National Intelligencer. (Washington [D.C.]), Vol. 47, No. 6818, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 1846 Page: 2 of 4
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
aMCWkiifciefca
SPEECH OF Mr. JOHNSON, of Maryland.
[concluded. J
My friend from Maine, after two days of scathing scrutiny,
propounded certain questions to gentlemen on the other side ;
but no one on the other side would, it was said, debate the
bill but one honorable Senator. We adjourned ; and when
we met again that “one” was not ready. Then came the
Senator from Massachusetts, (Mr. Davis,) and he seemed to
me to have annihilated every vestige of the bill. He pressed
them again to discuss it, but the Senator from South Carolina
(Mr. McDuffie) appealed to the courtesy of his own side of
the Senate to give me leave to go on to-day. Then I was
forced to infer that it was not their purpose to debate it at all.
Is not this most extraordinary ? A bill which remodels the
whole financial system of the country, which strikes down the
prices of all American labor ; a bill which will carry dismay
to the hearts of thousands and hundreds of thousands of men
through all the Middle and the Northern States ; a bill which is
exciting the fearful apprehensions of tens of thousands of
those who agree in political sentiments with the majority here ;
such a bill to be suffered to pass without a word of explana-
tion or vindication i Are gentlemen dissatisfied with the de-
tails of the bill ? Do they apprehend that, if it shall be dis-
cussed, they may be forced to admit that it is so bad and im-
perfect that it should not pass > What else keeps them from
speaking ? It is not that they have objections to speaking in
this chamber. My friend over there from Arkansas (Mr. Se-
vier) I know has no backwardness in this particular. Are
we not to hear from him ? Why this extraordinary and un-
exampled silence ? There can be but one reason : the bill
cannot be vindicated.
[Mr. McDuffie. It vindicates itself.]
Yes, it vindicates itself, and in two ways. It establishes
two positions : it vindicates the principle on which it is found-
ed, and on its own face, I suppose ; it proves, also on its face,
how much money, to a dollar, will be raised under it. But I
think the honorable Senator is a little mistaken as to the prin-
ciple of the bill being so very clear. But there is a position
taken by the Government organ concerning the operation of
the bill which is still more startling than the bill itself; and
that is, that it is a matter of no consequence how much reve-
nue it will raise—whether one million, or fifteen millions,
thirty millions, or not a dollar—to any body in the world but
President Polk and his Cabinet. The paper of yesterday
holds this language :
“ The gist and burden of the whole attack upon the new tariff
bill hitherto is summed up in the general and sweeping asser-
tion that the Administration, in bringing forward this bill, is not
taking proper care of itself. The bill, it is said, in the first place,
if fairly administered, will leave a deficit in the revenue ; and,
in the second place, that it cannot be fairly administered ; and so
that deficit will be enlarged by frauds. Now, in reply to this,
we urge that these are matters in which the opposition may,
as we think, very properly leave the Administration to look
out for its own interests and take eare of itself. If the Govern-
ment measure is about to injure the country—to break up the
business of men and throw their affairs into confusion ; or if,
again, the .measure proposed by the Gavernment is in itself
oppressive or unjust or unequal; or if the country want a tariff
lor protection instead of a tariff for revenue, then it is very
proper for an opposition, speaking in behalf of the country, to
demonstrate such to be the case. But our opposition seems to
have a most parental and guardian anxiety lest the Administra^
tion, if left to itself, should hereafter find itself embarrassed
by the want of funds. Meaning no disrespect to any Whig
gentlemen, we think they might spare themselves this anxiety
till the Administration shall have proved itself incapable of
framing a measure to raise a suitable revenue, and shall apply
to them for their aid and counsel.
“ When the Chancellor of the Exchequer in England, or the
Minister of the Interior in France, brings forward his budget,
it is not usual for opposition members and deputies to get up
and say that the taxes proposed are too low, and that they will
leave a deficit in the revenue. On the contrary, the point
which the opposition in those cases feel bound mainly to press,
and the charge which it brings usually is, that the taxes are
too high, and that the people are unnecessarily burdened.
“ But with us the opposition sees fit to manage very differ-
ently. The Secretary of the Treasury, acting under the di-
rection of the Executive, frames a bill, which, according to his
estimate, will give to the Treasury a suitable revenue. The
chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means revise these
estimates, makes some alterations in the bill which he thinks
are demanded by the interests of the revenue, and reports the
measure to the House. It passes that body, and is then brought
up in the Senate, without further amendment, by the chairman
of the Committee on Finance. It really appears somewhat
strange that the opposition should, in this state of things, rally
upon the position that the bill does not tax the people heavily
enough, and that the Administration is not collecting mouey
enough to carry on the Government !
“ It is surely no answer to this to say that an issue of Treasury
notes is about to be authorized to meet the expenses of the war.
The new tariff looks to a permanent peace revenue. It should
manifestly, in its permanent provisions, look to nothing else.
And the creation of a sufficient amount of such revenue is sure-
ly a matter in which the Administration is abundantly interest-
ed to take care of itself. It is odd that the opposition should
be found crying out for heavier taxes on the people, in order
that the Administration may have more money to spend than
itself sees fit to raise.
“ The charge that the revenue will be defrauded under the
new bill is of the same character. The first effect of such
fraud will be to embarrass the Administration. It is a matter
for the Administration to look to. and to s'uard against. The
Secretary of the Treasury will spare no pains to obtain in eve-
ry port the most competent and honest assessors. It is, to say
the least, superfluous and gratuitous kindness on the part of the
opposition to argue at great length against the Government
revenue measure, that it will cheat the Government out of re-
venue. Have the Treasury Department and the Committees
of Ways and Means and Finance shown themselves so incom-
petent to do their own business that they should thus summai’i-
ly be put under guardianship ?”
Whether then the bill will lead to frauds or not, makes no
difference to any body but Mr. Polk and his Secretary, Mr.
Walker ; they possibly may be somewhat embarrassed should
the system work badly, but nobody else has any thing to do,
or say, or care in the matter. If these gentlemen mean and
ate able to make good to the Treasury all the losses it may
sustain by fraud, then I can understand why perhaps they
alone have reason to concern themselves with the operation of
the bill. But if it is the nation who must make up the losses
and endure all the consequences, the ruinous consequences,
of a want of revenue, then it would seem to be the duty of
Congress to inquire what will be the adequate amount of re-
venue. Who says that it will ? Who has asserted that it
will ? Nobody but the chairman of the Committee on Finance.
He said so, though rather doubtingly, and with several impor-
tant admissions of mistake.
But to proceed. Mr. President, let me ask the attention
of the Senate to the new theory broached by the President and
his fiscal officers that Congress has the power of protection
only up to the point of a “revenue standard.” A revenue
standard ; what is a revenue standard ? I do not like to attempt
its definition, and perhaps the only way to get at one will be
to use the very words of the distinguished Secietary of the
Treasury. He says:
“The whole power to collect taxes, whether direct or in-
direct, is conferred by the same clause of the constitution. The
words are, ‘the Congress shall have power to lay and collect
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.’ A direct tax or excise,
not for revenue bpt for protection, clearly would not be within
the legitimate object of taxation ; and yet it would be as much
so as a duty imposed for a similar purpose. The power is ‘ to
lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.’ A duty
must be laid only that it may be collected; and if it is so im-
posed that it cannot be collected, in whole or in part, it violates
the declared object of the granted power. To lay all duties so
high that none of them could be collected, would be a prohibi-
tory tariff. To lay a duty on anyone article so high that it
could not collected, would be a prohibitory tariff upon that arti-
cle. If a duty of one hundred per cent, were imposed upon all
or upon a number of articles, so as to diminish the revenue up-
on all or any of them, it would operate as a partial prohibition.
A partial and a total prohibition are alike in violation of the
true object of the taxing power. They only differ in degree
and not in principle. If the revenue limit may be exceeded
one per cent., it may be exceeded one hundred. If it may be
exceeded upon any one article, it may be exceeded on all; and
there is no escape from this conclusion, but in contending that
Congress may lay duties on all articles so high as to collect no
revenue and operate as a total prohibition.”
The President is a little more explicit. He tells us :
“The attention of Congress is invited to the importance of
making suitable modifications and reductions of the rates of
duty imposed by our present tariff laws. The object of impos-
ing duties on imports should be to raise revenue to pay the ne-
cessary expenses of Government. Congress may, undoubted-
ly, in the exercise of a sound discretion, discriminate in arrang-
ing the rates of duty on different articles ; but the discrimina-
tions should be -within the revenue standard, and be made with
the view to raise money for the support of Government.
“ It becomes important to understand distinctly what i s meant
by a revenue standard, the maximum of which should not be
exceeded in the rates of duty imposed. It is conceded, and ex
perience proves, that duties may be laid so high as to diminish
or prohibit altogether the importation of any given article, and
thereby lessen or destroy the revenue which, at low rates, would
be derived from its importation. Such duties exceed the re-
venue rates, and are not imposed to raise money for the sup-
port of Government. If Congress levy a duty for revenue of
one per cent, on a given article, it will produce a given amount
of money to the treasury, and will incidentally and necessarily
afford protection or advantage to the amount of one per cent,
to the home manufacturer of a similar or like article over the
importer. If the duty be raised to ten per cent, it will pro-
duce a greater amount of money and afford greater protection.
It it be still raised to twenty, twenty-five, or thirty per cent., and
if, as it is raised, the revenue derived from it is found to be in-
creased, the protection or advantage will also be increased ; but
if it be raised to thirty-one per ceut., and it is found that the
revenue produced at that rate is less than at thirty per cent, it
ceases to be a revenue duty. The precise point in the ascend-
ing scale of duties at which it is ascertained from experience
that the revenue is greatest, is the maximum rate of duty
which can be laid for the bona fide purpose of collecting money
,for the support of Government. To raise the duties higher
flhsn that point and thereby diminish the amount collected, i
to levy them for protection merely and not for revenue. K
long, then, as Congress may gradually increase the rate of duty
on a given article, and the revenue is increased by such increase
of duty, they are within the revenue standard. When they go
beyond that point, and as they increase the duties, the revenue
is diminished or destroyed, the act ceases to have for its ob-
ject the raising of money to support Government, but is for pro-
jection merely.”
See how this doctrine breaks down the whole domestic in-
dustry of the country. The President says he has always been
in favor of incidental protection, and he understands that to be
the protection which a tax imposed exclusively for revenue
gives to the manufacturer. Now what is that tax ? It is,
they tell us, a tax to be limited to the wants of the Govern-
ment, and you are to look and see how much tax any particu-
lar article will bear, so as to yield the largest practicable
amount of revenue. That is the principle. Well, if it is a
sound principle, if it is the only constitutional principle, it will
be as sound and constitutional ten years hence as it is now.
It is a principle which is always to limit the fiscal legislation
of Congress. Now let us look at its piactical operation upon
the domestic industry of the country. It seems to me that
its inevitable effect must be to strike it all down. In illustra-
tion of this, take any taxable article, coarse cottons, for exam-
ple. I will assume that we have now no tax on coarse cot-
tons, that they are free from duty, and that there is no competition
here of a home fabric, how are we to proceed that we may
raise the largest practicable amount of revenue on its importa-
tion ? What is to be ascertained ? First—what is the amount
of their consumption in the United States. When we have
ascertained this, then how much tax they will bear without
diminishing the present consumption. These being found,
we lay our tax, say thirty per cent, ad valorem. The people
of New England, famous as we all admit them to be for in-
dustry, enterprise, and shrewdness, take it into their heads
that they could make the same article with the protection in
the home market which a tax of thirty per cent, on foreign ar-
ticles would give them ; accordingly they proceed to establish
their factories ; they produce an article as good, if not better
than the imported, and they make a heavy profit, perhaps
more than the ordinary average profit of business men around
them; meanwhile, the population of the country increases,
the quantity of cottons consumed increases with it, and the
annexation of Texas increases the demand still further. As
demand increases, factories are multiplied, until they have
gone on and invested a hundred millions of dollars in these es-
tablishments ; thousands and tens of thousands of operatives
find good wages and constant employment; the consumption
of the country is supplied to the whole extent that these facto-
ries can make ; and the domestic article vies with the foreign,
and is fast getting ahead of it. What happens ? the Gov-
ernment gets into a situation in which it needs more money ;
and what does the President say ? I want a hundred millions
of dollars, and we cannot raise it without making as much
out of foreign cottons imported as we can possibly get. Ex-
perience shows that, under the tax of thirty per cent., foreign-
ers do not supply our market, that it discourages the importa-
tion ; we must diminish our tax, we must tax foreign cottons
to the revenue standard only ; and what is that ? Why, the
Secretary says, it is the lowest tax that will raise the greatest
revenue ; thirty per cent, is too high, it keeps out the foreign
article ; as long as we keep on that tax, American factories
will continue to rise. Millions of dollars are invested ; thou-
sands of families have dedicated themselves and capital to that
branch of business, and they are contented and happy, and
they are supplying the demand. This will never do, says the
President and his Secretary ; we must bring in more foreign
goods, we must reduce the tax so low that the foreign manu-
facturer can supply the whole demand. No sooner said than
done ; down goes the tax, and what is the result ? Down go
the factories, down goes the price of labor ; down falls the la-
borer and his dependants upon his labor ; down goes the agri-
culture of those who supply their various wants ; and down
go the wealth and prosperity of the nation. And why all
this ? Why, forsooth, because the only constitutional mode
of laying taxes is to make the tax the very lowest which will
bring the highest amount of revenue.
Now let us take another example. Let us take iron. Un-
der the tariff of ’42 the iron manufactures of the United States
have grown up into a flourishing condition, accumulating for
their proprietors wealth, and spreading around them extensive
benefits to the country in all directions. Millions have been
invested on the faith of the tacit pledge that the system of pro-
tection was to continue. The tariff on this article was laid,
1 will assume, to produce revenue, but the enterprise and skill
of our people, availing itself of the protection thus afforded,
make a better and a cheaper article than that imported, and
an article which, in consequence of its low price and good
quality, is driving out the foreign article from the American
market. Well, what does the President say ? He wants a
larger amount of revenue from iron. And how is he to get
it ? Congress, lie says, has no constitutional power to pro-
tect it directly by a duty, or even designedly to afford it inci-
dental protection. It can lay a duty for the single purpose of
raising money, and in exerting that power Congress is only to
inquire what money the Government wants, and how the
amount can best be raised. The only question, therefore, that
they can legitimately look at is this : What amount of tax
will increase importation to such an extent that we shall get
the amount of revenue we want ? The duty must not prevent
importation in the slightest degree; for the Secretary’s doctrine
is, that a duty is equally unconstitutional whether it prevents
importation in whole or in part, because either way it is con-
trary to the revenue standard. Well, the Secretary exerts his
arithmetic and figures it out. He finds that a tax on iron of
fifty per cent, brings him in but three millions of revenue.
He needs six millions. Ho mn’t aot n k,. ~ to,- of c<v r—
cent, because that tax keeps foreign iron out of the American
market, and just so far as it does this the tax is unconstitu-
tional. What, then, is he to do ? Why he will try a tax of
forty per cent. If he finds that that brings him the revenue
required he lets it stand at forty, but if that still leaves a part
of the market to American competition, and prevents to that
extent importation, he lowers his duty to twenty per cent,
and so downwards till he finds the point where he gets the
largest revenue, and that is when the foreigner is able to sup
ply the whole American market. Then the Secretary cries
Eureka ! I have got it! I have found the revenue standard.
But what becomes of the American manufacture ? It is
prostrated, destroyed. This is the new Executive doctrine,
and this is its consequence. The President and Secretary op-
pose a duty which has been laid by every wise Government in
the world to protect the industry of its own citizens. Isolat-
ing himself, like Tiberius in his islands, the Secretary’s sole
inquiry is, How much money will the law bring me ? If it
supplies me with revenue, I care not what falls or what stands ;
what American interest prospers or is annihilated ; what Ame-
rican labor flourishes or is destroyed. The same illustration
might be applied with. proportional force to all the articles of
consumption or use which we can make and which are pro-
tected by the existing tariff.
It behooves us, Mr. President, to look at the thing practi
cally. When we are asked to pass a new law, the first ques-
tion with every wise legislator is, How will it operate ? Now
the favorite theory of the Government is that every man knows
his own business best; that self-interest is the most effectual
application of all others to sharpen men’s wits ; that, whatever
men may think, or how they may differ on general subjects,
each man knows what hurts himself. Admit the general
truth of the principle, and now what do we see ? Memorials
coming up from the people from day to day imploring Congress
to pass no bill which shall operate to destroy our own indus-
try. Genlemen make no answer. They say it is a misap
prehension ; that the people suppose that protection enriches
them, but that that is all a mistake ; for, on the contrary,
really injures them. But I turn gentlemen’s doctrine upon
themselves, and ask, do not the people know their own busi-
ness better than political theorists ? This bill deals with la-
bor ; with the labor that is employed on iron. It deals with
those whom their professed friends are continually talking
about as the “ honest democracy.” It comes among these
men like a pestilence, bringing famine in its train. It carries
ruin to the furnace, to the coal-field, to the machine shop,
the cotton factory, to the tailor, the shoemaker, the hatter,
all forms and varieties of human industry. Gentlemen say
that it will injure none but the capitalist. Indeed If you
prostrate the capitalist do you not, in the same blow, strike
down all who are dependant on him for employment ■? The
blow touches the capitalist first, but it expends its desolating
and destructive force on the laborers of the country. It strikes
at wages. If it lets him live at all, it degrades him to the
level of the serf labor of England, or the still lower labor of
some other parts of the world. It reduces free industrious
American citizens to one meal a day, to abject poverty; and
when a man is brought to the lowest poverty; when the com-
fort of home is lost; when his happy Sabbaths are gone ; when
his half-clothed children enter the Sunday school no more,
how long will it be before degradation will be followed by vice ?
If it were the mere destruction of property, the havoc would
then be great and fearful, but it might be borne. But it does
not stop there. It degrades men, and by degrading it demor-
alizes them; and to demoralize republican citizens is to write
the nation’s doom. The very life-blood of a free government
lies in the independence and virtue of its people.
I have before me a modern volume of high authority which
details the wretched and starving condition of poor laborers in
other countries. There is no time to read it here ; but let any
gentleman cast his eye on the descriptions it contains of the
squalid poverty and abject degradation of those foreigners who
labor each day for the food of that day, and scarce get enough
to sustain life. A re laborers like these fit constituents of hon-
orable gentlemen ? Have these men the requisite intelligence
to elect a Chief Magistrate ol this great and powerful Repub-
lic ? Are they fit to sustain and carry forward our system of
republican institutions ? Are they the men to whom we may
safely look to secure the blessings of freedom to us and to our
children ? On the contrary, does it not necessarily follow
that, If your legislation reduces the laborers of this country to
such a level, you thereby sap the only foundation on which
the liberties of this land can rest ?
Look at Pennsylvania, hi jjaat great and powerful State
every department of human industry is filled up, is occupied
to the full, with the exception of manufactures. Agriculture
is striving to make for itself a market. The profits of the far-
mers are moderate. Where will be the constituency of the
Senator from Pennsylvania if this bill shall pass ? I have be-
fore me statistical tables showing the number of hands who
are engaged in the various manufacturing establishments of
the State. This bill goes directly to injure every man of them ;
while it destroys the wealth of the capitalists invested in these
establishments, it impoverishes and destroys the laborers by
thousands. We talk of war, and talk truly of the havoc it
makes of human life, and the desolation and misery which it
brings into the bosom of families ; but I say, with all sinceri-
ty, that the troubles growing out of our presort war are as
nothing, when compared with the individual and national
losses and distresses which must inevitably follow the passage
of this bill. It is an easy thing for gentlemen holding seats
in the halls-of Congress, and who are in possesaon of all the
comforts and luxuries of life, who are going from this city,
the farmer to his farm, the merchant to his busisiess, the law-
yer to his occupation—it is easy for such to talk with great
calmness about theories of policy and doctrines of political
economy. We have enough. No squalid poverty invades
our homes ; no cry of want is heard in our dwellings ; they
are full of happiness. But let us reflect, I implore you let us
reflect on the condition of the laboring population, who are to
be affected by what we do. Let us ask ourselves what is to
become of the eight hundred thousand citizens immediately
engaged in the various branches of manufactures, and those
four or five millions of others who are dependant upon their
labor. They come here to the doors of the Senate, and en-
treat you to save them from the destructive effects of a mea-
sure whose effects they well understand ; a measure resting on
theory alone, uncalled for and unnecessary, and fraught only
with mischief. Remember that these laborers, many of whom
are now your petitioners, with their families, equal in number
the whole population of this country at the time our inde-
pendence was declared. Why shall we, without necessity,
and against necessity, perpetrate an act which must annihilate
that national industry to which they owe all their comforts,
their happiness, their very existence itself ?
And what is all this ruin to be caused for ? It is because,
as is alleged, the tax which encourages our own labor obliges
some of our citizens to give more for commodities which they
do not make, the tax being always added to the price of the
commodity, and falling upon the consumer.
Such is the plea. In the first place it is not true. The tax
neither falls wholly on the consumer, nor wholly on the pro-
ducer. The cotton planter tells you that the tax you levy on
fabrics made out of his cotton, when worked up, is equal to a
tax on his cotton—is equivalent to an export tax. Well, if it
is an export tax, then certainly it does not fall on the consu-
mer. It can’t fall on the consumer and the producer both.
Let me illustrate : England imposes a tax on tobacco of four
or five hundred per cent. Who pays that tax ? Does the
grower of the tobacco pay it, or does the consumer pay it ?
They can’t both pay the tax. If every man who uses tobac-
co in England is forced to pay four or five hundred per cent,
on the price of the article, because of the impost, then clearly
the tax does not fall upon the grower ; and if, on the other hand,
the grower gets his tobacco into England at a price less than
the amount of the impost, it is equally clear that the consumer
does not pay it. But the truth is that neither of them, ex-
clusively, pays it. Its amount is at first shared between the
producer and consumer, and, in the end, as far as the price is
concerned, competition brings it down to what it would have
been without the tax.
And now let me call the attention of the Senate to what the
Secretary of the Treasury says that we do with the cotton we
send abroad, and what with the cotton we sell at home, and
then let us see why he prefers sending it abroad to having it
manufactured at home. I quote from his report:
At present prices our cotton crop will yield an annual pro
duct of $72,000,000, and the manufactured fabric $504,000,000*
FURNISHING PROFITS ABROAD TO THOUSANDS OF CAPITALISTS*
AND WAGES TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THE WORKING
classes ; all of whom would be deeply injured by any distui
bance growing out of a state ot war, to the direct and adequate
supply of the raw material. ”
Who gets the benefit ? We send abroad the raw material
worth 72,000,000, and, by the process of manufacturing, its
value is enhanced, says the Secretary, to 504,000,000.
that is done in England somebody in England gets the benefit
of the operation ; but, if it were all done here, then somebody
here would get the benefit. Now who is it that the Secreta-
ry wants to get this difference in value ? Hear what he says ;
I give you his own words :
At present prices our cotton crop will yield an annual pro-
duct of $72,000,000, and the manufactured fabric $504,000,000,
furnishing profits abroad to thousands of capitalists, and-wages
to hundreds of thousands of the -working classes.”
Now you have, the country will see, what it is the Secre-
tary wants to do. He wants that these profits shall be shared
by the thousands abroad. That is the new theory, that is the
revenue standard, that is democratic in his view of the matter.
Could there be a more clear, obvious, anti-American policy
We in the United States raise a crop of cotton worth 72,000,000,
capable of being made worth 504,000,000. How is it to be
made 504,000,000 ? By the process of being manufactured.
And how is that to be done ? The first thing is to vest capi-
tal in the requisite buildings and machinery ; the next to em-
ploy laborers. Here, then, is the employment of foreign capi
tal and foreign labor, and the fruit is to increase 72,000,000
to 504,000,000 ; an excess of 432,000,000. Who gets it ?
The American laborer ? the American capitalist ? No, no
according to Mr. Walker’s own statement, that profit is fur-
nished, and should be furnished, to “thousands abroad.”
Is that democratic ? Yes, that is democratic ; that is the
essence of democratic wisdom ; that is the quintessence of po
litical economy ; that is the benefit we are to derive from pro-
gressive democracy—that progressive democracy which goes
beyond the United States, not confining itself to the limits of
our own country. [A laugh.]
Mr. President, I do not see how it is possible there can be
two opinions as to the anti-national spirit and influence of such
a system as this. We are Americans : we have capital here
we have laborers here. This American capital and American
labor could just as well convert those seventy-two millions in-
to five hundred and four millions as English capital and Eng
lish labor. Whoever does this enjoys the whole benefit o
the difference. Let that seventy-two millions go abroad, and
hundreds of thousands of foreign laborers are supported by
those seventy-two millions of American cotton. The Secre-
tary’s philanthropic spirit is so enlarged and sublima ed that it
takes in the whole world and quite forgets home.
[Here Mr. McDuffie said something, not heard by the
Reporter, about Southern industry not being involved in the
value of cotton.]
Mr. Johnson. I presume, if you raise cotton at the South,
that somebody must labor. The cotton, I take it for granted,
does not hoe itself, nor pick itself, nor go to market by itself.
I say again that the spirit of this comprehensive philanthro-
py, which seems to rejoice so much in the profit that British
capitalists and their army of British laborers are to make out
of a crop of American cotton, is, after all, restricted in its en-
ergies to men beyond the Atlantic, and seems to feel no reluc-
tance or remorse at inflicting utter ruin on American capital-
ists and American laborers. Now I submit, Mr. President,
that an American Secretary of the Treasury would act some-
what more in character if he turned his benevolent gaze a little
more on his own fellow citizens, and would bethink him some-
what how he might multiply the comforts and secure the pros-
perity of the hundreds and thousands of American laborers
from whom his scheme will take their daily bread.
But let us follow the Secretary a step further. His plan is
to give to foreign labor the undisputed possession of the Amer-
ican market. To this end, he lays a duty on foreign com-
modities the lowest that he possibly can consistent with rev-
enue. What becomes of that duty ? Does it not go into
the English Treasury ? Does it not contribute to support the
British Government; to add to its revenue ; to increase its
strength; to support its aristocracy; to give splendor to its
throne, and make England one of the foremost nations of the
world ? The whole tendency of the Secretary’s scheme is to
add to the wealth of English capitalists and to increase the
prosperity of English industry. Now, sir, if the tax is to be
paid either by the producer or the consumer, (I speak of the
whole extent of the tax,) I think, if we are to buy British
goods, increased in price by the whole amount of the tax, it would
be better policy for us to save that tax for our own Government,
and have itgo into our own Treasury, rather-than the Treasury
of Great Britain. In my poor apprehension, sir, it would be
infinitely better to pursue a policy which would enure to our
own strength, our own honor, our own credit, our own prospe-
rity, our own wealth, and our own industry, rather than one
which makes us tributary to those who have no common in-
terest and no common feeling with ourselves, at all times our
rivals and competitors, and who may, at any time, be thrown
into open conflict and hostility with us. The Secretary says :
“ If our manufacturers consume four hundred thousand bales,
it would cost them twelve million dollars, whilst selling
the manufactured fabric for eighty-four million dollars.”
If we sell them twelve millions of our cotton, and they
work it up into the value of eighty-four millions, as here al-
leged it is in part, as is said, because we impose a duty which
is added to the price. Does not the Secretary see that, if I
buy an English fabric, and his own theory be right, I am not
only paying our own tax, but the tax also which the British
Government may have imposed on the fabric. He says that
the tax goes into the price. Shall we not, then, rather pay
the tax to our own Government than to a foreign Government,
which may be as far apart from ours in its doctrines as the
poles are wide asunder ?
False as this scheme is in principle, it is still worse in prac-
tice. While it raises the price of every commodity which is
produced by foreign labor, it at the same time depresses and
demoralizes the laborers of our own country. Notwithstand-
ing all the fancied new lights of modern times, it is still ad-
mitted, I believe, as a maxim of political economy, of uni-
versal truth, that every nation should, if it can, provide its
own food, its own clothing, its own habitations, and its own
defence. Wars will continue to occur so long as men con-
tinue to be what they are now, and until, by some happy and
superior influence, their present natures shall be changed.
And are we to be told that the twenty millions which now
constitute the people of the United States, and destined to in-
crease (unless mistaken legislation shall strike down their
prosperity) in a greater ratio than any people ever multiplied
before, and living under a Government which secures their
rights better than any form of Government that ever existed,
mu$t abandon the policy under which they have thus become
great, and put to hazard their ability to feed, to clothe, to shel-
ter themselves, and to vindicate their rights on the sea and on
the land ? It is a great mistake to suppose that this is a ques-
tion which deals with the manufacturers only. Amongst the
very first acts imposing duties under this Government was the
one passed on the Charleston memorial. Our navigation laws
protect, by heavy discriminating duties, the manufacture of
American shipping; but does one man, or one class of men,
make a ship ? Reflect on the various materials which are com-
bined in that wonderful production of human ingenuity, in-
dustry, and skill. One set of men cut down and shape the
timber; a different set of men prepare the cable and the cord-
age ; another elaborate the iron work ; another weave the
canvass ; another make the sails ; and yet another roll out the
copper by which she is protected from the waves. Are these
all capitalists ? Are these overgrown aristocrats ? Are these
purse-proud manufacturers ? Are these lords of the loom, or
are they laborers, whose prosperity grows out of their labor,
and whose labor, with all the prosperity and happiness which
that labor creates, is protected and encouraged by the existing
laws ? Do gentlemen forget the hundreds and the thousands
who find employment in the construction and the navigation
of our commercial marine ?
The Secretary’s theory says it is unconstitutional for Con-
gress to lay any duty whatever, the direct purpose of which
is to protect American industry in preference to foreign, and
he holds it to be a right, and the only sound policy, that all
shall be allowed to buy where they can buy cheapest. Now,
I ask gentlemen are they prepared to repeal the navigation
laws ? Let them answer ay or no. I presume no man
could answer in the affirmative ; but why not ? You say it
is the right of the American citizen to buy in the market where
he can buy cheapest. This is the cardinal rule which is to
shape and govern all our policy in relation to trade and manu-
factures. This is proclaimed as the Democratic principle. Now,
you all know full well that you can get ships to transport your
cotton to Liverpool cheaper a great deal than you are forced to
pay for employing American vessels. Why not, then, em-
ploy foreign ? Why keep up your navigation laws, and main-
tain an odious monopoly in favor of American ship build-
ing ? The Southern planter wants to send out his cotton as
cheap as he can ; his object is to get as much money for it as
he can ; but your system of discriminating duties compels him
employ an American ship and to pay a higher freight.
This must be all wrong, if the President and Secretary are
right. Our navigation acts are most wicked law's, a disgrace
to the statute book, and never should have been passed. The
South did not always think so. Look at the memorial I re-
ferred to, addressed by the city of Charleston to the first Con-
gress. At the time of that memorial there was no Govern-
ment which had pow'er to extend protection to our own navi-
gation. We had no discriminating duty, and the consequence
was that we were driven from the sea. On all the broad ex-
panse of the ocean the stars and stripes were rarely seen ;
the fruits of American agriculture went abroad under the pro-
tection of foreign flags. But how is it now ? Why is it that
our star-spangled banner is seen, and known, and respected
in every sea ? What remote part of the ocean is not visited
by our gallant seamen ? How comes it that our ships of war,
and our fine commercial marine, are enabled to traverse the
pathless ocean, and to bid defiance to the world ? How hap-
pened it that, in the war of 1812, the heart of this nation beat
fast and high with patriotic delight w'hen it beheld American
skill arul bravery proving themselves a match for the then mis-
of the seas. We owe this, we
tural rate of duty”—a natural rate of duties for all revenue
bills every where, in all nations, and at all times ; a kind ot
physical law—a law established for us by our Creator, appli-
cable to all commodities, under all circumstances, and all
times! Perhaps this is what he means, and that twenty per
cent, is the gauge which Providence and Nature have ordained.
At all events, he says that experience has shown that this is
the exact rate which yields the greatest amount of revenue. It
is plain that the chairman of the Committee on Finance does
not think so ; for he has gone above it and below it, and his
object is only revenue. He, it seems, has ascertained that,
by laying more than twenty per cent, or less than twenty per
cent., he can get more revenue than by conforming himself
to that sacred, mystical number, twenty per cent. I have tried
in vain to find out what the Secretary intends. I do not un-
derstand him, and I never expect to understand him.
But I find myself forced to bring these remarks to a conclu-
sion without saying much that I had designed and wished to
say. And I add only a word or two more.
Mr. President, if I know myself, and I hope I may be par-
doned for the remark, I would not for the accomplishment of
mere party purposes address any thing to the Senate of the
United States which I did not most sincerely ; and such, I am
persuaded, is the sentiment of every member of this body.
There are higher duties to be discharged here than those connec-
ted with mere honest attachment to party, and Senators on the
other side, I am sure, share with me in that conviction. We
differ only in the mode of serving our common country. We
think upon this side of the chamber that the bill upon the ta-
ble is destructive of the best interests of the country, as re-
gards both the wealth and the laborers engaged in our domes-
tic industry. Senators on the opposite side think differently ;
or otherwise it is impossible they would pass this bill. Now,
the remark I wish to make is this : that it I could not and
did not look beyond party, I should greatly rejoice in the pas-
sage of this bill. I venture to say, though not in the habit of
making predictions, that if this bill passes the days of Democra-
tic progress, forward, upward, every way but downward, are
at an end. But, hoping as I do that there is an equally solici-
tous desire on the part of our opponents to promote the in-
terests of our common country, to secure the rights in which
we all share, to maintain unsullied the honor in which we all
participate, it is necessary that they and we should be satis-
fied, either that our view is right, or that theirs is right.
So far, however, we have not been favored, except as to the
mere fiscal operation of the bill, with any exposition of the
views of our friends on the other side. We are forced, there-
fore, to act with the aid only of such lights as our own expo,
rience and judgment afford.
These conduct us to the conclusion that, if this bill shall
become a law, it will ruin not only the hundreds of thousands
engaged in the labor of the land, but the value of the land
itself; that it will bring ruin to the manufacturer; ruin to the
agriculturist ; ruin to the planter; ruin to public credit; ruin
to the peace, comfort, and virtues of the people. We believe
that it will prostrate nine-tenths of the laborers of the land ;
that it will destroy those who assist us in paying taxes, in
building school -houses, in erecting churches, and in sustaining
GEORGETOWN COLLEGE, U. C.
npHE Classical Exercises of this College will be resumed,
JL as usual, on the 15th of this month The terms are as
follows :
Board and tuition, washing and mending linen and
stockings, and doctor’s fees, per annum......$200
For half-boarders............................ 125
For day-scholars............................. 50
Graduation fees.............................. 5
All charges must be paid half-yearly in advance. No de-
duction will be made for a quarter commenced.
sept 3—eo2w THOS. F. MULLEDY, President.
THE GERMAN BA\ !).
jj ENGAGEMENTS for the above Band (which has been
3 'j organized since 1841) can be made at J. H. Eberbach’s
Columbian House, at Henry Kuhl’s Confectionery, Pennsyl-
vania avenue, between 12th and 13th streets, and with William
Bergmann, (leader,) on C street,next to the Bank of Wash-
ington.
None other than the above named persons are authorized to
make engagements for the original German Band.
N. B. Cotillon as well as military music furnished on appli-
cation as above. sept 3—eo3t
r jrillE UNIVERSITY ARITHMETIC, embracing the
JL Science of Numbers, and their numerous applications.
By Charles Davis, LL.D.
33” This Arithmetic is designed for the use of schools and
academies, and contains all that is usually taught in a course of
academical instruction. The University Arithmetic is intend-
ed to answer another object : in it the entire subject is treated
as a science. The scholar is supposed to be familiar with the
operations in the four ground rules which are now taught to
small children either orally or from elementary treatises. This
being preijMjffithe language of figures, which are the repre-
senlatives!g||^“''' ' c " ' ’
significations!
tress of the seas. We owe this, we owe all of it to our navi-
gation laws, and to the principle of direct and exclusive pro-
tection which they gave and intended to give to American
capital and American labor.
Has this operated injuriously at the South ? or have they
not participated largely and joyously in all the national glory
which thus came to be inscribed upon our naval annals ? No
hearts beat higher than Southern hearts at the news of our
naval victories. The men of the South in those days did not
stop and calculate how much cent per cent, these victories had
cost them. These are calculations of modern times. A
change has come over the spirit of their dream. Now the
the principle of protection is all wrong—all this has been done
by the taxing power—it is all the result of exclusive protec-
tion to American manufactures, and the South has, it now
fancies, most of the tax to pay, because it has the most pro-
duce to send abroad. Why not, then, repeal these naviga-
tion laws ? How comes it that Mr. Polk and Mr. Walker
have sent us no recommendation to repeal them, or to reduce
them to a revenue standard ? How is it that those discri-
minating duties were laid, and laid avowedly for protection ?
The constitution says nothing about navigation laws any more
than about a protective tariff. Why, then, are not the one as un-
constitutional as the other? The navigation laws have been pass-
ed under the constitutional power to regulate commerce. In the
execution of that power you have improved your navigation,
and the Supreme Court has declared that the power to regulate
commerce includes the power to regulate the vehicle of com-
merce,and notonly so, but commerce itself. But if your doctrine
is right, then I say again, you must, to be consistent, repeal the
navigation laws. They operate, according to your theory,
most oppressively ; they keep out British and other foreign
ship builders. They have no regard to the revenue standard,
and they forbid us to buy where we can buy cheapest. Let
us, then, at once subject them to the reuenue standard. And
what is that ? Mr. Walker says a duty of one per cent., if
that will yield the most revenue. And how are we to find out
whether it will or not ? Why, just by lowering the discrimi-
nating duty, and trying whether all the shipping of the world
cannot be encouraged to come into the ports of the United
States. When this great national object, is attained, Mr.
PresiilG.nL wkaim-tUo A.iKAdicaTi incci'rrie; ? wlicre tli6 Amen-
can ship builder ? where the American seaman ? where the
means of gladdening the American heart on the ocean by the
sight of the American flag ? Gone, sir, gone forever ; gone
by this newly invented and falsely denominated American doc-
trine. Destroy the navigation laws and your days of naval
glory are ended.
How did you get your present immense coasting trade ? By
the exercise of the same protective power—the power to regu-
late commerce by taxing foreign shipping in favor of American
shipping; you got it by making that protection exclusive and
absolute. Yet, according to the new theory, who is it that
suffers under this process ? My constituents, your constitu-
ents. According to the Secretary’s philosophy, you have
made them pay the whole tax laid for the protection of Ame-
rican shipping. Suppose it were now proposed to us to open
the whole coasting trade to the vessels ot every nation, who
would go for the measure ? None, not one. But why not ?
To lay taxes for protection is said to be an unconstitutional
exercise of a power given to raise revenue. Every cent of tax
which diminishes revenue is said to be unconstitutional. All
taxes laid to protect the things taxed, by keeping out the foreign
article, are unconstitutional. We must not then prohibit fo-
reign vessels from engaging in our coasting trade. Nor may
we, as we now do, by giving privileges to American shipping,
almost prohibit foreign vessels from carrying our products
abroad. Oh no ! All these things are unconstitutional. Are
gentlemen willing to deprive of their present protection all the
men employed in ship-building ? Will they withhold the pro-
tection of Government, which these laws give, from the va-
rious and useful mechanic arts employed in this great branch
of American manufactures ? No, they will not do that. Why,
then, are not the artisans of Pennsylvania entitled to the same
regard ?
The only answer to this question must he, “ It is not so pro-
vided in the resolutions of the Baltimore Convention.”
I have tables before me showing the value of and number
of hands employed in the iron and coal trade of Maryland, in
the building and manufacture of shipping, cordage, &c. ; the
whole value of the iron and coal trade of Pennsylvania, toge-
ther with the number of vessels engaged in conveying these
products to market, the number of persons employed in that
transportation, and the still larger number of those dependant
upon their industry. All these will be prostrated and ruined
if this bill shall pass. But I will not detain the Senate with
these statistics.
Nor shall I say any thing on the second head of the plan I
proposed ; and as I have occupied so much of the Senate’s
time, I will content myself with adding a word or two upon
the third and last branch of the subject.
Mr. President: I want to shonr to the Senate and the coun-
try what will be our fiscal wants.
I have said, sir, that, « hether we assumed as true the calcu-
lations of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the Committee of
Finance, or the honorable chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means in the other House, the revenue to arise
from the bill now proposed will fall far short of meeting the
wants of the Treasury.
Mr. President, we have already appropriated $20,175,891.
The hills in the other House proposed, but not yet acted upon,
amount to $46,590,777—that is to say, the amount actually
appropriated and the amount proposed to be appropriated make
the sum of $66,766,668. [Mr. J. here gave the items.]
From these items, it is evident that we will and must ap-
propriate at least $33,878,298 more. This, added to
$20,175,891, the sum already appropriated, amounts to, ap-
propriations certain at the end of the year, $54,054,189.
These are unavoidable appropriations; and there are others
which may and probably will be passed, and which will
swell the whole amount to $66,766,668. But, however that
may be, there will be the certain sum of $54,054,189 which
must be provided for.
Now, sir, what does our Chairman of the Committee on
Finance tell us this bill is to raise ? Twenty-seven or twenty-
eight millions. The Secretary says it will raise twenty-seven
millions. But say it will raise twenty-eight millions. Then
I have shown that there will still be a deficit to the amount of
the difference between twenty-eight and fifty-four millions.
We now owe seventeen millions ; this amount, therefore, is
to be added; and so we shall certainly owe, at the end of the
present fiscal year, a debt of forty-three millions, and that
almost certain to be increased half a million by the interest on
the Treasury notes which we have authorized.
Well, we are to have a “revenue standard.” But why
not lay a tax upon imports sufficient to meet this amount
“ It will not answer at the South.” It is said that to lay
more tax would lessen importations. The Secretary says in
his report (what I have tried in vain to understand) that
“ whilst it is impossible to adopt any horizontal scale of du-
ties, or even any arbitrary maximum, experience proves that,
as a general rule, a duty of twenty per cent, ad valorem will
yield the largest revenue.” What, in the name of common
sense, does this mean ? He cannot mean what he says, for
we have no experience upon the subject. What then does he
mean ? Has Nature herself fixed a standard of revenue ? It
has been said, heretofore, that there is such a thing as “a na-
tlie flag and honor of the nation. Plenty will, we think, be
_ f
succeeded by want; industry and virtue give place to idle-
ness and vice ; prosperous villages be made desolate ; flourish-
ing establishments perish ; public and individual debts in-
crease. I appeal, then, to the gentlemen on the other side of
the chamber; I appeal to them in the spirit and wisdom of their
ancestors, to forbear. I appeal to them in behalf of thousands
of their fellow-citizens to forbear. I appeal to them as they
prefer industry to idleness, happiness to misery, virtue to vice,
to forbear. Do, I implore you, them and you, Mr. President,
leave the American laborer as you behold him, peaceful and
happy, enjoying the reward of honest industry, and feeling
the conscious pride that he is contributing to his country’s
wealth and power. Drive him not, I beseech you, to want
and madness. Leave him, as you find him, contented and
a good citizen, and we shall return to our homes, one and all,
with the blessings of thousands on our heads, and the bless-
ings of Heaven on our country.
TTriHE FALL TERM of Mrs. Porter’s Seminary for
5 Young Taffies will commence on Monday, the 7th of
September. Mrs. P. will receive a few pupils as hoarders.
For terms, ke. apply at her residence on C street,
aug 22—lawdkcpGw
DR. BANNING’S BODY BRACE.
f gri 1IOUS AN DS of persons afflicted by pulmonary affections,
I dyspepsia, constipation, and various degrees of local or
general debility, have been relieved by this instrument. It is
particularly adapted to numerous ailments prevalent at the
South, to spinal weaknesses, distortions, a tendency of the
body to lounge and droop, both in children and adults. By
restoring the form to an erect posture it enlarges the chest,
that the subject breathes freer and easier, and thus many con-
tractions of the chest, with attendant affections of the heart
and lungs, are counteracted, and full play is given to the organs
of respiration.
The Brace may be had in this city by applying to Mr.
Baldwin, at the rooms over Wheeler’s hardware store, south
side of Pennsylvania avenue, between 6th and 7th streets. A
gentleman will aid in adapting it to those who may call for the
purpose.
Applications for single Braces, from a distance, as also for
patent rights, may likewise be directed to Dr. Banning’s of-
flee,—tQO-Sx-oatJwway, 'Ncat Yorfe.
Dr. Banning can refer, if desired, to some of the most emi-
nent Professors of Medical and Surgical Science in the United
States, as well as to numerous distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen in this city and other parts of the country,
aug 12-
A VALUABLE BRICK HOUSE at Private Sale.—
V The subscriber has for private sale a handsome and con-
venient two-story brick house, with basement, in a healthy and
rapidly-improving part of the city, and a handsome location,
which he will sell a great bargain. Persons wishing to make
a good investment will do well to call on
A. GREEN, Auc. and Com. Merchant,
Concert Hall, near Brown’s Hotel, Penn, avenue,
sept 3—eo3t (Union)
INGRAIN cJuiPETl XGS —We have received 2,000
|_ yards new patterns super Ingrain Carpeting. These good;
are of the newest and most choice patterns, and will be sold
very cheap. D. CLAGETT & CO.
sept 3—Stif [UnionkAlexGaz]
Tf TORKED ROBES —We have just opened 10 cartons
YY Worked Robes, of new-slyle patterns in Nausookand
Swiss Muslins, which will he sold very cheap.
D. CLAGETT k CO.
sept 3—3tif [UnionkAlexGaz]
Y[EW FALL GOODS.—The subscribers are now open-
ing a large supply of fall and winter goods, both staple
and fancy, to which they invite the attention of purchasers.
Always keeping the largest and most perfect assortment of
goods this side of New York, they confidently offer them at
less prices than are usually asked in this city.
D. CLAGETT k CO.
sept 3—Stif [UnionkAlexGaz]
>ers, is carefully taught, and the different
IThich the figures are susceptible, depending on
the manner in which they are written, are fully explained. It
it shown, for example, that the simple numbers in which the
value of the unit increases from left to right according to the
scale of tens, and the denominate or compound numbers in
which it increases according to a different scale, belongin fact to
the same class of numbers, and that both may be treated under
a common set of rules. Hence, the rule for notation, addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division, have been so construct-
ed as to apply equally to all numbers. This arrangement,
which the author lias not seen elsewhere, is deemed an essen-
tial improvement in the science of arithmetic.
Also, DAVIE’S Elements of Drawing and Mensuration ap-
plied to the Mechanic Arts : A book for the instruction and
use of practical men.
Now on hand, and for sale at unusually low prices, the great-
est variety of S IIOOL BOOKS, well bound, and the best
editions to be found in the Uuited States. Dealers, teachers,
and others, who may buy by the wholesale, will get them at
prices equally as cheap, if not cheaper, than at the North.
R. FARNHAM,
sept 3—6tif Corner 11th street and Penn, avenue.
/T'USIC SCHOOL—Miss ELTZABETH 'B. SCOTT
If | returns her grateful acknowledgments to the public for
the patronage hitherto bestowed. She can take three or four
additional pupils, who would be waited on at their own dwel-
lings; if preferred. Terms moderate. Inquire at the residence
of Mrs. Elizabeth B. Scott, G street, corner of 11th street,
sept 3—3t
TJOARDING.—Mrs. PEYTON, on Pennsylvania avenue,
JL) at the corner ot 4j street, will be happy to accommodate
permanent or transient boarders, by the day or week. Terms
moderate. sept 3—eotfif
TjlOR SATE,apart of Lot No. 1, in square 295, containing
_Sj 2,391 feet. It corners on 12th street west and Ohio ave-
nue, has a front of twenty teet on the former and runs along
the avenue seventy feet and upwards, is seventy-five feet deep,
and in the rear forty-five feet wide. Any one wishing to pur-
chase can apply to L. H. BERRYMAN,
sept 3—eo3t 12th street west, near bridge.
[V'EM GOODS, cheaper than ever.—We have just
received—■
150 pieces new style Calicoes, at 121 cents
200 do Calicoes, warranted fast colors, at 61 cents
100 do do assorted styles, at 8 and 10 cents
50 do do suitable for comforts, at 5 cents
50 do black and white Calicoes, at 10 cents, worth 12
66 do furniture Calicoes, at 6 cents, really worth 10
20 do assorted styles Calicoes, at 12 cents
3 bales yard wide brown Cottons, at 6 cents ’
1 case yard wide bleached Cotton, at 10 cents
100 pieces Cottons, assorted qualities, at 121 cents
l case 7-8ths yard wide Cotton, at 8 cents
15 pieces Irish Linens, from 25 cents to $1 per yard
100 dozen black cotton Hose, at 10 cents per pair, or $1
per dozen
100 dozen slate-colored do at 12 cents per pair
10 pieces plain and plaid Satinets, at 371 cents per yard
10 do Kentucky Jeans, at IS cents per yard
15 do all wool white Flannel, at 25 cents per yard
10 do do red do do do do
12 do yard wide Bedticking, at 12 cents, worth 20
10 pairs Mackinaw Blankets
Also, Kpitting Yarns, Checks, Ginghams, Penitentiary
Plains, Cotton Yarns, (all Nos.) Battons and Wad-
dings, with many other cheap goods, to be had at
W. EGAN & SON’S,.
South side Pa. avenue, third store east of market-house,
sept 3—3taw3wif (MarlGaz.)
ATEW CANE-SEAT and OTHER CHAIRS AND
HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE AT AUCTION.
On Saturday morning next, at half past 9 o’clock, I shall sell,
in front of my auction store—
7 dozen new cane-seat Chairs
2 do new stump do
1 do office do
Children’s and nurse’s Rockers, See.
12 dozen cane-seat Chair Frames
Immediately after the sale ol the above, I shall sell a variety
of excellent Household Furniture, embracing a very general
variety.
Terms cash. ROBT. W. DYER,
sept 3 3t Auctioneer.
-nKOJiT-DOOR STEPS FOR S ATE.—The high
Jl wooden steps on I street, between 20th and 21st streets,
on West Market square, will be sold, and may be taken away
on the 15th of October. They were made of the best mate-
rials and in the most finished manner. The terms may be
agreed upon at the house. Call and see ; they will be sold
bargain.* sept 3—2awtf
TO NES’S LONDON INDETIBT E MARKIN G
£/ INK, for writing on linen and cotton without prepara-
tion. Imported direct from London by F. TAYLOll, price
25 cents. Also, Chinese Diamond Cement, for joining broken
glass, china, earthern ware, fancy articles, kc. sep 3
TT AT CABLE FARM FOR SATE.—All that piece
V or parcel of land, with the improvements, situate in the
county of Fairfax and State of Virginia, on the Colchester
road, between that and the Hunting creek road, lying upon the
drains of the Great Hunting creek, about three and a half miles
from Alexandria, adjoining lands of Dennis Johnson, ——
Ashford, Samuel Collard, and Mrs. Lloyd, and being part of a
tract called and known by the name of “ Mount Erin,” tin-
many years the residence of James Francis Tracy, who by will
bequeathed the same to his widow, Frances Maria Tracy, the
present owner. The tract contains about 195 acres and 67
perches, and is susceptible of high cultivation. The title is
indisputable.
The improvements are a large two-story frame dwelling-
house, with one-story kitchen, smoke-house and spring-
house, and the place is under pretty good fence. It is one ot
the most healthy situations in the county, is well-watered, and
commands a fine view of Washington and the surrounding
country. From its immediate contiguity to the markets of
Alexandria and Washington, it affords peculiar advantages tor
the disposition, at high rates, of all the productions of a farm
or garden.
If not disposed of at private sale before Saturday, the 19th
instant, it will, on that day, at 12 o’clock M., be offered at
public sale at the tavern of Samuel Catts, Alexandria, D. C.
The terms will be made easv. Application to be made to
T. L. k A. THO. SMITH,
General Agents, Washington.
sept 3—dtl9t.h [AlexGaz]
ON SATURDAY, 5th September.
ALEXANDRIA LOTTERY,
Class B, will be drawn.
SPLENDID CAPITALS.
Up A. GttEEJV, Auctioneer.
INI A NO FORTE and HOUSEHOLD and KITCH_
i EN FURNITURE AT AUCTION.—On Monday,
the 7th instant, 1 shall sell, at the .residence of Mr. Amorige,
on D street, between 6th and 7th streets, at 10 o’clock A. M.,
a good lot of Household and Kitchen Furniture. We enume-
rate in part—
Mahogany Sideboards, Bureaus, Dining and Breakfast
Table, Recumbent Chair, kc.
Cane Rocker, rush and wood-seat Chairs
Wardrobes, Pine Tables, Washstands and Sets
Feather Beds, Bedsteads, and Mattress
Pier and other Glasses
Camphine and other Lamps
Painted and Venetian Window-blinds
China, Glass, and Crockery Ware
Radiator and Cooking Stoves
Parlor and chamber Carpets
With a good lot of Kitchen Requisites.
Also, a first-rate Rosewood German Piano Forte, 6£ octaves,
of fine tone and touch, and nearly new, having been in use only
eight months.
Terms of sale : For the piano, a credit of two, four, and six
months ; for the furniture, all sums of aud under $20, cash ;
over $20, a credit of sixty and ninety days, for notes satisfac-
torily endorsed, bearing interest. A. GREEN,
sept 3—StTSM (Union) Auctioneer.
TTXTENSIVE SATE OF HOUSEHOLD AND
gU KITCHEN FURNITURE, Bar and Fixtures,
&c. at auction..—On Wednesday, the 2d September, I shall
sell, to satisfy a deed of trust, at the Verandah Hotel, kept by
Mr. John Cotter, on Pennsylvania avenue, between 3d and 4j
streets, at 10 o’clock A.M., all the Furniture of said establish-
lent, which is of good quality We enumerate in part—
Mahogany Sofas, Bureaus, Bedsteads, dining, breakfast,
centre, card, and other Tables
Maple Bedsteads, Washstands, Wardrobes, kc.
Cane and wood-seat Chairs, Settees, kc.
Feather Beds and Bedding
Hair and Shuck Mattresses
Linen Sheets and Tablecloths
Solar, Hall, Side, aud other Lamps
Ivory-handle Knives, Albata Forks
.Plated Candlesticks, kc.
Parlor, Chamber, Hall, and Step Carpets
A large lot of Oilcloth, Hearth Rugs, ke.
Painted Window Shades, Curtains, Blinds, See.
China, Glass, and Crockery Ware
With a good lot of Kitchen Utensils, among which are—
A number of Brass and Copper Kettles, Stew-pans, kc.
Also, the Bar and Fixtures, and a lot of Bar-room
Chairs, with cane seats and round backs.
With many other articles not necessary to enumerate.
The terms will be made known previous to the sale. The
public are requested to be punctual to the time, as I have along
road to travel and wish to be oft early. A. GREEN,
aug 24—d [Union] Auctioneer.
33= The above sale is postponed till Tuesday, the 8th
instant same hour, when it will positively take place.
The terms of sale are : All sums of and under $25 cash ;
over $25 a credit of two and four months, for notes satisfacto-
rily endorsed, bearing interest. The attention of the public
is particularly invited to the sale, as it is a large lot of ex-
cellent furniture. A. GREEN,
sept 3—d Auctioneer.
rgThursday, —to-day we wilt open—
g 50 pieces Muslin Insertings, all widths
50 do do Edgings, do
100 do narrow and fine Thread Edgings
60 do Jaconets and Cambric Muslins
40 do plaid Muslins, new- patterns
The above goods are all new importations, and are recom-
mended as beiug handsome and cheap.
20 pieces (all grades) Irish Linens
200 do choice Shirting Cottons
35 do superfine twilled Ginghams, modern styles
20 do table Diapers and Damasks
This day received and for sale by PERRY & ASHBY,
sep 3—eoStif No. 7, opp. the Centre Market.
FOR A SHORT TIME ONLY.
USIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.—A splen-
____did assortment of Guitars, Cornopeans, Trombones,
Ophyclides, French Horns, Clarionets, Flutes, Foreign Mu-
sic, fee. will be sold cheap, wholesale and retail.
Store on Pennsylvania avenue, one door west of Tenth
street. sept 3—3t
w
1 prize of....
I prize of ....
1 do......
10
do.......
1 do......
25
do.....*
1 do......
25
do.......
....500
1 do......
kc.
fee.
75 number lottery—13 drawn ballots.
Tickets $10—Halves $5—Quarters $2 50.
For sale by J. G. GREGORY k CO., Managers,
Next door east of National Hotel,
aug 31—d&ciftd Washington, D. C,
NTT ANTED, a situation as teacher by a gentleman who has
y Y been engaged in that profession in this country during
the last ten years, is a graduate of a European University, and
will produce the most ample recommendations for morality and
ability to instruct in the Greek, Latin, and English languages,
and in all the branches of an English and mathematical educa-
tion necessary for admission to any of the American Colleges
or Universities. Letters addressed to A. B. at Washington
will meet with immediate attention. auS 29 6t
Tri AMITY HflOR OR ASSISTANT. —A graduate of
6 ' one of the most popular New England Colleges, having
been engaged nearly three years in teaching Mathematics, the
English, French, Latin, and Greek Languages, wishes to ob-
tain a situation as family Tutor or Assistant in some institu-
tion in the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia. The
most satisfactory references will be offered. Any communi-
cation (post paid) addressed to WM. H. CARLYSLE, Ports-
mouth, New Hampshire, will be promptly answered,
aug 27-—cpit 6t __________
Ct TATIONERY.—The most extensive assortment to be had
of W. Fischer, next to the corner of 12th street and
Pennsylvania avenue. aug 26
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
National Intelligencer. (Washington [D.C.]), Vol. 47, No. 6818, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 1846, newspaper, September 3, 1846; Washington, District of Columbia. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1024867/m1/2/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .