The facts need but be stated to prove the
inequality and injustice which can not but flow from the practice
embodied in this bill. Either the subject should be left as it was
during the first third of a century, or the practice of levying tonnage
duties by the States should be abandoned altogether and all harbor and
river improvements made under the authority of the United States, and by
means of direct appropriations. In view not only of the constitutional
difficulty, but as a question of policy, I am clearly of opinion that
the whole subject should be left to the States, aided by such tonnage
duties on vessels navigating their waters as their respective
legislatures may think proper to propose and Congress see fit to
sanction. This "consent" of Congress would never be refused in any case
where the duty proposed to be levied by the State was reasonable and
where the object of improvement was one of importance. The funds
required for the improvement of harbors and rivers may be raised in this
mode, as was done in the earlier periods of the Government, and thus
avoid a resort to a strained construction of the Constitution not
warranted by its letter.
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