253 [Assembly 



ID forwarding this business, and who would most gladly devote their 

 li?es to it. 



I would here suggest the propriety, inasmuch as this is a national 

 convention, of preparing a general circular, or memorial, addressed 

 to the legislatures of the Several states, on the importance of offering 

 bounties, and otherwise providing for the advancement of silk culture. 

 It will not do to delay. I think such a memorial would effect im- 

 mense good. I hope it may be done. 



ITr. Rfeigs said he had taken some pains to learn what was going 

 on in Europe in relation to silk. Though France raises great quanti- 

 ties of silk, it is not done under government patronage or by large 

 associations. It is raised by individuals, single families, giving em- 

 ployment to children and old people. The only way to sustain and 

 advance the culture of silk in any country is on this principle. Sup- 

 pose the amount from each farm is small — say $25 only in value, 

 look at the aggregate where nearly every farm has this trifling moiety. 



Mr. Hyde spoke of successful cultivation in families and of in- 

 stances of failure in companies. 



Mr. Wakeman observed that there was one subject which should 

 become a constituent part of agricultural and of all education — a 

 subject very much affecting the interests of a nation; it was, " the 

 influence of the tariffs and commercial regulations of other nations 

 upon our agriculture." 



Mr. Ellsworth complimented Senator Niles, of Connecticut, on his 

 efforts for the advancement of American manufactures, not only in 

 public but private life. 



Gen. Mercer remarked that Great Britain was like the fox who 

 lost his tail; she had been absolutely forced to adopt free trade, and 

 now she wants all other nations to do as she has done. America has 

 every advantage over England for manufacturing except cheap labor. 

 England knows if she could induce all the great powers to proclaim 

 free trade she would become the work-shop of the world. Firm and 

 liberal laws and mineral resources like those of England and Ameri- 

 ca, will make any nation great. I am satisfied that our^country pos- 

 sesses these in a greater degree than any other on the face of the 

 earth, and especially for manufactures. Her extent is equal to that 

 of Rome in her palmiest days; 1,600,000 square miles in the heart 

 of the temperate zone. If Rome became so great in early ages, all 



