The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-05-29

Government, Wnere q protective duty mas not
been speedily followed by an improvement in
the quantity, and a reduction in the price, of
the articles protected; and of this you have
numerous illustrations in the course of this de-
bate. The immediate effect of the manufac-
tured article at the place Of production, the
foreign manufacturer submitting 10 diminu-
ton Of his profits, for the sake of retaining the
market. At the same moment, domestic es-
lab iihmenis are growing up, and by the
double competition of these with each other
and the foreign producer, further reduction
of prices, accompanied by an improvement
in quality, soon follows. Various causes con-
cur 10 produce this improvement in quality of
American manufactures, besides the compe-
tilion to which | have just alluded. The
scrutinizing habits of the consumer, great
mechanical ingenuity in the artisan, his bet
ter knowledge of the tastes aud wants of his
eountrvmen, and above all the readiness with
which he seizes upon and appropriates every
improvement in his ART. In Europe, all chan
ges are slow. New machines or mechanical
combinations are for long time used only in
new establishments, and the fixed habits of
the people, whether laborers or employers,
rem Ter the introduction of new processes diff
cult and tardy. The American loves change
for its own sake, and is keen in the apprecia-
ton OF improvements; and new machine is
no sooner patented and tested, than the old
process Is abandoned, thrown aside, and sup
planted by the new. The consequence is that
every mandatory is, at all times, near the
highest attninable point of excellence, & there
is al incessant struggle for precedence in the
march improvement.
It is extremely hazardous to argue from
European precedents, and perhaps there is
no country from whose condition il is more
unsafe to draw conclusions than from that
one which is, unhappily, almost the only one
ever referred to in our debates, for the obvious
reason that community oflanguage, frequen-
cy and facility Of intercourse, and the extent
of our commercial relations with England
make us more familiar with that country than
with others, trem which we might draw quite
as valuable lessons of practica. wisdom. The
apparent analogies between our national char
acter aud institutions and those of England
are so numerous and striking, as quite to con
ceai from the view OF the superficial observ-
er those less obvious but more deeply rooted
and most important features in which they
differ. Sir, in genius, habits, and condition,
the American people, and thank Heaven for
it. are as diverse from the people of England
as from any Christian nation. Our most cher
ish>d and valued institutions are based on
principles fundamentally opposite to those of
the civil and political systems of England !
aad apart from community of speech and his
toricil recolections. and those habits of
thought which similarity in the forms oflan-
guase necessarily implies, we are d radically
distinct people. We, sir, are the genuine
representatives fthat glorious race who over
threw the Stuart dynasty in the middle of the |
Seventeenth century, and the principles of
Cromwell and Milton have now become ex- |
tinct in their native soil. AMI no longer mark
the English character, flourish here in their
full yigor. For these reasons, arguments from
;lish practice are as inappIicable as if
drarn from the policy of the Celestial EN-
pire. There is. therefore, no force in that ar
gument which would dissuade us from pro- |
tect!ng onr own industry, because England, !
which protects hers, exhibits so fearful an
amount OF ignoranc c, pauperism, and crime. |
There is no parallel between the cases. You
fin The same abandoned vice, the same I'M
enlightened ignorance, and the same abiect |
poverty, in every European country cursed !
with hereditary aristocracy, law of prim-
o9eniiure, an established church, ard to crown
all, national debt Of such magnitude as to
weigh Ikea milestone about the neck of the |
people.
So vast is the public debt of England, that |
for the payment of its interest alone, a popu-
lation but once and half as large as our own
is taxed annually a sum equal to the total
amount of the debt of all the American States:
and in order that the burden may not fall too !
heartily on the rich, the entire body OF lands. |
IN which the poor have no direct interest. is |
tax d bat five millions of dollars, while the |
other taxes, which press most heavily on the |
poor, amount to no less than f(iv times that
SIM, OF two hundred and Fifty millions ofdol-
lars per anuum. This is independent of tiihes |
and church rates, parish charges, and the
tn lusand other Government exactions which |
cru h the operative TO the yerv dust The
British laberer is followed by the tax-gather-
or from the cradle 10 the grave His food. /
his phys.c, his fuel, his clothing, the imple-
menis of his trade, the humble furniture of
his cottage, his windows, his cbimneys, the |
very air and light, and even his shroud, all
these are subject to direct taxation. His |
bread he divides with his temporal and spir-
final lords, All the raleT takes the lions share.
His children are pinched and starved. and the
younger sons of the arstocracy may be PEN
stoned, and he tolls and shivers, and suffers.
that The self-styled Successors ofthe Apostles
may roll in gilded ch1riots, and dwell in
sunp,uous palaces.
It is not, then, the protective sys'em of
England tina; Expresses her people; no, sir,
on the contrary, j; IS that system alone. which
en- .bles her laboring classes to bear up stag
gering under such 4 load as was never else
where laid upon the shoulders of humanity.
Her protective system is not the burden, but
il is the elastic spring which alone renders
tn At burden suppogtahlc. Let England aban-
don the system, AMI adopt the insane doctrine
of free trade, would tie humble classes gain
by The exchange! Admit that their bread
stuifs might cost them less, would their taxes
be lightened by the loss Of hundred millions
in duties? Would their wages be raised. or
their opportunities OF employment be multi
piled, by the destruction of her industrial es
Establishments! Would other nations supply
them with manufactured goods at cheaper
rates than they o1t.iD them now Sir. il
Needs no Odipus TO answer such questions
rs these: aud the man mast be mad who
traces the wIetch=dness of England's en-
shaved laborcrs TO the protection of her indus