pend a few millions to crush the manufactures of one whom she honours with the name of rival?

Her restraints on our growing prosperity and national industry, and on the migration of arts and artisans to our shores, led to resistance; that resistance to independence; and that independence to our present greatness. The second war she waged against us gave as manufactures; against these she is now waging the third war: and if she can succeed in this third war, she calculates rightly upon our ruin and subjection.

It may be well to state a few instances of the operation of the policy we have denounced, that the well-wishers of this country may the better understand what passes daily before their eyes.

At an epoch when the Spanish government seemed to rouse itself a little from its usual torpor, and to occupy itself with the interests of the country, a manufactory of superfine woollen hats was established at the Escurial, under its special protection. Great sums were advanced by enlightened and public-spirited individuals, and the gov ernment took a large share in the enterprise. But the London hatters determined to put down so portentous an innovation. Immense quantities of the finest beavers were profusely scattered over all Spain, with orders to sell them uniformly at one half of the Spanish price. The consequences may be easily foreseen. The Spanish manufactures were ruined, the government was too timid to maintain the contest, and too economical to support a national branch of industry. The fabric of the Escurial was given up, and the ensuing year the English, by raising their prices, repaired the momentary and voluntary loss they had sustained-a proof at least of their skilful policy.

There is living testimony within the reach of this society, that, in certain British manufactories, the French marks were put upon their goods, without any affectation of concealment, and the purpose openly avowed, as well as the connexion that subsisted between the real manufacture in Britain, and the fictitious one in France.

And, at the commencement of our woollen manufactures, for the purpose of degrading our fabrics, goods of the worst quality, but highly finished to the eye, were sent to this city from England, marked Humphrey's Ville," that they might, by passing for the productions of that manufactory, injure its well-merited reputation.

It is well known to many, that, during the late war, British goods were smuggled into this country, and exposed to sale as American, Spanish, and Portuguese; it is quite of course, too, for their agents who have come out here since the war, in speaking of the glutting of the European markets, to say, that the speculation was not so unwise as unfortunate; for, if the government and people had not taken the alarm, they should have destroyed their manufactures, and afterwards had their own price.

In the beginning of the year 1792, when the report of general Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury, made by order of the house of representatives, was published in England, it created such alarm, that meetings were called in the manufacturing towns, and Manchester alone, at a single meeting, subscribed 50,000 pounds sterling, towards a fund to be vested in English goods, and shipped to this country for

the purpose of glutting our market, and blasting the hopes of our manufactures in the bud.

And before we despatch this important head of "leaving manufac tures to themselves," we must advert to that phenomenon of art, the steam-boat, that proudest specimen of American manufacture. Had it been left to itself, there would have been lost to the human race an inestimable benefit, and to this republic the proudest monument of its glory. It came forth with throes and pangs of travail like a giant's birth; and had not an enlightened legislature fostered its inventor with encouragement and hope, and renewed from time to time the period limited for its production, it would not now be seen stemming the current of our magnificent rivers, glittering like the enchanted galley on the tide of fate, topping the ocean's wave, or gliding like the pride of swans upon the lake.

6th. We come now to the last head of our argument, "the public revenue." And here we would remove that error which supposes that foreign importations pay the revenue to government. It is not so! they are barely the medium through which the government collects the revenue from the private purses of the private citizens. It is the citizen, and not the ship, that pays. It is the citizen, and not the foreign goods, that pay. It is the consumer, and not the importer. During the recent war, so far from supporting the revenue, these im portations (too often carried on in partnership with treason) developed their characters, drained the country of its specie, and its bullion, and left the government in a situation too humiliating to be recollected without pain by any patriot.

It surely makes no difference to our citizens which way they pay the money that goes to support their government, and they can have no objection to pay it in the way most beneficial to their country, by raising it on the domestic manufactures. The necessity of a direct tax will be lessened, which will come in ease of the landed interest and of the merchant.

Mr. Isaac Briggs, in his statement to the chairman of the committee of commerce and manufactures, has proved, by exact calculations, founded on a present and prospective view of our population, wants, produce, and the foreign markets, that if our agriculturists depend, in future, upon any other market than that which domestic manufactures will af ford, their produce will lie upon their hands, or they must accept of whatever price the foreign merchant may be pleased to offer, for such portion as he will condescend to accept. For produce will no longer serve as payment where it is no longer wanted, and payment in specie will clearly be impossible.

For the tables and calculations we refer to the 9th volume of Niles' Weekly Register, where this valuable document will be found.

As the public may not be aware of the great interest, even now in jeopardy, we will barely mention, upon good authority, that there were, at the peace, 600,000 spindles employed in the cotton factories alone, the value of each of which, with the appendages, averaged 80 dollars, embracing, in capital, above forty millions, besides the capital employed in working the raw material, which amounted to twenty millions more; and the woollen factories, though of much more recent

origin, a capital of about the same amount, all which appeared, from a report to the representatives of the people of the United States, by the committee of commerce and manufactures of the last session, founded upon authentic data, furnished by the agents of the manufacturing interest, who were examined before separate committees of senate and representatives. It has, moreover, been since ascertained, that preparations were made for the extension of both branches, which would have augmented the capital employed in them respectively to a much greater amount.

It is no time for jealousies between farmer, merchant, and mannfacturer; one common bond of interest and patriotism unites them now. Let the government take advantage of this propitious crisis, stand firmly to its post and do its duty, as we trust it will; confidence will soon revive, capital be vested, machines improved, competition will bring our own goods to market at a reasonable price, and prevent those exactions which some affect to anticipate on the exclusion of foreign manufactures. On the other hand, if the foreign importations are ever again relied on as the means of revenue, what can ensue but a repetition of those vexatious embarrassments which our government experienced during the war, and which it cost the best blood of our country to surmount.

If it clearly now appears, that Europe will not take from us the produce of our soil upon terms consistent with our interest, the natural remedy is to contract as far as possible our want of her productions. And if there be no other way to independence than that of manufacturing for ourselves, at least for our own consumption, it is hoped that the prejudice against home is not so strong in the mind of any American, but that it may be overcome.

The encouragement, besides, of domestic manufactures will increase the capital of the country, as the manufactured article exceeds the value of the first material; sometimes one huudred fold, without speaking of the saving of all extra charges of shipping and re-shipping, mcreasing in proportion the value of the land, and easing the landholder of his burden in supporting the expenses of the government. It has been exultingly asserted by a great statistical writer in England, that one man in a factory maintains four soldiers, and one steam engine subsidizes three hundred German mercenaries.

Let nothing, then, check our onward march, nor the vigour of our efforts. Let genius and patriotism, from whatever quarter of the earth, be naturalized amongst us, and nothing be exotic in this gene rous republic that blooms and bears good fruit.

And we now respectfully invite our fellow-citizens throughout the union, to unite with us in this great national concern, to establish societies with as much promptitude as possible, and to correspond with us, and with each other. Such diversified and rapid communication will bring important truths to light, dispel prejudice, refute sophistry, excite patriotism, cherish industry, and, above all, give to public opin'on that expansive swell that will harmonize with the rising tide of our country's prosperity.

It is not to one class, nor to one interest, that we address ourselves, but to the whole and each respectively.

We call on our manufacturing brethren, and artists of every de

scription, to communicate directly, or through the medium of some affiliated society, all such facts or information as may be subservient to the prosperity of domestic manufactures in general, or of any in particular.

And you, agriculturists, owners and possessors of the soil, the standing pillars of, your nation's independence, we conjure you, for yourselves, and for your country, to second us by all your energies. Explore, with new activity, and determine, by new inquiries, the nature and productions of your estates, and the adjoining territories. Every view, statistical, economical, geological, or topographical, is connected with this great national concern. You may find that you have been unconsciously walking upon hidden treasures, richer than the mines of Golconda. The three kingdoms of nature may have been long tendering to your acceptance the willing tribute which you have heedlessly disregarded. Who can have so much interest as you in the opening of canals and roads, the increase of national industry and capital, with all its ramifications, which must reach you like irrigating streams of living waters, and enhance the value of your possessions? The great improvements that must follow in the train of national industry, are too far beyond ordinary calculations to be readily conceived. You will have, not one, but a choice of markets for your produce, of which wars, blockades, or the casualties of foreign nations, cannot deprive you. You will have speedy returns of whatever you may want, and your approximation to the mart of exchange will put it in your power to be the comptrollers of your own fortunes, and the arbiters of your own concerns. Our southern agricultural brethren, in particular, would do well to reflect that Great Britain is now, and has been for some time, creating new sources for a supply of cotton, by encouraging its culture in India, on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, Africa, Brazil, and other places; and will shortly render herself independent of any supply from this country, and probably prohibit the importation of American cotton into her market. When this event, which is not far distant, shall take place, you will be destitute of a vent for your cotton, unless a market can be found in our own country, by the establishment of domestic manufactures.

To you, merchants, now sinking by these foreign importations to ruin and bankruptcy, we appeal; by your dearest interests, and those of your country, we conjure you to contribute all the power of your intelligence and enterprise, and to aid in counteracting those frauds upon yourselves and the revenue, of which you, your fellow-citizens, and the government, are common victims. A new and unforeseen crisis has put an end to those delusions which heretofore arrayed agriculture and commerce against domestic manufactures. It is now demonstrated, that whatever adds prosperity to either of these modes of industry, is beneficial to them all.

And of you, sons of science, who possess the rich treasures of cultivated intellect, and can teach their application to the useful arts of life, we claim the lights you can shed on this great subject. Too many of your former important communications have been lost to the pub

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lic, from the inauspicious times in which they appeared, and have perished like seed sown by the way side. We entreat you to come forth anew in the pride of intellectual vigour, to break the spell of ignorance, and emancipate the genius of your country.

You who redeemed your fellow-citizens from the barbarian's yoke and foreign captivity, who, mingling the battle's thunder with the cataract's roar, made Niagara's falls the eternal record of the wellfought field; and you, citizen soldiers, who re-echoed victory where Mississippi rolls her latest waves along-we invite you to participate in our cívic triumphs. If your country's cause should call you forth hereafter, you will go girded with swords of native steel; and the arms you wield will be committed to you by the hands of your affectionate countrymen.

And you, fair daughters of Columbia, whose sway is most ascendant when the hearts of freemen do you homage, assert your dignity; disdain the fashions of foreign climes; let not the daughters of Belgium, Austria, or Russia, exceed, in patriotism, the free-born fair; let your dress be national; let your ornaments be of your country's fabric, and exercise your independent taste in suiting the array of your toilet to your own climate and your own seasons. You do not vote in the councils of your nation, but your empire is everywhere where man is civilized. Let the power of beauty add impulse to the springing fortunes of the land which you adorn; and let the charms of your persons be ever associated with your country's love.

With this view of the past and present we might conclude; but, may we not look forward with anticipated delight to the prospect that bursts upon our sense! not through the vista of a long perspective, but which our children may enjoy in all its splendour; when a territory, vast as the European continent, shall pour its riches forth; when the protecting shade of equal laws, and the misery of another hemisphere shall have increased our population to the measure of our wide domain; when the genius of the republic, towering like the eagle on the Appalachian heights, shall, looking from the proud summit to either ocean's wave, survey the wealth of every soil, the fruit of every elime. Where the bear roams, and the wild cat prowls, flocks and herds shall pasture, and the savage's dreary repair out-bloom the gardens of Hesperia. There cities, towns and villages, centres of intersecting orbits through which domestic commerce will revolve, shall rise and flourish. And whilst the plough shall trace the silent furrow, the mill shall turn, the anvil ring, and the merry shuttle dance. The exhaustless stores of mind and matter shall be this nation's treasury. Adventurous man, triumphing over the obstacles of nature, shall search the recesses of the stubborn mountain. The sounding tools, and the voice of human speech shall wake the echo in the vaulted space, where, from the beginning, silence and darkness reigned; and the rich ore shall quit its hidden bed, and sparkle in the upper day. Innumerable communications, by land and by water, shall bear, in all directions, the native produce of the soil and of its industry. Majestic rivers, enriched by their tributary streams, sha!! waft on their smooth tide the treasures of teeming abundance. And