The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-04 00:00:00

dian title to all lands which Congress themselves have in.-
chided within their limits. When this is done, the duties
of the general Government in relation to the states and
Indians within their limits are at a❑ end. The Indians
may leave the state or not, as they choose. The purchase
of their lands does ❑ot alter, in the least, their personal
relations with the State Government. No act of the ge-
neral Government has ever been deemed necessary to give
the States Jurisdiction over the persons of the Indians ;
that they possess by virtue of their sovereign power within
their own limits, in as full a manner before as after the
purchase of the Indian lands, nor can this Government
add to or diminish it.

May we not hope, therefore, that all good citizens, and
none more zealously than those who think the Indian op-
pressed by subjection to the la es of the states, will unite
in attempting to open the eyes of those children of the
forest to their true condition, and by a speedy removal,
to relieve them from the evils, real or imaginary, present
or prospective, with which they may be supposed to be
threatened?

Among the numerous causes of congratulation, the con-
dition of our impost revenue deserves special mention, in-
asmuch as it promises the means of extinguishing the
public debt sooner than was 'anticipated, and furnishes a
strong illustration of the practical effects of the present
tariff upon our commercial interests.
The object of the tariff is objected to by some as uncon-
stitutional ; and it is considered by almost all as defective
in many of its parts.
The power to impose duties on imports originally be-
longed to the several States. The right to adjust those
duties with a view to the encouragement of domestic
branches of industry, is so completely incidental to that
power, that it is difficult to suppose the existence of the
one without the other. The States have delegated their
whole authority over imports to the general Government,
without limitation or restriction, saving the very incon-
siderable reservation rela;iog to their inspection laws. This
authority having thus entirely passed from the States, the
right to exercise it for the purpose of protection does not
exist in them, and, consequently, if it be not possessed by
the general Government, it must be extinct. Our poli-
tical system would thus present the anomaly of a people
stripped of the right to foster their own industry, and to
counteract the most selfish and destructive policy which
might be adopted by foreign nations. This surely cannot
he the case; this indispensable power, thus surrendered by
the States, must be within the scope of the authority on the
subject expressly delegated to Congress.
In this conclusion, I am confirmed as well by the opi-
nions of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Aladdison, and
Monroe, who have repeatedly recommended the exercise
of this right under the Constitution, as by the uniform
practice of Congress, the constituted acquiescence of the
States, and the general understanding of the people.
The difficulties of a more expedient adjustment of the
present tariff, although great, are far froto being insur-
mountable. Some are unwilling to improve any of its
par's, because they would destroy the whole : othersefear
to touch the objectionable parts, lest those they approve
should be jeopardized. lam persuaded that the advocates
of those conflicting views do injustice to the American
people, and to their representatives. The general interest
is the interest of each ; and my confidence is entire that,
to ensure the adoption of such modifications of the tariff as
the general interest requires, it is only necessary that that
interest should be understood.

It is an infirmity of our nature to mingle our interests
and prejudices with the operation of our reasoning powers,
and attribute to the objects of our likes and dislikes, qua-
lities they do not possess, and effects they cannot produce.
The effects of the present tariff are ',doubtless overrated,
both in its evils and in its advantages. By one class of
ressoners, the reduced price of cotton and other agricul-
tural products is ascribed wholly to its influence, and by
another, the reduced price of manufactured articles. The
probability is that neither opinion approaches the truth,
and that both are induced by that influence of interest and
prejudices to which I have referred. The decrease of prices
extends throughout the commercial world, embracing not
only the raw material and the manufactured article, but pro-
♦isions and lands. The cause must therefore he deeper and
more pervading than the tariff of the United States. It may,
in a measure, be attributable to the increased value of the
precious metals, produced by a diminution of the supply,
and an: increase in the demand; while commerce has
rapidly extended itself, and population has augmented.
The supply of gold and silver, the general medium of ex-
change, has been greatly interrupted by civil convulsions
in the countries from which they are principally drawn.
A part of the effect too, is doubtless owing to an increase
of operatives and improvements in machinery. But, on
the whole, it is questionable whether the reduction in the
price of lands, produce, and manufactures, has been greater
than the appreciation of the standard of value.
While the chief object of duties should be revenue, they
may be so adjusted as to encourage manufactures. In this
adjustment, however, it is the duty of the Government to
be guided by the general good. Objects of national im-
portance alone ought to be protected ; of these the produc-
tions of our soil, our mines, and our workshops, essential
to national defence, occupy the first rank. Whatever
other species of domestic industry, having the importance
to which I have referred, may be expected, after temporary
protection, to compete with foreign labour, on equal terms,
merit the salve attention in a subordinate degree.
The present tariff taxes some of the comforts of life un-
necessarily high ; it undertakes to protect interests too
local and minute to justify a general exaction; and it also
attempts to force some kinds of manufactures for which
the country is not ripe. Much relief will be derived, in
some of these respects, from the measures of your last

session.
The best as well as the fairest mode of determining
whether, from any just considerations, a particular in-
terest ought to receive protection, would be to submit the
question singly for deliberation. If, after the due examina-
tion of its merits, unconnected with extraneous considera-
tions—such as a desire to sustain a general system, or to
purchase support fur a different interest—it should enlist
in its favour a majority of the representatives of the people,
there can be little danger of wrong or injury in adjusting
the tariff with reference to its protective effect. If this
obviously just principle were honestly adhered to, the
branches of industry which deserve protection would be
saved from the prejudice exiited against them, when that
protection forma part of a system by which portions of
the country feel, or conceive themselves to be oppressed.
What is incalculably more important, the vital principle
of our system, that principle which requires acquiescence
in the will of the majority, would be secure from the
discredit and danger to which it is exposed by the acts of
majorities, founded, not on identity of conviction, but on
combinations of small minorities, entered into for the
purpose of mutual assistance in measures which, resting
solely on their own merits, could never be carried.
I am well aware that this is a subject of so much deli-
cacy, on account of the extended interests it involves, as
to require that it should be touched with the utmost cau-
tion ; and that while an abandonment of the policy in
which it originated, a policy.coeval with our Government,
pursued through successive administrations, is neither to
be expected or desired, the people have a right to demand,
and have demanded, that it be so modified as to correct
abuses and obviate injustice.
That your deliberations on this interesting subject should
be uninfluenced by those partisan conflicts that are inci-
dent to free institutions, is the fervent wish of my heart.
To make this great question, which unhappily so much
divides and excites the public mind, subservient to the
short-sighted views of faction, must destroy all hops of
settling it satisfactorily to the great body of the people, and
for the general interest. I cannot, therefore, on taking
leave of the subject, too earnestly for my own feelings or
the common good, warn you against the blighting conse-
quences of such a course. •
According to the estimates at the Treasury Department,
the receipts in the Treasury, during the present year, will
amount to 24,161,018 dollars, which will exceed by about
300,000 dollars the estimate presented in the last an-
nual report of the Secretary of the Treasury. The total
expenditure during the year, exclusive of the public debt,
is estimated at 12,712,311 dollars ; and the payment on ac-
count of public debt, for the same period, will have been
11,354,630 dollars; leaving a balance in the Treasury,
on the Ist of January, 1831, of 4,819,781 dollars.

In connection with the condition of our finances, it
affords me pleasure to remark that judicious and efficient
arrangements have been made by the Treasury Depart-
meet for securing the pecuniary responsibility of the public
officers, and the more punctual payment of public dues.
The revenue cutter service has been organized, and placed
on a goal footing, and aided by an increase of inspectors
at exposed points; and the regulations adopted under the
act of May, 1830, for the inspection and appraisements of
merchandize, have produced much improvement in the
execution of the laws, and more-security against the com-
mission of frauds upon the revenue. Abuses in the allow-
ances for fishing bounties have also been corrected, and a
material saving in that branch of the service thereby
effected. In addition to these improvements, the system of
expenditure for lick seamen belonging to the merchant
service has been revised ; and, by being rendered uniform
and economical, the benefits of the fund applicable to the
object have been usefully extended.
The prosperity of our country is also further evinced by
the increased revenue arising from the sale of public lands,
as will appear from the report of the Commissioner of the
General Laud Office, and the document. accompanying it,