The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1850-02-01

lLet MI Mefedlth answer, ~ ne c&hs inc Po"oiu 81
gament Of the London Times against his crude aud
childish "systsm Of protective tariff
,a. From The London Times Of January H.
SECRETARY MEREDITH'5 REPORT.
The report OF the Secretary Of tie Treasury TO the
Congress OF the United States viii be found to be docu
ment OF even higher importance than General Tayos
message Tor we are more deeply interested in the course
Union than in the recital OF its military achievements or
It's diplomatic relations and while these subjects have
been discussed with studous reserve the intentions OF the
present administration upon the Questions OF finance and
protection stated and defended with the utmost mi
nueness We regret that on neither of these topics san
record that assent TO- the principles of the American
government which we have 1afegnedly expressed with
reference to the political message OF the President
To certain extent, financial exigencies would I'M
doubleday justify the augmenatlons OF the import duties
which recommended by the Secretary OF the Treasu
ry because the American government has in reality
other financial resource Tor increasing the revenue, and
experience has shown that some augmentation OF these
duties be productive to the State But MIR Mere
di does not take this ground he Develops the
rary complete system OF protection and the extracts
from his report which wepublish in another place. are
read with surprise and dissent by large proportion OF the
British public the philosophers Of No Old Bond street
may hail in the person OF the American minister an un
expected ally The Secretary Of the Treasury has GER
tainly not hesated TO expound the doctrines Of protec
ton in their most antquaied FORM and 70 rest his official
defence OF the policy recommended by the cabinet on the
most exploded fallacies and clumsy delusions
His first proposition seems to BE- that as no country can
labor carry its productions nearly as posi-
bic to the point necessary to fit them for ultimate con-
Il
which nature has provided for their advancement" For
If says he, we exported cotton last year to the amount
Of sixysx millions OF dollars what would have been
the effect if had exported the amount of cotton in
manufactured state of fourod value To this we reply
that such export could in that have taken place
at all Nature has given the United States very extern
sive of producing raw cotton but comparatively
speaking, very limited means OF producing manufactured
goods. Her raw produce is cheap and abundant her
manufactures limited in amount and expensive in fabri-
cation hence the interests Of her farmers made to
depend the interests of her manufacturers the former
who have now the world for their market, would be
duced to the narrow demands OF the manufacturing
States.
But Mr. Meredith confutes his own arguments in the
most striking manner by the subsequent remarks he
makes upon Foreign trade IT, indeed he held that for
egn trade not OF the most essential elements OF
national greatness, or thought with the Chinese states
men, that is only by grace and favor that outer barba
rans to be allowed to frequent American ports there
But while he absolutely deprecates the Importation both
Of produce and OF manufactures, he processes to
open views for the unlimited extension OF foreign trade
The annual products of the United States have been
tmated at about three thousand millions OF dollars the
annual creation Of wealth. in Great Britain 1--WE know
not what authority, and we question the accuracy OF
millions of dollars; but the outward and inward trade Of
the Union is 2l9 monsthat Of Great Briain $40 mil
lions Hence Mr. Meredith nfers that, if our foreign
be reduced to about 1873 millions; and If theirs were
raised to our scale. would reach about ga millions;
But in discussing this subject and framing these cacu
latons, Mr. Meredith to have lost sight altogether
Of the elementary TRUTH that commerce is only another
word for exchange; and whilst he projects stupend-
increase of commercial intercourse with one hand
course to be carried on with the other For example
he wishes to export the cotton of America, not in its
state with value of SO millions, but in the manu-
factured stae-vaue four times that sum- But the peo
chpqfe and N n
article and demand the produce OF the American farmer,
would be totally without the means OF exchange, the
same article come them at four times its pres
price, through the hands of the American manufac-
turer In other words reject the manufactures OF Eu.
rope, reject what have to offer in exchange for
the produce Of America, and consequently to nct the
greatest possible injury on the grower and the
to mention the injury to the consumer both OF raw pro.
duce and of the manufactured article in the Old World
and in the New Whilst the United States enriched
by their command Of the markets of the world in certain
important articles of producesuch cotton obac.
co, and some articles Of food-there is something mex
pressiby childish in Mr.. Meredth's idea of "having
workshops work up At least our own materials. As
well might Lincolnshire grazer talk of appetite to
consume all the beeves which have fatened in his pas
lures With fertile and unlimited territory like that OF
the United States where the interests Of the great bulk Of
the nation are identified with the soil and its produce the
rational object is not to work up their own materials,
snd 1u. wealth Of Ss
most augmented by selling them where they will fetch
the highest prceo in other words, exchange them for
the largest amount OF other commodities.
The result OF these considerations on the part OF the
American minister is, that he proposes that the duties
the staple commodities whether raw material or manu-
featured atcles in which foreign nations compete with
American productions be raised 10 point at which they
will afford substantial and sufficient encouragement 10 our
domestic industry provide for the necessary increase and
due security OF the revenue and insure the permanehce
and stability OF the system. In Mr.. Meredhs opinion,
the United States have been too long hesiiang and
vacating the threshold of great career" and we
must infer from the extraordinary line OF argument that
pervades this elaborate report, that this great career
neither more less than the denve establishment oil
highly protective SYSTEM alike directed against the
features OF Europe and the produce Of the British do
mnions in North America.
Such declaration of the intentions OF the cabinet is
certainly not calculated to promote the harmony OF Con-
gress the peace OF the Union Already the contests
OF parties have begun with such vruence that the mem
orable battle the 80 ballots between Jefferson and Aaron
Burr has been eclpsed and less than SO ballots cc-
CURED before the democratic candidate for the Speaker
ship Mr. Cobb was allowed to take the chair, and then
only by plurality OF votes, not by absolute majority
of the whole House. The government has therefore, no
majority its command in the Senate or in the House OF
Representatives and, under such circumstances we can
hardly comprehend the policy OF recommending measures
which obviously require the full support OF the legsla
ture II 10 unfortunate circumstance in the relations
of American politics with this country, that whilst we
are naturally Inclined by conviction and by tradition 10
coincide with the opinions and policy OF the wing or fed
eras party in the northern States especially the great
questions Of peace slavery, and internal order yet il is in
the South with all its aggressive tendencies and its
nexion with slavery that find the nearest approxima
ton TO our own commercial doctrines and the surest de-
fence OF our common mercantile interests.
IL IL.