Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-06-14
SPEECH OF MIR. COLLAMER OF
VT. ON WOOL AND WOOLENS.
Delivered before the House Of Rtprs. in
Committee Of the Whole on the Tariff,
1priL 30, lS44

MR.. CHAIRMAN AT the commencement
of the present session it was my lot to be
placed, with other gentlemen, by the Sc
lection of the Speaker; on the Committee
on Manufactures. 1t is due to candor to
say, that the committee was apparently fair
ly selected, with a view to that important
interest; but its treatment. by the House,
since, has convinced me that it was regard
ed but as a nominal committee, existing but
falsely TO amuse and crafty the manufacture
ing interest. All important subjects, which
deeply involved that interest, have, by the
House, been studiousy wiihholden from
that committee, and sent TO others very diff
ferentIy constituted. 1t is, however, true,
that some resolutions and memorials, in
voving the whole subject, have silently, and
perhaps accidentally, found their way to that
committee, and which have resulted in a
rcpOrt prepared and presented, under the
order of the committee, by the gentleman
from Massachusetts, (Mr Hudson,) well
worthy of the large measure of correct in
telligence he possesses on this subject
That report, which is the only one with
which that committee has troubled the
House, is general one on the subject; and,
in the ordinary courtesy of the House, would
have received the order for printing Of extra
copies, which has been so literally extended
to such reports by the House, even in re-
lation to subjects ofin6nitely less importance.
Yet, though that has been twice moved, ii
has been promptly, and, as it seems to me,
very ungraciously, wholly refused by the
majority Of the House. While the House
has printed, for circulation, the unusual
number of twenty thousand copies Of the
report Of its Committee Of Ways and Means
(Which is professedly intended to utterly
withhold and destroy all public countenance
or encouragement from home manufactures,
and these copies have'been by the ranking
privilege, sowed broadcast over the land,
yet the House utterly deny any measure of
assistance to circulate intelligence, or to
furnish argument or hearing before the
people in behalf of this great interest.
cannot but hope that all, directly or collater-
ally concerned, may understand what they
are to receive at the hands of the party
which now holds predominancy in the House
of Representatives. But that report is
printed without the aid Of the House, and
will be in the hands of the community and
am willing TO entrust the issue of the
general doctrine of public protection to that
paper, and shall not now enter upon the
general subject.
: am, sir, one of the representatives of a
small agricultural State, whose staple pro-
duction has for some time been the article
, of wool; and TO that subject my remarks
will be confined and more especially as the
section of the bill now under consideration
relates to the subject Of wool and woolens
E There is species of adventurous credu-
; lily which, disdaining the beaten track oI
! truth, is ever catching at the improbability
v of circumstances, as the better guide of faith
e and duty and nearly allied TO this is that
admiration of theories which gratifes the
4 speculative, amuses the curious, and capt.
s Yates the visionary. | must say, in the
t words of Patrick Henry, al have but one
! lamp by which my feet arc guided, and tina
is the lamp Of experience. | know of NJ
It way of Judging of the future but by the past.
a I shall therefore proceed to give very
: succinct account Of the past history of wool
d more especially in this country, to show it
n present condition, and thence to deduc,
l light for our present duty and future action
7 Although almost every country on th'
1t globe had its sheep, possessing various de
n grees of fneness of fleece, and adaptation o
n excellence to its climate, soil, and exegen
e cies, yet it was not until a very recent pc
IS riod that any fine wooled sheep were to b
y found but in the kingdom of Spain no
+ does England now produce any wool from
which could be manufactured the coat q
$, any gentleman in this hall. How that rae
IS of sheep came into Spain is question @
:; difficult solution 1t has been suggeste
il that they were introduced by the Moor:
I'd from the Arabac focks, at the time so larg
Or part Of Spain was in their possession
But it is also said there is satisfactor
I. evidence that they were there when Spai
re was a Roman province, and must therefor
have been brought in by the Carthagenian
\, That they were brought into Spain, the
at name, Marine, which, in Spanish, mean
ms from or beyond sea, clearly implies. Thes
ne aocks were almost exclusively owned by tn
a. a. crown and the nobility of Spain; and wei
a generally kept among the highlands {
ct Estramadura in the summer, and move
~ south during the winter, and slowly returne
er in the spring, so as to be always at grass
DIS The wool was long exported for manuia
he ture but the expectation of sheep, witho
iat the ROYAL license, was forbidden under Il
Of Of severest penaties-I think, at times, CO
domination to the galles for life. 1t W
from this Spanish wool that the manufactu
me ers of fine cloths in Flanders, and Franc
and England, were long supplied and
was, ultimately, from these nocks that Il
'h. world land we with the rest) has been fu
: nished with fine wooled sheep. The histo
,er of the private expectation of these sheep
replete with romantic incident which mt
TX pass over.
by The introduction of fine woolled she
~ - c.. ;r4o lho difInrnnf nniinns of ID