Litchfield enquirer., 1832-03-29
SPEECH OF HENRY CHAT IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN sYsTEND
EXTRACTS.

 of the American system. what is their substi- tute Free trade! Free trade Their call for free trade ia as unavailing as the cry ofa spoiI- ed child in it's nurse's arms, for the moon or stars that glitter in the Armament of heaven. It never has existed it never will exist. Trade implies. at least, two parties. To be free, it should be fair, equal, and reciprocal. But if we throw our ports wide open to the admis- sion of foreign productions, free of all duty, what ports, of any foreign nation, shall we 6nd open to the free admission of our surplus produce We may break down all barriers to free trade, on our part, but the work will not be complete until foreign powers shall have removed theirs. There would be free dom on one side, and restrictions, prohihi- lions. and exclusions on the other. The bolts and the bars and the chains of all other na- tions will remain undistnrbed.
 Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that they are recommending to our acceptance. is. in effect, the British colo nial system that we are invited to adopt; and. if their policy prevail, it will lead sub stantially, to the recOlonizntion of these States, under the commercial domiDion of Great Britain.
 We have been told Of deserted castles, of halls, and of mansions, once the seat of opulence and hospitality, now aban- doned and mouldering in ruins. ! never had the honor of being in South Carolina but have heard and read ofthe stories of its chiv- airy. and ofits generous and open hearted lib- eralify. have heard, too, of the struggles for power between the lower and upper coun- try. The same causes which existed in sVir- ginia, with which have been acquainted, presume haze had their influence there. In whose hands now are the once proud seats of Westoyer. Curl, Maycox. Shirley and others. 0n James river, and in Lower Virginia Un- derthe operation of laws, abolishing the prin- ciple of primogeniturc. and providing the e. quitable rule of an equal distribution of estates among those in equal degree of consanguini- ty, they have passed into other and stranger hands. Some of the descendants of iiustri- ons families have gone to the far West, whilst others lingering behind, have contrasted their present condition with that of their venerated ancestors. They behold themselves exclud- ed from their fathers houses, now in tha hands of those who were once their fathers overseers, or sinking in decay their imagin- ati6ns paint ancient renown, the fading hon. ors of their name, glories gone by: too poor to live. too proud to work, too high-minded and honorable to resort to ignoblc means of acquisition, brave. daring, chivalrous, iChGt can be the cause of their present unhappy state The" accursed" tariff presents itself to their excited imaginations, and ttIcy sl;"d ly run into the ranks of those who, unfurling the banner of nulfcation, would place State upon'its sovereignty!
 The danger to our Union does not lie on the side of persistence in the American Sys- tenn, but on that ofits abandonment. If, as have supposed and believed, the inhabitants of all the North and East of James river, and all the West of the mountains. including Lou isiana, are deeply interested in the preserva- ton of that system, would they be reconciled to its overthrow? Can it be expected that two-thirds if not three-four;hs of the people of the United States would consent to the destruction of a policy, believed to be indis- pensably necessary to their prosperity r. When, too, this sacrifice is made at the in- stance of single interest, which they verily believe will not be promoted hy it. In es- timating the degree of peril which may be in- cident to two opposite courses of human poll icy, the statesman would be short-sighted who should content himself with viewing on- ly tLe evils, real or imaginary. which belong to that course which is in practical operation. He should lift himself up to the cODtempla- ton of those greater and more certain dangers
 
 of the alternative course. What would be the condition of this Unior, if Pennsylvania. and New York. those mammoth members of our confederacy, were firmly persuaded that their industry was paralised, and their pros perity blighted, ny the enforce ment of the British Colonial System, under the delusiye name of free trade! They are now tranquil, and happy, and contented, conscious oftheir welfare. and feeling salutary and rapid cir culation of the products of home manutac- lures and home industry throughout all their great arteries. But let that be checked, let them feel that foreign system is to predom- inate, and the sources of their subsistence and comfort dried up; let New England and the West, and the Middle States, all feel that they too are the victims of mistaken policy, and let these vast portions of our country despair of any favorable change, and then. indeed, might we fremble for the continuance and safety of this Union!
 And need I remind you, sir. that this dere- fiction of the duty ofprOteeting our domestic industry, and abandonment of it to the fate of foreign legislation, would be directly st war with leading considerations which prompted the adoption of the present constitution T. The states respectively surrendered to the General Government the whole power ofiay- ing imposts on foreign goods. They stripped themselves of all power to protect their own manufactures, by the most .eficacious means of encouragement-the imposition Of the du- ties on rival foreign fabrics. DidNhey create that trust! Did they voluntarily subject themselves to this self-restrictiOn, that the power should remain in the Federal Govern s....& ;n~es;va nuawaeufeA and Efeleaa 1--