Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-05-31


ed thrown aside, and suppanted by the new
The consequence is that every mandatory is
at all times, near the highest attained point o
excellence, and there is an ncessant struggle
for precedence in the march Of improve ment.
1t is extremely hazardous to argue from Eu
ropean precedents, and perhaps there is no coun
try from whose conditions it is more unsafe to
draw conclusions than from that one which is
unhappily, almost the only one ever referred tc
in our debates, for the obvious reason that COM
munity of language, frequency and facility Of
intercourse, and the extent of our Commercial
relations with England make us more familiar
with that country than with others, from which
we might draw quite as valuable lessons Of prac
tical wisdom. The apparent analogies between
our national character and institutions and those
OF England are so numerous and striking, as
quite TO conceal from the view of the superficial
observer those less obvious but more deeply
rooted and most important features in which
they differ. Sir, in genius, habits, and condi-
ton, the American people, and thank Heaven
for it, are as diverse from the people of England
as they are from any Christian nation Our
most cherished and valued institutions are based
on principles fundamentally opposite to those of
the civil and political systems of England; and
apart from community of speech and historical
recolIectons, and those habits of thought which
a similarity in the forms of language necessarily
implies, we are radically distinct people. We,
SIR, are the genuine representatives of that rlo-
rons race who overthrow the Stuart dynasty in
the middle OF the seventeenth century, and the
principles Of Cromwell and Milton, which have
now become extinct in their native soil, and no
longer mark the Englisl, character, flourish here
IN their full vgor. For these reasons, arsu.
mcnts from English practice are as inapplicabe
as 1t drawn from the policy of the Celestial
Empire. There is, therefore. no force in that
argument which would dssuade us from Dro,ec.
ting our own industry because England, which
protects hers, exhibits so fearful an amount of
ignorance, pauperisln, and crime. There is no
parallel between the cases. You find the same
abandoned vice, the same uncnllghtened irno.
rance, and the same object poverty, in every
European country cursed with hereditary arts
tocracy, law of primogcni,ure, an established
church, and to crown al, national debt Of such
magnitude as TO weigh like a milestone abou,
the neck of the people.
So vast is the public debt of England, that
Tor the payment of its interest alone. popula
ton but once and half as large AS our own is
taxed annually sum equal to the total amour,
OF the debt OF all the American States; and in
order that the burden may not fall t. heavily on
the rich, the entire body Of lands, in which the
poor have no direct interest, is taxed but five
millions of dollars, while the other taxes, which
press most heavily on the poor, amount to no less
than fifty times that sum, or two hundred and
fifty millions of dollars per annum. This is in.
dependent of tlthes and church rates, parish
charges, and the thousand other Government
eXactIons, which crush the operative to the very
DUST. Inc British laborer is FOLLOWED by the tax
gatherer from the cradle to the crave, His
nnI nbv nc al al. Al.
plements of his trade, the humble furniture of
his cottage, his windows, his chimneys, the very
air and light, and even his shroud. all these are
subject to direct taxation. His bread he divides
with his temporal and spiritual lords, and the
ruler takes the lions share. His children are
plnched and starved, that the younger sons of
the arlstocracy may be pensoned, and he tolls,
and shvers, and suffers, that the sel-s'y!ed sue.
cessor OF the Apostles may roll in glide CHAR.
OTIS, and dwell IN sumptuous palaces.
1t is not, then, the protective system of Eng.
land that Expresses her people; no, sir, on the
it is that system, and that alone, which
enables her laborlng classes to bear up stagger.
ing under such a load as was never elsewhere
LAID upon the shoulders of humanity. Her pro.
lective system is not the burden, but it is the
G elastic spring which alone renders that burden
Let England abandon that sys.
TEN, and adopt the insane doctrine of free trade.
would her humble classes gain BY the exchange!
Admit that their bread stuifs might cost them
less. would their taxes be ghtencd by the loss
Of hundred millions in duties Would their
wages be raised, or their opportunities of EN-.
Payment be multiplied, by the destruction OF
her industrial establishments Would other
nations supply them with manufactured goods
al cheaper rates than they obtain them now D.
Sir 1t needs no Elipus to answer such ques.
lions as these and the man must be mad who
races the Indebtedness of England's nslayed
aborers to the protection of her industry, or
suppose that their mIserles would be relieved
by its sacrifice.
Again, sir the British statesman may conf.
iently calculate, where the American can but
hazard guess. Tile extent and relative capa-
cities of the agricultural and manufacturing iE
erests are known with great exactness of de.
tail, and the sudden extension, or essential
modification of either is difficult, if not imprac.
-'cab!e. Charges are slow; new manufacl ures
will not spring up like Jonah's gourd in a single
nght; and capital is so abundant, that those
already established will not be ruined or sus.
pended on account of trfling fluctualon in the
demand for goods, or in the cost of the raw ma.
erlal. II is quite safe to assume that my lord
will not give IN to cultivation so much of his |
orest as is required TO breed convey o: part
ridges, barely to save from starvation some half
a dozen families who pine for the bread which
hose few acres would yield. This would both
'ur'aIl his lawful and laudabc sports. and more
over njurc the grain-growng in,eres, by in.
,reaslng the supply. Such destructive policy
S not to be apprehended from the prudent and |
patriotic landholder and the extension or mod. |
ida'ion of rural husbapdry is very slowly and
cautiously permitted.
1t is, then, known what quantity of land will
BE cultivated, what grain, or pulse, or roots, will
'e grown from year to year, and the amount OF
produce is subject to no uncertainty bu, that of
he seasons. So the manufacturing establish.
nen's are precisely guaged, and, though these
ire progressive IN themselves, yet they may be
egarded as stationary and constant when con.
rasted with our Own ever changing industry
Jnwearied pains are taken to ascertain the ex.
ent of demand for British goods abroad, and the
quantity and probable cost of the supply of the
aw material. With all these elements an an.
'roxImate calculation may be made. The effects
II given policy may he to some extent fore.
een, and the causes being known, it is safe to
'rgae that like causes will produce like effects.