The Arkansas banner., 1844-03-06


 branches of exporting and manufacturing in- dustry, will be apparent l have heretofore stated that there were l60,0O0,000 of domes- tic manufactures annually produced in the United States, that come in competition, di- rectly or remotely, with foreign imports- The amount of duty-paying imports last year was S40,000,000. The whole amount of these manufactured productions, importedand domestic, is S200,000, ,000-all of them the productions of our domestic industry, equally entitled to the protection of the government, and equally liable, upon principles of equali l ty, to pay the burdens of taxation Suppose, then, that we should so far change our sys- tenn as to impose an equal rate of duty upon all these manufactures-an infpost duty of 10 per cent. on the one class, and an excise duty of the same rate on the other: this would yield arevenue of $50, 900, ,000-abun- dant for all the wants of the government; and the burden of it would be light, and, what is more important, equally distributed Now, sir, challenge the senator from Maine, or any one else, to point out a single objec- ton to this system, upon the score of justice and equality. Sir, 1t cannot be done; and yet, in what striking contrast does 1t stand to your protective system! and in what deep colors does it exhibit the enonnity of that tsystem!
 ,l Mir. President, there vet remains one more comparative illustration, quite different in it's character, to winch must ask the attention of the Senate. l shall suppose, then, that the catastrophe to which we are hastening, under this suicidal policy, has actually oc- cured, by the total destruction of that great branch of our foreign commerce which alone gives value to six-sevenths of our staples of exportation, and mainly supplies the govern ment with revenue. What would be the in- evitable result? Can 1t be supposed that we should still persevere in producing staples to perish on our hands2 Certainly not What, then, should we do? Why, sir, as we should have the slavish privilege of doing what you had not yet prohibited us from doing, we should follow even the example ], of our oppressors in all excepting their op- pressions; and divert our capital and indus try from agriculture to manufactures. For this change, let me tell you, we have great and abundant facilities, surpassing those of any part of the Union, in many respects.- , The raw material would be cheaper, for we should make our own supply, and take care to make none for our rivals and oppressors Labor would be much cheaper; for, notwith- standing the absurd theories of political eco nomists in Europe, who can know nothing about it, the labor of American slaves, train- ed, fed, and acclimated as ours are, Is the cheapest labor in the world for its efficiency not excepting that of the white slaves of India. We abound in water power; and ex- : tons of lon cred by thick and lofty forests, furnishing inexhaustible resources for steam power.- | Let it be supposed, therefore, that some pat riot, standing amidst the ruins of our com } merce and rosperity-indignant at the op- l pression that had produced, and mortified at the patient acquiescence that had so long en- dured 1t, shonld say to his felow-citzens and fellow-sufferers, < ssBehold around you the monuments of oppression, ill your dlapi- dated cities, and your desolated fields. There } now remains only the poor privilege of mak- ing the most of our condition, by improving the means not yet destroyed by our oppres- sors. Abandon your fields, for their crops are blasted as they rise. Sell and sacrifice 2 your lands, and appropriate the poceeds to the establishment of manufactures. As we f have not had the spirit to resist oppression, ; let us at least have the wisdom to repair its ravages."
 | Now, sir, suppose that, conforming to this advice, our people cease to be planters and become manufacturers. Suppose further, sir, that it should be found that, owing to the advantages just stated, the manufacturers of the South and Southwest should be able to undersell their former oppressors, as much as they now can, by sending their cotton abroad, and exchanging 1t for foreign manu- factures, land this Is no extravagant supposl- ton, since their operatives would not cost, on an average, more than l2 cents day } would the manufacturers of the North and East stand this competition? Would they consent that their manufactures should not only be excluded from our markets, but driven back to the very gates of Lowell ?- We should have an empty treasury, for the revenue from imports would be almost de- stroyed. What would they say when you proposed to tax them? Suppose they should say, Gas a distinguished representative of Mas sachusetts once said in the other House of Congress,) that the free labor of the North should never come into equal competition with the slave labor of the South. Suppose, further, that some member of Congress-first qualifying himself for such task by fore swearing his allegiance to the constitution and to the God of everlasting justlce-should rise in his place, and propose bill provid- ] ing discriminating duty of 40 per cent. upon all manufactures made by slave labor, and imposing no duty at all upon manulac- lures made by free labor! in what manner, Mir. President-I ask you in what manner would such law be received by the people of the slaveholding States' Sir, they would rise up as one man, and, animated by one soul, would shake this Union to its deep foundations by the indignant voice of their awakened wrath. The spirits of our fathers would rise up from the grave, and, like the shade of the murdered king of Denmark urg- ing his son to avenge the tarnished honor of his house, they would say, s' If you have nature in you, bear 1t not.o