this twofold reduction has been, to decrease the the augmented value of their property, and the value of all property, whether on the land or on renewal of their business, ample means to extrithe ocean, and which I suppose to be about fifty cate themselves from all their difficulties. The per centum. And the still further effect has greatest want of civilized society is, a market been, to diminish the amount of our circulating for the sale and exchange of the surplus of the medium, in a proportion not less, by its trans- produce of the labor of its members. This mission abroad, or its withdrawal by the banking market may exist at home or abroad, or both; institutions, from a necessity which they could but it must exist somewhere, if society prospers; not control. The quantity of money, in what- | and, wherever it does exist, it should be comever form it may be, which a nation wants, is petent to the absorption of the entire surplus of in proportion to the total mass of its wealth, production. It is most desirable that there and to the activity of that wealth. A nation should be both a home and a foreign market. that has but little wealth, has but a limited want But, with respect to their relative superiority, I of money. In stating the fact, therefore, that cannot entertain a doubt. The home market the total wealth of the country has diminished, is first in order, and paramount in importance. within a few years, in a ratio of about fifty per The object of the bill under consideration, is, to centum, we shall, at once, fully comprehend create this home market, and to lay the foundathe inevitable reduction which must have en- tions of a genuine American policy. It is sued, in the total quantity of the circulating opposed; and it is incumbent upon the partisans medium of the country. A nation is most of the foreign policy (terms which I shall use prosperous when there is a gradual and un- without any invidious intent) to demonstrate tempting addition to the aggregate of its circu- that the foreign market is an adequate vent for lating medium. It is in a condition the most the surplus produce of our labor. But is it so? adverse, when there is a rapid diminution in First, foreign nations cannot, if they would, the quantity of the circulating medium, and a take our surplus produce. If the source of consequent depression in the value of property. supply, no matter of what, increases in a greater In the former case, the wealth of individuals ratio than the demand for that supply, a glut of insensibly increases, and income keeps ahead of the market is inevitable, even if we suppose expenditure. But in the latter instance, debts both to remain perfectly unobstructed. The have been contracted, engagements made, and duplication of our population takes place in habits of expense established, in reference to the terms of about twenty-five years. The term existing state of wealth and of its representative. will be more and more extended as our numbers When these come to be greatly reduced, indi- multiply. But it will be a sufficient approxividuals find their debts still existing, their mation to assume this ratio for the present. engagements unexecuted, and their habits in- We increase, therefore, in population, at the rate veterate. They see themselves in the possession of about four per centum per annum. Supposof the same property, on which, in good faith, ing the increase of our production to be in the they had bound themselves. But that property, same ratio, we should, every succeeding year, without their fault, possesses no longer the same have of surplus produce, four per centum more value; and hence discontent, impoverishment, than that of the preceding year, without taking and ruin, arise. Let us suppose, Mr. Chairman, into the account the differences of seasons which that Europe was again the theatre of such a neutralize each other. If, therefore, we are to general war as recently raged throughout all her rely upon the foreign market exclusively, foreign dominions such a state of the war as existed in consumption ought to be shown to be increasing her greatest exertions and in our greatest pros- in the same ratio of four per centum per annum, perity; instantly there would arise a greedy if it be an adequate vent for our surplus produce. demand for the surplus produce of our industry, But, as I have supposed the measure of our for our commerce, for our navigation. The increasing production to be furnished by that languor which now prevails in our cities, and in of our increasing population, so the measure of our seaports, would give way to an animated their power of consumption must be determined activity. Our roads and rivers would be crowd- by that of the increase of their population. ed with the produce of the interior. Every Now, the total foreign population, who consumė where we should witness excited industry. The our surplus produce, upon an average, do not precious metals would reflow from abroad upon double their aggregate number in a shorter term us. Banks, which have maintained their credit, than that of about one hundred years. Our would revive their business; and new banks powers of production increases then, in a ratio would be established to take the place of those four times greater than their powers of consump which have sunk beneath the general pressure. tion. And hence their utter inability to receive For it is a mistake to suppose that they have from us our surplus produce. produced our present adversity; they may have somewhat aggravated it, but they were the effect and the evidence of our prosperity. Prices would again get up; the former value of property would be restored. And those embarrassed persons who have not been already overwhelmed by the times, would suddenly find, in

But, secondly, if they could, they will not. The policy of all Europe is adverse to the recep tion of our agricultural produce, so far as it comes into collision with its own; and under that limitation we are absolutely forbid to enter their ports, except under circumstances which deprive them of all value as a steady market.

The policy of all Europe rejects those great | the amount of the exports of the same produce, staples of our country which consist of objects of human subsistence. The policy of all Europe refuses to receive from us any thing but those raw materials of smaller value, essential to their manufactures, to which they can give a higher value, with the exception of tobacco and rice, which they cannot produce. Even Great Brit-five ain, to which we are its best customer, and from which we receive nearly one half in value of our whole imports, will not take from us articles of subsistence produced in our country cheaper than can be produced in Great Britain. In adopting this exclusive policy, the States of Europe do not inquire what is best for us, but what suits themselves respectively; they do not take jurisdiction of the question of our interests, but limit the object of their legislation to that of the conservation of their own peculiar interests, leaving us free to prosecute ours as we please. They do not guide themselves by that romantic philanthropy, which we see displayed here, and which invokes us to continue to pur-The export of tobacco in 1791, was one hundred chase the produce of foreign industry, without regard to the state of prosperity of our own, that foreigners may be pleased to purchase the few remaining articles of ours, which their restricted policy has not yet absolutely excluded from their consumption. What sort of a figure would a member of the British Parliament have made, what sort of a reception would his opposition have obtained, if he had remonstrated against the passage of the corn-law, by which British consumption is limited to the bread-stuffs of British production, to the entire exclusion of American, and stated, that America could not and would not buy British manufactures, if Britain did not buy American flour?

in the year ending on the thirtieth of September last, ought to have been eighty-five millions four hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. It was, in fact, only forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eight. Taking the average of years, from 1803 to 1807, inclusive, the amount of native produce exported, was fortythree millions two hundred and two thousand seven hundred and fifty-one for each of those years. Estimating what it ought to have been, during the last year, applying the principle suggested to that amount, there should have been exported seventy-seven millions seven hundred and sixty-six thousand seven hundred and fiftyone, instead of forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eight. If these comparative amounts of the aggregate actual exports, and what they ought to have been, be discouraging, we shall find, on descending into particulars, still less cause of satisfaction. and twelve thousand four hundred and twentyeight hogsheads. That was the year of the largest exportation of that article; but it is the only instance in which I have selected the maximum of exportation. The amount of what we ought to have exported last year, estimated according to the scale of increase which I have used, is two hundred and sixty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-two hogsheads. The actual export was ninety-nine thousand and nine hogsheads. We exported, in 1803, the quantity of one million three hundred and eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty-three barrels of flour; and ought to have exported last year, two millions three hundred and sixty-one thouBoth the inability and the policy of foreign sand three hundred and thirty-three barrels. powers, then, forbid us to rely upon the foreign We, in fact, exported only seven hundred and market, as being an adequate vent for the sur- fifty-six thousand seven hundred and two barplus produce of American labor. Now let us rels. Of that quantity, we sent to South Amersee if this general reasoning is not fortified and ica one hundred and fifty thousand barrels, confirmed by the actual experience of this according to a statement furnished me by the country. If the foreign market may be safely diligence of a friend near me (Mr. Poinsett), to relied upon, as furnishing an adequate demand whose valuable mass of accurate information, in for our surplus produce, then the official docu- regard to that interesting quarter of the world, ments will show a progressive increase, from I have had occasion frequently to apply. But year to year, in the exports of our native pro- that demand is temporary, growing out of the duce, in a proportion equal to that which I have existing state of war. Whenever peace is resuggested. If, on the contrary, we shall find stored to it, and I now hope that the day is not from them that, for a long term of past years, distant when its independence will be generally some of our most valuable staples have retro-acknowledged, there cannot be a doubt that it graded, some remained stationary, and others advanced but little, if any, in amount, with the exception of cotton, the deductions of reason and the lessons of experience will alike command us to withdraw our confidence in the competency of the foreign market. The total amount of all our exports of domestic produce for the year, beginning in 1795, and ending on the thirtieth of September, 1796, was forty millions seven hundred and sixty-four thousand and ninety-seven. Estimating the increase according to the ratio of the increase of our population, that is, at four per centum per annum,

will supply its own consumption. In all parts of it, the soil, either from climate or from elevation, is well adapted to the culture of wheat; and nowhere can better wheat be produced, than in some portions of Mexico and Chili. Still the market of South America is one which, on other accounts, deserves the greatest consideration. And I congratulate you, the committee, and the country, on the recent adoption of a more auspicious policy toward it.

We exported, in 1803, Indian corn to the amount of two millions seventy-four thousand six hundred and eight bushels. The quantity

ours. We may even anticipate that she will more and more enter into competition with us in the supply of the West India market. That of South America, for articles of subsistence, will probably soon vanish. The value of our exports, for the future, may remain at about what it was last year. But, if we do not create some new market; if we persevere in the existing pursuits of agriculture, the inevitable consequence must be, to augment greatly the quantity of our produce, and to lessen its value in the foreign market. Can there be a doubt on this point? Take the article of cotton, for example, which is almost the only article that scription of labor is powerfully attracted toward the cotton-growing country. The cultivation will be greatly extended, the aggregate amount annually produced, will be vast.y augmented. The price will fall. The more unfavorable soils will then be gradually abandoned. And I have no doubt that, in a few years, it will cease to be profitably produced, any where north of the thirty-fourth degree of latitude. But, in the mean time, large numbers of the cotton-growers will suffer the greatest distress. And while this distress is brought upon our own country, foreign industry will be stimulated by the very cause which occasions our distress. For, by surcharging the markets abroad, the price of the raw material being reduced, the manufacturer will be able to supply cotton fabrics cheaper; and the consumption, in his own country, and in foreign nations, other than ours (where the value of the import must be limited to the value of the export, which I have supposed to remain the same), being proportionably extended, there will be, consequently, an increased demand for the produce of his industry.

should have been, in 1823, three millions seven hundred and thirty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-eight bushels. The actual quantity exported, was seven hundred and forty-nine thousand and thirty-four bushels, or about onefifth of what it should have been, and a little more than one-third of what it was more than twenty years ago. We ought not, then, to be surprised at the extreme depression of the price of that article, of which I have heard my honorable friend (Mr. Bassett) complain, nor of the distress of the corn-growing districts adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. We exported seventyseven thousand nine hundred and thirty-four barrels of beef in 1803, and last year but sixty-now remunerates labor and capital. A certain deone thousand four hundred and eighteen, instead of one hundred and forty thousand two hundred and seventy-four barrels. In the same year (1803) we exported ninety-six thousand six hundred and two barrels of pork, and last year fifty-five thousand five hundred and twenty-nine, instead of one hundred and seventy-three thousand eight hundred and eighty-two barrels. | Rice has not advanced, by any means, in the proportion, which it ought to have done. All the small articles, such as cheese, butter, candles, and so forth, too minute to detail, but important in their aggregate, have also materially diminished. Cotton alone has advanced. But, while the quantity of it is augmented, its actual value is considerably diminished. The total quantity last year, exceeded that of the preceding year, by nearly thirty millions of pounds. And yet the total value of the year of smaller exportation, exceeded that of the last year by upward of three and a half millions of dollars. If this article, the capacity of our country to produce which was scarcely known in 1790, were subtracted from the mass of our exports, the value of the residue would only be a little upward of twenty-seven millions during the last year. The distribution of the articles of our exports throughout the United States, cannot fail to fix the attention of the committee. Of the forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eight, to which they amounted last year, three articles alone (cotton, rice, and tobacco) composed together twenty-eight millions five hundred and forty-nine thousand one hundred and seventyseven. Now these articles are chiefly produced at the South. And if we estimate that portion of our population who are actually engaged in their culture, it would probably not exceed two millions. Thus, then, less than one-fifth of the whole population of the United States produced upward of one-half, nearly two-thirds, of the entire value of the exports of the last year.

Is this foreign market, so incompetent at present, and which, limited as its demands are, operates so unequally upon the productive labor of our country, likely to improve in future? If I am correct in the views which I have presented to the committee, it must become worse and worse. What can improve it? Europe will not abandon her own agriculture to foster

We

Our agriculture is our greatest interest. It ought ever to be predominant. All others should bend to it. And, in considering what is for its advantage, we should contemplate it in all its varieties, of planting, farming, and grazing. Can we do nothing to invigorate it; nothing to correct the errors of the past, and to brighten the still more unpromising prospects which lie before us? We have seen, I think, the causes of the distresses of the country. We have seen, that an exclusive dependence upon the foreign market must lead to still severer distress, to impoverishment, to ruin. We must then change somewhat our course. must give a new direction to some portion of our industry. We must speedily adopt a genuine American policy. Still cherishing the foreign market, let us create also a home market, to give further scope to the consumption of the produce of American industry. Let us counteract the policy of foreigners, and withdraw the support which we now give to their industry, and stimulate that of our own country. It should be a prominent object with wise legislators, to multiply the vocations and extend the business of society, as far as it can be done, by the protection of our interests at home,