the South cannot exert its industry and enter- | wherever situated, active, animated, and thrifty, prise in the business of manufactures! Why not? The difficulties, if not exaggerated, are artificial, and may, therefore, be surmounted. But can the other sections embark in the planting occupations of the South? The obstructions which forbid them are natural, created by the immutable laws of God, and, therefore, unconquerable. Other and animating considerations invite us to adopt the policy of this system. Its importance, in connection with the general defence in time of war, cannot fail to be duly estimated. Need I recall to our painful recollection the sufferings, for the want of an adequate supply of absolute necessaries, to which the defenders of their country's rights and our entire population, were subjected during the late war? Or to remind the committee of the great advantage of a steady and unfailing source of supply, unaffected alike in war and in peace? Its importance, in reference to the stability of our Union, that paramount and greatest of all our interests, cannnot fail warmly to recommend it, or at least to conciliate the forbearance of every patriot bosom. Now our people present the spectacle of a vast assemblage of jealous rivals, all eagerly rushing to the sea-board, jostling each other in their way, to hurry off to glutted foreign markets the perishable produce of their labor. The tendency of that policy, in conformity to which this bill is prepared, is to transform these competitors into friends and mutual customers; and, by the reciprocal exchanges of their respective productions, to place the confederacy upon the most solid of all foundations, the basis of common interest. And is not government called upon, by every stimulating motive, to adapt its policy to the actual condition and extended growth of our great republic? At the commencement of our constitution, almost the whole population of the United States was confined between the Alleghany mountains and the Atlantic ocean. Since that epoch, the western part of New York, of Pennsylvania, of Virginia, all the western States and Territories, have been principally peopled. Prior to that period we had scarcely any interior. An interior has sprung up, as it were by enchantment, and along with it new interests and new relations, requiring the parental protection of government. Our policy should be modified accordingly, so as to comprehend all, and sacrifice none. And are we not encouraged by the success of past experience, in respect to the only article which has been adequately protected? Already have the predictions and the friends of the American system, in even a shorter time than their most sanguine hopes could have anticipated, been completely realized in regard to that article; and consumption is now better and more cheaply supplied with coarse cottons, than it was under the prevalence of the foreign system. Even if the benefits of the policy were limited to certain sections of our country, would it not be satisfactory to behold American industry, rather than persevere in a course which renders with which I have so often co-operated, in attempting to sustain the honor and to vindicate the rights of our country. Should it not offer, upon the altar of the public good, some sacrifice of its peculiar opinions? Of what does it complain? A possible temporary enhance ment in the objects of consumption. Of what do we complain? A total incapacity, produced by the foreign policy, to purchase, at any price, necessary foreign objects of consumption. In such an alternative, inconvenient only to it, ruinous to us, can we expect too much from Southern magnanimity? The just and confident expectation of the passage of this bill has flooded the country with recent importations of foreign fabrics. If it should not pass, they will complete the work of destruction of our domestic industry. If it should pass, they will prevent any considerable rise in the price of foreign commodities, until our own industry shall be able to supply competent substitutes. To the friends of the tariff I would also anxiously appeal. Every arrangement of its provisions does not suit each of you; you desire some further alterations; you would make it perfect. You want what you will never get. Nothing human is perfect. And I have seen, with great surprise, a piece signed by a member of Congress, published in the "National Intelligencer,” stating that this bill must be rejected, and a judicious tariff brought in as its substitute. A judicious tariff! No member of Congress could have signed that piece; or, if he did, the public ought not to be deceived. If this bill do not pass, unquestionably no other can pass at this session, or probably during this Congress. And who will go home and say, that he rejected all the benefits of this bill, because molasses has been subjected to the enormous additional duty of five cents per gallon? I call, therefore, upon the friends of the American policy, to yield somewhat of their own peculiar wishes, and not to reject the practicable in the idle pursuit after the unattainable. Let us imitate the illustrious example of the framers of the Constitution, and always remembering that whatever springs from man partakes of his imperfections, depend upon experience to suggest, in future, the necessary amendments. We have had great difficulties to encounter. First, the splendid talents which are arrayed in this House against us. Second, we are opposed by the rich and the powerful in the land. Third, the executive government, if any, affords us but a cold and equivocal support. Fourth, the importing and navigating interest, I verily believe from misconception, are adverse to us. Fifth, the British factors and the British influence are inimical to our success. Sixth, long-established habits and prejudices oppose us. Seventh, the reviewers and literary speculators, foreign and domestic. And, lastly, the leading presses of the country, including the influence of that which is established in this city, and sustained by the public purse. From some of these, or other causes, the bill may be postponed, thwarted, defeated. But the cause is the cause of the country, and it must and will prevail. It is founded in the interests and affections of the people. It is as native as the granite deeply imbosomed in our mountains. And, in conclusion, I would pray God, in his infinite mercy, to avert from our country the evils which are impending over it, and, by enlightening our councils, to conduct us into that path which leads to riches, to greatness, to glory. ADDRESS TO LAFAYETTE. This address was delivered by Mr. Clay, on, the occasion of the presentation of General Lafayette to the House of Representatives of the United States, on the tenth of December, 1824. GENERAL: The House of Representatives of the United States, impelled alike by its own feelings, and by those of the whole American people, could not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty than that of presenting to you cordial congratulations upon the occasion of your recent arrival in the United States, in compliance with the wishes of Congress, and to assure you of the very high satisfaction which your presence affords on this early theatre of your glory and renown. Although but few of the members who compose this body shared with you in the war of our Revolution, all have, from impartial history, or from faithful tradition, a knowledge of the perils, the sufferings, and the sacrifices, which you voluntarily encountered, and the signal services, in America, and in Europe, which you performed for an infant, a distant, and an alien people; and all feel and own the very great extent of the obligations under which you have placed our country. But the relations in which you have ever stood to the United States, interesting and important as they have been, do not constitute the only motive of the respect and admiration which the Your consistency of character, your uniform House of Representatives entertain for you. devotion to regulated liberty, in all the vicissitudes of a long and arduous life, also commands its admiration. During all the recent convulsions of Europe, amid, as after the dispersion of, every political storm, the people of the United States have beheld you, true to your old principles, firm and erect, cheering and animating with your well-known voice, the votaries of liberty, its faithful and fearless champion, ready to shed the last drop of that blood which here you so freely and nobly spilled, in the same holy cause. The vain wish has been sometimes indulged, that Providence would allow the patriot, after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate the intermediate changes which had taken place; to view the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains levelled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the increase of population. General, your present visit to the United States is a realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst of posterity. Every where, you must have been struck with the great changes, physical and moral, which have occurred since you left us. | illustrious associates in the field and in the cabiEven this very city, bearing a venerated name, alike endeared to you and to us, has since emerged from the forest which then covered its site. In one respect you behold us unaltered, and this is in the sentiment of continued devotion to liberty, and of ardent affection and profound gratitude to your departed friend, the father of his country, and to you, and to your net, for the multiplied blessings which surround us, and for the very privilege of addressing you which I now exercise. This sentiment, now fondly cherished by more than ten millions of people, will be transmitted, with unabated vigor, down the tide of time, through the countless millions who are destined to inhabit this continent, to the latest posterity. REPLY TO JOHN RANDOLPH.* SIR, I am growing old. I have had some | I have experienced this magnanimity from some little measure of experience in public life, and quarters of the House. But I regret, that from the result of that experience has brought me to others it appears to have no such consideration. this conclusion, that when business, of what- The gentleman from Virginia was pleased to ever nature, is to be transacted in a deliberative say, that in one point at least he coincided with assembly, or in private life, courtesy, forbear-me-in an humble estimate of my grammatical ance, and moderation, are best calculated to bring it to a successful conclusion. Sir, my age admonishes me to abstain from involving myself in personal difficulties; would to God that I could say, I am also restrained by higher motives. I certainly never sought any collision with the gentleman from Virginia. My situation at this time is peculiar, if it be nothing else, and might, I should think, dissuade, at least, a generous heart from any wish to draw me into circumstances of personal altercation. * Made in the House of Representatives in 1824. and philological acquirements. I know my deficiencies. I was born to no proud patrimonial estate; from my father I inherited only infancy, ignorance, and indigence. I feel my defects; but, so far as my situation in early life is concerned, I may, without presumption, say they are more my misfortune than my fault. But, however I regret my want of ability to furnish to the gentleman a better specimen of powers of verbal criticism, I will venture to say, not greater than the disappointment of this committee as to the strength of his argument. it is TRISTAM BURGES. TRISTAM BURGES was of a poor but worthy family, who for many years resided in the old colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts. His father settled at Rochester in that colony, where he managed a small farm; devoting the intervals of his agricultural pursuits to the employments of his trade, which was that of a cooper. On the commencement of the Revolution, he was appointed a lieutenant, and rendered important and valuable assistance in recruiting, and raising clothing for the army. After the battle of Lexington, he returned to his farm, much shattered in health, and, failing gradually, died in 1792. At Rochester, Tristam was born on the twenty-sixth of February, 1770. The indigence of his parents, added to the illness of his father, rendered it necessary for him to assist in the labors of the farm and the shop, and thus the first fifteen years of his life were passed, without receiving any instruction, except such as was imparted to him by his eldest sister, "in the long winter evenings," and occasional lessons from his father in writing and arithmetic. At the age of fifteen he received six weeks' tuition in the village school, and, two years after, studied mathematics six weeks more, under the charge of one Hugh Montgomery. This was all the "schooling" he received until he attained the age of twenty-one. His youth, however, was not spent unprofitably. In the leisure he could command from his double duties as farmer and cooper, he was devoted to his books, "begging and borrowing" those he could not buy; and, as soon as he was capable of writing join-hand, many of his hours were employed in composition. Among the earliest books he read were the Pilgrim's Progress, and the life of Joseph, works to which he often reverted with pleasure, in the later period of his life. Soon after he reached his twenty-first year, he made every preparation to start on a whaling voyage, but the unexpected departure of the vessel in which he was to serve, altered his plans of life, and he determined to study medicine and prepare himself "to ride with a country doctor." To this end he borrowed Chesselden's Anatomy and Cullen's Theory, from the family physician, and applied himself with the greatest assiduity to study; but his medical career was of short duration. In 1793, having sold his share in the farm, to afford him a support during his collegiate course, he entered Rhode Island College, now Brown University, and, after spending three years there, graduated with the honors of his class. He then opened a school in Providence, and at the same time continued the study of law, to which he had devoted a portion of the time while in the University. In 1799 he commenced practice in the Rhode Island courts, and soon rose to distinction. He attained a great influence as an advocate. The powers of his mind, and his enthusiastic feelings, were enlisted in every cause in which he took part, and so deeply was he interested, so persuaded of the justice of his side of the question, that he never was known to admit his client to be in the wrong. If doubts were suggested by the opposite party, before trial, he would repel them in an instant, as if they reflected upon his own honor and judgment. His practice was very extensive; and few important causes were argued, in which he was not engaged. The power of his eloquence was supreme over judges, juries and spectators; when he spoke, the court was often thronged, and none listened without a tribute of admiration." He continued his duties at the bar, with a constantly increasing reputation, until 1825, when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. In connection with his legal duties, he held a seat in the Rhode Island Legislature, in 1811, was appointed Chief Justice of his adopted State, and for a short time occupied the chair of Oratory and Belles-Lettres, in Brown University. Mr. Burges appeared in Congress in December, 1825. His first speech, which is spoken of as one of the greatest displays of eloquence ever made in the House of Representatives, was delivered during the debate on the Judiciary Bill, and placed him in the first rank of the orators and statesmen of his country. Again in 1827 he was elected to Congress, and continued there by re-election until 1835, taking an active part in all its deliberations, and always manifesting the deepest solicitude for the welfare of the country. His argument on the claim of Marigny D'Auterive for indemnity for injury sustained by a slave during the battle of New Orleans, gained him great applause, as did his eloquent appeal for the surviving soldiers of the Revolution; for whom he implored that the protecting arm of government might, "like the bright bow of Heaven," visit them with tokens of relief-that their descendants, for whom was established the broad basis of independence, "might give them one look of kindness, and pour one beam of gladness on the melancholy twilight of their days." But the most celebrated of his efforts, while in Congress, was the reply to John Randolph, during the debate on the Tariff. Mr. Randolph had taken every opportunity, before that occasion, to ridicule and abuse the character, habits and institutions of New England, and to oppose any and every measure calculated to advance her interests. Mr. Burges, in his remarks on the Tariff, observed, that there was a disposition among some gentlemen to support the interests of Great Britain rather than those of the United States; when Mr. Randolph rose, and interrupted him, saying, "This hatred of aliens, sir, is the undecayed spirit which called forth the proposition to enact the Alien and Sedition Laws: I advise the gentleman from Rhode Island to move a re-enactment of those laws, to prevent the impudent foreigner from rivalling the American seller. New England-what is she? Sir, do you remember that appropriate exclamation,-Delenda est Carthago?" Mr. Burges now continued-" Does the gentleman mean to say, sir, New England must be destroyed? If so, I will remind him that the fall of Carthage was the precursor of the fall of Rome. Permit me to suggest to him to carry out the parallel. Further, sir, I wish it to be distinctly understood, that I am not bound by any rules to argue against Bedlam;-but when I hear any thing rational in the hallucinations of the gentleman, I will answer them." Here the Speaker interposed, and Mr. Burges resumed his seat, saying, "Perhaps it is better, sir, that I should not go on." On the following day he continued his remarks, and after devoting some time to the refutation of the assertions made by Mr. Randolph a few days previous, on the subject of the Tariff, be concluded with the following: "Whence all this abuse of New-England, this misrepresentation of the North and the West! It is, sir, because they, and all the patriots in the nation, would pursue a policy calculated to secure and perpetuate the national independence of Great Britain. It is because they are opposed by another policy, which, by its entire, and by every part of its operation, will inevi tably bring the American people into a condition of dependence on Great Britain, less profitable, and not more to our honor, than the condition of colonies. I cannot, I would not look into the secrets of men's hearts: but the nation will examine the nature and tendencies of the American, and the anti-American systems; and they can understand the arguments offered in support of each plan of national policy; and they too can read, and will understand the histories of all public men, and of those two systems of national policy. Do we, as it has been insinuated, support the American policy, in wrong, and for the injury and damage of Old England? I do not; those with whom I have the honor to act, do not pursue this course—No, sir, 'Not that I love England less, Who, sir, would wrong; who would reduce the wealth, the power of England? Who, without a glorious national pride, can look to that as to our mother country? It is the land of comfort, accommodation, and wealth; of science and literature; song, sentiment, heroic valor, and deep, |