The Arkansas banner., 1844-02-20

l then to say, if the tariff arguments there pre- sent do not contain their own reiuanon, and show that the loss of our carrying trade IS. attributable rather to our system oi protec- ton than to our reciprocity treaties.
 In this Report, the sailmakers of New ork represent that their trade has dwindled down to mere patching business, for the want oi protection. MT. Olson tells the Committee, i (we give, in note,* the statement oi an ae- count presented by him. that the shlps from New York are in the habit of buying thelr sails in Europe; and that they buy there Tor one thousand five hundred dollars, suit oi sails which he could not furnish here for less than two thousand one hundred dollars Therefore, says he, protect us. Tax the pro ftable labor of the ship six hundred dol lars, on every suit of sails, for our benefit ln- stead of allowing her to sail cheap, and to freight low, and therefore to compete in the carving trade, with the ships of other na- tions, saddle her with the burdens of protec- ton for the encouragement of your saIlma- kers. The cordwalners and lronmongers, and the host of artEcers concerned ln the building and equipment of ships, all hold the same language. Instead of allowing the shp owner to buy where he can buy cheapest, create us monoply on his ships, say they and compel him to buy from us at home l; and for this privilege, make him pay the sail maker bounty of six hundred dollars every year or two; the cordwainer, quite as much the forger of chains and anchors, a little more; and so on down to the plumber and painter And, for what? Not that our ships may fetch and carry cheap, and out-do those of other nations in the great business of the ocean-not that the State may have nursery I for seamen to meet its exigencies i'll war not that they may give us power at sea, and strengthen us at home, and develop for us the true elements of national greatness and maratime consequence-no, not for these but that few workshops at the North may rival in oppressive monopolies the Esta1acos of Spain, and that the American ship-master may enjoy the great and glorious privilege of having, for good large bounty, his own eountrymen to stitch his sails, to lay his rope, and to weld his chains and anchors for him. Congress lends willing ear, and pas ses it's "blls of abominations." Thus the operations of the tariff are extended from the land to the sea, and made to bear upon the VI the South and West; the hard earnings ot all are wrung from them to make more pro- fitable the calling of the Northern artifcefs. And here we will add, by way of parenthe- sis. that we are not of those who maintain that the cotton gro~ers exclusively pay the protection, and the producer, the duties.- We maintain that the consumer pays the duties, and the profitable labor of the coun- try, the bountes of protection,-and there fore, the South and West being the chief seat of-the profitable and unprotected labor of the country, that these two regions pay for the protection to the N Northern manufacturer. pre- cisely as the ship pays the protection to the sailmaker.
 With these burdens, can American ships compete with English bottoms as carriers, who are protected and privileged, and allow ed all their provisions and every article ol ship-chailderly in bond, or duty free , A commercial friend in Liverpool has been char tering ships there to come over here In bal last, and to carry back cargoes of cotton from our southern ports at one halfpenny freight, which is far below the rates at which Amer ican ships can carry, even with the chances of a return cargo.
 Is 1t not owing to this circumstance as much as to the effect of ''recprocity trea- tv'' with the little town of Bremen, we would ask Mir. Rich, that we are losing the carry ing trade of our country-if,, indeed, we are losing it.
 The agricultural interests of England have for ages past been considered as one of the chief sources of the wealth and greatness of l .l. .I. tol,o rying on for her ocean supremacy is not with foreign States not strange people, but it is in war among her own members.- She is making ready to lay her own hands upon what she once considered the life ot the land. Therefore 1t is, we say, that that country has never before been making greater efforts than she is now making to preserve her power and consequence on the seas. It must be a severe trial to the stout hearts of those s.good old English country gentlemen, renowned in songs to see their agricultural Penates taken away from them, and offered up, one by one, by the son of a cotton spin ner, on altars beyond the sea, to propitiate the great Moloch of trade.
 While England, our great rival in peace and chief foe in war, is doing all to fortify and strengthen herself at sea, and before our very doors, does it not become Ills also to guard our weak points, and to put ourselves in an attitude of defence in case of war?- We have thousands of watermen on the Vest ern rivers, ready, at a moments warning, to take up arms in the Navy for the defence of their shores. With these as a reserve, we want but backyard on the Mississippi, from which we can build, equip, and send down a steam navy to succor the Tortugas, and to protect and defend our Gulf trade, in spite of any force which an enemy might place to the north of those reefs, to compel our Navy into general action, before 1t could enter the Gulf. Memphis has been examined for this purpose by three intelligent officers of the Navy. Their leport is highly favorable, and all the friends of the measure could wish. With the wedge thus tipped and entered, we hope to see it driven home at the approach ing session of Congress. With great libe rality, and a spirit of patriotism worthy of 4R