being regarded as a stake to be won, or an advantage to be wrested from others by fraud or by force, governments naturally strove to secure them to their own subjects; ano when they once set out in this wrong direction, it was quite natural that they should not stop short till they ended ir binding, in the bonds of restriction, not only the whole country, but all of its parts. Thus we are told that Eng land first protected by her restrictive policy, her whole empire against all the world, then Great Britain against the colonies, then the British islands against each other, and ended by vainly attempting to protect all the great interests and employment of the state by balancing them against each other. Sir, such a system, carried fully out, is not confined to rival nations, but protects one town against another. considers villages, and even families as rivals; and cannot stop short of "Robinson Crusoe in his goat skins." It takes but one step further to make every man his own lawyer, doctor, farmer, and shoemaker-and, if I may be allowed an Irishism, his own seamstress and washerwoman. The doctrine of free trade, on the contrary, is founded on the true social system. It looks on all mankind as children of a common parent-and the great family of nations as linked together by mutual interests. Sir, as there is a religion, so I believe there is a politics of nature. Cast your eyes over this various earth-see its surface diversified with hills and valleys, rocks, and fertile fields. Notice its different productions-its infinite varieties of soil and climate. See the mighty rivers winding their way to the very mountain's base, and thence guiding man to the vast ocean, dividing, yet connecting nations. Can any man who considers these things with the eye of a philosopher, not read the design of the great Creator (written legibly in his works) that his children should be drawn together in a free commercial intercourse, and mutual exchanges of the various gifts with which a bountiful Providence has blessed them. Commerce, sir, restricted even as she has been, has been the great source of civilization and refinement all over the world. Next to the Christian religion, I consider free trade in its largest sense as the greatest blessing that can be conferred upon any people. Hear, sir, what Patrick Henry. the great orator of Virginia, whose soul was the very tem ple of freedom, says on this subject: 66 Why should we fetter commerce? If a man is in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, because his spirits are broken, but let him twist the fetters from his legs, and he will stand erect. Fetter not commerce! Let her be as free as the air. She will range the whole creation, and return on the four winds of heaven to bless the land with plenty." But, it has been said, that free trade would do very well, if all nations would adopt it; but as it is, every nation must protect itself from the effect of restrictions by countervailing measures. I am persuaded, sir, that it is a great, a most fatal error. If retaliation is resorted to for the honest purpose of producing a redress of the grievance, and while adhered to no longer than there is a hope of success, it may, like war itself, be sometimes just and necessary. But if it have no such object, "it is the unprofitable combat of seeing which can do the other the most harm." The case can hardly be conceived in which permanent restrictions, as a measure of retaliation, could be profitable. In every possible situation, a trade, whether more or less restricted, is profitable, or it is not. This can only be decided by experience, and if the trade be left to regulate itself, water would not more naturally seek its level, than the intercourse adjust itself to the true interest of the parties. Sir, as to this idea of the regulation by government of the pursuits of men, I consider it as a remnant of barbarism disgraceful to an enlightened age, and inconsistent with the first principles of rational liberty. I hold government to be utterly incapable, from its position, of exercising such a power wisely, prudently, or justly. Are the rulers of the world the depositaries of its collected wisdom? Sir, can we forget the advice of a great statesman to his son-" Go, see the world, my son, that you may learn with how little wisdom mankind is governed." And is our own government an exception to this rule, or do we not find here, as every where else, that 66 Man, proud man, Robed in a little brief authority, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep." The gentleman has appealed to the example of other nations. Sir, they are all against him. They have had 66 estrictions enough, to be sure; but they are getting heartily sick of them, and in England, particularly, would willingly get rid of them if they could. We have been assured, by the declaration of a minister of the crown, from his place in parliament, “ that there is a growing conviction, among all men of sense and reflection in that country, that the true policy of all nations is to be found in unrestricted industry." Sir, in England they are now retracing their steps, and endeavouring to relieve themselves of the system as fast as they can. Within a few years past, upwards of three hundred statutes, imposing restrictions in that country, have been repealed; and a case has recently occurred there, which seems to leave no doubt that, if Great Britain has grown great, it is, as Mr. Huskisson has declared, “not in consequence of, but in spite of their restrictions." The silk manufacture, protected by enormous bounties, was found to be in such a declining condition, that the government was obliged to do something to save it from total ruin. And what did they do? They considerably reduced the duty on foreign silks, both on the raw material and the manufactured article. The consequence was the immediate revival of the silk manufacture, which has since been nearly doubled. Sir, the experience of France is equally decisive. Bonaparte's effort to introduce cotton and sugar has cost that country millions; and, but the other day, a foolish attempt to protect the iron mines spread devastation through half of France, and nearly ruined the wine trade, on which onefifth of her citizens depend for subsistence. As to Spain, unhappy Spain, "fenced round with restrictions," her experience, one would suppose, would convince us, if any thing could,, that the protecting system in politics, like bigotry in religion, was utterly at war with sound principles and a liberal and enlightened policy. Sir, I say, in the words of the philosophical statesman of England, "leave a generous nation free to seek their own road to perfection." Thank God, the night is passing away, and we have lived to see the dawn of a glorious day. The cause of free trade must and will prosper, and finally triumph. The political economist is abroad; light has come into the world; and, in this instance at least, men will not "prefer darkness rather than light." Sir, let it not be said, in after times, that the statesmen of America were behind the age in which they lived that they initiated this young and vigorous country into the enervating and corrupting practices of European nations-and that, at the moment when the whole world were looking to us for an example, we arrayed ourselves in the cast-off follies aud exploded errors of the old world, and, by the introduction of a vile system of artificial stimulants and political gambling, impaired the healthful vigour of the body politic, and brought on a decrepitude and premature dissolution. HAYNE. 116. -THE MOUNTAIN CHURCH. As one without a friend, one summer eve That soothed my mind even while it made me sad. Few paces onward, O'ershadow'd more by the green underwood, . Some slight raised mounds show'd where the dead were laid. No gravestone told who slept beneath the turf. (Perchance the heart that deeply mourns needs not Like fair young maidens mourning o'er their dead. And not unmeet for heavenly worshipper. SOUTHERN ROSE. 117. THE MOTHER AND HER INFANTS. A MOTHER was kneeling in the deep hush of evening, at the couch of two infants, whose rosy arms were twined in a mutual embrace. A slumber, soft as the moonlight that fell through the lattice over them like a silvery veil, lay on their delicate lips-the soft bright curls that clustered on their pillow, were slightly stirred by their gentle and healthful breathings; and that smile, which beams from the pure depths of the fresh, glad spirit, yet rested on their coral lips. The mother looked upon their exceeding beauty with a momentary pride-and then, as she continued to gaze upon the lovely slumberers, her dark eye deepened with an intense and unutterable fondness; when a cold, shuddering fear came over her, lest those buds of life, so fair, might be touched with sudden decay and go back, in their brightness, to the dust. She lifted her voice in prayer solemnly, passionately, earnestly, that the giver of life. would still spare to her those blossoms of love, over whom her soul thus yearned. As the low breathed accents rose on the still air, a deepened thought came over her; her pure spirit went out with her loved and pure ones into the strange, wild paths of life; a strong horror chilled her frame as she beheld mildew and blight settling on the fair |