Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-12-03

for that purpose; or if the duties are not redu- ced, to mark ont plainly and distinctly, what disposition will be made ofthe surplus, upwards of twelve millions of dollars, which will remain in the treasury after that debt is paid? Will it be insisted that public policy demands continuance of the tariff, for the purpose of leaving al the disposal of Congress sum so large, to enable them to commence carry on, and complete works of internal improvement!
 It is difficult to persuade free people to ac- quesce ill a system which IS at war With thelr nearest present interests, however much the
 result might rebound to their futur, renown and glory. The visions of philosophy, while anticipating the effects of political theories
 in the line of many generations, in tie course
 of coming centuries, vanish in the Geams ot
 the present active life, and are banisled blythe
 assurances of the customs and purslits with
 which men are familiar The prosperous
 day which invites a nation to eXertiol, the ob-
 jects which are within the probabl reach ot those who now occupy the stage of lie, readily
 command all the faculties oftheir mturc; and
 they cannot be convinced that it is their duty
 to forego present, certain advantages, in order
 that those who may live after them may be
 the heirs of greatness inherited from the for
 bearance and privations of tleir ancestors.-
 Internal improvement dihersb but little, 1t any
 thing, from other matters of nublic convent
 ence and usefulness, for all which there is a
 season and time; and the ruling wisdom of the day must determine, from the situation and circumstances of the country, whether public policy demand their adoption. Will not the same difficulties oppose a system of internal improvement upun a large scale, under the sanction of Congress, which have grown out of the tariff of duties on foreign merchandise? Some sections of the United States would at once receive important benefits, while other parts ct the country would scarcely feel the influence of the advantages resulting there from during the lapse of ages; which might be narrow objection, provided Congress had the power to engage in works of internal inn provement by the aid of public taxes, clearly expressed and distinctly conferred. But when t is admitted on all hands, that that power, il derived from the Constitution, it is by impli- cation and construction, is it not subject well calculated to divide, as it always has, the best heads and the purest hearts? Will it be in sisted, that the idea which has been sug- gested, of dividing the enormous surplus re- venue that will remain in the treasury after the national debt is paid, among the several States, will be sufficiently forcible and alluring to divert the people from reflecting on the i'm policy of accommodating that surplus, for the Sinfle purpose of returning to those from whom it was collected, what may remain, after dcducting the necessary expenses incl dent to its receipt and disbursement? Is it not evident, on a moments reflection, that the obstacles which would present themselves at the very threshold, in putting into practice such proposition, would be more alarming, and awaken the people to more quckening sense of the grievances under which they la Dor, than any thing which has yet been spo- ken, written, or felt? What rule could be a. dopted in the distribution proposed amongthe several States, which would not give the larg est portion to those sections or those parts of the country which arc at this moment the for tunate benefcaries of the tariff laws? So far from that proposition, if put in practice, re-
 cot t%h9fs % %aafs G @ @oRd 6e 6g Gf6sY HE new causes of complaint, under legislative enactments, and providing other burdens un- der the prctence of an effort to relieve A free people may well insist upon proper pre- cautionary regard, in the administration oftheir government, designed to secure to the present and future generations, the blessings of free institutions. That rule of power which or dains slaves to silence, and commands obedi- ence from subjects, when they feel the arm of government pressing upon them, gives ut terance to the thoughts, and publication to the sentiments of free citizens.
 The imposition of duties for the purpose of protecting manufactures, and making inter- nal Improvements, having excited, in and out of Congress, so wide difference of opinion -roused so much animosty in different parts of the nation-called forth the efforts on both sides, of her ablest patriots, by whom her rights have been faithfully and gallantly de- fended in the feld-by whom her councils have been enlightened and directed in the hour of her diversity; and from whose la bours in the day of her prosperity, her heart has been full to over-howing-inay well ar rest the attention of Congress and induce them to pause, and to examine and calculate what may not be the cost of persevering in the course commenced in 1916, enlarged and adhered to in 1894 and 1928, the impolicy of which it is admitted was more attributable to those who now complain the loudest, than to these who have ceased their opposition, ac- commo1ated themselves to the policy desig- mated by the National Legislature, and who are now reaping the benefits of the system.
 Your memoralists beg leave here to re- mark, that they claim no scholarship in the modern school of Notification, though they cherish entire confidence in the integrity, and entertain deserved respect and admiration for the ability and learning, genius and virtue of many of it's founders and preceptors. We do not subscribe to the doctrine, that any one of these twenty-four States has the right, un- der the Constitution, of rendering null and void an act of Congress. If one State has that right, all possess it in the same degree; and we insist, that that right cannot be exercised by all or any of the States, and the Union re- main unimpared. Six States wronged by the lmPolicy of the Tariff laws, believe they a.e ,,, o1 oF4 41, States; and by resolution or act of their Le- gislatures, declare them jnoDerative within