Protection.' . . . . I will
not add, sir, my deep and deliberate conviction, in the face of all the
miserable cant and hypocrisy with which the world abounds on the
subject, that any course of measures which shall hasten the abolition of
slavery, by destroying the value of slave labor, will bring upon the
Southern States the greatest political calamity with which they can be
afflicted; for I sincerely believe, that when the people of those States
shall be compelled, by such means, to emancipate their slaves, they will
be but a few degrees above the condition of slaves themselves. Yes, sir,
mark what I say: when the people of the South cease to be masters, by
the tampering influence of this Government, direct or indirect, they
will assuredly be slaves. It is the clear and distinct perception of the
irresistible tendency of this protective system to precipitate us upon
this great moral and political catastrophe, that has animated me to
raise my warning voice, that my fellow-citizens may foresee, and
foreseeing, avoid the destiny that would otherwise befall them. . . . .
And here, sir, it is as curious as it is melancholy and distressing, to
see how striking is the analogy between the colonial vassalage to which
the manufacturing States have reduced the planting States, and that
which formerly bound the Anglo-American colonies to the British
Empire. . . . England said to her American colonies 'You shall not trade
with the rest of the world for such manufactures _as are produced in the
mother country_.' The manufacturing States say to their Southern
colonies, 'You shall not trade with the rest of the world for such
manufactures as _we produce_, under a penalty of forty per cent. upon
the value of every cargo detected in this illicit commerce; which
penalty, aforesaid, shall be levied, collected, and paid out of the
products of your industry, to nourish and sustain ours.'"

Mr. Clay, in referring to the condition of the country at large, said:
"I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting an imperfect
sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled prosperity of the
country. On a general survey, we behold cultivation extended; the arts
flourishing; the face of the country improved; our people fully and
profitably employed, and the public countenance exhibiting tranquillity,
contentment, and happiness. And, if we descend into particulars, we have
the agreeable contemplation of a people out of debt; land rising s