Wo. 133. J 191 



for tlic purpose of rait-ing what was called the " Mediterranean 

 Fund," which was set apart l'orca*ryiiig on tlie war wiih Tripoli. 

 This duty ceased iu 1808. 



At tlie commencement of our second war with England, our 

 loanufacnires were fJouiid to be in an extremely low condition. 

 The war gave them protection, and they flouri.shed of necessity 

 during its continuance. At its close, another iniiux of foreign 

 goods deluged the country, and thousands were irretrievably 

 ruined. The distresst'S of that day are within the nie.mory of 

 many now living. Although the return of peace had been greet- 

 ed throughout the Union with every manifestation of joy, the re- 

 vulsions which followed caused an amount of suifering which the 

 horrors of war h-dd failed to produce. In the first six months 

 after the cessation of hostilities, woolen goods, of the value of 

 $17,000,000,, were thrown into the United States. The whole 

 umount of importation for the fiical year ending September 30, 

 1815, although the war continued during the Urst quarter of that 

 year, reached tlie sum of $113,000,000, while the exports of the 

 same year were but $52,000,000. This immense balance against 

 us, of course, occasioned great commercial distress. In a speech 

 in the British parliament, Lord Brougham — then Mr. Brougham 

 — after remarking upon the excessive amount of exportation to 

 this country, occasioned by the peace of 1814, adds, *' that it is 

 well worth while to incur a loss upou the first importation, in 

 order, by the glut, to stifle in the cradle those rising manufac- 

 tures in America, which the war had forced into existence con- 

 trary to the natural course of things." 



This reutarkable language exposes the past and present policy 

 of the Brilish manufacturers and British Government with res- 

 pect to the industry of this country. Independence, on our part, 

 in raanui'dctures and the arts, in considered by them " contrary to 

 the nalural course of thingi-.^^ 



Witli the hope of relieving in some degree the diistre.ss which 

 then existed, the tariff of 1810 was enacted. It is a remarkable 

 fact tl.iit Southern statesman were then the strongest advocates 



