The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-06-06
TARIFF REPORT

IN question. AS its great length Preciudes
it's publication entire, we have made the
following extracts from it:
Concurring thus with the views disclosed in the
Message Of the Chief Magistrate to Congress, at
tho commencement of the session OF congress,
with regard to the time at which the reduction OF
the revenues by import should be made 10 com
mence, two questions remain for The eons'oefa'loh
Of the legislature. First, What amohn. 2, re,
dncten Of the revenue should be contemplated
Secoadiy. To what portion Of the paeiie revenue
should the reduction be applied :
With regard to the amount, great diSersltles oil
opinion have prevailed and the question has been
brought to bear u?an all the Collisions Of poiitcn
controversy and upon all the proPensities to dis
union throughout the country. One of the princi-
pies assumed, highly plausible upon its hrst as
meet and rendered douLy captivating by the form |
in which il has been conveyed to the public, has
been this:
revenues of the Union ought TO be reduced to the !
lowest point absolutely necessary TO defray the |
ordinary charges and indispensable expenditures of
the Government. To this proposition IN the alb I
stract there would, perhaps scarcely be dissent /
ing voice. Blu. in determining what are, aud es- !
pecially what should be, the necessary charges and
expenses of Government, there is much dissention.
The revenues are at the present time adjusted TO
the object of providing for all the wants of Gov
eminent, and Of applying the sum OF ten millions |
of dollars year 10 reimburse the interest and !
princip,l of the public debt With reference to |
the revenues and expenditures of the Government,
it would seem that the obvious principle to be as
sumed should be- on the extinction of the debt, to
reduce the revenue precisely to the amount of the
sum which has been, and is annually, applied by
law to that extnction-namely ten millions of dol
lars a year. Here, however, commences diver
.sity Of opinion, shared by The members of the
committee with the members of this and the other
House Of Congress, ard with the People through
out the INCA
portion of this community, represented with
great ability in bofn houses of Congress, seem to
have assumed for principle that because no further
revenue will be required for the payment of the
debt, therefore the revenue cannot be reduced too
much. The ingenuity Of the human mind has been
strained to its highest pitch to show that the aban-
donment OF revenue for the payment of the debt
ought to be the signal of Its abandonment for all
other purposes except those necessary for the
management of the government itself in time of
profound peace. That all internal improvement
all charges prospective for the common defence
nay, the very walls of fertilization upon our shores
the very hulwark of our safety upon the seas
are to be abandoned once and forever. We have
heard it strenuously urged that the revenue should
be reduced to nine, ten, or al most, eleven millions
of dollars-Fhat our shores must be left 10 take
care Of themselves-our navy TO perish with the
dry rot upon the stecks-our manufactures to with
under the blast of foreign competition. SO they
pockets Of the people.
The committee perceive, that upon so singular
an occurrence that which admits of remission of
taxes to a considerable amount, when, as in the
present case, the question arises to what extent
the reduction shall be sanctioned the desire of in
creasng the amount may be more intense in the
mind Of one member than in that of another
Where all are 10 share in the credit of remission
the distinctive merit of the aspirant for poular ia.
yor will belong to him who urges for remission to
the largest amount. The committee are of opin-
ion that there may be danger of being led astray
by this concepton-ten millions of money annual
ly heretofore appropriated for the discharge Of the
plblic debt, will no longer be needed. The most
natural conclusion to be drawn from this would
seem to be, that ten millions is the amount which
may, and ought to receive remission. If the re-
mission Of larger sum can be urged as expedient
II must arise not from that, bat from another cause
The committee believe that there is another
view Of this subject TO be taken; the result of
which must produce the conviction that there is
danger even in carving the remission of taxation
TO excess. They believe that a proportion of the
moneys levied by taxation may be more proftably
returned to the pockets of the people than LETT in
them.
To pay the debts of the United States was the
first If the objects for which. by the constitution
of the United States the power TO lay and collect
taxes, duties, mposts, and excuses, was conferred
upon Congress, TO provide for the common defence
ADD general welfare the second object; and
these expressions, broad and comprehensive in their
import, far from being without meaning in the in
tentioRs of the founders of the constitution en-
braced the great purposes for which the constifu
ton itself was formed. They are introduced in
that solemn preamble by which the whole people
of the United States, speaking in the first person
We, the People of the United States" announce
the great purposes for which they do ordain and
establish this constitutions they are emphaticalIy
repeated in the eighth section of the first article
containing the grants to Congress of power and
they are not only grants of power but trusts To be
executed-duties to be discharged for the common
defence and general welfare of the Union To
prouide for that common defence ID general wei
fore, were obligations imposed upon the organized
body on whom the power was conferred of LAYING
and collecting taxes, duties imposts and excises
ior enecling the purpose-obgatons moi less i'm.
perous than that of paying the debts of the Union.
10 provide for the common defence and general
welfare is the duty, the i1emissible duty of the
Congress the power to levy duties, taxes i'm
posts, and excuses is the means with which tbev
are invested for the execution of the trust. The
non-user OF the power is a violation of the trust
"a violation as Gull able would have been the
neglect or refusal to levy taxes for the payment of
the public debt. That the intention of The Peo
pie was TO confer the power in great amplitude is
apparent. not only from the greatness of the snr
pose 10 be accomplished, and from the renerali,v
Of the terms in which the power is CONFERENCE.-THE,
only from the emphatic repetition Of tie terms in
which the objects OF the constitution are announc
cd IN the preamble, but from the anxious use of ali
the verbs by which the contributions of ta.a,;on
caa'be lepied-taxes, duties. imposts and e.cises
10 provide for the common DEFENCE. Defence
against what against whom Defence against ev
cry danger and against every foe defence against
all hostility, and from every evil which NAV bear
upoE the whole community and menace the pe neral
welfare defence. especially against all hostility
OF foreigners. whether in war, IN peace for the
hostility of nations to each other is moi confined
to the times Of war. The common defence must
be provided for as much against commercial rival.
ny as against warlike ingasisn--for the spirit of
trafhc armed with power, as the experience of
mankind has proved. is more nsatiate and more
grasping than all the Aexanders or Caesars that
ambition has inflicted upon the race Of man. That
apower, an organized and efficient power of common
defence against this spirit, indispensable 10 the
independent existence of this Union if it had ever
sleen Questionable before, proved, with ire
sistabe demonstration, by the candid avowaI of
iate eminent English statesman, studious of rep
uta'ion Tor his liberality--a distinguished deliy-
eres 81 speeches IN Parliament in favor of the
principles Of free trade. He more than once ac-
hhe"'eugea mat the fundamental maxim Of the
commercial policy Of Britain had been not only To
promote her own prosperity but TO dspress thai of
het commercial rivals and competitors This sys-
teiu ne never, IN all his llberality, profcssed or
pretended to discard on the contrary. he Ike his
eminent associate and friend, was ambitious only
n .f,''e anu Iea'e Dehlnd him the fenown of a
Drilm Statesman: Ills whole system of CONNER.
S% policy was adjusted 10 the principle of adyanc.
lug tne commerce and navigation of Great Britain
~ depressing that Of this country. He renenIed |
restrictive statutes by the hundred. because ,bev
na 'een enacted against ancient commercial RI
sS S, VI bntan, but who were SO no more. His
And c,;. Ma' 70 favor those obsolete, yanquished.
my, eippled adversares in trade-to convert them
and onls r Of annoyance against the new
,rha .a, ,o'nldabe rival she could dread -
, is' repeal Of these statutes gave him .pno.un