The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1840-04-16

: solldillon OF our country, of itself.
without the aid of Government, does
muchto favor American manual labor:
and it IS a question Of policy and jus
tee, at all times, what and how much
Government shall.do in aid Of natural
advantages. In regard to some branch
es oflndustry, the5natural advantages
ARE less considerable than in regard to
Eothers; and those, therefore. more i'm
:. periously demand the regard Of Gov
! eminent. Such are the occupations,
! generally speaking, Of the numerous
!. classes of citizens in cities. and large
/ towns; the workers in leather, brass.
tin, iron, &c; and such, too, under
most circumstances, are the employ
Fments connected with ship building.
l5Our own experience has been a pow
erful, and ought to be aiconvincing
/ and long-remembered preacher, on
this point. From the close Of the
4 war of the Revolution, there came on
q period of depression and distress,
on the Atlantic coast, such as the
people had hardly felt during the
Isharpest crisis of the war itself. Ship
owners, ship-builders, mechanics, art-
sans, all were destitute Of employment,
and some of them destitute Of bread.
! British ships came freely, and British
/ goods came plentifuiiy; while to Amer
|ican ships and American products,
! there was neither protection on the
one side nor the equivalent ofrecipro-
cal free-trade on the other. The
cheaper labor Of England supplied
.the inhabitants of the Atlantic shores
with every thing. Ready-made
clothes, among the rest, from the
Grown of the head to the soles of the
! feet, were for sale in every city. All
these things came free from any gen
eral system of impost. Some OF the
States attempted to establish their
own partial systems, but they failed.
/ Voluntary associations was resorted
4 to, but that failed also. A memora-
/ bic instance of this mode of attempt
] ing protection occurred in Boston.
The ship-owners seeing that British
vessels came and went lreel y, while
! their own ships were rotting at the
. wharves. raised a committee to address
4 the People, recommending to them,
.tim.the strongest manner, not to buy
or use any articles imported IN British
ships. The chairman Of this commit
tee was no less distinguished a char
acter than the immortal John Han
cock. The committee performed its
duty powerfully and eloquently. II
set 10th strong and persuasive reasons
why the people should not buy OF
use British goods imported N British
ships. The ship-owners and mer,
chants having thus proceeded, the
mechanics of Boston took up the sub.
iect also. They answered the mer.
chants committee. They agreed
with them cordially that British goods
imported in British vessels, ought not
to be bought or consumed; bat then
they took the liberty of going steE
further. and Of insisting that such good.
ought moi TO be bought or consumed a
all Great applause.) Fora said
they, sMr. Hancock, what difference
!, does it make to Ms, whether hats
! shoes, boots, shirts, handkerchiefs, tin
ware, brass ware, cutlery. and every
!, other article come in British ships OIL
come in your ships; since, in whatever
ships they come, they take away ou'
means Of IivingF
"Gentlemen, it is an historical truth
manifested in a thousand ways by the
public proceedings and public meet
5 ings Of the times, that the necessity
! OF a general and Uniform impost sys
4 TEN, which, while it should provide
i revenue to pay the public debt, ano
II foster the commerce of the country
i should also encourage and sustain do.
mestic manufactures, was the leading
/ cause in producing the present ma
IFtionaI Constitution. No class of per.
i sons was more Jealous for the new
4 Constitution than the handicraftsmen
q artizans, and manufacturers. There
: lzwere then, it is true, no large manu-.
) featuring establishments. There were
!, no manufactures in the interior, fol
I there were no inhabitants. Here was
) Fort Pitt had place on the map
: but here were no people. or only
ia very few. But, in the cities ano
q Towns on the Atlantic, the full impor
e lance, indeed the absolute necessity
Z of a new form Of government, and {
: general system of imposts, was deep
,1fy felt.
t s.It.so happened, gentlemen, that
], at that time, much was thought Il
!! depend on Massachusetts; severa
i States had already agreed to the Con
/ stitution :if her Convention adopted
i it, it was likely to go into operation
$ This gave to the proceedings OF tina
81 Convention an intense interest, ane
!, the country looked with trembling
s anxiety to the result. That resul
was for long time doubtful. Thu
= ,,,.,c lnoy,-Y, 10 he naariy