33D CONG....2D SESS. suppose one hundred thousand of the latter to have been made and sold, the profit on one would be ten dollars, and on the whole, in the aggregate, $1,000,000. And this was the actual process by which the clear profits of the patentee were made to amount to that sum. This was a wonderful piece of legerdemain. To a person at all acquainted with working the two metals it is hardly necessary to say a word to point out the fallacy of such a mode of calculation. In one case, the barrel, cylinder, &c., are wrought out of solid bars of cast steel; in the other case, the parts are of cast iron. Between casting these in moulds, and giving them a polish in a lathe, and boring, planing, turning, and polishing the solid cast steel, it need not be said, there is a very great difference, to say nothing of the immense difference in the cost of materials. But, to come directly to the point, when the cast iron arm was sold at some six or seven dollars each, in 1846, Colt's cast steel revolvers could not be afforded even at twenty-eight dollars, by the aid of all the improvements in the tools and machinery for their manufacture up to that time. To this fact we have the statement of Colonel Colt, under oath, made in May, 1854, to the Senate Committee on Patents and the Patent Office. Colonel Colt, the deponent, says: "That he entered into a contract with the Government of the United States, in the latter part of the year 1846, for the manufacture and delivery to the Government of one thousand repeating dragoon pistols, for which the Government paid the sum of $28,150, as it appears by the accounts of this deponent; that the contract was closed in the fall of 1847 by the payment of the money and the delivery of the arms; that the arms were constructed with as much economy as this deponent was able to exercise in their manufacture, and that he attended personally to their construction; that he now has the accounts before him of the disbursements inade for materials, work, and incidental expenses in their construction, and that this deponent paid $27,063 81, as the accounts show, leaving a balance of $786 19, after these payments were made, with which to pay traveling expenses and the personal expenses of this deponent, and his attention to the manufacture for nine months. And this deponent saith that the whole profit which he received out of the contract was not sufficient to pay his board bills at his boarding house, and that he was compelled to postpone their payment till he could get the money from another source. And this deponent further saith, that since the year 1847 he has supplied the Government with four thousand pistola, and that the accounts show that the Government was supplied with the three thousand, before the last thousand, at an actual loss of profit to this deponent of more than $2,000; but that he continued to supply the arms under this constant loss for the purpose of submitting them to the test of actual service, and benefiting by the experience which could thus be gained. And this deponent further saith, that the profit on the last thousand arms sold to the Government is not equal to the loss of profit resulting from the contract with the Government to supply the three thousand arms which were sold to the Government next before this last contract was executed, as it appears by a compar ison of the cost with the prices at the times of the respective contracts." How does this statement make the case appear, when compared with that of his opponents who made it out, by their calculations, that Colonel Colt had been reaping large profits when he had actually been losing money? The false statement of his great profits and his vast accumulation of property would never have been suffered to go uncontradicted, or without refutation, on to the records of the Patent Office, had Colonel Colt, or his counsel, been present at the time. They were not there, either of them. His opponents, of course, had it all their own way. The examination was ex parte, and they swore to what they pleased; and his application for the renewal of his patent was rejected. There is one point here which, it is believed, has not been generally understood. The patent I have referred to, an application for the extension of which was under consideration by the Commissioner when the above examination was had, was not the same as that for the extension of which an application is now before the Senate. This is the patent for the pistol itself. The other was for the rammer with the compound lever. Therefore, the assertion sometimes made, that Colonel Colt came to Congress to ask for an extension which had been refused to be granted by the Commissioner of Patents, is not true. I will now show, in brief, and by unimpeachable testimony, that the declaration made before the Commissioner, that Colonel Colt had accumulated $1,000,000 by means of his patent, is equally void of truth. When we reflect that the statement of Colonel The Colt Patent-Mr. James. Colt's alleged wealth was ex parte, founded on SENATE. mere baseless fabric of a vision. Sir, he owns no armory there. He has not there the ownership of a solitary square foot of land, nor of a stone, or a brick, or an inch of any other material, in a building on any foreign soil. In London, sir, where this much talked of armory is located, he occupies, on sufferance, an old Government building. In that building he has placed some tools and machinery, with a limited number of workmen, as the commencement of an armory. This stock of tools and machinery-the value of them -go to swell the amount of his whole property to $335,000, already stated. Thus stands the business, as proved beyond dispute. Sir, attempts have been made, in a very strenuous manner, to cast contumely and reproach on the conduct of Colonel Colt, mainly through attacks on his friends. It would not become me in this place to point out the source of these attacks, nor the actors in the drama. The ultimate object, I may be permitted to say, was to wrest from him what I consider to be his natural and legal right. I regret that the attempt has been successful, while I rejoice that the result leaves no stain on the character or conduct of him and his friends; that not a shadow of proof has been elicited to tarnish their fame or their honor. To what has already been said permit me to add facts stated by Messrs. Luther P. Sargeant and William Fuller, sworn to before the district court of the United States for the southern district of New York, in January, 1854, Mr. Sargeant has been the managing agent of Colonel Colt since the year 1847, and is intimately acquainted with all the details of his business. With this gentle- Mr. President, as fast as profits have accrued, man there could be scarcely a possibility of mis- they have been applied to improvements in the take, and his character for uprightness and integ- patented arm, and in tools and machinery to carry rity places his testimony beyond the reach of out those improvements and to reduce the cost suspicion. He states that the value of Colonel for the benefit of the public. These are his stock Colt's property, as near as he could estimate it, in trade, valuable only in his hands, for the manwas $335,000, including that, of every descrip-ufacture of the genuine cast steel repeating arms. tion, connected with his manufacture, besides Independent of these, Colonel Colt has little or which he had about $20,000, and that his contracts nothing in the form of property. Deprive him of and engagements, on account of his armory, his patent and you destroy the value of these in would require to meet them a much larger sum. a great measure, and leave him to commence life Here, sir, is a reliable account made up from books anew in a state of comparative poverty, after and figures, and not from estimates and vague con- having spent more than twenty of the best years jecture. And there is some difference between of his existence on improvements highly honorthe two sums-the one an imaginary $1,000,000, able to himself and his country, and of incalculable and the other only a real substantial $335,000, a benefit to the public. And this, by some people, rather heavy discount of about sixty-five per cent. is miscalled justice. I consider it wrong, arbitrary, This amount would just about cover the actual and oppressive. loss sustained some fifteen or sixteen years since, minus the interest for that period, and the time and money expended by the patentee on his invention from its incipient state twenty-four years since. The other witness, whose veracity will not be called in question by any one who knows him, has been employed as chief inspector of arms in Colonel Colt's armory since 1847. He testifies that all the outlays of Colonel Colt have been necessary to enable him to perfect his arms and to reduce their cost. "The whole of this work," he says, "has been done by Colonel Colt in pursuance of a plan laid out by him at an early day in the manufacture, which, when carried out, will Mr. President, the declaration may be boldly subdivide the processes of manufacture, and the made here and elsewhere, and that without hazard, machinery by which the result is produced, so and with the strictest regard for truth, that no more that no machine will be required to perform more honest, honorable, and high-minded man breathes than one operation, and consequently the highest the breath of life than Colonel Samuel Colt. degree of perfection will be reached. To accom- From his youth up, his life has been almost one plish this result will require many times more continued series of vicissitude and change. Somemachinery than is now employed, and at least times in prosperity, but more frequently in adverthree times the capital now invested; but, whensity; he has enjoyed the one with the zest of a man it is accomplished, the most perfect arms can be who knows how to appreciate the blessings and made at so low a price as to compete successfully pleasures of life, and in the other, when the dark with spurious imitations made by a cheap process clouds of adversity rested on him, and seemed to as this deponent believes." He further states that shut out all hope for the future, he has manfully the tools and machinery being of novel character, struggled with apparent destiny, conquered all their cost has been very great, and that they obstacles, and emerged again triumphantly to the would not be worth more than one fifth of that light of day. Sir, had not Colonel Colt been a man cost to be applied to any other business. of the most fertile genius, of indomitable energy, and perseverance, with a mind well endowed with some of nature's best and noblest gifts, and conscious uprightness and rectitude, he would long since have been borne down by the hostile forces arrayed against him, and crushed into the earth beneath the heels of his mercenary foes. But, sir, he is indomitable-destroy him, and he rises, like the Phenix from his ashes, with renewed life and vigor. Like the geometrical arch-with the increase of the burden you enhance his power of resistance. But we hear it declared and reiterated along the ranks of the opponents of this bill, that Colonel Colt owns a tremendous armory in England, of great value, and by means of which he is literally coining money. In short, sir, there are certain lovers and retailers of the marvelous, who seem to attribute to his patent invention all the wonderful properties of Alladin's lamp. But, sir, what have we to do with that? Suppose he had, by his enterprise, built up in London, under British patronage, a large manufactory of his arms, and by it accumulated a princely fortune-what have we to do with that? What business is that of ours? Sir, the British Government will regulate its affairs under its own patent laws. That Government does not require of us an account of what a patentee may make out of his patent invention here, in order to determine how much he may be entitled to realize there. For an invention, in this country, the patentee is, under the law, and in justice, entitled to the opportunity to realize from his invention here an amount equivalent to full compensation, and a reward in proportion to the benefits that invention may have conferred on the public-on this public. Whatever privileges or immunities any other Government may have conferred on the same patentee for the same invention is no question and no concern of ours. But, sir, this statement of Colonel Colt's wealth and his great armory in London is, like the other, the Mr. President, it is not my intention to eulogize Colonel Colt. His standing, as a man of honor and a gentleman, is too well known to require it. His reputation, also, as the inventor of the arm which bears his name, is world-wide, and his genius, his talents, and his valuable services to the public are well and truly appreciated, except by the harpies who, to increase their wealth, would prey on his vitals, and by the ignorant and prejudiced, who either know not how to appreciate merit, cast it aside as a thing of naught, or knowing it, sully their own consciences, by regarding it with envy and hatred, and refusing for it its just reward. Through an array of hosts of the latter description of men has he been compelled to make his way. Against them his probity and honor have enabled him to stand firm, and justice for him has usually triumphed, as it will in the future. But, sir, let the final results, as to his pecuniary 33D CONG....2D SESS. interests, be what they may, one thing is certain, he will have the proud consciousness of having made valuable gifts to his country and the world, and with having acquired an enviable fame, which will very long survive when the names of his opponents and persecutors shall have perished. While living, he will be honored by all truehearted men. THE TARIFF. The Tariff-Mr. Wilson. of the country has been called during the last The honorable Senator from New York [Mr. SPEECH OF HON. HENRY WILSON, from New York, in 1851, voted to put upon the civil OF MASSACHUSETTS, IN THE SENATE, March 1, 1855, On the motion of Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON to strike out of the Civil and Diplomatic bill the sections relating to the Tariff. Mr. WILSON said: Mr. PRESIDENT: I shall vote against the motion submitted by the honorable Senator from Delaware, [Mr. CLAYTON,] to strike out so much of the bill as relates to the modification of the tariff of 1846, and I shall vote for this portion of the bill as it came from the House of Representatives and from the Committee on Finance. This proposed modification of the tariff comes to us supported by a decisive vote of the Representatives of the people, by men of all parties, and from all sections of the country. It comes to us at a time when political considerations and political combinations can have little influence upon the action of Congress. I know this measure is not a perfect one, but the proposed changes are in the right direction, and I shall support them because, in my judgment, they will be beneficial not only to my own State, but to the whole country. But, sir, I do not expect, I cannot expect, after the manifestations I have witnessed here to-day that this tariff provision will be retained by the Senate. Honorable Senators, who are hostile to this proposed modification of the act of 1846, seem determined to defeat it or to defeat altogether the civil and diplomatic appropriation bill. I may be mistaken, sir, but I think I see influences at work in this Chamber from the other end of Pennsylvania avenue to defeat this measure, a measure which comes to us sanctioned by the voice of the House of Representatives. Power, sir, does not like to relax its hold upon the hoarded millions now locked up in the national Treasury. Men, who have looked with hungry eye upon a Treasury overflowing with surplus millions, do not wish to see the sources from which those coveted millions are derived dried up. Then, sir, I fear that now, as in times past, political ambition is not unwilling to sacrifice the business interests of the country in the hope to win political power. The measure is doomed-the hopes of the people are destined to be disappointed. Sir, the honorable Senator from Ohio, [Mr. WADE,] who has just taken his seat, declares that and diplomatic appropriation bill of that year the The Senator from Maryland [Mr. PEARCE] and the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. BRODHEAD] have made estimates in regard to the operations of this proposed measure upon the revenue of the country. The honorable Senators see in this measure a plan for the depletion of the Treasury. Pass this measure, and the vaults of your Treasury, now running over with gold, will be speedily empty. Well, sir, if these predictions should be verified, I shall not complain, and I am quite sure the business men of the country, who have felt the pressure which has borne so heavily upon them, while your sub-treasury has hoarded up twentyfive millions of gold, will not complain. I wish to see your coffers of hoarded gold emptied-not by squandering the money already there, but by diminishing the sources which supply those surplus millions. I wish to see the revenue reduced to less than $50,000,000 annually from all sources, and the expenditures greatly reduced, and I shall vote for this measure in the hope that the anticipated reduction will be realized. But I would suggest to the honorable Senators from Maryland and Pennsylvania, that they should be a little cautious in regard to these predictions and estimated deficiences. In 1846, when the tariff of 1842 was superseded by the act of that year, the chairman of the Committee on Finance, and other distinthis tariff measure has been sprung upon the coun-guished Senators, predicted, with the utmost contry. He is not prepared to vote upon the propo-fidence, that the Treasury would be beggared by sition. Upon this question he assures us he is, indeed, a "Know-Nothing." I am sorry, sir, although I have a great deal of regard for gentlemen who bear that charmed name, that we have so many "Know-Nothings" here upon this question. My friend from Ohio, who has indulged in some fine declamation about protecting the labor of the country, is not ready to vote for this proposition because it has been sprung upon the country. Does not the Senator know that the business interests of the country imperiously demand an essential modification of the act of 1846? Does he not know that the President called the attention of Congress to the subject in his first annual message, in December, 1853, and that the Secretary of the Treasury made a report in favor of a modification of the tariff? Does he not know that the President again called the attention of Congress to the subject at the beginning of the present seusion, and that the Secretary of the Treasury again made a report in favor of an essential change? Does he not know that the Committee of Ways and Means in the House have had the whole question under consideration for weeks, and that the measure, as it now stands, received the sanction of gentlemen versed in the financial and business interests of the country? Sir, the attention the change proposed. The predictions so confi- SENATE. right adjustment of which the business of the country is so intimately concerned, may be sacrificed by political interests and combinations connected with the elections of 1856. I think the time has come, sir, to take this question out of the political contests of party warfare. The business interests of the country have too often been sacrificed to the supposed interests of party. I know that, in 1846, the best interests of the manufacturers of my section of the country were trifled with, sacrificed for political consideraturing interests assembled at the capital to watch tions. Men connected with the leading manufac over those interests, and the tariff of 1846 would have been so framed as to more effectually protect them had not the politicians, who wished to carry the question into the election of 1848, refused to cooperate with them. And I fear now, sir, that this measure is to be sacrificed, and thrown over to the next Congress, to be involved in the next presidential election. In Massachusetts, and I think I may say in New England, we desire a change in the tariff laws. We of Massachusetts are in favor of making the raw materials that enter into the manufactures free of duty, or placing upon them a mere nominal duty. We want free wool and free dyestuffs. We want those articles out of which we make cotton and woolen goods duty free. We want raw silk and hides duty free. Last year we imported into the country more than two million four hundred and twenty-one thousand hides, valued at $11,942,000. Out of these hides are manufactured millions of pairs of shoes and boots in Massachusetts and New England. There is no reason why these foreign hides should not come in free of duty. All restrictions which weigh heavily upon the manufacturing interests should be speedily removed, and all raw materials used for manufacturing purposes should be placed on the free list. Then, sir, we want the duties reduced upon those articles of prime necessity which enter into the general consumption of the masses. Coal should be placed on the free list. The duty on sugar, now thirty per cent., should be reduced. The people of the United States pay annually, it is estimated, not less than $10,000,000 in the enhanced value of sugars alone. This enormous burden is imposed upon the people for the direct benefit of some thirteen hundred sugar growers. By this bill sugar will be taxed twentyfour per cent., yet the Senator from Louisiana, [Mr. BENJAMIN] denounces it as a bill which confers great benefits upon the manufacturers of tex tile fabrics. The Senator from Delaware [Mr. CLAYTON] thinks the passage of this measure will put the knife to the throats of millions of sheep. The Senator from New York [Mr. SEWARD] is also very anxious to protect the wool-growing interests of the country. These distinguished Senators seem filled with the most gloomy apprehensions about the fate of the seventy millions of sheep that range over the country. These millions of sheep will not be sent to the shambles, even should this bill become a law. It seems to me very strange that we cannot raise wool just as cheaply upon our cheap lands in America as it can be raised on the costly lands of the Old World. I believe that the interests of the wool-grower would be promoted by the repeal or material reduction of the duty on wool. At this time the woolen interests of New Eng. land are sadly depressed. Of sixteen hundred looms in New England, which manufacture broad cloth, nearly fifteen hundred, I am told, are not now in use for that purpose. The Senator from Ohio [Mr. WADE] has repeated again the old story of protection to Amer"But the Senator from Delaware [Mr. CLAYTON] ican labor. He thinks American labor will suffer tells us that we should not act upon this tariff at if this measure passes, if the act of 1846 shall be this session-that we should leave the subject to essentially modified. I think American labor will the next Congress. There has been, he tells us, a be best protected by taxing all the necessaries of revolution in the composition of the House of Rep-life lightly, placing the raw materials which enter resentatives, greater than has ever been known before in the history of the country. It is true, as the Senator from Delaware suggests, the next House will have a decided majority opposed to the majority here in the Senate. This very difference may make it more difficult to make any changes in the tariff. There may be a contest between the two Houses, into which political considerations may enter, and this question of the tariff, in the into our manufactures on the free list, raising revenue to support the Government upon articles that come in competition with our manufactures, and upon the luxuries of life which are consumed by the more wealthy classes of society; by improving our harbors and rivers, and extending and completing our lines of internal communication, so that the commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural sections of the country may be brought into close 33D CONG....2D SESS. and cheap connection with each other. By this policy will American labor be protected and American interests permanently promoted. Mr. BRODHEAD replied. Mr. WILSON. Mr. President, the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. BRODHEAD] misunderstood me altogether, if he understood me to allude to any anticipated conflict between the Senate and the House of Representatives upon any question concerning slavery, whether it be the repeal of the fugitive slave law or the restoration of the Missouri compromise. When those questions come up here, I shall be as ready to meet them as any other Senator. Sir, I made no allusion whatever, direct or indirect, to the subject of slavery. I did not wish to thrust that question into this debate. Whenever it is introduced here I shall meet it, and freely express my opinions, and freely give my votes. Everybody will know just where to find me whenever any question comes up concerning slavery. The Senator from Pennsylvania congratulates Senators from the South on the union of Massachusetts with the South in support of this measure. Massachusetts will not shrink from the support of wise and patriotic measures through fear of any rebukes the Senator from Pennsylvania may assume to administer. Massachusetts is here to maintain her interests and her rights. She has no favors to ask of the South or of Pennsylvania. She will never, in the persons of those who rep. resent her here this day, follow the example now set her by Pennsylvania, and bow her head low in the dust and beg for a little protection on her interests, pleading her servility to southern demands as a reason why southern Senators should now stand by her. The Senator from Pennsylvania alluded to a remark made by me concerning the doctrine of protection. Sir, I have no apprehensions whatever that we shall come to a system of direct taxation. Whatever professions men may have made in the past, whatever professions they may make now, either North or South, we shall not come to direct taxation in your day or mine. I take it that we must have from forty to sixty millions of dollars annually, to be raised mostly by duties assessed upon the imports of the country. What I contend for, is, that upon all the articles that enter into the general consumption of the country, there should be a light tax, or that they should come entirely free of duty. What I wish to see is, that the raw material which enters into the manufactures of the courtry shall come in free of duty. We want free wool and free dye-stuffs. The manufacturing interests of the country demand it. The commercial interests of the country demand it, and, in my humble judgment, the agricultural interests of the country would be promoted by it. Yes, sir, we want all those articles, that enter as raw materials into the manufactures of the country, free of duty; so that the country can stand on an equality in the markets of the world with the other nations of the world. The Senator from Pennsylvania defends, as he should defend, the interests of his State; but Pennsylvania has had more protection than any other section of the country, and she has more to-day. There is a duty of thirty per cent. on iron, and at least fifteen per cent more protection by the cost of importation. The interests of Pennsylvania will be cared for under this bill. She will have for her iron not less than thirty-five per cent. protection in reality. The Senator desires that the seventeen thousand miles of railway Mr. COOPER. Will the Senator allow me to ask him a question? Mr. WILSON. Certainly. Mr. COOPER. How does he show that Penn Texas Debt Bill-Mr. Jones, of Tennessee. facturing, and agricultural interests of the country, require that these railways should be speedily completed; and the idea that the railroad interest is to be checked, is to be repressed for the purpose of developing the railroad iron resources of Pennsylvania, a State that does not make railroad iron enough to keep in repairs twenty-one thousand miles of the railways now in existence, it seems to me is a singular doctrine to advance here or elsewhere. Depend upon it, sir, the country will not stand still or consent to keep pace with the growth of the Pennsylvania railroad iron establishments. But the Senator thinks that it is a strange doc. trine to come from Massachusetts, that we care little for protection. I do not mean to say, sir, that Massachusetts does not care for protection; I admit that she desires it upon some articles which she manufactures, but your tariff of 1846 is a real discrimination against her on some of those articles, and she wishes that corrected. But, sir, this talk about protection, the history of the past twenty-five years shows, has been mainly for political effect. Every public man knows that it has been so. I think the interests of the labor of this country will be best promoted by living as near as we can practically to the doctrines of sound political economy. The Senator from Pennsylvania is in great trouble about an arrangement between Massachusetts and the representatives from the South. Sir, I do not know that any arrangement has been made, but I am free to say that, upon this question of the tariff, I am just as ready to make an arrangement with the South as I should be with the State of Pennsylvania, or any other State. I do not know that any arrangements are made, but I am not to be frightened from voting according to my convictions by any allusions of that kind, by my friend from Pennsylvania, or any other Senator upon this floor. I support this measure because, in my judg- || ment, any legislation of Congress which tends towards freedom of trade, towards liberalizing the revenue laws of the country, is an advantage to its capital and labor. I believe it sincerely, and the experience of the past proves it to be true. I believe this tariff provision is doomed to defeat. My apprehensions are that it is to be thrown over into the next Congress. There will, unquestionably, be a large majority, an overwhelming majority, of the next House of Representatives opposed to the present Administration. Mr. SEWARD. Will my honorable friend allow me to ask him a question? Has he less confidence in that House of Representatives than in the present one? HO. OF REPS. five hundred and fifty." The amendment which I propose will, ifadopted, appropriate the $5,000,000, being the principal of Texan indemnity bonds issued under the boundary act of September, 1850, but retained in the Treasury because the Texan creditors have not complied with the conditions of that act, requiring them to file releases against the United States-$1,250,000 being interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum, from the date of the bonds to the 1st of January, 1856, and $300,000, being for premium at the rate of six per cent., that being the rate of premium which is now being paid for the redemption of such portions of Texan five per cent. bonds issued and delivered to Texas in 1851 upon presentation at the Treasury of the United States. The bill provides that $8,500,000 shall be appropriated and distributed among the creditors of Texas, provided that they shall, in consideration of such payment, release the Government of the United States from the entire debt which they now claim the Government is liable for. Now, sir, if I could believe that this Government, by their action with regard to Texas, had assumed these debts, or made themselves liable for the payment, I would vote most cheerfully to pay an amount out of the United States Treasury sufficient to pay the liabilities; for, sir, I wish that the Government shall deal justly, fairly, honorably, and honestly, with all persons, and that they shall discharge, to the last dollar, all the liabilities, for which they are legally bound. The ground upon which this appropriation is based, is the assumption that, by the annexation of Texas, and by her incorporation into the Union, and by the act of 1850, proposing to settle the boundaries between her and the Territories of the United States, by those various acts we have virtually and legally assumed upon ourselves the liabilities of Texas, and particularly, say gentlemen, that portion of it for which the customs revenue of Texas was pledged. Mr. Chairman, I cannot perceive, I have been unable to see, how the debt of Texas, for which her customs revenue was pledged, is of any higher grade or of any more binding force upon Texas, or upon this Government, than the debt for which she had pledged her faith. When this or any other Government, in my opinion, pledges its faith for the payment of a debt, the amount of money included within that pledge is a lien upon all of its resources, whether derived from customs, direct taxes, or property. Then, sir, if I am right in that, we are no more bound for that portion of the debt for which the custom-house receipts were pledged than for all the balance of it. But it is argued that Texas, under the annexation resolution, having transferred her customhouses and custom revenues to this Government, after having previously pledged them to the payment of certain debts and liabilities which she had Mr. WILSON. I have as much confidence in the next House of Representatives as I can have in the present one. I certainly have more political sympathy with it. I suppose it will have a decided, an overwhelming, majority against the present Administration; but in the next House of Represent-created, those debts and liabilities follow the transatives, and in the Senate, we are to have repeated the lessons of the past. Questions connected with the next presidency will come up, and will have more or less effect upon all subjects which may be brought before the two Houses. I do not want to see this question of the tariff mingled up any longer in political contests. The business interests of the country have been too often sacrificed to advance the political purposes of the public men of the country. I am willing to take the bill as it comes to us from the House of Representatives, and I shall vote for it, although I have apprehensions that the motion made by the honorable Senator from Delaware [Mr. CLAYTON] will succeed. TEXAS DEBT BILL. OF TENNESSEE, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February, 6, 1855, fers into the hands of the Government of the United States. Sir, I understand it to be one of the clearest principles of law, that when an individual being in debt sells his property to a third party, if it is a bona fide transaction, in which the purchaser pays a sound price, then there is no liabil ity or responsibility upon the purchaser for the debts of the person from whom he purchased the property, unless-suggests my friend from South Carolina [Mr. BoYCE]-it be mortgaged. Sir, I ask if this Government can mortgage a thing that is not in existence? Could Texas mortgage a thing that was not in existence? Can an individual mortgage a thing which is not in existence? Now, were the custom-house revenues of Texas in existence, could she sell the duties of the next year? Why, sir, she was engaged in a struggle with the her very existence. Suppose that that Government had made a conquest of Texas, where would have been her sovereignty? Where would have been her faith? Where would have been her custom-houses? Where would have been her power to levy duties? Would not all the resources of that Republic have passed into the hands of Mexico? sylvania will receive a protection of thirty-five REMARKS OF HON. G. W. JONES, country from which she had separated herself for per cent. on her iron? It is a matter of some interest to me, and I should like to know how it is. Mr. WILSON. I will answer the Senator. She will receive, under this bill, twenty-four per cent. of protection. The cost of importation is not less than fifteen per cent. That gives a protection to Pennsylvania in the article of iron of nearly forty per cent. Now, sir, we have seventeen thousand miles of railway under process of construction. Those railways are mainly in Mr. CHAIRMAN: I move to amend the first secthe new States of the West and Southwest. The tion by striking out the words "eight millions five interests of the country, the commercial, manu-hundred," and inserting the words "six millions On the bill to provide for the payment of such Creditors of the late Republic of Texas as are comprehended in the act of Congress of Sep tember 9, 1850. Mr. JONES, of Tennessee, said: Then, sir, again, suppose that Texas had remained independent, and had repealed her customhouse laws, and had resorted to direct taxation, or the disposal and sale of the public lands to support her Government, where would have been the mortgage? Where would have been the power to have enforced it? But, sir, I hold that this Government, by annexing Texas and incorporating her into this Union, gave to Texas, and gave to the creditors of Texas, a sound and valuable consideration for the transfer of her custom-houses and customs revenue, in the guarantee of her permanent existence and independence. In placing her upon that permanent basis which this Government itself enjoys, we guarantied to her her existence and her independence, and we have maintained it so far. Now, sir, I appeal to you and to this committee, to say whether that was not a fair and bona fide equivalent for the custom-house revenues received by this Government? Suppose that, instead of annexation and incorporation into this Government, Texas had transferred to the|| United States her custom-houses, and her revenues from that source, upon condition that the United States would guaranty her independent and separate existence against Mexico and all the world, would that not have been a fair equivalent for the custom-houses? Would it not have been better for the creditors than to have left them with Texas? Would any person have said that, under such a compact as that, this Government would have been bound for the debt of Texas? But, Mr. Chairman, admitting, for a moment, that we were bound; and if that be conceded, I think that it must then follow that we took those revenues of Texas derived from her customs, with all the incumbrances and all the liabilities to which they were subject. Now, in the first place, Texas relied mainly upon her customs revenue for means to defray the current expenses of her Government in an independent position. Then, sir, if we took her with these incumbrances on her, by all fair and legitimate rules, we should go into an account and see what it has cost us to defray the expenses incident to Texas since she has been annexed, and then strike the balance. It appears to me, that even upon the assumed ground that these customhouse resources were mortgaged by the State of Texas, that course would be the correct one to pursue. I have not looked into the facts as to the amount received from customs revenue through the custom-houses of Texas since she has been annexed to this Government; but I suppose that it will not be contended that the revenue from that source has been equal to or beyond the proportionate and legitimate expenses which we have incurred in consequence of the annexation of Texas. Again, sir, by the annexation resolution it was provided that Texas should retain all of her public lands and other property to pay her debts. Now, sir, by the boundary act of 1850 we proposed to Texas that if she would relinquish her claim to certain territory which she claimed, this Government, in consideration of that relinquishment, would pay to her the sum of $10,000,000, in a stock running fourteen years and bearing interest at five per centum per annum. Texas having given her assent, $5,000,000 of these bonds were issued, under the law dated January 1, 1851, and due on 1st January, 1865. This last $5,000,000 is deposited and retained in the Treasury of the United States, because certain stipulations of the act of 1850 have not been complied with by the creditors of Texas. By the terms of the annexation resolutions of 1845, Texas entered into a solemn compact with this Government, that her invaluable public lands should be retained by her, and appropriated to the payment of her debts. By the boundary act of September, 1850, the United States purchased of Texas her claim-and it was a bare claim, the most worthless of all her public lands-for which the United States agreed to pay Texas $10,000,000. This was for only a part of the pledged public lands of Texas, but for which the United States agreed to pay an amount sufficient to pay the entire debt of Texas, or very nearly so, leaving her all of her most fertile and desirable lands within her present boundaries relieved and unembarrassed. Not only so, but Texas being annexed and made one of the United States, thousands of our people were induced to go there who never would have identified their fortunes with the Republic of Texas. We bought her worthless lands to free her from debt, and furnished her with many of the best of our people as purchasers of her better fands and permanent citizens. Then, sir, if there were some plausibility in the argument that we incurred these responsibilities, yet, having purchased her property at a price which was, perhaps, beyond its value, in a bona fide transaction-at a price which would have liquidated that debt-I think that we are released from all responsibility, and even from all stigma which might attach to their non-payment. And it is upon these grounds, and for these reasons, that I cannot give my support to the bill as it is now before the committee. The amount of $8,500,000 in the bill passed by the Senate, is made up of the $5,000,000 of bonds, and the interest at five per cent. per annum on that $5,000,000 for the fourteen years the bonds have to run, $3,500,000. The amount which I propose to insert in the bill ($6,550,000) is made up of the Texas indemnity bonds issued under the act of September 9, 1850, dated January 1, 1851, and due in fourteen years after date-January 1, 1865-bearing interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum, now deposited in the Treasury of the United States, and worth in the market six per cent. premium. This six per cent. premium on $5,000,000 makes $300,000. The reason why I assume the rate of premium at six per cent. is, because, by an advertisement now in the papers of this city, the Secretary of the Treasury gives notice to all holders of any part of the $5,000,000 of bonds which were delivered to Texas, of the same character and description as these, that he will pay them the face or par value of the bonds which they may present, with all interest accrued at the time of presentation, and six per cent. premium on the face value of these bonds. This rate of premium on the $5,000,000 is $300,000. This bill proposes that it shall not be executed until Texas, by an act of her Legislature, shall give her assent to its provision; and I assume that it will take the greater part, if not the whole, of the present year before the assent of Texas will be obtained, and that the Treasury will not be able to pay out the money, if appropriated, before the 1st of January next, which will be five years from the date of the bonds. Consequently there will be five years' interest due at that time, at five per cent. per annum, which makes $1,250,000. This, when added to the $5,000,000 of bonds, and the $300.000 of premium, makes the whole amount $6,550,000, which sum I have moved to insert in lieu of the amount now in the bill. This amendment will be, I hope, sustained by the committee and by the House, and will become the law, so as that this Government will have paid over its indebtedness to Texas, and will have got rid of the matter. HO. OF REPS. rates of fare for passengers, and the receipts for freight, we have nothing to do. That, sir, is the private business of E. K. Collins & Co. With them I have no more to do than I have with the amount of goods imported by Stuart, the merchant, of New York, or of any other merchant in that city. My business upon this subject, as a Representative of a tax-paying constituency, and as a legislator, is to inquire whether the services rendered by E. K. Collins & Co. are worth, in the first place, the money which we pay them; and, in the second place, whether or not we can get clear of any portion of that expense without violating the contract with that company, or giving them cause of complaint. In 1847, Collins & Co. came here and made a proposition, in accordance with which, without altering one word, Congress directed by law that the Secretary of the Navy should close the contract upon their own terms, which were, that they should carry the mails twenty round trips a year, and receive for it $385,000 from the United States-being $19,250 for each round trip. They commenced the services in April, 1850, and in 1852 came back to Congress and represented that they could not carry out the contract and perform the services at the compensation they were receiving. The proposition was successfully advocated in Congress, that if you would increase the number of trips by six, and increase the compensation to $33,000 the round trip, they would carry out the contract and perform the services. In both cases one of the strongest arguments urged was, that it was the building up of your Navy, and would supersede the necessity of a direct expenditure in increasing the Navy establishment. That argument has now no force, for I believe no one now seriously contends that these vessels will answer for war purposes. Again, you were told, when this compensation was increased, that the increased mail facilities would so increase the correspondence between the two countries, and, consequently, so increase the amount of postage, as to remunerate the country for the extra expenses paid. Now, sir, after two years' experience under this new arrangement of increased trips and increased compensation, how stands the account? Well, here it is: Amount paid to E. K. Collins & Co. for mail transportation from New York to Liverpool, for the year ending June 30, 1853..... $858,000 00 Amount of postages received from mails carried by Collins line for the same year........... Net loss to the United States in 1853... 192,313 87 $665,686 13 Amount paid E. K. Collins & Co. for similar service, for the year ending June 30, 1854.... $858,000 00 Net receipts of postages from Collins line for the same year........ 153,377 61 Net loss to the United States for the year 1854, $704,622 39 I was here, Mr. Chairman, when Texas was annexed. I supported that proposition. I was here when she was admitted into this Confederacy, and voted for that, too. I was here when the war was declared to support her independence, and to give her that protection which we have pledged And a falling off from the receipts for postages Ourselves she should receive at our hands. I sus- from this ocean mail steam line from the preceding tained all the propositions which passed the Con-year of the pretty little sum of $38,936 26. gress of the United States to prosecute, vigorously and efficiently, that war. I was here, and voted for the boundary bill. And, sir, when I look back I cannot bring my mind to the conclusion that, in any one act I have performed in all these various cases, I assumed the debt of Texas, or pledged these United States to pay that debt. We do, however, owe the $5,000,000, with the accrued interest thereon; and I am willing to pay a fair premium for this stock. THE COLLINS STEAMERS. REMARKS OF HON. G. W. JONES, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The House being in the Committee of the Whole, (under the five-minute rule,) and having under consideration the bill making appropriations for the transportation of the United States mail, by Ocean Steamers and otherwise, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1856, Mr. JONES, of Tennessee, said: Mr. CHAIRMAN: With the cost of the Collins steamers, the expense of running them, with the I would thank the advocates of this line to inform me, this House, and the tax-paying people of the country, when the revenues from the line will meet the compensation paid to these especial favorites of Congress. E. K. Collins & Co. commenced this service on April 27, 1850, and from that date to June 30, 1854, have received from the people's Treasury the sum of.... $2,835,406 57 The whole amount of net revenue received for ocean postages on mails carried by Collins line for the same period........ 734,466 01 Net loss to the United States in four years... $2,100,940 56 Thus we see that, for the first two years under this new arrangement of an increased number of trips and increased compensation, the amount paid out by the Treasury over the amount received from postages on mails carried by this line was only $1,370,308 52; and the total amount paid to E. K. Collins & Co., over and above the amount of postages received by the United States from mails transported across the Atlantic ocean since the commencement of their contract, is only the trifling and insignificant sum, in the estimation of legislators of enlarged and liberal views, but to the honest tax-payers, whose toils and whose labors have to foot all these bills, the enormous sum of $2,100,940 56, more than the Government price |