“I insist that the nature of the case and of the power did
imperiously require that such important authority as that of
granting monopolies of trade and navigation _should not be
considered as still retained by the States_.”[89]
And, yet again, he adduces an authority which ought to be conclusive on
the present occasion: it is that of New Jersey, on the formation of the
Constitution:--
“The New Jersey resolutions complain that the regulation of
trade was in the power of the several States, within their
separate jurisdiction, to such a degree as to involve many
difficulties and embarrassments; and they express an earnest
opinion that _the sole and exclusive power of regulating trade
with foreign states ought to be in Congress_.”[90]
But the power of regulating trade “among the States” stands on the same
reason, and also on the same text of the Constitution.
And yet, in face of these principles, we have a gigantic monopoly
organized by New Jersey, composed of several confederate
corporations, whose capital massed together is said to reach upwards
of $27,537,977,--a capital not much inferior to that of the United
States Bank, which once seemed to hold “divided empire” with the
National Government itself. And this transcendent monopoly, thus
vast in resources, undertakes to levy a toll on the commerce, the
passengers, the mails, and the troops of the Union in transit between
two great cities, both outside New Jersey. In attitude and pretension
the grasping monopoly is not unlike Apollyon, in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s
Progress,” whose usurpation is thus described:--
“But now in this Valley of Humiliation poor Christian was hard
put to it; for he had gone but a little way before he espied
a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him: his name is
Apollyon. Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in
his mind whether to go back or to stand his ground.…
“Now the monster was hideous to behold: he was clothed with
scales like a fish, and they are his pride; he had wings like
a dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire
and smoke, and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion. When he
was come up to Christian, he beheld him with a disdainful
countenance, and thus began to question with him.
“APOLLYON. Whence come you, and whither are you bound?
“CHRISTIAN. I am come from the City of Destruction, which is
the place of all evil, and am going to the City of Zion.
“APOLLYON. By this I perceive thou art one of my subjects; for
all that country is mine, and I am the prince and god of it.”
New Jersey is the Valley of Humiliation through which all travellers
north and south from the city of New York to the city of Washington
must pass; and the monopoly, like Apollyon, claims them all as
“subjects,” saying, “For all that country is mine, and I am the prince
and god of it.”
The enormity of the Usurpation is seen in its natural consequences. New
Jersey claims the right to levy a tax for State revenue on passengers
and freight in transit across her territory from State to State,--in
other words, to levy a tax on “commerce among the several States.” Of
course the right to tax is the right to prohibit. The same power which
can exact “ten cents from every passenger,” according to the cry of the
Camden and Amboy Railroad, by the voice of its counsel, may exact ten
dollars, or any other sum, and thus effectively close this great avenue
of communication.
Again, if New Jersey can successfully play this game of taxation, and
compel tribute from the domestic commerce of the Union traversing
her territory on the way from State to State, then may every other
State do likewise. New York, with her central power, may build up an
overshadowing monopoly and a boundless revenue, while all the products
and population of the West traversing her territory on the way to
the sea, and all the products and population of the East, with the
contributions of foreign commerce, traversing her territory on the
way to the West, are compelled to pay tribute. Pennsylvania, holding
a great highway of the Union,--Maryland, constituting an essential
link in the chain of communication with the national capital,--Ohio,
spanning from lake to river, and forming a mighty ligament of
States, east and west,--Indiana, enjoying the same unsurpassed
opportunities,--Illinois, girdled by States with all of which it is
dovetailed by railroads, east and west, north and south,--Kentucky,
guarding the gates of the Southwest,--and, finally, any one of the
States on the long line of the Pacific Railroad,--may enter upon a
similar career of unscrupulous exaction, until anarchy sits supreme,
and there are as many different tributes as there are States. If
the Union should continue to exist, it would be only as a name. The
national unity would be destroyed.
The taste of revenue is to a government like the taste of blood to a
wild beast, exciting and maddening the energies, so that it becomes
deaf to suggestions of justice; and the difficulties must increase,
where this taxation is enforced by a comprehensive monopoly. The
State, once tasting this blood, sees only an easy way of obtaining the
means it desires; and other States will yield to the same temptation.
The poet, after picturing vice as a monster of frightful mien, tells us
in familiar words,--
“Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”
A profitable Usurpation, like that of New Jersey, would be a tempting
example to other States. “It is only the first step that costs.” Let
this Usurpation be sanctioned by Congress, and you hand over the
domestic commerce of the Union to a succession of local imposts. Each
State will be a tax-gatherer at the expense of the Union. Each State
will play the part of Don Quixote, and the Union will be Sancho Panza,
not only bound to contributions, but driven to receive on bare back the
lashes which were the penance of the knightly adventurer. If there be
any single fruit of our national unity, if there be any single element
of the Union, if there be any single triumph of the Constitution to
be placed above all others, it is the freedom of commerce between the
States, under which _free trade_, the aspiration of philosophy, is
assured to all citizens of the Union, as they circulate through our
whole broad country, without hindrance from any State. But this vital
principle is now in jeopardy.
Keep in mind that it is the tax imposed on commerce between New York
and Philadelphia, two cities outside the State of New Jersey, which I
denounce. I have denounced it as hostile to the Union. I also denounce
it as hostile to the spirit of the age, which is everywhere overturning
the barriers of commerce. The robber castles, once compelling payment
of toll on the Rhine, were long ago dismantled, and exist now only as
monuments of picturesque beauty. Kindred pretensions in other places
have been overthrown or trampled out. Duties levied by Denmark on all
vessels passing through the Sound and the Belts, duties levied by
Hanover on the goods of all nations at Stade on the Elbe, tolls exacted
on the Danube in its protracted course, tolls exacted by Holland on
the busy waters of the Scheldt, and transit imposts within the great
Zollverein of Germany, have all been abolished; and in this work of
enfranchisement the Government of the United States led the way,
insisting, in the words of President Pierce, in his Annual Message,
“on the right of _free transit_ into and from the Baltic.”[91] But the
right of free transit across the States of the Union is now assailed.
Can you who reached so far to secure _free transit_ in the Baltic now
hesitate in its defence here at home?
Thank God, within the bounds of the Union, under the National
Constitution, commerce is made free. As the _open sea_ is the highway
of nations, so is this Union made the highway of the States, with all
their commerce, and no State can claim any exclusive property therein.
The Union is a _mare liberum_, beyond the power of any State, and not a
_mare clausum_, subject to as many tyrannies as there are States. And
yet the State of New Jersey asserts the power of closing a highway of
the Union.
Such a pretension, so irrational and destructive, cannot be dealt with
tenderly. Like the serpent, it must be bruised on the head. Nor can
there be wise delay. Every moment of life yielded to such a Usurpation
is like the concession once in an evil hour yielded to Nullification,
kindred in origin and character. The present pretension of New Jersey
belongs to the same school with that abhorred and blood-bespattered
pretension of South Carolina.
Perhaps, Sir, it is not unnatural that the doctrines of South Carolina
on State Rights should obtain shelter in New Jersey. Like sees like.
There is a common bond among the sciences, among the virtues, among the
vices,--and so, also, among the monopolies. The monopoly founded on
the hideous pretension of property in man obtained responsive sympathy
in that other monopoly founded on the greed of unjust taxation, and
both were naturally upheld in the name of State Rights. Both must
be overthrown in the name of the Union. South Carolina must cease
to be a Slave State, and New Jersey must also cease her disturbing
pretension. All hail to the genius of Universal Emancipation! All hail
to the Union, victorious over the Rebellion,--victorious, also, over a
Usurpation which menaces the unity of the Republic!