1 adopt such measures of protecting, resisting and even efficient remedy against fraud and undervaluations at the custom house. It imposed an equal duty on iron, hemp, lead, flax, wool, and the manufactures of which they furnished the raw material. In its general provisions, it conformed more to the great national principle, on which all tariffs ought to be formed, than former tariffs, and seems to your committee to be less obnoxious to objection on any public consideration. To a subject so complicated as the tariff, it seems impracticable to apply any other than those principles, on which the government has ever acted, and must ever act. The constitution does not define the rate of duty, which is alone "constitutional." It is incapable of definition in any other way, than by the sound discretion of the national legislature, representing and acting for the whole union. It is the only safe and impartial depository of power. States and local sections may look too much to their own peculiar interests. Congress looks only to the nation. If a question should arise, whether a duty of one cent a pound, which the tariff of 1828 imposes on imported bar-iron, the great staple of Pennsylvania, or the duty of three cents a pound, which the tariff of 1816 imposes on brown sugar, the great staple of Louisiana, is unconstitutional? it would not be very safe to submit the decision to either state during the present excitement. Though both are articles of necessity, each costing about the same price per pound, and the relative duty enormously disproportionate, yet, who can say the constitution does not authorize, or that this state could properly protest against and resist it? 1 Your committee are unable to make a detailed comparison of the relative duties imposed by the existing tariff on foreign articles, which come in competition with the products of the different sections of this nation; but they feel fully justified in expressing their decided conviction, that in any attempt to graduate them, by any fixed constitutional standard, it must be done by the exercise of sound discretion, and in that spirit of patriotism and national good feeling, which they hope may ever prevail between the citizens of the different states. The Policy of the Tariff. If sound policy would justify any tariff, it certainly would this. So far as its effects have been developed, they have been of the most salutary nature. New vigor has been infused into many branches of manufactures; the annual produce has been much increased, while the price has diminished. It has certainly added to the sum of our production, of employment of labor, and the improvement of the country. It has not been long enough in operation to test its utmost effects; but from what has resulted, there is abundant reason to believe, that its continuance will tend as much to promote and secure, as its repeal would tend to check and jeopardize the general prosperity of the country. Secondly. The legislature of the state of Mississippi object to the tariff of 1828, "as impolitic." Of the general policy of the system of protection to the domestic industry of the nation, your committee cannot entertain a doubt. Of the good resulting from it, in every part of the union where it has been brought into action, the experience of many years affords full and conclusive evidence. Facts cannot be resolved down, practical results cannot be controverted by theories, and while these all concur to test the wisdom, the justice, and the happy consequences of the extension of this great system, your committee think that no sound statesman can pronounce it impolitic. Is the Tariff oppressive? Thirdly. The legislature of the state of Mississippi declare the tariff of 1828, to be oppressive on the southern states. If your committee had been furnished with any evidence, proving the correctness of this declaration, if any facts had been submitted to their consideration, from which they could reasonably infer, that this tariff had been or would be oppressive to the southern states, they would most cheerfully, as well from a sense of a duty to the nation, as from the spirit of conciliation and friendship to our sister states, recommend to this House, a concurrence with this part of the resolution. Had the legislature of the state of Mississippi, stated any facts on which their opinion is founded, it would have been our solemn duty to have assented to their truth, when asserted from so high authority. - But as this part of the resolution merely expresses an opinion as to the local operation of the law, your committee deem it no want of respect to the opinion of a sister state to dissent from it, until its correctness is ascertain If it is intended to confine the objection to this one act, ciple or uniform rule. So far as it afforded protection, it ceived that the tariff of 1828 could be oppressive on any state or part of the union, unless by diminishing the supply, raising the price, or injuring the quality of the articles which are embraced in it. That either is the fact, your committee have no reason to believe, nor so far as is known, has ever the assertion been made. On the contrary, it is known and admitted, that as the quantity has increased, the price has been reduced and the quality improved, as to all items of manufacture. It is not believed, that to this remark there can be produced the exception of one item. The opponents to protection of domestic industry, have been often called upon to identify one solitary instance, in which experience will justify the remark, that high duties tend to oppress the consumer. Yet, during the many years that the policy and justice of the system have been under discussion, no such instance has been produced. It is a fact which cannot be denied, it is manifest in every price current, it is within the knowledge of every purchaser of the most necessary and common article of consumption, that the cheapest domestic goods are those which are protected by the highest duties of similar articles which are imported: as coarse woollen, cotton, and mixed goods, nails, window glass, spirits, and a vast variety of other articles, manufactured from lead, iron and leather; many of which are peculiarly adapted to southern wants, and form the most common and important items of their consumption, clothing for their laborers, and implements for cultivation. It has been true in all nations, and through all times, that wherever there is a capacity to supply the demand for any article, the securing the domestic market to the domestic production, excites domestic competition, so as to ensure the consumer a cheaper, a better, and a more abundant supply for his wants. It is a truth of universal application in all the pursuits of life, practically known and felt by every fariner, merchant, mechanic and manufacturer in the country, from the commencement of that great system of policy, which has protected as well our shipping, as the productions of our soil, our seas, aud our workshops. How then a tariff can produce oppression to the southern states, seems incomprehensible to your committee. It may indeed tend to diminish the foreign, but it increases the domestic consumption of their great staple, cotton, in the same ratio. The price is the same, whether purchased for a foreign or a home market; and if the quality and price is equal, our southern brethren have too much patriotism to think it 'oppressive,' to purchase the production from their own raw material, merely because it has been manufactured by American machinery and labor. less It It cannot be material to the southern planter, whether his cotton is spun in Manchester, or Providence, or Pittsburg; whether it is transported in an American or a British ship, if it produces him the same price in market. With him it is a mere question of profit on what he sells, and economy in what he purchases. He cannot be oppressed by the tariff, unless he receives less for the one or pays more for the other. It is all resolved into a simple question of fact, does his cotton produce or his supplies cost more by the tariff of 1828? may be true that the price of cotton has fallen in 1828 and '29 to six or eight cents per pound. But it is no more a consequence of the tariff of 1828, than the unprecedented price of that article in 1825 was a consequence of the tariff of 1824. Neither is true. The wild spirit of speculation, which raged in the latter year, and the increased quantity produced in the two last, fully account for the respective changes. The cause has been already assigned, domestic competition has increas ed the quantity, and of course, reduced the price, exemplifying as to agriculture, the same effects as in manufactures, and all other branches of industry. The wealth and prosperity of a country depend less on the amount, than on the proper direction and judicious division of labor. This can be settled by no abstract or theoretical principles; it must depend on experience and observation. If so much labor is applied to the production of any one article, as to yield an amount beyond the demand, the consequence is obvious-the price falls, profits are diminished, or a loss ensues. The country may be depressed or oppressed.It is not owing to the tariff, but to the want of a proper division of labor. The true remedy is not in complaints, but in the diversion of a fraction of laber from unprofitable to profitable employment. If the pursuits of southern agriculture are no longer profitable, it is because its productions either exceed the demand, or so nearly equal it, as to reduce the price below the expense of cultivation. If the labor of the middle and western states was mainly confined to the production of grain and provision, they too might complain of the 'oppression of the tariff';' for their crops would not produce the supply of their wants; for the increase of the quantity would only diminish the value. It could not extend the market beyond the demand. It is only by the division of labor in the combined pursuits of commerce, agriculture and manufactures, that they can become prosperous. Louisiana might labour 5 under the same oppression as Mississippi, if her labour was confined to the cultivation of cotton; but by directing a portion to sugar, she is increasing in wealth more than perhaps any other state in the union. The citizens of Tennessee are now wisely dividing their labor, by entering on the manufacture of iron, large quantities of which have already been consumed in Pittsburg, where it finds a ready market, at a price which yields a better profit to the Tennessee iron master, than he could derive from the planting of cotton. Why the state of Mississippi, situated between Louisiana and Tennessee, should not profit by their example, is difficult to perceive. Kentucky too has been oppressed by not dividing her labor, but she is rapidly redeeming herself, by her manufactures of hemp and iron; furnaces and forges are rapidly increasing; her bloom and her iron, of the best quality, and in large quantities, are sent to our great western workshop, and manufactured into every variety of articles for use. Missouri furnishes lead; Ohio provisions; and the rivers of the west are covered with steam and keel boats, busy in transporting the varied productions of a world extending from Lake Erie to the gulph of Mexico. It is a truly splendid prospect, to witness the intimate connection between the three great branches of national industry, exemplified in this intercourse between the west and the south; between this state and every one watered by the Mississippi, or its branches. There is not one which does not supply our manufactories with raw material, or our labourer with subsistence; or one among whom western commerce does not distribute the supplies for their comsumption, and afford an increased demand for the productions of all new facilities of exchange; opening new markets, increasing the aggregate as well as the profits of labor, by its wise distribution. The whole scene presents the fairest prospect of national wealth and independence, and most strongly tends to unite in one bond of mutual dependence, benefits and good feeling, those portions of the country which nature has widely separated at distances, which the enterprise of our citizens has nearly annihilated. If there is any one measure of the general government, which more than another has tended to develope the resources of the country, or contributed to its generalimprovement, your committee do believe it is the tariff of 1828. It assured the proprietors of manufactories that the government deemed THEM important instruments of general welfare, in protecting the consumer from the exactions and monopolies of foreigners, and would impart to their products such a degree of protection as the public interest required. This infused new vigor into their establishments, which are daily furnishing new and increased markets for agriculture; and both increase and create the materials of commerce. It is confidently believed that no oppression has as yet resulted, or will ever result from its operations; altho' much alarm has been excited, and great complaints bave been made of its injurious effects on revenue, agriculture and commerce. It cannot be expected that they can produce any effect without some proof that they are just; for it is known as a part of the history of our national legislation, that the same course has been pursued since 1816, whenever any proposition has been submitted to Congress for the encouragement or protection of domestic manufactures, and we must expect its renewal on every similar occasion. Though the practical operation of every tariff has falsified every such prediction, and dissipated every gloomy anticipation; its opponents still repeat them, vainly hoping that some period will occur when the representatives of the people will overlook the evidence of facts, forget the lessons of experience, and be influenced only by assertions and opinions, which have been contradicted by both; which may serve to concentrate opposition, but cannot carry conviction to the understanding. When every other tariff has been attended by nothing but benefits, the tariff of 1828 cannot be oppressive. A resistance to the 'Tariff of 1828. 4thly. The last view which the legislature of Mississippi take of the tariff of 1828, is 'that it ought to be resisted by all constitutional means.' Believing that this tariff is in perfect accordance with the uniform policy of Pennsylvania, your committee cannot recommend to the House a concurrence in even 'a constitutional resistance. But they cannot but felicitate themselves in the assurance, that none other is contemplated. If it shall please the national legislature, in their wisdom to repeal this law, we confidently hope that the people of this commonwealth, will quietly submit to the dispensation, however severe, or in their opinion unjust. This state has once writhed under the prostration of her staple manufacture, without complaint or protest. If she is destined to witness the destruction of a great system of policy, which has been built on the experience of forty years, and spread blessings through the country if the sources of her prosperity are to be dried up-if the climate in which Providence has placed her, is not suited to such productions as can find a market abroad, and foreign legislation and foreign policy, unrestrained by a paternal government, is suffered to paralyze the labor of her citizens, in the only pursuit which can secure them competence; the spirit of her illustrious founder will not desert her; she must submit with reluctance, but without factious discontent; trusting to the recurrence of some more auspicious epoch, when reason can be heard, and justice prevail. Your committee forbear any allusions to local considerations. They would be as unworthy of themselves, as of the representatives of the people of this patriotic state, which neither in her politics or her policy has ever been guided by any other than national views. To the Southern States she feels bound, not only by all the ties of federative union, but old and highly cherished principles of political association. It would be more in accordance with her feelings, to become a rock to guard them from oppression, than to injure them: even in the promotion of her own interest, to injure or even jeop ard theirs. 5,233 shares in the Philadelphia But when considerations, higher than any which could affect the welfare and prosperity of this state, present themselves-when, that of the whole nation is interested, and identified with her own, she cannot be true or just to herself, in giving way to any spirit, which is in opposition to her solemn conviction of public duty. TURNPIKE STOCK. Harrisburg, Carlisle and Cham bersburg, Chambersburg and Bedford Erie and Waterford Waynesburg, Greencastle & Mer cersburg Morgantown, Churchtown & Blue 523,300 00 85,400 00 2,108,700 00 84,500 00 172,030 00 104,000 00 112,500 00 Springhouse, Northampton and Bethlehem Cayuga and Susquehanna Susquehanna and Waterford Susquehanna and Tioga Bridgewater and Wilkesbarre New Alexandria & Conemough Belmont and Easton Pittsburg and Butler 89,000 00 171,850 00 53,000 00 5,000 00 Somerset and Bedford 21,500 00 Hanover and Carlisle 10,000 00 Millerstown and Lewistown 35,865 62 Bellefonte and Phillipsburg 20,000 00 Philadelphia, Brandywine and New London 2,500 00 Belmont and Oghquega 5,000 00 Harrisburg and Millerstown 40,000 00 Philadelphia and Great Bend 12,000 00 Lewistown and Huntingdon 46,534 38 Armstrong and Indiana 9,000 00 Clifford and Wilkesbarre 4,832 84 Indiana and Ebensburg 12,000 00 3,333 33 Washington and Pittsburg 11,037 27 Lycoming and Potter 11,594 16 Middletown and Harrisburg 14,000 00 Bellefonte, Aaronsburg & Young manstown 29,000 00 Butler and Kittaning Milesburg and Smethsport 5,000 00 Your committee therefore offer the following resolutions Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, That the Tariff of 1828, accords with the spirit of the constitution of the United States, and is a just and salutary national measure, of protection to the industry of the country against foreign policy and legislation. Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of the above resolution to his Excellency the Governor of Mississippi, with a request to lay the same before the legislature of that State. Butler and Mercer Mercer and Meadville Anderson's ferry Waterford and New Haven Pittsburg and Stubenville Bethany and Dingman's Choice DOLS. CTS. Washington and Williamsport 500,000 2,499 99 1,500,000 00 1,903,817 56 Springhouse, Northampton and Lycoming and Potter Clifford and Wilkesbarre Downingstown, Ephrata & Harrisburg 69 63 Stock loan, per act of 13th March, 1824, $380,000 thereof re-imbursable first May, 1834, and the residue, first January, 1839, 600,000 Stock loan, per act of eleventh April, 1825, re-imbursable first January, 1840, 150,000 15,000 00 8,405 84 1,667 16 York and Gettysburg 6 09 Waynesburg, Greencastle & Mer cersburg 3,620 04 Huntingdon, Cambria & Indiana, 25 95 Philadelphia, Brandywine & New London 12,500.00 Washington and Pittsburg 965 73 Washington and Williamsport 11,666 67 Chambersburg and Bedford 118 22 New Alexandria and Conemaugh 75 93 Harrisburg and Millerstown 300 50 Little Conestoga 22 04 Youngmanstown and Derrstown 5,092 50 Derrstown and Northumberland 4,607 50 Milesburg and Smethsport 17,500 01 Gettysburg and Hagerstown 20,000 00 York Haven & Harrisburg bridge 12,000 00 Bank of Montgomery county, at an interest of 4 per cent. reimbursable first May, 1835, Farmers' bank of Lancaster, at an interest of 4 per cent. reimbursable 1st May, 1837, Easton bank, at an interest of 5 per cent. re-imbursable first May, 1837, reserving the right of the state to re-imburse the same at any time within that period, Harrisburg bank, at an interest of 5 per cent. re-imbursable in May, 1837, reserving the right of the state to re-imburse the same at any time within that period Stock loan, pertaining to the Pennsylvania canal, per act of 1st April, 1826, re-imbursable 1st December, 1846, Stock loan, pertaining to the Pennsylvania canal, under act of 9th Aprsl, 1827, re-imbursable 1st December, 1850, Stock loan pertaining to the Pennsylvania canal, per act of 24th March, 1828, re-imbursable 1st December, 1853, Stock loan pertaining to the PETITION TO ASSEMBLY IN 1695. To the Governor and provincial Counsel now siting 21st 3d mo 1695 ffriends In love and Respect to you and good will to our Country In general wee whose names Are under subscribed thought it needful and our duty to lay before you these few matters following, viz. wee Request you that such men bee put in office that Are of good Repute And Christian Conversation without Respect to Any profession or perswasion In Religeon, Ralph Ward Richerd Gone David Brintnal Joseph White John Cinam Wm. Carter Wm. Harwood Tho. Worten Philip England Abra. Hardiman Isaac Norris James Fox Tho. Langstone Nat. Lamplew Tho. Ffitswater Penty. Teage ffriends The date of this Address on the other side doth manifest the time it was first presented to you but wee have had little Remidie yet as to the chiefest matters of which that of ordenaries is one which is manifest. doubtless to many of you is wors now then it was then, therefore I having this coppy by mee and understanding you meet this day thought meet to present it to you for your further consideration, Your ffriend, 9th 12th mo. 1697. WM. SOUTHBE Also that oficers fees may bee made publick and put ering that theyr is now many ordenaries and tipling houses in this town of philidelfia kept by several As Are not well qualified for such undertakings tending to debauchery and corrupting of youth, wee Request you that only sober honest concientious persons bee suffered to keep such houses, and that all ocasions tending to corrupt youth or others may bee taken Away According to the Article of our charter from our proprietor. And also that the laws and statutes of this province bee duely and diligently put in Execution According to the 6th Article of our said Charter, Also wee Request that sum place may bee provided (As stocks or cage) to put drunkerds or other violators of the good lawes of England and of this province In being taken up by the watch or constables to Avoid being carried to prison for such misdemeanors of such moment; that unnecessary fees may bee Avoided, And Also that sum cours may be taken that these Indians May bee brought to more sobriaty and not to goe Reeling and bauling in the streets, Especially by night, to the disturbanc of the peace of this town; Also wee Request that All the Inhabitance of this town of philidelfia May have the benefit of purchasing such victuals or other goods exposed to publicsaile by being published by the crier to the extent of each street so farr that all may have knoledg theyrof, which by the present crier is not done to the prejudise and great dissatisfaction of many; And Alre that theyr may bee A check put to hors Raceing which begets swearing blaspheming gods holy name, drawing youth to vanaty, makeing such noises And publick houting and uncivil Riding in the streets.. Also that fidling, dancing, gameing and what Elce may tend to debauch the Inhabitanc and to blemish christianaty and dishonour the holy name of god, may bee curbed and Restrained both at fairs and all other times. All which wee leave to your serious consideration hoping you will Accept of this our Request and Address to you being as Aforesaid in love and respect to you and good will to our town and country wee Remain your friends, At a Council held at Philadelpia on Monday ye 9th Governor, &c. Samuel Carpenter, Edward Shippen, Jo- The within petition having been read, The same was PENNSYLVANIA RAIL ROAD. -We copy from the United States Gazette-Extra, the following Report of Major Douglass, and some other documents relating to this most important subject. We refer to our 3d Volume pages 81,123&170 for the various reports at full length of Messrs. Wilson, Robinson Wilson and Hopkins, J. McIlvaine, Esq. &c. &c. Too much caution cannot be employed in deciding so interestinga question, as that relating to the termination of the rail road. In recommending a plan, deviating so much from the surveys of Engineers, eminently qualified to judge, as the gentlemen, who have been employed, confessedly are, and from the opinions of the public authority of the city, and the popular voice-the commissioners assume an awful responsibility, which can only be justified by very cogent reasons. The members of the Legislature, have now an important part to act, and we trust, their decision will be influenced by a clear conviction of the interests of the city, and the state, to the exclusion of every other consideration-with regard to the former, those who reside in the city, ought to be presumed most capable of judging, and as respects the latter-the vast difference in expense, distance, and general convenience, ought to have great weight in deciding. G |