Britain be deprived of our market for her manufactures, and compelled by our unwise restrictions to obtain raw cotton from other countries; and let our whole scheme of national economy be so changed, that our exports shall consist of manufactures that will come in competition with the British in foreign markets, and we never shall be at a loss for causes of war with GreatBritain. If, as the advocates of this system contend, our capacity for war shall be increased, it is very certain that there will be a corresponding increase in the occasions for exerting it.

It has also been contended-and the argument is entitled to consideration, when not pushed beyond certain limits—that the tariff policy is calculated to prepare the country for war by providing internal supplies of articles, that would be needed in such an emergency. Whatever force there may have been in this argument formerly, the time is gone by when it can have the slightest application either to the existing circumstances of the country, or to the recent tariff. Our manufactures have long since gone beyond the point of perfection, necessary to insure the country a supply of every necessary article in the event of a war. Of cotton, woollen and iron manufactures, we now make more than six-sevenths of our national consumption, and in six months from the declaration of a war, we could have abundant supplies of food, clothing and arms, for one hundred thousand soldiers. There is not, in fact, a nation in the world so independent, in this respect, as the United States. Indeed, this is so obviously true, that in all the discussions of the tariff during the last two sessions of Congress, the providing of supplies for the exigencies of war, was never once suggested, that we recollect, as a motive for adopting the measure. We are confident that it did not enter even into the consideration of a single member who voted for it.

There is one other argument frequently used for the purpose of giving to the tariff system the semblance of a national measure, which we here notice, not because it is really worthy of reply or exposure, but on account of its consummate and characteristic absurdity. It is said that in purchasing foreign manufactures, we encourage foreign instead of home, industry, and laboured calculations are made to shew to how great an extent we are tributary to foreign powers. There is not a school-boy that could be imposed upon by such a miserable sophism. Any one capable of putting two simple ideas together, must perceive that it necessarily results from the reciprocity of commerce, that foreign nations encourage our domestic industry precisely to the extent that we encourage theirs; unless, indeed, it be made out, as the advocates of the tariff seem habitually to take for granted,

that the culture of cotton, rice and tobacco, is not domestic industry, and that the Southern States are not members of the Union, but provincial dependencies.

Having now divested the tariff of all its claims to be regarded as conducive to any one of the constitutional ends for which the Federal Government was created, by tearing off the colourable pretexts artfully thrown around it by the priests of this great national imposture, we propose next to examine its bearing upon the Southern and staple growing States, both in reference to the unequal and oppressive burthen it imposes, and the tyranny of the principle in its imposition. And we venture to promise, in advance, that we shall satisfactorily shew that it is one of the most unqualified systems of oppression ever imposed under the forms of a free government, or tolerated by an intelligent, we will not say, a free people.

The exports of domestic productions from the whole Union, amounted in 1827, to the sum of fifty-eight millions of dollars, stated in round numbers. Of this sum, twenty-nine millions. of dollars consisted of cotton alone, and thirty eight millions of dollars of cotton, tobacco and rice, to say nothing of grain, flour, lumber and other productions of the staple growing States. It thus appears that one-half of the entire amount of the national exports, consists of cotton, two-thirds of cotton, tobacco and rice, and, as we may reasonably estimate, three-fourths of the various productions of the staple growing States. These statements, taken from the official documents of the Treasury, shew at the same time, the immense magnitude of the stake which the Southern States have in the foreign commerce of the country, and the unequal proportion they sustain, of the burthens and prohibitions to which it is subjected. It is not to be doubted, that a system of revenue, derived exclusively from impost duties, is exceedingly unequal in its operation, even in its most mitigated form; as it throws the whole burden of supporting the government upon those who are engaged in foreign commerce, and those who supply the domestic staples of exportation by which that commerce is sustained. This, which would be true, if we had no domestic manufactories of such articles as we import, becomes still more emphatically so, when there grow up large manufactories of these articles, holding competition with the foreign. For it is too plain to be disputed, that a system of revenue imposition, exclusively confined to imposts, is not only no tax at all to the manufacturers of the rival articles of domestic industry, but is actually an indirect bounty to them, precisely to the VOL. II.-No. 4.

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extent of the duty imposed upon the foreign articles. Even, therefore, if a tariff designed for the purpose of protecting manufactures had never been conceived, and the impost duties had been strictly and exclusively confined to the purposes of revenue, almost the entire burthen of supporting the Federal Government, would fall upon the staple growing Stutes. When to this view of the subject we add, that of the twenty millions of revenue thus unequally raised, not more than one twentieth is expended in the staple growing States, and the whole of the remainder is poured out on the other parts of the Union in refreshing showers, we have a just picture of one portion of the country exclusively burthened, and another exclusively bountied and benefited by the mere fiscal operations of the common government. What, then, must be the condition of the staple growing States, when we take into the estimate of their burthens, the transcendent injustice of the protecting system? When it is the obvious dictate of justice, that a portion of the Federal revenue should be raised by an excise upon domestic manufactures, with a view to equalize the operation of the Federal taxes, by diminishing the rates of impost duty-we have, added to the gross inequality of the system of revenue and expenditure, a system of prohibitory duties wholly unprecedented in the legislation of any free country, and hastening with most "unrighteous speed" to the consummation devoutly invoked, and impatiently expected by its advocates-the entire annihilation of that branch of our foreign commerce, which belongs almost exclusively to the staple growing States, and which is the only source of their expiring prosperity. A brief and simple analysis of this portion of our foreign commerce, and the bearing of the existing duties and prohibitions upon it, will speak a language of impressive solemnity to the understanding and the heart of every citizen of the Southern States, to which no additional power can be added by the most eloquent commentary. The whole amount of foreign merchandize imported and consumed in 1827, exclusive of articles free of duty, was (omitting fractions) fifty-three millions of dollars. The gross revenue accruing from this source, is estimated at upwards of twenty-one millions of dollars, indicating forty per cent. as the average rate of duty paid upon the aggregate of importations. The whole amount of merchandize imported for consumption, from Great Britain, exclusive of her dependencies, and exclusive also of articles free of duty, was, during the same year, twenty-seven millions of dollars. This amount consisted almost entirely of manufactures of cotton, wool, iron, hemp and glass, and also of salt; articles subject to the highest rate of duty (of course above

forty per cent.) by the tariff of 1824, and now raised by the tariff of 1828, to the prohibitory average of at least sixty per cent. The whole amount of our domestic exports to Great Britain proper, during the same year, was twenty-five millions five hundred thousand dollars; of which cotton constituted twenty-one millions of dollars; tobacco, two millions three hundred thousand dollars; and rice, five hundred thousand dollars; making twenty-three million eight hundred thousand dollars, and leaving only one million seven hundred thousand dollars to be made up by all other domestic productions exported to that country. It is known that the value of domestic productions exported, is assessed at the place of exportation. It may be assumed, therefore, that the value of the cotton, tobacco and rice exported to Great Britain, amounted in that country to twenty-five millions of dollars, which was given in exchange for an equal amount of British merchandize.

It thus appears, that our commerce with Great Britain, constitutes nearly one-half of the whole foreign commerce of the United States, subject to pay duty, and that eleven-twelfths of that half, consists of an exchange of the cotton, tobacco and rice of the Southern States, for those articles of British manufacture, against which the ban of the prohibitory system is specifically and almost exclusively directed.

To measure the burthen imposed upon the Southern States, by the amount of the duty laid upon the articles of necessity and comfort which they receive in exchange for their staples, would give no just or adequate conception of the ruinous extent of injury inflicted on them. Even when measured by this standard, however, it is sufficiently startling. It requires but very humble powers of arithmetic to discover, that sixty per cent. upon twenty-five millions of dollars, the sum of their commerce with Great Britain alone, will amount to the enormous burthen of fifteen millions of dollars. We will not stop to argue the question, whether, under all circumstances, a duty upon the importation of foreign merchandize, is precisely equal to a duty upon the exportation of the produce given in exchange for it. The progress of the tariff has already left that question behind it-a mere matter of curious and empty speculation. We are already brought to consider the more interesting and less doubtful question, whether in the actual state of the commercial relations of Great Britain, a sweeping prohibition of the manufactures she gives in exchange for our staples, is not in its ultimate effects, precisely equivalent to a law prohibiting the exportation of cotton to that country. This question we do not hesitate to answer in the affirmative. It is very apparent that

if we cease to purchase British manufactures, there is no other British production which we can take in exchange for our cotton, tobacco and rice. And it is still more apparent, that if we cease to purchase all British productions, Great Britain cannot, and most certainly will not, purchase our agricultural staples. Even if she were to abstain from all measures of countervailing restriction, the immutable laws of trade would execute their own provisions and enforce their own sanctions. The British manufacturer will naturally seek to obtain raw cotton from those countries where he can obtain a market for the only thing he has to give for it. This will not only be a matter of choice, but of absolute necessity. Under such an impulse, British enterprize and capital will not find it difficult to stimulate the production of cotton in South-America, Egypt and the East and West-Indies, to the full extent of the British demand for it. But this is not all. The discussions in the British Parliament indicate a general concurrence of all parties in the necessity of resorting to measures of retaliation, in consequence of our late tariff. The spirit of moderation and good sense displayed by the distinguished men, both in and out of the ministry, is accompanied by expressions of a serious determination to take some decided step at an early day after the re-assembling of the Parliament. Our solicitude is attracted, therefore, not merely to the grievance of having our commerce subjected to heavy, unequal and oppressive taxation, but to the inevitable catastrophe of its utter annihilation. If the tariff of 1828 is not repealedand speedily repealed-we confidently pronounce the opinion that the existing market for two-thirds of the staples we export, will be irrecoverably lost. It will not be a case of injury, but of ruin; and the business of the patriot will not be that of devising a remedy, but of writing an epitaph. In the mutations of commerce, we rarely witness a resurrection. It is impossible, therefore, to bring within the compass of any statistical estimate, the burden that will be imposed, or the injury inflicted on the the staple growing States, by the policy of which we complain.

It now remains for us to present some views of the existing system of tariff regulations, calculated to shew its bearing upon the great and fundamental principles of constitutional liberty. In this aspect of the matter, we hold, that whenever the General Government assumes and exercises the power of legislating upon local interests, such assumption involves an entire perversion of the great conservative principle of political responsibility. For example, we have shewn that the commerce against which the tariff policy is almost exclusively levelled,