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due respect to this interest, and placed it upon terms of reciprocity. It might have been done in 1833, when the tariff policy of the government underwent an entire change; and so, likewise, in 1842, when protection was extended to several of the great interests of the country, no one of them equal to this, or so much needing the protection of the government. But, sir, as I have before remarked, another occasion is likely again to occur. The commercial system of England, and of continental Europe interwoven with it and dependent upon it, must be reconstruct ed. The march of improvement in this country, the advance of the arts, the perfection in machinery, the labor-saving and bread-producing process which is so rapidly advancing, will force the governments of Europe into a new policy, and then may we demand that they shall support their governments upon other reve nues than those which are levied upon the labor of the tobacco-planter."

Among the more local measures introduced by him was a bill to provide a free bridge across the eastern branch of the Potomac, which, however, was defeated.

He is now chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, of which committee he was also a member during the last Congress. The people of the district know him as a lib eral and enlightened friend to its interests and prosperity.

He was married, at an early age, in 1821, to Susan Chap man, daughter of George Chapman, of Fauquier county, Virginia. By this marriage there have been eleven children, of whom six are dead.

Mr. Chapman is in full communion with the Episcopal Church, in which faith he was brought up. In 1824 he was appointed a member of the vestry of his parish, and has continued in that relation to the Church to the present time. He is, however, no sectarian. He is entirely catholic in his opinions. He believes that there is but one Church on earth; that it embraces all true believers of every denomination; and that there is but one Church above, which will embrace all those whose life and conversation shall on earth "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." In the words of St. Augus tine, he believes that the Church is the "people of God throughout the world."

Among his own people, no man has secured to himself more general respect and attachment. "If," says one of them, "there is any man who possesses a higher sense of honor, more of the milk of human kindness, or who is more keenly alive to the misfortunes of his fellow-men, I know him not." Although he has had some agency in almost every important state measure since 1824, and although so long in its government, yet his life has been quiet and unobtrusive, since he has preferred to

do his duty, and make those around him happy, rather than to seek applause or distinction. Not a day passes at home without his being called upon for advice on matters of business by those whose opportunities have been more limited than his own; and, not being now engaged in his profession, many persons seek his advice and professional services from motives of economy. His own tastes have never led him to "money-making," as it is termed; and it is said that, although himself prudent in his habits, he has paid more than fifty thousand dollars as surety for friends who had become embarrassed in their circumstances.

VOL. I.-M M

BRODHEAD, RICHARD,

Rich Brodhead

S the representative of the tenth Congressional District of Pennsylvania, generally known as the "Old Northampton" District. He is a native of Pike county, in that district, and now resides in Easton, the county town of Northampton. His ancestor, Daniel Brodhead, came to this country from England in the year 1664, and held the rank of captain under Colonel Richard Nichols in the expedition against New Amsterdam. After the reduction of that place, he was appointed by Colonel Nichols captain-general of the Esopus, on the Hudson. He settled permanently on that river. In 1735, a grandson of his, also called Daniel, was the pioneer of the body of emigrants who left the Hudson and settled on the head waters of the River Delaware. Daniel, however, with one or two others, voyaged down the river to the creek now called Brodhead's Creek, near the spot on which Stroudsburg stands, and settled there. From that time the name of Brodhead has been a prominent one in the state. Richard Brodhead, a grandson of the Daniel Brodhead named above, and father of the present member, held many public stations, both by appointment and by the suffrages of the people. His son, when quite young, removed to Easton, and read law in the office and under the direction of James M. Porter. He was admitted to the bar in 1833, and very soon acquired a good position and a lucrative practice. In 1838, having been placed in nomination by the Democratic party, he was elected a member of the State Legislature from Northampton county. The session of that Legislature opened with the political turmoil familiarly known as the "Buckshot War," in which he bore a prominent part on the Democratic side.

Mr. Brodhead was twice re-elected to the same place, served on the most important committees, of some of which he was at the head, and took an active and leading part in the business and debates of the House. During his third and last term he was the candidate of the Democratic party for speaker, and received the unanimous vote of the Democratic members. The Harrison campaign, however, had resulted in the return of a majority of Whigs, yet Mr. Brodhead was defeated only by one vote. The next step in his public career was his election, without opposition, as a member of the House of Representatives of the twenty-eighth Congress. He has, since then, been regularly re-elected.

Though a firm adherent of the principles and general measures of the Democratic party-in whose behalf no man has struggled with more zeal or consistency-he has opposed the policy of the administration of Mr. Polk so far as it tended to the overthrow of that protective principle with which the interests of his state are so closely interwoven. His defense of that principle, as well on the grounds of constitutional authority as of sound policy, are thus summed up by himself in a speech in the House:

"1. The revenues necessary to an economical and efficient administration of the government, it is constitutional, expedient, and just to provide by impost duties upon foreign imports.

"2. The Constitution, by its terms (before quoted), the reasons which induced the call of the Convention to adopt it, its cotemporaneous exposition, and the uniform practice of the gov ernment under it, admits of the imposition of discriminating duties.

"3. In the adjustment of tariff laws, I would impose such duties upon the importation of luxuries as would produce the most revenue, thereby casting as much of the burden of supporting the government upon the rich as possible.

"4. The prime necessaries of life (which we do not produce in this country, such as tea and coffee) should be admitted free of duty. The free list in this regard should be as large as possible.

5. Upon foreign products and manufactures, which are rivals of, and come in competition with our own, I would impose such duties as would best protect American labor and products against foreign labor and products.

"6. Upon rival products of our own, which are indispensable in time of war, I would impose a duty with a view to protection alone, without regard to revenue.

"7. No tariff law can be effective, either for the purpose of supplying the government with revenue or protecting American industry, with an unsound, inflated paper currency. The history of prices, imports, exports, and banking in 1816, 17, 18, and 1835, 36, 37, clearly proves this position."

During his term of service he has exerted himself strenuously toward the erection of national foundries, and also for a procurement of a diminution of the burden of tonnage duties on canal boats. The bill which he reported for that purpose, with some modifications, became a law. The boating and coal interests of Pennsylvania alone were thus relieved from an onerous tax amounting annually to many thousands of dollars.

He was the introducer, also, of the project, subsequently completed by the War Department, of a compilation of all the pension laws in force; the forms necessary to be adopted in applications for pensions; and the construction placed upon those laws by the department and the attorney general. This is a very valuable document, and, in the present complex state of our pension laws, was greatly needed. As chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, he had ample opportunities of observing the necessity and the value of such a compendium.

He has voted in favor of all appropriations for a vigorous prosecution of hostilities against Mexico, on the ground that the war is just and necessary. At a previous period he had voted for every measure directed to the maintenance of our claim to the whole of the Oregon Territory; and he acquiesced in its abandonment only when compelled to do so by the treaty-making power, which, he said, "had given up territory enough to make three or four states." "It is said," he added, "that the Oregon Question was settled in an honorable way-that is, by claiming the whole; and, when the roar of the British lion was heard, giving up half."

He separated from the great mass of the Northern democracy on the question of the Wilmot Proviso, for reasons set forth in a speech delivered on the 9th of February, 1847, on the bill commonly called the "Three Million Bill." We shall

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