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VOL, IX.—NO. 52. : CONGRESS. SPEECH OF MR. BLACK, OF GEORGIA. In the House o1‘ Representatives, February 2, 1911— On the Treasury Note Bill. Mr B \rnako’s motion lo strikeout llic en- shall be done to the South. She does not urge the comparison; but when Northern irenlie- men ore making these unprofitable estimates, lei me ask them what would all their boasted commercial importance amount to, without the agricultural productions of the .South. If the article of cotton was stricken from their com mercial vocabulary, what would they export? Could they freight their ships to .Europe with acting clause lieing under consideration, Mr. BLACK said : He deemed it iuciint- japples, potatoes, onions, and wooden nutmegs? bent on him, at this late period of the discus- Let the production of cotton hp destroyed nttlie si on, to detain the committee for as short a j youth by .actual legislation, or the prevalence time as the importance of the subjects intro- of the Abolition inauia, and what would the duced into the debate would permit. If the honorable gentlemen who preetded him had confined themselves to the merits of the bill on tlie table, he would, in all probability, have given a silent vote: lint the mere question wtu ili. r we shall authorize the-ifcsne'of five millions of Treasury notes to enable the Gov ernment In anticipate a portion of its reve nues, had been wholly lost sight of. It seem ed to tie conceded on all hands that the bill tuns! pass; lie double J whether the gentleman himself, u ho>o n;oii« u was now pending to strike out the enacting clause, would vote against its final passage; nay, the great dilli- cn tv with the reforming and retrenching Whigs who had marshalled them ;<-lv< s in ap parent op|tosition to the hill, v\as, that instead of loo much it gave ton little. But the issue of Treasury notes, whether considered with tc end to the constitutionality or expediency of the measure, bad baldly been mentioned for the last week — Ihetarrif. internal improvements ly the Government—the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the Slates, — a public debt (winch they denominate a “loan') and a National Bank, are f;e vital and important questions which have absorbed us. since the commencement of ibis discussion. Never himself a great stickler for “ relevancy of debate,” lie was rejoiced that thu leading friends of General Harrison had seize] this oc casion to show their hands to the people—pur lieu ally lo ihe .Southern people, who had great interests at slake upon the po| cy and rueas- uiesol tin* incoming Administration. He had j never before, from the commencement nf the: struggles I cl ween tin* rival parlies, heard or State of Maine do with her ships? Instead of employing them, ns she now does, in export ing the produce of ihe South, and in br.nging back the manufactured goods with which our raw material is purchased, her merchantmen would freeze in her docks.and rot at her ‘wharves;Unless, inde.d, she .embarked them in the commendable employment nfuhdiicting our slaves from their lawful owners. She couid send a few “ long,•low, black schooners” lo Savannah, and down the Southern coast, in command ofsuch men as P.ulhrook and Kelle- ran, who, under pretence of taking lumber to the East, might stow away a few negroes l»e- twi!Cti the interstices of their timber cargo.— But however this sort of “traffic in human flesh” might approve itself to the philauthiopic senti ments ot the advocates of “human rights,” vet I apprehend that in a commercial point of view, the profits of the voyage would iPot be quite ns larg#as if they had been honestly em ployed in carrying our cotton to Liverpool or Havre. , [Here Mr. Albert Smith of Maine interposed, and said that so far from employing “long, low, hl«.ek schooners” in the abduction ofslaves Iroin Georgia to Maine, he would be vety thankful if the* gentlemen from Georgia would abduct the 100 negroes from Maine who had voted against amt beaten him in his own dis trict at ihe last Congressional election. [Mr. Black assured his friend if he would deliver tliese negroes to him at his plantation, on the Savannah river, at any time after the phy (which 1 mean to do, if providence per mits me to return) to the people among whom 1 live, that they may see and kuow the means which have been resorted to out of Georgia, for the purpose of effecting me at home. 1 shall not attempt, said Mr. Black, to fol low the three gentlemen who led off this de bate on the Whig side of the House through the confused ana discordant mass of figures with which they sought to impeach the ac curacy of the official estimates. The fate, which awaited them at their own hands, ad monishes me of. the impracticability of making estimates in detail,without access to the Various sources of fiscal and statistical information with which .the Secretary of the Treasury must necessarily be most intimately conversant. The functionary ij'^itt daily intercourse not only willi the different revenue officers ofhis Department, but tvitli the inostextensive and in telligent merchants ol oitrprincipaimnporiums. It is his exclusive business to arrange, analyze, and digest these facts and this information, a thorough knowledge of which is so essential ly necessary to au accurate calculation ofllie re ceipts and -expenditures of this vast Govern ment. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Barnard] acknowledged this much, when he admitted his information to be necessarily limi ted and imperfect; and yet he draws largely on our ‘generous confidence,’ for an approv al of his counter estimates. Why, sir, they can’t agree among themselves. They tell us a permanent deficiency exists in the Treasury. Well, what is it ? The gentleman from Maine [Mr. Evans] says it is somewhere lie tween $7,- U00,000 and $10,000,000—ihe gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Bell] asserts it to lie $13,000,- "000—and the gentleman from New York [Mr. Barnard] out figures them all, and runs it up to $40,000,0(10. These are the doctors who are to treat the body politic fer the next four years! Settle your diffmences among your selves first, gentlemen, before.you tender us ail issue of deficiency. Bui, Sir, 1 take this broad ground; and 1 call the attention of ihe Opposition particular- "u mi: onviiimuii iiver, <Hiy nine uucr me can me aiiennon Ol me opposition partlClllar- Ibiirth of March proximo, he would emphvy Tytrvip. Since 1837, Mr. Van Buren, with a against mid defeatings<f distinguished a\ Deni, , 0 , r wiinosed, irom the opponents ol Mr. \ an Bn-! ocral as the gentleman from Mayfie.] \ . -Hon of the Compromise act, has not only paid rcu, so hold, candid and tearless an avowal of j But Mr. Chairman, 1 deprecate this gort.cu the de.hts nt|d preserved the credit of the Gov- policv and principle as had characterized Iheir ! discussion, especially with ottr friends—this I leeches on this occasion. He ventured to unnecessary comparison between the different say, if these confessions of Whig faith had been made during ihe la>t summer, “old Tip' 4 had never been President—at least, if his election had depended outlie vote ofllie State of Geor gia sections of the Union. All that 1 have said on the subject has been strictly in reply. _ Sir, 1 take the liberties of this debate 'Ibd't- gress for a moment to a topic in relation to which much has been said, not only in this Sir, said Mr. Black, my delegated light is House, hut in the newspapers of the day. 1 flickering m us socket, my represt illative ca- allude to thesnpposed inftucnceol'British gold re>T is about to terminate abruptly; and the in controlling the elections which have just trappings of office, which I have endeavored ! passed. What the extent ofthat influence was, to wear meekly, will shortly fall from my slionl- j if it existed at all, in other sections of the Uni fiers. They will be transferred to an abler, ted States, 1 cannot assert of mv own knowl- bnt not more honest or zealous incumbent.— edge. The charge of corruption has been But, while, in oh.alien e to the voice of my cmistittfeiTTs, 1TvMfr*r»ly- resign to the hands of another the high trust, and the representative character with which they endowed me, 1 am yet “one of the PKOi’i.K ;” ol that character. made, and has been met on Ibis floor by the gentleman Irom Kentucky [Gov. Pope] only with silence and alleged contempt. It may hie that in the dense atrd crowded cities of the North, the East, and even in the West, the “ no- aud ofthe rights which p Ttain to it, no man j ble art of pipe laying" was resorted to, to se- cmi deprive me ; and in that character, as one cure ihe ascendency ofthe modern Whigs. It ol the sovereign peoplcof the State of Georgia, may be true, us 1 have seen it gravely and cir- I e’nim to he heard on this floor. I avail my-j eumstaritinlly stated, that in many of the Har- self then, sir, of my privilege, not only as n rison counties of Ohio they have actually beat- Ropro'eniniive, but as a constituent, to advise my fellow-citizens at borne of what is transpir ing here, and lo warn them that a high dis criminating tarilf. under the specious garb of a tax on luxuries, is lo be saddled on them, and perhaps on their posterity. That a public en the census at tbe late elections in that State. But whatever n:ny be my opinion as to the truth of tliese charges, or the manner in which ihey have been met with regard to other and distant parts of the Union, i arn free to declare that so far as they relate to the State of Gepr-. debt; disguised as a loan, is preparing foi them gin - to any of my constituents, whether Dem- — llial iln-ir hard earnings must go to support j oernts or Whigs, they are wholly anc( totally, a spleuJi. I system of internal improvements by false. It is true the party, with which lam tlie Geiii-Nd Government. That tbe proceeds acting, was defeated in October and November of die pohlie lands, instead of being made to ! last, but il was because tlie majority of Ihe contribute to tv round ion of dutiesou imports, 1 people was persuaded lo prefer General Har are to lie ahstraoed from that purpose, and di- 1 rison lo Martin Van Buren—because they be veled on: among tbe Siatc-s in proportion lo 1 lieved that the administration of the former, if their population, t*r tbe avowed purpose of elected, would be strictly conformable to the paying the debts of tb» s ,. States. Thai this va- ! rights and interests of the South—that we cninn. thus produced, *f between three and five ! would have no haul;—no protective tariff, open millions annually, is tn> w supplied by tucreas-or disguised—no internal improvements by the ing the duty on those .nicies of commerce j General Government—no distrilution of the u liiJi depend for their •nporintiou into the j public lands for the purpose of assuming Ihe country exclusively upon l, 0 agricultural pro-! State debts, or for any other purpose—that sup- <1 nil j.is ofllie South. To» a National Bank, | posed abuses would be reformed, and last, not to which they have ever bee» opposed, as mi- least, that we should have a retrenchment of constitutional, as destructive tq|„.j r own State j the expenditures of the Federal Government, institutions, and as hostile to thj r agricultural i Because the people believed (hat tliese would an I commercial prosperity, is to .. fastened on be the characteristics of a Whig administration, the country. These are the UWmres, sir, growingand increasing country, and a tariff of duties gradually diminishing, by the opera- preserved the credit of the Gov ernment, lyit' has actualy reduced the public expenditures nearly- tetimiffiorts of dollars.-^ This ja a facl % Worth to the people pf the Uni Slates just te.fi millions ofdollartAfiore thari f the cvpherihg ojphese discordant arithrbett cians. In l$38/me>«cpenditi:retfwere red n't i carry the expenditures bevond the official es timates, and given, too, inthe face of their dec larations, that the Government is largely in debt. Grant, sir, that there-ism deficiency in the Treasury—is this the way to supply or're trieve it? ' What makes a deficiency ? The legislation of Congress; for without the “ au thority of law” the Executive cannot draw one dollar out of-the public coffers. How. shall we retrieve this alleged deficit? By ‘liberal and abundant appropriations’ for a wild, ex- iravugant, and splendid system of internal im provements ? By voting new. outfits for partisan ministers ? By laying, mir millions oil millions upon coasts, harbors, fortifications, and steam ships, when there is no necessity for it ? By. offering inducements to tlie thous and speculators who crowd yottr lobbies to revive their exploded claims? ‘Bv spending another $20,(MX) to refit the White House for the reception ot the ‘old farmer,’ whose chief merit :t was, hut a few months ago, to live in a log cabin and drink hard cider out of a ! gourd ? Is this the way to fill tip an empty Treasu ry ? Strange and unaccountable as it may seem to tbe thousands of honest men who were de luded into the support of the Whig party, by professions of retrenchment and reformas tounding as .it may lie to those who are at a distance from the scene which is now. passing palpably and tangibly before me—yet it is even so. We are ill debt, they say; but with the honorable exceptions of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wise and Mr. Mallory) and the gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. Alford) who) of the Whig party, during this debate, have even uttered the word retrenchment, or offered to cut down the expenditures to the receipts ? ft would occur to plain, honest,unsophisticated men, that this was the only practicable way, without raising your taxes, of filling up this vaunted vacuum in the 'Treasury. But not content with these extraordinary demands-for more money, when they say there is no money, they go further. It is now distinctly propos ed by Gen. Harrison’s friends, with the above exceptions, to distribute thfc proceeds of the public lands among the Suites. Those whose occupations will not permit them to eome here and see and know for them- $ejv€s, are willing to believe that the Whig Party intend to effect this distribution among the States; much less do they believe xhuf Gloveriimeut is about to assume indirect l yfjlte debts of the States by this distribution.-ijrifiy, \sir, even intelligent men in Georgia svgiry/Sly /doubt whether this can be so. If the proof of it six millions of dollars—in 1840 they wci. again reduced 1*1 ween two and three millions The President, m 4ms last annual message, says; - = Alabama, Maine. Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, t;/f; 15.700,000 0O ’ i 554,976 00 2,500,000 00 3.100,000 00 t ,3icu>etnnr ,90(1,000 00 We are told by tlie'.getiUeman froVCtt^ln [48 that lie will support and maintain tlie compro mise act of March 2d, 1833-for that “ft.settles u great conservative principle for the South.” Tlje only “ conservative principle” in favor of the south which that act settles, is to be found mi, , _ . ... jjjOf t r third section, in these words: “And Fin Vi S Mies shall he laid for the purpose ofrais- Futances of the United * , E..ghsV incited revenue as may he ncceLiry to an cemhil' 1 *' g °u U ? De ' administration ofthe Government!” cemher, 1839. 1 do not gtv^^^ exhibiting ] So fnfias that principle is concerned, 1 am will- an accurate amount ol tliethe States iu-^fo support it tuyself, hul to the two other -a, »C rniltn'iiiorl i,, *t, A' *. 1 tlie States at this !in;e, because, in some instaiitcs, it prr^ tioo of the stocks authorized to lie issued hy certain of the Suites, has not yet been disposed of; and b sides some tijne has elapsed since Ihe compilation. However, it will serve to show which of ihe Slates are indetaed, and will in dicate something like tlie ninoimt of their debts. From the best iuforriuitibu L cun. gather, the present aggregate of the whole debt is> consid erably over $200,0011,000, and the annual in terest t!iereon,as l have already shown, is near ly $20,001,000,. . Sir, I confess 1 was astonished and mortified nt the speech of my houoriible colleague, (Mr. Njshet,) who succeeded the gentleman from South Garqlimi, (Mr. llhett.) 1 donot intend principles contained in this section, to wit: the cash duties, and the home valuation, I am opposed upon the ground that their insertion in die net was a reservation in favor of the ta riff interest oftlre north, which ofilself stamp ed upon tl»p law of 1833 the character of a “compromise" \)e.iwcen the conflicting claims' ofthe high tariff ni« n and those who 1opposed that iuitjuifoas sysimi. } opj use them because win n they shall con e into full operation after the 2d June, 1842, 'they will run up the maxi mum of 20 per pent, duties on imports, as nom inally settled hy that act to f.O or 60 per cent. ad valorem. 1 think the gentleman frorti New York, (Mr. Vanderpoel) provid that these two conservative principles which my colleague to attack Ihe •motives of that gentleman, or to i would support and maintain, won'd have rrc- l*Ynro« Pl'Mh ciictiininti Ilf Lie mlnnli.-tiic • luif 1 i.. .i . m . . . . . .. . 1 l, . ✓ _ . • ft \ — „ luuuuinutiiiu nits bun uc w. xi utr |uuui ui it from those011837—in 1839they*iveipciUdodepended upon my personal knowledge of the which have been openly advanced;,, ,1^ j,,. bite —not hinted at or snggesTed, >u boldly proclaimed as if •• by authority' to be», e m ea- snres which are to char.icierize G.-neq u ar . rison’s administration. My object, the. ; s to give tun >lv nolice to the people of Georgy to \Vi,i.rs as well as to Democrats, that theiq„y of til'il is at hand- that all the evil wliic.j, was predicted would follow die election f Ct -ueral Harrison is about to he realized, an. they thought proper to sustain our opponents and abandon ns. We told them then, as 1 tell them now, that they were deluded and deceiv ed hy the false professions of parly leaders.— But still ihe peoplechose to believe, as they had a light to do, in the truth of the professions which were inadelolhetn. That belief, hon- Jest, I have no doubt, to the full extent of it, and not the appliance ofeither British or Amer ican gold* induced them to the support ofthe dominant party. Nay, sir, so far from the great that all those fore! odmgs which were detionii- nMlSS ,j, 0 people of Georgia being tainted or ril in certain quarters ns the interested nriisre- presvntatiniis of political aspirants, are now about to assume the unquestionable character of passing events. Sir, said Mr. B., 1 question the motives of no man ; l shall not he so unpar liamentary as to deny to gentlemen here the sa ne rectitude of intention thiit I claim for myself: hut, at the same time, mv rig'sts and i‘lie rests ns a constituent, my high duty as a K’presentative, which with me are paramount, to all otltur considerations, constrain me to speak out plainly and andih'y, without regard to consequences. When 1 do this, 1 shall have done my duty ; and ihepeopleofGporgia, who 1 d mht not are equal lo any emergency, will most assuredly do theirs. Sir, mv friend from New York [Mr. Vnn- derpoel] delivered yeSiterdny an able speech in vindication of the. present Administration. 1' listened to it with great pleasure, ns a prompt and conclusive reply to the hlnudeiing attacks which had l>ecn made on the official estimates; hitMthere was one rematk of that gentleman which I regretted to hear. He told us he had listened to so much rant and gasconade about Southern wealth and importance, he hncl al most concluded that Pennsylvania and New York were nothing more than mere colonies, in comparison with some other Slates of the Union. 1 cannot hut regret to hear these com parisons instituted as to the relative importance ofthe North and the South. But if gent lenten will talk about it, I insist that justice at least niched with the corruption of gold, 1 do not Mteve that we have even a floating balance population that could lie bought hy such vl> means; and the charge, when made against a,t ,party in Georgia, is false, and a slander 11 Pu the reputation of the State. Bv the way, saidq r . B. while I am talking about bribery, I ma pe permitted to allude for a moment to a picriai representation of two of my col- Jeagiipnd myseif, which is now exposed up on yotlvavenueto tlie public gaze,-and openly vended q the Whig print shops of this city. I mem tie base libel which exhihits tne as hoiigit ovtr by Federal goid to the suoport of Me (Tap Bttren. 1 now denounce it as a lie in i'| inception, a lie in its execution, a tie in ;>romulg,u, on . 1 stop not to denounce the peer artist, to «hom it may have been a matter a indifference whether he lithographed the tvtk or a lie, but t mean to reach the author wbever he inay be, of the base unmitigated trnnetion, and to tell him that not only nty neijibors, who have known me, and confided in tv integrity from my infancy, but tlie whole peop« of Georgia will, ns one man proclaim it to hoi lie. With many of the frailties of hu- mnnit lingering about me, those with whom I am tiily associated at home, and who know me he\ have never suspected, nor will they tolcrahthe charge of venality and corruption; and ihwery surest means of vindicating my “ The estimates«ad appropriation for the year 1838 (the first over which 1 had any control) were soi diminshed. The expendiures of 1839 were^reduc^d six millions of dollars. Those of 1840, rdirlusiyryof disbursements for public debt and trust /laimsrofciW^ probably not exceed twenty two and a half- millions, being between two and three millions less than those of the preceding year, and nine or ten millions iesu than those of 1837. Nor has it been found necessary, in order to produce this result, to resort to the power conferred by Congress, of posponing certain classes of the public works, except by deferring expenditures for a short period upon a limited portion of them: and which postponement terminated some time since, at the moment die Treasuary Department, by further re ceipts from the indebted banks, became fully assured of its ability to meet them without prejudice to the public service in other respects. Causes are in opera tion which will.it is -believed, justify a still further re duction, without injury to any important national in terest. The expenses of sustaining the troops em ployed in Florida have been gradually and greatly re duced, through the persevering efforts ofthe War De partment ; and a reasonable hope may be entertained that die necessity for military operations in that quar ter will soon cease. The removal ofthe Indians frojn within our settled borders is nearly completed.— The pension list, one of the heaviest charges upon the Treasury, is rapidly .diminishing by death. The most costly of our public buildings are either finished, or nearly so: and we may, I think, safely promise ourselves a continued exemption from border difficul ties. “ The available balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next is estimated atone million and a half of dollars. This sum, with the expected receipts from all sources during the next year, will, it is believed, l»e sufficient to enable the Government to meet eery engagement, and leave a suitable balance in the Trea sury at the end of the year, if the remedial measures connected with the customs and the public lands, heretofore recommended, shall be adopted, and the new appropriations by Congress shall not carry the ex penditures beyond the official estin ate.” But, sir, what do we now hear ? Instead of seconding the economical suggestion of the Chief Magistrate, these retienrhinggentlemen, who last year were for bringing down the ex penses of the Federal Government to the point at whicli Mr. Adams had it. ($13,000,000,) are now taunting us with a close and niggardly parsimony. Instead of responding affirmative ly to the recommendation of Mr." Yon Buren that ‘ Congress shall not carry the expendi tures beyond the official estimates' their cry is ‘give us more.’ The gentleman front Maine [Mr. Evans] tells us we ought to make * liberal arid abnudanat appropriations,' and his coadjutor from New York, to whom ~ have just alluded, fills tip this broad and in definite outline, by insisting on vast appropri ations for the Northeastern frontier—for buil ding splendid war steamers—for outfits and salaries for a new set of ministers and charges to foreign courts—for the payment of the -4th instalment to the States—for French spolia tions, and the thousand claims for money which crowd your table. Aud strange to tell, notwithstanding their disgusting clamor last year about Mr. Van Bnren’s •* royal establish ment they are now actually demanding anoth er appaopriation to buy more furniture for the log cabin candidate. What! are not the la bourets, the gold spoons, the $1,500 French bedstead, good enough foroW Tip? Is. the l old pine table' on which Mr. Van Buren eats his dinner, to be replaced by costly mahogany, or must you have a more splendid plateau than tfie one which now adorns the President’s table, and about the cost and extravagance of which you descanted before the election, so economically to the people 7 lam aware, sir, that consistency, although a jewel, is not the question now.in order before the commit tee, or 1 might go on to show the inconsisten cy between the present demands and the for mer professions of. these admirable retrench ers. fact, it-may be that 1 could not make ..out- int-blank case; but so far as the proof of pajv tytneasures depend upon the declarations of leading fnt-n who eomposeTtfifpnrty, there can no longer he any doubt iu the minds of those ‘ o are. willing to be convinced hy the truth. I wftKycnture to say that there is no Senator m 1 the o^her end of the Capitol who has; not f nfeerd Mr. Chiy, Mr. Wel»ster, and Mr. Critteti- deopver and often announce this assumption, 1ier directly or periphmstically. Why, sir, it is the timden of their song; they sing it ev ery duy, not only to their old time of distrihu- tion, but to their new variation of“onr obliga tions to the States.* Who doubts it in this House? Who will rise and, in the name of the Whig party, deny that it is one of their measures? Did not the honorable gentleman front Virginia, [Mr. Wise] who, even his ene mies will admit, is first among the foromostof the Whigs, get up here the other day 'and not only announce it, but denounce it as such !— Did any one of his friends or opponents con tradict itim? No, sir. not one. Let the people of Georgia know, then, that, this is another of the firuifs of the tree they planted. Between three and five millions of the proceeds of tne public, lands are to lie annually abstracted from a depleted Treasury, to be given to the States, and the manner in which these gentle men propose to fill up the vacuum (by an in crease of the tariff,) 1 will endeavor presently to expose to my constituents, when 1 come to notice the extraordinary speech of my collen- express even a suspicion of his intentions ; hut while l willingly couccde tnis much to Inm, and promise lo set down, nothing in malice. | shall speak plainly and^candidiv of the posi tion he assumed, mid-ofthe conseqneuces like- ly to result front it. The more 1 m-o of that gentleman, sir, the more l am convinced of his. firmness and r< solution. 1 will now say that he ev u r was a imllifier, eo nomine ; l.nt that he was a State Bighjs man, ami willing to take llitf advantages of nullification principles how ever he may have found it convenient to shun the odium of the name, he iiimsetl w ill not de ny. His old associates then, for the sake of their principles, to t!,e success of which he is inJehted for Ins present elevation, ought to have been secure from any detraction, either direct or indirect, in his hands. But m iiis haste to commend hiuispif to his new and mi - natural allies, lie has tlie loldness tq turn upon his old coadjutors, and, with a small hut hsitjfr vituperation, assail them and their principles in an unprovoked attack upon the distinguish ed Carolinian who represents the palmetto .State in the other endopf this Capitol. \ Does,not that gentleman know tiiut the ma jority of this wct hl lias not yet been able to distinguish between measures find men ?— Dot[s lie hot know that the eminent statesman, against whom he burred the shafts ofhis new born indignation, has, by his able and fearless vindication wftlie Bights of the Slates, indenti fied himself with the principles upon which those rights depend ? Does lie not know that any assault he may make against that states- tnanpersonally, must recoil Itom the man to'the political system of which he i< justly regarded as the Head and front? \\horefoie the neces sity of wandering from the question before the House to speak of John C. Calhoun as a polit ical comet wild and errant in his course, com ing from whence he knew not, and going this distribution because it lends to an assump tion hy this Government of State debts) and I am opposed to that because those debts amount to the enormous mid alarming sum of $200,- 000,000—nay, even the-antmal interest on this extraordinary debt is $20,000,000. I am op posed to it because tf it becomes the settled policy of this Government, I, as one of the peo-. pie of Georgia, shall be taxed indirectly, hy an increase of tnrifl'duties on imports, to re place the three, four or five millions, or even more, which are thus to he abstracted and dis tributed. For we have now no surplus .rev enue, and-1 hope we never shall have< There fore every dollar that is now taken out of onr already deficient Treasury for extraordinary purposes, must and will be supplied immedi ately, for the ordiuary wants of Goveruto nt, from that only qtlier source of revenue—a tar iff on imports. I am oppos'd to it because this increase of the tariff, necessarily conse quent upon the dirtrihuiion of the proceeds of the public lands, must fall most heavily on tlie South—the cotton growing and revenue yield ing South. 1 am opposed to it, too, because white Georgia owes comparatively nothing,- she will thus lie made to contribute far beyond 4he proportion of her taxable property and population, to the payment of an enormous debt, for which site never- lies, and never will, receive a cent of benefit. 1 subjoin the follow ing table, ofllie debts of the different States, and although 1 cannot pretend to figure against tlie gentleman from. New York, (wlio .fqots op (he present deficit at $40,000,000) yet my con stituents may ascertain, by calculating for themselves, tlie amount of their lialrilities.col lectively and individually, if this Whig .meas- ure is made a law of the land. Stock issued, and authorized to be issued by the c-tsely that effort, to wit: that this 20 per cent, duty, when levied as ii must be if this com- promise is maintained, alter the 2d June, 1842, “in ready money.” and that too upon “goods, wares, and merchandise,” valtnd “at the poit where the same shall l-e t-nfeii d.” will be' in creased to a comfortable tax o! 50 or CO per cent, ad valorem, without limitation as to time, l or although the act provides for a re duction of duties “iri ihe contingency, either of excess or deficiency of revenue,” tlie exj en- ditnies, if we may judge of the future hy the * liberal estimates" of the present, \\ ill always I e made to keep pace with any “ excess” of rev enue that may accrue. Let me illustrate tliese conservative princi^l pies which my colleague would maintain, and by- the use ol a few facts and figures show the ell*-cl tbey will have on the consiiniers of-im ports, who, at last,it is conceded, must paythis insidious tax. The committee w'ilb rerneh'tber { that the imports of 1840 were rfiiiCh lower.tlian those of' any other year since 1832, when they’ l amounted to only $101,029,266. Ill 1836, ' they reached to $189,980,035. But take (he'd imports of 184(1—$ 11)4,865,981 —a tariff ol 6tfoi • per cent 011 that amount would produce'a rev- • etute of $52.41)2,991)! is mv colleague will- J mg to sustain a “ compromise'' that in all prob ability will produce such a revenue ? Let no suppose, however, that the cash duties and home valuation will tint increase this compro mise 20 per ceut. to more than 25 per cent; even that tariffofdutiesou the uuiistiallv small iin onaiiou of 1840, will yield to the Govern ment $26,201,-195—tins added to $4,000,000 Itom the sales ofthe public lauds will give you $30,201,105 per annum, lsany Southern man prepan-u to support a “ compromise” that will 1 throw this Amount annually into the Trans it ry ? (tosny nothing ofthe n-veiiue tlint would ; accrue from a tax of 50 per cent, instead ol 25 . t whither no man could tell ; as a politician ebo p c r cent upon an average importation.of one 3 ought to have a straight jacket; and as a lead er whom he could not follow? Sir, 1 think my colleague ought to be able to tell whence Mr. Caihoun came on the State Jtighfs ques tion, and whither he went: for the gentleman himself, whatever he may now think of it, was. in that celel rated progress, the travelling com panion of the great Nullifier: Although lie may have worn no badge hy which lie might he marked and distinguished, yet he had onr countersign, and was certainly M that time in the Slate Rights camp, wherever lie may now he. Notwithstanding ah this, lie affects to be ext.rentely ignorant of Mr. Calhoun’s “ where about.” Sir, as a Southern .State Rights man, 1 most decidedly object to this unprovoked at tack upon an individual, who, iu the hour nf our utmost need, defended ns and our rights with an ability and constancy equalled only hy the patriotism with which he was ready anil willing to sacrifice himself for the good ofhis gue, [Mr. Nishet.] Bnt.'sir, I am opposed to co, ?“ t |> r * ? ir ' “l* 5 ,,rro ' v f we * e f ; ;i„j L well dipped, but his liow was too weak. He may exercise his archery if he will, but his shafts fall, as they ever must, far short of the bright and elevated object at which lie would Jtnrl them. Mr. B. said he .had just alluded to his col league’s forlilmfe; he could not l ut do so again, for 1:0 inun as n Representative of Ihe hundred and forty millions ? This estimate is, made upon as reduc d a scale as any g^mleninth could require; and ev* n at that raje we should; have, in a short time, another sqrp[os revenue toscram! lefor, besides the burden it would im- , pose upon the people. The public expendi tures have, for the last few years, exceeded tlie usual expenses of the GovjrmnctJibin^conse- qtieuce ofthe extraordinary character ofllie ex- igeiu ies which demanded them, but.jfqijf^lifct ses now in operation, as has alrt-udy beensi)pwp r we have a reasonable expec tation that they will r continue to recede in amount, especially iu the retrenchment advised by Mr. Yir» Bn let) in his last message, and heretofor. pj mist d by tlie Whigs, he hoinstly aud'effiti .a|y carried out by Congress. The expenditures for 1841, foi ordinary purposes, arc estimated at $19,250,- 000 ; with economy we may hope to find them in a few years down t<> $15,060,C( 0, and yet, with this prospect in view, my colleague will support aid maintain a corn prom ire which, nt the lowest and most r amiable calculation, must yield, in c< njunelion with ti c sales ofthe pnblic domain,at least $30,201.475 per annum. Against supporting such a" compromise, 1, as a representative, and as one of the [-eojile^of Geor gia, do most solemnly protest. The committee are aw are that the gentleman from New York has given notice, that iftheen- South, could make such a speech as the gen- acting clause#this bill (4| strirketunit, he will r\\ llemail had just delivered upon the “ tariff move the imputation ofalrfx omrftx and whies, U without utterly disregarding couse- States. W These, sir, are the answers which are now charaefr from such anonymous slander will given by the reform party, to Mr. Van Ba be to eijbit this specimen of Whig lithogra- ten’s recommendation that Congress shall not Massachusetts, New York, .lot lift Pennsylvania.- Maryland, Virginia, ' ! South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, * Louisiana, *' Indiana, Missistipt*, Illinois, *4.943.107 92 .m . ; , I3J9-U918 19 27.665,003 32 ■/ 16.407,001 39 • 6,660,089 47 ^6,763.77© 1* i* 7^t |djD30.162 7J ' ‘ , >23.139:000 00 “ ; ' 14,717,000 00 > ^^669,000 00 v*.«tlJUbjM M ’ W - ? . A • k ..J question qiieitces. {Mr. Nishet explained. He had no idea that his rollea>.ue would intentionally misrep resent hint; lie therefore asked him to hear 111 mind that, throughout the whole ofhis speech, lie’had protested against a tariff for protection, and that he advocated duties for revenue on- ly-1 ' r . i ■ Sir, said Mr. B. I repeat again, I do not ques tion the gentleman’s motive I freely concede to him all the benefit of “good intentions."- He has a perfect right, as an individual, to choose his position—that 1 shall not question; but when he speaks here as mv representative, l mnst be permitted lo dissent' from the docilities he has thought proper to advance. Nor shall 1 misrepresent Jus remarks — 1 remember them well, for they sounded ominously nti my ear. The gentleman did say, more than once, (ahd l thought he was umtMiufiy solicitous to nil press it on Iris.hearers,) that he tea's opposed 10 a protective tariff, aiid advocated duties only Ibr revenue. That was his text, but did he stick t*»it? We shall see. In the first place, “he advocated duties only for revenue" \\ hat sort of a revenue? For a revenue commensurate tvitli the demands of the gentleman Irom New York, (Mr. Barnard.) who estimated the deficit of the Treasury at $40,000,000: to which we must add his esti mate for the current expenses, not only nf 1841, hut of 1842? If my colleitgue is willing to raise a revenue hy means of a tariff sufficient to cover these liberal estimates, I apprehend he will fkid few of his constituents who would go with him. This is an important point on which vre.are left to groperdir way through 466.66" aq indefinite geoeralityj and I protest against ...» jiving'open any door' through which those “liberal estimates” of avowed tariff men may be forced upon us hereafter under the'guise of “dutiesfor revenue only, and other la varies ; this^syiffi the other prop osition to tax linen fahpek and ins, loaves no doubt on my miud,j2jErfuc settled determination of the great majority of the Whig party, in this House, lo fix upon ihe next atiniiuistiatiori the policy of a high protection taiiff. To the tax on French silks arid wines, which above all others would l« most mischievous to the cot- r ' * ton and to) atco glowing States, my colleague gives Iiis llcnrtv assent; Let nssie if that ns-" ! sent co iqwirts with his declaration tbat he was opposed to a tariff for protec tieh^m.d i.drcuued duties only for revenue. What is tlie lac-4, witlt regard to tberonsump- ! lion of silks at the South ? They have grown into general, nay into almost universal use; they are no longer to I e looked on as luxuries, at least not as luxuries confined to (he use of the rich. Almost every man, poor or rich, in the region where 1 reside, indulges Iiis wife and daughter in the use ol this eleguuUiudsubstan tial article. To the extent tlu n, sir, to which silks are used at the south, are tlie cotton goods of northern manufactories excluded. The. manufacturer si arpened by his interest, seea ana feels this—prompted l y his cupidity, and regardless of our rights and preferences, he is now striking at the imports of silk by attempt ing to tax them with a duty ofSO.per cent.—- By your existing laws they are, fraer-oyp far mers’ wives and daughters under this free im portation can afford to wear them as well as tho wives and daughters of the wealthy merchants or the hankers ; but raise the duty 20 per eiqrt. almost nsie-fourth of the value of the article?, and tack 011 to it cash duties, anti a home valt/^ ation, and yon cffectitnlly deny to the pefor , t what'the wealth of his neighbor may st ill .ena ble him to enjoy: - The manufacturer tiitis hopes toyxpel silks from the south mid to fill np the Vacuum wftlrhisown cotton fabrics^’^ ' St range to say; thisexptilsion of silks Inis beet) urged is on * unanswered and an unanswera-