Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-11-01

gle Tor the executive power Vi the Coun"J'
apart from these extrinsic objections, the ADJUST
ment is intrinsically not mutual, but an eHc,u'
sive compromise Of all the just claims and Inte'
rests Of the South. The Tariff Act Of 1857, s'
in point of fact, law by which the consumption
of the manufacturing States is nearly relieved OF
all sort of burden on thuse articles which they
consume and DO not produce. and under the pro
visions Of which, they are secured bounty on an
average of more than fifty per cent. on the pro-
ducton of their industry, whilst 1t taxes our
consumption to an equivalent amount, and the
exchangeabe value Of our products IN much
more aggravated ratio. The Law bears the I'M
press Of the legislation Of an independent sove-
regnty to feeble and distant colony, and esta-
blishes the revolving discrimination that the labor
of the South is less entitled TO the paterna' re-
gard Of this Government than that of more ia
vored section of the Union.
The provisions IF the act are, moreover, at
war with every Acknowledged principle OF wise
and benefcent taxation, which has ever existed
among any people IN the face of the earth, hav-
ing the shadow ola claim TO civilization or a
just knowledge of finance. Articles OF luxury
are selected as the objects OF comparative ex'
emption from all burden. whilst those OF necessi-
ty bear nearly the whole brunt Of the Imposts. -
The great staples Of the industry and consump.
ton OF man. which purchase seyen.tenths OF our
agricultural products, iron, cotton and wooIlen
fabrics, salt and sugar, are burthened with tax
quite equivalent to an average Of seventy five
per cent on their prime cost: whilst the teas, the
coffee, the silks and the wines Of the rich. which
are principally exchanged for the productions Of
manufac turing or Northern labor. enjoy. as it
regards ;hese articles, most unjust di-crimina-
ton In their favor. Operating thus heavily on
the exchangeabe value Of our products. the act
provides for nothing short Of the INDUSTRIOUS in
Justice Of levyins at least three fuurths OF the
whole amount of the federal revenue on the in
dustrv Of the Southern States Nor does the
gross inequality of the law stop here. 1t effects,
after all the subtle articles Of exaggeration re-
speCt ting dimlnulIOn OF our burdens have been
dispelled, reduction, from the amount at du-
Ties levied under the act Of 1928, rs mud'fied by
that Of 1850. of three millions seven hundred
thousand dollars on the unprotected articles, and
only the pltful sum of somewhere about eight
hundred thousand dollars on the protected,
(which purchase the staDles of the South) ma.
king in all a reduction of only four millions and
a half, instead Of twelve, which last reduction
was essential to the accomplishment Of the desi-
rahle and highly conservative object OF bringing
the revenue down to the standard of the legIt.
mate wants of the Government. As it is, nine
millions of surplus revenue will, in all probabIIi
~. result from the imposts Of this act, over and
above the necessary and constitutional expenses
Of the couu,ry. to be distributed BY a majority
irresponsible to US, in corrupt largesSes or uncon
sututonal appropriations to those States which,
without possessing an interest in the Tariff. are
made to feel that they have an interest in high
taxation. when, by an unjust provision Of the
Government, they receive more than they are
made TO pay.
Repugnant as this act thus is to every princi-
pie Of justice, we cannot indulge even the humi.
llating consolation, that, designed as it was, in
some respects, to subs,rve the periodical struggle
for the Executive power of the country. it will he
temporary in its duration, and will at last yield
to that returning sense Of justice so long promls-
ed, and whose advent has been 80 long and so tar.
Oily postponed. No. We have the authentic
and solemn declarations OF both the great do
miDant parties in the Union, who are now con.
tending for its power, and who conformity form
an overwhelming majority, that the system is as
fixed asfate, except III those particulars that are
yet to be audited more beneficlaly for their in-
terests, as cupdity may be instructed by expe-
rience. That the system, If We think proper to
submit 10 its injustice, is the fixed and settled
policy OF the country. SO far as the majority can
will it to be such, we have much more solid reasons
UcitcNiuSs tdH even tNeSt 'GeCIdVdtlOnSs now
ever authoritative. This bel,efis founded on the
indisputabe fact. that it is impossible for the wit
or wisdom of man, TO have contriyed a scheme
for raising the revenue Of the country in a mode
more essentially and exclusively Beneficial to
their own interests. For it is a process by which
taxation operates correlatively as a bounty to
their industry; and that, whilst three fnurhs Of
the public revenue is to be raised ON articles in
the production Of which they enjoy premium of
more than fifty per cent all the articles necessa.
~ to perfection Of their arts and manufa lures,
aud many essential TO the accommodations and
luxurles Of life, are comparatively untaxed. II /,
is not cold abstract sense OF justice,or what arc
insaltngly called the metaphysics Of constitu-
tionaI liberty. that will induce people, rioting
in such high and palmy state of prosperity, to
surrender these advantages, if they can find four
millions of consumers, willing to submit to their
exacions, who happen to be terrItorially separat-
ed from them, and who exercise species of in.
dustry IN no decree competing with, but on the
contrary subservieDt and tributary to their own.
We shall indeed have read the history OF the
world to very little purnose if we cherish a idle