Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-01-03
From the Chicago Republican,
The True Policy OF the Union.
ny HENRY c. CAREY, LII. D.

United States on the other, differed, toto
celO, the one from the other. The first
presented to view congeries OF dis
united States, each having its separate
custom house, and each Jealous OF Its
immediate neighbor, while we'll disposed
TO court connections with communities
abroad. AS consequence of this, manu-
facturers had scarcely an existence;
wool, rags, and food went abroad, TO be
paid for In the cloth and iron of Belgium.
France, and England; the people were
poor, and uninstructed; and the nation
at large was little more than an instru-
ment in the hands of Russia or Austria,
France or England.
Directly the reverse of this was then
the state of affairs on this side OF the
Atlantic, the union of the States having
then been perfect; the revenue system
having then been uniform throughout
the length and breadth of the land full
and complete protection having then
been accorded to the farmer In his efforts
to draw consumers to his side; the in
ternal commerce and the revenue from
customs duties having been great be-
yond all former precedent; the demand
for labor having been then so active as
largely to stimulate immigration; and
the power OF the nation having been so
great as fully TO warrant General Jack
son in saying to the Government of
France that the day had then at length
arrived when claims for spoliations must
be settled, as settled they soon after
were.
Starting thus from opposite points,
the course of the two nations, for nearly
all the time that has since elapsed, has
been directly opposite Germany having
then soon after been united in the es-
tablishmentof acommercial system which
gave protection to the farmer and the
laborer, while we abandoned protection,
and re. established that British free trade
system under which, but few years
before, we had so severely suffered. The
policy of the former has, throughout the
whole Of this long period, looked to the
creation of perfect internal commerce
as the basis Of great external one; and
how well it has in this succeeded Is
found in the fact that whereas, before
the formation Of the Customs Union,
Prussia had but seventeen vessels in her
merchant service, the Prussian flag now
floats over more than ten Thousand
ships. The policy of the latter has,
with slight exception, been based on the
idea of sacrificing the internal commerce,
in the hope of thereby obtaining large
external one. What has been its sue
cess is shown by the facts that, through
out the last few years, the Stars and
Stripes have been almost wholly driven
from the ocean, and that even now,
with peace restored, nearly all our in
tercourse with the outside world is
carried on through European ports,
nearly all our commerce with those
ports being maintained by means of for
eign ships.
With the growth of German domestic
commerce there has been a growing ten
dency toward the establishment of po-
| litical union, the result now exhibiting
in the facts that the great disturbers Of
German peace, France and Austria, have
recently been driven from the field, and
that Northern Germany now for the
first time stands before the world q
united nation, numbering thirty mil.
lions, and exercising an amount of in.
tiuence greater than that of either
France or England. The greatest work
ever yet accomplished on European sol
has been thus achieved, and by means
OF measures so generally peaceful and
| profitable that the period OF war scarcely
extended beyond a month, while sc
abundant were the means by which tC
meet its cost that the whole amount o.
loan asked for by the Prussian FL
nance Minister was less considerably
than S50,000,000.
With the decline of American domes-
tic commerce and corresponding growth
of dependence on foreign markets. the
course of things has here been directly
the reverse of all that has been above
described; the tendency to disunion
the belief in the divine origin of human
slavery, the love of slavery and the slave
power having grown with every step il
that direction. Sectional feeling grew
steadily Hntil at length it ripened into
q rebellion that has cost the Union
North and South, more than ten thou
sand million dollars of property, anC
more than half a million of human
lives, the whole of this great mass con
stituting the price we have paid for fol
lowing in the direction indicated by
the British free traders by whom the
first and greatest of all the command
ments is found in the traders maxim
Buy in the cheapest market and sell il
the dearest one"
What, however, is it that they need tt
buy? Is it not raw materials-tht
things we have to sell? That it is so il
certain, and that their pecuniary inter
ests are promoted by increasing compe
tition for their sale, is equally certain.
What is it that they desire to sell ? L
it not iron and cloth-the things w
need to purchase ? That such is tn,
case is certain, and equally so that thei
pecuniary interests are promoted BY
increasing competition for their pur
chase.
The more they can rush out foreign
manufacture, the greater must be the
competition for the sale in British
markets OF all the products of the earth
the lower must be their prices; the
poorer must be the men who have then
to sell, and the weaker and more de