Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-07-05


therefore, no force in that argument which
would dssuade us from protecting our own
industry, because England, which protects
hers, exhibits so fearful an amount of ignor-
ance, pauperism, and crime. There is no
parallel between the cases. You find the
same abandoned vice, the same unenlght-
ened ignorance, and the same abjectspover-
ty, in every European country cursed with
a hereditary aristocracy law of prmogen-
iture, an established church, and to crown
all, national debt Of such magnitude as 10
weigh like mill stone about the neck of
the people.
So vast is the public debt of England,
that for The payment of its interest alone, a
population but once and half as large as
our own is taxed annually sum equal to
the total amount of the debt Of all the
American States; and in order that the
burden may not fall too 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 10 no less than fifty times that sum,
or two hundred and fifty millions of dollars
per annum. This is independent of tthes
and church rates, parish charges. and the
thousand other Government exactions, which
crush the operative TO the very dust. The
British laborer is followed by the tax gath
erer from the cradle to the grave. His
food, his physic, his fuel, his clothing, the
implements of his trade, the humble furni-
ture of his cottage, his windows, his Chin
neys, the very air and light, and even his
shroud, all these are subject to direct tax
alton His bread he divides with his tenn
poral and spiritual lords and the ruler
takes the lions share His children are
pinched and starved that the younger sons
of the aristocracy may be pensioned, and he
tolls, and shvers, and suffers, that the self
styled successor Of the Apostles may roll in
gded charots, aud dwell in sumptuous
palaces.
1t is not, then, the protective system Of
England that Expresses her people; no, sir,
on the contrary, it is that system, and that
alone, which enables her laborng classes TO
bear up staggering under such load as
was never elsewhere laid upon the shoulders
of. humanity. Her protective system is not
the burden, but il is the elastic spring which
alone renders that burden supportable. Let
England abandon that system and adopt
the insane doctrine of free trade, would her
humble classes gain by the exchange? Ad-
NIT that their bread stuffs might cost them
less, would their taxes be lightened by the
loss of hundred millions in duties o.
Would their wages be raised, or their OPP
portunities Of employment be multiplied, by
the destruction of her industrial establish
ments2 Would other nations supply them
with manufactured goods at cheaper rates
than they obtain them now? Sir, it needs
no Gdipus to answer such questions as
these and the man must be mad who
traces the wretchedness of England's en-
shaved laborers to the protection of her in-
dustry, or suppose that their miseries would
be relieved by its sacrifice.
Again, sir, the British statesman may con-
fidently calculate, where the American can
but hazard guess, The extent and rela-
tive capacities of the agricultural and manu-
featuring interests are known with great
exactDess of detail, and the sudden extension,
or essential modification of either is difficult,
if not impractcable. Charges are slow
new manufactures will not spring up like
Jonah's gourd in single night aud capital
is so abundant, that those already established
will not be ruined or suspended on account
Of trifilng 1uctuation in the demand for
goods, or in the cost of the raw MATERIAL
1t is quite safe to assume, that my lord will
not give up to cultivation so much Of his
forest as is required to breed a covey of
partrdges, barely TO save from starvation
some half dozen families who pine for the
bread which those few acres would Yield
This would both curtai his lawful and
laudable sports, and moreover injure the
grain-growing interest by increasing the
supply. Such destructive policy is not to
be apprehended from the prudent and
patriotic landholder, and the extension or
modification of rural husbandry is very slow
ly and cautiously permitted.
1t is, then, known what quantity of land
will be cultivated, what grain, or pulse, or
roots, will be grown from year to year, and
the amount of produce is subject TO no I'M
certainty but that of the seasons. So the
manufacturing establishments are precisely
guaged, and, though these are progressive
in themselves, yet they may be regarded as
stationary and constant when contrasted
with our own ever changing industry. I'M
wearied pains are taken TO. ascertain the
extent of demand for British goods abroad,
and the quantity and probable cost of the
supply of the raw material With all these
elements an approximate calculation may be
made The effects Of given policy may
be to some extent loreseen, and the causes
being known, it is safe TO argue that like
causes will produce like effects.
With us the picture is reversed Our
statistical details are loose, slovenly
and unreliable, not 10 say faithless, 10 the
very extreme of inaccuracy. The modes
and objects Of our husbandry, and all our
industrial empoyments, are necessarily huc.
j mating New sonrces of induction are