This bill can only be advocated upon the ground that a war is about to ensue, and that, to prepare the public Treasury to sustain the prosecution of such war, this proposed duty is necessary. My purpose is to cite some authorities to show that neither the one nor the other is either expected or necessary; and the authorities I shall adduce to prove this, are those to which the Senate is accustomed to pay the highest respect. [Here Mr. Lloyd quoted from Mr. Gallatin's Treasury reports, to show that he deemed loans preferable to taxes if war ensued, and that there was revenue enough until the next winter.] Now, sir, it is clear, from the showing even of this honorable gentleman whose calculations are received with so much respect here, that whether there is peace, war, or embargo, our resources are yet abundant to carry us on, at least until the next winter; and as we are to meet again in three months, it follows that the present undigested project must be worse than useless. To all this mass of evidence and authority against both the necessity and policy of laying this duty, I have only to add a few observations to show that it will, in its operation, be both unequal and unjust. It is well known that permanent duties, except on their first imposition, are paid by the consumer; but whenever duties are to be of short duration, as in the present instance, or until the stocks of merchandise prior to the assessment of the duty are run off, the price does not rise in ratio with the duty, and that, of consequence, the whole, or part of the duty, is thus much of loss to the merchant. This, in a degree, cannot be avoided, nor is it even a subject of complaint, where due notice has been given of the intention to lay the duty; but if it be imposed without notice, or giving time for preparation, then the interest of the merchant is sacrificed. The basis of all commerce is calculation; what calculation can be found for distant enterprises when the data are perpetually shifting? If a merchant rests on the stability of the laws of the Government, and sends away his vessel, and on her return finds a new duty of 50 per cent. imposed, which, for the circumstance of it, the consumer does not pay, his whole calculations are defeated, and he pockets a loss instead of a profit for his industry.