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1 Speech of Mr. Stewart, of Penn. in Defence of the Tariff and Distribution 1 (1844)

handle is hein.intprop/shmstpnd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SPEECH OF MR. STEWART, OF PENN. IN DEFENCE OF THE TARIFF AND DISTRIBUTION. DELIVERED IN TIlE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF TIUE U. S., MARCH 13, 184. Mr. STEWAR r, of Penn., rose to inquire of the Chair whether the previous question, which had been called on the engrossment of the bill, would preclude discussion on the question now propounded by the Chair, Shall this bill pass. The Speaker having replied in the negative- Mr. STEWART said: However unprepared, I am nevertheless glad, sir, of the opportunity thus unexpectedly acquired of saying a'few words on this im- portant measure before its final passage. On coming into the hall a few minutes since, I was surprised, sir, to learn that this bill to repeal the Distribution Law, reported by the Committee of Ways and Means within the last hour, had been already read a first and second time under the previous question, and was now on its final passage. Sir, is this fair? is it right, that this bill, by far the most important that has occupied the attention of the present Congress, should thus be hurried through all its stages, and finally passed, under the gag, without amendment or debate ? Why this hurry and haste ? Why post with such dex- terity to this destructive deed? Why is this important measure to be thus de- spatched in an hour, when days and months have been spent in the discussion of matters of comparative insignificance ? The motive cannot be mistaken : its friends are afraid of discussion ; they fear the development of facts which must prostrate them before the people ; but they cannot escape, sir. They may, by the gag, suppress debate here, but they cannot, thank God, gag the people and the press; they can and will speak out, in. tones of thunder, against the doings of this day. The proceeds of the sales of the public lands of this country belonged to the, States of this Union. It is a fund which this Government holds in trust for the people of the States; and a period has arrived in our history when, by the mal- administration of this Government, a state of things has been brought about in which the States are involved in debt, a debt which was not only crushing the people of the country under taxation, but was driving some of the States to re- pudiation and bankruptcy. Is this Government to furnish no relief to the States of this Union ? Does it owe no obligations to the States and to the people ? Are we to sit here calmly and see the States and the people of the Union orushed under the weight of direct taxation, see the character of the country dis- graced, see repudiation stalking forth throughout the land, and this House and this Government, which had the power to relieve the people from their burdens and redeem this Government from disgrace, do nothing ? This was a matter in which this Government was deeply interested. The interest and honor of this Government must be sustained or destroyed with 'he interest and honor of the States-they are inseparable-we are one people in the estimation of mankind, and share in the same glory and in the same disgrace. Sir, you will have a surplus in the Treasury, at the end of the year, derived from the existing tariff, if let alone. And what will you do with it? Why not give the proceeds of the land to the States, to which it justly and fairly belongs ? J. & G, S. Gwso, Printers, Ninth Street, Wshin ton.

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