The Life and Times of
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The Life and Times of
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Chapter Seven The much longed for adjournment was delayed by the fact that peace had hardly been proclaimed when the President was obliged to call the attention of Congress to trouble in another quarter, and to ask consent to sending a squadron against the Algerine pirates. These audacious marauders infested the Mediterranean and the adjacent waters, preying indifferently upon the vessels of all nations, and at this very moment ten or twelve American merchant sailors were in the galleys or the dungeons of the Dey. Decatur and Bainbridge were sent against them, and speedily reduced not only the Algerines, but all those Barbary States whose corsairs had long been the terror of the seas. Perhaps nothing has ever made a deeper impression upon the nations of Europe than that this shameful evil at their very doors should have been put down by a power from across the ocean. It had also a happy effect upon the American mind, for when the rejoicing people instantly proceeded to cut down its army to absurdly small proportions, the navy was left untouched for another session. The utmost effort could only secure an army of ten thousand men, and the appropriation for its support was characterized as a burden hardly to be borne. This done, the weary congressmen were allowed to adjourn, and on March 3d Mr. Lowndes wrote joyously for his horses to meet him at Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Cheves family were to follow shortly after, and he hoped for a lone visit from them at the Grove; but letters here fail, and we know no more until the reopening of Congress. From this time the records of the House and contemporaneous notices are the sole materials at hand until the year 1819. Mrs. Lowndes spent the intervening sessions in Washington, and there is no correspondence. The war being over, the war debt was the first consideration. The President's message at the beginning of the session of 1815-16 earnestly recommended a bank and measures for revenue. Mr. Lowndes was appointed chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means; but his first speech was a personal one on the question of pensions, urging great precaution in their bestowal, and that proof of actual service and suffering should be demanded. Afterwards the constant labor of his committee prevented his sharing in the great debates upon the treaty-making power, and upon the bank, which occupied so much of the session, although in his notebook there are pages of reflection and study upon both subjects. He made his first report for the committee upon the 15th of January, 1816, to the House sitting as committee of the whole, " upon so much of the President's message as relates to the revenue," and offered resolutions based on the calculation that the revenue required was $25,369,000. He proposed to add forty-two per cent, to the rates of permanent duty, and by so doing relieve the internal tax of the burden of $13,500,000 to the interest and principal of the national debt. The question was, " How should these customs be most justly distributed?" The resolutions were closely scanned and were discussed day by day for the rest of the session. It would be tedious now to give in detail such a by gone question; yet it is interesting to note the fair and just anxiety of the chairman to do right by each commodity. As far as can be judged by the scanty reports, he made no set speeches, confining himself to explaining and defending, giving facts and figures, but no eloquence, in support of his propositions.
This was called "the double tax," and was in fact a tariff, and the discussion instantly began. Federals and Republicans alike tore the resolutions to pieces. Mr. Huger, the only Federalist representative from South Carolina, spoke strongly against the tariff as a whole, as injurious to the agricultural interest, and Mr. Lowndes answered that money had to be raised, and that this method distributed the burden more evenly than any other. Mr. Calhoun supported his friend. Every point was contested; the relative deserts of common
salt and brown sugar took days to discuss. Did they require protection,
and if so, how much? Finally each received a duty. Salt fish exported was
granted a bounty, but refined sugar, " used only by the wealthy," was put
into the direct tax list as a luxury. These imports were concessions to
the " new acquisition," Louisiana, and to New England, so the extremities
of the Union were content; but one gentleman deplored "the hard fate of
those unfortunate States [the Middle] who are taxed to support the
manufactures of the East and the products of the South." There was
(perhaps of historic necessity) some debate on the stamp duties, but they
were kept, and a proposal to reduce the rates of postage was, very
naturally, eagerly agreed to. It is evident, however, that in these debates the men
charged with the help of the treasury struggled for that, and that only.
They knew that without money the country could not be safe. The experience
of the war had taught them, but had apparently taught the Congress at
large nothing. Though its house had been burned over its head in 1815, it
now, two years later, hesitated and haggled over every appropriation for
the services; and only the seaboard States thought of the long, unguarded
coast line, although the ruins of the Capitol were before their
eyes. The most important debate was over cotton and woolen goods, and was participated in by the leaders on both sides. Mr. Lowndes spoke only to facts and figures. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, spoke for manufactures, and Mr. Randolph, like a precursor of Mr. Buskin, deprecated all except " those conducted in the families of our citizens." The last act was to regulate the duties on " imports and tonnage," and after long debate the bill in its chief clauses was carried by a vote of 88 to 54, April 8, 1816. Thus the tariff was established and in a short time gave a surplus to the treasury; the duties were so light that no one suffered; on the contrary, the effect upon the immediate prosperity of the country was wonderful. Mr. Charles Fraser, in his "Reminiscences of Charleston " (1854), says: "In 1816 prosperity returned, and has continued unbroken to this day." In other hands the measure has had a far different result; but it is one of the curiosities of legislation, that the first tariff avowedly for protection should have been brought in by Lowndes and Calhoun. Mr. Lowndes may have had some misgivings as to the ultimate effect of his policy, for the late Colonel William Elliott, of South Carolina, told the writer that he distinctly remembered being, as a very young man, at a dinner party at which Mr. Lowndes was present. The conversation turned on recent measures, and the hostess, Mrs. Horry, reproached Mr. Lowndes (who was the husband of her niece) with the imposition of the tariff, saying that it " was the worst thing done since universal suffrage." Mr. Lowndes answered quietly that " neither was altogether good, but the best possible for the time." She persisted that " she should not, but he would, live to feel the evils of both." He answered again, " We are obliged to leave some questions to posterity. We do our best with those that come to us, and future generations must bear their share of the trouble." A measure about which there could be no misgiving was the support of the navy. Mr. Lowndes had the pleasure of speaking and voting for the report and resolutions brought in by Mr. Pleasants, of Virginia, chairman of the Naval Committee, for an " annual appropriation of one million dollars, for the next eight years, for the gradual increase of the navy." The navy was always his first interest, and it consoled him for the reduction of the army. In a memorandum he says: " With a navy strong enough to prevent invasion by sea, a small, efficient army on our northern and western frontier may perhaps be all that is absolutely necessary. In Mr. Madison's last annual message, December, 1816, he was able to assure the country that the success of the financial measures adopted by the last Congress had been so great that " the revenue has far exceeded all the current demands upon the treasury, and that under any probable diminution of its future annual products which the vicissitudes of commerce may occasion, it will afford an ample fund for the effectual and early extinguishment of the public debt." ... At the close of the year there will be a surplus in the treasury of about the sum of nine millions of dollars." This being the case, it was perhaps not extraordinary that many should think the taxes, and especially the hated internal revenue tax, too heavy. The management of the treasury was blamed, and it was asked if "the laws imposing taxes are to remain fixed and unalterable except at the pleasure of the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means? " The sinking fund (for the payment of the national debt) was especially attacked in a long speech by Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, on the 17th of February, 1817. It is dear that Mr. Lowndes defended his favorite financial measure, but I find no mention of his speech except in Mr. Williams's quotations from it. Mr. W. was at least a generous antagonist, for he says: "That gentleman, Mr. Speaker [pointing to Mr. Lowndes], at all times, and on all occasions, has so conducted himself on this floor as to secure, not only the confidence and esteem, but I believe the admiration of every member of this House; but while I pay this just tribute to the merits of that gentleman, I must be allowed to say, that I think he was incorrect when he stated in reply to the remarks I made on Friday, that I had failed to show any sufficient reasons in support of the resolutions then under consideration." There was much talk, but little was done. In a few days Congress adjourned, and Mr. Madison's administration drew to its close. It should perhaps have been mentioned before, that in October, 1816, Mr. Madison had offered the portfolio of War to Mr. Lowndes, who had respectfully declined it, " conceiving himself to be of more use to the country in his present position in the House," as a mutilated rough draft of his answer expresses it. In the next session Mr. Monroe made the same offer, and Mr. Lowndes replied in the same manner. An undated fragment of a letter to his wife does not refer to either of these offers, but it shows so clearly his determination to be absolutely independent of all administrative favors that I give it here.
The following letter, kindly sent me by Mr. Salley, of Orangeburg, shows that a report of Mr. Lowndes having accepted one of these offers was generally believed. It is from Mr. Govan, afterwards a member of Congress, but then a very young man, to the Hon. George E. Salley. He says:
By this time Mr. Lowndes had become very generally known to the country at large, and his name was seldom mentioned without commendation; but there are always persons who cannot endure to see others admired, and on one of his journeys from Philadelphia to Washington the following amusing instance of this occurred. He was traveling with his friend Mr. Butledge, of South Carolina (who told the story), and stopped to dine at a wayside inn, where at table the conversation turned upon politics, and after leaving it, one of the guests said to Mr. Lowndes, " Sir, I want you to do me a favor. I have written a piece for our paper, but I am not used to writing, and though I know what I mean, there may be mistakes. You seem to be a fair-minded man; will you correct it for me ? " Mr. Lowndes took the paper, corrected it carefully, and returning it said, " What do you know of this gentleman that makes you think so badly of him?" "Nothing positively," replied the man, " but I am tired of hearing him praised; every one talks of him, and praises him; and when you hear nothing but good of a man there must be something very bad somewhere." Mr. Lowndes smiled, and said no more. When they had resumed their journey Mr. Rutledge asked of whom the man had written. " Of me; he considers me a snake in the grass, and warns the world against me." "And you have corrected his letter ? " " Certainly, every man has a right to express his opinions." In the next year or two the mission to France and special missions to Constantinople and to St. Petersburg were offered him, but he declined them all, still thinking that the House was his most useful position, and that " a public man should remain where he is of most use to the public." The Fifteenth Congress met on the 1st of December, 1817, and Mr. Monroe was able to begin his first message by saying:
How much of this happy condition of things was due to wise financial legislation it is easy to perceive. It did, however, fully justify the desire for relief from the internal taxation, which had been so much disliked. Mr. Lowndes accordingly brought in a bill to abolish these taxes entirely (three millions had been kept by the last Congress), frankly stating that he did so by desire of his committee, as he himself should have preferred to retain some portion of them for the present. He pointed out the happy effect of the tariff upon the country, and said that, moderate as it was, it had produced a revenue far beyond his expectations. The bill was passed at once without debate. His favorite measure of the sinking fund, which had been so vehemently opposed, proved most beneficial. It consisted of an annual appropriation of $10,000,000, with the proviso that all the money remaining in the treasury over $2,000,000 should at the end of each year be added to it. By this plan the whole debt of $130,000,000 was paid off in fourteen years, to the great advantage of the national credit. Of this measure, Mr. Calhoun, speaking in 1839 of the final discharge of the debt, said:
This was a perfectly truthful statement as regarded the government; but it was equally true that notwithstanding the many acts passed from time to time for the enforcing of this neutrality, it was constantly violated. Vessels were fitted out in our ports, and " men, money, and munitions of war " were furnished by private citizens. Filibustering had begun. In the previous Congress Mr. Forayth, of Georgia, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, had introduced a bill, which had been passed by a large majority of both Houses, to " prevent the fitting out, in the ports of the United States, of armed expeditions against nations in amity with the United States, and requiring bond and security that all vessels while at sea should respect the neutral obligations of the country." In November, 1818, Mr. Monroe was obliged to send a message to Congress, saying that the laws were being evaded, and asking more power to enforce them. Mr. Forsyth offered an amendment to his bill of the year before, looking to its greater efficiency. The object was to maintain the good faith of the government by preventing its subjects from waging war on a nation with which it was on terms of peace and amity as strong as treaties could make. The popular sentiment and action were natural, considering our own Revolutionary associations ; but it was not an honorable position for the government to hold, and so Mr. Forsyth declared. The Speaker (Mr. Clay) and Mr. Kobertson, of Louisiana, however, warmly resented this interference with the liberty of individuals, declared that the bill was " unjust and vexatious," and " had been enacted for the benefit of his Majesty the King of Spain." They even went so far as to impute improper influence upon the President, insinuating that his recommendation had been obtained by the " teasing of foreign officials," viz. the foreign ministers. Forsyth ably defended his bill, and Mr. Lowndes supported him. He began his remarks by " redeeming the Act of 1817 from the charge which had been alleged against it, as far as his opinion went, by declaring that act not to have been adopted in consequence of any foreign remonstrance, but to have been the deliberate expression of the judgment of this and of the other House. He had listened with the greatest attention to the remarks of the gentlemen from Kentucky and Louisiana, but they had failed to convince him that the deliberate opinion of Congress at its last session ought to be reversed. But there was less difference on principle than he had expected to have found between those gentlemen and those who approved the act of the last session. The Speaker had conceded that the acts were unlawful which that law was designed to prevent, and the only difference between us," said Mr. Lowndes, " is that for the prevention of those unlawful acts we propose a remedy which they will not accept. On the question of the criminality of enlistment in a war between two powers with which we are in amity we perfectly agree. The opinion of the House and of the country must be that as long as we profess neutrality we ought to observe it, that our neutral obligations should be fairly and honestly fulfilled, and it was because he thought it the duty of Congress to prevent our citizens, by requiring bond and security to that effect, from engaging in the existing war, that he was willing to continue the act which the Speaker desired to repeal." He spoke of the danger of irresponsible parties in armed vessels turning their arms against any power which they might please to attack, and denied Mr. Robertson's assertion, that it was impossible to judge from the cargo of a vessel what her purpose might be; " fixed ammunition, etc.," he considered offered a strong presumption. " For such depredations we are responsible, and have
recognized the principle by paying claims founded on it.
We have bound ourselves to respect the principle in a manner equally
obligatory, by preferring claims founded upon it against other nations.
Having done so, every consideration of prudence, of respect for the
character of our country, requires that we should exact the security which
is demanded by the Act of 1817." Mr. Clay said " it was always with very painful regret that
he found himself differing from the honorable gentleman who had just taken
his seat, and from the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
When differing from them he almost doubted his own perceptions, but,"
etc., and then follows a curious speech which puts one in mind of the old
legal joke, " No case, abuse the plaintiff's attorney," viz. the foreign
ambassadors, and the gentlemen opposed to him. Mr. Lowndes at last, in the
sharpest speech that I find recorded of him, rose and said that " He must
vindicate himself from the charge of inconsistency, alleged against him by
the Speaker, but which could not be properly established by taking a
sentence or a half a sentence from a speech and founding an argument upon
it. The Speaker infers that because I will not take measures to punish him
who, without the jurisdiction of the United States, enters into a vessel
armed by a foreign authority and cruises on the property of foreign
nations, that I must therefore be willing that a citizen of the United
States, within the limits of the United States, in a vessel belonging to
the United States, shall involve the government in a responsibility for
his acts with equal impunity. Mr. Forsyth spoke again on the facts, and the question was continued, the chief importance of the debate now being that the system of neutrality of the United States had been developed on the lines then suggested. Only another branch of the same exciting question was the debate on the proposed recognition of the Spanish-American Provinces, which was moved by the Speaker a few days later. With the revolting provinces there was, as has been said, great sympathy; but there was an equally great lack of knowledge as to their real condition and people. The average American citizen took it for granted that the Spanish South Americans only wanted some assistance to throw off the yoke of Spain in order to establish regular and orderly governments, and to follow in all things the example of their northern neighbors. Old John Eandolph had said bluntly that it could not be, and that " You cannot make liberty out of Spanish matter; you might as well try to build a seventy-four with pine saplings." In order to gain positive information, President Monroe had, in November, 1817, given a sort of roving commission to three gentlemen, "three distinguished citizens of the United States, Messrs. Rodney, Graham, and Bland," to visit in a ship of war different places and countries in South America " on just and friendly objects." They were in fact to see and judge whether the state of the provinces justified interference; but it might be wondered whether traveling in that style was the best way to acquire information, and whether what is called in India "official whitewashing" might not be expected. Now, in March, 1818, an appropriation of $30,000 to pay their expenses was asked. Mr. Clay instantly pounced upon the act and tore it to pieces. He demanded to know by what authority the commissioners had been sent, and disputed both the utility of the mission and the legality of the appropriation. He declared that "of most of those countries our knowledge is complete,1' an absolutely untenable assertion. Mr. Forsyth endeavored to defend the act, and Mr. Lowndes moved to "postpone consideration until further information was received." Mr. Clay immediately moved to send a minister with a salary of $18,000 to "the Independent Provinces of the River La Plata in South America." John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, sent at once a report, showing the utterly unsettled condition of things in South America, winding up with, " It should be added that these observations were connected with others, stating the reasons upon which the present acknowledgment of the Government of La Plata in any mode was deemed by the President inexpedient in regard as well to their interests as to those of the United States." Mr. Adams thus quietly asserted the rights of the Executive which Mr. Clay had ignored. Mr. Clay made a long and splendid speech, depicting in glowing colors the iniquities and cruelties of Spanish rule, a tale which we, alas, know too well. Mr. Forsyth followed, dwelling on the fact that although the Spanish ruie was bad, we had no reason to suppose that that of the revolted colonies would be better, an apprehension which the history of the past seventy years has surely justified. Mr. Clay's magnificent rhetoric had dwelt largely on the resemblance between the struggles of these colonies and our own. Mr. Forsyth replied that the resemblance was confined to their being colonies revolting against the mother country, and gave many facts to prove that there was in La Plata no government worthy of the name. There is in the " Abridged Debates " no mention of Mr. Lowndes having spoken on the question at all, but Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, who there follows Mr. Forsyth, addresses almost his whole speech not to Mr. F., but to Mr. Lowndes, quoting him largely. I find among Mr. Lowndes's papers a speech, probably the reporter's copy, beginning "Mr. Lowndes of S. C. followed Mr. Forsyth." It is poorly reported, but I give some extracts to show his line of thought on this now interesting subject. It is said that it was Mr. Lowndes's custom in speaking to
begin by giving a synopsis of the views and arguments of his opponents,
setting them forth as strongly and clearly as might be, and then
proceeding to give his own opinions and arguments. On one occasion John
Randolph is said to have exclaimed, " He has done that too well this time.
He cannot answer that argument." But at the close of the speech Randolph
was compelled to admit that the counter-argument was conclusive. So, in
accordance with this habit, he began by stating Mr. Clay's propositions
and remarking that to some of them he agreed. " There were many of the
principles laid down by the Speaker which had his most unqualified
concurrence. One of these was that Peace was a leading object connected
with the best interests of the country. . . . There is much more to the same effect too long to be entered here. He showed the evils that would follow a possible war with Spain, and the improbability that the trade of the South American provinces would in the event of their independence flow to this country instead of to England, with which their relations were already close. He did not believe that any advantage of maritime or navigating interests would follow to this country ; " it is the navigation of England, and not our own, which is to flourish with the independence and increased opulence of the Spanish colonies." But these considerations weighed not on his mind. He anxiously wished the independence of South America, and should deplore as a calamity worse than war any indifference to the interests, to the liberty, to the happiness, of the people of South America. He carefully examined the different clauses of Mr. Clay's argument on the " advantages " of the South American support, he had not understood the Speaker that these advantages were territorial, " for surely we want no foreign aid in defense of our own soil; " the maritime advantages would go to England, and wound up by saying, that with these views thus cursorily expressed he hoped the motion of the Speaker would not prevail. No one can feel more strongly than the writer how poorly this extract represents Mr. Lowndes's speech. She has, however, found it impossible to condense its twenty-seven pages more clearly, but fears that the argument has lost its weight in her treatment. The prediction has certainly been fulfilled, for English commerce rules in South America to-day. No speech of Mr. Lowndes's ever provoked such comment and such opposition as this. Mr. Robertson, of Louisiana, declared that " there are certain cabalistic words of great efficacy with old women and with old men of weak minds, of the use of which the gentleman from South Carolina has availed himself. I allude, sir, to his remarks on the dangers of war and the propriety of casting censure on the conduct of the Executive;" and so on through three closely printed pages without adding information or reason to the case. This is, it may be observed, the only uncourteous remark that is recorded in the debates as being addressed to Mr. Lowndes in his whole career. Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, laments " that the honorable chairman of Ways and Means should suppose that an acknowledgment of this kind [viz. independence] might involve us in national difficulties : can he, who is so well versed in the laws of nations, suppose," etc. He too regrets that the charge of interference with the prerogatives of the Executive should have been made, and says " from his usual benevolence of character it was not to be expected of him," etc. Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, curiously mixed compliment and reproach when he said: " There is, Mr. Chairman, another course of remark, which I cannot but regret. It has been said that this proposition implies a censure on the Executive. I am well aware that the gentleman from South Carolina did not mean to intimate anything personal by the remark, yet it cannot but have its effect." Mr. Lowndes said that " as he frequently differed from the Executive himself, he could not disapprove a similar conduct in others." Mr. Tucker: " The observation from the gentleman was unnecessary. His uniform urbanity furnished a sufficient assnr-rance that the remark was not intended with any personal view. But though this is the case, the intimation that the proposition is not in consonance with executive opinion is not without effect. Thehigh standing and commanding talents of the gentleman render it personally unimportant to him whether he conflicts with executive opinion or not. It is not always so with others." Only Mr. Smyth, of Virginia, supported Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Lowndes, yet Mr. Clay's resolution (to send a minister to the United States of La Plata) was defeated by a vote of 115 to 45. It was a triumph for the supporters of the government ; but a spirit had been raised which it was not in the power of legislation to lay. Perhaps the most striking point of this discussion in regard to Mr. Lowndes is the scrupulous care to prevent the House (his own favorite branch of government) infringing upon the privileges or usurping the rights of the Executive, and thus disturbing the just balance of the Constitution. |
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