MEMORIAL

Tariff Memorial.-Charleston, S. C.

The memorial of the citizens of Charleston and its vicinity, by their committee, respectfully

showeth :

That your memorialists have not witnessed, without the liveliest anxiety and alarm, the efforts that have been made, for some time past, and are still pertinaciously persisted in, by certain persons professing themselves the exclusive friends of domestic industry, to force upon the good people of the United States a system of protecting duties, which, your memorialists do seriously believe, is calculated most deeply to affect the great interests of the agricultural States; perhaps even to work their speedy and utter ruin.

argument, to the business and bosoms of all its inhabitants.

Of a committee of the citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, against the proposed increase of the Tariff-stances of this State, since the former memorial The change that has taken place in the circumFebruary 9, 1824. was transmitted to Congress, is unprecedented and inconceivable. At that time (and it is no longer ago than three years) South Carolina was enjoying advantages, as an agricultural State, that have seldom if ever been exceeded in any other part of the world. Her staple commodities were sent to a ready market, and commanded prices that showed she shared in a sort of monopoly of it. Thin as her population is, (not above twenty inhabitants to the square mile,) the value of lands every where rose considerably. On the sea islands in particular, to eight, ten, and even twenty times as much as they were rated at thirty years ago, while that of slaves and other property also greatly advanced. The citizens of this State might then contemplate a measure like that in question, if not without disapprobation, at least without dismay, and although they did protest, as they had a right to protest, against an impolitic and premature encouragement of manufactures, in a country like the United States, where there is so much good land unoccupied and in woods, and against the injustice of taxing so heavily almost all the classes of the community, and almost all the States of the Confederation, to fill the pockets of comparatively few speculators and monopolists; yet, as they did not perceive, at that time, the pernicious tendency of the measure in its whole extent, they would probably have acquiesced under it, had it been adopted, without much murmuring-certainly without any open and violent resistance. But things are now in a very different situation with them, and the whole subject has assumed a more serious and gloomy aspect.

Your memorialists did, upon a former occasion, apply to your honorable body upon this very subject, and they trust that their remonstrance was then marked with all that calmness and decency with which it is fit that citizens, under such a Government as the American, should address themselves to their representatives and rulers. They are persuaded that they took a full and candid view of the whole question, whether it be regarded as one of theoretical curiosity or of great practical moment-whether it be considered in relation to the whole Union or to their own peculiar situation. Upon a solemn review of these their reasonings and representations, (a copy of which is herewith respectfully transmitted,) they see nothing in them that ought to be retracted, or even in the slightest degree qualified. They still maintain that a system of monopoly and bounties is inconsistent with every idea of equal rights and sound policy. They still deprecate so violent a diversion of capital and industry from the chan- The cultivation of cotton, encouraged by the nels in which they would naturally flow, for the very prosperity which has been just noticed, purpose of forcing them into others, in which has been so prodigiously extended in this and their operations must needs be more embarrassed other States, as well as in foreign countries, that, and less efficient. They still protest against that notwithstanding the unprecedented increase of the unequal distribution of the public burdens which trade in England, every market in Europe is almust necessarily result from the imposing such ready glutted with it; and as the evil is every day heavy indirect taxes upon consumption, as a vio-growing with the growth of the new countries lation of the spirit at least, if not of the very letter of the Federal Constitution. They still think it probable that the failure of the national revenue from the customs, in consequence of the proposed tariff, will make a resort to 'direct taxation inevitable, and they look forward with concern to the troubles and inconveniences incident to that odi-duced here, by this mighty revolution, are deplorous and vexatious system.

into which enterprise is pushing its adventures, there can be no doubt but that, in the course of a very few years, this commodity will, like all others where there is a free competition in trade, be reduced to the lowest possible price. In the mean time, the effects that have already been pro

able in the extreme. Property of all kinds is deBut the objections which your memorialists preciated beyond example. A feeling of gloomy have now to urge against the adoption of the despondence is beginning to prevail every where measure in question, are not these general ones. in the lower country. Estates are sacrificed to They do not imply a refined discussion of any pay the last instalments on the bonds given for abstract principles of political economy. They the purchase money. Nobody seems disposed to do not involve any complicated calculations of buy what every body is anxious to sell, at any political arithmetic. Unfortunately for the people price. In short, it is manifest that the extraordiof the Southern States, they are of a very obvious nary prosperity which South Carolina, in comand palpable kind. They arise immediately out mon with the other Southern States, enjoyed of the situation of this part of the country, and some years ago, is gone by forever, and it will recome home with a force, greater than that of anyquire all the skill and industry of our agriculturists,

Tariff Memorial.—Charleston, S. C.

in future, to maintain their place in the market, even at the most reduced prices of produce.

And is this juncture, your memorialists beg leave to ask, is this juncture, so critical and perilous at best, a seasonable one for the measure in question? Is it at this moment, when the cotton trade, upon which, not the prosperity alone, but the very existence of some parts of the Southern States depends, is sinking under its own weight; when an American statesman ought to be tasking his invention for expedients to protect and preserve that very lucrative portion of it which is at present enjoyed by the United States-is it at such a mo- | ment as this, that we are seriously discussing a measure like the tariff bill? When the people of the South are already apprehending the exclusion of their produce from foreign markets, by a fair competition, or by the partialities of the European colonial systems, shall we provoke our present customers to measures of retaliation, by ceasing to be their customers? Is it wise and politic to try experiments on such a vast scale? Is it prudent to hazard so much real and present good for the attainment of so little, and that, too, existing in mere vision and possibility?

Such is the language which your memorialists think ought to be addressed, and which they cannot but flatter themselves will be addressed with effect, to the wisdom and patriotism of your honorable body; but, the occasion is, in their opinion, so momentous and alarming, that they feel themselves warranted in declaring, as they now do, in the most emphatic manner, that they regard such a measure as the one under consideration, (if their view of its nature and probable consequences is correct,) as a violation of the spirit of the Federal compact. Your memorialists would remind the advocates of the tariff, that there is a wide difference between a confederacy of independent sovereignties or States, and a nation living under a single and consolidated Government. The relation of the parts to each other is much more intimate in the latter, than they can ever be in the former case, and as the interest of each individual part is, there, supposed to be identified completely with that of the whole, so it is generally understood that, whenever occasion may require it, great national objects must be promoted, whatever partial evils may be occasioned by the measures adopted for that purpose. But in a confederacy, although the States are united for certain purposes, yet, as to all others, they continue distinct and independent, and have, therefore, distinct and separate interests, and it is not possible to conceieve any situation, in which one member of such a political union can be required to sacrifice itself, in order to promote the welfare or even to secure the existence of the rest. In a consolidated and single empire, if it were necessary to lay waste a whole tract of country and to keep it, for ever so long a time, desolate and in ruins, for the purpose of preventing the incursions of a foreign foe upon the rest of it, there can be no doubt that the individuals inhabiting that tract of country would be obliged to submit to the inconvenience, because requisite for the safety of the whole society of which

they would be members, and because their interests as individuals are supposed to be swallowed up and lost in their interests as citizens. But, in a confederacy, no such a case as this could possibly arise, from the very fact, that it was a confederacy, and the giving up of a whole State, as in the case supposed, that is, not with a view to its ultimate interest, but professedly for the purpose of protecting the rest of the confederation as such, would be, as to it, a dissolution of the league.

Now, what is the fact here? We have united ourselves in a great National Government, which is indeed consolidated as to certain purposes, but is a mere league of independent States as to others. Congress has been invested with all the powers necessary to effect the former, and under what description of powers does that of protecting the manufactures of certain States, even at the risk of total ruin to others, come? It must be obvious to every one, that the right to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and the exclusive right to levy duties on exports and imports, were never given with any such view; and, although it is true that the words in which these are delegated, are very large and sweeping, and therefore it would be difficult to say of such a measure as the one in contemplation, that it is absolutely unconstitutional, yet, your memorialists do affirm that it is, nevertheless, inconsistent with the character and spirit of our confederated Government; and they respectfully, but seriously and emphatically call upon you, to whom the conduct of that very complicated polity is committed, because of your wisdom and capacity, to reflect maturely upon the consequences that will probably ensue upon the adoption of the tariff proposed. They certainly deprecate any thing like a difference between the Government and the people; they abhor the idea of disunion; they conscientiously believe that that event would be an era of calamity and downfall to the whole American family; but, it is for this very reason, that they reprobate measures which, for the mere shadow of some imaginary advantage to one or two districts of the country, for the mere private ends of some selfish individuals, expose the most important interests to the hazard of utter ruin; excite clamors and heart-burnings, perhaps open rebellion and sedition, among a people whose habits and inclinations are so peaceful and regular; and bring into jeopardy (for the fact cannot be disguised) a form of Government under which the nation has hitherto prospered so much, and which, with moderate councils, might be handed down to a remote posterity; measures, in short, which most preposterously sacrifice the greater to the less, and insure nothing but evils, much worse than any which they are intended to remove.

And when is it that this pernicious measure is attempted to be forced upon the nation? At a period when its finances are in a condition, beyond all former example, prosperous and flourishing; when there is in the Treasury (without a tax) a clear surplus of nine millions; and when the people are yet expressing their wonder at the singular phenomenon of statesmen devising ways and means, not how to raise, but how to get rid of money.

Tariff Memorial.—Boston and its vicinity.

Tariff Memorial.-Boston and its vicinity.

twenty-seven per cent. more, has utterly excluded them; and the whole revenue once derived from this source is lost. Since the organization of our Government, there have been paid into the Treasury of the United States, from the customs alone, nearly three hundred and fifty millions of dollars, while the whole amount of internal revenue and direct taxes, has been little more than thirty-four millions.

To prevent the importation of manufactures, would, of course, deprive the Treasury of the impost now levied on them, and an equal sum must, therefore, in order to support the necessary expenses of Government, be raised by some other direct or indirect tax on the people.

tion on the community, and to the principles on which it is professedly founded. We shall not enter into a minute discussion of its details, as the imposts which ought to be laid, depend, in every case, on a variety of considerations peculiar to itself, and as we do not consider it any part of the duty assigned to us to digest a code of revenue laws. Neither shall we invite your attention particularly to the effects of the measure on commerce, because we presume you wish to have it distinctly understood that the merchants in this vicinity neither expect nor desire any peculiar favors, nor any encouragement or protection whatsoever, which is not required by the interests of the public. They were not forward, therefore, to oppose the duties recently recommended, however The Committee on Manufactures, who prepernicious to themselves as individuals, believing pared the tariff, did not overlook nor deny this that it was their duty to acquiesce in them, if the consequence of its adoption, and, in order to remepublic good required it, and that they would not dy it, provided that an additional impost should be imposed, if it did not. But the influence which be laid on all articles of general consumption or has been obtained by the zeal of private interest, necessary use, which are not raised in our own admonishes us that those whose situation and ex- country, such as spices, coffee, and many others, perience enable them to judge of the operation of forming a large part of our imports. A new imthis new system, should exert themselves to dif- post on such articles, by increasing their price, fuse such information as may tend to make its would have some tendency to diminish their conconsequences rightly and generally understood. sumption, and thus prevent an increase of the Its avowed object is to direct and control the oc- revenue proportionate to the increase of duty; cupations of men, by granting special privileges but, making no allowance for this diminution, the to those engaged in particular pursuits. This can additional duty on them would not nearly supply be done (waiving the important question whether the deficiency occasioned by the loss of the imit can be done at all without violating the spirit posts on manufactures. The chairman of the of the Constitution) only at the expense of the committee just mentioned, appeared to be well community; for it is evident that legislation does aware of this fact, and declared it to be another not create wealth, but simply transfers it from inevitable consequence of their system, that an hand to hand, and can enrich one class only by excise should be imposed on domestic manufacimpoverishing others. It would surely be sur-tures; and this, if our manufacturers are to have prising that a system of restriction so unequal and so repugnant to all sound theory, should be adopted by a free and enlightened people, at a time when the greatest statesmen of Europe, after a long trial of it, are openly acknowledging its incorrectness, and whole nations suffering and lamenting the consequences of its adoption; and when our own unexampled success, under a more liberal policy, has given the sanction of experience to the deductions of reason.

a monopoly secured to them, as seems to be contemplated, will be a new tax on the consumer. The first consequence, then, of excluding foreign manufactures by high duties, is to create a necessity for some other tax, equal to the whole sum now levied on them, and which will necessarily be lost by their exclusion.

Another consequence, and the only one which can benefit the American manufacturer, is, to enable him to raise the price of his productions in This tariff would impose on certain foreign our market, by adding to it a sum equal to the manufactures duties professedly and effectually difference between the present and the proposed prohibitory; and the question involved in its prohibitory duty, which addition must be paid adoption is, not whether the consumer of those entirely by domestic consumers. No duty could goods shall pay a higher price for them, but whe-enable him to manufacture for exportation; for, if ther he shall be prevented from purchasing them at all; not whether the duty now levied on the importation of them shall be a little increased or diminished, but whether they shall be totally excluded. In one case, this is already done. From the most accurate information, founded chiefly on official documents, it appears that, from the year 1800 to the year 1812, both inclusive, the duties received on the importation of the coarse cottons of India, amounted to more than three millions nine hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars. But, in 1816, the duty was raised to six and a quarter cents on every square yard, about eightythree and a half per cent. on their average cost, which, added to the necessary charges, equal to

he cannot, at home, enter into competiion with foreigners, without being protected by an impost it is obvious that he cannot rival them abroad where there is no such discrimination in his favor and where he is burdened, as well as they, with the expense of transportation. Duties imposed for the mere purpose of revenue, give an advantage, equal to their whole amount, to our manufactures; but, by increasing them till they become prohibitory, the people suffer a two-fold injury-the price of the goods prohibited is raised, and the revenue, formerly collected from them, is lost. With the sole motive, then, of empowering the manufacturer to raise his price, and thus tax the public in this way for his emolument; another tax, from

Tariff Memorial.—Boston and its vicinity.