No. 151.] 259 



the -while embroiled in foreign or civil wars, what may not we be- 

 come, with the intelligence of this latter era and the advantages of 

 peace? England's power arises partly from her position, and partly 

 from her mighty navy; but for the channel, Bonaparte would have 

 swept her from existence; her navy, the strong arm of her defence, is 

 sustained by her commerce, and commerce by her manufactures. 

 Commerce and manufactures make a nation. 



Hon. Mr. Simmons, U. S. Senator, from Rhode Island, said, " I 

 have long desired for the benefit of all men to see this question of 

 protection become the common sentiment, irrespective of party lines. 

 We have differences of opinion enough on other subjects. Thi^idea 

 of protection forced itself upon me, not from books or from the de- 

 clarations of others, but from the results of actual experience; and it 

 does me good to meet men with hearts so elevated as the honorable 

 gentleman from Virginia, who boldly comes out in favor of what he 

 once opposed — for if one effort of the mind is more excellent than 

 another, it is the correction of early snd enduring impressions. [Mr. 

 Simmons bore testimony to the exertions of Senator Niles, of Con- 

 necticut, w^ith whom he had been associated on committees, and who 

 * made more impression with less ostentation upon those he ad- 

 dressed,' than any other man with whom he was acquainted.] 



" The ' influence of tariffs' is too broad to be here entered into. 

 The gentleman who preceded me seemed to think that her judiciary 

 system was the sheet anchor of England. I consider the sheet an- 

 chor of any nation to be liberal wages for labor, fair remuneration 

 for the labor of the head and hand. If you have no starving peo- 

 ple, you have no need of an energetic police. Remuneration for la- 

 bor and correct public sentiment through the medium of liberal edu- 

 cation, is the true basis of a free government. One of the reasons 

 for prosecuting all branches of industry in this country, is the good 

 influence of manufactures oil agriculture. Our factories of all kinds 

 are not congregated in one great Birmingham; we use water power, 

 which necessarily disperses factories all over the country; England 

 uses steam, the effect of which is to aggregate factories and popula- 

 tion. The moral effect of this concentration of w^ealth and work- 

 men is bad, for where there is a dense population there will vice and 

 misery seek a home. Water power, of which we have such an abun- 

 dance all over the land, is cheaper than steam, always by the value 

 of fuel, and in many instances by the cost of fuel and engine. Wa- 

 ter power, forbidding aggregation and scattering factories all over 



