Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1872-03-21

Journals, evidently In the service Of the |
English iree-traders, have been parading the
results Of Englands commerce as the results |
Of free trade" and pointing eIultingly to
the fact that the exports Of English and Irish |
produce In 1870 reached 10 value TO within
fraction Of a thousand millions OF dollars.
But they carefully keep 10 ,he background |
The additional fact that q protective sys'em, |
the most stupeudous and most carefully de-
yised that the world has ever known, nrst
built up the Industries Of England to that
polnt Al which they feared no further COM
petltlon. as Il had so thoroughly rooted, sys-
lematized and ecouomized her operations
that the little island, full OF iron-workers and
manufactures, stood forth the apostle of free
trade perfectly secure In the conviction that
no other nation had the appliances or the
ability to outbld her In her position as the
workshop Of the world
The gospel Of free trade Is therefore dill
gently preached by the emissarles Of Eng
land. Her policy Is to purchase tho raw ag-
riculturai products Of other nations at a price
forced down as far as may be, then to exact
irelghts on these very products In money, and
to pay the original debt in the fabhcatlons
Of her factories. She strives to DO the cred
ltor nation Of the world, aud shc has sue
ceeded. But wherever she has induced an
other nation to accept her dsludlng theory
tho best hopes Of progress and civilization
have been palslcd; blight has come over the
whole land commerce, all but Euglands,
has dwarfed; manufactures, all but Eng
lands, have doeayed. Look at India; the
pound OF cotton, costing iu India but one
cont, Is driven through British looms and
forced back on the Hlndoo at sixty cents.
Cities there that contained, seventy years
ago, thousands Of houses and exported mill
lions OF pieces Of the huest quality OF goods,
are now q mass OF ruins. Look at the con-
dltion OF Turkey, altogether under English
influence, and now buying British lrou-clads
with money wrung from a people ablectly
poor and Idle. Look at Portugal, lmpover-
ished by adopting the commercial policy Of
England, and destroying tho harmony Of
her agricultural aud mechanical interests.
But, above all look at the condition to
which the laborer OF wealthy aud powerful
England has been brought that her manu-
| factories might defy the competition Of
| foreign labor. It Is u sight 10 bring sorrow
to the most callous heart; and God grant that
tho workingnien Of thls country-owning
this country, aud for whom and by whom Its
Government is created-may never be mlsled
BY the couusels OF heartless cupldlty into the
position OF their brothers In Great Britain.
Already English subsidiaries arc sowing
diligently falsehoods that America cannot
build her own ships-can no longer have .
share OF commerce unless she goes TO the
British shlp-bullder, to those glga ntlc yards
built up as part of Euglaud's system, and
| buy the vessels which American mechanics
should build, aud ouly do not b ecause Con-
gress has boon oyerreached by the superior
wisdom OF the British Government
i The craft OF English hlrellngs Is now
uniting with the sublime ignorance Of some
Of our Legislators, and voclteratlug "trce
trade" A member OF Congress, beAmlug
forth from an Intelligent Western coustit-
uency, has proclaimed from his seat In tho
House that England had never subsidized q
steamship llnel Let the gentleman turn TO
the Britlsh post Office reports; there he will
dnd, 10 his shame, the Immense sums OF
money, over 600. 600 900, which England has
expended In supporting her steamship lines,
and which have been returned 10 her hun
dred-fold In the wealth they have brought
her Government, her manufactures, her mer-
chauts.
Not less amazingly imbecile Is the speech
Of another fragment Of the assembled wisdom
Of the country In the halls Of Congress. This
one soleninly declares that no commercial
nation has ever been noted for attainmens
In ship-buildingl The public schools In this
honorable gentleman's locality must be sadly
deficient, or he has strangely forgotten the
history Of commercial nations from the days
Of Tyre until now. Genoa, Venice, Holland,
England, every nation that has attained com
mercial greatness, has been celebrated for
shlp-bullding and attention 10 ship building
interests; and as these were neglected 90
decayed commercial supremacy, and with
the decay OF commerce other Interests grad.
ually became tributary to those OF rival
powers, and the glory Of the nation died out,