He  regretted  this  the  more,  the  more  he  look-
ed into  Uie  bill,  and  reflected  on  the  priodplei
it  contained  and  the  consequencea  likely  to  follov
it.  Congress  had  never  legislated  on  a  messon
which,  if  adopted,  would  tell  more  in  our  h-
ture  history.  He  repeated  it,  that  such  s  biD
should  have  been  introduced,  and  an  attempt
made  to  force  it  through  the  House,  without
one  word  being  said  by  tibose  who  were  in  fsvor
of  its  passage,  was  most  unexpected  indeed.  So
soon  as  this  biU  should  have  passed  both  Hoosei
of  Con^press,  and  received  the  Executive  ognt*
ture,  mdlions  of  property  which  had  been  in-
vested in  establishments  that  had  grown  np
under  the  sanction,  and  on  the  good  faith  of
the  Government — ^property,  not  of  the  **  somp*
tuous  manufacturer  "  mere^,  (as  he  is  called  in
the  SouUi,)  but,  of  the  working,  laborious,  com-
mon people ;  the  laboring  community  would  be
deprived  of  its  value,  and  all  the  thousands,  yes,
the  millions  of  these  laborious  ciUaens,  would
find  their  condition  in  one  moment  grestlj
changed.  The  rich  would  become  poor,  and
the  poor  idle  and  wretched.  Thus  far  the/
had  lived  under  a  Government  of  some  degree
of  uniformity,  and  had  calculaxed,  as  they  bsd
reason  to  calculate,  that  that  uniformity  would,
to  a  certain  extent,  be  preserved;  but  uov
they  would,  in  one  moment,  find  its  policx  re-
versed, and  themselves  reduced  to  the  utmost
distress.  He  had  been  told  by  ^^entlemen  out
of  the  House,  he  had  not  heard  it  from  any  in
the  House,  that  the  people  of  the  South  were
looking  with  anxiety  for  this  bUL    He  did  not


DEBATES  OF  CONOBESS.
141


jAanuxT,  1883.]


The  Tariff  JBiH—Beduetum  of  J)utie9^Mr.  VerpUtM^s  BUI.
[H.  OF  R.
