Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-04-23

peace arrangement, their established church. af-
lord 10 their population employments, which in
that respect the happier constitution of our GO
IVernmen', does not tolerate, but in a very limi-
ted degree. The peace establishments of our
] army and our navy are extremely small, and /
hope ever will be. We have no established
church, and trust never shall have In pro-
portion as the enterprise OF our citizens in pub
lie empioyments, Is crcunscribed, should we
excite andinvlgoratc it in private pursuits.
The creation of a home market is not only
necessary toprOcure for our agriculture q lust
reward Gifts abors, but it is indispensable TO OBJ
tam supply OF our necessary wants. If we
cannot sell, we cannot buy. That portion of
our population, land we have ceen that it is not
less than four-iifths,) which makes comparative
ly nothing that foreigners will buy, has nothing
TO make purchases with from foreigners. 1t is
IN VAN that we are told OF the amount of our
exports, supplied by the planting interest. They
may enable the planting interest 10 supply all its
wants. but they bring no ability to the interests
not planting, unless which cannot be pretended,
| the planting interest was an adequate vent for
the surplus produce of the labor of all othernte-
rests. 1t IS In vain 10 tantalize us with the
| greater cheapncss of foreign fabrics. There
must be an ability to purchase, if an article be
| obtained, whatever may be the price, high or
! low, at which it was sold. And cheap arti-
cleis as much beyond the grasp of him who has
no means to buy, as high one. Even if it
were true that the Americanmanufacturer would
supply consumption at dearer rates, it is better
to have his fabrics than the unattainabIe FOREIGN
!abncs for it is better to be i'll supplied than not
supplied at all. coarse coat, which will COM
munlcasc warmth and cover nakedness, is bet
ter than no coat.-The superiority of the home
market results, LIST. from Its steadness and CON-
| Paratiye certainty at all times; I'd, from the
!
greater security and, lastly, from an ultimate
and not distant augmentation of consumption,
1 and consequently, of comfort, from increased
| quantity and reduced prices. But this home
market, highly desirable as it is, can only be
created and cherished by the PROTECTION of our
own Legislation against the inevitable prostra-
ton OF our industry, which must ensue from the
action ofFoREIGN policy and legislation. The
effect and the value of this domestic care of our
own interests will be obvious, from few facts
and considerations. Let us suppose that half a.
million ofpersons are now employed abroad, in
iabricating for our consumption those articles of
which by the operation of this bill, q supply is
| intended to be provided within ourselves. That
hall n million OF persons are, in effect, subsisted
by Us; but their actual means of subsistence are
drawn from foreign agriculture. If we could
| transport them to this country, and incorporate
them in the mess of cur own population, there
would instantly arise demand for an amount of
| provisions equal to that which would be requi-
site for their subsistence throughout the whole
year. That demand, In the article of -four
alone, would not be less than the quantity of
about 100000 barrels, besides a proportonate
quantity OF beef and pork and other articles of
subsistence. But nine hundred thousand bar
| rels OF flour exceeded the entire quantity ex-
ported last year, by nearly enc hundred and fifty
| thousand barrels. What activity would il not
! give, What cheerful. ess would il not COM
municate TO our now disprited farming interest
But Il, instead of these five hundred thousand ar
! tsans ENGRAVING from abroad, we give, by this
| bull, employment TO an equal number of our own
| citizens now engaged in improbable agricul-
ture, idle from the want of business, the benc-
| fetal effect upon the productions of ourfarming
labor you'd be nearly doubled. The quantity
would be diminished by satisfaction Of tire
| produce from the labor of all those who should
| be diverted from its pursuits to manufacturing
| industry, and the value Of the residue would be
enhanced, both by that dimiDution and the Gre
| alton of the home market to the extent suppos-
| ed. And the honorable gentleman from Vir-
| ginia may repress any apprehcnsious which he
entertains, that the plough viii be abandoned,
and our fields remain unsown. For, under all
the notifications of social industry, if YOU will
secure TO it a just reward, the greater attrac-
tons of agriculture viii give to it that proud SUI
Iperiority which 1t has always maintained. If
We suppose no actual abandonment of farming,
bat, what Is most likely, gradual and upper
! cepdblc employment of population in the BUSH
ness of manufacturing, instead of being COM
| PEELED to resort TO agriculture, TIE sanitary eff
| feet would be nearly the same. Is any part of
our common country likely to be injured by
y nsfer OF the theatre of fabrication for our own
consumption from Europe, to America? All
that those parts, If any there be, which will not.
or cannot, engage liz manufactures, should re-
guire, is, that their consumption should be well
supplied; and iftllc objects of that consumption
| are produced i'll other parts Of the Union that
can manufacture, far from having, on that ac-
count, any just cause of complaint their pa
| triotism will and ought to inculcate a cheer
/ iui aCGuiescenCc Ill what essentially contributes
and is indspensably necessary, to the prosperity
ofthe common family.
The great dcsidcration in political economy
! is the as in private pursuits that is, What
is the best application of the aggregate industry
of a nation, that can be made honestly to pro-
| duce the largest of national wealth? La
Dor is the source of all wealth. but il is not ma
| tural labor only. And the fundatlental errorior
| the gentleman from Virginia, and of the school
to which he belongs, in reducing, from our spare
! population, unGtncss for the introduction OF
the arts, consists in their not sufficiently weigh
] ing the Importance of the power of machinCry
| In former times, when but little comparative use
was made of machinery, manual labor and the
| price OF wages were circumstances Of the great
est consideration. But it is far otherwise in
these lstcr times. Such arc the improvements
aud the projections in machinery, that, in ana
| lying the compound value OF many fabrics, the
! element Unnatural labor is SO uncomfortable as
| almost TO escape detection This truth is de-