman wishes to know why a remedy was not offered before. Did not he (Mr. C.) offer one? Did he not introduce a bill which would have met and obviated these evils; and was it not lost in the other House? As to any comparison of his political life with that of the Senator from New York, he was perfectly willing to go into it at any moment when the gentleman saw fit. He should not shrink from any comparison which should involve forecast, patriotism, and a manly meeting of responsibility. The majority in this [MARCH 17, 1836. body had changed, and in some measure he rejoiced at it; for the Executive and those who supported him had now the whole responsibility. na. Mr. WRIGHT begged to disclaim any thing like personality of allusion. It would be vanity indeed in him to put his humble services in competition with the long and valuable services of the Senator from South CaroliBut he had understood that gentleman as characterizing the great accumulation of the deposites in the New York banks as a robbery of his constituents. If the bill of the last session had passed, would there have been any alteration in the present state of things? He would read an extract from that bill; it ran thus: "That the public funds shall not be removed from the banks in which they are now or may hereafter be deposited, without the consent of Congress, except in cases where the Secretary of the Treasury shall, in his opinion, have good cause to apprehend that the funds are insecure, or where a bank of deposite shall neglect to comply with the provisions of this act, or refuse to perform the duties or conform to the conditions or regulations which the Secretary of the Treasury is hereinafter authorized to prescribe." This was the regulation of the bill on that part of the subject. Would the situation of the deposites, then, have been in any way altered if this bill had passed? Their distribution, it was true, would have been regulated by law, which would have been highly proper, but the situation of them would have been in no degree changed. This was the part of the subject in which he most particularly desired to be understood. As to the fault of the accumulation of the deposites in New York, it was not in the executive department. The Senator had asked why some measure of regulation had not been proposed? He should have recollected that the Secretary of the Treasury had recommended to Congress the course of action on this subject which he had supposed to be the best. Mr. CALHOUN said that the Executive had a fixed majority in the other House; we poor Senators, who were called a factious majority, had done all that was possible to avert these evils. Why were we not seconded by the friends of the administration in the other branch of Congress? The Senator could answer that question if he chose. There were three measures introduced in this body which would have had the desired effect: one to take away from the Executive the power, by means of the public treasure, of disciplining and regulating the ranks of his party; another, to regulate the deposites of the public money; the third, a proposition so to amend the constitution as to permit the distribution of the surplus revenue equitably among the whole people. All bis reasoning on this last subject was pronounced wild and visionary. There was no prospect of pushing it through at the last session; and he had thought it better to let it sleep over until the amount of the surplus was ascer tained. The Senator from New York wishes us to turn our eyes upon the past. He (Mr. C.) wished to consider the future; and it was for this purpose he had endeavored to awaken the attention of the gentleman. The subject was indeed full of interesting considerations. It was the greatest and most momentous question that had ever occupied the attention of the nation. Mr. BENTON said he could not help interfering in the debate. He could not sit there, without pointing out that this affair of thirty millions of surplus revenue was all an illusion. There was no such surplus. There appeared to be such a surplus, because Congress had reached the fourth month of their session, and the appropriation bills had not yet been passed. The money which appeared to be a surplus was all pledged to vari ous objects, the appropriation bills for which were yet to be passed. He thanked gentlemen for reminding him that the majorities had changed in the Senate. And he meant now to admit to the American people that the majority should be responsible, hereafter, for the public business. Yes, four whole months had passed away, the time for laying in the materials for erecting fortifications was going by, and no appropriation bills had been passed. He was determined hereafter to ask the yeas and nays on every question, in order that it might be seen who would obstruct the public business. At the very moment when a vote was about to be taken on the fortification bill, it was decided, by a vote taken by yeas and nays, that this bill should be stopped for the purpose of taking up the bill to give away the public lands. It was an illusion to talk of thirty millions surplus revenue. It was an illusion, because the appropriation bills had not been passed, no, not even the Cumberland road bill; for, although that bill had passed the Senate, it did not pass until after an account had been made out by the Department, and the most injurious delay had taken place. And now, having made up a showy account, we are to tell the people that this money is improperly distributed; that ten millions are given to one State, and a million and a half to another. It was all an illusion. It was putting out a golden fly, a false bait, to catch the people. He had determined to call up the defence bills early next week, and see if the public business was not to be carried on, now that the Jackson party had the majority. Instead of calling on the Treasury Department for a return of the amount of the revenue in the treasury at the date of the last examination, why did not gentlemen call for the amount of surplus revenue which there would be after all the appropriations of the session shall have been paid? The appropriation bills had been delayed for four months to swell this mass of apparent accumulation; and when it had been swelled as much as possible to the highest point, it is held out to the people that there is a surplus of twenty-seven millions to be divided among them. Although there seems to be so large a sum in the treasury, before the adjournment of Congress appropriations must pass which will dispose of fifteen or twenty millions. Let no gentleman decide, even for himself, what will be required in our navy yards and for our fortifications. Hitherto a few works have been commenced at a time, and those have been finished before others have been commenced. But it may now be necessary to begin at once at many different points. A resolution has been passed calling on the President for a return of all the points on our coast at which fortifications are required. The report, in answer to that resolution, may be expected daily. Gentlemen, therefore, should not commit their opinions on these points. Every thing which could be spared ought to be expended on the fortifications. The evil of the infliction of paper he would only touch for the purpose of referring to a remedy. That remedy would be found in the first act of Congress after the formation of the constitution. The act of 1789 provided that nothing but gold and silver should be received in payment of the public revenue. He hoped this would be the case again. He hoped the Senate would not rise without being called on to give a vote on this question. The danger which had been referred to was not so great as gentlemen seemed to apprehend. About a year ago it was astonishing to see the amount of gold and silver which came into this country. Since that time we had seen no such accounts, because the country had been flooded with paper, which at first prevented the inundation of specie, and then drove out of the country what had found its way here. He should call on the [SENATE. Senate for a vote on this question before the adjourn ment. Mr. EWING said he believed it had not been usual, before the final discharge of the national debt, to have at any one time in the treasury money enough to discharge all the existing appropriations; indeed, it had never been the case at the commencement of the year. The Senator from Missouri was therefore wrong in saying that the surplus in the treasury was chargeable, or would be chargeable, with the appropriations of the current year. Those appropriations are always expected to be paid out of the accruing revenues. For example, if we had now in the treasury but five millions, instead of thirty millions, can it be doubted that we might safely go on and appropriate twenty-five millions, if necessary, for the current year, and be secure in the prospect of receiving from the customs alone money enough to meet and cover the expenditures? The gentleman from Missouri knows well-none better than he-that we might. How, then, can he urge that the present surplus is or will be chargeable with future expenditures? On the contrary, the receipts of this year will, beyond all doubt, very much exceed the expenditures. The surplus, instead of being diminished, must continue to increase. The Senator from Missouri says the appropriation bills are kept back to an unusually late day in the session, for the purpose of swelling this apparent surplus. By whom kept back? Those bills do, in the regular course of things, originate in the House of Representatives; they are sent to the Senate, and then, and not till then, acted on here. Well, we have not yet heard from them; they have not come to us; and, if they are kept back, it is by the friends of the administration in the House, with whose doings and motives the Senator from Missouri is probably better acquainted than I am. This only can I say: those bills have not been kept back here for any such purpose. I feel fully and sensibly the danger to which the public money, and, what is of more importance, our currency and the business of the country, are exposed from the unsound condition of the deposite banks. I glanced my eye this morning over the returns from those banks, which were laid on our tables yesterday, and I felt fully all the danger from that state of things which has been so clearly and forcibly developed by the chairman of the Committee on Finance. There is no safety in those depositories of the public money. There is no safety or soundness in the currency of the country, so far as the notes of those deposite banks mingle with or form a part of it. Besides, I could not but be struck, and forcibly, with the perfect control which the Executive has, if he see fit to exercise it, over all these banks, and, with them, also over the whole long list of directors, stockholders, and debtors. Of the thirty-five banks in which the public money is deposited, there are but eight which would not be crushed at once, if the public deposites should be at once withdrawn from them. There are twenty-seven of them that could not pay the amount of those deposites on demand, even if no other creditor should call on them. They are fettered, bound by a golden chain, the ring of which is in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury. They could not, and they dare not, move contrary to his bidding, if he see fit to direct them to any end or object. Is this a state of things which any one who is a friend to his country, no matter to what party he may belong, would wish to continue? But, unless some efficient remedy be applied, continue it must, and with constantly increasing aggravation. Let the present order of things remain unchanged during this year, and the surplus in the treasury will have arisen to fifty millions--a sum which will probably exceed all the specie in the United SENATE.] States. Mail Contracts-Land Bill. If the deposites shall then be so extended as to reach all the principal banks, the great depositories of specie, the Executive will have the whole solid medium of the country in his power, and may control it at pleasure. Mr. WALKER said he did not rise to enter into the discussion, but merely for the purpose of stating a fact. The remarks of the Senator from Ohio seemed to lead to the conclusion that the public money in the deposite banks might be used for political purposes. He felt himself called on, therefore, to state that such was not the fact so far as Mississippi was concerned. The Planters' Bank of Mississippi had more of the public depos ites than any other bank in all the western part of the country. The directors of this bank were gentlemen opposed to the party which is called the party of the administration. The gentleman who stood at the head of the opposition ticket [Mr. Lynch] was the president of the branch of the deposite bank; and the gentleman who stood as a candidate for Congress at the head of that ticket [Mr. Wilkins] was the president of the deposite bank. After the result of that election was decided against him, he was run as a candidate for the United States Senate. So far, then, as the Mississippi bank was concerned, the public money could not be said to have been used for political purposes by the party called the party of the administration. He believed that the same would be found to be the state of facts in relation to all or most of the other banks. In fact, the whole of this paper system was against the party called the party of the administration--it was against the people. And whether the public money shall be deposited in a national bank, or in deposite banks throughout the States, instead of being likely to be used for the people, it will be used against them. If money, if dollars and cents, were to control, instead of the votes of freemen, there would be a different party at the head of the Government than that which is now placed there. Count dollars and cents instead of votes, and the Government of the country would be in different hands. Mr. BLACK said that politics had nothing to do with the election of the directors of the deposite banks in Mississippi. He believed, indeed, that they were opposed to the present administration, and that this was true of the moneyed interests in his State generally. Money was no test with them, nor did it influence their elections. Mr. WALKER explained that he did not mean to cast any censure on the Planters' Bank of Mississippi. Mr. EWING said that the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. WALKER] misunderstood him. He did not say that the Executive had exercised this power, but that he could if he chose. There was a difference between the having of a power and the exercise of it. The motion was then agreed to. MAIL CONTRACTS. Mr. GRUNDY offered the following resolution: Resolved, That the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expendiency of authorizing permanent contracts to be made for the transportation of the mail with the different railroad companies, or such of them as may be willing to make contracts for that purpose, upon such terms and under such restrictions as may be prescribed by law. Mr. CLAYTON expressed his acquiescence in the resolution, and hoped that the views of the Department would be extended to railroads about to be constructed, as well as those which are already in operation. Mr. GRUNDY replied that he concurred in the extension of the contracts, and the advance of the money to such railroads as might be so far completed as to enable them to render service to the country. [MARCH 17, 1836. Mr. WEBSTER referred to certain resolutions on the same subject, submitted by him at the commencement of the present session, and, after some observations, he stated that he should, when this resolution was adopted, move the reference of his resolutions to the same committee. Mr. PORTER made a few remarks, and Mr. CALHOUN had obtained the floor; when Mr. GRUNDY (to check the discussion) withdrew his motion for consideration, and the resolution lies for consideration until to-morrow. LAND BILL. The Senate proceeded to consider the bill to appropriate, for a limited time, the proceeds of the public lands; when Mr. HILL rose and addressed the Chair as follows: Mr. President: Congress has now been in session more than three months: the bill for the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands was introduced during the first month. A most fascinating argument was first presented by the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. CLAY] in favor of the bill, and the circulation of this argument has been coextensive with the limits of the Union. It was followed by an elaborate report of the Committee on Public Lands, embracing another elaborate report of a former committee, five thousand copies of which have been printed by order of the Senate. In addition, the subject has been moved in the Legislature of nearly every State which has been in session during the past winter, in which direct appeals to the interests of the several States have been made. The sum to be divided has been enor mously magnified, embracing in a single dividend the ordinary nominal receipts from the lands of half a dozen years, for the purpose of making the appeal more forcible and more effectual; for nearly three months the people of the United States have had only an ex parte view of this question; the argument in Congress has been altogether one-sided. Whether it be intended to pass the bill, or only to hold it out to the people as a gilded bait to tempt them away from the support of those men who oppose it, it is high time an examination of both sides of this question should be had before the public; and as the reasons in favor of the bill are spread over much ground, this must be my apology for occupying a larger portion of time in discussing this subject than I could otherwise have wished. When the bill appropriating the proceeds of the sales of the public lands was before the Senate in January, 1833, I then stated my objections to it to be the following, viz: That the distribution would have a demoralizing effect on the States and people who are the recipients: That the tendency of such distribution would be to reduce the State Governments to abject dependence on the Treasury of the nation: That it created a necessity for raising, by taxation on the consumption of the country, an equal and even a greater amount than the sum distributed: That it was a bad policy to raise money for the purpose simply of distributing it among those who have originally contributed it; the expense of collection and the use of the money collected during the process being a dead loss: That the true policy was a reduction of taxes on imports, rather than to gather money from the people to be distributed and expended on objects of internal improvements and education from the national treasury: That the distribution could not be equally applied in the several States, and would engender local strife and scrambling in the several legislative bodies which should direct its application: That projects for internal improvements would be started in the several States, involving expenditures greater than the land fund would discharge, creating a necessity for further taxation to supply the deficiency: That, applied either to purposes of education, or to colonization in Africa of the black population of this country, the money could not be equally or equitably appropriated: [SENATE. been saved in the pockets of the consumers by the reduction of duties which the friends of this administration have been able to make in the tariff since the year 1829. I know there are gentlemen, who are not the friends of the administration, who claim to themselves the compromise bill of 1833. But the blow against a high tariff was struck, first by a reduction of duties on coffee, cocoa, and molasses, made by Congress in 1830, and a still further reduction on coffee, on teas, and on salt, in 1831, followed up by a more effectual blow in 1832, by which still further reductions were made on some of the same articles, and great reductions made on wool and woollens, on the various manufactures of cottons, silks, and linens, on sugars, on iron That the proportion which the distribution gives to the and its manufactures, on crockery and glassware, on old States would not amount to the proportion paid into indigo; and by which, teas, coffee, almonds, currants, the treasury by the same States, and expended in pur-figs, and raisins, pepper, pimento, &c., were made duty chasing titles to the same lands, in annuities and other Indian expenses, and in expenses for managing the public domain: That a most decisive objection to the bill was its inequality, giving to seven of the new States nearly one third of the whole amount, while an equal distribution would entitle the same States to one sixth; and this, besides presenting to some of the same States half a million of acres each, together with other previous donations of lands to all of the new States: That, up to the time the bill was introduced, the proceeds of the sales of the public lands fell short of the expense of purchase and management, to the amount of more than eleven millions of dollars: That the debt for which the public lands were pledged, the debt of the Revolution, had not by those lands been discharged; that they ought first to supply the place of money collected from impost duties which had been applied to the discharge of the national debt; and that they ought further to be applied to pay millions of dollars which the law had made necessary to be paid in years to come: That the cessions by Virginia and Georgia to the Union never contemplated that the lands reserved to the Union as a "common fund" should be sold to fill the coffers of Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut; which latter States were already enjoying the proceeds of lands each of them had retained to itself: Finally, that the framers of the constitution never contemplated the distribution of the funds of the nation, however raised, among the several State Governments. It has become exceedingly fashionable, of late years, for politicians of a certain cast to ride some favorite hobby. The internal improvement hobby has been ridden in either branch of Congress till the animal had been absolutely broken down. Appeals have been made to the avarice of citizens in every section of the country where votes were most wanted, by proffered appropriations from the treasury, till the gilded bait would no longer be swallowed; and now the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands for a series of years-a retrospective distribution of the money which had already been expended and paid out-comes up to take the place of other projects which have failed either to benefit the people, or to raise their authors to the stations and consideration they have sought. Thus far the projects of gentlemen have notoriously failed. The taxes on various imported articles had been reduced; and so far from ruining the manufacturers, as had been predicted, manufactures had flourished. The people had been saved millions in taxation, in the cheapening of articles of consumption; and yet more money was collected for the Treasury than was wanted for the public expenditure. How sadly had been the predictions of the enemies of this administration verified! If those enemies have not succeeded in their predictions of distress and ruin, may they not now obtain some credit by surmounting the barriers of the constitution, and distributing to the four winds the treasure which a prosperous and provident administration has amassed? I will present a summary statement which I have procured at the Treasury, going to show, not how much has been distributed to the States, but how much has VOL. XII.-54 free. These several reductions were hard fought in both Houses of Congress; the opposition generally was all on one side of the House, and the several bills struggled through a long contest, on the point of being defeated at many stages by the interposition of proposi tions furthering some sectional interest, by offering to sacrifice some other sectional interests. Well, sir, all these reductions, with the anticipation of more, did not satisfy South Carolina. She had made up her mind to nullify the laws, and to break up the customs altogether; she arrayed herself against the Government of the Union. Some of her principal men lashed her population into a whirlwind of passion, which could not be controlled. They found affairs approaching a crisis which must involve their State in bloodshed and oivil war; they became alarmed; they retraced their steps; they were glad to find any pretext for escape. The compromise; a compromise between two extremes; between those who had contended up to that moment that southern agriculturists and northern manufacturers had diametrically opposite interests, which never could, and never should, be reconciled; a compromise was effected, not so much to benefit any particular interest as to relieve South Corolina from her unpleasant dilemma. This compromise effected no immediate important reduction of duties from the act of the previous year; it reduced the duties on some articles and raised them on others, while it contemplated a still further prospective reduction of duties at a future time. I voted for this compromise bill, as I have voted for every other bill for reducing duties that has come before Congress during the last four sessions; but I voted for it with the disclaimer that I did not consider myself, nor the people of my State, bound by the compromise. In my place I there declared of this bill "that the reduction of duties was not as rapid as the public sentiment of my State called for;" that "the people of New Hampshire, for their own sakes, wanted a large reduction of the taxes on all articles which they consume, when those taxes are no longer needed for the support of the public expenses;" and that "they would not allow their Senators or Representatives to pledge the public faith that the reduction shall not be more rapid."* A reduction has been made, and events have shown that even a greater reduction might have been made This reducwithout detriment to the public interest. tion has been effected in spite of prejudice and of passion, in favor of what was called the "American system." The reduction has had the effect on the revenue of the six last years, exhibited in the following statement of the amounts of duties which actually accrued on merchandise imported during the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834, compared with an estimated * Gales & Seaton's Debates, vol. 9. part 1, page 703. |