Mr. SUMNER. I am going to make one more effort to remove a tax on knowledge. I move to insert in the free list, on page 99, section 18, after line 30, the following: Books in foreign languages. Now, that is a new proposition. I F. have not it before, though in the remarks that have made I have alluded to it. The Senate therefore have not voted upon it. If they will give me their attention for one minute I will enable them to understand how I regard it. By the proposed tariff all books in foreign languages are to pay 20%. adra. That is Is a further lorem. Of course by “books in foreign languages” is meant, as I understand it, not only ooks in the living languages, but in the dead languages, Latin and Greek, 20%. advalorem. And why that tax? Not for protection, for no such books are printed in our country. The Senfrom NewYork by me [Mr. MoRo;AN] whispers to me that it is for revenue. How much revenue will you get out of it? The importations are not very large. The revenue, therefore, would not be much. But what is the effect of the tax? So far as it has any effect it is to burden this importation of books, to make all who use books in foreign languages pay this tax of 20%. The persons that use most of those books are not able to pay that tax. They are clergymen, scholars, and the students of the country. Beyond that, they are the large, I might almost say, multitudine us population of foreigners now distributed throughout our country. Here are the Germans everywhere, and they still cling, more or less, to their fatherland. They wish to keep up their acquaintance with its literature. Germans every where are essentially students, and I might almost say essentially scholars. I have now on my table 2 catalogues I have received this very morning; One is entitled “A Philological Catalogue” of works recently published and on sale at a German house. The catalogue is of 40 pages of works merely relating to philology. Here are works in the Caucasian language, the Hindoo languages, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan &c. Now, why should persons who are engaged in studies which require these works be compelled to pay this tax? When I mention this subject you will see at once that nobody enters into it except the scholars and students of the country, men who cannot afford to pay this additional tax. Here is another catalogue which is entitled, “An Educational Catalogue.” That is 50 pages of works relating to education; the larger part of them in the German language; works interesting to every person who can read German and who is en f; in educational pursuits. have never heard but one argument in favor of this tax, and that I shall state. It is said that if you take off this tax it will cheapen modern French novels. Suppose it does; modern French novels constitute but a very small part of foreign literature; they are a small part even of the literature of France. Read any catalogue of recent French publications, and you will find that they perhaps are not more than a 10th or a 20th of that literature; and if you examine the cata logues of all the modern nations you will find that their proportion is still less. I submit, therefore, that the argument that you are going to make French novels cheaper is of little value when I plead for cheap books that are essential to the scholarship and the studies of our country.