No. 151.] 535 



About forty years ago I was in England, and while there, visited 

 Manchester, Stockport, Birmingham and other places, for the pur- 

 pose of knowing the state of society there. It was astonishing to 

 me how human beings could exist in a condition so miserable — 

 three or four families huddled into a damp basement, more like hogs 

 than men. From comparisons made of the expense of manufactu- 

 ring in England and America, I am confident that we can make 

 goods here with less expense than they can in England. They have 

 no water power — we have it unlimited; they pay a great price for 

 transporting coal to their factories — we scarcely anything; their j9r/- 

 mum mohile is steam — ours water; their laboreis are ignorant and 

 wretched — ours enlightened and happy; their market is abroad — 

 ours at home. I therefore conclude that a moderate protection to 

 our m mufactures will soon establish them on a basis which will be 

 too firm for overthrow by casual chances. I do not consider it al- 

 ways true that every one is the best judge of the manner in which 

 he should employ his capital and labor; as those affirm who cry out 

 against all laws restricting and regulating trade. The great fault of 

 our government is not in the enactment of tari/Ts and revenue laws, 

 but in the facility with which these measures are changed. Per- 

 haps I, who so lately changed my views, ought not to talk of in- 

 stability; but in sixty years of active life, one finds many opportu- 

 nities for change, if not so many for improved opinions. All are fa- 

 miliar with the change of Daniel Webster on the tariff, and of 

 Henry Clay on the national bank, and no one presumes that other 

 than honest convictions prompted those great men to reverse their 

 judgments. The very first memorial presented to Congress in favor 

 of protection to our manufacUn-es, came from Charleston, South-Caro- 

 lina, and was supported by Mr. Calhoun. In thj unsettled times of 

 Jefferson and Madison, most of our southern men were in favor of 

 establishing domestic manufactures. Then we had embargoes and 

 prohibitions, and double duties during the war. At its close we 

 went back to a comparatively low tariff, and Monroe had to borrow 

 money to pay government pensioners. The injustice of these fre- 

 quent changes is manifest. No matter how wise or theoretically 

 good measures of this kind may be — no matter how great an im- 

 provement on former laws, if they are often and unexpectedly chan- 

 ged, their effects are injurious; they induce fickleness of purpose, 

 and scepticism among the people — faith in the government is de- 

 stroyed, and all is doubt and uncertainty. Suppose, in the great ope- 

 rations of nature, such changes should occur; the farmer going forth 

 to plant his spring grain, suddenly finds it to be October instead of 

 April — Michaelmas night iuotead of May-day — how would his faith 



