The New York Herald Newspaper, December 12, 1848, Page 1

NO. 5305. “THE “ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, he, ke. Ke, Treasury Deraxrment, Deo. 9, 1548, In obedience to law, the following report is submit> ted The receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1848, were— From castoms. . . . $81 757,070 96 From public lauds. ‘ 8,828,642 56 wircellaneous source . + 851037 OT From avails of loans and Treasury notes 21,256,700 00 = $56,603,450 59 1,701,251 25 «+ $58,394,701 84 seal 58,241,167 24 year, were Leaving balance im the Treasury, July EPMO, L680 as acces > 163,534 60 -A® appears in detail by accompanying statement, Te estimated receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 50, 1849, are— . From customs, lst quarter, by actual re- CT Sears REA + $8,991,985 07 From customs, 2d, 3d and 4th quarters, asestimated......... see es 23 008,084 93 $32,000,000 00 From public Janie. . 8,000,000 00 From miscellaneous souro + 1,200,000 00 $36,290,000 00 From leans and Treasu- Ty noter, lst quarter, dy actual returnr, per statement... .... ... $10,127,200 00 From Joans and Treasu- 24, 3d and 4th ment 10, 568,235 90 90,695,435 30 Total receipts....... $50,805,485 80 Add balance in the Treasury Ist July, 1848 veneers, 168.586 60 Total means, as estimated. .. Exrenpit ures, ¥ The actual expenditures for the Ist quarter, end- ing September 30, 1848, were sve ees oe $17,866,104 91 ‘As appearsin detail, by accompanying state- ment The estimated expenditures during the other three quar- ters, from It October, 1848, to 30th June, 1849, are— Civil list, foreign inter- covrse, and mitcellane- OUR Sones vas ss Army proper.&e..... Fortification, ordnance, 12,169,354 61 10,464,809 80 arming militia, &c. 1,846,607 29 Indian Depaitment. 1,559,158 18 Pensions...........5 722 706 12 Naval blisbment £,089,032 56 8,285,422 23, Treasury notes outstand- ing and payable when presented. ........ + 161,980 81 ———— 54,195,275 06 Leaving « balance inthe Treasury let July, 1849, ste ee cere eee cree $3,853,604 84 ‘Tae estimated receipts and expenditures for the fiseal year commencing 1st July, 1849, and ending 30th June, 1850, are— From customs. ....... « $32,000,000 00 From public EX 3,000,000 00 ¥rem miccell: 400,000 00 Pia wre eis: ows ance in the Treeasury ist July, Tot Add bi 1849. Total means as estimated,, | ‘The expenditur: + $88,253,604 84 azing the same period asestimar yy thereveral departnents of state, Treasury, War, Nay; Postmatter General, are? ‘The balances of former appropriations, which will be required to be expended in this y: eet seee Perk) $3,762,537 20 Permanent and indefinite appropriations 5,207,512 52 Specific appropriations asked for this year 28,153 103 92 MOON iS skoda aac hin sh ss ces + $33,213,152 73 This cum is composed of the following particulars:— list, foreign intevcourse, and mis- cellancous,..., + $9 347,790 OL Army proper, &o.2202222 222222227 “so02'428 61 Fortifications, ordvance, arming militia, . 2,242,559 00 11 BO were e reece Indian’ Depattment. nd Pensions .. . 1,458,400 00 Naval estal ent oo . + 9,358,857 38 Interest on public debt and Treasury MOB. ecco ceceee cers eeeeeees 3:799,102 38 $33,218,152 73 Leaving balance in the Treasury, 1st ONY, WSO. eee cee eee eee eee + 6,040 542 11 $38,253,694 84 This statement shows a balance in the Treasury on the 30th June, 1849, of $2,803 694 84; and » balance in the Treasury on the 30th June, 1850, of $6,040,542 11, In the estimated expenditures for the year ending on the 20th of June, 1550. are included balances of appro- pristions, amounting to the sum of $3,762,637 20, a dle portion of which may:not be required. ‘Unless new and extraordinary expenditures are autho- rived by Congress, no further loans will be required, and public debt may be reduced. The whole met revenue from duties, during the en- tire period of four years and three months of the Operations of the tariff of 1842 was $101,654 653 12, Deing an annual average of $23,895 208 8% The net revenue received from the tariff of 1846, during its entire operation from Ist December, 1846, to B0th of September, 1848 (table) was $56 654,563 79, ‘or an averaze of $i0,902.489 28 per annum, being an average of $7,007,280 96 more per annum under the tariff of 1846 than was received under the tariff of 1842. The net revenue for the first fitcal year, under the tariff of 1846, (per table) was $3i.757,070 96, ‘being $757,070 96 more than the estimate of this depaitment, and this amount would go om aug- menting every year under this act, with a favor- able state of forcign commerce and industry, at a Fatlo at least an great as the increase of our pop lation. As the high duties, under the act of 1842, we: rapidly substituting the domestic artic! d_ exclud- ding the foreign ri the revenue murt have declined. If, however, the act of 1842 had yielded the average re- Venue reeeived during the period of its actual opera- tion, this, we have seen, would have been an annual lore cf upwards of seven millions of dollars, as com- pared with the revenue of the tariff of 1846, With such a result, instead of a large surplus on the 30th of June, 1850, there would have be addition of more twenty-five millions of dollars to our national 7 which must b gone on rapidly inoreasing, re- quiring in time of peace new and large loans negotl- ted. If, also, the proceeds of the salvs of the public 8 were taken from the treasury for distribution jong the States, the augmentation of the debt and accumulating interest would have been still more rapid and alarming. From this disastrous condition, we have been raved by the rariff of 1846, yielding from Feduced taxes an average excess, thus far, of more than seven millions of dotiars over th ege receipts from the tariff of 1642, Hed that act remained in force during the war, from diminished revenue the loan: must have been greatly augmented in amount with » mall and declining income, and instead of premiums Fealized, large disco must have been allowed. That the revenue would have declined results from the posi- tion of the protectionists; that, by continuing the market with the protected dom@ti« articles, when the foreign importation must cease, and the revenue also ‘The result, then, of protection must be the ananihi- lation of the foreign import trade of the country, #0 far an regards protected products, With the exclusion or diminution of imports, the exports m' or be reduced, for foreign nations could not We exported last year (per table) value of domestic products aad fabrics, and exolusive of specie, and under the low duties, this must go om augmenting. But how can foreign countries pay for these exports, if we will take no imports, or very fow, in return? Clearly our export must in time cease. or fall ton very small sum; the forviga markets must be de- etroyed, and the price of our ple exports, of cotton, of rice, of tobacco, of breadstal must declive, for Year, nor can we consume at home this aug- menting surplus. The British empire (per table G) took from us (not during the year of famine, as it is @alled, of 1847, but in (848) our domestic exports, in- @luding cotton, tobaceo, rice, breadstuffs, and provi- sions, and other domestic articles, exclusive of specie, ‘to the value of $78,741,416. and Great Brital ten. land. of the value of $64.222 268; and this ia the trade Of our best foreign customer, which protestioniate pru- pons to tacrifice by high or probibitory duties. If the iff of 1842 gradually excluded, as it must, nearly all they take $78,741,416 in value of would take from them searcely ? Such atrade would lus 1 sed inasingle year, and leave her nothing with which to purchase our exports; and #0 on regard to all other nations, ‘Thus would go our for markets, commeros, and re- carrying tr: steamships would remain at the wharves 04,014 45 | m a few years, they would supply the whole home | M 30,208,709 im | ho laperenibon of peotwetsl artelee eonid mepitty \ tr decrease when the foreign were highin price, and spe- | in exchanging with cific Quties operated as a protection under the tariff of 184% from 41 to 243 per cent (per table H compiled from Treasury returas in 1844) what must not have been the decline cf importation and reven ve when the foreign article fell, a8 it basin many cases, fifty per cent, bringinz =p the specific duty from 41 to 82, aud from 243 to 486 per cent? This fact i'lust objection to the specifié duty, namel, it professes to be stationary, it is, in fact, constantly augmenting from reduced prices of foreign artioles. Experience proves that from improved machinery, new inventions, and reduced co t of production, the foreign articles are constantly diminishing in price; whilst the specific duty remaining unchanged, it is continually increasing in ratio as an equivalent ad valorem and the protestiongaugmenting every y Thus, if the price of sugar was six cents a pound, the duty three cents, it would be equal to fifty per ceat ad valorem; but if the price of sugar fell to three conte, the duty would have risen to one hundred per cent ad valcrem, thus doubling the protection, and oon- tinuaily atigmenting, with decreasing, until the duty becomes prohibitory, and the revenue on such artisles Gissopearr; whereas the ad valorem bears, under all changes of price, the same exact ratio to the cost of the foreign fabric, and therefore is the moat just and equal. a8, also, necessarily insuring » larger revenue. ‘Aonexed will be found the table marked H, of venty-four principal protected articles, prepared at the Treasury Department in 1644, from actual returns, and attached, together with others, to the very able report of Mr, M:Kay. of the Committee of Ways and Means, of March 11, 1814, embracing coal, iroa, glass, salt, sugar. cotton goods, &o., &e., showing the actual specific and minimum duties under the tariff of 1842, on those articles, and the equivalent advalorem ranging from 41 to 243 per cent, Now if these foreign articles bave fallen in price since that date fitty per cent, the equivalent advalorem would of course now range from 82 per cent to 486 per cent, and would go on increasing as the foreiga article diminished in price, toon becoming absolutely prohibitory, and de. stroying all revenue, In this aspect of the case, the onjectiousto the specific duties as a permanent system, with @ view to revenue, are insuperable; whilst their wujust operation upon labor, in imposing so mush higher duties as an equivalent ad valorem on the cheaper than the more costly qualities of goods, cannnot be successfully defunded. Our manufacturers do not desire the restoration of the tariff of 1842, They kaow from its excessive and prohibitory daties it will soon annihilate imports and Tevenue, and produce @ reaction fatal to the protective policy. "They know also that from its immense boun- ties, ranging at present prices from sixty to three bun- dred per cent, it will stimulate domestic production in afew years to auch an extent as finally to prove most disastrous to our manufactures. That which our ma- nufacturers now desire, is what they regard as mo- derate duties, made specific in certain cases. But there rpecitie duties will, as has been showa, be found constantly augmenting in ratio under the opsration of the general principle by which the foreign article in continually tend'ng to diminished price; whereas the ad valorem, always bearing the sams proportion to the value of the import, is therefure always the most just and equal, and yieldiog the largest revenue, The augmented revenue under the tariff of 1846, bas proved that ad valorem duties can be fairly ansessed and collected. It is shown, also, by the returns, that this augmented revenue de- rived "from a comparatively small amount of foreign imports consumed in the United States—that amount, as shown by the tables, betore referred to, of ull thore foreiga imports thus consumed in the year ending 30:h June, 1848, exclusive of speeie, being but $127.490,012, upon which was r-alized a net revenue of $31,757,070 96. It appears, alto, from the table, that 60 far from this tariff having filled the country with f)- reign goods, beyond its capacity for consuaption, the dcmestic experts last year, exclurive of specie, actuaily ed, by the sum (per same table) of $2,713 697 the imports, exclusive of specie, consumed the same year in the United States, Including all articles but specie, both free and dutiable ; thus showing a balance of foreign trade in our favor, without taking into view the immense profit realized in the foreign market on our exports, generaily estimated at about fifteen per cent. cr the profits of freight and navigation. This was not a year of famine abroad, bat of abundant crops in Europe, attended also with revulsions there, highly unfavorable to our commerce, creating inuu: merable foreign bankruptcies, by which vass suns Were lost to American creditors, required to be replac- ed by the export of our epecia, which was greatly mug. mented by the discredit in our market, of all bilis drawn on our foreign shipments, producing, by this artidefal rive ofexchange, an wonatural demand for acta ot g consequent exportation But all this specie Must soon come back to our sountry, exept so far as it is lost by foreign bankruptcy. It appears that for the year ending June 30, 1848, not of famine, but of abundant crops in Europe, our ex- perts of bread:tuffs and provisions, (per table,) amount- ed to the sum of $37,472751, being largely more than double the average annual export during the tariff of 1842. The reeult this year demonstrates thi without a famine, and in seasons of good crop: and even when their means were exhausted the pr ceding year, by am unprecedented loss of apecie, pr ducing unparalleled revulsions and bankruptoies, yet with low duties.enabiing them toexshange their fabrics for cureurplus of agricultural prodasts, they could end didtake a large amount of our breadstiffs and provis.ons, to the value of $37,472,751. Thus, whilst our farmers found this large foreign market for their surplus, which otherwise must have remained uorold here, owr navigating interest received a new impulss as Well ag our commerce, our tonnage having in created during the last year, from 2839046 to 3.150.602 tons—being more than three times the in- crease we ever realized in the eame time under any pro- tective tariff, and making the whole increased tonnage under the tariff of 1846, 588,417 tons. The increase of our commerce during the two years since the enactment of the tariff of 1815, has been #0 great that our domestic exports, exclusive of specie carried abroad. exceeded by the vast sum of $50,695,181, the «xporte of the two years preceding, under the tariff of 1842, Whilst the terift cf 18460 has thus agmented our commerce, tonnage and revenue, it has seen the country pase uninjured through the ordeal of an expsn- sive foreign war, absorbing and withdrawing from in- dustry nearly fifty millions of capital for loans. seen the great revulsion in England of 1847, pass over us almost unharmed, whilst the general overthrow of governments on the Continent of Europe, with the un- paralleled destruction of confidence, credit and indus- try there, and with millions lost toour merchants by foreign bankruptcies—yet, even through this ordeal, under the benign influence of the tariff of 1846, the passed, and is still prosperous and progres’ # of manufactures are far less depresses the onee in all such preceding revalsions. nthe re-enactment of the tariff of 1842, or any restristive measures, smuggling to a vast extent aimil will become an organised system. By estimates from the Topographical Bureau and coast survey, hereto annexed, it appears that our direet maritime ocean front. exclusive of bays, inlets, islands, &o , amoun to5,120 miles ; our frontier upon Mexico, to 1,456 and our tier upon the British posaeasion to 3,808 mil king in all'9,879 miler, which we haya to guard against smugglers. But in addition to this, as must be done, we take tho shore line of the United States on the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Gulf, including the bays, sounds, and other irregu- larities of the sea shore, and of sea islands, and of the rivers to head of tide, it makes a distance of 38.063 miles, as entimated by the coast survey, which, added to 4,759 miles of frontier upon the Britich and Mexic: jseesions, constitute an ent're line open to smugglers of 87,822 miles; to protect which against elicit importation, under the temptations of such a tariff as that of 1842, would beimpossible. Ia this manner smuggling, so debasing and demoralizing, #0 destructive of revenue, #0 injurious to the honest trader, and to the whele country, creating » contempt for the laws and the authority of the Union, would be- come the “safety valve” of the protective poliey, by “MORNING EDITION ba operation of causes beyond all governmental oon- | rol. Since my last repert, the continent of Europe has been convulred by revolutionr and civil commutions, paralyzing their commeree, credit and industry, and dimivishicg our trade with them. compared with what it would have been if there events had not occurred. Nevertheless, such have been the advantages of our more unrestricted commerce with all the world. that the estimates of revenue for this fiscal year, presented in my last report, may yet be realized, the quarter end- ing On the 80th of September last, being the firat quat- ter of the present fiseal year having yinlded $8.991,935, 07. The adoption by each nation of high tarifts, is a | war upon the li of the world. Ae labor is more pro- ductive, capital is more rapidiy increased, and wages | augmented; yet the tariff, by compe ling each nation to employ sj ortien of its industry in articles which can be produced more cheaply abroad, and refusing the exchange, forces labor throughout the world into leas Phy bpd pursuits. and. ® consequence diminishes he products of labor ar well az ita wages. Chus, if alike can be manufactured at @ less cost in Kuro; a ‘adstuffe more cheaply in this country, and by high tariffe we prevent the imyort of rilke here, whilat by similar tariffs abroad. or their inability to purchase from us because we will not take their fabcics in ex- change, our breadstufls are exoluded toe grauter or Jest extent from their markets, ard their silks from our own, labor is forced in both countries into less pro- ductive pursuits, and both parties have sustained loss. International tariffs diminish the aggregate v lune of the profits of Inbor to the extent of hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and reduce correspond- ingly t en of labor. It would be most usetul to examine the ffs of all nations, and ascertain how much labor in each is thereby di ‘ted inte less pro- anoti ureuite, There tables fe never yet been collected; but if, of the thousand million people of the earth. the labor of two hundred millions in thas reu- dered less profitable to the extent of one cent a day for each, the annual loss would be six hundred miliions of dollars. Man was commanded to labor, but he was permitted by hie Maker to employ his industry im each country in those pursuits for which it ited. and where his labor would be leas revere and better rewarded. But the laws of man, by bigh duties, diminish the products of his in dustry, thua augment his hours of toil, and deprive him the time designed by his Creator for the acquisition of knowledge. These laws, also, whilst diminisning the wealth of nations, produce discord between them; each by jh tariffs proclaiming war upon the indnerry of Lothers, Under free trade. each nation will profit by the labor of every other; each will employ its industry bose poreuite for whion it is bast adapted and the urplus ot each be thus exchauged with the other. by i} meficial to all | ofindustry, it in at the excense of all other ch ether the products most cbeaply produced by each, labor everywhere benefits labor, man his brother man, and nations each other; snd their only antagonism is introduced by humaa legielation. The doctrive of free trade is the petition of labor to employ itself everywhe.e im those pyrsa Dest adapied by nature to therefor in each the lar Pp felends, as brethren, as equal im rights, and united in interest and destiny. Rightly understood, there is perfect unity of interest between man and manend nation and nation, and between capital and labor. We tee the ben+fita of reciprocal free trade among ail the States of this Union, although their pro- ducts and iabrice are as various as those of separate Bationr; yet all the States tind it to be their true inte- rest to admit freely the products of each. The benefits of this unresiricted reciprocal commerce constituta the great bond of interest, constantly augmenting, which keeps together the various parts; but if the protective doctrine be true, it would be the real interest of each and of all of there States, to impose uuties upon similar products im others, for the protection of the people c’ each St Yet clear as is this proof of the be aefits o reciprocal free trade between the States of this Union, the principle, as a question of political economy, is the same extended to ciber States, not united with us un. der the tame government, litical institutions cannot affeot the great principles of The local laws of Ohio and Louisicna, of Mirtiseippi and Massachusetts, are more variant, in some rerpects. than those of many other States beyond the limits of the Union, the benefits of reciprocal free trade between thee four States, thus differing in their local institutions, wages, and products, the protectionistsa deny that it wog!a be beneficial to establish reciprocal unrestricted comtherce with other States beyond our limit Yet variant forms of government can make no differeno# as to the reciprocal benefits of commerce. If fi trade be beneficial among republican States, might at lexet be extended to them, although monar- chies were excluded ; but nove will maivtain that na- tions should rertrict their commerce with each other becaure they differ in their form of government. Al- though governments may differ, we are one race threughout the globe ; the toiling millions who inhubit it hi one interest, and as a question of political economy, the benefits of free trade must be the same. whether extended to States within or beyond the limits of the same government, and each State thongh separated hereafter by some catastrophe fcom every other Sti ould he ulike still benefitted by reciprocal iree trade among the whole; for their commercial in- terests would not change with the separation from the confederacy. A Congress reprerenting the several States of this Union, perceive how injurious would be the effect of a tariff by apy one, upon its own interest, and that of all the S| Now trede is not geographical or po- Jitical, a 8 Congress of delegates from all nations were artembled, they would soon perceive that com- merce was a unit ; that it was not local, but interna. tional, and that tariffs by one or more nations on the products of others, were just a* injurious to each and to a)l nations, as would be a tariff in one State upoo the products of all the other States of the Union, If, then. in such a Congress of all nations, re assembling from time to time, their several tariffs were discussed, and their injurious effects upon each and every other pation demonstrated, the whole protective system \broughout the world would fall before the light of ruch an investigation. Whenever the laws of nature are beyond the reach of man, there is perfect order under the direction of Almighty power; but whenover man can disturb these Jawa, discord aad injury are sure to entue. The earth, the sun, and countless tystems wheeling through universal space, move on- ward in perfect order and beauty ; buteven the ha: mony of the spheres would be disturbed, if the legis- lation ¢f man could interfere and arrest the laws of nature. The natural laws which control trade be- tween nations, and regulate the relation between capi- tal and profits on the one hand, and wages and labor on the other, are perfect and harmoniow md the Jaws of man which would effect a change, are always injurious. The laws of poiitical economy are fixed and certain, Let them alone is all that is required of man; let all international exchanges of products move as freely in their orbits, as the heavenly bod’ in their spheres, and their order and harmony will be as perfect, and their results as beneficia!, as is every moveme: nder the laws of natur: hen undisturbed by the errors and interference of man. rs leper is dear here and low abroad, in the exchange of products we get more of theirs for a sm: Sette and gain by the exchange. The o! fcreign Jaber an argument in favor of exchange with <a. Thus, if we concede as to linens, that Europe, from cheap labor, could afford to sell two yards for what one would ccst here. it would be our interest to purc- chase from them at the reduced price. But according to the protective theory, the cheaper the foreign jabor and the lower the price of its products, the maco should we exclude them by higher rates of duty, Inthe ab- sence of duties, we will exchange our surplus products for their cheaper fabrics, and our Isoor being applied to the production of articles thus exchanged abroed, wages will be enchanced hera by obtaining more ex tended markets for our products, and getting for them a greater quantity of us-ful articles at lower prices. In the absence of tariffs, the division of labor would be according to the laws of nature in each nation, ani the surplus ef each would be thus exchanged among the whole, each employing its labor only in the most pro- ductive pursuits, and therefore the aggregate profits would be largest. If labor were eo low in any foreign country that they could furnish us goods at almost nominal pricer, and there cheap articles were such as we wented bere, it would be our interest to purchase them ip exchange for our products, and the cheaper the foreign articles, the greater would be our gain in the exchange. It is astrange objection to the pur- chase of foreign articles that the price is too low The argument that we must encour our infant anufactures was always fallacious, for they would en- courage themrelver as soon as the country was adapted to them. But are they now infant manufactures? We have called them so for sixty years; and will they ever ceareto be infant manufactures until weaned from legislative protection? On the first of February next, the kets of Great Britain wiil be open to our brvad- stuff, at nominal duties, Shall we en for our products, the only way in w! series Cf years, by taking in exchange such of her febrics as she can sell to usat cheaper rates than we can make them! Tothe farmer or planter, question whether be shali have two whether he shalirell more at a higher at alower price. If it be our interest to fabrics, it would be theirs to renew their corn exclude cur breadstuffs from their markets. It te eaid that other nations will not take o1 ducts in exchange for their fabrics; but, with cal free trade, the: rule that the purchaser will buy the oh without inquiring whether they were abroad. To force our industry by * into lees productive pursuits, by forbidding these exchanges, is to increase the amount of labor and diminich its products, or in other words, to force our workmen to labor more and receive less, pness of ‘Tha difference in their po- | Now, whilst we acknowiedge | it | rat | the markets | by selling them to Great Britain in | hich shecan purchase them for a The people of the Union, as comsamers, pursuing } their true interest, if left to their own choice, unfet- tered by legislation, will purchare the beet and cheap- eat articles; but this is restrained by law, and the c sumere compelled, by high duties, to purchase on! chiefiy, domestic articles, because thie, it is said, encourage home industry. But the foreign import been purchased by some domestic export. The bi may not have been direct; various faetors may have intervened; bills of exchange may have been used, or coin may adjusted occasional balances; but ina series of in the aggregate, international trade is but an exchange of products. ‘Thus, the foreign im- port being exchanged for some American export, our own home industry, which produced that export, has been better encouraged than if forced by law into on other pursuit, rendered profitable only by high juties, The temporary high price of labor in a particular employment is often imputed to the tariff; but if it be conceded that the protected articles are thus en- hanced, this addit 1 price paid by the consumers is #0 much capital taken from them by the tariff. to the full extent of the increased price, which otherwise would have constituted a fund for the employment of labor and the payment of wages. If, then, anything in gained in the enhanced price, by @ particular branch result in a diminution of wages, depending, as they do, on the aggregate profit of all the capital and labor d not upon that employed in any ch of indestry, Thu be temporarily augmented in some pursuits favor y iaw, they are diminished in all others, and ihe great majority of laborers would be re- d finally, ot ail, From the diminished sggregate capital there follows ® diminution in the aggregate wage: id in a nation A vast majority of the labor of this country is em- ployed in agriculture, commerce, navigation, and the non-protecied puranite; and if are depressed, their profits are reduced—the wages of those eimplosed in such pursuits fall—many are thrown out of employ- ment—and thus # general fall of wazes ensues. anil the while wages | ad must | protected manufacturer eventually obtains Iabor at a | very reduced rate. ‘The effect of a protective tari(l, in truth, ia not to enbance wages, but to depress them, and to render capital invested in monufactures more Profitable by enbanced prices of the protected fabrics Wages throughout the whole country become lower than they were before, because the aggregate protits of the capital of the nation engaged in all its in dustry da diminithed, Wages in one branch of industry cannot be bigh when they are low in all others, for wages, like ail other commodities, unfortunately will scom find the rame level. The agaregate profits of sil the Jabor of the country. and not of any particular branch of industry, constitute the fand out of which wages are paid; and if that general fund Is reduced by diminished profite, wages out the whole coun- try must eventually fail. If, the great mass of Jabor in this country, and of 1, is invested in agri- culture, commerce, navigation, and such branches of industry as require no protection, and these pursuite sre injured by a protective tanf, either by diminisbing the market for the surplus raised. by those thus em- ployed, reducing the price of what they sell, or com- felling them to pay more for what they bay, there must ¢, in time, ® general fall of wages throughout t! more profitable by & pro- teotive tariff ‘This duty, then, instead of protection. is a tax vpon the whole induatry of tl ‘a porruite r ste gd or | and containing the important ports of ( | Mezatlen ry | intermediate railroads and canals, their own comevmers of foreign products, The foreign duty may <r may not prove injurious to our industry. If the American article is still, in some cases, roid abrcad to their consumers, at a price enhanced by their duty, the ipjury may bave been to that extent to them only, and not to us; but when, by way of relieving us ficm this injury, whether real or imaginary, we impore #X Upon oUF OWN people, as consumery, by compell- ing them to pay bigh prices for forvign products, by hgh duties, we only augment the evil, Reciprocal fiee trade is bert for all. and reciprocal high duties, worst, When it ia raid, if foreien nations tax our pro- duce by bigh duties, we must tax theirs in the same manner, we forget that their duty on foreiga imports falls mainly oa their own people, who purchase such imports; and so, likewire, our tax on foreiga ‘mports falls chiefly on our own people who purchase them = L buy such imports as we desire, at low pric | difference ot price that ix thus saved to our people is | so much gained as an additional capital, to encourage our own industry, to increase employment and the wages o! Ix bor But if the system of reciprocal taxation is wrong, what argument can be offered in favor of high duttes upen fabrics of foreign nations, when they receive our exports at a nominai duty im exchange? Formerly our protectioniste admitted thatif Great Britain would freely eceive our breadscuffs, wo should take their fabrics st low dutien, or free of duty,in exchange, ‘Then the corn laws were in full force in Great Britain, and it was aupposed would so forever remain, But the system was repealed, and our chief agricultural pro- ducts are row invited free of duty, or at @ nominal duty on the ist of Februa:y next, into all thelr ports, Our prctee.ionists now abandon their former position and meintain that it injures our farmers to purchass Biitioh Jubries at low prices, even though England will take our breadstufis at a nominal duty 1n exchange. Wuges can only be increased in any uation, in the aggregate, by augmenting capita), the fund out of which wages are paid,and the capital gained by saving in the diminished cost of production and prices to the consumers, will invest iteelf in new pursuits, necessa- rily augmenting the demand for labor; and, as a con- scquence, its uggregate products, profits and wages. On the other hand, the destruction or diminution of cupital, by destroying or reducing the fand from which labor ix paid. must reduce wages, It is not, however, by the tranefer of the came amount of capital by law from ore pursuit to another, that the aggregate capital and pro6ts of national indusiry can be increased, but by the augmentation of capital, whether by saving or otberwite; and the radical defect of the rastriative system is, that the tariff never augments capital, but simply changes the purruits in which it is invested, and, therefore, can never augment wages, On the coutrary, it must in the aggregate depreas wages, by preventing a saving of capital for the employment of labor and the increase of its wages Our aigumeuts for low duties, as has heretore been conceded by our most distinguished protectionista, insured the repeal of the British cornlaws, Arguments hexe. in favor of protection, present to all nations the ruppored benefits of restriction, and would therefore persuade them all to enact high tariffs. Ourargument in favor of free trade appeala to all nations to reduce their duties on our products; whereas our arguments for protection, are reasons offered to all nations to raise the duties on ourexperts. Our arguments would persvade them all of the mutual benefits of reciprocal free trade, and teach the doctrine of international unity of inverests; whereas the other attempts to prove that their interests are antagonistical, and will ¢ best con: ulted by each inflicting the greatest injury upon the other by high tariffs. ‘he one would be read avroed im ther legieiative and executive councils in favor of a reduction of duties on our products ; the other would be quoted in favor of increasing such duties. High tariffs should be most useful whére they sre the most eflective. Let us take the interior of New York, remote not only trom the ocean, but f ail rosds and canals. Now, if the duty were cent on the import erriving at the city of N or its vieinage, thet city, and its neigh protective theory, rhould be more injured b im- portation than the interior of the State, the ir to whicb,on many foreign articles, might ad aty per cent to the cost, muking the whole enba nt | of price forty per ornt. and thus operating ar roteciien in the interior, compared with tiv sea- joard, Now, if the restrictive theory be true, ths re. rident of the interior, being better protected. the ti Tiff aGa freight on tne yorewc Btticle operating as a deuble duty shoud be more prosocrous (han the resi- dent of the sea-board. But the farmor’s pronucta are Digheet upon the rey-board, and lower at evary point as we retire from i¢ ; lower at Albany and Buffalo; still lower £2 erie, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Lasalle, whilet 1:@ price cf all the farmer buys is proportionably enhanced, and nething but the fact that his lands are cheaper in proportion as they ure remote from the fo- reign market. epables him to sustain the competition, The protective system is agrarian, and a war upon roperty. It uttem pts to organize labor and capitai y iaw, adding to the profits of one pursnit, by reduc- ing that of another. It is incompatible with the secu- rity of capital er Jabor, for capital is but the accumu- lation of the gains of Jabor ; aud, therefore, whatever destroys the security or profits of cupital, re:ults fu an equal 4 jury to labor. es its injurious 8 upon industry, it is an arbitrary and dee potic power; and ii the people should become customed to its exercire, looking for Jegislative sup- port smd protection, it would terminate ina s(rug- gle for the divieion and distribution, by Congress, every year, of property, profiis, and capital among the favcred clasres, No legisiation of man can change the | Jaw of capital and wager—namely, that as capital | ugments, being the rource from which wages are paid, there will be an increased demand for laber, and a con- Fequent addition to its reward. Capitaland wages are the weights in the opposite sides of tie scales, vibrat- ing under unchanging Jaws—wages ascending as capi- tal is augmented, and descending as capital is reduced. If{them, we would augment wager every lover of mankind must desire, we must inot apital, which no tariff or organization of labor i, al- though it may transfer capital from o snotber. always diminishing the wh: re the trauster in ‘orced by law. The belief is erroreous that, as manufact create in pumber, rill, capital and products, p-ryetuste high tenfis, When they attain this tion, and their fabrics exceed the home demand, @ W i desire free trade to open to them the fereign mi kets, In England this is now the case, and their nufacturers are the great advocates of free trade. ovr manufacturers, iz , will be, and ultimate); unite with al othem in desiring the abandon- ari stem houses, and the repeal warehoures and Jandcd {n our the Gulf in ther: ne edin any port may be taken’ another. 0 may be found safe and practicable ry should be established atthe meuth of the Rio Grande, as well as at such other | pointe on that river a» may be necessary to guard ourse vente laws from invasion on that frontier,and to secure | the interior trade with Mexico by those rontes. The | drawback of duty should also be allowed on goodsexport- | 4 toMonterey and Saitillo and perhaps otber important interior towns in Mexico,on the same conditions as are | now applicable to Chibual In recommending the | acrcas the Isthmus of Pan: ma, I would reapectfally suggest the extension of the same privileges to the | routes by the Mexican Isthmus ot Tehuantepec. by Lake Nicaragua, bythe Rio Atr.to and San Juan, to go into effect whenever the tame right of transit can be ob- tained from ocean toocean. Syme, if not all, of these routes may be travered by railroad become Smportant as well as that by Chagres a for our foreign and coastwire commerce between the two great well as for the interior trade with Mexico,New nd Central America. and the tranti? by the thmus would be bighly advantageous to the Hhe.e country, but especially to the valley of the Min- rissippi, ond ite great depot, the city of New Orleans, to neur the Pacific, by that new and important route In connexion, also, with our supply of the precious metals from the interlor of there countries, aa well as from Peru and Chili, and the tranaprrtation of our own lifornia, these routes ay ‘The collector of appoint 8 depaty, at fome point in our territory as near as may be to the juntion of the rivers Gila and Colorado, atthe head of the Gulf of California, with » view to eur tuture trade on that Gulf, as authorzed by the recent treaty with Mexico, in connexion with lower California, and the adjoining Mexioan States of Sonora and Sinales, so rich in the precious metals, ayamas and I renew the recommendation heretofore made by me, for reciprocal free trade between the Canadas and the United States, in all articles of the growth, manvfacture, or production cf either oountry. I recommend aleo the passage of a law tendering « miler reeipreeity to Mexico, It is known that the ns das, with the consent of Great Britain, (and it is Lelie ved New Brunswick, also adjoining New England) would cheerfully accept this reciprocity, The adven- tege to the Canadas would be gre well as to our ports on the Inker, the St, Lawrence and the Atlantic, accompan' ereared tolls and business on our With our neighbering republic of Mexico, now re- vieing ber tariff, so rich in precious metals and dye- ttuifs, and other raw material of manafactures, with whom it js our true interest to encourage the most friendly relations reciproe: to maintain with her the most friendly relation, to- gether with free and reciprocal commerce and inter- oourre, The Mexican tariff, prepared by this department and enforced by the President of the United State with a view to military contributions in Mexico, adde several millions of dollars to our means during the re. cent contest, as well as aided the credit and loans of the government It was anew but most salutary ex- wple set to belligerents in all future wars, not to de- stroy their own commerce, and that of neutral and friendly powers, by embargoes and blockades of the | orts of the enemy, but to diminish the evil and losses of wars by encouraging our own commerce and that of all the rest of the world, with the enemy's ports, at more moderate duties, and gt the same time devolving upon our enemy instead of our own people, as large a portion as practicable of the burthens aud expenses of the contest, s0 as to bring It toa speedy and honbrable conclusion. Thi ample, £0 favcrable to neutral nations, mitigating £0 Much the losses of wars, gubstituting commerce in- ttead of embargors and blockades, was viewed with high satisfaction by all the powers with whom we were at peace, and ie® lieved at the same time to have had no inconsiderable influence in accelerating the peace with Mex! ‘UL his measure was a step in advance in the progress of commerce and civilization. It was an exemple worthy to be ret to all nations by the United States and was so warmly approved by all countriev, that if, unfortunately for mankind, ware should hereafter occur, and expecially a general Euro. pean war, the danger of which many apprehend to be imminent, this Ameriean precedent would probably be adopted by other powers, leaving all ports of the enemy opened to neutral commerce, and the conse- quent gain to our country incalculuble, We should not only bave gained the great principle for which we have so long contended, that free ehips make free goods in trading with the porte of a neutral when in her own possession, but we should also terminate the eyatem of ectual as well as paper blockades, and leave our commerce uninterrupted in the ports of all the belligerente. This consideration is rendered more momentous by the fact that our future povition, it is hoped, in all time to come, will be that of a neutral, aud that as the rerult, in part, of our wonderfal mili- (ary power, displayed in our recent glorious achieve- mebts and unparalleled victories developement of our extraordinary moneyed resources, more than oue hundred millions of dollars having been offered by our own capitalists at a premium, for a go- vernment six per cent stock, vpcn asvertisements, for less than one 4 with ai) the world, Among the important results of that reduced Mex- ican tariff, os prepared by this department, is the light | threwn by its operations upon the commerce and re- venue of Mexico, and the demourtration that both would be augmented by its provisions, So strong has been the effect produced, that a proposition to remove tho prohibition on nearly all our exports to Mexico, ex- isting under the o!d system, was carried in one House, atthe recent session of the Mexican Congress, leaving, itis hoped, only the details to be perfected at some feture se:siou- a measure thatgwould open new mar- kets to our products and fabrics, prove highly bene- ficial to Mexico, and unite the neighboring republics in the more intimate and friendly relations of an ever inorasing reciprocal commerce and intercourse. lrenew the recommendations containedin all my annual reports, for the establishment of # branch | Mint of the United States at the city of New York. | That city, cur great commercial metropolis, in advanc- ing to its ultimate position (so important to the whole country.) as the emporium of universal com- merce, the centre of international exchanges, and the | storehouse cf the products of the world. To attain | we must secure for our great emporium (in | vith foreign cities ) the command of her { eoin and bullion. Now, it is clear not be coined and no re-ooi not be accomplished, America | atinentof the precious metals. ‘They are now found in extraordinary quantities in our own Union, and to a vast extent in countries adjacent; yet nearly #ll this coin and bullion ie diverted to other | cowntries, and especially to Great Britain, being one | cf the chief instruments in aiding that country in | as well as from the | aif that eum, we shall be permitted to | enjoy, hereafter, the blessings of uninterrupted peace | TS. into the Union, estimated at{$3,000.000 per annum; but | ls ured chiefly—so far ae regards other cities ~for that | ef the government; whereas it ought to be the mint of the government and people, and for the benefit of both, | and can only fully beeome so by the location of branch as recommended. The amount of foreign coin | recoiped at Philadelphia, from the Ist March, 1915, to 20th November, 1848, on transfers ordered, or deposits by cflicers of this government, there directed by me, ae per table hereto annexed, was $11,463,181, being nearly | equal to the whole remaining coinage there during the rome period, including plate and bullion, The branch mint would be most important as aux- iMary to the operations of the Constitutional Treasury, | for the prerent Assistant Treasurer at New Yorks, would then become the treasurer of the branch mint, | and perform both functions preeiely as is now done at Philadelphia and New Orleans, raving the expense ofan increare of officers, preventing double entries | and payments, and simplifying the operations of the government; and te the government aod merchant, the risk and cost'of the double custody, and transfer from the collector to the Assistant Treasurer, would be entirely saved From the lst of January, 1847, to 80th November, 1848, the merchants of New York paid to the collector, (per table) for duties, the sum of $35,260 678 36 in epecie, being two-thirds o° the aggra- gate payments in specie for duties, inthe Union, Yet, whilet the government exacted from these merchants this immense sum in specie for duties, it ee them even a branch of the wint, where bullion can be coin- ed nnd foreign coin re-coined, the mere establishment of which would attract there so much specie, and ren- dir the payment of this large amount so much more vary, The amount of specie received by the Assistant: ‘Treasurer at New York, from the lst of January, 1547, | to 30th Nov. 1848, was $5 369, and_ the coin dis- | burred by him there during the ame period. was $55,- 9. waking an aggregate of $112,$24 638 (par ta- ble) With a branch mint at New York, the the tran. suction of business would be undisturbed by the ope- rations of the Constitutional Treasury. itis true, that even with such @ branch there, the collection of duties in specie would operate as a check, not upon the iseues, but upon the over issues, of their | banks ; a gentle and most useful check, restraining | their own irsues, and mitigating, if not preventing,thove. revulsions which are sure to ensue when the business of the tanks. and, as a consequence, that ofthecountry, is unduly extended. Credi: in useful, aad most abun- cant only when it is based upon capital and apesie. and e legitimate business and commerce. But when | it ie stretched beyond those limits, it necessarily pro- duces revuisions, aitastrous not only to the parties in- volved, but to the commerce and business of the whole gountry. Itis thin fatal tendency to over issues, and | the too great and dangerous extension of their busi- ness, which constitute the greatest objections to our banking syetem, and those banks which are based on @ sound capital, and desire to conduct their business | advantageously to themselves and to the country, ' ovght to rejoice that such others as would transcend there limits are ckecked and restrained by the demand for coin, created by the specie receiving and specie circulating Conetitutional Treasury. During the year 1847, when more than twenty-four miilions of specie were brought into the country, and, to a great extent, paidin for duties and loans to the government, had this ccin gone into the banks, as under the old State bank deporit system, to # great extent, it must h been made the baris of an inflated currency, far ceding that cf 1636, and would have been followed.upon. the sudden fall of the price of our breadstuffs and staples, and the turn of exchange, and flow of specie out of the country, by a revulsion rove disastrous than that of 1837—the fall would have been o greator in- flation to a lower deprersion, the intensity of the dis- anter being augmented by loans and expenses of & fo- reign war. by the drain of specie to sustain immense armies in foreign countries, by depreciation of govern- ment loans. and the fall of the government credit. The public credit under that system being inseparably connected with that of the banks as itn depositories, the government having no epecie and depending upon their peper, its credit must have fallen with that of the banks, as happened in 1837, and during the war of 1612, and Joans for specie. (which were indiapensabla,) eonld only have been obtained as it was during that war. at runious discounts, amounting to millions of dclers per annum, Instead of these sacrifices, the naintaining her command ofthe business of the world, By steamsips and by exports of her own products aud fabrics, the accumulates coin bullioa in Lon- don, and provides for their coinage and re-coinage in the least time and without expenre; and yet, in our | nom armmernial armnorinm. we have 00 Mint.cr even & branch Mint, eg E important process of coinage | ard re-coinege. [ff we would command the commerce of all nations, it must be through some one Amoriéan | commercial emporium, the great centre of our own | trade ond businers, ‘The history of trade demonstrates that rome such great point is indispensable to enable any nation to command universal commerce, and that Fach concentration, at some one city, instead of in- juring other citer, or parts of the same country, is of immense bevetit to all, There cannot be two or more finaxeial centres of the foreign commerce of any uation, any more than there can be two or more cen tres of acircle, The seme principle of the centre of the trade of @ netion applies to the trado of the world, ‘There can he but one euch centre for the world, and but one for cach nation, which, in this country. from natural caures, must be New York, where the compe- tit'on murt oon commence with fereign cities for the contrcl of international commerce. Now, as the com- mand of the specie of the world is of immense benefit to our whole country, and can only be seoured by | making one of cur own cities the centre of universal commerce, it is Indispensable to success in this great | American enterprise, that specie and bullion should be | invited from all the world to New York, not by any unjust edvanteges, but by giving to it equal facilities | with our other cities for coinage and re-coinage. | It is not for New York merely, or for its commerce, that this mint in desired, but for the benefit of the whole Union. The storehouse of the goods and the products of the Union must become the storehouse of ite specie. Where the commerce and goods are, there | the repretentatives of their vrlue must bo alo, and there, also, should be every facility whish a mint would give for increasing these circulating values, and brivging them into immediate and uctive use, in form which might be desired It is in vain to say the specie or bullion brought by our commerce ww York can be rent to a distant point, where is a mint, with but little delay, risk, or ie. It is ‘clear there murt be some risk, exponre, operating as a tex on the bu- ur commercial emporium, and to that lering unequal her contest with European vereal commerce. Coinage and re coinage without any risk, expense or de- id, chandize, with me truth as ix urged in relation to specie, jd be no injury to the commerce of the tht and cortly articles could be rent at but nse, risk, or delay, from New York torome , there to be stamped, marked or labelled, 'd to New York for sale and distribution in markets of our own country or of the seems to be forgotten by those who present Bments, that im a great commercial capital, inets to the amount of millions of dollars is d fiom ten to three o'clock, how important hen the delay of a day, nay, often of most disastrous, and change the balance Merchants and men of businees should mitted to exchange their bullion or foreign coin ‘American in a few hours or moments, as could be done at a mint, or receive at our mint certificates of deporit, which cften might be to them of the greatest importance. The trade in bullion and specie, in itself one great branch of commerce, indispensable im the transaction of business, and especially of internation- alexchange, alrendy existe to agreat extent in New York; but fs limited in difforing its benefits to Ame- rican commerce and exchanges, by the want of a mint. Now it is subject to expenee, risk and delay, to put it inte a form for ciroulating values, that delay being itaes’ a great loss of capital, whilst the fcreign coin, con: sting of denominations unknown to the great bo of our people, is ulmost useless for the purpose of general circulation. It is the rapidity of the ciroulation of coin that giv it its chief value, and accumulates capital, pecdy realization of profite; and the American eagle rbaif eagle, and cur other decimal coinage, might, in afew monthe, perform more of the functions o money and pate more rapidly through agreater variety of bande, than ifit were in some foreign and unknown coin, which would not citeulate among our people. Hence it is that a mint at New York, to give activity to our epecie cireulating capital, by converting it at once into American coin, would be of vast importance ' ‘ | to the whole Union Credit. when based on real capital, is highly bene cinl tothe commerce of the country. And specie is one ot the main pillers upon which credit can repose with assumed confidence; and we must have that spe- cie x6 the besis of such a credit, at our commercial emporivm, if we indeed desire to make it the centre of international exchanges. With a view to augment the eiroulation of our own coin, in our own country, this Department has arrested, as far as practicable, th payment of foreign coin out of the Treasury, requiring it to be recoined into American coin by which means | it bes been enabled, between the let of March, 1345, and the 30th of October, 1848, to coin at our mints (per table) the rum of $98,717 709 22, which, from | the Ist of March, 1845, to the Ist of March, 1849, must | excerd $40 000.600, being a larger eum than was coined in thirty-eight yerrs preceding, from 1793 to 1830, clusive.” But whilst the Department will have coined, | fiom Ist March, 1846, to 1st Mareh, 1849, more than $40 000,C00, the amount would have been augmented to the extent of several millions of dollars every ¥ if there had been a branch of the mint at the city of New York. This is proved by the fact that | mort of the foreign coin sent from New York and other peints to Philadelphia, for recoinnge, has been that portion which was received for goverament dues, and transferred mainly, not by the people or merchancts, but by the order of this De- partment, from the several depositaries; and but little erin comparatively (are trom New York, transmitted voluntarily by individuals for re-coinage to Philadelphia Individuals will not to any groat ex tent. sub; mselves to the risk, expense and de- whereas the whole of the to New York by the operations of ‘com. ce. of by emigration, now s very large eum, would all be changed into American coin if there was amint at that city. Having no branch at the great centre of American éommerce, our mint, notwith stending the great ability and fidelity with which its business Is condveted at Philadelphia, is not, to th extent it should be, the mint of the pe of their bollion and forelen ootn unt brought by emigrants P credit was maintaired throughout the war, and its stocks eo'd for high premiume, instead of ruinous discounta, A ryecem which has operated ro beni6cially, both in aedin pence, must in the main be wise and aglu- Ty ; butit would be stil! more so if the amendments, refofore recommended by this department, wore adopted, eeperinily ax regards the eecurities for dis- burserments, (without which the system is not safe.) and the establishment of a branch mint at New Yere, ara mort important auxiliary, With these amend- mente, effecting none of the principles of the bi crpecially ite specie receiving and specie eircalating clauses, it would so commend iteeif to the whole coun. y, and prove fo benefivial to ity industry, commer d buriners, as to become our settled policy, undis- urbed by complaint or opposition fom any quarter. Annexed will be found tables, communicating, in complience with the twenty-recond section of the set of the 28th of January, 1847, the information required by that act as regards the issue, redemption, purchase and re-issue cf ‘Treasury notes. One state- ment shows the payments into ths Treasury on ao- countot the loan of 1848. Another shows the smount o! apeete pail into the Treasury from all sources, fro the Int of January, 1847. to the 31stof October, 1848, counting to $01 484 825 55. and the disburrements in during the same period, amounting to $92 142,- 512.39, making an aggregate during that period, of ro- ceipts and disburrementain specie, of $183,627 335 94, Under the act of the 31st of March last. authorising ican fer a sum not exceeding sixteen millions of dol- Jere, the department on the 17th April last, and for 60 days thereafter, advertised the proposals. This adver- tiiement was published for 60 day: ot only in the fevers! newrpapersin this city, but also in the papers publishing the laws as anthorioed ineach of the States, and with @ view to more extensive circulatien, in each of the daily papers in the principal cities of the Union. ‘The proporuls were alto mady known.to our ministers and consuls inthe principal cities of Great Britain and the Continent, wherever it was beiieved the pre- mivm might be enhanced and bids extended by their eflorts, The notice war not inserted inthe newspapers until the 17th April. by the 3d section of the. act, it was declared that t dvertisement should be pubiikbed “not more than sixty days, or leas then twenty days, from the time of the first insertion of the raid advertisement, in one or more newspapers in the city of Washington.” If. then, upon the day that the law passed or the day succeeding, the luan had been advertired, the time for opening the proposals must uve terminated by the last of May or lat of June. ‘The department, however, upon the information be- fore it, felt persuaded that the treaty of neace which had been approved by the ate, would be ratified by Mexico; but that, in all probabili- ty, the intelligence of that ratification could not reach here by the last of May, or the first of June; but that it would be received before the middle of June, and con- tequently, that ifthe advertisements were immediately inserted, and the proposals opened by the last of May or the first of June, the government, in the absence of the news of the ratification of the treaty by Mexico, would ily ¢ell the loan upon much less advantageous dat aprobable eaerifice of several hundred 'd dollers of premiums to the government. U: der these circumstances, the department assumed the responsibility of delaying the advertisement until the 1ith of April, allowing the longest period from that date, authorised by law for opening the proposals, namely, the 17th of June; some days before which period, I was. ecnfident that official intelligence of the ratification, by Mexico, of the treaty would be recei here. 1 result justified the The intelligence of the ratification of the treaty was not received here by the Jast of May or first ofiJune, nor, im fact, until = ¥ few days before the 17th of June, when it was immo- tely made known officially, by telegraph and other- wire, and the government received the full benefit, in negotiating the loan, of the universal knowledge ofthe final ratification of the treaty of peace with Mexico. Upon the 17th of June, at the appointed hour, ths reuls were brokem and the bids opened, by the chief clerk of this department in my presence, and that of the bidders and the public; the bids ‘ded and the loan awarded of course to the highest bidders. The total amount bid, together with the names o the suecersful and unsuccessful bidders, will be found in the statements hereto annexed. ‘The whoie premium obtained, it will be perceived, wan $487,168 €6 ; which was the more extraordinary, jparmuch af, on reference to th be fcund that the entire sale of iicck. in &@ single dey, exceeded the rate at which the foverpment Fix percent twenty years’ stock, exclu~ rive of Interest and brokerage, was then selling in the market. It being made by law the duty «ft this department to devote its atten to “ the tupport of public credit,” as well as to “the improve. mebt and mansgement of the revenue,” it is proper to ren ark, that thie government has pad punccuaily, at elltimes, the public debt at ite maturity, as walla the accruing interest, never suspending, fora moment | of time, the diecharge of either when due. Suoh has been the attachment of the American people to this the government of their choice, such thelr regard for bi nor and good faith, that however severe the trial or- reoritee, they have Liquidated, as they fell due, all the de bis of the Uxion. A teble, certified by the Register of the Treamury, s hereunto annexed, showing our population from 1700 to the present period, every year, our debt, debt, cur recei pte from loans and treasury notes, and revenue €acb Sear exclusive of loans and treasury notes, as Well ae from there loans @ id the prineipal interest of debt paid the total amount. It is" y well ‘an official record, which. every American may read with pride and ¢atisfaction, It shows that whenevr it was nece@ary id pay the Gebts and gustain the honor of the country, fhe - ple cheerfully submitted not merely to duties on im- ports, but to direet taxes and excises to thi of many millions of dcliars every year; and when our population was spa: nd ouc money: rourcer extremely limited, the debts of the country their maturity. we assumed the debt of the revolution, determined that the honor of the nation thould be preterved stainioss and unsailied. That Cebdt, then assumed, was $75,463,476 52, being eqaal to acebt at this date of more than $2 7,000,000, actord. itg to population, and nearly six times greater acsord- than our present try, exhausted the