New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-06
The Question oF ProtectioR-A National
Discussion.

Inc most COnspiCuouSf W" t"N w.
most influential, of recent writers on the
great question of Public Economy have
been ROBERT J. WALKER on the side OF
Free Trade and HENRY C.CAREY on that
of Protection Mr.. Walkers successive
Reports as Secretary of the Treasury
under Mr.. Polk, were exceedingly popular
with the Free Traders of this country, and
one of them attained the unique honor Of
being reprinted in England for the House
of Lords; and Mr.. W. has been made
Chairman of the Free Trade Association
lust organized in our city. Mr.. Carey, on
the other hand, was never in office nor
made an official Report within our knowl-
edge; but his recent works entitled The
Past, the Present, the Future and The
Harmony of Interests are regarded by
Protectionists as among the very ablest and
most conclusive expositions OF their prln-
ciples and views. Mr.. Carey now pro-
poses to enter on further consideration, In
the pages of Col. J. S. SINNERS admir-
able Monthly, The PLOtc, The LOOM and
The Anrll,' of the topics on which Free
Traders and Protectionists differ, under the
title of THE PROSPER, AgT1cuttHrdt'
Manufacturing, Commercial and Financial,
at the Opening Of the Year 1851" and Col.
Skinner offers to publish any reply which
The Free Trade League may see tit to
make to it, if the journals on their side
will evince equal liberality and devotion to
the truth.
We also have an offer to make to the
Free Traders, which we shall be happy to
have them accept. If they will induce
Mr.. Walker to attempt a reply to Mr..
Carey's successive numbers as they appear
and furnish said reply to us for original
publication, we will gladly print it in our
several editions, amounting to nearly Sew
enty Thousand copies. We venture to say
that no equal opportunity of placing their
doctrines fairly and fully before the Amer
lean advocates of Protection was ever before
proflered them. Will they accept it +!
Here is Mr.. Carey's preliminary
letter
To Hon. Robert j. Walker:
GIRs AZ author of the Tariff of le46, you O.
garded as the leader of that portion oftbe commu-
nifty known as the Free Trade party" and, as
such, you have been appointed Chairman of
Committee ofthe Association denominated "The
Free Trade League; and In that capacity IL is
that now address you. The object of that As
ISOLATION is declared to be that of endeavoring to
bring about the entire abolition of Tariffs, whether
for revenue or protection, and the substitution of
direct taxation for the support Of Government,
with a view to the emancipation Of trade from all
restriction, and to the substitution of an econo-
mical Government for that which has within the
few past years become so enormously expensive;
and nothing, as ] conceive, could be more desra-
Bile than its accomplishment.
The League, thus formed is composed, as | I'm.
derstand il, not Of statesmen, but of teachers OF
statesmen. AS such, their position is even more
responsible than that of the statesmen himself
yet the high responsibility of even the latter is so
well exhibited in the following passage from re.
cent British Free Trade Journal that | should
scarcely feel justified In emitting to invite to its
perusal, not only yourself, but all the members OF
your Association
called administer the affairs OF free State should be
aes y m6asd ws 5s e Sss e o. b
personal responsibility. II is awful thing to undertake
The OF ges fna d6 NO sn csn
Utmost soul feel When reflect upon the fear
fu consequences both to the lives the material interests
and The oral welbepg Of thousands, which may ensue
from hasty word, erroneous Judgment, temporary
csreessress lapse OF oigen3ei when remember
every action ola statesman Is pregnant with results
which may last for generations after he is gathered 70 his
fabers that his decisions may and probably must, affect
fors The Haap Df
crime virtue, prosperity adversely, the honor
dhonor Of his country the hight wrong wise or unwise
solution Of some OF the mghesl problems In the progress
ofhumsBity depend upon the courss he pursue al
those critical moments which TO ordinary occur but
rarely, but which crowd the daily life Of statesman the
marvel Is that shpuld be forthcoming bold enough to
venture on such task"
1t IS ian awful thing to undertake the govern
ment of a great country; and when We reflect
upon the fearful consequences both to the lives,
the material interests and the moral well being"
not only Of thousands but millions, and not only
for the present but for all future time, that may
result from error on the part OF men charged with
the duties OF Government, we may well be sur
prised that linen should be forthcoming bold
enough to venture such a task" Still more
might we be surprised at the readiness with
which the thousands OF men who as editors of or
contributors to- the daily, weekly, monthly, and
quarterly press, undertake the yet higher task of
enlightening the Governors, as to the mode of
proceeding most likely to promote the physical,
moral, intellectual, and political well-being of
those over whom they are placed. With large
portion Of these, the sole requisite for the Office
with which they charge themselves, is so entire
an unacquaintance with the facts by which they
surrounded that errors Of statement are per
fectly excusabe, because they know no better
while many of them have obviously in view
nothing but the promotion Of their own supposed
and temporary interests, caring little, if even at
all, for the community whose interests they pro-
fess to advocate, and solacing themselves for the
ruin OF thousands OF their fellow citizens, by the
fact that they themselves have been enriched.
At one moment, they teach that the community
is to be benefited by the expansion of banks and
the making Of roads, because they, or their
friends, have land, or lots, or stocks, to SELL At
the next, the banks are denounced as having
produced speculation, and the announcement is