Stephen Johnson Field

“ The encouragement of manufactures does not appear to have been the object of the act; but, on the contrary, its object was manifestly to increase the revenues of the country, and it may well have been supposed by the law-makers that in many cases the raw material could bear a duty without decreasing the importation, or injuriously affecting the manufacturing interests.
What is termed the policy of the government with reference to any particular legislation is generally a very uncertain thing, upon which all sorts of opinions, each variant from the other, may be formed by different persons. ”

“ It is a ground much too unstable upon which to rest the judgment of the court in the interpretation of statutes.
Looking to the section by itself, we find no little difficulty in its construction. The first clause declares that upon all goods, wares, and merchandise, the growth or product of countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, when imported from places this side of the Cape, a duty of ten per cent. ad valorem shall be levied, and the latter clause does not qualify this general language so as to exclude from it the articles previously exempt. ”

“ The answer to the objection is obvious and conclusive. The terms 'beyond the Cape of Good Hope' are employed as descriptive of the locality of certain countries, not their relative position with respect to ports of import. ”