see, I think, that it is a clear and great advantage, and I wish the subject might be calmly considered and weighed by the honorable member from South Carolina and his friends.

But, at any rate, the fact that some portion of her annual product, instead of being exported, is sold at home, cannot possibly diminish the capacity of the South to buy and consume the manufactured articles of the East, or any other articles. The cotton-planter sends his crop to New York; it is there sold, and all at the same price. How does it affect his income, or his ability to purchase what he wants, whether all his cotton so sold be sent to Europe, or part of it be carried to be manufactured in Massachusetts?

But now look to the other side. Of what consequence is it to the North and East that the South is able to buy their productions, if overwhelming importations from abroad render them unable to sustain competition? If the cheaper labor of Europe underbids them in every thing, if these frequent inundations of foreign commodities break up their establishments, how are they benefited by the ability of the South to buy and consume? So that, turn it as we will, it all comes back to the steady price and security of labor. And all the theories lately started, and pressed with so much earnestness, go directly and necessarily to one point; and that is, the reduction of the price of labor. On this I might say much, but at present will confine myself to one or

two remarks.

In the first place, when labor is employed, labor can consume; when it is not employed, it cannot consume. Who buys the pork and the lard of the Northwestern States? Who takes the corn of North Carolina and Virginia, and the flour of the latter State? Is it not the North and the East? Virginia and Carolina have no better customer than Massachusetts. To say nothing of the amount of naval stores received from North Carolina, and used by the navigating interest of the East, let me only refer to bread-stuffs. Two millions of bushels of corn, and four hundred thousand barrels of flour, have been imported into the single city of Boston in one year. Most of this corn is from North Carolina and Virginia, and much of the flour from Virginia. I find it has been estimated that upwards of six millions of dollars have been paid by Massachusetts for bread-stuffs imported in a single year. All this is

consumed and paid for by employed labor. Take away employment from our labor, or drive it from its accustomed pursuits, and its power of consumption is at an end.

home does not This is a very I have looked

But not only does the protection of labor in the North and East enable it to buy the products of the South, but all protection of labor increases general consumption. Hence we find that the manufacture of many useful articles at diminish the aggregate amount of importations. important truth, and all our history confirms it. at the tables of exports and imports, from the very first origin of this government, and I do not find any thing to countenance the idea that imports, in the aggregate, fall off in consequence of protecting labor at home. There were quite as great fluctuations forty or forty-five years ago, as there have been since the tariff of 1824. A well-employed and prosperous community can buy and consume. An ill-employed community cannot buy and consume. This is the solution of the whole matter, and the whole science of political economy has not one truth of half so much importance as this.

One word more. The experiment of low wages has been often tried. We see it going on now in Asia and many parts of Europe. My colleague has recently given us a list of the prices of labor in various countries. We know what those countries are, and what the condition of the people is. On the other hand, we have tried the experiment of high wages; and has it not produced the best condition of society, for the general happiness of all, that has ever existed upon the face of the earth?

IV. A fourth sentiment of the honorable member is, that the removal of all duties increases the exportation of articles manufactured at home. I cannot conceive how this can be true. If foreigners can beat us in our own market, they can beat us elsewhere. The exports of domestic articles, in the years stated in the tables which the honorable gentleman has read, are not at all referable, I think, to any such cause as he supposes; that is to say, some natural cause necessarily producing such a result. The truth is, that prices fell, at that time, in consequence of excessive importations from Europe, and the holders of our own manufactured goods were obliged to get rid of them, by exportation or otherwise, in the best manner they could. It is known that our exports of manufactured articles have been

very variable and irregular. When importations have been great, and prices become reduced, then exportation has taken place. Our manufacturers have, in many instances, shown much skill in the fabrication of articles suited to foreign markets. For a while they have been successful, in some degree; but the English have always been ready to imitate them, and profit by their example. If a particular article, manufactured in the United States, has been found capable of being sold to a profit in the Mediterranean, in South America, in India, or in China, the English manufacturer has immediately set himself to work to produce a similar article, and to drive the American article out of the market, by a like article afforded at a lower price, because the result of cheaper labor. These English articles have been sold as American products. The stamp of "Lowell," and "Tremont Mills," or "Lawrence Mills," has been found in Asia, and in South America, on articles manufactured at Manchester in England.

V. Finally, the honorable member is of opinion that the whole system of protection was prostrated, and is prostrated, cut up, root and branch, and exterminated for ever, by the State interposition of South Carolina. He has often expressed this opinion before. I only take notice of it now, as he has expressed it very strongly, and as it leads me to fear that I have been wrong in the expectation which I have been willing to cherish, that he himself would see both the justice and the political wisdom of giving moderate and reasonable protection, and of continuing it, so long as necessary, to some of the great, leading, and important branches of domestic industry.

I have only to add, that I wish men of all parties, who entertain the opinion that duties on imports fall heavily and unequally on the South, would calmly reconsider that opinion. Look to the great article of woollen cloths; where are they most consumed, because most necessary? Our laborers cannot, and must not, be left shivering under a Northern sky, with the slight clothing which may be sufficient to protect the laborer of the South. They must, have woollens, and they pay the price for them; and pay the price enhanced, if enhanced, by the duties; and pay it willingly, for the sake of being secured in the hopes of a reasonable reward for their labor. This heavy article, one of those which pays most revenue, is consumed in the

North, out of all proportion, more than in the South. Look to iron, another important article. The remarks applicable to woollens are applicable to this also; and the more so, as the manufacturing districts themselves are great consumers of iron. The same may be said of lead, and many other articles.

Sir, it is not my object to show that the South does not pay her part of the public contributions. I admit, most cheerfully, that she does pay her part; but my purpose has been to show, if I could, that she does not bear an unequal, and consequently an unjust, portion of the public burdens, as the gentleman has supposed. I am quite sure that a calm and dispassionate consideration of this whole subject, by intelligent and enlightened men, on either side of the Potomac, would result in the conviction that there is really no such wide difference, in regard to what the interests of the different parts of the country require, as ought either to endanger the security of the Union, or create ill-will. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe that, in regard to this whole question, the interest of the North and East is entirely reconcilable to the real, solid, and permanent interest of the South and West.

THE TREASURY-NOTE BILL.*

I REGRET, Mr. President, that the chairman of the committee is absent, as he might probably have made use of this occasion, not only to show the necessity of raising this sum of five millions, for the immediate use of government, by some extraordinary means, but also to state his opinions upon the public revenue, both in regard to its present state and its prospect for the future.

The sum and substance of the measure now before us is, to borrow five millions of dollars, for two years, if necessary, at any rate of interest not exceeding six per cent. This borrowing is to be done by means of issuing treasury-notes bearing interest; and so often as they shall be received at the treasury, they are to be re-issued, so that the whole sum of five millions may be kept out. And the authority to issue and re-issue is to last one year. The consequence of this is, that, one year from the date of the bill, if the whole five millions be not then outstanding, the balance may be issued, redeemable in a year from that time. It is a power, therefore, to make a loan for five millions, with an authority to continue that loan, by borrowing to-day to repay the sum borrowed yesterday, and to continue this process, in effect, for two years. This is the substance of the bill.

Mr. President, at the opening of the session, the President of the United States informed Congress that the financial operations of the government for the past year had been very suc cessful. The Secretary, too, in the very first paragraph of his annual report, stated, with much satisfaction, that the revenue

A Speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, on the 30th of March, 1840, on the Treasury-Note Bill.