Essay No. XCI.

Probable course of the restrictive party. Right of Congress to lay protecting duties denied. Should the next session of Congress pass without a reduction of duties, the cause of free-trade will be lost. Great indifference of the commercial cities upon the subject. We look to the agriculturists for rescue from the restrictive system.

IN compliance with the request contained in a communication, published in our paper of the 2d instant, signed “South Carolina,” we shall offer a few remarks on the subject to which it refers.

It is very manifest that the monopolists, who are now enjoying the benefit of exorbitant duties, under the existing tariff, and the party which, from ignorance in some, and political ambition in others, supports them in their injustice, begin now to see the impossibility, after the extinguishment of the public debt, of collecting a revenue, from duties, of double the amount called for by the constitutional expenditures of the government. They will, therefore, very naturally endeavour to create some new demands upon the treasury, in order to justify the continuance of the present duties; and, if they cannot accomplish this by appropriations for internal improvements, or for purposes of general education, or for the support of hospitals and asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind, they will extend more and more the paternal arms of Congress, so as to embrace every individual who happened to hear the sound of a drum during the revolutionary war. Indeed we see no reason why, in a short time, the national sympathies will not be appealed to for the purpose of allowing a pension to the regular soldiers, volunteers, and militia, who took up arms, during the war of 1812, for a thirty days’ tour of duty. No class of people are disposed to be so liberal to old soldiers as the manufacturers; for, as it costs them nothing to be charitable, but, on the contrary, as they pocket one dollar for every dollar raised for the benefit of the soldiers, they can afford to be the most patriotic people of the whole country. Should this scheme fail, other propositions will be thought of, in sufficient abundance to create a permanent demand upon the public coffers for ten millions of dollars; and we are firmly persuaded that, rather than reduce the duties, persons could be found, who would readily consent to vote that the amount of revenue should be annually collected and thrown to the bottom of the ocean.

In case all these schemes should fail, and the impossibility of keeping up the revenue to twenty-two millions should be seen and acknowledged, the next step will be to remove entirely the duties from those articles which are not at all, or to a very limited extent, produced in the country, such as teas, coffee, spices, wines, drugs, tropical fruits, China-ware, and some others, so as to bring down the revenue to twelve millions of dollars—retaining all the odious and oppressive features of the system untouched. Such a course would leave the body of the wrong, against which all the opposition has been levelled, precisely where it now stands, and the cause of liberty and the Constitution would be found to be no gainers. So far from it, such a course would, as our correspondent justly observes, rivet upon us more firmly than ever the restrictive system, as the settled policy of the country; and it behooves all who advocate the doctrines of free trade to raise their voices against this scheme, before it be too late.

The right of Congress to lay duties directly for the protection of manufactures, has been clearly proved never to have been delegated to that body by the Constitution. Nor has the power to impose such duties, with the design indirectly of operating in favour of manufactures, ever been delegated. Protection, it is true, does result from duties, as a necessary effect—and, when it takes place, nobody has a right to complain; but revenue, and revenue alone, should be the design of the law. Pending the debate in the first Congress, when duties of from 5 to 7½ per centum were proposed, some of the members urged the selection of some particular articles in preference to others, upon the ground that thereby indirect protection would be afforded to manufactures. And if it were now a question in Congress, whether duties should be 5 or 7½ per centum, such an arrangement might be permitted to operate as a means of conciliation. The principle, however, is unsound, even in cases where such small duties as those named are contemplated. The interests of revenue and protection are adverse to each other. Revenue requires imports—Protection requires prohibition; for it is only by prohibition, to some extent, that the manufacturer can be protected. If revenue alone were consulted, the duties would be imposed chiefly on those articles, the consumption of which would throw the weight of the taxation on those who were best able to bear it. When protection is regarded, this great principle is lost sight of, and taxation may be made to fall upon those who are least able to bear it. This truth is exemplified fully under our present system. Our taxes are made to fall most heavily upon those who are least able to bear them. Coarse goods, worn by the poor and working classes, invariably pay higher duties than fine goods, worn by the rich. If the new scheme goes into effect, the enormity of this policy will be still more apparent. Many luxuries will be entirely exempt from duties, whilst the most important necessaries of life will remain subject to the highest rates.

But, we doubt if any member of the first Congress, had the question been put to him, as it is to us, this day—“Shall coarse woollen and cotton goods be burdened with a hundred per cent. duty, and shall Imperial tea and Madeira wine be admitted duty free?”—would have sanctioned, by his vote, such a monstrous proposition. It is not possible to believe it—nor can we believe that Congress has any more right to select the objects of taxation, with any other design than to secure the greatest possible amount of duties with the least obstruction to commerce, than it has to impose a duty on carriages with springs, for the purpose of encouraging the manufacture of Jersey wagons.

Should the next session of Congress pass over without such material reduction, in the duties of the existing odious tariff, as will give assurance of a return, after the extinguishment of the public debt, to an equitable scale of revenue duties, the cause of free trade will, in our humble estimation, be forever lost. Our readers will recollect that we have, ever since the establishment of this journal, favoured the belief that the public mind North of the Potomac was in a capacity of receiving the truths of political science, and that a love for the Union would outweigh all the calculations of selfish, local, and ambitious interests, and would lead to such a spirit of conciliation as could not but eventuate in a settlement of the disputed questions, without the further excitement, at the South, of revolutionary feelings. It is, therefore, with reluctance that we now feel ourselves constrained to confess that our faith in the potency of argument and reason is beginning to waver. The efforts making at the South and South-west, to extricate the country from the trammels of the restrictive system, are not supported, at the North, as they should be; and, strange as it may appear, there exists upon the subject, even amongst those who depend for their support upon foreign commerce, an indifference which almost indicates a bowing of the neck to the restrictive system, as the settled policy of the country. If, therefore, the merchants, whose interests are most directly affected by the anti-commercial policy, no longer feel themselves identified with the advocates of free trade—if they will neither, by their intellectual nor pecuniary aid, contribute to the support of the only means, short of revolution, by which the policy favourable to their interests can be restored—how is it to be expected, that those who possess less intelligence, more limited means, and a less direct interest, will do it? That we may not be misunderstood, we shall descend to some particulars.

The city of Baltimore is a commercial city of considerable extent, possessing a population of probably 80,000. The tonnage of Maryland, chiefly, as we presume, belonging to Baltimore, was, in the year 1826, registered 62,127 tons, enrolled and licensed, 90,538—making an aggregate of 152,665 tons. The imports of the state, in that year, were $4,928,569, and the exports $4,010,748. In that city there is not a single paper, as far as we can learn, that even breathes the name of free trade!

The city of Philadelphia contains a population of about 140,000. The tonnage of Pennsylvania, all belonging to Philadelphia, was, in 1826, registered 63,443 tons, enrolled and licensed 9,242—making an aggregate of 72,685 tons. The imports, in that year, were $13,551,779, and the exports $8,331,722. In Philadelphia there are seven daily and several weekly newspapers, and, amongst them all, there is but one which ever ventures to publish an article touching even upon the hem of the American System! Since the removal of the Free Trade Advocate from Philadelphia, in November, 1829, there has not been issued, from the whole press in Pennsylvania, as much, against the restrictive policy, as is contained in one number of our journal.

The city of New York contains a population of upwards of 200,000. The tonnage of the state, almost wholly belonging to the city, was, in 1826, registered 161,452 tons, enrolled and licensed 156,986—making an aggregate of 318,438 tons. The imports, in that year, were $38,115,630, and the exports $21,947,791. In this city there are nine daily papers, of which three are favourable to free trade, and are politically opposed to the American System candidate for the Presidency. The rest, with one exception, are opposed to the present administration, and if they are in favour of free trade they touch upon it so lightly, that, from the complexion of their columns, one is led to believe that most of them would prefer their favourite candidate and the American System, to his defeat and free trade.

The city of Boston contains a population of upwards of 60,000. The tonnage of Massachusetts was, in 1826, registered 183,177 tons, enrolled and licensed 164,980—making an aggregate of 348,157 tons; but what proportion of it belonged to Boston we are unable to say. The imports of the state were, in that year, $17,063,482, and the exports $10,098,862. In Boston there is but one paper which advocates the principles of free trade!

From the foregoing exposition it will be seen, that, in the cities of the North, the ancient commercial spirit has become almost extinct. Political devotion to certain individuals, and hatred of others, have overturned the sound theoretical and practical views for which our merchants were formerly distinguished; and it unfortunately seems, that, for the purpose of placing some men in power, and putting others out, the press is kept in a state of silence upon vital questions, which are of far more importance to the country than the elevation or rejection of any individual, whoever he may be. Men, not Principles, is now emphatically the doctrine of thousands, who formerly would have repudiated so immoral a precept; and it is, no doubt, to this perversion of honest and honourable feeling, that the press is made to bow.

The time once was, when the American merchants prided themselves upon their acquaintance with the true interests of the country, and when they took a lead in the advocacy of the principles by which alone those interests can be promoted. The time once was, when, as a body, they were looked up to for light; when their influence in all our commercial cities controlled the press and made it subservient to the cause of freedom and general prosperity. We well recollect the day when the columns of every paper, save one, in Philadelphia, were open to the most full and free assaults upon the restrictive policy, and when a merchant, who was favourable to that policy, would have been regarded with amazement. Shall we ever again behold those days? We fear not. The redemption of the country from the bonds of the restrictive system will be accomplished, if ever it be, by the sons of agriculture, and it is to that portion of our fellow-citizens to whom we are mainly to look for our rescue. As evidence of what the commercial character, intelligence, and spirit of this country, once was, we have a document, which we shall shortly lay before our readers. It is a Memorial, adopted in the year 1820, by a “Convention of Delegates, representing the merchants, and others interested in commerce, assembled at Philadelphia.” It is replete with sound views, exhibits a masterly acquaintance with the principles of national economy, expressed in language of no ordinary cast, and cannot fail to be read, by every lover of the doctrines it so ably espouses, as a precious monument of the mercantile wisdom of days that are past