97. Mr Verplank then moved to change the duty on sail duck from ten cents per square yard to fifteen per cent ad valorem, which was agreed to, yeas 98, nays 94. Mr Connor now moved to strike out the valuation of the pound sterling at four dollars and eighty cents, which was rejected, yeas 79, nays 114. Two amendments, were then proposed by Mr Marshall. The first to raise the duty on hemp from thirty five dollars to forty per ton was carried, yeas 98, nays 93, and the second, to raise the duty on cotton bagging from three and a half to four cents the square yard was lost, yeas 96, nays 100. Several amendinen's were now proposed by Mr Adams, the first raising the duty on Brussels carpet from fifty cents to 63 cents the square yard was carried, yeas 98, nays 92, the second to raise the duty on Venetian carpeting from twentytwo and a half to forty cents was lost, yeas 93, nays 96, and the third changing the duty on flannels and baizes from an ad valorem duty of 35 per cent to a specific duty of 16 cents the square yard was carried, yeas 93, nays 91. The previous question then being demanded by Mr White of New York, and duly seconded, was carried, yeas 98, nays 85, and the bill was ordered to a third reading, yeas 121, nays

65.

The next day the previous question was again ordered by a vote of 132 to 60, and the bill having passed, yeas 132, nays 65, was sent to the Senate for confirmation. It was taken up in that body for consideration on the third day of July; when it was

amended by confining the five per cent duty on Kendall cottons, to such as weighed not less than 16 ounces to the square yard, yeas 24, nays 22. It was further amended by placing Wilton and treble ingrained carpeting on the same footing with Brussels, yeas 24, nays 21, by making the duty on common ingrained and Venetian carpeting thirtyfive cents the square yard, yeas 28, nays 18. By making the duty on merino shawls fifty per cent, yeas 24, nays 19.

An amendment was also proposed to prevent a less duty on flannels than fifty per cent, but Mr Hayne having succeeded in substituting 'more' for 'less' yeas 24, nays 22, the amendment was rejected, yeas 19, nays 26. On the 5th of July the subject was resumed, and the bill was further amended by raising the duty on oil cloths from twelve and a half to fifteen per cent; by reducing the duty on floor matting from thirty to five per cent, by increasing the duty on plated wire from five to twentyfive per cent, yeas 22, nays 21; by making the duty on tacks, brads, and sprigs of sixteen ounces to the 1000, five cents per thousand instead of per pound, yeas 28, nays 15; by exempting manufactures of lead from the duty of twentyfive per cent yeas 33, nays 13; by establishing the same duty on manufactures of iron partly finished, as if entirely finished, and on vessels of cast iron with wrought iron handles, as if made entirely of cast iron, yeas 25, nays 20; by changing the duty on sail duck from fifteen per cent ad valorem to eight cents the square yard, except on ravens

duck, which was fined at four cents the square yard, yeas 23, nays 22, by establishing a duty of eighteen cents each on felt or wool hats, yeas 24, nays 16; by increasing the duty on brown sugar and syrup from two and a half to three cents per pound, yeas 24, nays 16; by making coffee duty free, yeas 31 nays 14; by making tea duty free, yeas 28, nays 15; by establishing a duty of two cents per pound on old lead and scrap lead; by excepting cordage from the duty on manufactures of hemp, and flax, yeas 26, nays 16; by striking out the increased duty on musical instruments, yeas 24, nay 17; and by striking out a provision, by which all articles not enumerated, that paid a higher ad valorem duty than fifteen per cent should after March 3d, 1833, pay fifteen per cent, yeas 24, nays 20. On the 6th of July the bill was further amended by striking from the list of free articles, corks, manufactured marble, hair cloth seatings, millstones, sextants, quadrants and spyglasses, and various unimportant articles were also inserted in that list. The duty on fossil or mineral salt was reduced from four cents a bushel to a duty of fifteen per cent ad valorem, and a provision inserted, providing that no drawback should be allowed on a less quantity of cordage exported than five tons.

An amendment was now proposed, by which woollen cloths of less value than fifty cents are to be valued at fifty cents the square yard, and when of greater value than fifty cents and less than two dollars and fifty cents, to be val

ued at two dollars and fifty cents, and those, as well as those of greater value are to be all subjected to a duty of thirtyfive per cent ad valorem.

The second minimum was stricken out on motion of Mr Hayne, yeas 24, nays 23; and on motion of Mr Chambers the duty on that class of woollens between fifty cents and two dollars and fifty cents, was raised to 60 per cent ad valorem, yeas 24, nays 23. The question was then divided and the first minimum was rejected, yeas 23, nays 25.

The residue of the amendment was then rejected by the casting vote of the Vice President, yeas 24, nays 24.

The duty on woollens was then on motion of Mr Webster, raised from fifty to fiftyseven per cent, yeas 25, nays 23. On the 7th of July the subject was resumed, when the duty on cotton bagging was raised, on motion of Mr Clay, from three and a half to four cents the square yard, yeas 25, nays 21. The duty on japanned saddlery was raised from ten per cent to twentyfive per cent, yeas 22, nays 21. The duty on slates was raised from 25 to 35 per cent. Palm leaf hats, which were fixed at a duty of thirty per cent, were stricken out of the bill, yeas 25, nays 22. Several amendments were also proposed which were rejected, as to raise the duty on agricultural implements, yeas 21, nays 25; to reduce the duty on sewing silk; to strike out the cotton minimums, yeas 17, nays 27; to change the duty on flannels to an ad valorem duty of thirty per cent, yeas 18, nays 28;

to reduce the duty to five cents per bushel, yeas 22, nays 24; to strike out the provision placing articles made of steel, rod, hoop, bolt, bar iron, or iron wire on the same footing with the raw material, yeas 20, nays 26; to strike out the provision requiring the cash duties on woollens, yeas 17, nays 27; to reduce the duty on goods intended for the Indian trade, yeas 20, nays 26. On the 9th of July the bill finally passed, yeas 32, nays 16. The bill and amendments were then sent to the House for concurrence. The House then rejected the following amendments, viz. That, limiting the low duty on Kendall cotton to such as should weigh not less than sixteen ounces the square yard, yeas 73, nays 97; increasing the duty on woollens from fifty to fiftyseven per cent, yeas 84, nays 91, changing the duty on sail duck, yeas 69, nays 98; the duty on cotton bagging yeas 77, nays 95; increasing the duty on brown sugar and syrup, yeas 74, nays 93; increasing the duty on slates, yeas 63, nays 90; increasing the duty on japanned saddlery, and that striking out the section reducing all non-enumerated articles paying a higher duty than fifteen per cent to fifteen per cent, and that striking unmanufactured marble from the free list.

The other amendments were agreed to with some amendments, which were not important. The two Houses were now at issue, and the Senate asked a conference, yeas 26, nays 21, which was granted, and Messrs Wilkins, Dickerson, and Hayne were ap

In

pointed on the part of the Senate, and Messrs Drayton, Hoffman, Davis of Massachusetts, Gaither and Horn on the part of the House, to manage the same. this committee Mr Hayne so dexterously managed his colleagues, as to induce them to relinquish all the amendments of the Senate, and a report was accordingly made to that effect. As the majority of the Senate felt that their committee had not fairly represented their views in the conference, some opposition was made to the report, and Mr Bell moved the indefinite postponement of the bill. It was not thought expedient to adopt that course, and the motion was rejected, yeas 10, nays 38; and the Senate, from a desire to settle this long agitated question, was induced to recede from its amendments. The act which was now passed, provided for a great reduction of the revenue and for no small diminution of the duties on the protected articles of domestic manufacture. It did not indeed go so far as the bill proposed by the secretary of the treasury, which, while it spared the iron business, aimed a fatal blow at the woollen interest; still less did it sanction the sweeping destruction of domestic manufactures, which was sought by the bill reported by the committee of Ways and Means.' On the contrary, it was a direct admission of the principle of protection, and it was so regarded by all parties. It was however a great concession on the part of the friends of the American system,' to the advocates of Free trade,' and as such a general expectation

6

prevailed, that it would be received by the dominant party in South Carolina, and that a temporary calm at least would succeed the agitation upon this exciting topic.

Different views, it appeared, were entertained by the leaders of that party, and the very day after the passage of this act, the representatives of South Carolina, who thought Nullification' the rightful remedy, met at Washingtou, and published an address to the people of South Carolina on the subject of the tariff. In that adIn that address, after reviewing the policy of the government, they proceed to assert, that in the act just passed the duties upon the protected articles were augmented, while the diminution was made only in the duties upon the unprotected articles; that in this manner the burthen of supporting the government was thrown exclusively on the Southern States, and the other states gained more than they lost by the operation of the Revenue system.'

The address then goes on to say, that,

As a necessary consequence of this state of things, the productions and property of the planting states, are absolutely subject to the control of an irresponsible and despotic majority, who have converted the whole fiscal operations of the government into the mere means of levying contributions from the industry of those to nourish and sustain

the rival industry of the manufacturing states. The substantial right of proper ty, in the plantations of the south, is in the majority, who exercise this irresponsible power of exaction, and those who vainly imagine they are the proprietors,

and are in truth mere stewards, receiv.

ing just such annual income, as this proprietary government, the majority,

may choose to allow them. The natural effect of this anomalous action of the

government is that reckless appropria

tion of the public money for every purpose, whether constitutional or unconstitutional, by which the legislation of congress has been characterized for sev eral years past, and never to a more alarming extent than during the present session. This has been strikingly exemplified by the establishment of a grand pension system, embracing all the months during the revolutionary war, without any regard to their pecuniary circumstances, and involving the annual expenditure of several millions of dollars; by new extravagant appropriations for internal improvements of a mere local nature, to an extent altogether without example; by an attempt, suc

volunteers and militia who served six

cessful in one branch of the legislature,

and evidently destined to succeed in

both, to distribute annually among the states three millions of the public revenue; and, finally, by an aggregate increase of the appropriations of the present session beyond the estimate of the treasury, and beyond the ordinary expenditures of the government, of not less than five millions of dollars.

And it concludes thus :

They will not pretend to suggest the appropriate remedy, but after expressing their solemn and deliberate conviction that the protecting system must now be regarded as the settled policy of the country, and that all hope of relief from congress is irrecoverably gone, they leave it with you, the sovereign power

of the state, to determine whether the rights and liberties which you received as a precious inheritance from an illustrious ancestry shall be tamely surrendered without a struggle, or transmitted undiminished to your posterity.

The sentiments promulgated in this address developed the views of the nullifiers. They had determined to subvert the constitution of the United States, unless they could make the policy of the government subservient to their views; and they relied upon the jealousy felt in the planting states against the action of the federal government, as the means to accomplish their designs.

These states had long manifested a hostility to the tariff pol

icy, and it was supposed, that they would not be very scrupulous as to the means by which it was to be overthrown.

The abstract principle of nullification had already been deliberately sanctioned by Virginia, and carried into practical operation by Georgia, with the approbation of the President; and it was naturally concluded, that an energetic application of the principle to the revenue system would be sustained by the planting states generally; and if not winked at by the administration would not be opposed either with energy or consistency. Meetings accordingly were held in South Carolina denouncing the tariff, which had just received the sanction of congress and pledging the persons attending, to support the state government in any measures it might adopt to resist it. Strong efforts were made to excite the people of the state against the general government, and notwithstanding the exertions of a respectable portion of the community, who remained faithful to the Union, they succeeded in obtaining a majority in both Houses of the legislature.

25th of October. The Senate divided on its passage, 31 affirmative, 13 negative. The House 96 affirmative, 25 negative.

After having passed that bill, which was done before the commencement of the legislative year for which the legislature was chosen, that body adjourned to meet on the 4th Monday of November. The convention met at the time appointed, and the Governor of the state was elected President of that body, having 131 out of 156 votes.

It was obvious from the character of the members, that they had met to act without delay and without deliberation, in reference to the tariff. The annual meeting of Congress was at hand, and if any impression was to be made upon that body, it could only be done by prompt and decisive movements. Upon the people of the country at large no impression could be made. They had been so long threatened by individual states when any local excitement prevailed, that they looked upon these vehement resolutions of dissolution and secession as unmeaning bluster. The cry of wolf, wolf, was now unheeded, and with a composure, which was entirely unexpected to the nullifiers, the yeomanry of the country calmly looked upon the measures, which the government of South Carolina was taking to assert her reserved rights as a sovereign state. A general sentiment pervaded the Union, that it was better to appeal to the power of the government to enforce the laws, than longer to encourage a spirit of insubordination, by yielding to demands,