The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-05-01

the few" and in the face of the fact that you
were at that moment the second commercial
nation on the globe, and the rival Of the first,
that it was hostile TO commerce. II was also
discovered, that to regulate commerce was to
let it alone; that the policy OF. nation as well
as of an individual was to pay no attention
to your relative outgo and income; that the
power of laying a revenue was conferred for
the mere purpose ofdefraying your expenses
and that il was to be exercised, not with a
design to foster your industry and call iato
action your resources, but without regard to
either. These opinions unfortunately pre-
vailed, and in an evil hour the celebrated
compromise act was enacted. The protec-
tive policy was gradually abandoned, and
your protective 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 competitor with your own, and
the country was inundated with foreign goods.
Even before the reduction was complete, the
foundation Of your national credit and your
national prosperity was undermined. And
how were these foreign commodities procur
ed! Here, sir, permit me TO notice an ele-
ment in your national economy, which the
celebrated writers SO often quoted did not
contemplate, and which your own statesmen
have too little regarded. / allude to that
universal system of credit peculiar to this
people, the necessary and inevitable conse-
quence of your rapid growth, and without
which. your progress must have been arrest
ed. These foreign commodities were pro-
cured on credit, TO be paid for, not in the
flour, beef, pork and other productions of the
agricultural portion Of these States, for these
England will not receiye-nor in the tobacco
of Maryland and Virginia, for this article is
subjected by her to an enormous duty-but
in the only article which she receives under a
moderate duty, your cotton, This article,
which constitutes so great portion Of your
exports, was the means, and almost the only
means, relied on to meet your engagements.
This immense amount of importation was re-
ceiyed, not in exchange for your own produc-
tons exported, but on a credit, IN anticipation
of the proceeds Of your crop. And thus a
cham of Indebtedness was created, beginning
with the English capitalist and English man.
ufacturer, passing through all the gradations
of trade, down to the ultimate consumer of
foreign articles-to the culrivator 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 its resources,
the labor of your hands, were mortgaged, and
that to the very power whose selishness and
arrogance are so often made the theme of dec
lamation here-that Power, great as it is, a.
gainst which you were threatening war, al
though as the event proved. you had TO pros
ecute that war with deuteronomy nor public
nor private credit. In this state of things,
through the depreciation of cotton in the for
eign market, 10 which, in the fluctuations in
the commercial world, that article is so liable
or from some other cause, lit is immaterial
what) your expectation were disappointed,
your means Of payment were cut short, your
expectation was exhausted, and the debt was
not paid. There was but one resource left,
the gold and silver in the vaults of your banks.
The debt must be paid in specie, but all the
specie in the country fell short Of it, amount.
No sooner was it demanded for expectation,
than the alarm was taken-the banks were
obliged to suspend, and fortunate it is for the
country they did so. Had they done other
wise, you would have been literally bank
rupt nation. But this step Frustrated your
currency. The gold and silver was locked
in the vaults of your banks, and your paper
currency had lost its vitality in the loss Of con-
fidence.
The business Of the country was suspend
ed, property of every description was depre-
ciated one half, and this Indebtedness which
pervaded every class virtually doubled. And
where did the shock fall in its greatest force?
Upon the South-upon the cotton planter
1t was necessarily, unayoidaby SO. II that
article of production was alone relied on TO
meet this immense debt, the planter must be
in some way responsible for it. lie must Ell
Their be made the ultimate debtor, as the con-
sumner Of the goods imported, or his bills
drawn upon the basis Of his cotton must be
procured. In either event, when the antici-
pated fund failed, the recoil fell first and hes-
West upon him. The Southern banks were
the first to suspend and the last to resume
many never did so. No better evidence can
be had Of the condition of any portion of ibis
people, than the condition of their banks.
But what followed No sooner had the E.
lastic energies Of the country begun to rise
under the pressure, than a second revulsion
followed. The failure Of the corn crop in
England struck down again the price Of your
great staple, for it diverted the capital invest
ed in it to the continent in search of bread
stuffs. The Bank Of the United States haY
ing loaned literally to the South, which was
largely indebted to il, and knowing that the
cotton was the only means Of reimbursement
became largely interested in the article. This
has been called speculation. Call it what
vod please, it was the only means Of satisfy
ing the immense debt due the institution, and
which the institution in turn owed in Europe.
The experiment failed, the article was dePre-
ciated, and the revulsion crushed that NAM
moth institution, and many minor ones with
it.
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 suspended, nor your curren-
cy been destroyed. Had your market been
home market, the failure Of the corn crop
in England would not have affected it, nor
would ithave been brought within the direct
operation of the Auctuation Of European
commerce. The people Of New England
were less affected by these revulsions than
any other portion Of the country. Their
banks we're the most stable, and their curren-
CIV the soundest. This was owing to the do
nestle market. The circle Of their opera
tons was smaller and more quickly perform
ed. The trade was brought nearer to the