he well knew that truth and thoroughly sound reasoning were the only sure
foundations. Can the party opinion of a party President on a law
question, as this purely is, be at all compared or set in opposition to
that of such a man, in such an attitude, as Chancellor Kent? This
constitutional question will probably never be better settled than it is,
until it shall pass under judicial consideration; but I do think no man
who is clear on the questions of expediency need feel his conscience much
pricked upon this.

Mr. Chairman, the President seems to think that enough may be done, in
the way of improvements, by means of tonnage duties under State
authority, with the consent of the General Government. Now I suppose this
matter of tonnage duties is well enough in its own sphere. I suppose it
may be efficient, and perhaps sufficient, to make slight improvements and
repairs in harbors already in use and not much out of repair. But if I
have any correct general idea of it, it must be wholly inefficient for
any general beneficent purposes of improvement. I know very little, or
rather nothing at all, of the practical matter of levying and collecting
tonnage duties; but I suppose one of its principles must be to lay a duty
for the improvement of any particular harbor upon the tonnage coming into
that harbor; to do otherwise--to collect money in one harbor, to be
expended on improvements in another--would be an extremely aggravated
form of that inequality which the President so much deprecates. If I be
right in this, how could we make any entirely new improvement by means of
tonnage duties? How make a road, a canal, or clear a greatly obstructed
river? The idea that we could involves the same absurdity as the Irish
bull about the new boots. "I shall niver git 'em on," says Patrick, "till
I wear 'em a day or two, and stretch 'em a little." We shall never make a
canal by tonnage duties until it shall already have been made awhile, so
the tonnage can get into it.