Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/309

290 Carolina were willing to repeal their ordinance. Among the provisions of the new bill which recommended it to their acceptance were the establishment of a system of ad valorem duties, the entire abandonment of specific duties and minima, and reductions to an ultimate 20 per cent level. These were ameliorations of the system to the benefits of which they could not be insensible. But great as must be the advantages of these reductions, they were small in comparison with the distinct recognition in the new bill of two great principles which were deemed of inestimable value: namely, that the duties should eventually be brought down to the revenue standard, even if it should be found necessary to reduce the duties on the protected articles below 20 per cent, and that no more money should be raised than was necessary for an economical administration of the government.

The preamble to the ordinance which rescinded the ordinance of nullification had several features more moderate in tone than several of the members of the convention approved. Some there were who opposed stating any reasons at all; some opposed as hypocrisy the statement that "ardently attached to the Union of the states" the people of South Carolina were still more devoted to the