Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/393

Rh if the subject of the tariff of 1846 could be taken up in a liberal, kind, and national spirit; not with any purpose of reviving those high rates of protection which at former periods of our country were established for various causes, — sometimes from sinister causes, — but to look deliberately at the operation of the tariff of 1846; and, without disturbing its essential provisions, I should like a consideration to be given to the question of the prevention of frauds and great abuses, of the existence of which there is no earthly doubt. We should see whether we cannot, without injury, without prejudice to the general interests of the country, give some better protection to the manufacturing interests than is now afforded.” From the great champion of the “American system” this request had a diffident, melancholy sound. It was a very faint echo of past struggles.

During the last days of the session he broke a lance for a river and harbor bill, appropriating $2,300,000, which had come up from the House, and was in danger of being defeated by a determined minority in the Senate. The interests of the great West, the necessity of improving the Mississippi, and the rights of the majority, were the texts of his arguments. But his appeals were in vain. The subject of the tariff was not taken up for consideration, and the river and harbor bill succumbed to parliamentary tactics. Clay's last official act was a refusal to accept the “constructive mileage,” a “called session” of the Sen-