Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-05

wages Tor the subsistence or their famllIes-
and especially those who could get no
regular employment. were often not able TO
buy bread enough to support life; and great
numbers, under these circumstances, but for
the relief extended under her poorlaws in
years of scarcity. would have persisted. Under
these circumstances a cry of repeal was
raised against her corn-laws by the suffering
and toiling million. 1t was heard and res
pended to by the Government, and the corn
laws were repealed. They ought to have
been repealed as soon as population began to
tread upon the heels of subsistence. Protec-
ton of agriculture had gone as far as it could
safely 90, without a sacrifice of other great
interests. and it was Withdrawn without the
sacrifice! OF the agricultural interest One
fourth Of the population of Great Britain is
still engaged in agricultural pursuits. Ag-
riculture still fourishes. and all the wheat
and other grains. and the flour made from
them. imported from other countries, con-
stitute hui fraction Of what is consumed.
1t is estimated that all the ships IF the rner-
chant service of the world would not he sur-
ficient to transport LreadstuffS and provisions
enough to supply the United Kingdom if their
entire cron shnuld AT any time fail. The senti-
ment of the invocation of Thomson
eye Brtons venerate the plough -
is still the sentiment of the English people.
as it is of every intelligent people Agri-
culture is the foundation Of all prosperity.
and without its successful development civil
iZation would retrOgade. But all history
teaches that people addicted to agriculture
only have Invariably become either the de-
pendents or the victims of the Powers addic-
ted to trade. war. and spOliation
But upon what preteXt can it he claimed
that the repeal of the corn laws of England
was a triumph of free-trade principles? Here
we have no question about the protection of
agricultural industry;it is about the protec-
ton OF mechanical and manufacturing in
dnstry. As to these interests, the repeal of
the corn laws was triumph of the protec-
tive policy--of the manufacturing interests
of Great Britain-and was so expressly
claimed to be by the Anti-COrn Law League
and the advocates OF free trade. The repeal
of the corn laws chcapened breadstnffs and
provisions. brought them more within the
means of the operatives and labOrers in the
machine shops and founderics, in the mines
and in the factories. which enabled them to
do more work with the same or less wages
and to consume more of the products of man.
ufacturing industry. encouraging new invest
ments of capital, the building Of new fac
tories. and thus regular employment was
found for thousands who otherwise might
have been still doomed to the pittance OF
subsistence dOled out by the poor-rate
relief to the toiling millions but unhappily it
conld bring no relief to the unemployed poor
except TO the extent and in the way | have
inst explained for though the market was
thrown open to the wheat of the Baltic oi
the Black sea. and of the United States. still
the poor man out of employment had no
means to buy it; and as for him and his
starving family might as we'll have remain
ed in the country where it was grown.
Il
those who concur with him in the policy OF
free trade, expect to advance the interests or
relieve the wants of the toiling millions
about whose distreSses and expressions under
the protective policy they so eloquently
declaim? How do they propose to benefit the
four hundred thousand destitute poor in the
city of New York referred to by the Senator
from Georgia bv their free-trade policy? When
YOU take off all the duties on foreign mer
chandse. and thereby, if it should so happen
reduce thhe prices of them, does that relieve
their distresses or promote their comfort?
Unfortunately. their condition would remain
precisely the same, for they have no means
to buy clothing at any price, nor will they
ever be able to improve their condition until
they shall find employment~by which they
can first put money in their pockets. Nor is
this the doom of the poor and idle about the
large cities alone. hut of the thousands dis
pcrsed over the country, who, either from
taste or habit prefer the eXcitements and the
associations of the town and village, or O
mechanical labor. to the solitary employment
of the farmer or the country. But a wise
protective policy looks beyond the supply o
such emplOyments as will raise the condition
of the laboring man above want; it aspires t.
give him the option of employment at sucl
wages as will enable him to build house, t.
educate his children and to clOthe his wife am
daughters in Il manner confOrmahle to the
natural and becoming pride of an American
freeman. That is the true way to relieve the
wants and 10 elevate the condition of the
toilng millions, and there is no other way.
But, sir, a wise and statesmanlike policy fo
this country must embrace other classes o
our population besides the poor unemployed
Threc-iOurths of our population are now en-
gagged in agricultural employmcntS, leaving
but One-f0urth for all others The cotton anC
tobacco growers may be sure of a good mar
ket under all circumstances, but when tht
frec-trada policy Of those who now have con
troll in our pnblic councils shall he carried gu
when all the most important manuiacturin!
empl0yments and enterprises shall cease or III
broken down. except the building of ships
and steamboats,, ard locomotives to carry of
our bulky raw products. what will he the fat,
of the labor and capital employed in tn
broad cXpanSe of our agricultural domain
outside of the cotton and tObacco-growin!
States and districts? When, in addition to al
area already under cultivation and ampl
enough to supply breadstuifS and animal pro
visions for half the Christian world, ten mil
lions of acres of land are annually brough
under culture; and when the population of al
the countries, where we sometimes find a mar
ket for our agricultural products but seldom
fall short of sufficient supply derived from
tbai. NV soil and whom those " hn M
fail in this can most commonly supply all de
ficienci.s from the granaries of their neigh
bers cheaper than from ouTs-l repeat, undo
the circumstances have enumera Ted. what i
10 he the condition of the agricultural popu
latiOn, the farmers and laborers of this cOun
try? Where are they to ind a market 70
their still increasing products? What encour
Augment will they have to- improve the pro
! ductiveneSs of their lands, bnild good farm
houses and harms? 1t is true that the whea
growers on the Atlantic Slope may find
god market in the large cities built up b,
foreign commerce.: but when You cast you
eve over the vast valleys and plains of tn
Statest West and Northwest. teeming will
the great agricultural staples, corn and wheat
hogs and cattle, horses and mules, yoI
may well ask yourself where on this globe ar,
we to look for demand, an outlet for then
ut remunerating price<g After the horses anC
the mules required shall be driven 20 the cot
ton States: after the deficiency in their sup
plies of corn and bacon shall be furnished
them; after the few populous cities shall hav'
received their supplies OF beef cattle and porl
and -four, where else, | repeat, can the farme
look for profitable market for the vast sur
plus of his products which he will find on hi
hands? Nowhere. hut 10 the uncertain, iuc
tuating and limited markets in foreign conn
tries. In years of famine or short crops il
Europe-which. by-the-by, we are liable t.
have at home as well rs abroad,-a market ma,
he found for "a portion of our large surplus
but the hopes and calculations excited b,
such occasional demands will prove delusiv
aud short lived. A few years ago. when Their,
happened TO be good market for breadstuf
L Z, 81 h.. Of nh he,