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to the House in the form of the present bill, to which 

 they subjoined my letter to them, and an able report warm- 

 ly recommending the measure, in which is found this 

 remarkable expression, that it would be a national mis- 

 fortune if Mr D'Homergue were suffered to leave this 

 country. 



That report was made on the 12 th of March, 1830. 

 The session was then far advanced, and the House could 

 do no more before their adjournment than order six thou- 

 sand copies of the report, with my letter to the commit- 

 tee, and the ' Essays on American Silk, ' to be print- 

 ed. The Senate, to whom a copy of that work had been 

 also presented, referred it to their Committee on Agricul- 

 ture, and manufactures, with whom I had some corres- 

 pondence, which, however, produced no result, as the 

 subject had been so fully taken up by the House of Rep- 

 resentatives. 



Under these circumstances, sir, I thought myself in hon- 

 or, if not in duty, bound to justify the confidence placed in 

 me by retaining Mr D'Homergue in this country, at least 

 until another session of Congress. At the same time, I 

 determined to prove to Congress, and to the nation, by the 

 evidence of facts, the great importance of the contempla- 

 ted measure, so that it might be popular by the time it 

 should come again before the National Legislature. I 

 went with Mr D'Homergue to Connecticut, to see how 

 the people there managed the silk culture, arid their so 

 much spoken of domestic manufacture of sewing silk. 

 My object in going thither was also to purchase cocoons, 

 of which, however, I could obtain but a small quantity, 

 as the people thought that they might employ them other- 

 wise to more advantage. We, therefore, supplied our- 

 selves, in that and the succeeding year, from other sour- 

 ces. On my return to Philadelphia, I erected an experi- 

 mental filature under the direction of Mr D'Homergue, 

 in which American women were instructed in the art of 

 preparing raw silk for exportation. As there was not 

 time before the then next session of Congress to obtain 



