Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-03-07

I
OF the Senate by. is plea to the jursdic-
ton aud the penple are to be told
we have not the, power to origi-
nate law for any such purpose.-
1t is maintained, sir, by the Senator
from Connecticut, and also ;by the chair
man Of the Committee on Finance. that
the duties % be hereafter collected, If
! this bill should become law. will ,be
imposed and. collected by its authority.
ifthat be true i'll any substantial sense,
then, sir, give up the Question
But how can a duty of 90 per cent. be
collected under the authority Of. a law
which repeats one half the duty. and
simply leaves the other half unrepealed?
And what does the gentleman say of this
operation? Ihatby leaving 90 per cent
unrepealed. you impose it. Tito repeal
part of the duties. makes the Senate
responsible for imposing the remainder
confess do moi understand the force
OF language. cannot, comprehend the
| argument. 1t is an absolute puzzle. in
verling the meaning Of wards. and con-
founding the substance Of things; so that
no analysis, Of which it is susceptible,
can render the solecism more obvious
1t has a striking similarity to an argu-
ment once used by sportsman, who bet
! $50 Or a horse race. and insisted, when
the race went against him, that he had
lost $40. 'For,' said he, Il lost the $40
staked: but, if | had won the bet,
should have saved that, and gained $40
more That is to say. because he had
not won the stake of his adversary, he
had lost it! And so says the Senator
/ from Connecticut; because you have not
repealed the remaining 20 per ceet. you
have imposed it!
| | did not Intend to go into this branch
I Of the subject. except to yintlicate the
Constitution from construction that
would totally pervert the object Of the
clause IN Question.
'fhe Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Buchanan,) inquired yesterday what
would be Ire effect Of a proposition here
10 amend this bill, by inserting clause
to ra,se the rate of duties And it aE.
peared that his mind labored under some
! doubt, whether such IAN amendment
4 would not give this bill such character
that The Senate would not, proceed with
It-furnishing an argument that. because
II would raise duties. il cannot originate
here. The answer to that is very plain.
! It this were true. we could not report a.
ny bill in this House elative 20 the rev.
enue. to which Az amendment might not
be 'fferetI, increasing duties. and there
by ousting the Senate of its Jurisdiction.
Suppose bill, introduced on the sub
ject oi revenue. neither increasIn. nor
diminishing duties, where the right of
1 the Senate to originate is undoutted;
would il not be competent for any Sena-
tor to offer a clause increasing tlutles?-
| adm that such an amendment. II a.
dopt,d. would not be CO.'S sieut with
the powers Of this body; but | take 1t
Tor granted. that the Senate would reject
it, Oh question Of order,or vote il down
for the obvious reason that it would be
unconstitutional.
! The Senator from Connecticut (Mr.
lluntln.don.) makes another. supposton
of u similar Character--that this bill
should pass here. be sent TO the other
House. aud be there amended SO as to
increase, Instead Of reducing Duties
!. lhat house has the pnwer of doing this;
we have not. !. But the puzzle which EN-
barrasses the gentleman, isa how, the
; President is to actaupon it,. when the bill
is sent ia hiu. lie. supposes the. Presi,
dent might put his veto on the bill. and
would not know in which linuse il
originated, and where 10 return it.
make no doubt the President, overwhel-
med as he is with difficulties. would be
abfe to overcome this. The Senatol
from Connecticut may dismiss all appre-
4 tensions on that subject. | vii! tell you
sir, where III the case supposed. the bill
would originate. 1t would originate
here as a bill to reduce duties, and in the
other House as a bill raising revenue by
increasing duties-a character which
that House alone has right to give IT.
It appears to me obvious that the
whole purpose Of tins clause IN the con-
stitutiun was To prevent The Senate OF
the United States from originating all
bills imposing burdens on the people
am idea borrowed no doubt from the ex-
elusive right Of the British House OF
i Commons TO originate tax bllls.-shere
called money bills.
With. regard to precedents on this sub.
icct, that Of the compromise act-whch
IS directly in point seems To be- regar-
ded as Of little weight; but regard it as
one Of the most Solemn decisions on a
question OF order or of privilege ever
made by the Senate.
You know, sir. we. all know, the deep
! excitement which prevailed throughout
| the United States, and which was allay.
ed by the bill introduced by a distin.
guished Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
CLAY, to compromise the contictinaFin-
interests which Their asitated the coun-
try; then said have always said.
that never, in the course of my political
experience, had ] known any public man