ourselves, at the commencement of the present session of Congress.

"I will not now stop to dilate upon the benefit which will result to every family from an abolition of duties which will enable them to get all the articles enumerated in my bill for about one third, or one half less, than is now paid for them. Let any one read over the list of articles, and then look to the sum total which he now pays out annually for them, and from that sum deduct near fifty per cent., which is about the average of the duties and merchant's profit induded, with which they now come charged to him. This deduction will be his saving under one branch of my plan the abolition clause. To this must be added the gain under the clause to secure equivalents in foreign markets, and the two being added together, the saving in purchases at home being added to the gain in sales abroad, will give the true measure of the advantages which my plan presents.

hundred thousand dollars; boots, shoes, and saddlery, five hundred thousand dollars; hats, three hundred thousand dollars; cabinet, coach, and other wooden work, six hundred thousand dollars; glass and iron, three hundred thousand dollars; and numerous smaller items. This large amount of manufactures pays their value, in some instances more, for the privilege of being sold abroad; and, what is worse, they are totally excluded from several countries from which we buy largely. Such restrictions and impositions are highly injurious to our manufactures; and it is incontestably true, the amount of exports prove it, that what most of them now need is not more protection at home, but a better market abroad; and it is one of the objects of this bill to obtain such a market for them.

"It appears to me [said Mr. B.] to be a fair and practicable plan, combining the advantages of legislation and negotiation, and avoiding the objections to each. It consults the sense of the "Let us now see whether the agriculture and people, in leaving it to their Representatives to manufactures of the United States do not require say on what articles duties shall be abolished for better markets abroad than they possess at this their relief; on what they shall be retained for time. What is the state of these markets? Let protection and revenue; it then secures the adfacts reply. England imposes a duty of three vantage of obtaining equivalents, by referring it shillings sterling a pound upon our tobacco, to the Executive to extend the benefit of the abwhich is ten times its value. She imposes duties olition to such nations as shall reciprocate the equivalent to prohibition on our grain and pro- favor. To such as will not reciprocate, it leaves visions; and either totally excludes, or enormous- every thing as it now stands. The success of ly taxes, every article, except cotton, that we this plan can hardly be doubted. It addresses send to her ports. In France, our tobacco is itself to the two most powerful passions of the subject to a royal monopoly, which makes the human heart-interest and fear; it applies itself king the sole purchaser, and subjects the seller to the strongest principles of human actionto the necessity of taking the price which his profit and loss. For, there is no nation with agents will give. In Germany, our tobacco, and whom we trade but will be benefited by the inother articles, are heavily dutied, and liable to creased trade of her staple productions, which a transit duty, in addition, when they have to will result from a free trade in such productions; ascend the Rhine, or other rivers, to penetrate none that would not be crippled by the loss of the interior. In the West Indies, which is our such a trade, which loss would be the immediate great provision market, our beef, pork, and flour, effect of rejecting our system. Our position enusually pay from eight to ten dollars a barrel ables us to command the commercial system of our bacon, from ten to twenty-five cents a the globe; to mould it to our own plan, for the pound; live hogs, eight dollars each; corn, corn- benefit of the world and ourselves. The apmeal, lumber, whiskey, fruit, vegetables, and proaching extinction of the public debt puts it inevery thing else, in proportion; the duties in to our power to abolish twelve millions of duties, the different islands, on an average, equalling and to set free more than one-half of our entire or exceeding the value of the articles in the commerce. We should not forego, nor lose the United States. We export about forty-five advantages of such a position. It occurs but selmillions of domestic productions, exclusive of dom in the life of a nation, and once missed, is manufactures, annually; and it may be safely irretrievably gone, to the generation, at least, that assumed that we have to pay near that sum in saw and neglected the golden opportunity. We the shape of duties, for the privilege of selling have complained, and justly, of the burthens these exports in foreign markets. So much for upon our exports in foreign countries; a part of agriculture. Our manufactures are in the same our tariff system rests upon the principle of retacondition. In many branches they have met the liation for the injury thus done us. Retaliation, home lemand, and are going abroad in search of heretofore, has been our only resource: but reforeign markets. They meet with vexatious re- ciprocity of injuries is not the way to enrich nastrictions, peremptory exclusions, or oppressive tions any more than individuals. It is an 6 unduties, wherever they go. The quantity already profitable contest,' under every aspect. But exported entitles them to national consideration, the present conjuncture, payment of the public in the list of exports. Their aggregate value for debt, in itself a rare and almost unprecedented 1828 was about five millions of dollars, compris-occurrence in the history of nations, enables us ing domestic cottons, to the amount of a million to enlarge our system; to present a choice of alof dollars; soap and candles, to the value of nine ternatives: one fraught with relief, the other

presenting a burthen to foreign nations. The ed the principle of Mr. Madison's resolutions, participation, or exclusion, from forty millions of but reversed their action. The discrimination free trade, annually increasing, would not admit which he proposed was a levy of five or ten per of a second thought, in the head of any nation with which we trade. To say nothing of her cent. more on the imports from countries which gains in the participation in such a commerce, did not enter into our propositions for reciprocity: what would be her loss in the exclusion from it? my plan, as being the same thing in substance, How would England, France, or Germany, bear the loss of their linen, silk, or wine trade,' with and less invidious in form, was a levy of five or the United States? How could Cuba, St. Do- ten per cent. less on the commerce of the recipmingo, or Brazil, bear the loss of their coffee trade rocating nations-thereby holding out an inwith us? They could not bear it at all. Deep ducement and a benefit, instead of a threat and and essential injury, ruin of industry seditions, a penalty. and bloodshed, and the overthrow of administrations, would be the consequence of such loss. Yet such loss would be inevitable (and not to the few nations, or in the articles only which I have mentioned, for I have put a few instances only by way of example), but to every nation with whom we trade, that would not fall into our system, and throughout the whole list of essential articles to which our abolition extends. Our present heavy duties would continue in force against such nations; they would be abolished in favor of their rivals. We would say to them, in the language of Mr. Jefferson, free trade and navigation is not to be given in exchange for restrictions and vexations! But I feel entire

confidence that it would not be necessary to use the language of menace or coercion. Amicable representations, addressed to their sense of selfinterest, would be more agreeable, and not less effectual. The plan cannot fail! It is scarcely within the limits of possibility that it should fail! And if it did, what then? We have lost nothing. We remain as we were. Our present duties are still in force, and Congress can act upon them one or two years hence, in any way they please.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

ALUM SALT. THE ABOLITION OF THE DUTY UPON
IT, AND REPEAL OF THE FISHING BOUNTY AND
ALLOWANCES FOUNDED ON IT.

I LOOK upon a salt tax as a curse-as something worse than a political blunder, great as that is as an impiety, in stinting the use, and enhancing the cost by taxation, of an article which God has made necessary to the health and comfort, and almost to the life, of every anímated being-the poor dumb animal which can only manifest its wants in mute signs and frantic actions, as well as the rational and speaking man who can thank the Creator for his goodness, and There is a mystery in salt. It was used in holy curse the legislator that, mars its enjoyment. "Here, then, is the peculiar recommendation sacrifice from the earliest day; and to this time, to my plan, that, while it secures a chance, little in the Oriental countries, the stranger lodging in short of absolute certainty, of procuring an abo- the house, cannot kill or rob while in it, after he lition of twelve millions of duties upon our exports in foreign countries, in return for an aboli- has tasted the master's salt. The disciples of tion of twelve millions of duties upon imports Christ were called by their master the salt of the from them, it exposes nothing to risk; the abo-earth. Sacred and profane history abound in inlition of duty upon the foreign article here being contingent upon the acquisition of the equivalent advantage abroad.

stances of people refusing to fight against the kings who had given them salt: and this myste"I close this exposition of the principles of rious deference for an article so essential to man my bill with the single remark, that these treaties and beast takes it out of the class of ordinary for the mutual abolition of duties should be for productions, and carries it up close to those vilimited terms, say for seven or ten years, to give room for the modifications which time, and the tal elements-bread, water, fire, air—which Provarying pursuits of industry, may show to be vidence has made essential to life, and spread necessary. Upon this idea, the bill is framed, every where, that craving nature may find its and the period of ten years inserted by way of supply without stint, and without tax The suggestion and exemplification of the plan. Another feature is too obvious to need a remark, that venerable Mr. Macon considered a salt tax in a the time for the commencement of the abolition sacrilegious point of view-as breaking a sacred of duties is left to the Executive, who can ac-law-and fought against ours as long as his commodate it to the state of the revenue and the public life lasted; and I, his disciple, not disesextinction of the public debt." teemed by him, commenced fighting by his side The plan which I proposed in this speech adopt-against the odious imposition; and have contin

visions, and making allowances to fishing vessels -Mr. Jefferson being then President.

"9. Act of 1813 gives a bounty of twenty cents a barrel on pickled fish exported, and allows to the cod-fishing vessels at the rate of two dollars and forty cents the ton for vessels between twenty and thirty tons, four dollars a ton for vessels above thirty, with a limitation of two hundred and seventy-two dollars for the highest allowance; and a proviso, that no bounty or allowance should be paid unless it was proved to the satisfaction of the collector that the fish was wholly cured with foreign salt, and the duty on it secured or paid. The salt duty, at the rate of twenty cents a bushel, was revived as a war tax at the same time. Bounties on salted provisions were omitted.

"10. Act of 1816 continued the act of 1813 in force, which, being for the war only, would otherwise have expired.

"11. Act of 1819 increases the allowance to vessels in the cod fishery to three dollars and fifty cents a ton on vessels from five to thirty; to four dollars a ton on vessels above thirty tons; with a limitation of three hundred and sixty dollars for the maximum allowance.

which had to be cured in this kind of salt, for common salt will not cure it. The Western country is the great producer of provisions; and there is scarcely a farmer in the whole extent of that vast region whose interest does not require a prompt repeal of the duty on this description of salt.

The

"2. Because no salt of this kind is made in the United States, nor any rival to it, or substitute for it. It is a foreign importation, brought from various islands in the West Indies, belonging to England, France, Spain, and Denmark; and from Lisbon, St. Ubes, Gibraltar, the Bay of Biscay, and Liverpool. The principles of the protecting system do not extend to it: for no quantity of protection can produce a home supply. present duty, which is far beyond the rational limit of protection, has been in force near thirty years, and has not produced a pound. We are still thrown exclusively upon the foreign supply. The principles of the protecting system can only apply to common salt, the product of which is considerable in the United States; and upon that kind, the present duty is proposed to be left in full force.

"3. Because the duty is enormous, and quad"12. Act of 1828 authorizes the mackerel ruples the price of the salt to the farmer. The fishing vessels to take out licenses like the cod- original value of salt is about fifteen cents the fishing vessels, under which it is reported by measured bushel of eighty-four pounds. But the vigilant Secretary of the Treasury that mo- the tariff substitutes weight for measure, and ney is illegally drawn by the mackerel vessels-fixes that weight at fifty-six pounds, instead of the newspapers say to the amount of thirty to eighty-four. Upon that fifty-six pounds, a duty fifty thousand dollars per annum. of twenty cents is laid. Upon this duty, the retail merchant has his profit of eight or ten cents, and then reduces his bushel from fifty-six to fifty pounds. The consequence of all these operations is, that the farmer pays about three times as much for a weighed bushel of fifty pounds, as he would have paid for a measured bushel of eighty-four pounds, if this duty had never been imposed.

These recitals of legislative enactments are sufficient to prove that the fishing bounties and allowances are bottomed upon the salt duty, and must stand or fall with that duty. I will now give my reasons for proposing to abolish the duty on alum salt, and will do it in the simplest form of narrative statement; the reasons themselves being of a nature too weighty and obvious to need, or even to admit, of coloring or exaggeration from arts of speech.

4. Because the duty is unequal in its operation, and falls heavily on some parts of the com"1. Because it is an article of indispensable munity, and produces profit to others. It is a necessity in the provision trade of the United heavy tax on the farmers of the West, who exStates. No beef or pork for the army or navy, port provisions; and no tax at all, but rather a or for consumption in the South, or for exporta- source of profit, to that branch of the fisheries to tion abroad, can be put up except in this kind of which the allowances of the vessels apply. Exsalt. If put up in common salt it is rejected porters of provisions have the same claim to these absolutely by the commissaries of the army and allowances that exporters of fish have. Both navy, and if taken to the South must be repacked claims rest upon the same principle, and upon in alum salt. at an expense of one dollar and the principle of all drawbacks, that of refunding twelve and a half cents a barrel, before it is ex- the duty paid on the imported salt, which is reported, or sold for domestic consumption. The exported on salted fish and provisions. The same quantity of provisions which require this salt, and principle covers the beef and pork of the farmer must have it, is prodigious, and annually increas-which covers the fish of the fisherman; and such ing. The exports of 1828 were, of beef sixty-six thousand barrels, of pork fifty-four thousand barrels, of bacon one million nine hundred thousand pounds weight, butter and cheese two million pounds weight. The value of these articles was two millions and a quarter of dollars. To this amount must be added the supply for the army and navy, and all that was sent to the South for home consumption, every pound of

was the law, as I have shown, for the first eighteen years that these bounties and allowances were authorized. Fish and provisions fared alike from 1789 to 1807. Bounties and allowances began upon them together, and fell together, on the repeal of the salt tax, in the second term of Mr. Jefferson's administration. At the renewal of the salt tax, in 1813, at the commencement of the late war, they parted company, and the law,

in the exact sense of the proverb, has made fish of one and flesh of the other ever since. The fishing interest is now drawing about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually from the treasury; the provision raisers draw not a cent, while they export more than double as much, and ought, upon the same principle, to draw more than double as much money from the treasury.

which declares that duties, taxes, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the Union. There is no uniformity in the operation of this tax. Far from it. It empties the pockets of some, and fills the pockets of others. It returns to some five times as much as they pay, and to others it returns not a cent. It gives to the fishing interest two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum, and not a cent to the farming interest, which, upon the same principle, would be entitled to six hundred thousand dollars per annum.

West from the burthen it imposes upon her.

"8. Because the repeal of the duty will not materially diminish the revenue, nor delay the extinguishment of the public debt. It is a tax carrying money out of the treasury, as well as bringing it in. The issue is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, perhaps the full amount which accrues on the kind of salt to which the abolition extends. The duty, and the fishing allowances bottomed upon it, falling together as they did when Mr. Jefferson was President, would probably leave the amount of revenue unaffected.

"5. Because it is the means of drawing an undue amount of money from the public treasury, under the idea of an equivalent for the drawback of duty on the salt used in the curing of fish. "7. Because this duty now rests upon a false The amount of money actually drawn in that basis-a basis which makes it the interest of way is about four millions seven hundred one part of the Union to keep it up, while it is and fifty thousand dollars, and is now going the interest of other parts to get rid of it. It is on at the rate of two hundred and fifty the interest of the West to abolish this duty: it thousand dollars per annum, and constantly is the interest of the Northeast to perpetuate it. augmenting. That this amount is more than The former loses money by it; the latter makes the legal idea recognizes, or contemplates, is money by it; and a tax that becomes a moneyproved in various ways. 1. By comparing the making business is a solecism of the highest quantity of salt supposed to have been used, order of absurdity. Yet such is the fact. The with the quantity of fish known to have been treasury records prove it, and it will afford the exported, within a given year. This test, for Northeast a brilliant opportunity to manifest the year 1828, would exhibit about seventy their disinterested affection to the West, by givmillions of pounds weight of salt on about fortying up their own profit in this tax, to relieve the millions of pounds weight of fish. This would suppose about a pound and three quarters of salt upon each pound of fish. 2. By comparing the value of the salt supposed to have been used, with the value of the fish known to have been exported. This test would give two hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars for the salt duty on about one million of dollars' worth of fish; making the duty one fourth of its value. On this basis, the amount of the duty on the salt used on exported provisions would be near six hundred thousand dollars. 3. By comparing the increasing allowances for salt with the decreasing exportation of fish. This test, for two given periods, the rate of allowance being the same, would produce this result: In the year 1820, three hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and nineteen quintals of dried fish exported, and one hundred and ninety-eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-four dollars paid for the commutation of the salt drawback: in 1828, two hundred and sixty-five thousand two hundred and seventeen quintals of dried fish exported, and two hundred and thirty-nine thousand one hundred and forty-five dollars paid for the commutation. These comparisons establish the fact that money is unlawfully drawn from the treasury by means of these fishing allow-reforming hand of Jefferson overthrew it, and all ances, bottomed on the salt duty, and that fact is expressly stated by the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Ingham), in his report upon the finances, at the commencement of the present session of Congress. [See page eight of the report.]

"9. Because it belongs to an unhappy period in the history of our government, and came to us, in its present magnitude, in company with an odious and repudiated set of measures. The maximum of twenty cents a bushel on salt was fixed in the year '98, and was the fruit of the same system which produced the alien and sedition laws, the eight per cent. loans, the stamp act, the black cockade, and the standing army in time of peace. It was one of the contrivances of that disastrous period for extorting money from the people, for the support of that strong and splendid government which was then the cherished vision of so many exalted heads. The

the superstructure of fishing allowances which was erected upon it. The exigencies of the late war caused it to be revived for the term of the war, and the interest of some, and the neglect of others, have permitted it to continue ever since. It is now our duty to sink it a second time. We "6. Because it has become a practical viola-profess to be disciples of the Jeffersonian school; tion of one of the most equitable clauses in the let us act up to our profession, and complete the constitution of the United States-the clause task which our master set us."