The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1846-02-03

zontal duty? Under IFS operation the coun-
Try was Frustrated, the government itself was
bankrupt, and the people were little better
Yet This man could say, in the face of these
we'll known facts, and of the American peo-
pie, any one Of whom knew better. that an
acreage duty Of twenty per cent yielded the
highest amount of revenue. The Secretary
had even gone farther yet than this in his
famous circular he had assumed that tEelre
and hdLfper cent horizontal was the true
revenue standard. Some Western scribbler
asked him, through the press, how much rev.
enue - 2 per cent would give on one huE-
dred millions Of imports? Chat being more
than the average amount.) The answer must
be twelve and half millions; then deduct
three and half millions, the expense of col
lection, and but nine millions OF net revenue
would be left TO pay twenty six millions of
expenditures To make up the revenue !;
you must add more than one hundred millions
to our imports, while your whole specie has
never been estimated at more than eighty
FIVE millions; then all your specie goes for
your first year and where will you get mon
ey for the next year? These questions be-
ing rather troublesome; were never answer
ed.
The truth was, that the revenue resulted
| from the tariff, and followed il. When the
| tariff was low the revenue was low, when
the tarif'was high, the revenue was high
That had been the uniform experience OF
the country, and he challenged gentlemen to
show the contrary. Ii must be so; il could
not be otherwise And why? Because the
result of protection was to make the people
rich, and taking off protection made them
poor. When the people were rich, the treas
/ full ha
the treasury was impoverished. The condi
ton of the treasury was in fact, political
thermometer, 10 test the prosperity of the
country. According 10 the national pros
periy, so would the revenue ever be found.
| When men were impoverished, could they
purchase goods freely? Certainly not
When prosperous, their wives and daughters
couId purchase costly clothing and rich fur
niiure, and then many goods were always
imported. But when the country was i'm
poverished, men would wear their old coats,
their wives and daughters stayed at home
and mended them, merchants could not get
money TO import goods, and the treasury was
impoverished.
Under the compromise law the duties ran
down till they reached the point of twenty
per cent; then was the gcnteman's Utopia;
then according TO the Secretary, the reven-
ne ought TO have been abundant; but who
had yet forgotten, or could ever forget, what
had been then the condition of the treasury
and of this entire nation? The treasury
was so perfect by bankrupt that it could moi
borrow one hundred dollars. The states
were every where repudiatng their debts
and the national character lay PROSTATE and
b. eding. That was the condiIion,and every
body knew it, 10 which the twenty per CEN
Tariff had brorght This land, and yet at this
day the first fiscal officer of the government
had the front 10 recommend return TO tha
state ofIhings.
In our great humiliation and distress the
tariff of'42 came in like n delivering angel
il raised and restored the revenue; il replen-
shed furnished treasury: it brought repu-
diation into disrepuIe; it made bankrupt
law useless; in word, it struck the whole
country as win wand OF an enchanier
and brought back plenty, and credit, and en-
terprise. and hope, and public character
Why, then disturb il? What mischief had
it done? The Secretary deprecated agiia-
lion. but who agiiaied the country? 1t was
the secretary himself and his friends. The
friends Of protection every where cried out.
Give the country RESPONSE Give the country
prosperity and peace under the tariff as il
| isl
The hour here expired. the Chairman's
hammer fell and Mr.. Stewart resumed his
ssat.1