The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-01-08


letter of Henry c. CAREY, esq, to the Hon.
Prospect-.4gricultmal .Manutact,uing, Conn
nercial and Financial-at the opening Of the
uear 1851" Mr.. CAREY has long been known
as the advocate of Freedom Of Trade. He had
espoused this cause before Mr.. WALKER was
quoted as one of its champions. He differs
with Mr. WALKER only as to the mode by
which this freedom is to be attained. He be-
lieves that the road to freedom lies through
protection and he challenges denial or re-
futation by Mr.. WALKER Of the arguments by
which he seeks to establish this proposition
Mr.. CAREY appeals to Mr.. WALKER as the
leader Of the Free-trade party, and as the
chairman of the association denominated the
Free trade League. He believes that, of all
the questions by which the country has recent
w been agitated, the only one which remains
to be settled is that of the road by which we
may speedily and profitably reach perfect free
dom of trade; whether it is to be, as Mr.
WALKER and his school inculcate, by the i'm
mediate abolition of custom houses, or the inef-
ficient protection of domestic manufactures, on
the one side; or by the efficient and complete
protection of higher duties on the other. Mr.:
WALKER is the leading advocate of the former
system; Mr.. CAREY of the latter. They are
well-matched combatants. MIR. WALKER pos
sesses the advantage Of old official connexions to
give weight To his opinions and arguments; Mr.
CAREY is merely a private citizen, with the
prestige derived from his voluntary labors in
the field to which he has devoted himself, with
great singleness of purpose, for many years.
Mr. CAREY states, in his preliminary letter,
that he was for many years opposed to the pro
tective system, and believer in the doctrine
which led to the passage of the Compromise
act in S33. The results of that act led him
to see that there was some difficulty which he
did not comprehend The universal pros
perity which followed the tariff of 1912
induced him to examine the subject more
closely: and he soon became convinced that
the true and only road to freedom Of trade lay
through perfect protection Any doubt that
he entertained on this subject was removed,
when. upon a re-perusal, after many years of
The u O., IL Of Nations, he found that the essen
tial object of that great work was to teach the
people of Great Britain that the system against
which it has been the object of protection
among ourselves to guard, was not less mani
testify destructive of themselves than it was
.svolative of the most sacred rights of man
kind" at large.
Mr.. CAREY then proceeds to show that the
tariff of 1916 has caused the ruin of thousands
and tens of thousands of the most useful men
of the country and that 1t tends to the utter
destruction of the coal and the iron, the cotton
and the wooen interests, without any compen-
sation in the sale of more wheat, or the export
of more raw material. We have smaller
export of wheat of cotton, rice, tobacco, corn,
and pork The demand for ships diminishes,
and there is continued diminuton of immgra-
ton Under the tariff of lS4s,' says Mr..
! CAREY, s. immigration trebled, and with each
immigrant we established perfect freedom of
trade. Under the tariff of 1916 immigration
has become stationary, with tendency to de-
cline, and the number of arrivals in the last
fiscal year is not greater than it was three
years before. Perfect free trade has ceased to
extend itself We trade now with million
of Europeans, still resident in Europe, who
but for the enactment of the tariff OF 1916
would now be Americans"
Mr.. CAREY says that it is time that the people
of this country should learn to think for them
selves on this subject, instead OF borrowing
their ideas from English writers, who claim Il
belong TO the school of ADAM SMITH, while
they in fact, repudiate all his doctrines
-. ha Jannupca1 and hpr
denouncing what he advised, to wit, the care
full cultivation of the HOME MARKET, by means
of which the products of the land should b,
consumed upon the land, to the advantage o
the laborer and the landowner, the manu-
facturer and his operatives, the ship carpen-
ter and the merchant. From the day of the
publication Of The Weaih Of Nations to the
present hour, in the judgment OF MIR. CAREY
English political economy has steadily receded
until il has brought the nation into state OF eX
haustlon, from which eXtrlcatlon would seem al
most impossible. The system which modern
economists have advocated, and which ADAM
SMITH repudated, was that of making Eng
land g the workshop of the world" To &C
complish this il was necessary 10 mnder1rd'k tn
,oorid--and this policy England has pursued II
ireland. in India, in the West Indies, in he
North American provinces, until her customer
hsve been exhausted; and the poison has begur
To react upon herself
Mr.. CAREY developes in detail the operation
Of this policy; and concludes by inviting th'
attention Of the country Ia an examination o
the tables which he presents, and which IN hi'
Judgment must convince us that under system
Of efficient proieeiioH-that system which look;
10 war upon monopoly tor the sake Of pericc
freedom of trade---ihe return u labor and CAPT
tai both increase. lie Is satisfied that this ~.
animation must satisfy all Of us THAT wher
we build the most furnaces, We produce th,
most lood-that when We build the must
mills, we produce the most cotion--that wher
We make the most cloth aud iron. we build
the most shlps-that when We most diminish
our necessity for depending on distant mar