PAPERS OF :MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LA1fAR
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defenceless frontiers, maugre his excuses to the contrary. And fourthly,- The pitiful exercise of a Veto, to prevent the permanent loca- tion of the seat of government at La Grange, by which the government has lost a revenue of, at least, 1.000.000 dollars, and this too, for no reason that I can see, but to give the proprietors of Houston sufficient time to dispose of their unsold lots ! and Fifthly, The enactment of a tariff statute, in Texas !- A Tariff in Texas? Yes ! I defy the in- genuity of man, to draw a parallel! Will the advocates refer us to England, or to the United States for example?- They most certainly cannot. The British Parliament, it is true, laid tariff duties on manu- factured articles, imported from the Continent; but then, their object was, not to raise a revenue, but, to PROHIBIT ENTIRELY such importa- tions; and thereby, to throw her own subjects upon their own resourses; to maintain the balance of trade in her own favour, and, if possible, enrich the nation, as it were from necessity. Else, why did that Gov- ernment lay a duty of "7 dollars per yd. on superfine broad cloths," imported? At the time those statutes were enacted, England had a barren soil, and a superabundant population, (the very reverse of Texas,) and in no way perhaps, could this population be so fitly em- ployed as in manufacturing [thus] thought parliament, and acted ac- cordingly, in creating her tariffs. Again,- previous to the late war between the U. States and England, the U. States were accustomed to derive their supplies of manufactured stuffs for clothing mostly from abroad; and, when war-commenced in 1812, commerce was entirely restricted. In this st.ate of affairs, the army and the peorle were to be clothed; and how was this to be done? Only by capitalists, PATRI- OTIC CAPITALISTS, making large investments in manufacturing estab- lishments: and this was done. l\Iany of them, if not all were in the "full tide of successful _experiment" when peace occured in 1815. At this period commerce revived, and the United States were flooded with European manufactures, which had been accumulating, for 3 years, in their respective manufactories & dusty ware-houses. These goods must be disposed of, at any prices; and the owners could well afford to UNDERSELL the American :Manufacturers. And provided these latter were not SHIELDED from European compet[it]ion by a TARIFF, as it was CONTENDED and ARGUED IN CONGRESS; they must be crashed in overwhelming ru.in! These, then, were the MOTIVES and onJECTS of THAT tariff: as I have ever understood them. Now let us DIVINE a MOTIVE for the SUBLIME TARIFF of Texas! And here again, as by intuition, our mind's eye is directed to where it FAIRLY and PLUMPLY STICKS OUT-of Speculation. In every legislature we have had some wise ones, and some simple [ones] which latter sometimes think, that whatever the former say and do, must be RIGHT. Now these wise ones might have said to themselves, "1Ve'll manage those simple ones." And say to them, that "By the immutable principles of reason and morality, every nation is firmly bound to defray the expenses of its own government. And it appertains to us all to prescribe the best mode in which it shall be done." And then all say "A1rnN."- Now these wise ones, possessing perhaps, from 50 to 300 leagues of land each, "argue, most forcibly the PROPRIETY of paying towards the sup-
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