Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1824-04-22
NATIONAL INTERESTS.

| speech on tie TARIFF presents a true
picture Of "a: suffering state Of the country and
! With force OF elocutioa, and soldity of ar.
gument. peculiar to that distinguished states
man, it displays the means Of pubic relief.
To that end, we hold as most essential, three
measures, which are now before the American
People-the FIRST is, the creation Of an adequate
circulating MEDIUM, an the SHAPE efa NATION.
AL CURRENCY. founded on the AGGREGA-
TED WEALTH of the UNION. The second,
a DIE protection Of The HOME INDusrRy-and
the third, an entire abolition ofa< b4rbayOus and
,uieinisaan practice Of Imprisonment for debt
| These principles being adopted. would ia
ealcula6ly lend 10 accelerate the enforcement Of
| our best interests, and to secure the real itde-
tendance and glory of this IMPERIAL aEruBLic.
CONGRESS.-The House again re-
| solved itself into a committee of the
| whole on the bill to amend the several
acts imposing duties on imports MIR.
Condict in the chair.
Mr.. Clay then took the floor in re-
ply to the observations made by MIR.
Barbour. We regret that we were not
in the House at the commencement of
his remarks, in the course of which,
we understand, he complimented the
talent displayed by the honorable gen.
tleman from Virginia, in his remarks.
When we entered the house, MIR. Clay
was depicting the general distress which
prevails thro' every part of the country.
1t was painful to 60 Into this subject !:
but as It was the duty of the physician
to examine into the nature of the dis
ease, before he could apply the healing
remedies, so was it the duty of the
statesman to investigate the diseases
which may affect the body polite, with
view to the same necessary object.
He glanced at the situation of England,
which ever since the memorable battle
of Waterloo, for the last nine years, had
been gradually increasing in rrosperi-
ty, while we, ever since the conclusion
of the last war, have been sinking into
deeper distresses. We have not enjoy
ed the legitimate blessings of peace.
The prosperity of England he referred
to her protection of her domestic inter
ests; and our distress he attributed to
the want of that protection here. The
ratio of increase in our population is
about four per centum per annum: as
the population shall become more
dense, the ratio of increase will be
diminished, but taking it now at ratio
of four percentum per annum the ratio
of increase of our surplus produce is the
same. The ratio increase in every other
country is nothing like our own. Eng
land indeed, may, by the encourage
inent she gives to her manufactures, du-
plicate her population once IN about 40
or so years, but no other country kept
pace with her increa Sc. He adverted to
the policy of foreign countries prohibit
inc every article of our produce except
such raw materials as would give en-
ployment to their manufactures and
increase to their revenue. He glanced
atthe corn laws of England, and the
marin um to which grain must there
arrive, before importation was allowed
He contended that the foreign market
was not adequate to the consumption of
the surplusproduce Of American labor.
This could only be sustained by view
of exports and imports. The honora.
bic Speaker then reviewed the exports
Of our country from 1895 to 1928; and
to explain the apparently Hattering
statement of our exports for the last
year, which was Al millions, he stated
that % millions of this amount was for
cotton, rice, and tobacco. He par
ticularized flour, Indian corn, wheat,
pork, SIC. and showed with a compare
son of last year with 1908, that the
foreign market was inadequate to the
consumption of our surplus produce,
as was evident from the fact that our
exports had not kept pace with our in
crease of population. He argued, that
as nearly two-thirds of our export trade
was confined to the three articles he had
enumerated, the far greater portion of
the country contributed nothing to these
exports. The two thirds was finished by
about two millions out of the ten mil
lions of American population: He saw
no prospect OF improvement in the for
eign market and delineated the increas-
ing evils which must result from pre-
ference of a foreign to domestic poll
cy. There was nothing behind nor before
four-fifths of the country but gloom and
dependency, unless domestic policy
should be introduced. A dependency