do pretty much as he pleased, if he did not molest his neighbor's person and property, and I do not know that we did not fare as well for it.

Like other monarchs, Dick had his parasites and flatterers; and, though as he engrossed nearly all the functions of the state in his own proper person, he had few or no offices of honor or emolument to bestow upon them; yet, I dare say, they reaped, in some way or other, substantial fruits of his royal bounty.

He kept two white lads continually about his person, whom he took care to select for their comely looks, and to keep them handsomely clad. We denominated them his secretaries, but I rather think that the office of secretary was nearly a sinecure, as I never saw or heard of any state documents within his realm. His orders, like those of other African potentates, were given viva voce, and all the proceedings of state and justice within his dominions were of the most simple and summary nature. Their duties, as secretaries, were probably to collect his beer-score,

to keep account of his money, and to collect the contributions from the shopkeepers.

He sometimes punished gross instances of drunkenness very severely; and it used to excite my youthful wonder, for, as beer was the favorite potation, the inebriating draught must, in most cases, have been drawn from the royal fountain; but I have for a long time ceased to wonder at it, for I perceive, (or think I perceive,) that the tendency of a good deal of government craft is to tempt men to the commission of crime, and then to punish them on detection. It was said that his royal majesty was sometimes in the habit of indulging his own bibulous appetite to a crapulous degree-but then he had the monarch's privilege;

THE two most important documents, in a commercial and economical view, that perhaps ever issued from modern governments, passed each other on the Atlantic, during the past winter, as messengers of peace and future prosperity to the people of both England and the United States. For thirty years the commercial policy of England has been rapidly approaching the free trade point. The welfare of her people, as distinguished from the privileges of the aristocracy and the splendor of an imperial government, has demanded, in yearly swelling tones, the abandonment of protection and the cessation of special privileges. Enlightened statesmen have acknowledged the necessity and understood the remedy. They have gradually removed, piece by piece, the obstacles that presented themselves to the progress of national industry, and at the opening of the session of Parliament for 1846, the most popular minister of England announces his future policy to be that of free trade, and the military representative of the aristocracy in the cabinet declares his determination to support him. In 1816, England stood covered with her old protective panoply, the time honored accumulations of ages; she was well accoutred for the long

battle through which she had passed, but she speedily discovered, that, encumbered like a modern light infantry man, in the armor of a knight of the olden time, she was in no condition to strive in the arts of peace with her more active, because less burdened rivals. In 1816 she first threw away a portion of her navigation act, and year by year has since lain aside other burdens that impeded her progress, until she now stands nearly in her gigantic native strength, unrestricted by useless and obsolete contrivances for defence. It is true, she has yet her debt, and her army and navy bills, which cost her near $240,000,000, about equal to the whole value of her export per annum, and in so far she labors under a disadvantage to which the United States are not subjected. These will pass off with the progress of events. The chimera of the "balance of power" cannot long survive the prostration of its twin absurdity, the "balance of trade." The progress of free trade in England has been the most rapid in the last four years; in fact, in that period of time it may be said first to have become recognized by the government as a principle. It is true, that for many years the wisest and most enlightened men in England have

been perseveringly and laboriously working in the cause, and to their exertions is due the fact that sound principles of trade have made such popular progress, as to enforce upon the minister the necessity of tearing himself from his aristocratic associations, and standing forth the champion of the great truths expounded by Adam Smith. About seventy years ago the Wealth of Nations" was put forth; at a period when economical science was covered in darkness, and the grossest errors prevailed in regard to economical legislation. Gradually the truths contained in that work have spread in the public mind, until they have become the rule of action for the government of the greatest commercial empire of modern times. It is to such men as Richard Cobden that the merit of disseminating these truths is due. We have before us a pamphlet, published by that gentleman in 1836, and, to show the spirit which moves great, enlightened and philosophic minds like his,-minds that recognize in free trade principles the means of conferring the greatest good on the greatest number in all countries, we make the following extract:

"Of the many lessons of unsophisticated and practical wisdom which have-as if in imitation of that arrangement of perpetual decay and reproduction that characterizes all things in material nature-been sent back from the new world to instruct the old, there are none so calculated to benefit us-because there are none so much needed-as those maxims of providence and frugality, to which Franklin first gave birth, and which, gaining authority and strength from the successive advocates and practice of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson, have at length become identified with the spirit of the laws and institutions of the

United States.

"The first, and, indeed, only certain step towards a diminution of our government expenditure, must be the adoption of that line of foreign policy which the Americans have clung to, with such wisdom and pertinacity, ever since they became a people. "Bearing in mind that the supply of the raw materials of nearly one half of our exports is derived from a country that threatens to eclipse us by its rival greatness, we cannot, whilst viewing the relative position of England and the United States at this moment, refrain from recurring to the somewhat parallel cases of Holland and Great Britain, before the latter became a manufacturing state, when the Dutchmen

purchased wool from this country, and sold it to us again in the form of cloth. Like as the latter nation became at a subsequent period, as we are now, overwhelmed with debt, contracted in wars or the acquisition of colonies; whilst America free from all burdens, as we were at the former epoch, is prepared to take up, with far greater advantage, the fabrication of their own cotton than we did our own wool. The Americans possess a quicker mechanical genius than even ourselves; such again was the case of our ancestors in comparison with the improvements for which we are inthe Dutch-as witness their patents, and debted to individuals of that chanics-such as spinning, engraving, &c. country We give additional speed to our ships by improving upon the naval architecture of the Dutch; and the similitude again applies to the superiority which, in comparison with British models, the Americans have, for all the purposes of activity and economy imparted to their vessels.'

in me

Contrast these noble and enlightened views with the narrow-minded and pitiful cant, which the protectionist here,

Let

the shadows of aristocracy there,put forth in defence of the policy of taxing the many for the benefit of the few, and reflect who are the genuine republicans, the followers of Cobden there, or the protection beggars here? ters have been recently circulated bearing the signatures of the largest manuficturers of the Eastern States, and their tone and course of argument is as indicated in the following extract:

"I have not yet known the British government to reduce the duties to a point that has reached a single important interest. Their free trade and low duties never apply to any article that seriously competes with their own labor, nor are they likely to adopt such measures. The free trade of the political economists of Great Britain, is a transcendental philosophy, which is not likely to be adopted by any government on the face of the globe, unless it be the Chinese, and we have already the earnest of the effect of low duties on the internal condition of that country. The trade of that empire is fast approaching to barter; the precious metals having been drained to pay for the foreign products introduced into it."

That these opinions are expressed by a few interested persons is matter of no moment; but when we reflect that this government has acted upon notions so disgraceful to an intelligent people, and that that action has been supposed

66

to be in accordance with the will of a majority of American republicans, the reflection is anything but flattering.Mr. Cobden exclaims, "Remove your burdens on industry, or you will not be able to compete with active, skillful, intelligent and untaxed Americans." The monied aristocracy here exclaim, Lay an embargo upon imports; give us a monopoly-we are unable to compete with the pauper labor of Europe. The half-starved, tax-burdened and uneducated paupers of Europe can beat us at every thing we undertake; therefore protect us." "This narrow-minded whining, despicable cant, calls a blush to the cheek of every American nurtured a freeman. This "theory of free

trade," this transcendental philosophy," this " utopian dream," is, happily, a "great fact." England stands, to all intents and purposes, "redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled." The free trade measures of her government, adopted in 1842, have, in the three years since elapsed, more than redeemed their promise, and their success gives the minister the strength to uproot the whole protective system.

It may not be out of place here to glance back at the leading features of English legislation, since the present government came into power in 1842. The deficiency of the English revenue has been large and increasing annually, as follows:

1838... 1839. 1840..

.1,428,534

430,325 1,457,223

This gave a total deficit for 6 years, of £10,072,000, and it had become very alarming. The former chancellor, Mr. Baring, had sought to make up the deficit by adding 5 per cent. to all cus

Estimate for 1841,..

Actual receipts for 1841,.

1,895,575

39,807,081

38,118,221

206,715

2,758,590

275,859

The attempt to raise more revenue by increasing customs taxes, was an utter failure, and the new ministry came into power. This experiment upon the British customs is worthy of particular attention, because their condition then was analogous to that of our own now. The emergency in which Sir Robert Peel then found himself was great; the difficulties which surrounded him were most serious. He had to provide at once for an accmulated and progressive deficiency of revenue, and for an increasing expenditure: to sustain the honor of the British name and the integrity of

3,034,449 3,069,947

the British empire abroad, and to relieve a distressed population and recruit a paralyzed commerce at home; to reduce the pressure of taxation upon the body of the community, and to augment largely the receipts of the Exchequer; these difficulties he has apparently overcome.

In making his great financial exposé, March 11, 1842, he used this remarkable expression :

"I cannot consent to any proposal for increasing taxation on the great articles of consumption by the laboring classes of so