myself by calling the
attention of the Senate to Great Britain only. The duties in the ports
of the united kingdom on bread-stuffs are prohibitory, except in times
of dearth. On rice, the duty is fifteen shillings sterling per hundred
weight, being more than one hundred per centum. On manufactured tobacco
it is nine shillings sterling per pound, or about two thousand per
centum. On leaf tobacco three shillings per pound, or one thousand two
hundred per centum. On lumber, and some other articles, they are from
four hundred to fifteen hundred per centum more than on similar articles
imported from British colonies. In the British West Indies the duty on
beef, pork, hams, and bacon, is twelve shillings sterling per hundred,
more than one hundred per centum on the first cost of beef and pork in
the Western States. And yet Great Britain is the power in whose behalf
we are called upon to legislate, so that we may enable her to purchase
our cotton. Great Britain, that thinks only of herself in her own
legislation! When have we experienced justice, much less favor, at
her hands? When did she shape her legislation with reference to the
interests of any foreign power? She is a great, opulent, and powerful
nation; but haughty, arrogant, and supercilious; not more separated
from the rest of the world by the sea that girts her island, than she
is separated in feeling, sympathy, or friendly consideration of their
welfare. Gentlemen, in supposing it impracticable that we should
successfully compete with her in manufactures, do injustice to the
skill and enterprise of their own country. Gallant as Great Britain
undoubtedly is, we have gloriously contended with her, man to man, gun
to gun, ship to ship, fleet to fleet, and army to army. And I have no
doubt we are destined to achieve equal success in the more useful, if
not nobler, contest for superiority in the arts of civil life.

I could extend and dwell on the long list of articles--the hemp, iron,
lead, coal, and other items--for which a demand is created in the home
market by the operation of the American system; but I should exhaust
the patience of the Senate. Where, where should we find a market for all
these articles, if it did not exist at home? What would be the condition
of the largest portion of our people, and of the territory, if this
home market were annihilated? How could they be supplied with objects of
prime necessity? What would not be the certain and inevitable declin