9 as a n anti-tariff man at the South, where the free-trade doctrine prevails; and thus, obtaining the Presidency, deceive and betray the one interest or the other. Whilst Mr. Polk was playing this perfidious game in Tennessee, his coconspirator in Pennsylvania was not idle. On the contrary, he was actively engaged in canvassing, that State; and wjth the Kane letter in his hand, he argued to the people, and convinced them, that the protective tariff policy, to which they were so much devoted, would be as safe under the wise and patriotic guardianship of Mr. Polk as President, as under that of Mr. Clay, whose eminent talents, as every body knows, have been constantly and zealously devoted to the maintenance of that policy through a long life of distinguished public service. Mr. Buchanan was the favorite son of Pennsylvania. The people of that State had repeatedly conferred upon him high honors and distinctions. He had been their favorite candidate for the Presidency,and they had, through their representatives in the Baltimore Convention, zealously pressed his claims upon the consideration of that body for a nomination as the Democratic candidate for that high office. He had been long acquainted with Mr. Polk, and had been associated with him in the public service for years as a member of this House. He was, therefore, naturally presumed to know the opinions and principles of Mr. Polk; and it is not therefore at all surprising, that the honest and confiding people of Pennsylvania believed his assertions, and under his advice gave the vote of that great State to Mr. Polk for President of the United States. Bound to them as he was by a thousand ties of gratitude, for honors generously conferred, I suppose it did not enter into the mind of the most suspicious man among them to conceive it to be possible, that he whom they had so long honored and trusted could be so base as to deceive them into the support of a man for the Presidency, the influence of whose Administration would be directed to the destruction of a policy which they believed essential to their welfare, and which therefore they desired to maintain^and perpetuate. The sequel is now revealing to them a new chapter in the history of human baseness and perfidy. What do they now behold ? This same James Bu- chanan, whom they have trusted and honored so much, and whose assurance to them that the protective tariff policy would be safer under the Administration of Mr. Polk, induced them to elect him the President of the United States, is now a member of Mr. Polk’s cabinet, and giving the influence of his name, his talents, and character to the measures of his Administration I! What is the policy of that Administration on the subject of the tariff? It is embodied and expressed in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in the bill now before the committee. When the report of the Secretary of the Treasury was read at the beginning of the present session of Congress, an honorable member from Alabama (Mr. Payne) rose in his place, and moved the printing of a large number of extra copies for distribution among the people, and hailed it in most enthusiastic terms as the first free trade document that had ev-jqr emanated from the Executive branch of this Government. And the gentleman from Georgia, who opened this debate, labored to commend the bill to the favor of this committee upon the express ground, that it repudiated the principle •of “protecting home industry P The democratic members from Pennsylvania rise in their places here, and in woful strains tell the committee
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