fiance of the clear understanding of the whole country, and in violation of the principles of justice and of good faith, that part of the act above mentioned which required that the duties should be reduced in three years to 20 per cent, was repealed, and a broad foundation thus laid for the permanent establishment of the protecting system. This system has been still further extended and fortified by the several successive acts of 1820, 1824 and 1828, until, by the passing of the act of 1832, (to take effect after the discharge of the public debt,) it has become incorporated into our political system, as the " SETTLED POLICY OF THE COUNTRY." We have not deemed it necessary, in tracing the origin and progress of this system, to go further back than the commercial restrictions which preceded the late war; for whatever theoretical opinions may have been expressed by Alexander Hamilton and others in relation to it at an earlier period, it cannot be denied that no duties were actually imposed beyond those deemed indispensable for the public exigencies; and that prior to the year 1816, no protection whatever was actual

extended to manufactures, beyond what was strictly incidental to a system for revenue. The discrimination between the protected and unprotected articles, now contended for as the very corner stone of the protecting system, was so far from being established by that act, that the highest duties were actually imposed on the very articles now admitted duty free, while the foreign manufactures which came into competition with our domestic fabrics were subjected to a lower rate of duty. The truth then unquestionably is, that the protecting policy, according to the principles now contended for, was never introduced into this country until the period we have mentioned, when it crept insidiously into the legislation of Congress in the manner above described. This will be made abundantly manifest to every one who will take the pains to trace the progress of the duties from 7 per cent in 1790, up to 25 per cent in 1816, 40 per cent in 1824, and 50, 60, and even 100 per cent in 1828 and 1832, and who will merely examine the manner in which these duties were adjusted in the various acts here referred to. As early as 1820-so soon indeed as the capitalists who had relied upon the powers of the Federal Government to enhance the profits of their investments by legislation, began to look forward to its eventual establishment as the settled policy of the country-they clearly perceived that an extension of the appropriations to objects not embraced in the specific grants of the Federal Constitution, was the necessary appendage of their system. They well knew that the people would not long submit to the levying of a large surplus revenue merely for the protection of manufactures, carried on almost exclusively in one quarter of the Union; and they therefore sought, in the extension of the appropriations to new objects, for a plausible and popular excuse for the continuance of a system of high duties. With that instinctive sagacity which belongs to men who convert the legislature of a country into an instrument for the promotion of their own private ends, they clearly saw that the distribution of an enormous surplus treasure would afford the surest means of bringing over the enemies of the American System to its

support, and of enlisting in their cause not only large masses of the people, but entire States who had no direct interest in maintaining the protecting system, or who were even in some respects its vicNo scheme that the wit of man could possibly have devised, was better calculated for the accomplishment of this object. It proposed simply to reconcile men to an unjust system of national policy, by admitting them to a large share of the spoils; in a word, to levy contributions by the aid of those who were to divide the plunder. If the United States had constituted one great nation, with a consolidated government, occupying a territory of limited extent, inhabited by a people engaged in similar pursuits, and having homogeneous interests, such a system would only have operated as a tax upon all the other great interests of the State, for the benefit of that which was favored by the laws; and when time had been allowed for the adjustment of society to this new condition of its affairs, the final result must have been an aggregate diminution of the profits of the whole community, by diverting a portion of the people from their accustomed employments to less profitable pursuits. In such a case, the hope might perhaps have been indulged that experience would demonstrate the egregious folly of enacting laws, the only effect of which would be to supply the wants of the community at an increased expense of labor and capital. But it is the distinguishing feature of the American System, and one which stamps upon it the character of peculiar and aggravated oppression, that it is made applicable to a CONFEDERACY of twenty-four Sovereign and Independent States; occupying a territory upwards of 2000 miles in extent; embracing every variety of soil, climate and productions; inhabited by a people whose institutions and interests are in many respects diametrically opposed to each other; with habits and pursuits infinitely diversified; and, in the great Southern section of the Union, rendered by local circumstances altogether incapable of change. Under such circumstances, a system which, under a consolidated government, would be merely impolitic, and so far an act of injustice to the whole community, becomes in this country a scheme of the most intolerable oppression, because it may be, and has in fact been, so adjusted as to operate exclusively to the benefit of a particular interest, and of particular sections of country, rendering in effect the industry of one portion of the confederacy tributary to the rest. The laws have accordingly been so framed as to give a direct pecuniary interest to a sectional majority, in maintaining a grand system, by which taxes are in effect imposed upon the few for the benefit of the many, and imposed too by a system of indirect taxation so artfully contrived as to escape the vigilance of the common eye, and masked under such ingenious devices as to make it extremely difficult to expose their true character. Thus under the pretext of imposing duties for the payment of the public debt, and providing for the common defence and general welfare, (powers expressly conferred on the Federal Government by the Constitution,) acts are passed, containing provisions designed exclusively and avowedly for the purpose of securing to the American manufacturers a monopoly in our own markets, to the

great and manifest prejudice of those who furnish the agricultural productions which are exchanged in foreign markets for the very articles which it is the avowed object of these laws to exclude. It so happens that six of the Southern States, whose industry is almost exclusively agricultural, though embracing a population equal to only one-third part of the whole Union, actually produce for exportation near $40,000,000 annually, being about two-thirds of the whole domestic exports of the United States. As it is their interest, so it is unquestionably their right, to carry these fruits of their own honest industry to the best market, without any molestation, hindrance or restraint whatsoever, and subject to no taxes or other charges but such as may be necessary for the payment of the reasonable expenses of the government. But how does this system operate upon our industry? While imposts to the amount of 10 or 12 per cent (if arranged on just and equal principles,) must be admitted to be fully adequate to all the legitimate purposes of government, duties are actually imposed (with a few inconsiderable exceptions) upon all the Woollens, Cottons, Iron and Manufactures of Iron, Sugar and Salt, and almost every other article received in exchange for the Cotton, Rice and Tobacco of the South, amounting on an average to about 50 per cent; whereby (in addition to the injurious effects of this system in prohibiting some articles, and discouraging the introduction of others,) a tax equal to one half of the first cost is imposed upon the Cottons, Woollens and Iron, which are the fruits of Southern industry, in order to secure an advantage in the home market to their rivals the American manufacturers of similar articles, equivalent to one-half of their value; thereby stimulating the industry of the North, and discouraging that of the South, by granting bounties to the one, and imposing taxes upon the other.

The Committee deem it unnecessary to go into an elaborate examination of the true character and sectional operation of the protecting system. The subject has of late been so frequently and thoroughly examined, and the bearing of the System been so completely exposed, that the argument is exhausted. To the people of the Southern States, there cannot be presented a more touching or irresistible appeal either to their understandings, or their hearts, than is found in the melancholy memorials of ruin and decay, which are every where visible around us, memorials proclaiming the fatal character of that system, which has brought upon one of the finest portions of the globe, in the full vigor of its early manhood, the poverty and desolation, which belong only to the most sterile regions, or to the old age and decrepitude of nations. The moral blight and pestilence of unwise and partial legislation, has swept over our fields, with "the besom of destruction." The proofs are every where around us.

It is in vain for any one to contend that this is a just and equal system, or that the Northern States pay a full proportion of the tax. If this were so, how is it to be accounted for, that high duties are regarded in that quarter of the Union, not as a burden, but as a blessing?

How comes it that a people, certainly not unmindful of their interests, are seen courting the imposition of taxes, and crying out against any material reduction of the public burdens? Does not this extraordinary fact afford conclusive evidence that high duties operate as a bounty to Northern industry; and that whatever taxes the manufacturers may pay, as consumers, they are more than remunerated by the advantages they enjoy as producers?—or, in other words, that they actually receive more than they pay, and therefore, cannot be justly said to be taxed at all-When in addition to all this, we take into consideration that the amount of duties annually levied for the protectiou of manufactures, beyond the necessary wants of the Government, (which cannot be estimated at less than 10 or 12,000,000) is expended almost exclusively in the Northern portion of the Union,-can it excite any surprise, that under the operation of the Protecting System, the manufacturing States should be constantly increasing in riches and growing in strength, with an inhospitable climate and barren soil, while the Southern States, the natural garden of America, should be rapidly falling into decay. It is contrary to the general order of Providence, that any country should long bear up against a system, by which enormous contributions, raised in one quarter, are systematically expended in another. If the sixteen millions of dollars now annually levied in duties on the foreign goods received in exchange for Southern productions, were allowed to remain in the pockets of the people, or by some just and equal system of appropriation could be restored to them, the condition of the plantation States would unquestionably be one of unexampled prosperity and happiSuch was our condition under a system of free trade, and such would soon again be our enviable lot. Of the results which would thereby be produced, some faint conception may be formed by imagining what would be the effect upon the industry of the people of our own State, if the $8,000,000 of foreign goods now annually received in exchange for our productions, and paying duties to the amount of upwards of $3,000,000, could be obtained by us duty free, or the duties thus levied, were expended within our own limits. Is it not obvious that several millions per annum would thereby be added to the available industry of S. Carolina? the effect of which would assuredly be, to change the entire face of affairs in this State, by enhancing the profits of the agriculturist, accumulating capital,-giving a fresh impulse to commerce, and producing a vivifying influence upon every department of industry, the happy consequences of which would be experienced by every inhabitant of the State. We present this strong view of the subject to shew the manifest justice of the claim which South Carolina now sets up to have this system of raising revenue by duties upon imports restricted within the narrowest limits, and to shew how utterly impossible it is for us to consent to have it extended beyond the indispensable wants of the government either for the purpose of affording protection to the industry of others, or of distributing the proceeds among individuals or States.

ness.

Grievous, however, as the oppression unquestionably is, and cal culated in the strong language of our own Legislature, "to reduce the Plantation States to POVERTY and UTTER DESOLATION," it is not in this aspect that the question is presented in its most danger ous and alarming form. It is not merely that Congress have re sorted for unwarrantable purposes to an oppressive exercise of powers granted to them by the Constitution; but that they have usurped a power not granted, and have justified that usurpation on principles, which, if sanctioned or submitted to, must entirely change the character of the Government, reduce the Constitution to a dead letter, and on the ruins of our confederated republic, erect a consolidated despotism, "without limitation of powers."If this be so, there is no man who is worthy of the precious heritage of liberty derived from our ancestors, or who values the free institutions of his country, who must not tremble for the cause of freedom, not only in this country, but throughout the world, unless the most prompt and efficient measures are at once adopted, to arrest the downward course of our political affairs, to stay the hand of oppression, to restore the Constitution to its original principles, and thereby to perpetuate the Union.

It cannot be denied that the Government of the U. States possesses no inherent powers. It was called into being by the States. The States not only created it, but conferred upon it all its powers, and prescribed its limits by a written charter called the Constitu tion of the U. States. Before the Federal Government had thus been called into being, the several States unquestionably possessed as full sovereignty, and were as independent of each other as the most powerful nations of the world; and in the free and undisputed exercise of that sovereignty, they entered into a solemn compact with each other, by which it was provided, that for certain specified objects, a General Government should be established with strictly limited powers; the several States retaining their sovereignty unimpaired, and continuing to exercise all powers not expressly granted to the Federal Government.

In the clear and emphatic language of Mr. Jefferson, "the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to the General Government, but by a compact under the style and title of the Constitution of the United States, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself the residuary mass of right to their own self-government, and whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force."* That such is the true nature of the federal compact, cannot admit of a reasonable doubt, and it follows of necessity, that the Federal Government is merely a joint agency, created by the States that it can exert no power not expressly granted by them, and that when it claims any power, it must be able to refer to the clause in the charter which confers it. This view of the Constitu