foreign commeree. The splendid ship that carries and brings is still subor dinate to the interests of those who buy, and use, and pay for the cargo. The merchants on our seaboard may heap up wealth, build palaces, command all the luxuries of life; but they must wel! keep in mind that they all owe their prosperity to the strong arm of labor. They owe it to the daily toil of our yeomanry, whether engaged in subduing the summits of the Green mountains, or cultivating the glens of the Alleghany. Let, then, the hemp of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, be protected. Let the people of those States have a share in the advantages of the policy which they are willing to defend. If it has so happened that navigation engaged in our foreign trade is suffering from foreign competition, it is owing to itself. All which it asked for protection was freely given. When it had gained such an ascendency as it supposed would enable it to challenge foreign competition, it triumphantly told the Government that protection was no longer wanted. Hence, treaty after treaty has been concluded for reciprocal navigation. This was urged by the advocates of free trade. If, now, it is a little crippled if other nations supply us with a little more navigation, is it a greater evil than if foreigners supplied us with a little more iron, or hemp, or sugar, or cottons, or woollens? Must the great system of protection be abandoned because navigation has been indulged in its wish, and has been somewhat disappointed? The advocates of free trade ought rather to rejoice that one interest is free from the fetters of protection. If foreign nations can build ships cheaper than the people of the United States, why not cheerfully employ them? According to the doctrines of free trade, so much would be gained. But yet, if navigation wants assistance, there is every reason to believe that the power which protected its infancy, if desired, will come cheerfully again to its support, in every way and by all means consistent with other great interests of the country. But hemp is "local, not a general" production; and must, therefore, be rejected.

Sugar is proposed. It is an article of necessity, comfort, and luxury. It cannot be produced in Maine or Pennsylvania. Its production must be confined to the warm regions of our country, where the great staples of other parts are uncongenial. But it must be rejected according to the rule. Its production is local, not general.

The same may be said of cotton and wool--of every article named in the tariff. The greatest and most valuable productions of domestic industry are more or less local in their origin-not general. Hence, if the rule is, that every portion of the country must alike contribute to the production of an article which the Constitution will allow to be protected, there never can be a protecting tariff at all: human wisdom could not devise one which would confer the least benefit on the country.

The rule that any particular object of domestic industry must possess "national importance" to entitle it to protection, may be safely adopted, if properly understood and applied. A broad view must be taken of the condition of our country, of its productions, of its various business, of its perpetually blending and mingling interests. We must see the mutual relations which exist between the narrowest sections of our country, and ascertain how widely and generally the various productions of domestic industry are distributed among the people. We should ascertain, for the practical purpose of legislation, what articles of domestic production, great or small, may be required for general use; what articles the people want; what their

comfort and convenience demand; what articles are gathered up and distributed by the trade, business, and commerce of the country.

The name of the articles may be humble: it may be broadcloths, wood screws, thimbles, bar iron, steam engines, or the fabrics of cotton. But, whatever its name, the right to protection must be considered with reference to the great principles before mentioned. By these principles, it is believed, the present tariff can be fully sustained.

The President has advised Congress that the tariff is considered by almost all as defective in many of its parts. Suppose this correct: it is proper to inquire whether greater perfection can be obtained? If so, how? The President has left Congress unadvised. The representatives of the people have recently, after their maturest consideration, come to their best result. The details may be imperfect. As a system, it "works well." Those whose interests are involved are generally satisfied. It is a subject of so much delicacy, that "it should be touched with the utmost caution.' The committee must be fully convinced that improvement can be made, or they cannot, with a proper respect to the "extended interests it involves," hazard an effort.

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Such is the "infirmity of our nature," that the enemies of the protecting system would rejoice to have the benefit of little "likes and dislikes" to aid them in their attack.

The President also expresses his opinion, that "the effects of the present tariff are doubtless overrated, both in its evils and advantages." The committee are confident that its evils are most unreasonably overrated." Its advantages are so manifest, that they have been, in the estimation of many, too greatly undervalued.

The President advises us, that the decreased price of raw material, manufactured articles, provisions and lands, arises from a cause "deeper and more pervading than the tariff of the United States." He supposes "it may, in a measure, be attributable to the increased value of the precious metals." The committee are unable to say how far this remark may apply to other countries. As applied to this country, it is clearly erroneous. Appreciation in any commodity, gold, silver, corn, or lumber, depends, in a great degree, on abundance or scarcity. If currency, whether composed of silver, gold, or bank notes, is plenty, the nominal price of all articles required for general consumption will rise, because the owners of currency must use it for profit. The greater the plenty, the more it will be used. In such case, less profit will satisfy. This cause enhances the price of every thing that currency purchases; for it must and will be employed. "The precious metals are the base of our national currency. Our commercial emporiums are filled with them. Exchange on foreign nations was never lower; and if it seems to be against us, it is only because we have, by luw, established a relative value between silver and gold which the rest of the world will not adopt. It cannot, therefore, be supposed that "the reduced price" of domestic productions is caused by "the increased value" of the precious metals. It is to be attributed to domestic competition, and to an addition to the great supply of the world; and that the advance in the price of cotton, and the steady support of other agricultural products," is owing to the diversified employments encouraged by the protecting system. Had the precious metals "increased in value,' ," the benefits of the tariff would have been far more perspicuous. Prices would have been lower still. The tendency of such opinions of the President, as to the cause of

the low prices of domestic manufactures, is to excite prejudice against the protecting system, to render it, in the estimation of our fellow-citizens, an object of little importance. The error of such opinions, the committee considered it their duty to expose. The President has informed us that "the best as well as fairest mode of determining whether, from any just considerations, a particular interest ought to receive protection, would be to submit the question singly for deliberation. If, after due examination of its merits, unconnected with extraneous considerations, such as a desire to sustain a general system, or to purchase support for a different interest, it should enlist in its favor a majority of the representatives of the people, there can be but little danger of wrong or injury in adjusting the tariff with reference to its protective effect." The committee pass over the caution against "extraneous considerations;" that will be duly appreciated by the representatives of the people. The suggestions of the President, which relate to the manner in which a protecting tariff should be formed, the committee believe, cannot be adopted. If such views had prevailed since the adoption of the constitution, no tariff for the protection of domestic industry would have existed. If they now prevail in all branches of the government, the tariff has no escape from total destruction.

The framers of our constitution were equally distinguished for profound intelligence and the purest patriotism. In their great design to provide a government for this republic which should promote and secure the various interests of every portion, did they adopt a single provision but with open and avowed desire to make a general system? Did not every State present in bold relief its separate claims and interests? Was not each separate and distinct claim and interest presented by the different members of the convention, and well considered by the whole? It was by uniting interests, great and small, scattered far and wide, that our system of government was adopted. Had a particular interest" been submitted "singly" from some portion of the country, and that alone must have been regarded, the convention would have dissolved without giving it a glance of notice. members of that august assembly did make mutual concessions and compromises in order to establish a general system.

The President has advised Congress that the power of protecting domestic industry by the aid of duties on imports belongs to the General Government. This, all know, is secured by a constitution, founded on liberal concession and compromise. The committee believe that the protecting power may be exercised, without exposure to impeachment for motives, on the same principles as governed the convention which framed and recommended our constitution, and the people who ratified it. The application of this protecting power must be made by the representatives of the people There is no other way by which it can be exercised. Then, how can this be done? How can it be brought down home to business and bosom? If a blacksmith asks the Government of the Union to protect the manufacture of an axe, must his question be submitted "singly" for deliberation? Must a separate bill be introduced, and a vote of Congress taken? Shall abstract theory place the seal of silence on the lips of the blacksmith, and forbid him to say that he wishes the forge, the loom, the sugar plantation, also, to be protected? The consequences are too plain for extensive commentary. great interests of the nation will hold generous communion among themselves. They will make common cause. They will make mutual con

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cessions, compromises, and even sacrifices, to promote the general welfare, in imitation of the example set by the great founders of our Government. Different interests have a right to consult each other. They will do so. They have always done so. They must and will act in concert, if they expect to exist Mutual aid may be required by the civil interests of the country, as much as mutual assistance was once required from the different States at New Orleans or Plattsburg. Statesmen who understand human nature must admit it. It is sanctioned by the purest examples of our country--of all countries. In the adjustmen of the existing tariff, it might be presumed by another branch of the Government that Congress did its duty; that it did not improperly obtain support for different interests. It must still be kept in mind, that, if the infirmity of our nature rendered it defective in its origin, an attempt at revision might add to its imperfections. American manufactures have had a long and arduous conflict with the popular, yet delusive doctrine, that additional duties for their protection are taxes on the consumer; and that every man who wears a coat pays the duty imposed into the pockets of the manufacturer. The committee will not go into any train of reasoning to show its fallacy. They will merely advert to a few facts; and they congratulate the friends of the American system, that the memory of every man in the nation can furnish abundant evidence, that, in all cases where the material is found at home, and the protecting duty has been adequate, the domestic article becomes cheaper in price, and improved in quality. Cotton goods furnish a striking example of this truth, and every man who wears a cotton shirt knows it. The article of nails furnishes another proof, as is well known to every man who builds a house. The committee might enumerate hundreds of articles, such as hats. caps, shoes, boots, and cheese, to sustain them; but they know it would be superfluous. The tax is not paid, because the articles are not imported. The duty secures the market to the home manufacturer, and domestic competition among the manufacturers reduces the cost to the lowest possible price, while, at the same time, it improves the quality. This is the plain truth of the matter, and is now so well understood by the great mass of the nation, that the American system will not be surrendered nor abandoned, so long as the people elect their own rulers. It has taken deep root in our soil: the tree is flourishing-its branches have extended far and wide; and the people will frown indignantly upon every effort to wither its leaf, or to blast its fruit.

The President having, in the proper exercise of his duty, submitted to Congress his views of the tariff, and these having been referred to the Committee on Manufactures, it became the committee to give them a candid and respectful consideration. This they have endeavored to do. Being representatives of the people, they have no apology to make for the freedom with which the opinions of the Chief Magistrate on this interesting and delicate subject have been examined.

In framing the tariff, they believe that the acknowledged principles of the Constitution have been applied as faithfully as "Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison, and Monroe," could have desired; that the present tariff, although it may be defective in parts, is adjusted on principles which those great statesmen approved. Had they been employed to consider its details, and adapt them to the present condition of our country and the world, and their united wisdom had been exerted, every one might have discovered "imperfection in many of its parts;" yet, as a system, all of them would most cheerfully have given it their powerful and hearty sup

port. They understood the "infirmity of our nature" too well to designate a single interest, and trust it to single consideration. They would have made all interests that required protection come forth together, stand side by side, and then provide a system by which all could be mutually sustained.

The committee are satisfied that the provisions of the existing tariff are national in their character: that no interest which it has undertaken to protect is "too minute;" that it contains no evidence of attempts" to force manufactures for which the country is not ripe," of sufficient importance to require revision; that "no comforts of life are taxed unnecessarily high," with a proper regard to revenue and protection; that the "low prices of manufactured articles" have not been caused by the "increased value of the precious metals;" for the precious metals were never before so abundant and cheap in the United States; but that the low prices of manufactured articles are caused, in a great degree, by the existing tariff, which has made the labor, skill, and enterprise of our people add a vast supply for consumption to the stores of the world.

The committee fully believe that the present general prosperity of our country is mainly to be attributed to the protecting system; and if our fellow ow-citizens can retain full faith and confidence that our Government will firmly execute its repeated and solemn promises; that it will maintain the high assurance of support, which our people have a right to demand from its dignity and honor, their prosperity will be daily and more rapidly promoted, and the resources of our country more and more amply developed.

The committee repeat that they cannot concur in the opinion of the President, that, in framing a protecting tariff, each interest should be submitted " singly for deliberation," without any reference to a general system. By such a rule, it is believed that no protecting system could ever have been adopted; and by its influence, it is strongly apprehended, none can stand. The fears of the committee are the more explicitly declared, because enemies of the system have, in a manner that cannot be misunderstood, exposed their plan of operations. It is to present each interest "singly" for deliberation, and conquer the whole system in detail.

The committee have thus presented to the House their undisguised and undissembled opinions on the subject referred," with the freedom and candor" which they considered" the occasion for their expression" required. They believe that, the tariff having been so recently revised, any attempt to change its provisions at this time would spread alarm among the great in terests of our country, shake confidence in the plighted faith of Government, destroy the supposed well founded hopes of millions of our fellowcitizens, reduce them to penury, and expose the whole country to the dangers of a "most selfish policy, which might be adopted by foreign nations."