The Arkansas banner., 1843-10-21
LITTLE ROCK CARKsl SATURDAY MORNING. 2l 1s3

reward of 1t, m a vigor of industry that Ii , driving the competition of England ant . France entirely from the market. Laborins
 under every disadvantage of position, she ha: continued to gain the ascendency of the mos
 powerful and wealthy rivals. But we could string facts of this kind, until the patience ol the reader is exhausted.
 In the third place, the tariff system is one that defeats its own purposes. When adopt ed by one nation, it leads to recriminations
 on the part of others, that are mutually hurt tul. No duty was ever imposed by one peo- pie, that was not retaliated by the people whom it was devised to affect. Men reason with themselves, in this wise: If our neigh Dor refuses to deal with us, he cannot expect that we should deal with hlnh; he has com menced hostile movement kl we will pro- secuto it to the end he has sown the wind, and let him, if he pleases, reap the whirl- wind.' This proceeding may not be just, but it is inevitable. The spirit of the Christian doctrine Is too little infused into the conduct of either individuals or communities, to hope that when you smite them on the one cheek, they will turn the other also; when you have stolen their coat, that they will give you their cloak. It is the old Jewish spirit which still operates. An eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth, Is too often the sole maxim. Duty against duty is the commercial war-cry- Statesmen say to each other: By rejecting our commodities, you compel us to reject yours: you force us to countervail your own restrictive legislation, by a legislation equally restrictive.' A contest thus begins, which, carried out, can only terminate in the ruin of either party. Friends are turned into ene- mics; consumers into competitors; depend- ants into rivals; servants into masers.- When nations find that their products obtain no market abroad, they abandon the traffic :; and what was formerly procured by exchange, they attempt to produce for themselves They soon supply their own wants, and then turn their attention to the supply of foreign demands. Great Britain, i'll this way, deny ing free entrance to her ports of the pro- ducts of the continent, has raised up host of rivals on the continent. " Protection," said Lord Palmerston, in his admirable speech on the Sugar Duties, "protection is game that two can play at. It is impossible that a tecting, as 1t Is called, and that other eoun- tries should not follow its example. Can we tell other countries that they ought to dmi- nish the duties of their tariffs; that competi- ton is the very life of trade; that emulation inspires activity and enterprise and that, without enterprise and activity, commerce can never flourish and be beneficial to those who carry 1t on-can we hold these doc trines to other nations, and, at the same time, persist in our own restrictive system? When we propound these civil principles to foreign governments, < thloy listen :a o&s arguments with incredulity; they appeal from our doc Urine to our practice; they point to our own tariff, and tell us, in diplomatic paraphrase, when you alter your own commercial sys- tem, when you bring down to a moderate amount your excessive import duties, we may become converts to your doctrines, and shall be ready to talk with you about revision of our own tarifn The experience of Great Britain has given melancholy force to these observations. She has pursued her restrict- i've system, until she has driven her own ma nufactures from some of the finest markets of the world Her industry has found its pro- fits gradually sliding away, without scarcely pereeiving the cause. Every year,o says OHe Ol lltT lHOSt elnlHeul StdtcsiHtu dHu du- thorities, ss a smaller and smaller portion of the manufactures we export, consists of arti- cles in the making of which much labor and skill are employed every year greater DOT ton IS composed of articles of an elementary nature, not destined for use and consumption, but as materials to afford employment to fo- reign manufactures every year the protect ing system is raising up manufacturing com petitors; and every year British skill, British industry, and British capital, are transferring themselves abroad, to render foreign compe- tition more and more formidable.n
 Instances of these truths may be adduced in any number from the evidence furnished to the House of Commons. Great Britain, by means of her corn-laws, laid oppressive duties upon the agriculture of Prussia, and she finds that, ii; consequence, her manuiac- lures have been excluded from nearly all the German States. It has led to the formation of leagues, by which her most extensive and profitable markets have been closed. She refuses to receive the timber of Sweden and Russia, and in return, these nations prohibit the introduction of her most lucrative manu- tactures. France, wanting things that she produces, and producing many things that sle wants, has utterly shut up her ports to large portion of British products England has interdicted the coffee of the Brazils, and the large demand which once existed there for her manufactures has been transferred to Austria and France, and Switzerland. She has rejected the brcad-stufls of the United States, and she finds a vigorous and enterprise ing class of rival manufacturers springng up under her very nose. Thus, whenever she has attempted to apply the principle of her exclusive system, the only effect has been to cramp her own industry. Under mis- named protection, she has found destruction. An arrangement designed to foster her do- mestic capital, skill, and labor, has had the effect of exhausting them. British capital, expelled from home, is making its way into Belgium, Mexico, Germany, and Italy; at Vienna, the largest manufactories ares con- ducted by Englishmen at Rouen, the fore men of the chief establishments are English