hibited by the Hon. Daniel Webster, in his speech delivered in the senate of the United States, July 25th and 27th, 1846, when the tariff of 1846 was under debate; nor can we do better than copy his remarks and tables as a part of our own argument on this point. They will be found in the note below.* In further execution of the plan of this chapter, it is proposed here to consider only that portion of our commerce which is carried on between the United States and foreign parts, and to leave "Now, sir, I proceed to say something upon the influence, the necessary influence, which this proposed change in our system will exercise, upon the commerce and navigation of the country. I shall do that by exhibiting a series of tables which will speak for themselves; which I know have been drawn up with great accuracy, founded on the last official communication of the secretary of the treasury, so far as revenue is concerned, and estimates regarding the value of freights, collected from the first mercantile sources in the country. Now, as a general remark on these various papers, and, which they fully confirm, I wish to say, what would naturally be expected to be true, that for some years past, since the favor and protection of the government were given to the internal manufactures of the country, the foreign trade of the country has conformed to that state of things; and a change in the business of navigation, and commerce, and freight, consequent upon these internal changes, is quite as striking as these internal changes themselves; and the great element of that change consists in a change in the nature of the main articles of import, showing a diminution of articles of manufactured character, and a vast augmentation of articles of the character of raw material, or bulky articles. The consequence of which, as will be seen by the tables I am about to exhibit, is a large actual increase of the earnings of the shipping interest on imports. Because all know that freight is proportioned to the bulk of the article, and not to its cost. It is the space that the commodity fills in the ship, and not its value, which regulates the rate of freight. Therefore it is, that though the importations may be greatly augmented in value, from being composed of manufactured articles chiefly, yet the freight is not increased in the same ratio, but may be diminished. That fact is notorious to all those acquainted with the commerce of the country. It is perfectly understood by all the ship-owners of the United States; and that fact is of itself sufficient to account for the great and important truth, that the navigation interest of the United States, the ship-owners, to a man, oppose this change of system; because the existing system gives more employment to this navigation, than the system now attempted to be substituted for it. "Now, sir, a heavy mass or amount, in value, of manufactured articles, as is well known, comes from France and England. Our more various commodities and our importations of heavy articles, come from round the capes, and from Brazil, and the north of Europe. The tables which I propose to exhibit to the senate, will show the amount of these, respectively, and the change produced in them within the last five years. Now, sir, let me premise, that articles of import into the United States are properly divisible into three classes. First, those articles which come here manufactured, and fit for use or for sale; secondly, articles not manufactured, brought here for consumption as imported, without any manufacture after they arrive; thirdly, those articles which are in the nature of raw materials, and are brought here to undergo a process of manufacture. Let us, then, see the amount of freight derived from these three respective classes of imports: the coasting business to be noticed with the home trade, of which it is a part. It might seem at first sight, that a public policy which Net Imports, in 1845, of Foreign Manufactured Articles. is beneficial to navigation is so to commerce; and for the most part, and in the long run, it is, though the evidence is not all of the 7,669,020 Foreign Manufactured Articles... 58,829,000 in this Country ............ 22,569,000 Aggregate..... "Now, sir, I have said that changes have taken place in the foreign trade of the country since the enlargement of the manufacturing system of the United States, which were naturally to be expected. And I think it was suggested the other day, by my friend from Vermont, near me (Mr. Phelps), that a common and great mistake is, that we do not accommodate our legislation to the changing circumstances of the country; and that we think that we can go back to where we were years ago, without disturbing any interests, except those immediately affected; whereas, such is the connexion and cohesion, and so closely are all these interests united, that there comes to be a complexity and mutual dependence, and there is no disturbing one great branch of the system without injury to all the rest. Here is a table of our trade with South America, and beyond the capes, with a comparison of that trade, in the year 1828 and the present year : Comparison of our Trade with Places beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and South same class. Nor is the benefit of a foreign commerce to the country to be determined by the gross amount of imports and exports, "This double increase of tonnage employed over the increase in the value of imports, is owing to the present importation of the coarse and bulky articles for manufacture, instead of manufactured silk and cotton goods of China, Manilla, and Calcutta. "To be more particular, we now give a general description of the goods imported from those places in the year 1828, viz. :— Manufactured Cotton Goods..$1,041,000 Teas.... Manufactured Silk Goods.... 2,627,000 Wool... $1,800,000 18,000 1,700,000 1,030,000 Specie.. 1,000,000 1,040,000 Unenumerated Articles.. 1,096,000 "It is thus apparent that the increased employment of our tonnage of one hundred and fifty per cent. in this distant transport, has been from the importation of the raw materials for manufacture in our country, and of the increased quantities of coffee and teas, and no doubt increased exportation of our domestic products to those distant places has been promoted by this increase in imports. Those domestic products were manufactured cotton and woollen goods, lumber, and articles of furniture, provisions of all kinds, naval stores, cotton, tobacco, ice, candles, &c., &c. "I have another table, Mr. President, exhibiting our trade with the north of Europe, presenting the same general result, and as we have ceased to import hemp to a great extent from Russia, the increase in the tonnage is principally from exportations : "Comparison of our Trade with the North of Europe, viz.: Russia, Sweden, Germany, and Holland, showing a falling off in the Imports. any more than the gross amount of a spendthrift's costs of living and income will prove his prosperity, so long as his expenditures "This increase is from the transport of our domestic exports to those places. "It will be interesting to note some of the articles of import from those places, in which that reduction strikingly appears. "Thus showing a reduction in the manufactured goods, hemp, &c., imported from those countries, of more than three fourths of the whole amount. "These facts are certainly of importance in considering the employment of our shipping in the transport of raw material, such as cotton, flax, hemp, iron, coal, &c., coastwise in our own country, for the manufacture, in our country, of goods which have taken the place of the foreign manufactured goods, imported and consumed by us, 16 years ago. "A very important fact in connexion with this part of the subject is, that this distant trade is in our own vessels. It is divided by none. We know that in the trade between us and England, about a third of the navigation is in the hands of England. But in the trade with the north of Europe, &c., the trade is on American account, and to our advantage; and to a great extent, also, we pay for the importations by domestic products. We do not now hear of any extraordinary amounts of specie to meet the demands of this trade, because the products of our own industry and our own people, in a manufactured state, are carried out. "It is obvious, sir, that for the same reason that the raw material imported for the manufacturer pays a large proportion of freight, articles of export of like nature from our side for the same purpose pay also a large proportion, as everybody knows is the case with cotton. And this proves that, in every measure concerning the interests of navigation, we should consult rather the great and bulky articles, than the small, where the value is great and the bulk diminished. "Now, be pleased to notice these results. Fifty-eight millions of dollars of manufactured goods imported, yield less than one million for freight. Twenty-two millions of dollars brought in articles to be manufactured here, yield three millions and three quarters; being, very nearly, one half of all the freight earned on all our imports. Certainly, this is a most important fact, and worthy of all attention. "We propose, then, Mr. President, in the first place, to diminish and discourage labor and industry at home, by taxing the raw materials which are brought into the country for manufacture. We propose, in the second place, to diminish the earnings of freight very materially, by diminishing the importation of bulky articles, always brought in our own ships. We propose, in the third place, to diminish the amount of exports of our own domestic manufactured goods, by refusing to take in exchange for them raw materials, the products of other countries. This is our |