The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-06-05

hellIsh passions the awful crimes, that con,
stitute the very being ofwar than myself; ana
am not prepared to say, that any, or even
all, of the pending or adjourned questions be-
tween US and Great Britain are worth war.
But. sir, [ know that England is regarded
with angry and inllamable jealousy aioug the
whole frontier, and small spark may at any
moment kindle that finder TO an appalling
flame. Thus situated, hold it to be the part
of wisdom to foster and strengthen our own
domestic resources, rather than to cherish and
reward the industry of the alien and the stran-
ger. But am wandering from the SUBJECT
and | will only pause to express my sur
prise, that gentlemen of the South, whodread
the interference of England with Texan sia-
very, and fear the contagion Of her example
in her West India possessions, should yet ad-
vocate policy, which implies much more
intimate relations with that formidable rival,
and probable enemy. Destroy our manutac-
lures, and subvert that revenue system which
has, from our national infancy, been the soul
of our finance, and we are at once not practI-
cally reducedfo state Of colonial dependence
upon our ancient oppresSor. Sir,was II not Tor
this that our fathers fell at Bunker Hill, at
Bennington, and at Saratoga, and that yours
bit the dust in the hundred partisan conflicts
which,. at later period of the war of indie
pendence, dyed your sands with the best blood
of the South.
There is another point offar deeper, though
less obvious, interest than the mere question
of revenue, or the present pecuniary gain or
loss to the consumer, and which is most wor-
thy the profound consideration of the philo-
sophical statesman. refer to the influence
of such manufactures as are carried on by
machinery, upon the process of mechanical
improvement and the consequent multiplied
ton aud diffusion of both the physical COM
forts and elegancies, and the higher refine
ments of life. The encouragement which
inventive genius has received at the
hands of the manufacturer, is the princi-
pal source of the astounding advances
that half century has witnessed in prac-
teal mechanics and manipulations, in the
application of science TO the arts, and even
in the progress and dissemination Of the phys
ical sciences themselves.
The wants ofthe dyer, the bleacher, the sugar.
reGner, have led to curious Investigations
and most important results in scientific anal
ysis; the necessities of the machaneist have
prompted Improvements in smelling, refining,
casting, and forging metals, and to a better
knowledge of their ores, constitution, and
properties; the demands of British manufac-
res are the parent of improvements in mining,
Observation-Disclosures geological science;
tdthem we owe the invention of the recipro-
eating steam-engine, and the introduction of
railroads, by means of all which, not only
are all the operations ofsoveinment immense
l. e.. 81 81 ..fI.
so multiplied and cheapened, that, as has been
well said, the humber cottager enjoys more
comforts than an Emperor of Rome in her
greatest splendor. knowledge, too, literally
runs down the streets like a river. The pow
ell press sends forth its sheets by thousands in
the hour, and books now cost less than did
the paper on which they are printed within
the memory of members of this House. These
arts are emphatically the arts of peace; these
are the true philosophers stone, that turns
all to gold; these are the means through
whose aid alone the phianthropist can hope
to level up suffering, depressed, and debased
humanity. Machinery must supply the phys
ical wants of the INDECENT; the power press
must furnish the popular instructor with his
textbooks-the missionary with his bibles.
! To the improvements in the mechanic arts
we have contributed our full share. To them
| we, of all the nations of the earth, are most
deeply indebted, and from them we have most
to hope. Shall we lay the axe to thelroot OF
the tree which has borne such noble fruits,
and is still rich with the blossoms of future
promise What does not the South owe to
the cotton gin and the powerloom? and what
would now be the condition of that mighty
West, to which we have so often APP
pealed, without canals, railroads, and steam
boats, which deprive both the motive and the
means of their creation from the progress OF
manufacturers Sir, she would still remain
a bowling wilderness, inhabited only by saw
ages and wolves and the game on which they
prey.
Sir, let us have no more idle speculations
upon the future consequences of the existing
tariff. Let it be judged by its fruits. Show
what evil it hath done. Prove that it has
augmented the current price or diminished
the supply ofany foreign article Of necessity
or extensive use. Show that it has reduced
the price or curtaied the sale of any impor-
tant article of domestic production-but ter
rify us not with prophecies of future evil from
the operation of that cause which has crown
ed the past and the present with abundan,
blessings.