adequate to the wants of the people.

"Under the faith of the laws, they have embarked their capital
in the production of one of the great necessaries of life, and
in support of a national system, which they understood it was
the object of the government to establish. They have opened a
new and extensive field of agricultural industry; directed
labour to more profitable employment; maintained the value of
slaves; and increased the internal commerce of the country.
They have contributed their full share to all the duties paid
on other articles. They came into this Union, charged with _an
immense public debt_, which was greatly increased by the war,
in which they suffered in common: they have freely contributed
their portion to its payment."

He proceeds to show that the value of lands and slaves "is predicated
upon the value of the sugar, and that depends upon the rate of duty
established by the laws." The effects of a reduction of the duty is thus
detailed.

"The present price of sugar, at 5-1/2 cents, is sustained by a
duty of 3 cents a pound. If that duty was removed, foreign
sugar would be sold 3 cents less, and ours would fall in the
same proportion. That reduction would bring sugar below the
actual cost, and therefore it could not be made, even if slaves
and lands cost nothing. A reduction of 2 cents would bring the
price to the exact amount of 3-1/2 cents a pound, the precise
cost of the sugar, independent of the capital, and therefore
would yield nothing to the cultivator. A reduction of 1 cent
would bring sugar to 4-1/2 cents, which would leave only 1 cent
profit to pay for the capital--that is, the lands and slaves.
That would diminish the present profit one half, and the value
of the slaves in the same proportion. This reduction of duty
operates entirely upon the _profit_; and a reduction of
one-third of the duty operates a reduction of one-half of the
profit, and thereby one-half of the value of the capital, and
one-half of the slaves. Capital has been invested in Louisiana
by the present standard of value. A reduction in that standard
would produce a corresponding reduction in the value of all
property. A reduction of one-third of the duty would sink half
the value of property in the state, and ruin all those who have
made engagemen