Amendments to the Constitution, [8 June] 1789 — reading text

kingdom in this article. Eighty or ninety thou- iand hogilieads of this article have been Jhipped to Great- Britain, of which fcarce 1 5,000 are confumed there, the remainder is fentofi to otiier countries, 20,000 hoglheads of this very robacco is confumed in France ; it is not the fault of our merchants that this fupply does not go dire(5t to that kingdom, as good policy would dictate, I need not repeat the advantages to be derived from a direft inter- courl'e with thofe nations, whofe inhabitants confume the A. 1789. Of con G R ESS. 187 flaples of our country. I conceive where no fpeci,al reafon to the contrary exiils, we may confider trade in its natural channel, when the articles are carried immediately to the confumer. Confidering our trade in this point of view, a great part of ours is extremely diverted from the courie it ought to purfue ; but a fmall proportion of it flows in any other than in that between Great Britain and us ; our policy therefore, as I ftated on a former occafion, ought to be calculated to give it that impuUe which nature direfts. I wifli that any general principle would permit us to make a diftindion between Spain and Britain ; but I do not know there is fuch a general principle, there is none in the pofieffion of this houfe for us to avail ourfelves of; we muft confider Spain as a nation not having formed a treaty of commerce with us ; if they are difpol'ed to make fuch a treaty, they will only be fubjefted for a fhort time to the inconvenience which the propofed meafure will inflid:. Admitting that the duty on tonnage is not very agreeable to every part of the union, yet their momentary inconve- nience muft give way to conliderations of greater import- ance. I have no reafon to luppofe, that the fenfe of the - houfe will lead us to difagree to the meafure. I have made thefe renjarks, not becaule I thought they would influence the vote of any gentleman, but becaufe I thought it decent to fhew the principles upon which our determination n founded. I trulf there will be a m^ajority, and a large majority too, in favor of the propofed difcrimination ; in- — deed the queftion Hands predetermined we have made ^. difcrimination on the article of fpirits upon the fame prin- — ciple it would be 3 violation of propriety therefore to fuppofe a contrary decilion in this cafe. Mr. FiTZsiMONS. I fliall notfpeak as to the policy of the meafure ; I mean to confine myfelf to ftating a tew faclsas I did when rhe fub- jecl was before the covnmittee of thewhole houfe. The gentleman from New. York (Mr. Lawrance) has faid that 1 ftated the foreign tonnage as two thirds of the whole employed by the United States; it is poihble that I made this miftake in my language, btot the truth is, that one- third only is foreign, of this ?, very confiderable propor- tion isBritilh. The ftat? of the tonnage is in MafTachu- fetts nearly all American, in New-York 1^5,000 tons of the fame and 30,000 foreign, nearly rhe fame proportion is em- ployed at Philadelphia. Maryland employs about 3 Ame- ^•ican to 2 foreiga—-iu Virginia and Souih-Carolina, they  - i^ P E B A T E S A. 178^, i^re — nearly equal in Georgia, the difference is two thir4s — foreign and one third American fo that upon the whole, ihere is little njore th4n one third foreign. This ftate- inent very coniiderai^ly kjens our dependence upon fo- j-eign natipqs, from what has been iinmagined by the gen- tleman who has ipoken in oppolition— nor does it foUo'Y that we ihall pay the freight upon all our exports in pro-, portion as we lay the duty-^if we take a view of the trade of the United States, v/e ihixll difcover that it will not ne- felTarily be the confequence. VVlyt are the articles Great Britain takes of America J g.great proportion of the lumber ufediu the Weft-Indies, indeed I may fay the whole— a great proportion of the lum- ber ufed vyithip that kingdom. The VV eft-Indies cannot ylraw her: (upplies elfewhere if you was therefore to lay ; a duty of 40 per fent upon the freight, the confumers in thofe iflands iiiuft pay the duty. 1 he fame obfervation holds good, as it refpeds our interfourle with Britain ; the articles Ihe takes frpin us cannot be fupplied from any pther country; experience has proved, that every one of thefe articles have been advanced in price in the propor- tion as they have been er^cumbered, and the highnefs of ;he freight onjy leryes as a pretext to encreafe the rate to the conlumer — it is not jiift, therefore, to fay that the ar- ticles ijre of lefs value in our country, for in inftances of this kind the burthen n^uft f^ll upon thofe who ufe them— jt is not the cafe v/ith the rice of South-Carolina, nor with %\\e tobacco of Virginia, nor never can be unlefs there is 31 compeption between other countries in the fale of thole ar- ticles. I^lax is a very necefl'ary article in one of their raoft important manufactures, the feed of this plant is feduloufly fought tor in America, becaufe it is luperior to their ov/n, or becaiife ic is not convenient to raife it j but if tkey find it neceflary, will they not be obliged to pay the price whe,i encreafed by z fniall tonnage duty i VVili gentlemen con- tend r'gaipit me, that the citizens of the United States do not pay the taxes and duties laid by Britain on the articles — we confuine? They certainly v/ill not do this Why then do they contend that v/e are to bear the dyty of tonnage paid on exportation? Ti^e advantages Great Britain de- rives from ou;- commerce, belide its abfolute necefTity to her exiftence, are confiderations too important for her to facriJice for a paltry regulation of i^d. a ton upon her shipping, and this js ail that the propofed difcrimination ^abje'fls her to. You have heardit deciaredj thi^c the ivja;- A. 1789. Of C O N G R E S S. 189 ber of Britifli veffels are not lefleued, although there is a duty of 6s. and 8d. per ton in fonie of the (tates, they Itill find it their intereft to purfue our beneficial commerce. I admit chat a tax on tonnage encreafes the freight, but it is equally certain, that the tax, in almoft every inftance, falls upon the confumer. Our commerce with Spain and Portugal isbeneficia], and it may be proper to conlider what efFefts our regulations are likely to produce, as they refpedl thofe powers ; but with I^ngland we riique nothing, as long as they find it their in- tereft to continue the American trade, there is no fear of their difcontinuing it, and this will be the cafe as long as we coni'ume her manufaftures, and give her in return our produce, which enables her to extend her commerce to other parts of the world. Mr. Wadsworth. Igm oppofed'to all difcrimination between foreign nations, unlefs I can difcover fome folid reafon for the meafure. We enjoy equal advantages, with refpedl to our trade from thofe nations that we are not in alliance with, as frdm thofe to whom we are linked by commercial treaty, why therefore fliall we give a preference that may be odious, and draw injurious reftri^tions upon our commerce ? — It is to Great-Bi"itain that we are indebted for a market for our lumber, our pot and pearl- afh, our naval ilores, rice and tobacco, in ihort they take every thing we have to difpofe of, but our filh and oil — But our fifh finds a better market in countries with whom the United States have no alliance, than in tjiofe of powers in commercial treaty with us, the price is better and we are better paid. — But gentlemen are milfaken when they fay that Britain cannot draw her fupplies from another quarter, we have feveral competors in her market for various articles, and it is the preference they give us in the duties and charges that renders it un^ luccefsful on the part of our opponents It is laid that flax- : I'eed cannot be obtained elfewhere than from this country, yet gentlemen muft recollect that very fmall fupplies of this article were furnilhed by America during the war ; Bri- tain drew the deficiency from Holland this proves that • their dependence is npt excluiively upon us for flax feed. Is it good policy to deprive ourfelves of thele advantages we poll'efs without a probability of acquiring greater ? There is very little profpe<ft of fuccefs in a commercial (truggle with Britain, and I do not fee any great benefits that arifes from the trade of our allies that will warrant the J90 facrifice : DEBATES It appears to me that by A. 1789,, making the difcrimina- tion now in contemplation, we pay a compHment that is of very little confequence in the eflimation of the nation in whofe favor it is intended. They employ a very incon- llderable tonnage in the American trade, and thofe few vef- fels are that can receive a profit from the regu- all lations. Befides it is admitted that the United States have not veflels enough of their own for the tranfportation oi their produce, can it be good policy then to deftroy a competition among foreigners for the remainder of our tarrying trade ? If gentlemen will Ihew me the advantages arifing from our commercial connexions where we are bound by treaty, I will join them in a meafure which is likely to produce fimilar effefts on other nations ; but when I fee no one intereft that will be promoted by it, 1 feel diffident leaft we do a fubftantial injury to the caufe we attempt to fupport. Mr. Clymer Appealed to the public afts of America for the fentiments of the people refpeifling a difcrimination, from which it •would appear, that Great Britain was looked upon in com- merce as an hoftile nation ; but it was the wifh of all to cncreafe the intercourfe between France and the United States; the little direvH: trade carried on between that kingdom and America v/as favorable to us, that to Great Britain the contrary. We receive mone^' for what we carry to France, with which our mercantile operations are encreafed ; we are not paid with rum, as in our Britifii V/eft-India trade. This is a h6t of notoriety, it has be- come a fubjeft of complaint in that country, that we take no returns in manufadlures from her as we do from a neigh- bouring nation. Thefe advantages therefore, backed by the voice of the people, warrant a preference of the nature of what is now intended. Mr. Page Was forry to trouble the houfe upon this occafion after fo much had been faid, and he lliould not have done it, if it had not been that he conceived it proper to notice fome remarks which had efcaped the gentlemen who argued in oppcfition to the propofed meafure. It had been faid, tliat America obtained greater advantages from nations not in commercial alliance with us than from thofe that were. He would leave this point to be fettled by the gentlemen v;ho had beard the fads ftated on both fides ; and turn to confider it in another point of view. The committee^ A. 1789. Of C O N C R E S S. 191 when they had this report under confideration, endeavour- ed to adopt a fuccefsful method of raifing a revenue, if a duty on tonnage will have this effed we ought to agree toi it ; for to what other