New-York tribune., 1868-02-01
THE FPEE.TRADE BANQUET

u
THE FREE-TRADE BANQUET
II is refreshing to witness the divine COM
passion the infinite forgiveness. with which
the unfathomably profound frcc-tIaders regard
the ignorance, the simplicity, the sad mental
derangement OF the advocates of cooperation
among Americans TO protect and develop
American Industry. We like to be pitied for
our lack of brains, and when the compassion
comes from such august intellects as figure IN
the councils of the British freeiraders, we are
moved almost to tears by Il sense Of unwOrth-
ness, and a swelling gratitude Tor their conde-
scension For Nh William Cullen Bryant, aS
n poet we entertain warm respect. But the
works which might establish his reputation rs
an economist remain unpublished and unwi1t-
ten. "Thanatopss,n as an offspring OF the
meditative muse, is admirable; but as an indl-
cation of the mode i'll which industry may be
diversified, manufactures developed, taxation
eouitably distributed. and the national wealth
enhanced, "Ihanatopsis" is by no means so
instructive as the Deserted Village" Yer,
we have neither been inclined to regard Gold
smith, nor the race of poets generally, rs
guides in Political Economy.
Mr.. Ralph Waldo Emerson is also poet,
and has a reputation as transcendental-
st. which is supposed TO be f1rthest removed
from practical industry and finance. If the
views of those who believe in National coop
Grafton, as well as in individual freedom, as n
means to promote industry, were a poetic
figure or a dream of the fancy, Mr.. Emerson
would seize their airy attenuations "a readily
as Saladin the Saracen severed With his seine
tar the floating web of gossamer which defed
the blows of the pOnderous weapon of CGur
de Lion. But political economy is neither
simple creed. to be put in few sentences and
learned in an hour, nor dream OF the fancy
in which poets are divinely commissioned to
dazzle and delight us. And if Messrs. Bryant
and Emerson would deem it 40 disparagemcnt
if we should prefer Prof Blot's cookery to
theirs as positively as we should prefer their
poems to those of Prof. Blot, we trust they
will with like freedom permit us to prefer
the views upon political economy advocated
by the Careys (Matthew and Henry c.,
and by all the leading American statesmen
with few minor exceptions, to those of the
author of "The Waterfowl or "The Forest
"Hymn."
There are those who day are unable to sec
how trade can be free from taxation so long as
every other branch Of industry has to contribute
to bear an enormous burden of taxes inflicted on
the country by a rebellion in the joint name of
slave labor and free trade. We ourselves are
among this benghted number who regard free
trade, like balloon lOcOmotiOn, as very attractive
in theory, especially to persons of gifted and
poetic imaginatons, but utterly imrrachcable
in the present condition of human progress
Mr. Bryant, in his recent speech at the public
dinner in his honor as a frec-tradcr, compares
those of like Judgment and conclusions with
ourselves to Doors who cannot be taught that the
earth revolvcs, OF who would attempt To lift
themselves over fence by pulling at their
boot straps. To all of which we stand in mute
awe, wondering whether these SMILES and meta
phors are the facts and arguments of political
economist, OF whether they are poetry We de-
tect no resemblance between their style and
the dull but labOrious and candid learning of
Adam Smith, or the keen though often unsup-
ported deductions of Mill, OF the luminous
though diluse arguments of Carey Nor on the
other hand, though it consists entirely of figures
of speech untrammced by single fact, does
it at all resemble the poetic style of "Thana-
"topsis."
Ib AOhVNnS NAAih't ii'hi -hA' gHHbo
speech certainly is not political economy; and
if it is poctry-and we do not like TO allcge
that Mr.. Bryant is capable of producing any
thing else-we must be allowed to prefer the
poets earlier efforts lie says:
"This country has been persuadedt attempt the feat
Of lifting Itself frOm tho ground by the waistband-
pauRhterand for nearly half century, with occasional
short relax aOns Of the effort prompted by the return
When the first pull was made, and wa
Intellectual, were told to try another, and then
other s more vigorous, and another and another: AMI
now what do seci The garment OF which the waist
band forms part Is torn To shreds and aters present
ing what Pope. auding to a similar accident, somewhere
calls dishonest sight mOrtyinC TO the pride OF
philosophy"
In spite OF the compassion felt for us by
men whose arguments are so luminous, we
continue to think that freedom of industry and
production is as important as freedom of
trade; that freedom OF industry increases with
every increase in the wages of labor and the
rewards Of toll; that the wages of labor in
this country are not increased by being brought
into competition with all the pauper labor of
the globe, and hence that free trade as we
are situated, would diminish the freedom OF
industry that both trade and productive in
dustry must bear their share of the burdens of
the Government, and the claim of either to be
free from taxes is myth and an idle dream.
The Rev. Newman Hall is advocating the
settlement of the Alabama claims before the |