person whose statement was received is now recollected, who was not deeply interested.

Here, then, are two important facts, that six out of nine of the committee were from manufacturing States; and the testimony on which the bill was constructed, furnished by interested manufacturers, who have voluntarily left their homes, and travelled great distances for that purpose alone. And from both of them I infer that the protection of manufactures was the controlling consideration in the preparation of this bill. But, sir, I will now look into the bill itself for intrinsic evidence of the fact. We have the evidence of Mr. Clay himself, that "all that was settled in 1816, 1824, and 1828, was, that protection should be afforded by high duties, without regard to revenue." Now, test this bill by that of 1828, and see what a vast number of articles are now to pay the same duty as in 1828, or so nearly the same as not to change the protective character of the duty.

I will present you with the following list of comparative duties:

To this list might be added a great number of other articles

which are taxed at rates precisely the same as by the act of 1828, or so nearly the same as to leave no doubt that this bill, in its general structure, is highly, protective. I beg leave to present another short statement, which, I think, can scarcely fail to convince the most skeptical.

Table of duty per cent. on certain articles of British manufacture, calculated upon th cost of manufacture, according to the tarif of 18.8, 1832, 1833.

Mr. Chairman, what plea or apology can be offered for such a wanton breach of the compromise, as I think these tables establish? In the first place, it is said that without the proposed increase of duties beyond the rates agreed on in 1833, some of the manufactories cannot exist at all, whilst hers cannot realize reasonable and satisfactory profits without it. In reply, I do not hesitate to say that some of them ought to go down. One of the crying evils of this manufacturing system is, that nothing can be attempted in foreign countries which is not soon essayed to be imitated here. No matter what it might be--however unsuited to our condition-it must be tried, under the favorite principle, that if it be found that it cannot succeed in this country by its own merits, we have only to insert a new clause in the tariff bill for its protection, and thereby make it a profitable concern. It were better, far better, for our countrymen to betake themselves to the substantial and useful branches of manufacturing, which can and will succeed by their own intrinsic importance, rather than be running after

Proposed..

the many useless and silly inventions of the Old World. Let me give you an example. Some years ago, the manufacture of patent steel pens was commenced abroad, where it might have been, probably, well enough. But straightway some of our Yankee friends took it into their heads that they could carry on the same business here. Well, away they went at it, and succeeded in making quite a superior article; they monopolized, for awhile, all the common-school patronage of the Northern States. Presently, however, the foreign article began to come in cheaper in price, and quite as good for use, superseding, in a great degree, those manufactured here at a much higher cost. All this has been of recent occurrence; and, accordingly, at the present session, we had before the committee the American manufacturer begging for protection against the foreign article; in other words, asking Congress to impose a tax on all the poor and orphan children of those States for his benefit. Sir, it would have been better for those children to have raised, by contribution, a sufficient sum to buy out this man's establishment, and to have cast it into the Hudson, than for Congress to have granted his petition. If a mechanical business of no more importance to the country than that, cannot support itself without the aid of unjust and excessive taxation, let it go down; and let those engaged in such betake themselves to agriculture, to commerce, or to other mechanical employments of greater importance. I could furnish many such cases all showing a strong inclination to avoid the more laborious pursuits of life, and to resort to every light and trivial handicraft, whether the situation of the country, or the price of labor, will justify it or not.

Mr. Chairman, let us not lose sight of the precise objections to the rate of duties established by the compromise act, which we are now considering. I entertain no hostility to the manufactories of the United States. I cherish, for the valuable and important ones, the very highest regard; but the light and frivolous ones I am willing to see go down to-morrow. There are more noble and invigorating employments, throughout this broad land, for all who may be engaged in such. But to the important ones, I will cheerfully give all the incidental advantages which the collection of the national revenue can bestow.

Such incidental encouragement is given by the compromise, and, I contend, is entirely sufficient to sustain the chief manufacturing interests of this country-such as the woollen, the glass, the leather, the cotton, the iron, &c.

That act allows three distinct points of incidental pro

tection:

1st. It imposes a duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem, or on the value of the goods imported.

2d. It provides that that value shall be fixed in reference to our own markets, instead of those of foreign countries, as was the case before the compromise.

3d. That the duties shall be paid down in cash, instead of being secured by bond, on a credit, as formerly.

This is the rate of duties, and the extent of protection, for which I contend, and those with whom (with few exceptions) I am politically acting. We find this rate of duties already existing and established by Iaw-a law intended, by those who established it, to be fixed and permanent; a law which he who proposed it [Mr. Clay] denominated "a treaty of amity and peace;" which no man, who was entitled to deserve the character of an American statesman, would dare stand up in either House of Congress and disregard.

Now, sir, as to the ability of the manufacturing establishments to sustain themselves at the rate of duties which we are insisting on.

The rate of twenty per cent. ad valorem on the home valuation, including something for cash duties, I estimate as equivalent, at the least, to twenty-five per cent.

For illustration: An article is purchased in Liverpool at a cost of $100. But the same article, when brought to this country, may be fairly worth $120. Now the duty is not to be laid on the $100, its cost abroad; but on the $120, its value heremaking a difference in favor of the manufacturers of four per cent. Making some little allowance, also, for the payment in cash, instead of credits, I assume twenty-five per cent. as the actual rate or degree of protection incidentally afforded by the compromise act. In the allowance of twenty per cent. as the difference between the foreign and home valuation, I estimate transportation, insurance, &c., to be equal to about ten per

cent.; and the other ten are allowed for profits. The question, then, recurs-is this duty of twenty-five per cent. a sufficient protection to enable the manufacturers to sustain themselves?

Sir, it must be, at the first blush, exceedingly strange if they can not. What! not keep up, when the Government grants them an advantage of one-fourth over all foreign competition! Not keep up, when the Government turns eyery $1,000 of their products into $5,000; every $40,000 into $50,000; and every $80,000 into $100,000! for that is precisely the effect of the duty imposed on the foreign producer. Still, however, great as this advantage is, the statements laid before the committee insist that, if the compromise act (equal, as I have stated, to twenty-four or twenty-five per cent.) shall go into effect, most, if not all, of our manufactories must go down. Mr. Chairman, I am free to declare that I do not believe these statements. They are made by men deeply and directly interested-whose wealth or poverty was at stake; made without any sanction of an oath, and with no direct responsibility whatever. Manufacturing, like almost everything else, has been over done. The high and exorbitant protection of former times has induced too many to rush into the business; and, on this account, I dare say, many establishments will have to go down-not for the want of adequate protection, but for want of real capital originally. All the moneyed fictions of the day are now vanishing, and none but the real, substantial capitalists can stand the shock. Even some who had such capital, have lived in such luxury, or so disregarded the wholesome suggestions of a prudent economy, that they must and will be compelled to go down. So it is with all the other pursuits of life. Like causes of imprudence and extravagance have ruined them in like manner. But I do firmly believe that our woollen, cotton, iron, glass, leather, and all our important manufactories, can be sustained at a duty of 24 or 25 per cent.; all, certainly, that are located under favorable circumstances, and are conducted with that industry and rigid economy which characterized this country before the late inundation of extravagance, speculation, and folly. None of them may realize the same extent of profit as formerly; but they must be content with less: all our occupations must be content with less. The farmers, graziers, and plan