Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1846-09-03

lowed to differ boldly affirm that this was the re.
publican doctrine Of our State and the people will
know it TO be true, when remind them that it was
precisely the point Of our dispute with the Nui6-
ers. They were against protection out and Out
We, the (Jackson) republican party of North Car
ona, in particular, went for incidental protection
moderate protection by "iudicous Tariff" They
were for declaring the Tariff of 1928 and 1899 UNI
constitutional and nu(yngit it, because it protected
manufactures We thought it was unjust, because
the protection was erteme, but not unconstitutional
ana That The Union must be preserved" What
the Republican party of North Carolina thought
then, thought, and spoke, and wrote.
And coming down to more recent events let me
sPy, that Mckays Bill Of 1874 was a Tariff of in
cidontal protection, which you and |, and all tho
Democrats in Congress from North Carolina ap-
proved and sustained, and the people of our party
III North Carolina nowhere opposed last year, aud
the press Of the party defended up TO the Inougur-
alton and altcrwarl, and even down to the day Of
the report from the Secretary Of the Treasury
Careful study, longer experience, and closer exam
nation, have confirmed me in the faith Of those
times, fortified, as it was, by the authority of the
Administrations Of Washington, and JeGtrson and
Madison, and Monroe, and Jackson all Southern
Republicans and Southern Presidents. Is consis-
tency treason? 1t may be a misfortune to me that
was unable to change with the times, but it would
be crime to deny my faith. To avoid msrcprc-
9cHtdtlOl, give you inc WOiUS OF tnOsG Wise and
eminent and patriotic men.
Here follow citations Of the recorded opinions Of
GEORGE WAsmNGToN, THOMAS JEFFERsoN,
JAMES MADISON, JAMES MONROE, ANDREW JACK
SON. &c, in favour of Incidental Prolecuon"--
Mr. ii. continues:
Now, the experimental Tariff, as interpret it.
fundamentally violated this doctrine Il discrim-
mated. but it did SO against our domestic labor:
and in that way, and to that extent, it made war
upon the vital interests of the North And pray
what inducements offered to North Carolina.
by this experiment, that her Senators should holp
to carry on the unnatural conflict? What but the
naked desire for an apparent party unity where
there was really no party concord For North Car
ollna had not local or State interests which will be
served or elevated by it. None whatever
The limits Of this address will not allow of illus
tratlons by tedious detail of enumerated articles
reserve that for a more suitable occas sion, onlv
remarkng, for the present, that if any should be
dlsingenuous enough to deny this characteristic of
the new Tariff, no one who regards his reputation
will venture to contradict the fact that the Experi
mental Tariff does not discriminate in fauorof A.
merlcan manufactures; and not to discriminate in
their favor, moderately and reasonably bv a live
and let live" law of love among breth en- of n COM
mon country, is the same thing IN principle. though
not in degree, as to discriminate against them
verify 1t appeared to me that its passing would be
substituting the theories of yesterday, learned in
the law office, for the experience OF fifty years of
our own Government, and the practice of all civil
zed nations, for the sake of perpetratinr an exper-
ment upon the United States.
FIFTH The last objection shall trouble YOU
with, Is to the new principle that all duties are TO
be laid ad valorem." 1t is not the least remarkable
circumstance connected with the passage of this
act, that this new ad rdiorem article in the Demo-
cratic creed was supported by the sanction of no
distinguished name but Henry Clays, and Mr.
Clays friends say that no has been misrepre-
seuted to furnish the authority.
Another not important circumstance is, that the
people of my State have been commanded to dis
honor me, as not true to the doctrine of party
Tariff of sad valorem duties :" and, therefore,
treacherous to them when put it to your CON
sciences that there are thousands and tens of thou
sands of good North Carolina Democrats who so
far from having adopted it in their political creed
did never much as hear of it until long since NV
election to the Senate! Let each one answer for
hlnself-Did you ever understand it before In
sincerity declare, that until after my election TO
the Senate | did not and presume you did not.
But think understand it now, my countrymen,
and venture to guess, that the more you know Of
it, and the longer shall be tried the less you will
like it.
But let me tell you what it's: 1t is to Law duties
or taxes upon goods imported from foreign coun-
tries, according to the value of the goods at the
market whence they come-t the laU fixing the per
cent. and the collector of it asceraning the foreign
value Of whatever is taxed viz: the sum Of the
taX,-for which he is not responsible to you, butt to
the Treasury Department. And specific duty is
! the same tax imposed upon the same article--the
tatc ITSELF however, distinguishing the values, by
establishing the particular of taxation, and
leaving nothing for the collector to do but to weigh
! OF measure the quantity; wherein, if he be guilty
OF fraud, he may probably be convicted, or if dis
posed to Cypress the merchant, he can be prevent
ed In short, where the tax is specific the collector
only weighs or measures the Quantity where it is
! m not or al tbe
quantity, but likewise determines, upon his own
judgment, the foreign value Of the things imported
! The uniform rule, as approved by your Govern
ment, has been heretofore, that of making all the
duties specific which can be made so, and let the
others be ad valorem; but to reduce the list of at
ualorem duties from time to time, by adding to the
list OF specifies. The Experimental Tariff condemns
and repudlates this policy altogether and prescribes
a new one, of having all the duties ad valorem, and
none of them specific. With this explanation, you
can have no difficulty in comprehending my objec-
tons to the new principle Of the Experimental
| Tariff
| 1t was a maxim of the Revolution, that "repre-
sentatlon and taxation should go together" Now,
this is great principle of liberty never to be des-
pissed; and the abrogation Of it cannot be necessa-
ry to the interest Of the Republic. But it means
nothing, unless it creates the duty of laying taxes
by the lac, and not by the differs who collect it;
so that the citizen who reads the law may, as far as
practicable, see in it what taxes him: officers, too
whom the people have no agency in appointing,
and cannot remove-ollicers who, in assessing val
ues, exercise their own discretion, and whose indi-
vdual Judgment, in this country, as to market val
ne of property in all foreign lands, cannot be sue
cesslully impeached, because the witnesses to do it
live abroad and cannot be got here; and if they
could, it would su be almost impossible to convict
the officer of Intentional iasehood 1t must be
proved that he was wrong, and knew it. too. Is not
tins new doctrine, then, more than slight depar-
ture from this maxim Of the Republic? Shall it
DO approved, upon the notion that this great princ-
pie Of a Representative Democracy has become
impracticabe? Shall we sanction the pretencc,
that the Peoples Representatives will cheat them in
adopting the specific duties and assume at the same
time that custon-house officers will be more scru-
! puors and more Just to you, in fixing the values