enue laws are a mere farce."

The bill, despite its merits, was assailed with all forms of
amendments from all parts of the House. Many of the amendments
were adopted, until the bill became so mottled that Mr. Morrill,
discouraged and strongly inclined against the bill as changed, was
disposed to abandon it to its fate. He was not familiar with the
rules, and, for this reason, labored under a disadvantage in the
conduct of the bill. I believed not only in the merits of the
measure, but that by a process strictly in accordance with the
rules, it might be restored substantially as it was reported by
the committee. To secure that effect Mr. Morrill offered an
amendment in the nature of a substitute for the bill. To that I
offered as an amendment a bill which embodied nearly all of the
original bill as reported, with such modifications as were evidently
favored by the House, without affecting the general principles of
the measure.

The vote, upon my substitute being adopted in place of the substitute
offered by Mr. Morrill, prevented any amendment to my amendment
except by adding to it. The result of it was that the House, tired
with the long struggle, and believing that the measure thus amended
was in substance the same as the original bill reported, finally
passed the bill on the 10th day of May, 1860, by the vote of 105
yeas to 64 nays.

As this was my birthday, I remember to have celebrated it, not only
as my birthday, but as the day on which the Morrill tariff bill
passed the House of Representatives.

We knew upon the passage of this bill that it could not pass the
Senate during that session. It was taken up in that body, debated
at length, and finally, on the 20th of June, it was, in effect,
postponed until the next session.

I might as well here follow the Morrill tariff bill to its final
passage at the next session of this Congress.

On the 20th of December, 1860, Mr. Hunter, from the committee on
finance, to whom was referred the tariff bill, reported it back
with a recommendation that it be postponed until the 4th day of
March following. This was, in effect, to reject the bill, as
Congress terminated on that day. The committee on finance, and a
majority of the Senate as then constituted, was opposed to the
passage of the bill, but the secession movements, then openly
threatened, soon changed the political complexion of the Senate,
by the resignation of Senators on account of the secession of the