e country, in 1853,
were valued at $1,551,176,490; of which there were exported to foreign
countries, to the value of only $33,809,126.[18] The planter will not
assent to any check upon the foreign imports of the country, for the
benefit of the farmer. This demands the adoption of vigorous measures to
secure a market for his products by some of the other modes stated.
Hence, the orders of our executive, in 1851, for the exploration of the
valley of the Amazon; the efforts, in 1854, to obtain a treaty with
Brazil, for the free navigation of that immense river; the negotiations
for a military foothold in St. Domingo; and the determination to acquire
Cuba. But we must not anticipate topics to be considered at a later
period in our discussion.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] See Appendix, Table I.

[15] It may be well here to illustrate this point, by an extract from
McQueen, of England, in 1844, when this highly intelligent gentleman was
urging upon his government the great necessity which existed for
securing to itself, as speedily as possible, the control of the labor
and the products of tropical Africa. In reference to the benefits which
had been derived from her West India colonies, before the suppression of
the slave trade and the emancipation of the slaves had rendered them
comparatively unproductive, he said: "During the fearful struggle of a
quarter of a century, for her existence as a nation, against the power
and resources of Europe, directed by the most intelligent but
remorseless military ambition against her, the command of the
productions of the torrid zone, and the advantageous commerce which that
afforded, gave to Great Britain the power and the resources which
enabled her to meet, to combat, and to overcome, her numerous and
reckless enemies in every battle-field, whether by sea or land,
throughout the world. In her the world saw realized the fabled giant of
antiquity. With her hundred hands she grasped her foes in every region
under heaven, and crushed them with resistless energy."

In further presenting the considerations which he considered necessary
to secure the adoption of the policy he was urging, Mr. McQueen referred
to the difficulties which were then surrounding Great Britain, and the
extent to which rival nations had surpassed her in tropical cultivation.
He continued: "The increased cultivation and prosperity of foreign
tropical possessions is become so great, and is advancing so rapidly the
power and r