Gen. Dearhorn^s Address. 1 1 1 



culture; and that third chiefly consists of wine and fruits, which are 

 ill a complete state for consumption, and liierefore cannot be en- 

 hanced in value, like the raw materials for mechanical industry; and 

 of course constitute proper articles of export, as the surplus avails of 

 indigenous labor, beyond the demand for home consun)ption." 



But China and Japan present the most remarkable illustrations of 

 that problem in ])olitical economy, as to how far a reliance may be re- 

 posed u|)on the internal industry and trade of a nation — the latter of 

 which Adam Smith avers, in his great work on the Wealth of Na- 

 tions, "to be worth all the foreign commerce put together." 



Jajjan, although the area of its territory is double that of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, and the population considerably larger, yet it has 

 no foreign trade, exce})t through the medium of one or two Dutch 

 ships, and a very few Chinese, which are allowed to visit the single 

 port of Nauirassaki. So rigorous are the laws for regulating the in- 

 tercourse with foreign nations, that the natives are absolutely prohib- 

 ited from leaving the country for any purpose, under the severe pe- 

 nalty of not being allowed ever again to return. 



China has an area of 5,250,000 square miles, and is therefore more 

 than forty times as large as Great Britain, with a population of 

 300,000,000, and still the marine intercourse with other nations is in- 

 considerable, for the value of foreign products imported, exclusive of 

 opium, amounts to only about fifteen or twenty millions of dollars, 

 and the exports are less than fifty millions. 



The industry of that nation must, consequently, depend almost en- 

 tirely upon the internal market, and a limited trade with the border- 

 ing nations, for the disposal of its products; and which, if we assume 

 as the data on which to form an estimate, the agricultural, manufac- 

 turing and mechanical labor of England, it must be truly enormous; 

 for the value of the products of the soil would exceed f 15,000,000,000, 

 and those of all other kinds of industry $9,000,000,000. 



China, like Japan, has but little navigation engaged in foreign trade, 

 and that is chiefly linjited to the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, 

 and a few of the ports east of Coromandel. 



How great and striking is the diflJerencc of the industrial condition 

 of the United States, when contrasted with that of the two last na- 

 tions which have been named, as well as with that of some of the 

 most flourishing kingdoms of Europe. If the former nations have 

 carried their restrictions on foreign trades too far, is it not possible 

 that a still greater error has been committed in this, by opening too 

 wide the gates of commerce, and giving a greater freedom to the in- 

 troduction of the products of foreign industry, than is warranted by 

 a just regard to the interests of our own citizens, or is consistent with 

 those great conservative principles of national policy by which the 

 most enlightened nations of Europe are governed.^ 



The manufactured articles imported into this country in 1838, 

 amounted to $80,000,000; and although the value of our manufac- 

 tures of wool and cotton is at least $100,000,000, yet the imported 

 fiibrics of those inaterials exceed $20,000,000, and including those of 

 silk, the metals, and other substances, the amount received during 

 the last ten years has been more than $700,000,000. 



With a population only one fifth less, and an actually settled terri- 

 tory fifteen times larger than that of Great Britain, the wool annual- 

 ly produced in the United States is only thirty million pounds, while 



