Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-06-21


people or of any people upon earth. The produce of
the soil found ready marke,abor, in all its walks
met competent and full reward. An immense pub
lie debt was extingulshcd and your Treasury was
Overlooking. We had pursued the policy which COM
mon and the common Judgment Of the world
approved which England herself has long practised
/ and which the nations of Europe, with scarcely an
exception, are at this moment initiating. But in this
state Of unexompled national prosperity when your
resources were rapidly called into action, your pro-
ductlOn and your wealth were increasing, new light
suddenly burst upon from the South, A discovery
was made, that the people OF the North through Their
energy Their enterprise and Their saga1ty, had, from
the period when these qualities were euloglzed by I'd
mund Burke before the Revolutions down to the pre-.
sent day. excited the wonder and the admiration OF
the world yet knew nothing of the principles fpoit-
zeal economy. Though they had peoped a wilder
ness, established empire in the West, and extended
Their navigation and commerce TO the iarthesi oceans
yet they knew nothing of the elements OF national
| prosperity.
| And how was this discovery made7 Not by prac-
teal men, guided by their sound judgment and
sagaclty and aided by exper ence; but by specua-
ting upon the theories of writers upon political econo-
my-men whose theories adapted to the condi.
tim of the old rorld who "ethnr know nVt uiouShs
of the policy of a nation starting into existence,
developing its resources, founding Its establishments,
and maturing its policy.
Sir, these laws of trade of which we hear so much,
seem have been regarded like the laws OF nature,
as imnu,abe and irresistible. They are but tenden.
ces, liable to be influenced and counteracted IN their
operation, by thousand accidental and contingent
causes. They are never TO be relied on without care
people to whose policy they about to be applied
! These circumstances are various The condition OF
an old people, whose population and trade nave arrl-
we'd at Their maximum whose resources are fuiy de.
vclopcd whose relations with all the world are liked,
is widely different from that of young people, ad-
vancng rapidly in the course of national progression,
with population not yet filled up, yet increasing IN
an uncXamplcd ratio territory not yet occuptd ana
resources vet developed as yet fully discover.
ed. The first of civilization IS undoubtedly agr-
cultural but i'll process OF time other objects oil indus
trial pursuit must be sought-the people become man.
uiacturing well agricultural. Commerce may
exist certain extent IN the agricultural state, or 50
far as is sustained by agricultural production bus
all experience has shown that the full commerce al ca
pacity of people is fully attained until It's pro-
ducve industry brought to bear upon other resour.
ces and other modes of production .
But the discovery was made, IN defiance oil all ex-
perence that your protective policy was tax upon
the many for the benefit Of the few = and IN the lace
of the fact that you at that moment the second
commercial nation on the globe and the rival of the
first, that it was hostile 10 commerce. 1t was also
discovered, that to regulate commerce was TO let u
alone; that the policy ola nation as well as OF an III
dlvdua was to pay no attention to your relauVe OUT
go and income; that the power OF laying n revenue
was conferred for the purpose of deraylng your
expenses and hati was to be exercised, not with
design foster yohr industry and call INTO acton your
resources but without regard to either These opln-
ions unfortunately prevailed, and in an evil hour tho
celebrated compromise act was enacted. The pro-
tecve policy was gradually abandoned and your pro-
tecve duties gradually brought down TO what was
called the revenue standard" By the withdrawal OF
your protection, the products of foreign industry were
brought into successful competition with your own
and the country was inundated with foreign goods
Even before the reduction was complete the founda'
ton of yonr national credit and your national prosper'
ty was undermined. And how were theseforeign com.
modities procured! Here sir, permit me to notice an
element in your national economy winch the cele0ra.
ted writers often quoted did not contemplate, and
which your own statesmen have too little regarded
aude 10 that universal system of credit peculiar to
this people the necessary and inevitable consequence
of your rapid growth, and without which your pro-
gress must have been arrested These foreign COM
modites procured on a credit TO be paid for, not
in the -four, beef pork, and other productions of the
agricultural portion of these States for these England
will recclve-nor in the tobacco of Maryland and
Virginia for this article subjected by her
nous duty-bu, in the only article which she re-
ceves under a moderate duty, your cotton This ar
tclc which constitutes great portion of your
ports was the means, and almost the only means,
| relied on to meet you. engagements. This immense
amount ofmportatlon was received, not IN exchange
for your own predictions exported, but credit in
anticipation uf the proceeds of your crop. And thus
a chan of Indebtedness created, beginning with
the Eng sh capitalist and English manufacturer, pass
| ing through al The gradaons of trade, down to the
ultimate consumer of foreign artcles-to the cutva-
tor of the soil, the laborer, by the sweat of whose
brow the means of payment were to be wrought out.
Your whole country with all rs resources, the labor
of your hands We're mortgaged and that TO the very
| Power whose selishncss and arrogance are often
made the theme of defamation here-that Power,
great as ii is, against which you were threatening
MAT libQp.h, the event proved, Won had 10 prose-
voc credit In this state OF things. through the depre-
citation of cotton in the foreign market, TO which, IN
the fluctuations in the commercial world that article
IS so LA e or from other cause, Ut is mmateral
| what,) your expectations were disappointed, your
means of payment were cut short short your eXpor.
tnon was exhausted, and the debt was not paid.
There wa, but one resource left, the gold and silver
in the vaults of your banks. The debt must he paid
in spcce but all the specie N the country fell short OF
its amount. No sooner was 1t demanded Tor export
taton Than the alarm was taken-the banks were
OBLIGED 10 suspend and fortunate It is for the country
they did so. Had they done otherwise you would
have been literally baukrupt nation But tins step
Frustrated your currency. The gold and silver was
locked in the vaults of your banks and YOUR paper
currency had lost It's vitality IN the loss OF confidence
The business of the country was suspended proper,
ty of every description was deprecated one-haf and
this indebtedness which pervaded every class virtual
y doubled And where did the shock fall in It's great
est force! Upon the South-upon the cotton plan
ter II was necessarily unavoldably Ii that ar
tcle of production alone relied on 10 meet this
immense debt, the planter must be IN some way 70
sponsble for il. He must either be made the ultimate
debtor the consumer OF the goods lInpored or ms
hills drawn upon the basis of his be pro-
cured In either event. when the anticipated fund
failed the recol fell first and heaviest upon hun. The
Southern banks were the first 10 suspend and the last
TO resume-many never did so. NO better evidence
can be had fthe condition any portion of this peo-
pie than the condition OF their banks.
But what loowel7 No sooner had the elastic
energies of the country begun to under the press
IRE than second reyulson followed. The failure OF
the corn crop IN England struck down again the
price of your great staple, for 1t diverted the capital
invested IN il to the continent in search Of breadsius.
The Bank of the United States having loaned literally
10 the South which largely indebted 10 it, and
knowing that the cotton the only means of reim-
hursemenI became largely interested IN the article
This has been called speculation. Call what You
nlease IL was the only means of satisfying The I'M
mense debt due the institution, and which the ins'l.u
r lion in turn owed IN Europe. The experiment falei,
The article was deprecated, and the revuson crushed
that mammoth institution, and many minor ones
with II.
/. Sir, had you produced within yourselves portion
of the fabrics imported from abroad, the debt would
, NOT have existed your credit would not have been
pledged, your banks would not have suspendai, nor
: your currency been DESTROYED. Had your market
! been home market, the failure of the corn crop IN
England would have affected 1t, nor would 9, hayo
e been brought within the direct operation Of tn Hue
e tuaton of European commerce. The people o. \ cw
England were less affected by these revulsons han
any other portion of the country Their banks were
If the most stable and tler currency the soundes,
IS This was owing to the dom,st market. The circle